((Live Rp with Grace Low! Thanks for the play))

Text to Mark: Baby, you gotta come up here for lunch today.
Text to Mark: That Spanish butcher shop down the road is having a Hawaiian Pig Roast.
Text to Mark: OMG it?s making me so hungry!
Text to Mark: So you?re coming, right? See you soon. xox

The air was thick with the tantalizing scent of roasting pork; even a block and a half away, the salon was permeated in it by noon. Grace had texted her husband not thirty seconds after the mouthwatering smell first wafted in, heralding the arrival of the morning?s first clients. By the time the lunch hour rolled around, the smell had becoming maddening, and the tiny stylist was ready to gnaw off her own arm as a result. It was all she could do to make herself wait for Mark, dancing a little from one foot to the other on the sidewalk just outside her shop.

Her resolve might have broken, too, but that the new receptionist poked her head out the door just then. ?Call on line four for you, Grace!? she called cheerily. ?Did you get any of that pork yet? It smells amazing.? Grace shook her head. ?Not yet. Waiting on my man,? she replied as she headed back inside to answer the phone.

Text to Grace: Yeah, I?ll be right there. Just got the car tuned up.
Text to Grace: Almost there.
Text to Grace: Where are you??

Aftah parking tha car he stepped outta it. He gone and washed his hands up well but there was still something slick and metal about them from when he had changed tha oil o? tha car with Hunter. Got on new clothes and he was, for tha most part, presentable. Naht tha he thought he were goin? out tha night or nothing, jist was in the mood fer it. Turned out it worked out fer him on account of Grace callin? and wrangling him tha his present point.

The door swung open like it didn?t care much iffin he were coming or going. There was plenty o? faces there to glance up and lock eye with him, but it weren?t but her pair that warranted his near-goofy grin. Nah jacket tahday, jist tha half faded Artic Monkey?s shirt sayin ?Do I Wanna Know?? ovah tha chest.

?Oi, you.? Got kinda a spark tah seeing her when he stepped in. Or maybe it was jist being hungry and present with tha great smelin? food.

Grace was perched on a corner of the receptionist?s desk, and she was in the process of hanging up the phone when the door swung in, admitting a gypsy king. Several faces had turned at the sound of the door of course, though most of them recognized him as Grace?s man. The smile that split her cheeks matched the one he was wearing when he located her, and her heart fluttered a little in her chest to see him smiling that big.

Hopping down from the desk, she was around it and into his space in a blink. She was wearing a long skirt whose hem dragged the floor as she moved towards him, in the same teal green as her hair, paired with a black tank top. Several necklaces adorned her neck, her small wrists lined with bracelets. Looking more like the proverbial Gypsy Queen than she normally did. Snaking her arms around his waist, that smile was still affixed firmly in place. ?Hey you. Nice shirt.?

?Course she got that kinda smile from him. Usually it happened once they was away from each other fer a bit and then when he saw her it was like new again. Still got a honeymoon in them. Plus, her lighting up tha way didn?t help none, just kinda gave tha smile a life fer moments more, jist up until she was in his space, smiling up at him and catchin? him in her arms like she knew he didn?t have a chance.

?Fine woman like you jist sittin? here alone?? One hand moved tah catch some of her hair and push it behind her shoulder befer he bent down, kissin? her square on the lips. His smile was whut broke tha kiss, his mouth still sah very close tah her own as he spoke, ?How?d yah hear o? this get food you taking me tah??

Grace was grinning into his kiss, and though she was very committed to kissing him, she was having a hard time getting her mouth to ease out of that sunny smile. If Mark hadn?t broken away when he did, she surely would have a few short minutes later.

She was still smiling and clinging to his waist in equal measure, her gaze trained up on his face as she rocked a little on her heels, small shoulders rising in a nonchalant shrug. ?It?s been pretty awful, sitting here waiting for the right man to keep me company?? her voice was a playful singsong. When he asked how she knew about it, she laughed her Christmas bells laugh. ?...Breathe in deep, Baby. You?ll learn about it, too.?

?Ah, yeah? There be a shortage o? tha right kinda person, nah doubt.? One of his arms around her dropped so that he could give her behind a good squeeze. Take in a breath, huh? Hardly took her saying that for him tah smell the scent that come in with ?im. He turned with her tah get back outside and the scent hit them again jist two seconds befer his hand grabbed the front door handle. Was good enough o? an explanation.

?Sah, did yah wait tah eat with me or have you been in agony, wishin? I?d shown up sooner?? He hadn?t investigated the kiss enough tah know if she had a hint o? sugar or vinegar tah give her hunger away.

?I was giving some serious thought to chewing my own arm off,? she confessed, her wide open eyes opening even wider when he goosed her ass like that. Giggling, the girl leaned in, caught a mouthful of his shirt and bit down on the pectoral muscle underneath it with a playful shake of her head. ?Course, now I can just chew on you instead??

Mark opened the door and Grace took the opportunity to step through it. The day was warm and bright with just a touch of breeze -- just enough to push that maddeningly mouth watering scent all the way up the block into her salon. She gestured the way they needed to go, as though it weren?t painfully obvious already. ?It?s down there across from that tea place,? she went on, nodding towards the colorful awnings that had been set up on the street corner.

?You a half feral thin? or whut?? He made a pretty good show o? sounding offended tho he never made good on actually pullin? away from her. In fact, he smile mighta got the weight to it which was more akin tah someone havin? a secret than being offended.

?Oh yeah?? Though it was feelin? like it were about five hundred miles away and the car, and relative privacy, was so much closer. Then his stomach went tah growlin?, like it was tellin? him naht tah try anything funny lest he get a good stab o? pain. Mark turned, tha one arm still keeping a home about her as they walked towards the lashes of color in the sky, marked with the undeniable scent o? food.

The smoke from the outdoor spit rose in lazy, undulating curls, too thick to be pulled apart too easily by the wind. Grace laughed, thinking of all those cartoons where the smell of cooking food grew fingers, catching the main characters by the nose and dragging them out to steal the pie. The pork roast was a little like that for her, its siren scent plucking her up, coaxing her down the street at what probably would have been a run were it not for the Gypsy King beside her.

Grace rolled her eyes at him affectionately. ?Me? Feral? No way. I?ve had all my shots and everything.? Grinning, she slipped her arm around his hips in kind, hooking her fingers into one of his belt loops on the opposite side.

The walk wasn?t far. The Carniceria had three different kinds of meat on offer-- suckling pig, boar, and something called a gilt? -- plus there were an assortment of drinks and fresh cut fruit. By the time they got to it, her stomach was practically doing backflips, the smell had made her so hungry. ?Ohmigod. Finally.? She enthused, wasting no time lining up for food.

?Can have all yer shots and still be a wild thing.? He reminded her with a small shake of his head. There was some kinda humor in that, considering most folks thought of gypsies as being wild outsiders, prowling around and looking for whatever opportunities were there tah have. In many respects that wasn?t wrong, but no one was feral if everyone was, right? Yah.

?You eat tahday?? Kinda sounded like half a mind tah scold her fer naht takin? care o? herself. Grace was like tha, sometimes. Could get sah caught up in thin?s tha she didn?t see how hungry she were. Once they were in line fer food he squinted tah read the menu tha was posted, ?You been here befer, love?? Grace tended tah be more open and adventurous than him. Mehbe it was cause she met the folks around town whilst giving haircuts. Mark was still one tah keep tah himself, it was hard not tah put up that polite wall when someone he didn?t know, and especially one that weren?t of their kind, was talkin.

She plucked a roasted ring of pineapple up off her plate, holding it between two fingers as she nibbled along its edge. The green of her eyes glittered with flecks of gold in the early afternoon sun, her expression soft. Grace nodded once, understanding what he meant when he said he wished things could be like they were. ?I?ll put the word out among the women,? she said between bites with a faint smile, accepting her role in the spreading of rumors that might net them the right new face. ?Would be good to get some new blood around, anyway.?

Her smile spread. ?Just no girls prettier?n me,? she teased, scooping a piece of ice out of her drink after she?d finished her pineapple ring and flicking it over at him playfully.

The shift in the way he was looking at her was apparent, something in the way he smiled, and it made her heart speed up just a little in her chest. Their food was almost done, she still had some time before her afternoon appointments began, and he did have the car here somewhere close by, after all. At his question, she shrugged, the corners of her mouth turning up in a way that was more flirtatious than not. ?I dunno yet, but? maybe we should work on that??

?Is tha sah?? He chuckled as the ice hit him in the center of his chest and then dropped to his lap. He reached down, brushing it off his lap so tha it hit the floor. ?Didn?t know yah was worried about bein? dethroned. Think mehbe yer off yer game?? Was at times like that where his smile was especially boyish, like there was no way he coulda done anything but give her tha playful teasin? like he were jist now.

?Naht a mehbe tah it,? he took another bite from his plate, naht thinkin? that her thoughts was on catchin? the moment she got befer appointments. Weren?t a question of working on something like that, nah fer him, anyway. His left hand dropped, knuckles tah tha table and palm up tah the ceiling tah put in the request fer her hand.

?Dethroned? No way, Mister. You?re stuck with me forever. Barlow Curse, and all.? She grinned brightly at that, clearly pleased with herself for being able to turn that one around on him, at last. ?I just don?t want some poor girl thinking she?s got a shot with you and havin? to learn better.? She wiped her hands on a napkin and then plucked another piece of fruit up off her plate, popping it into her mouth.

Delicate fingers found their way into his hand after she?d wiped their tips on a napkin again, stealing down his fingers into his palm. Grace smiled, realizing that he hadn?t fully caught her meaning, and she gave that hand a gentle squeeze. ?I meant now, Baby.? Her gaze darted pretty deliberately from his face up the road and back.

?I imagine tha tah be a rude awakenin? fer a woman tah have.? Though it couldn't have been better known at camp. Naht that there weren't men who entertained a woman or two on tha side, was just against healthful wishes when it came tah Mark and Grace. Neither really had much patience in tha way o? infidelity, which was as much a secret as the stars.

Seemed he were satisfied tah have her hand drop intah his. He turned their gripped hands over, looking at that way they was laced and smiling gently as she were talking. Weren't until the meaning of her words hit him that his gaze jumped at her. He had a hopeful smile, searching her face tah see just how serious she was meaning it, ?Yeah? Don't you have an appointment comin? up or something??

Grace nodded confidently. Little but Fierce to the very end, she was, or so she was pleased to have everyone believe, at any rate. She let him turn their hands over, her thumb skating affectionately along the edge of his palm, using her free hand to snag one of the few remaining pieces of fruit from her plate. The look on his face told her that he hadn?t quite worked it through just yet, and she smiled indulgently, patient while she waited for him to get it.

Her smile spread into a grin: she could actually see the moment Mark figured out what she was proposing, just half a second before his gaze raced up to find hers there, already waiting. The soft point of her chin dipped in a little nod, her lashes lowering in a way that was at once demure and deliberately enticing. One shoulder rose and fell in a faux-casual shrug as she ran her thumb nail lightly up the center of his palm. ?...Not ?til two.?

?Tha sah?? His head tilted jist a bit tah one side, the midpoint of one eyebrow jumping up as if he were suspecting her casual air to be naht but a bluff. He was watching her all right, seein? how she was playin? coy and dirty, tip toein? right up to where she was suggestive and could still claim she?d done naht but smile at him. Fer nah reason he could think of right away, he thought o? the first time she had given him a shave, how suggestive she had been and how it was like yanking out a tooth tah walk away from her.

?Think I can convince you tah give me all the time you got til two?? both elbows on tha table and he leaned forward tah her, his body language delivering the playful challenge.

Bluffing Mark was a fool?s game, Grace had never once attempted it and won. It didn?t stop her from trying, sometimes. Playing this game of dare and double dare with him, of constantly elevating the stakes until her insides squirmed and her heart raced, it had been a feature of their relationship from maybe the third time they?d really hung out together. The months since then had made the game better and worse; better because she knew how to get to him now, worse because he?d gotten that much better at getting to her. Worse because she knew exactly what they were building up towards now, better because she couldn?t wait to get there.

A nonchalant shrug moved over her shoulders, and she drew the fingertip of her free hand over the full swell of her lower lip as if she were trying to decide, as if it were a difficult decision. ?I don?t know,? she said at last, her tone doubtful, eyeing him skeptically. She fought the urge to grin, keeping her mouth in line even as she uttered the words that would ?damn? her to the kind of undivided attention that made everything else in the world disappear. ?How convincing can you be??

It were like all the cinematic vows was saying. She got him, fer better and fer worst. Fer the now and later. She got his potential and what he already were, sittin? opposite o? her like he was jist then.

?Tha sorta convincing that you need.? his weight swayed a little left and right on those shoulders which were swinging the weight of his chest between his elbows on tha table. His gaze broke tah glance at their hands and then he looked right back tah her, ?I can tell by tha look of you. You?re needing tah be convinced o? mehbe one or two thin?s before two o?clock.? There was his wink and then he slipped outta his seat, his hand still holdin? hers as he stood up, ?Or I could jist pull yah along, let you roll yer eyes a little befer yah can?t help but kiss meh.?

She had exactly what she wanted: Mark. His better and his worst. The side of him that was camp leader and the side of him that was boyish and playful. What he was and what he could be. All his little facets shaped him into the man she loved, and she wouldn?t have wanted him any other way.

Her smile showed up then, escaping her efforts at containment, and it was the kind of smile a woman only gives the man she?s in love with, involving as it did every part of her face and all the sparkle in wide green eyes, too. His wink is what undid her, dissolved her posturing, turned her into that giddy high school teenager with a crush. That and the dimples in his smile. Mark stood and Grace stood with him, the way their hands linked never faltering. ?...you could probably do both, if you were real determined about it??

?I believe yah know me tah be jist that,? he bent real quick tah kiss her on the cheek and din took the lead, weaving about tables and chairs and other patrons. At some points his blue eyes jumped like he was double checkin? who and what were around them before stepping out. It were good he hadn?t eatten tah much or he?d be more inclined tah sleep than anythin? else. Once they were back tah the main walkway, his hand broke from hers tah wrap around her shoulders, where he kissed tha top of her head.