I honestly had not expected this reaction from accidentally touching her bum.

Cinder had grabbed my arms and pushed my back into the wall of the hallway nook, the railing over which a great store room was visible was to my right.

I had expected a scathing remark, perhaps an indignant swat. I had sorely misinterpreted how her recent mission had fared; sensing it had failed spectacularly, I shirked back.

Too slow - the edge of her mouth twitched upward as her plan formed and set in motion. She moved my hands to her waist then let go, indentations from her nails still felt in my wrists. Her palms touched my waist and her body hovered just beyond touching mine before she leaned back, her elbows not straightening at all.

I did my best to control our descent to the floor, yet was powerless to do more than allow her back to land on the cheap tiled floor. My legs were bent, feet too far apart, hovering over her, doing my best to not let my weight fall on her. I adjusted my stance and made the next move in our dance: I slid one of my hands from her sides down past the hem of her dress to her legs.

Just as my guard dropped in favor of excitement, confusion returned as a swift knee to the stomach returned me to reality. The force flipped me over her, my shoulders as the pivot point, onto my back.

"You do not get to touch me."

' Yup, too good to be true.' I look up to see the vixen above me, giving me her trademark smirk. I turned my sight from her to the wall and started to roll over, intending to get up.

"I'm not done with you yet." she said, her lips still hinting upward, "It's been far too long since I've been this . . . stimulated," Her voice was the too-familiar mix of command and suggestion that consistently rendered me incapable of forming my own thoughts.

I had returned to my back in temporary defeat brought on by curiosity. My reddened face elicited a grin. 'Is she serious or just playing with me?' The sound of heels punctuated each of her steps as she walked around to my side.

Her legs straddled my waist, the sides of her lifted heels pushing in as she stood over my sprawled form. "Are you so much of a fool as to think I was serious? That alone is why you are nothing but my tool."

My thoughts were swirling in a mad pool of lust and fear.'Maybe being a tool is not so bad after all. 'Of course, I couldn't say this, as my mouth seemed unable to keep pace with my racing mind.

"Oh, my, it seems I've thrown you into a little tizzy, haven't I?" Cinder giggled lightly and bent forward. Her hands drifted from my chest outward over my shoulders and arms,fingers going into every groove and muscle, in the process bringing her face closer to mine.

Abruptly, she stood back up and placed her high-heeled-clad foot on my sternum, letting some weight rest upon it.

As disconcerting as her sudden change was, accompanied by a contented pause and self-assured smile, one thought bubbled from my muddled mind: 'W ow, how I am I so turned on by this? I can barely breathe, but somehow I'm okay with that. Still... '

"Erm ... you do realize that we're still in the middle of a hallway, right?"

----------{Cinder}----------

"Do you have a problem with that, Roman?" She drew out the sound of his name, letting it roll over her tongue the way she always did, the way only she could. "Does it bother you? Is there a reason for us tobe elsewhere?" she asked, taunting him.' Let him speak his mind and feel the fool, or play smart and wallow in 'what ifs'. This is my game, and there is no right answer, only my wrath and tolerance. '

----------{/Cinder}----------

"W-well, I'm actually quite comfortable, but, uh, it's less about me and more about . . . well, you," I stammered. 'Am I trying to protect myself? This might just make her angrier . Oh well , I hope not.'

"Me?" she cooed, her heel pushing into my chest as she leaned down. "Why am I not to be in this hallway? Am I not allowed? Is it," she paused for effect before letting the last word fall from her lips and hover between us, "unsafe?"

' Shit, she's good.'

"Well, truth be told, you project a certain persona here, one that contradicts you being a student. There've been rumors going around these parts that some Haven students have been playing hooky to hang around shadier areas of Vale. I'm certain that has nothing to do with an upstanding honour student such as yourself, however, you are certainly . . . " I wasn't sure what was the best way to say it, but in the end I resorted to a less provoking word than I had had in mind. "distinguished in appearance."

Cinder's eyes narrowed as she looked down upon me, her eyes flicking to my currently bare head. Instead of easing off my chest she used her foot to push herself back up to a stand.

"What do you know of the affairs of students? Are you not busy enough with your thefts? Need I assign more? Come to think of it . . . there is still room enough to walk in this warehouse, perhaps that is a problem." Her words may have betrayed her, but her face bore an expression worthy of any crime lord.

'I may be foolish, like a stray that deign s to bite the hand that feeds him , but this game is simply too much fun.'

I quickly regained my composure, although not the privilege of legs beneath me.

"I didn't realize you wanted to blow up Vale four times over; I thought you might be satisfied with just three," I retorted with no attempt to conceal my sarcasm, adding, "and if I'd known you wanted me so badly, I would have happily obliged." I finished with a cavalier sneer that I couldn't have made more smug.

My sardonic reply was unwelcome; the glare Cinder rained down upon me said as much. Her lack of patience made evident that her day had been comprised of little more than disappointment. ' Has this game run its course? It was starting to ge t fun before I ruined it. Well, anything I say tends to do that. Perhaps I never needed a tongue. Oh, but how dearly I loved ordering people around. Maybe she will just beat some sense into me, maybe even put it off for another time. '

"You have no comprehension of true finesse, that much is clear. Wiping Vale off a map serves no purpose at all. There are things at play here, boy, that you could not begin to understand. Pieces must be set, and there is no room for the short of sight." She said with a sigh of disappointment as she removed the foot from my chest and returned it to my side. "And no, I will not tell you what they are, you loud-mouthed thug." She pivoted on her other foot, turning back the way she had originally been headed.

----------{Cinder}----------

Cinder's footsteps faltered as she lifted a hand, letting her fingertips lightly graze her temple before her arm fell to her side and the regular pattern of her steps resumed. The day truly had been little more than a string of disappointment; adversaries had been shown to be weak, underlings useless, Roman not keeping up with tonight's game and throwing low punches . . . 'That hint alone was likely more information than the twat deserved. Oh well, at least I did not start burning this place to the ground so he would have to start over. Perhaps next week.'

----------{/Cinder}----------



By the time I had managed to get my feet under me and find my hat, Cinder was nearing the end of the corridor, already past the office she would commandeer from me whenever she worked here.

"Wait!" I called out without a plan in mind. 'Maybe I am short-sighted.'All I knew was that I wasn't done. I didn't want to have lost this game so easily and an inkling of guilt urged me to not let her out in the wild in such foul mood.

The sound of her footsteps stopped, although mine took up the beat as I walked toward my office. I watched her turn, her dress a bit too bright in the dark corner she stopped. She waited, but it was not more than seconds before I stopped in front of my door.

"I'd like you and your master plan to go over the hits for this week, since long-range plans are so important in this operation." I said, projecting my voice just enough to reach the end of the hallway clearly. 'I probably shouldn't have laid the mockery on so thick. Hopefully my head won't roll for that ; my hat might get dirty.'

Cinder had reached me by the time I had the room unlocked. Her hand touched mine on the knob, stopping it from opening the door. "Is that all?" she asked, her voice nearly a purr. I could feel her chest against my back and her right fingertips glancing over the waist of my coat.

My entire body was stiff. I hesitated, unwilling to answer rashly or incorrectly. A cigar to calm my nerves suddenly became an all-encompassing thought.

Her hand slipped past the bottom button of the coat, fingers hooking over the top of my trousers.

Footsteps echoed around us.

Cinder removed her hand from over mine, but the one behind my belt remained.

'With hands as warm as hers, how are her nails so cold?' I thought, finding it difficult to choose how to approach this new challenge.

My hesitation decided it for me, the masked animal was within sight of us, surely, although I did not look up. I turned the doorknob and started to open the door, pausing to face the intruder only when he stopped.

"Well? What is it?" I asked, filling the question with as much disdain as I could without suggesting the faunus had interrupted anything more than a busy crime lord. 'I am not an animal like their lot, I have enough self-control to not be caught compromised.'

'Right?'

The faunus gave a short report of the nightly inventory then absconded, all with effort taken to avoid looking at either Cinder or myself.

The flat of Cinder's nails pressed into my gut, pushing me into her hips. I took a step forward, but was held back. I strained and failed to reach the light switch.

I swear I could feel Cinder smile. With no other respectable option I rotated an arm to reach behind me, wrapping it around her waist as I pushed back into her.

At first she was there, but the next moment she was not. I had not even felt her fingers slide from my waistband, but I did feel the hard, cold, floor I connected with. A look up showed me her condescending smile, a smile that betrayed amusement but an unspoken rule that I would never be permitted to play at her level.

Determined, I grabbed one of her ankles in an attempt to bring her down to my level.

It was not one of my better plans. She picked me up by my scarf and lifted me up. Lifting me to my feet would have been too kind, she lifted me higher, holding my back against the door frame.

"What did I say about touching me?" she asked in a sweet tone that contradicted our current positions.

"Well, sweetheart, if you don't want to be on the floor don't put me there." I responded, and she gave just enough pause to permit me to choke out one last remark with my failing voice. "Although, if I recall correctly, you recently put us both on the floor and seemed to like it."

Cinder dropped me and I bent at the hips, my knees nearly buckling as my lungs gulped air.

"Do come in, dear." I suggested, standing back up with a smile and wave into the room. "We have a small matter of business to discuss."

Cinder shook hair from her face and walked away.

I waited a minute, but was about to spit out a snarky comment regarding robbing the same places two weeks in a row and getting the entire operation caught by the police when Cinder paused and spoke to him over her shoulder.

"There are going to be a few more weeks of heists, so space them out and don't fall into a pattern." she said simply, leaving me alone to watch her take a few more steps and round the corner.