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She almost choked on her burger then and there but collected herself, pressing the side of her wrist to her mouth. "You tellin' me you have a big willy, Crowe, or that you would've abused your power to get me the job?" She laughed, but eyed him suspiciously with a cheeky glance to his lap. Realizing it a moment later, she looked away for another bite of her burger. She hoped it was dark enough in the car for him to not notice the slight color that flooded her cheeks. "I <i>know </i>you do. Why do you think I tell you to wait outside?" She spoke around her bite. "Even if they're doin' nothin' wrong, you make people twitchy in there," she teased, smirking over at him. As much as she spoke to her food, she was shameless in it. She had an air of <i>judge me, I dare you </i>about her. Little care of what was thought about her in that aspect. She wasn't looking to impress anyone, even him. Yet, even in all her chipmunking, food sweet talking and cheeky behavior, he still stuck around. "Sometimes," she admitted in a mumble. "But what's the ratio of being as satisfied as I am with the burger?" She jested, unable to keep herself from smirking for it. She was ravenous, but she hadn't eaten much today. If only because she hated dancing on a full stomach. It made her feel bloated and sluggish, which wasn't exactly a prime feeling while you're spinning around a pole. "Well, if you're gonna let it go to waste, I'll eat it," she told him, just to eye the burger as if it might just talk back. "... How much you wanna bet it'd talk shit? I'd still eat it," she admitted with a snicker. <br/>
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She appreciated that he let her have her independence. Just like she didn't complain too much when he slipped up and did something like open a door for her. She knew it was just in his nature, and couldn't fault him for it. Even if she cynically believed chivalry was dead, but he had only proved that White Knights weren't. Even white knights who got a little fresh. She had to stop chewing when he spoke of the heimlich to stifle her laughter. "Are you trying to <i>get </i>me to choke? 'Cause now it just seems tempting," she shot him a playful squint, even sashayed her hips a little in the walk in her cheeky way. <br/>
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"Food is always the best presents. Some girls like jewelry, I like cheeseburgers and beer," she laughed, shaking her head. Now that they were inside, and she knew it was safe, she let the tension loosen in her shoulders. Though, it was hard to completely relax, even around him. But it was a different form of tension that built in her. The simple brush of fingers left the imprint of his touch that she felt even after her hand fell away from the bottle. "Sounds like it. You need to lay on the couch and vent, champ?" she smiled, taking a refreshing swig of her own beer. The initial hit of carbonation made her eyes water slightly as she swallowed and she sighed. It was a pleasant feeling, and relaxing. As he made his way to the couch, she rounded it on the other side but didn't sit. Instead, she set her beer down on the coffee table and turned to start toward the bedroom until she heard him speak. She paused. One brow arched as she looked over her shoulder at him. Slowly, she turned halfway as he spoke to set her gaze on him more completely. It wasn't an unappealing thought, but she wasn't all that sure where it had come from. Seemingly, it came out of nowhere. <br/>
<br/>
Those five words made her pulse quicken, and her stomach knot up as it always did when she thought about it. <i>In case I'm not there. </i>While she wasn't dependent on him by any real means, the thought of him not being around put an empty hole in her stomach and made her chest ache. The man had weaseled in under her skin, even when she'd fought it for the longest time beforehand. Even though she accepted it now, she cursed herself for the way her throat jumped with a harsh swallow and her eyes avert from him. "If you think..." she paused again, trailing off as he rose and she hadn't really noticed the way her arms had wrapped around her waist, as if the emptiness she felt having heard that small phrase could be filled by hugging herself. The tender touch to her cheek had her head turning to look up at him. <br/>
<br/>
She wasn't short, in fact she was rather tall for a woman at five foot nine, but he still towered over her by five inches. Her eyes lifted slowly to his with his guiding nudge, and as hard as it was to maintain eye contact, she managed. He knew the pain behind them already, so she didn't feel the need to hide it from him. As much as she swallowed it down, it was still there, buried beneath smart ass quips, sarcasm and cracked stone walls. Him telling her he'd drop anything for her gave her a complex mixture of warmth and guilt, but she almost had to look away when he called her out on her shit. She did say that, almost reflexively... to... everything. The firmness in his voice, even the reasonable logic behind it had her nodding her head slowly. But it wasn't so much that as the emotion behind it. Her eyes ticked between his, and it eased the unsettled feeling that she normally had when he did these things for her. His good nature need of justice and what he did for work... she often wondered if he felt obligated to help her. That what she went through was somehow a responsibility he took on, even though she thought he'd done more than enough by allowing her to pull the trigger that day. "Axel..." She muttered, her arms unfolding from hugging herself as she started to reach for him, then stopped midair to words that made her natural tan flush ashen. "What?..." She made a disgusted face, her reaching fingers curling inward for a moment as her nails bit into her palm sharply. Her jaw tensed as she swallowed the taste of bile in the back of her throat, and the pounding thump of anxiety that had jump started her heart beat. She looked away for a moment, a glaze of distance in her eyes for a moment until the sound of rage in his voice brought her back. It eased her own, and when she looked into his steeled expression, she knew he wouldn't let anything like that happen to her. All the anger she'd seen in him talking to that sack of shit back there... the way he'd stepped up to him, the way the boy had slipped away like a mouse escaping from a lion.. She knew just how ferocious he <i>could </i>be. <br/>
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Her fingers uncurled from leaving crescent moon indents in her palm, her hand resting against his broad and chiseled chest as she looked up at him. The mention of a bribe brought a weak smile to her face, and she caressed his chest with her fingers like... she was petting a cat. She wasn't all that good at showing affection, more than not it came out awkward. But she tried, dammit. "It's okay, Axel," she started, then caught herself, nose wrinkling to the boop he gave it. "Okay, peaches. I'll let you play chauffeur to take me home.. and I'll go with you to the shootin' range. I wouldn't mind carrying," she admitted, rolling her shoulder in a shrug. "I got a switchblade in my purse, but if someone's got a gun..." she snorted. "Bringing a pig sticker to a gun fight ain't much of shit. I want to be able to defend myself, and not just rely on you for it..." She lifted her hand as if to pause anything he might say. "I appreciate everything you've done for me. The rides, keepin' a watch out for me. The cheeseburgers," she smiled a little more genuine, more easily. "Since that day..." She swallowed, shaking her hand as she patted his chest softly. Expressing how she felt wasn't all that easy a task for her. "You're the only one I can really feel safe around. But... I can't have you gettin' hurt on my behalf." She steeled her gaze on him, stern and strict. Steel on steel. "At the very least, I wanna be able to have your back just as much as you have mine. What we did... What <i>I </i>did..." She whispered, as if anyone could be listening. "That's on me, whether it was your gun or not. And I can't let what I did come back to bite you in the ass. As much as you do for me... I wanna be able to do for you, Axel. This ain't a one way street," she shook her head, looking up at him. "It never was, and I never want it to be." Lifting her chin, she seemed hesitant, uncertain, if not awkward as she toed up to him and rose on her toes to press a brief, featherlight kiss to his cheek before she cleared her throat and gave his chest a bit of a rougher double tap pat. "And I won't take no for an answer, peaches. So don't try to talk me out of it," she huffed, taking a step back from him. <br/>
<br/>
Turning away from him, her fingers slid away from his chest as she anxiously made her way toward the bedroom with the intent to change. As it was, she was already unfastening her leather pants as if she couldn't get out of pants quick enough. That was nothing new, though. If she could get away with it, she'd never wear pants. While she wasn't much of a dress girl, she couldn't deny that it was... freeing. Though, with her back turned toward him as she wiggled out of her pants while she walked, kicking off her shoes once she breached the open doorway to the bedroom, there was a flush of color on her face for simply kissing his cheek. But for all the emotion and rage that had built inside him as he'd spoken, she almost wished she'd had more courage to kiss his mouth instead. <i>Fool, he's too good for you. You're damaged goods, used up and broken. </i>Shaking her head, she went for the dresser to retrieve a bigger tee shirt that seemed more suitable for him than her as she slipped out of her midriff and exchanged it for the oversized tee. It fell to the tops of her thighs and hung loose on her, but it was comfortable to sleep in and covered the majority of her with exception to her long legs. It wasn't but a moment later that she emerged from the bedroom. </span>