Worth Waiting For

Chapter Five

Daenerys didn't know what prompted her to issue the dinner invitation to Jon. She held her breath as she waited for his response, wondering whether or not he would turn her down. He could have dinner plans with his sister....or some other woman. She waited pretending that it was the most natural thing in the world for a woman to ask the contractor employed to work in her basement to join her for dinner. Time stood still and stretched in for what felt like an eternity, though she knew it had only taken seconds for him to give her an answer.
Daenerys set the table in front of the bay window, knowing she treaded on dangerous ground. She wanted company tonight.....his company. The smart thing to do would be to turn up the lights and turn off the music. But she didn't want to.
"Can I help you with anything?" he asked.
He came to stand next to her, big and muscular, in a pair of jeans and a black t-shirt. Despite his rough exterior, he exuded a gentleness and warmth that intrigued her.
She glanced up at him. "If you like you can help yourself to something to drink. There's beer and juice in the fridge."
When he walked away, she closed her eyes briefly. Her earlier bravado escaped her. She was back to feeling like a nervous teenager again.
Once she finished setting the table, jon helped Daenerys bring the food over : home made soup to start, salad, pasta, strips of grilled chicken, and a creamy Alfredo sauce with fresh grated parmesan in it.
"Smells delicious" Jon said with a grin. He rubbed his hands together in exaggerated anticipation.
Daenerys laughed. "I hope it tastes as good as it's smells. It's not northern cuisine, and there are no tost...tost..."
"Tostones."
"Right. But I think you will still like it."
Once they sat at the table, the earlier awareness slipped away. They conversed amicably and more attention to the conversation then they did to the tasty food. Over an hour passed before they were well into the main course.
"So how often do you get back to the north?" Daenerys asked between bites of chicken and pasta.
"Every year or two" Jon answered. "Most of my family still live there, In Winterfell, and it nice to escape every now and then to recharge. I tend to go around the holidays, when business is slow, and I can spend a couple of weeks."
"How long have you lived in Kingslanding?"
He leaned forward on his forearms. His skin had an inviting colour. His biceps bulged against the dark t-shirt and Daenerys averted her eyes before he caught her staring.
He frowned in deep thought. We moved here when I was twelve. So this year will be fifteen years since we moved from Winterfell."
Daenerys did the easy math in her head. He was one year older than her. "So your entire family moved?"
"No just me and my mother."
"Do you have siblings?"
Jon smiled. "Five actually. But they are my cousins. My mothers brother's children. But we are all pretty close."
Daenerys eyes widened. "You're kidding!"
He shook his head. "Nope. Sometimes it was irritating because of the lack of privacy. But growing up it couldn't have been better. Robb and I were the eldest. Then you have Sansa and Arya, who couldn't have been more different. Sansa is your typical girl whereas Arya hated anything girly. And then there's Bran, who is a kind of bookworm. And the youngest is Rickon. Who is the baby of the family."
Daenerys smiled hearing him talk about his siblings. It was very clear he cared for them deeply.
"It was suffocating at times," Jon grimaced. My father passed away when I was little and my mother moved back to Winterfell to live with her brother. She had never wanted to live here anyway. She had followed my father who was tired of living in Winterfell and wanted a change." He took a sip of beer. "How about you? How many siblings do you have?"
Daenerys piled more salad on her plate as she spoke. "There were three of us, though growing up it felt like there was five of us." Jon nodded his head in understanding. I'm the youngest, I have an older brother, Rahegar, who died. He is survived by his wife and two kids who live in Dragonstone with her parents. She and I are pretty close. And then there is Viserys, who you have already met. My parents are also dead. So now it basically just Vis and I."
Jon nodded his head. Daenerys felt a bit chocked. She missed Rahegar and her parents terribly. Her mother had been a gentle cheerful woman who always lent a sympathetic ear to any problems her family approached her with. Rahegar had been the same, he was always protective of her and loved her unconditionally. Her father, though being stern and a man of few words, loved his family fiercely.
"When my father died" Jon spoke softly. "My mother was devastated. She had given up on life. Even though I was little I still remember her wasting away in front of my eyes. I wondered if my mother would want to go with him. Some people love so deeply that  when their partner die, they die not long afterwards. They can't live without their soulmate. I think that's what happened to Jhonny Cash when June Carter Cash died, you know. It's hard when you've been with someone so long and love them so much, and then you have to let them go." Daenerys remained silent. She didn't want to encourage a conversation about love. To her love was elusive. Few people ever found it, and the ones who did, didn't know how to preserve it.
"Don't you think?" Jon asked, watching her closely.
Daenerys carefully set her fork in her plate. "I don't think you want to hear my thoughts on that subject."
He leaned back in his chair, the grey eyes focused in her. "Maybe I do."
Daenerys rested her elbow in the table and placed her chin on her knuckles. She raised her left brow. "Do you really want to know what I think? I think love is for hallmark movies, romance novels and fairy tales. Our parents were lucky, Jon. They were fortunate enough to find people who they enjoyed spending their time with and who appreciated them in return. The truth is, most relationships are one sided and people spend their time stumbling through life chasing a dream....a soulmate, a happily ever after, or whatever.... when they could be doing something much more productive."
He stared at her in silence and she stared back. "Did I hit a nerve?"
"No. You wanted to know what I thought and I told you." Daenerys rose from her chair. "Excuse me."
She took her plate and fork with her, but she no longer had an appetite. She should have never ventured down that road, but his comments made her hackles rise. She hated the word soulmate. They were just words people tossed around to convince themselves....and the other person.....to stay the course in a relationship, even when there was a dead-end in sight.
She heard Jon's chair scrape back. He cleared his throat. "Look whoever the guy us who hurt you....."
Daenerys allowed her plate and silverware to  drop with a crash into the sink. She swung to face him. "Don't. Don't attempt to speak about something you don't know anything about."
They'd been having a pleasant evening and then he'd gone and soiled it with his talk about love and Johnny Cash not wanting to live without June. He would only make it worse by trying to understand her personal situation, because there was nothing to understand. She didn't need psychoanalysis from an amateur shrink who didn't even know her at all.
His brow furrowed and a muscle twitched in his left cheek. "Maybe I overstepped my bound......."
"You did."
"But your idea about love and relationships are sad for a woman your age."
She didn't want his pity. "Don't feel sorry for me. You should feel sorry for all the sappy women out there chasing the dream."
He shook his head. "You're so jaded. For the record, not every man is no-good."
"Oh really?" Daenerys said slowly, placing a hand on her hip. "Let me guess, you're one of the good ones?"
"As a matter of fact I am" Jon said deliberately between clenched teeth. Her question obviously upset him and he struggled to maintain his control.
Daenerys took a few steps towards him, both hands on her hips. She glared up at him. "Let me enlighten you Jon. If you're one of the good ones, you don't have much company. Statistics suggest 60 percent of men cheat on their spouses. You want to know my opinion? I think the numbers are greater because those only happen to be the ones that admitted it."
"How could someone who had an example of a happy and successful marriage be so cynical?"
"Because I deal with cold hard facts. Numbers don't lie. They're absolute. Our parents were the exception to the rule.....not the norm."
"It cuts both ways Daenerys. Women can land a blow just as lethal as any man."
She saw for one fleeting second an indescribable emotion flash in his grey eyes, reflecting whatever relationship pain he'd suffered through. An incedent in his past had affected him, and she felt a subtle connection manifest between them. Like her he knew what it was like to hurt. Unlike her, he seemed to have recovered enough to be optimistic.
Some of Daenerys's cocky assurance drained away. She lowered her hands from her hips. "I won't argue with you in that point. We both know there are no-good women out there and we'll leave it at that."
Daenerys glanced at his plate on the table, which still had food on it. "Gosh, I'm sorry. I guess it didn't end quite the way you would have expected."
"Not exactly, but I have a full stomach, so I'm good." He flashed a smile, and in that instant the last of her anger dissipated.
The strains of an instrumental piece settled over the room, a soothing contrast to their disquieting dispute moments ago. The sir crackled between them. Tension mounted and she froze in place.
Jon lowered his lids and zeroed in on her mouth. "When was the last time you were kissed Daenerys?"
The sexy way he prounced her name caught her attention again. Daenerys remained immobilised, aware of what was about to take place and unable and unwilling to stop it. His words were more of an invitation than a question. She could hardly breathe. Her heart hammered mercilessly in her chest, anticipation running rampant through her body.
"It's been a while" she said softly, her voice trembling. She'd sealed her fate.
In slow motion his head lowered to hers and closed the distance between them and he gently kissed cher lips as if testing the waters. The kiss was unhurried, exploratory. He savoured her mouth and it's fullness. She kissed him back, she couldn't help it. When he felt her yield to him, he reached up and wrapped a lightly calloused hand around the back of her neck.
His mouth pressed harder against hers, deepening the kiss. She trembled, opening her mouth wider to accommodate the entrance of his soft wet tongue.
Jon pressed her backwards, trapping her between the sink and his hard body. There was no option to get away.....nit that she wanted to. His right arm slipped around her waist and Daenerys melted against him, moaning softly as his tongue continued to probe her mouth.
Something inside her shifted, opened up to the pleasure he offered. Awash in sensations  the drowned bout all logical behaviour, Daenerys clung to his neck, pressing her body against his hard length to savour every firm inch of him. She didn't want to kiss to end. She was engulfed by pleasure which had slept for so long she'd forgotten what it felt like.
It was more than that. She'd never felt this type of intensity before. She'd never felt as if she was submerged beneath a whirlpool of emotions. His lips stroked hers in such a way, it was as if he knew her and everything secret she tried to hide. She felt invigorated and more alive than she had in months...years, even.
When he drew back, she whimpered like a needy pup, shamelessly pressing her body against his. She wanted...... needed this closeness and intimacy he offered. In an instant his hand slipped to her bare thighs and lifted her off the floor as if dge weighed little more than a feather.
He placed her onto the cool marble of the island and cupped her face, his touch gentle as if he were handling a delicate flower. She did feel delicate, staring into his grey eyes, feeling the harsh breath of his own laboured breathing.
With a groan he crushed her to him, kissing her with more passion and fervour than before. He tugged her lower lip, drawing a whimper from her throat at the pressure of the pleasure-pain. He quieted her with the stroke of his tongue across the sensitive flesh before moving his lips to travel across her cheek and down to her jaw line. Her head fell back, offering her neck to the tender passion of his mouth.
Of their own violation, her hands reached upto his hair. She licked the side of his neck, and he groaned something incoherent as the rubber band holding his hair snapped. She slid her fingers through his glorious curls and let them glide over her fingers like water.
His hands, rough from years of manual labour, slid behind her knees and pulled her closer to him. Daenerys wrapped her legs around him, sealing their bodies tightly together. One hand slipped under her t-shirt. The touch was like a brand against the skin of her back. His hands eased up towards her bra as his mouth covered hers again.
Excitement bulit up inside Daenerys. Her stomach muscles quivered in anticipation. Kisses weren't enough. She wanted more. She was starving for affection, starving for intimacy, starving for Jon Snow.
One bra strap came undone.
Yes!
Her throat tightened at the thought that his big calloused palms would soon touch her sensitive flesh. His fingers moved to pop the other hook.
He stopped.
She heard the same sound he did. The front door had opened. There was the unmistakable jingling of keys.
Noooooo.....it couldn't be.
Her brother had returned home.