James was content to tease her as they lay there in bed. To soak her up. To muse at the intricate trappings in life that led him to this very moment. For someone more accustomed to feeling hollow, he felt the start of<i>something </i>start to fill in the empty pores. His imagination turned, its gears squealing as it fought against the accumulation of rust, and for the first time in a few years, he thought a very dangerous thought:<i>what if.</i><br/><br/>Underneath the single ray of hope, there immediately followed a stifling hand to snuff out the thought, its presence a reminder that no matter his attraction to the petite blonde whose skin he stroked with the uneven pads of his fingertips, he knew better. The white knight complex that spun round like a broken carousel prevented him from dragging another person through the shit storm he made of his life.<br/><br/>He sighed out of nowhere, his breath heaving through his chest as he ran both hands now down the curve of her waist and over her hips until his fingers splayed across her naval. He used this as leverage to pull her back against him, her back to his front. The sigh was followed soon after by a bark of laughter.<br/><br/>“I haven't had sex in three years,” he finally admitted, while his hands continued their exploration of her front until his palms cupped the undersides of her breasts. This time he teased both nipples with a flick of his thumb. “And you.. are absolutely right, Ms. Barnes, I don't know you at all. What I do know is that you are most definitely smarter than I am,” he added, his words sincere and perhaps a little surprised to admit to it.<br/><br/>His head bowed down so that he could kiss the nape of her neck, his lips curving into a smile as he did so. That she called him Professor was an irony, and in the heat of the moment he couldn't remember whether or not he had told her about his day job, or that he did, in fact, teach at a university. Lane wasn't much older than a lot of his students. In fact, some of his students were around her age. That thought caused him to chuckle again, the sound vibrating against her neck when his lips angled against the side of her neck, teasing. He reminded her that they were both still naked in her bed with a press of his hips against the curve of her ass. By the feel of things, James was ready to go for round two, if the press of his throbbing length against her cheeks was any indication. This time, though, he was in no mood to rush fervently along.<br/><br/>“Have you considered caring more about your own well-being than others?” He teased her, then ran his tongue along the side of her neck. His hands had lifted enough to close over her breasts, his fingers pulling gently at her nipples.<br/><br/>“And you're not naive. You're an<i>old soul</i>, no matter the implications of that. Despite all the ancestral bullshit, anyone can see just by looking in your eyes that despite your inherent age, you have the wisdom of ages.”<br/><br/>Of course, her next suggestion stopped him from teasing her further. One hand had moved away from her breast to wander to lower areas. He rested it now on her thigh when she shifted around to get a better look at him. His eyes were dark now as he stared down at her.<br/><br/>“<i>No.</i>”<br/><br/>Straightforward and to the point, the single syllable came out harder than he probably intended. Removing the other hand from her chest, he cupped her cheek and leaned his head in to rest his forehead against hers. “Empath or not, I am<i>not </i>going to let you<i>attempt </i>to suck up my pain and turn it into something else. I am<b>extremely </b>familiar with this ability, and if you fuck up, you're stuck with the pain as well. Only it will be like a phantom limb from a war veteran who had his leg shot off and can still, triggered by his mind, feel the pain of losing it. It's not there; there's no rational reason for him to feel any pain in a leg that isn't there, but it will eat your mind from the inside out. So<i>no</i>.”<br/><br/>He said the last again with meaning then leaned in to crush his mouth against hers in a deep kiss. If that wasn't indication of whatever misplaced thoughts were going on in his mind, what he said next might have broken the ice. “I'd like to see about keeping you around, if you don't mind, and picking your brain apart. I'm a big boy and have somehow managed this long, I promise.” He didn't quite break the kiss, but instead whispered against her mouth before he deepened the press of his mouth again.