"What?" she asked, immediately on the defense.
"You carry a lot of tension."
She relaxed, slightly. "Everyone suffers some stress."
"Not like this," he argued and put a bit more pressure into loosening her up. She groaned in response, and suddenly he was thankful for the pillow being in the way. "You're entirely too wound up. This won't be pleasurable for you if you don't relax."
Her back straightened again immediately.
"And why would you care about me taking pleasure from this experience?"
It was a good thing her back was to him, because Draco was sure he'd get another earth-shattering slap from his partner simply for the eye roll that followed her question. Once in third year had been enough, thanks ever so. "Granger, if there's nothing I can say to convince you that I'm not going to hurt you, then perhaps you'll accept this indisputable fact about my motives instead-" He leaned forward and set his mouth near her dainty ear. "Massages are sensual, and it's no secret I'm a sybarite."
She actually snorted at that. "A libertine is more like it."
Honestly, the woman could exhaust the Whomping Willow with her stubbornness!
"Harsh words from such a lovely mouth. I'll have you know I'm hardly the philandering type."
She gave a disbelieving laugh.
"Keep telling yourself that, Malfoy, but your reputation precedes you."
Rather than get into that discussion, which would lead to a losing place no matter which way he turned, he continued to knead her shoulders instead. "You're like massaging a rock." He put his thumbs into it and she groaned in response. "It's because you're tense again."
"I'm always edgy around snakes," she countered and gave another small mewing sound as he found a knot and worked it out. "I'm sure it has something to do with being a warm-blooded mammal."
"Then explain the cold shoulder you're giving me, because it's freezing back here!"
To his surprise, she laughed at that, and it wasn't a sharp sound, but one of unexpected mirth.
"Ah, so I can say something right." Was that the first time she'd actually laughed at one of his jokes? "Admit it, I'm not all bad."
She turned her head and glanced at him out of the corner of her eye with suspicion, but to his relief, her lips were turned up in amusement rather than flat-lined and angry.
"You're bad...and you know it."
He rolled with it, deciding to view her mockery as an opening... Reducing the pressure of his hands, he began running his fingers over her arms in a light, teasing pattern. She shivered as he caressed over her bare skin. "Let's play another game-"
"We already are."
True, but beside the point.
He tickled the bend of her elbow with a single, gentle stroke. She jerked, but didn't pull away completely, which made him feel bolder. Leaning forward again, he whispered in her ear, "I dare you to close your eyes and imagine that, instead of being in this room, we're in your favourite hiding place." When she tossed an incredulous look at him over her shoulder, he sighed and tried again, this time without the charm. "It'll help you unwind and allow me to perform this card. You do want to get this round over with sooner, rather than later, I assume?"
Sniffing, she reluctantly did as he requested and shut her eyes. He waited a few seconds, giving her a chance to envision the location he knew she'd imagine.
"Have you got the library firmly in mind yet?"
Granger grumbled something under her breath about bouncing ferrets and muzzles. He chuckled, appreciating her nastier inclinations. His beauty could be a real beast when she put her mind to it.
"For your information," she primly told him, "I'm envisioning being on a beach."
"A beach, really?" he asked, sincerely curious. Perhaps that explained the tan she'd once come back to school wearing after one particular summer break. "Where, and are you dressed in one of those sexy Muggle bikinis?"
She reached back and slapped the outside of his thigh in censure. "I'd ask how you know about those, but I probably wouldn't appreciate the answer." She was right, of course, so Draco wisely kept his mouth shut on the matter. "The 'where' is in Greece, on the island of Mykonos," she told him, "and as for what I've worn there...you'll never know."
The woman was a horrible tease.
"You realize that now I'm going to be imagining all sorts of scenarios involving you and what you're possibly not wearing while sunbathing," he said.
"Oh, I'm sure."
When she paused, as if finding that idea either disconcerting or arousing—he wasn't sure which, honestly—he gave her a small nudge by running the backs of his knuckles down her exposed spine, admiring the sexy cut of her dress and silently thanking the designer. "So...on a beach overlooking the Aegean Sea. You've got the image in your head, then?" Granger nodded. "Tell me about it."
She seemed to struggle with that request for moment, before deciding it harmless enough.
"Alright, but don't laugh."
"I won't," he promised.
With a resigned nod, she shared her childhood memories with him.
"Well, we've only gone there the one time, during the summer before third year, but-" She sighed in longing. "I remember every detail: the sunlight glittering off the waves, the white sand so warm under my toes, the cry of the gulls overhead. It was...breathtaking."
Taking that as his cue to continue performing her card before the time ran out, Draco placed his hands with light pressure back onto her shoulders and began gingerly kneading them again. This time, Hermione was more relaxed, and as he lulled her with a soothing massage, she talked of bright blue and white butterflies that fluttered above pockets of red poppies and yellow wildflowers that dotted the small hills and peppered the dunes, of the scent of brine carried upon a gentle wind, and of the sweet piping of the swallows that called the faces of the cliffs their home. She compared the waves to sapphires and their tops to strings of pearls, and spoke with a kind of reverence for how the sea lulled at times, and danced at others.
"Sounds idyllic," he said as she finished her tale. She was now leaning against him, her back to his chest, boneless. "Magical, even." "It is." As she let her body relax further into him, she chuckled. "Although it pains me to admit it, you're really very good at giving a girl a massage. I haven't been able to unwind in, well, a long time."
"That's because you play too little and work too hard," he agreed.
"I can't help it," she breathed a frustrated sigh. "There's always so much to do, and it's hardwired into me to get it all done!"
"Good thing it's the weekend. You can loosen up a little," he tried to sooth her. "Just forget the world outside for now. Lean back and enjoy this."
With a reluctant sigh, she surrendered herself to the massage… which was
precisely what Draco had been waiting for. He gently placed his lips over the curve of her neck and shoulder, leaving small, barely-there kisses as he went. Well, her card did say that he could use his mouth, too, and so he intended on taking full advantage of that offer. With a quick swipe, he touched his tongue to her warm skin. She was powdered with honey dust, a delicious treat he hadn't expected, and which explained how her skin sparkled under the light. Underneath it though, she tasted as if she'd just stepped out of the ocean.
The flavour had his chest going tight and sent his cock straining for its freedom.
Mine.
If anything could have confirmed for him the truth of what his heart and body had been telling him for years, that right there had done it.
"What are you doing?" she asked, going a bit stiff again under his hands. "Lips and tongue are allowed," he whispered in her ear and then gave it a sensual nip that had her nipples going tight. Their outline was clearly visible through her silken dress. Still, she started to pull away. "I won't do more than this, though. Just this," he promised, hoping to keep her there without restraining her. She'd fight that, he knew, and the struggle could ruin everything they'd built over the last thirty minutes. "Should I stop?"
Slowly, she sat up, pulling out of his embrace. "Yes, I think that's enough for now." Despite her words, there was clear confusion in her tone. "You performed my card...quite well."
Draco put his hands up for her to see that he meant her no harm and would make no fuss.
"As you wish," he offered, letting her go. Disappointed though he may have been, he was also heartened by the fact that, for a few moments there, they had just been Draco and Hermione, not rivals from Slytherin and Gryffindor, and she had shared a bit of her life with him. They still had many rounds left before the game ended, as well, and he could only hope that, at some point tonight or tomorrow, she'd trust him enough to let things happen between them without a card forcing her compliance.
Because, sure as hell, he wanted Hermione Granger to give all of herself over to him, and at her own free will.
Not just her body, but her heart as well.
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