Chemical Poison . Howard Stark

Chapter 50

* Disclaimer: nice short chapter with some mediocre written intimacy because I cannot (for the life of me) write anything past kissing without cringing and getting the icks. Can easily skip this lmao cuz I am so uncomfortable that I wrote this BUT YOLO my creative writing tutor says I need to write uncomfortable pieces to get better but y'know live laugh love I miss Alexander. I SWEAR IF THIS GETS REPORTED FOR THE BARE MINIMUM OF INTIMACY I WILL LIKE SCREAM WGHEFDJNSCHEBVF YOU WERE WARNED IN ADVANCE LMAO

Anneliese wakes to his fingers falling through her hair and slowly down her spine. Her cold skin is pressed into Howard's warm side, and she feels a creep of a blush crossing her cheeks as she stares up at Howard. He hadn't realised she was awake as he quietly flicked to the next page of the folder, his eyes intense on the words in front of him as he pushed his glasses from falling off his nose. It was a strange sight: Howard's seated in their bed, his cheat bare, and reading a folder with his glasses on as he slowly traces circles into her spine. Yet it was a sight she could get used to.

With every line he traced into her skin, she is reminded of last night: of clothes lost to the floor, the sudden nerves as Howard lowered her onto the bed – everything exposed, and the feeling – the fullness of it all. Anneliese felt herself grow warm, embarrassingly warm as she continued to stare up at a man who made her come undone far too many times than she thought was possible. It seemed the rumours were true: Howard would stay up all night making love if he could.

Insecurity was eating her up in the beginning, and by the end, she was lost for words as she remembered the flush face, the mess she made in his hair with her hands, and the curve of his lips as he asked her do she want another round.

"Morning, love," Howard whispers, his voice throaty and lower than normal and she finds herself growing warmer, much warmer.

His eyes meet hers as he rests the folder on the bedside table and Anneliese decides she can get used to this. Howard's morning voice, his glasses, and the undying eye contact that seems impossible to break. It's addicting. The bottom of her stomach drops, and she finds herself in need of him.

"Slept well?", he whispers in her ear and the warmth of his breath forces shivers down her spine as his fingers continue his slow descent down her back.

Anneliese instinctively arches towards him and away from his fingers. The movement isn't ignored by Howard as his fingers change direction and move up the edge of her waist and towards her breast. She's heaving and in sunlight slowly glowing in the dark room, she catches her breast moving in and out as she breathes deeply. Her breath catches as his fingers crawl across her breast and over her nipple.

Raising her eyes from his fingers teasing her nipple to Howard, she's startled by the look in his eye. At first, she panics. The usual gold is gone as his pupils had been dilated and his breathing is as deep as her own...

Oh.

Oh.

"Not particularly," Anneliese barely says, her breath catching as Howard shifts in the bed and his other hand trails up her inner thighs. "Someone kept me up all night."

A chuckle leaves Howard's lips as he continues his tour of her body: nipples caught between his thumb and wedding finger, the other exploring the pale skin between her legs. It was euphoric.

"I suppose someone should apologise," he says as his fingers reach her unclothed core.

Lightheaded with anticipation, Anneliese replies breathlessly, "That would be a gentlemanly thing to do."