Charmed, I'm Sure

Rose McGowan sucked back on the cigarette in her mouth, her eyes slowly rolling back into her head as she sank lower into the leather chair. She felt the sensations moving through her in waves, heightening her pleasure. Her thick red lips pursed and she watched the pale smoke billow out of her mouth slowly, rising to the ceiling. She gave a moan as she raked her teeth over her bottom lip and sighed, closing her eyes.

She had one foot on the floor and one draped over the arm of the chair. One hand held her cigarette while the idly played with her left nipple through her silk slip. The silk felt sinfully decadent against her flushed body, and Rose took in another breath as she gasped and sighed. Her eyes were closed as she leant back against the overstuffed cushions of the chair.

"You are so good at that..." she murmured softly as she took another drag and moaned quietly, then blew the smoke up into the air. The man between her thighs didn't answer. Danek Rogar was most definitely wonderfully busy at that moment. He reached down to the floor and took a drink of his vodka, letting two ice cubes slide down the glass into his mouth.

Rose felt the icy touch of his tongue slide inside the hood of her clitoris and wriggled against the hot little bud. Lightning shot up her thighs and back, and the Charmed star let out a ragged breath. After a moment, his mouth left her, and she took another drag of her cigarette, then gasped and blew a mouthful of smoke up into the air as she pinched her nipple hard.

Danek reached down, putting the glass back, then picked up a mug of steaming water and swished some around in his mouth, heating up his tongue, then spitting some onto her clit and massaging her with his tongue tip. Rose began to shake, and her hand left her nipple and grasped the back of his head as she began to quiver around him.

Rose's hand dropped the cigarette to the floor and she moaned as Danek's tongue wriggled against her, and then his mouth opened wide and his teeth dragged across her swollen lips. Rose squeezed her eyes shut and came with a shudder, gushing slightly right into his mouth. Danek smiled and picked up his vodka as Rose sagged back into the chair, limp and spent.

"Hmmm, baby, that tongue of yours should be insured." Danek drained off the rest of his drink and walked over to the fire. He stoked it up a bit and threw another log on, to last the next few hours. Rose took several deep breaths, and stoop up, grabbing her pants and sliding them over her pale legs. Danek glanced back and then looked at the fire again, rubbing his closely shorn goatee in the dark light of the fire.

"Can you...?" Rose shook her head as she tied her blouse back around her midriff and fluffed her hair back out down her back.

"Look, lets not go into this too far, huh? We both know that what we've got is good, and works well. You get to fuck a movie star and get fucked well, and I get the relief and you know. Everything works this way." Danek nodded and poked absently at the fire again. "You're cool with that, right?"

Danek didn't answer for a moment, until she came up to him and took his empty glass away and put it on the coffee table. She picked up her jacket and threw it around her shoulders, then stepped in close to his arms and gave him a lingering hug.

"I'm just not ready for a relationship right now. That's all. This works, don't over-think it." Danek smiled against her hair and enfolded her in his arms.

"But that's the problem, Rosie, because it's just getting to close. I can't do the whole detachment thing. Before you, I'd never slept with a woman I wasn't with. Now, it's all I do. You may not be exclusively mine, but I'm exclusively yours." Rose smiled and raised her chin. Her dark eyes were alight in the fire, and her thick lips parted. Danek could smell her cigarettes on her breath and turned away slightly.

"That's sweet, Dan, but you don't have to. You can see other people. As long as I keep getting what's mine." Her hands wormed down into his open jeans and ran through his thick pubic hair. Danek frowned and stepped back.

"I'm not some... meat for you. If I see other people, I could grow to feel for them what..." Rose tilted her head and then turned away, grabbing her bag.

"Whatever, Dan, I'm sorry if you love me, but that's just why we're only working as a friends with benefits kind of thing. I'll see you tonight, at the club? You can be my personal bad boy barman, and maybe I'll stay the night with you, yeah?" She was out the door before she'd even finished talking, and Danek shook his head and closed his eyes.

"I could grow to feel for them what is not returned to me now," he finished wearily. He went and refilled his glass, then went around and picked up the still smoking cigarette that she'd dropped on his polished floor. He threw the butt into the fire and shook his head.

Danek had met Rose McGowan at one of LA's infamous parties. He'd been friends with the host, and she'd asked him to man the bar and make sure everyone's glass was full at all times. Rose had gotten completely plastered and Danek had had to drive her home. They'd nearly crashed when she'd tried to go down on him in the car.

He'd carried her up to her apartment, and she'd faked being unconscious, so he found her keys and let them in, then she'd gotten them into bed, and the rest was history. It had been a wild night, the kind of sex that Danek had only seen in porno flicks. He stretched out and looked at the setting sun from his balcony.

The second level of Danek's home faced West, with the entire wall being made of glass and polished wooden pillars. It held a marble fireplace and an enourmous bed, two armchairs and his bathroom and wardrobes. Downstairs was the entertaining area. Danek only owned one television, and it sat in his kitchen, downstairs.

He opened the window to let in the cool evening breeze and shook his head. The sunsets were so different here. Danek was South African, and operated several businesses in Johannesburg, including three nightclubs, a restaurant, a safari company and a shark diving charter. He'd recently lost his only surviving relative, his dearly loved sister, in a car accident as she was touring through London, and he'd taken some time off in LA to blow off some steam and mourn.

His sister had been happily married, with one child and another on the way when a runaway bus had wiped out the whole family. The bus driver had personally tracked Danek down to beg his forgiveness, and Danek had given it, though now he wondered if he hadn't been in shock then too, to so easily forgive the man.

The LA party scene was world-famous for being completely unbelievable, and Danek could well believe that. It was something of a testament to his resolve to move on that he was still here. He'd been invited to the launch of the complete Charmed Series Boxed Set, and that was only because of his social friendship with Rose.

He closed the window and shivered, then headed towards the shower. Social friendship. Friends with benefits, the Americans called it. He walked past the mirror as he discarded his jeans, the only clothing he wore. He was incredibly fit, the result of hours of diving and working out, and good diet. A single straight scar, running from the top of his cheek to his eyebrow framed his left eye.

The knife blade had barely missed his eye, but the scar was quite noticeable against his dark, tanned skin. It was something of a rarity to meet a mugger who actually had the balls to attack someone for their wallet these days, but he'd had to find the one. The only reason he'd fought to keep it was because it held one of the three pictures of his sister and her family.

He could just barely see the lines of his tattoo curving over his shoulders and under his arms across his ribs. It covered the most part of his upper back and shoulders. He looked down at his left wrist, at the tattoo there, and then at the one around his right bicep. He looked back at the mirror and rubbed his unshaven cheek, smearing some of Rose's vivid lipstick from where he'd taken her against the wall in their struggle to get inside.

His shower started with a hiss of steam, and he turned on the small lamp and the exhaust fan as he stepped into the stream of water. His cock hung, sated and full between his legs as he washed his body down. He'd been working in the garden when she came for him today. He was building a small Japanese Rock Garden in the back yard, complete with Koi pond and prayer garden.

Danek sighed as he heard his phone ring, and then he heard a voice in Afrikaans begin speaking on his machine. His lawyer and business managers on a conference call, all telling him that his businesses were fine. Danek smiled to himself, wondering how much they'd take by the time he eventually returned.

The shower ended and he moved to his wardrobe, looking for something to wear. The party would begin in about three hours, but he still had to get there and set up the bar. Danek cleared his throat and thought about shaving, then let the idea go and moved to get changed. He caught a glimpse of Rose's lipstick covered champagne glass on the table, and his thoughts wondered again.

He didn't love her. He was just beginning to, and he didn't like it. It wasn't as though he was completely idiotic, he was fucking the sultriest woman on television, and she was loving it. It wasn't any of that. Danek wasn't ready for a no-strings attached relationship. He was ready for a full, loving, spend the rest of your life with someone relationship. He just didn't know if LA was the place where...

His alarm went, and Danek shook himself out of musings. First, he had to get dressed. Then he had to go play at being a barman.

********

"Hey, what can I get you, beautiful?" The gorgeous brunette smiled charmingly at him and tipped her empty champagne glass towards him. Danek popped the cork with a flourish, and Holly laughed. The room was packed and there were beautiful women everywhere. There was a maternal quality to the gorgeous woman in front of him, and Danek poured her another glass.

Holly laughed loudly and put her fingertips to her chest. Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes were wide and slightly unfocused. She turned around and screeched with laughter as she nearly fell off her stool. A young man with deep, soulful eyes and dark hair came up and caught her just in time.

"Easy there, "mom" you've had enough, I think." Holly laughed again and put her arms around the young man's shoulders.

"Drew, baby, meet my new bestest friend! This is um... what's your name again?" Danek laughed and reached under the bar for a beer and flicked the top off for the young man.

"Drew Fuller." Danek gravely shook the young man's hand and inclined his head.

"Danek Rogar." Drew's eyes narrowed slightly and then flashbulbs erupted everywhere, and someone else was coming through. Holly turned and giggled as Alyssa Milano strode through the flashing cameras and hugged her friend. She looked at the slightly older woman incredulously.

"Fuck, Holly, are you drunk?" Holly shook her head, then steadied herself on Drew's arm.

"Okay, maybe had a little bit too much. I've only been here for an hour. But I'm having so much fun! Lyssie, you have to meet Danny, he's so funny, and he's got this really sexy accent!!" Alyssa laughed and gave Drew a quick hug, then turned to Danek, who inclined his head.

"Bottle of water, please." Danek inclined his head again and reached behind him to the fridge and twisted the top off. Their fingertips touched and Alyssa blushed. Danek looked back down at the bar and picked up a cloth to wipe it down.

She was stunningly sensual, a confidant modern woman in her sexual element. Her fitness was obvious, she was much more lithe than Rose, and less maternal than Holly. Something about her screamed dichotomously sweet and bad. Her dark eyes and blonde hair contrasted, and Danek found his eyes moving over her, seeing several tattoos. She wore tight fitting pants and a strapped top, which showed off her midriff and the pierced belly button.

Danek's eyes roamed up her neck and again to her eyes, where she raised an eyebrow at his perusing gaze. He cleared his throat and looked back down to the bar. "Has anyone seen Rose? She's supposed to already be here." Drew glanced at Danek, then shrugged at Alyssa's question.

"Dunno, she was headed to the bar last I saw..." Holly cut him off with a shrill laugh, and pointed vaguely in the direction of the MC's stage.

"She's off getting herself well and truly drilled as we speak, you just wait..." Danek flinched at that, and felt his hands clench into fists for a moment, then shook his head minutely. Hadn't they just finished talking about how they were going to be not mutually exclusive? Music started and Drew grabbed hold of Alyssa.

"C'mon, you, let's dance." She smiled at the younger man and let him walk her out onto the floor. Holly leant up on the bar and raised her champagne glass.

"Husband!" she called, then giggled. Brian Krause came around the corner and laughed, then bowed low.

"You rang?" She giggled again and held her arms out to him, nearly dropping her champagne glass.

"Dance with me, Brian, so I don't look like a total loser." Brian dutifully took her hand and led her out onto the dance floor. The music slowed down after a few moments, and the couples took to the floor. Drew's girlfriend found him for the slow dance, and Alyssa moved back to the bar with a laugh.

"You can have him, Em, the boy's got two left feet!" Danek silently poured her a martini and put it on the bench. She drained off the rest of her bottle of water and stood on the stool's bottom rung to throw it into the bin.

"Can I have an Apple Mar..." She trailed off as Danek smiled and turned away. "Cute trick." He shrugged and then froze as he saw Rose resetting her clothing and brushing back her hair as she came back around from the MC's desk. He followed shortly after, looking somewhat shamefaced, but grinning foolishly.

Rose had that unsatisfied, annoyed look on her face, but the MC was obviously overjoyed. Danek looked down at the bar again and began to wipe it over. Alyssa looked between the three of them and then her face softened somewhat. "Hey, thanks for the martini."

Danek gave her a quick smile, then turned back around and started to refill the fridges behind him. "So you're name's Danny?" He closed the fridge door and took the top of a bottle of tonic water.

"Danek, actually, but I don't think Holly could pronounce that right now, so Danny's easier." Alyssa leant in to hear him over the music, and Danek propped himself up on his elbows as she smiled.

"Holl was right, though, you're accent's really cool." He shrugged.

"It's just a way to speak, yeah? I'm from South Africa. You'd be surprised how many people speak like this over there." Alyssa smiled and Danek found himself smiling back.

"So you're a barman?" She sipped her martini and stirred it slightly. She had a dark red rose in her hair that blended in with her luxurious curls almost perfectly. In the dark light of the club, Danek couldn't really see it clearly, but he could smell it.

"How do you call it, an entrepreneur? Or some such. I own a few clubs and other things back in Johannesburg. I'm here... for some R&R." She nodded and turned back to stare out at the dance floor for a while, and Danek turned back to stock up the fridge with the last of the water and sodas. When he turned back, Alyssa quickly turned back again to the dance floor, and it took him a moment to realise she'd been returning his unsubtle bodily stare.

He wore his black boots and black leather pants, with a deep blue and white shirt, that was almost see through. Alyssa turned back to him slowly, casually, and Danek barely hid his smile as she gestured vaguely to the pale line across his left eye. "Where did you get the scar?" Danek put on a long face and shook his head sadly.

"Freak Cross-stitching accident." Alyssa laughed at that, loud and genuine, and Danek found himself smiling fully at her. Her entire face lit up when she laughed, he noticed, and her eyes shone. She winked at him and drained off the rest of her martini.

"Dangerous stuff, that cross-stitching. Think I'll have another of these fantastic martinis of yours. So how do you know Rose?" Danek began to shake another martini holster and poured it with a flourish into a fresh glass, then shrugged as he handed it to her. She snagged his callused hand in her delicate fingers and brought it down to the bar mat. "C'mon, please."

Danek patted her hand softly and sighed, then shrugged, trying to sound nonplussed. "Socially, apparently. We met at a party and I drove her home." Alyssa sipped her refilled martini again and the music changed to a loud dance number. The floor energised, and the people began to jump around.

"You're gonna have to do better than that, I'm afraid, Danek, because I saw your face when she came around the corner. How long you two been together?" Danek shook his head and closed his eyes.

"We're not together. I'm... we're... apparently I'm not that..." Alyssa nodded again and her features softened further.

"She does that. She's a good kid at heart, you know? Don't take it personally." Rose came over then, and Alyssa and Danek leant back apart over the bar. Rose's eyes narrowed and she smiled perfunctorily at Alyssa, then glanced at Danek.

"Hey barman, what'd'you say you give me a life home? I need to get out of here." Danek found himself already reaching for his keys when he noticed Alyssa looking downcast and annoyed. Something clicked inside him, and he stood tall and grabbed the phone.

"I'd like a cab for Miss McGowan. She'd like to leave." He put the phone down, and Rose stared at him incredulously. Danek didn't look at Alyssa, just stared at Rose, who held her hands out.

"What the fuck? Dan..." He glanced at his watch.

"I'm sorry, MISS McGOWAN but I'm afraid my shift doesn't end for another hour." He made sure to emphasise the distinction between her familiarity with him, and his disassociation with her. "I'm sure that perhaps the MC can provide you with... a lift." Rose's eyes fired up and she turned around on her heel and left. Alyssa blew out a held breath and gave a short laugh.

"Wow, you certainly know how to make an enemy. Don't you know that Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned?" Danek sadly took another swig of his tonic water.

"Yes, and I also know that a rose, by any other name, would still hold it's thorns." Alyssa smiled at that and drained off her martini. Danek eyed her glass as she held it out to him invitingly and gave him a half-lidded smile. "Don't you think you'd better take it easy on those?" Alyssa shrugged prettily as he refilled her glass and handed it back to her.

"You're the only interesting person I've spoken to tonight, and apparently you're leaving in an hour, so why should I hang around after that?" Danek gave her a mock bow, then looked around at the rest of the bar. His end of the serving bar was reserved for the VIPs, namely the stars and producers. The producers were already leaving, but the rest of the party was getting into full swing, with heaps of people in the giant club.

"Flattering, but surely there are more interesting people than just me here?" Alyssa sipped at her martini as the song changed and became harder and a little more rock than dance.

"Let me let you in on a little secret, Danek. These parties aren't always interesting, despite the settings. It turns out you find someone worth talking to... well, you try not to let them go too soon." Danek laughed at that and shook his head. They continued talking for a while, until one of the other barmen showed up to take over, and Danek looked at his watch, surprised.