Archive of Our Own

Phryne was breathing slowly and deeply, crouched daintily under an old staircase. Her make-up was somehow unsmudged even after the long evening since returning to the city from her aunt's house. The situation about their latest murder mystery had Phryne, Jack, Hugh and Dot all stuffed under an old man's stairs, listening to a phone conversation.

The house had been checked and found to be empty. The night was growing dark, and they were coming up with very little by way of leads. It was by chance that the four friends were near the front door at the surprise entrance of the house's owner - having scurried under the old staircase. They kept themselves tucked away, keeping quiet at the confession that was so luckily delivered to them unknowingly - the old man was the culprit after all.

When the coast was clear, Dot and Hugh brazenly decided they had better make a go for the exit, to tell others of what they had heard. Phryne and Jack decided on staying as they were, in case any more evidence came to light about the real killer. Phryne and Jack watched Hugh and Dot slip silently past the foyer, and out the front door only moments before they heard the voice again.

"Yes ... yes, that's what I told them. But- ... Yes, I know that ..."

Phryne was about to teeter over when Jack's hands steadied her at her waist. He sat tucked closer to the wall behind her - more steadily bent on his knees. They both held their breaths while the phone conversation continued.

"You can't tell me what I can and can not admit! ... No, no ... I have to do this."

So he would confess? Jack sighed with relief - tugging Phryne up against him when the old man wandered aimlessly into the foyer with the telephone in-hand. He had a strangely narrow face with large eyebrows, and Jack knew at once it wasn't a face he would forget. It seemed that luck was on their side - if only they could keep their spy mission a secret, the man would walk himself in and confess. He just had to keep himself and the very eager Miss Fisher a secret.

"I'm telling it all, Dear ... I need to come clean ... No, I know that ... Don't you know that by now?"

Phryne breathlessly pushed harder against Jack - not sexually, for once, but for cover - as the shadows just barely concealed her very elegant shoes. Her trousers were black enough to blend into the surroundings, but her pale ankles in any light would certainly give them both away.

Without a word, Jack reached out and tucked Phryne in toward the wall, draping his long raincoat over them both in the shadows. Phryne sat with her shins flush to the old carpeted floor, and her chin tucked to her knees. Jack hunched somewhat awkwardly over her, shielding her from sight. They both understood the importance of the secrecy they were concealing. It was the best outcome they could ask for: a full confession. As much as Phryne enjoyed a good mystery, even she knew the importance of a confession.

"... Well, you can't stop me. No ... no, I'm going. I'm going now ... it's over."

Much to Phryne and Jack's relief, the man hung up the phone, pulled on his own raincoat, and left into the downpour. With the door closed behind him, both detectives let out a heavy sigh.

Phryne's hand darted behind her, to the fabric she had memorized from Jack's trousers - dipping her hand into his pocket.

"What ... What're you doing?" he hissed, pulled even closer on top of her when she pulled him off balance. When he realized she was trying to grab for the car keys, he chuckled at the rough touch. "At least buy me that promised dinner first, Miss Fisher."

Phryne lovingly rolled her eyes, and pouted when he caught her wrist. "Hey!"

"No assaulting an officer of the law," he answered, trying to pull her hand out of his pocket when he felt her go at it just the same.

"Give me those keys! We have to get back there before he does, and I'm the faster driver!" she whispered, as if the old man still lingered. "Jack! ... Unhand me!"

When Phryne brought her elbow back - playfully but certainly - into his stomach, Jack actually laughed. He wrestled Phryne to her chest on the ground before she could whisper any other demands, keeping one wrist behind her back. He kneeled there on top of her, leaning to the admittedly appetizing view he had of her profile and that gorgeously embroidered coat collar. Everything she wore spoke to her sense of fashion, of which even Jack felt peculiarly jealous at times. Looking down at her then, it was not jealousy he felt. It was a heat that flushed through him every time she reminded him she wasn't averse to a little playful squabble or two.

It was with one glance between them that Phryne's breath grew ragged. It was with Jack's hand half-heartedly on her wrist that the heat flushed through her, too. It was a reaction she really would have liked to pushed aside, but the more she and Jack touched, the less capable she seemed to be of playing off her feelings for him. As luck would have it, she moaned when he released her.

"Phryne ..." he moaned back, his eyes guiltily tracing down her back.

She easily rolled onto her back there beneath him, slipping her hand into that very same pocket with a smile that had him leaning a little closer to allow the liberty. That look in her eyes ... he knew the racing drive back to the station was no longer the most pressing matter on her mind, and Jack knew very well there were officers to take the man's confession. He didn't need to be there. Just once, he thought, the paperwork could wait.

Much to Jack's pleasure, Phryne found the keys only to throw them down the hall to land somewhere near the coat rack. She kept the arm extended while her other arm draped nicely around the back of his neck - pulling him down between her legs.

"Jack ... you'll have to brief me ... on what constitutes assault of an officer."

Her smirk had him pulling a smile he reserved just for her mischief. "Assault ...? And here I thought you would be tender ..."

"Is this real ...?" Phryne asked so elatedly it was endearing. She was running her fingers from his collar up to the hair at the nape of his neck. She was staring so intently into his eyes that he thought he might melt right on top of her. His arms went a little shaky, but he forced some composure into himself. This was Miss Fisher, damnit, and he was going to show her how he felt.

Much to his surprise, Phryne welcomed the shake of his arm with another tug - pressing their chests together so she could lock lips with that glorious man. That noble, glorious man. The rumble she heard down in his throat only added to the enthusiasm of their kisses - pushing and pulling at his clothes until his coat was discarded. She landed on top of him in the open hallway, astride his hips and breathlessly tugging off his tie. Her lips tauntingly leaned in, toward his.

"Jack Robinson ..." she panted, slipping the tie over her own head to start on his buttons. "You beautiful man."

Beautiful? He smiled and lifted one amused brow at the suggestion.

"You heard me," she moaned, working the buttons of his vest with experienced, agile fingers.

The care and devotion Phryne showed in her careful treatment of his clothing had Jack appreciating the woman even more - impossibly - than he already did. He had never thought himself to be so liberal as to have a woman pin him so intently, but Phryne had many influences on him, and that loose tie did look rather enticing on her ...

When Phryne felt him hard against her squirming bottom, she moved her hips to a delicious rhythm just to tease him while her fingers worked to undo his vest to pull it open.

Jack laid back with concern at the thought of family planning, trying not to feel disappointment set in when he realized they might not be able to follow through with the intimate act after all. Though Phryne was already miming a wonderful, sensual pace on top of him, Jack tried to gather his thoughts to no avail.

"You know ..." Phryne prompted by the apprehension swimming in those heavenly blues. "I find myself glad I've come prepared for just this occasion."

His eyes volunteered his relief, and Phryne smiled again with her nimble fingers starting their trail down his button-up shirt.

"We can't succumb to this ... here?" Jack tried, as if he was willing to resist even one more moment. As a confession of his desire, his hands finally found a place on Phryne's legs - spanning from her knees to her thighs. He had never imagined it might happen while she wore trousers - what if they were difficult to take off? He eyed her groin helplessly.

"I don't think you have much control over 'succumbing' any more, Inspector," she smirked, opening the shirt that still remained properly tucked into the well-fitted remainder of his outfit. That damned man and his layers! "Come now, Jack ... let me help you out of all this ..."

But he couldn't seem to peel his hands from her legs - he stared up the impressive abdomen he had watched on stage during her fan dance so long ago, to her chest.

"Fine then," Phryne chuckled with another gyration of her hips, seeing he was hopelessly lost to the moment. "Be difficult ... just don't think that will stop me from getting you undressed."

Jack's hands squeezed a little when his thoughts latched onto those soft little buttons of her top - imagining how easy it might be to rip them. His lips tugged up at the thought of something she would certainly complain against - finally something he truly HAD done to earn it.

"... and then you'll see."

He hadn't been listening, but when he looked up at Phryne, he knew what he wanted. He spoke while she tried pulling his button-up from his pants - catching both her wrists.

"Phryne ... I ... I don't think I can wait any longer ..."

"My point exactly ..." she hummed, fixing her posture with his hands closed around her wrists and her hips still slowly grinding down on top of him. "And now I'd like to ask what you want, Jack ... and don't skimp on the details."

Talking about sex during sex? Jack felt surprisingly excited by the very idea of it although his practice was rather lacking. He slowly pulled her arms down so that she laid on top of him with her legs outstretched, kissing her with a patient heat that had her breath catching in her throat. When she was putty in his arms, he flipped them over again, and pinned her arms to the floor delicately but with purpose.

"I have been waiting ... a very long time for this ..."

"-As have I," Phryne interrupted, enjoying the glint of frustration in his eye. "Some would say even longer than you've waited, Inspector ..."

He moved one of his knees very naturally to rest between hers, positioned on all fours above the audacious, infuriating tease. It was in that moment that he recollected so many times she had teased him, and he melted at the thought of having her so pliable beneath his hands. She was so willing and excitable and breathless. It was so easy there, on top of her.

"Could it be that you're just more obvious about what you want?" he teased in the low voice she had always appreciated.

"I don't think you-"

Phryne held her breath when Jack's hand moved over her trousers, just between her legs. It was so quick a movement, she had no time to prepare, and suddenly her hands were on his shoulders - pulling him closer.

"Jack ..."

"What was that?" he breathed with laughter, not allowing her lips to reach up to his, but keeping them close enough that she kept trying. "I'm sorry, Miss Fisher ... I must have missed that ..."

His entire palm laid over her sex, and while the thought of massaging her through her pants was sensational, keeping his calm drove her out of her mind. He couldn't resist the playful tease, pressing against her a little harder with a different angle to hear her gasp and cling onto him with more desperation.

Then he paused and waited with another prompt: "You were saying ...?"

"Kiss me," she said so earnestly that he brought himself to his elbows and kissed her. She gladly parted her legs for his to lie between, and played her tongue with his lips. They laid together, pulling and rocking just lightly against one another while their lips took full advantage of their proximity. First, Phryne started with slow, soft kisses until she was teasing Jack with her tongue so much that he was playing with it, too - nipping at it and pressing it with his own. They were so lost in their languid, messy kisses that they weren't paying attention to anything around them until Jack finally drew back to see that Phryne was lying on top of him again.

"It's always gonna be you on top, isn't it?" he kidded with an obvious desire that showed he wasn't so averse to the idea after all. "Why am I not surprised?"

"I'm surprised too," Phryne started, pressing her chest to his while he brushed her hair behind her ear. "Manual stimulation ... Very surprised indeed, Inspector ..."

Phryne relaxed on top of him, pleasantly occupied with the very distinct feeling against her hip, brushing his hair from his eyes, too.

"And something tells me it won't be ... hard ... for you to find your way on top again ..."

Jack laughed with one arm around her lower back as an instinct Phryne enjoyed very much. He laughed, and then snaked his hand between them again so that he could hear that pleasant little gasp one more time.

"Jack!" she whispered, as if she were chastising him for something. As if she were opposed to the wonderful feeling it gave her - the rush that tingled through her body at his every thorough touch. She was thrilled to see just what else he could do. "I am usually quite a dominant lover ... Mmm ... but that ... I can ... compromise, I su- ... suppose ..."

"Compromising? And so soon?" he whispered, flipping them over again to kiss her. "So willingly?"

"Jack ... when it comes to this with you ... I must admit I'm not in much need of warming ..." She hinted, insinuating that foreplay was unnecessary. "I've been waiting a very long while for this, and I've imagined it just about every possible way."

Jack purred in his own masculine way at the confession, leaving Phryne a weak mess on the floor while he got to his feet.

"Do tell," he smiled, offering her his hands to pull her up there beside him.

Phryne accepted, and stood as calmly as she could, facing him with desperation dancing in her eyes. She wanted to tell him everything she wanted, but scaring him would be unbearable.

He immediately read the concern in her eyes, and helped soothe her concerns by pressing her gently to the wall with his hips. "Phryne ... I want to know how you imagined the first time I touched you ..."

"With your hands, then?" she asked, revealing so much with just one saucy smile.

He moaned and dropped his fingers down to her thighs just to trace them up to her chest again. "Yes ... tell me something. Tell me what YOU want."

"I just want you to touch me because you really want to, and not because of anything else," she said with an insecurity that Jack knew he could dismiss. With one long kiss and hands kneading from her back to her thighs, Phryne understood that his need was entirely mutual.

"And what I want ... is for this to finally be okay," he panted, moving his fingers between their bodies to undo the buttons of her very expensive pants.

"It is! By God, Jack - please! It's okay ... Do I need to beg you to touch me ...?"

"Maybe later," He whispered, fumbling with her trousers when she ghosted her hand over his groin, but focusing again when she squeezed him through his. He wanted her pantless. He wanted her completely nude.

"Oh Jack," she whimpered, realizing with a trembling sigh that it was finally happening. They were going to have sex. Immediately, she thought that Jack would want to be in bed with her their first time, so she voiced the concerns she thought he might have. "The bed ... Is there a bed?"

Her pants pooled at her feet and he was starting on her shirt when she started to pant along with him - bracing herself with her hands on his stunning shoulders.

"You want a bed ...?" he asked with a voice full of surprise and no effort to disguise his reaction. He wouldn't have pegged Phryne for the sort of woman who needed a bed to have sex.

"I'd like for you to be comfortable ... with all this."

"So NOW you're worried about my comfort," he teased, thinking back to all of the times she had purposefully caused him discomfort with little glimpses of flesh and sassy remarks.

His hands trembled from the need to rip the shirt off of her, but he knew that Phryne's clothing held value, and that ripping her blouse would likely cause disappointment to the owner of such marvellous fashion. He tried with his large fingers to get those tiny buttons to cooperate, but it was certainly difficult. He growled when the last button took too long for his liking.

The moment he unravelled her from her shirt, Phryne spun out of the blouse - having stepped clear of her shoes and trousers - and hopped away with a familiar mischievous glare. "You'll have to catch me, Jack."

With that, she bolted up the stairs they had been hiding under earlier - Phryne laughing and screaming when she heard him chase after her.

"Find me, Jack," echoed down the hall when Jack found the top step only to see that he had somehow lost sight of her. She had turned somewhere and found a room she liked.

He carefully maneuvered in the direction of that fantastic voice, slipping off his shoes at the top of the stairs to surprise her with stealth.

Using his keen instincts, he pivoted into the doorway of a room that did indeed hold a lovely woman on a bed. It was a neat bed, tucked in at the sides with a comforter of deep green that somehow flattered Phryne's complexion as she laid perched quiet extravagantly upon it. There she laid, arching for his eyes in only lavender underwear lacier than the set she had worn swimming with him and his loose tie still hanging around her neck. When she pulled it off to throw it toward him, it landed on the floor and remained ignored while he stared unabashedly at her body.

"You look ..."

"Do you like it, Jack?"

He stepped into the room to further survey her, undoing the buttons of his own shirt while he moved closer. At last he was standing beside the bed, staring at her while Phryne wriggled her foot at him, and pressed her thighs together - her feet easily within his reach and her head at the left side of the bed. She reached to the right for a pillow, and threw it at him for good measure.

Jack caught the pillow and threw it back to the bed. He shook his head while he slowly peeled off his shirt. And with the look on her face, he was glad he took the time to accentuate his own chest and arms for her viewing pleasure.

When he climbed onto the bed in only HIS undergarments, Phryne felt her body react. Her entire body was extremely alert and anticipating what Jack might do. Every touch she would savour. Every kiss she would remember. Though Phryne Fisher had never thought of herself as a romantic, she caught herself thinking very romantic thoughts about the man who had finally found her.

She swallowed hard when her perfect Jack leaned over her and smiled that infamously subtle smile.

"So ..." he teased quietly. "You just wear all this ... what? Every day, then? Under your clothes?"

She smiled back: "Waiting for the day you want me as much as I've wanted you ..."

Just then he dipped his head to breathe over what cleavage her camisole afforded to him, moaning when her hands came up, into his hair. "I ... think you underestimate my self-control, Miss Fisher ..."

"Well we'll have to work on that awful thing," she moaned back with her eyes closed and her head tilted back to take it all in. Jack's hands were tracing over her soft lacy garments, slipping under to her even softer skin.

Just when she thought she would completely lose her mind, Jack was pressing a tender kiss to her lips. Phryne returned the kiss only partly before he drew back, but brought both hands to his face to keep him staring down at her.

The look in her eyes was piercingly emotional. Their touching and kissing and teasing had meant so much more to her than sexual gratification, and he saw that in her open, inviting gaze. A gaze that still managed its own subtle hints of playfulness.

"Come after me," she breathed, bringing her legs up to his sides when he laid down on top of her. She was challenging him to chase her through any difficulties they might have.

"... What did you say?" he asked, unable to keep from smiling at her beautiful - if not slightly perplexing - invitation.

"It's a romantic overture," she chuckled, realizing how sappy she had become after all.

Jack brushed her hair from her face, and grew even harder at the loving look echoed back in her eyes. "Say it again ..."

Phryne beamed, licking her lips: "Come after me, Jack Robinson."

And before she could react or speak another word, he was kissing her. He was kissing her for so long and so hard that she melted again only to rejuvenate at the fact that he was beginning a helpless rhythm with his hips. She kept kissing him - only interrupting the way her tongue pushed into his mouth to pull his singlet over his head. She tossed the material behind her, uncaring of where it might go or be. All she wanted was to feel Jack's bare back. His bare chest. She was absolutely thrilled at the thought.

He was warm and muscular, and she moaned loudly at the feel of her hands roaming over his naked upper body.

Jack took his time pushing her camisole up her chest - kissing over her stomach up to pert breasts that became so tempting he needed his mouth to show his appreciation. Any moan she might have sounded was nothing compared to his. The taste of her - the feel of her pebbling under his tongue - was almost more than he could tolerate without losing all control. But there would be times to have her with wild abandon. He wanted to take her slowly first - to learn her body and to learn her desires.

Jack was a patient man, but after discarding her camisole altogether, he didn't think he could wait much longer. He was throbbing so painfully it showed on his face.

It was only after Phryne had tugged down his last remaining garment that he sprung loose and tried peeling away her last article as well. When the silky shorts were drawn tightly at her waist, and her couldn't manage to easily undo them, Jack's composure broke and he ripped them. With careful hands, he rolled Phryne momentarily on her side, and he pulled with all the muscle of his arms.

Phryne was breathless at what he had just done - Jack Robinson was proving to be the most surprising lover.

He reverted back to a gentler man when he kneeled between her legs, holding her face in his hands as she greedily reached for him. The very size of him had her trembling - he was slightly bigger than average, and somehow bigger than she had imagined. What HAD she imagined? She couldn't place it after seeing Jack in his real, naked glory. He was a very tantalizing sight.

"Are you sure?" he muttered when she was encouraging him with her hand to enter her after all of their teasing.

She gave him a very sarcastic look at his caution. "Jack ... I think I'm ready enough for the two of us at this point - of course I'm sure."

He dropped his hips very slowly, entering her with the guidance of her hand. It was not something he would have thought he would accept - to have her taking charge of things, so to speak - but he found that he enjoyed the way she wrapped her hand around him and coaxed him closer. He also enjoyed the way he could look into her eyes while he moved inside of her. He took small, steady movements to be certain he wasn't hurting her by moving too quickly at first.

"Ahhh ... yes," Phryne moaned, moving both hands to Jack's shoulders when he had sunk completely inside of her. She dropped her head back for a long moment with an ecstatic smile to simply enjoy the sensation she had wanted for so very long. "Yes ..."

"Can I move now?" Jack asked nervously, prompting Phryne to take his face in her hands.

"Can you feel that ... how ready I am for you?"

Jack narrowed his eyes in answer, angling his hips in an unusual rhythm just to hear her gasp.

"Jack! ... Jack ... what I'm ... trying to say ... is I'm ready- Uhh! ... I'm ready for you to- ... Uhh ... to do THAT ... keep doing that ..."

Jack smirked when her head fell back again and her mouth hung opened. He had never thought he would see the day Phryne Fisher was rendered completely speechless, but there she was - silent.

He moved his hips quicker, drawing out a little when she met his rhythm with her own. It was a loving symmetry that they shared, moving and moaning together.

Phryne couldn't understand the way he was making her feel - it was other-worldly. She had enjoyed sex before so many times, but never before had she felt so emotionally invested in a man. Never before had she wanted to care for her partner's needs as much as she did with Jack. She thought, with a sympathetic smile, that she understood his overprotective questions after all.

She lifted a hand to his face, earning his eyes eagerly on hers - burning with lust. He was already close, she imagined. Hell, with Jack thrusting between her spread legs, she was close, too.

Phryne's breath came in short gasps as he moved a little quicker before he stopped himself and forced a much slower pattern. "I'm ... I'm losing my mind," he panted, his eyes closed but his lips parted.

"And I'm right there with you," Phryne muttered as she combed her hands into his hair, and traced them down from his shoulders to the arms on either side of her head. "Wanting you with every fibre of my being ... needing you, Jack."

"You need me?" he asked, his voice breaking at the power she was bestowing on him.

"Yes," she whispered as they both stilled in unison. "Yes ... I really need you ... I need you to kiss me."

"Where, here?" he whispered back, dipping low enough to kiss her neck with the same thorough tonguing he had given her mouth earlier.

"Yes, th-there ..." Phryne stuttered, wrapping her legs around him to keep him as deeply inside of her as was possible. "And my lips."

Jack thought about a book he had read and a fantasy he had and decided he could surprise her yet again. Drawing back to look her in the eye, Jack touched her lips with his fingertips as he grinned mischievously: "These lips? Or ...?"

The shock on Phryne's face that he might suggest such a thing had her tightening around him with a pulse that jolted his hips into action. Jack balanced himself properly, and started pushing into her with a new, faster pace. He was staring down at her. Pleasuring her with a confidence he didn't even know he had in him. Certainly he had opened himself up to a very embarrassing conversation as to how he thought to say such a thing, but it had been well worthwhile. Phryne was seductively shocked.

Had Jack just insinuated he might bury his face between her legs? Phryne imagined it was more of a tease than anything else, but if he were teasing already, then he very possibly would give it a try at some point. She dipped her head back at the idea, filled with need at the way he felt inside of her.

"Jack ... Jack ... faster! ... I ... I need to- Uhh ... Jackie! Jack!"

Phryne's face and chest were flushed - her hands were touching and grasping at him with a panicked craze that Jack couldn't fully appreciate in his own state of bliss. He couldn't open his eyes for long at the sensations that gripped him from the heat building within. Phryne had her legs wrapped around him. Phryne was grabbing his hips and pulling him down harder against her. She was as erotic a sight as he had ever imagined, and it was pushing him very quickly to the edge.

Phryne closed her eyes with the thrusts that sent her reeling. She was too close to warn him, she thought. She couldn't even think with the way he was pounding into her with an impressive stamina to his form that had Phryne shaking all over again. She couldn't contain the feeling, and nor did she want to - she gave in with a crashing surrender.

"NOW!" Phryne hollered with such power to vocal chords that Jack would later wonder how they might participate in such activities within the city limits. "YES!" she gasped, erupting with a fit of joyful contractions.

Jack kept moving, but pushed aside his own growing need to climax to watch Phryne in all of her beautiful, naked glory. She had the body of a goddess, he mused.

"Keep going," she rasped, thrilled that he had lasted so long, but curious at the same time. What kind of self-control did Jack possess? Perhaps it hadn't all been teasing after all, she thought with a coy little smile as she slid her hands down over her own chest. She wanted to see if she could tempt him enough to see him lose control of his precise pace.

When she started to massage and squeeze her own breasts, Jack faltered for a moment. She grinned, bit her lip, and then toyed with her nipples.

Jack couldn't control himself any longer. Watching her touch herself brought him such pleasure. Only moments later, he was pulling almost completely out of her only to thrust inside of her all over again. The aftershocks of her orgasm had her so tight that he couldn't hold on any longer, and he sunk into her to climax - crying out with his head buried in her short, damp hair. He was still twitching when her hands swept all over his back and up into his hair to try and catch her breath.

Phryne breathed out completely, and hugged him to her chest. Jack Robinson was lying on top of her - sated and exhausted - in her arms.

"I ... can't believe ... how good ... that was ..."

She chuckled at Jack's exhaustion - feeling so fatigued she was worried she wouldn't be able to move without sleeping first. She was sweaty, and - she just remembered - without any knickers to wear under her pants.

When she laughed, Jack nudged his nose against her neck and moaned: "Mmm?"

She melted again at the sound of him, and grinned like a lovesick fool. "Nothing ... I was just remembering that I might have to pretend I somehow lost my own bottoms of lingerie, lest Dot have a heart attack at the thought of you ripping them through."

Jack chuckled against her neck, and moved his hands down her naked sides to cradle her hips and press down against her once more. "Surely she wouldn't know the culprit just by the tear."

When Phryne stilled for a moment, he carefully pulled out of her - both of them gasping and then relaxing as he laid beside her to touch her with an aimless hand. He looked into her telling eyes, and saw the warm devotion that he hadn't been sure he would ever know from a woman so fiercely independent.

"Jack ... I think even Dot is well aware that I haven't been entertaining men for some time ... and that I only have eyes for you, my dear Inspector."

Jack kissed the fingers that reached up to his lips: "Well ... I've only had eyes for you for some time, too, Miss Fisher ..."

The silence between them had Jack pretending he would bite her fingers if she kept them too close. They both laughed when she squealed and drew them back. Jack kissed her, appraised her fully naked body once more, and raised his brows at her.

"Hey, Jack? Promise me one thing."

"Anything," he answered without pause.

The question seemed as though the promise would be a very difficult deal to make, so Jack readied himself. However, what came out was not what he had expected: "Promise you'll take me out for dinner tomorrow."

"Of course," Jack laughed, wanting to have as many dinners with her as she might allow. "As long as it's not quite this adventurous."

Thinking of the many places in which they had found adventures together, Phryne smiled at the fact that she quite enjoyed their adventures together. She pursed her lips, pouted playfully at him, and then giggled when he kissed her: "No promises there, Inspector."