I'm not stalking anyone...{Rose}

[Jonathan Blackwell]

He wasn't stalking her.

Unless you defined stalking as the action one took to lurk about behind a woman for blocks waiting for an opening to talk to her. Clearly not stalking... He frowned eyes dancing and nerves scattering about. She didn't return his owls, she declined any kind of contact with him whatsoever. For all he knew she probably used the letters as paper toilet. Or burn them. Whichever.

He was...completely aware of the fact he'd messed up. Horribly. You don't go about ignoring the woman your dating for months at a time and especially not with all the things going on at the present... And Rosalind Arden wasn't exactly a demure damsel who would actually stand for it. He groaned for a moment taking the time to berate himself about what a total and complete moron he was before he continued following her.

She probably wouldn't appreciate that either. But if he cornered her... Maybe she wouldn't make a huge display in front of other people? He doubted it but it was the best card he had at the moment. "Rose." he winced, voice coming out rough before the rest came out hushed and panicked. "Now don't yell...Let me explain." he pleaded the curly haired, long-legged, pouty, most difficult...

He hoped this would torn out...not horribly.

[Rosalind Arden]

It was a lovely day, wasn't it? Smiling to herself, Rosalind made her way through the busy street. Very rarely did Rosalind wear wizarding clothes, preferring her Muggle style of dress, so depending on the crowd, she would (or would not) stand out. She was loving the sunshine, her personality being very warmth-inclined. The humidity in the air wasn't doing her hair any favors, though. The honey-blond curls were like a wild halo on her head, barely contained by a jade clip at the base of her long neck.

While she appeared to be focused on her shopping, Rosalind was thinking about the coming weekend and her plans for it. She was going to a tropical getaway, where she could roll around in the mud, study the wildlife, and annoy the hell out of a particularly annoyed young man. If everything went according to plan. If not, she would enjoy her tropical getaway alone. She had no idea that she was being followed. When someone spoke to her, she stopped and frowned, even before turning around. There was only one person that called her 'Rose' and lived to see another day. This person had sent her owl after owl and she had torn them up and thrown them away without reading. What was he doing talking to her? Hadn't he taken the hint and moved on?

Turning around, Rosalind crossed her arms over her chest and glared at the tall, blond man. "Fine, explain." She could have said more, oh, she could have said a lot more, but she chose to remain calm. Jonathan had left her completely in the lurch and there was no way in hell that she would forgive him. Even if...she had done the same thing to others in the past. This was different, perhaps? They were adults and he had acted like he had cared. All lies, apparently.

[Jonathan Blackwell]

Ah shit.

He could feel his nerves shooting up at the look of sheer loathing he was receiving from the normally very friendly woman before him. Normally the tiny little thing couldn't scare him but right about now he was hoping someone out there liked him. Because clearly the woman before him looked formidable.

He winced at her tone, deciding he would brave whatever it was she threw at him. He was not letting her go so easily. Fortified by whatever powers that be the ex Slytherin stood up straight. His wardrobe a bit warm for the climate but he wasn't anything compared to Peru.

"I know I messed up..." he started unsure of how to phrase everything. "A lot of things happened all at once...It wasn't that I wanted to to leave you hanging. Things sort of just escalated to that point." he words were quick and precise. She out of all people should know how much the words cost him. He was a proud man after all. But then she was a proud woman as well. And it didn't help that he wasn't that good with words either.

"I...intended you to be a priority in my life." and then things were getting a lot more personal. In a sense it didn't matter, the things he wanted with her. But at the same time it really did. He knew he had hurt her but he'd be damned if he didn't try to make it better. "I need you to look past everything and give me another chance." he said firmly. "I can't even so much as look at another woman without thinking of you." he hadn't intended on being quite so forthcoming.

He supposed when you really cared for a person some things really didn't matter.

[Rosalind Arden]

Rosalind tried not to notice that this was an odd place for this type of conversation, but she did anyway. The middle of a bustling street, but then, she hadn't given Jonathan to the chance to pick a more secluded location. She hadn't wanted to see him or talk to him, let alone in a possibly romantic setting. At that moment, she was happy that she could keep her expression frozen in place. Dante was better at it, but she came in a close second. Her unease, her hurt, the small flicker of positive feelings, stayed off her face and buried someplace deep within herself. She listened to Jonathan say more words together than she had ever heard before. He was more of the silent type, which sometimes made her feel like she was having a conversation with herself. That was certainly not something she missed about her relationship with Jonathan Blackwell!

She rolled her eyes when he asked for another chance. The part about him thinking of her did throw her off a little. She was a veteran of men saying wild and crazy things to her, but Jonathan was normally stoic. Rosalind took a moment to think over her words. What she wanted to do was throw something in his face! She might have done just that if they had been in private.

Finally, she said quietly, then remembered she was in a busy street, and raised her voice, "What gives you the right to ask me for another chance? I put my life on hold for you and all you did was waste my time." Much more than that, he had hurt her. She had cared for him, truly cared. Disappointment was the trend for her romantic life. "I have better things to do than give you another chance, Jonathan Blackwell. I was foolish enough to give you a first one!" Right now she didn't care how much she hurt him. She had been hurt, so she wanted to lash out and hurt back.

[Jonathan Blackwell]

He had known this wouldn't be good but he wasn't as prepared for the words. She looked as angry as a wet kitten - and he couldn't help but admire her features. He'd always found her beautiful. There was something about the gracefulness she exuded a certain poise not many women could posses. Only she could be in perfect decorum as her eyes shot sparks of heat and her wild curls bounced haphazardly around her.

He stomped down the urge to kiss her in that moment, as fire danced across his eyes. As odd as it sounded he wasn't done talking to her yet.

"I made a mistake people sometimes... disappoint you. That doesn't mean I don't...care for you." Love. He'd wanted to say it, the words dredged up deep in his unconscious mind. He held the words back. He wasn't sure what he felt exactly, only that it was a deep affection, a deep attraction and something a bit stronger than just affection underlying the currents of what he felt towards her.

It wouldn't be very difficult to fall in love with the woman before him, but sometimes she was just so stubborn.

"At least...give me the benefit of the doubt? I wouldn't seek out to deliberately hurt you. I wouldn't be trying as hard as I've been if I didn't care." his eyes were intense at this point, almost devouring her with his eyes. He was tense with the effort it was causing him not to just lean over. A scant few inches and he could taste her.

"I need..." you in my life. "You to give me one more chance." he just about whispered body taught with the herculean effort it was taking him. Then it happened. The most insignificant little detail that was like the little echoing sound before an avalanche. An unbidden curl was his ultimate downfall. In retrospect he'd say that he had always loved her hair. Specially the way it stuck to her face...

His hand came down on the little stray curl and he sort of leaned in not really giving her a chance to react before his lips descended down on hers in a mouthwatering sort of kiss. And he promptly forgot he was in public and the fact that he was supposed to be trying to convince her.

[Rosalind Arden]

Keeping her arms crossed over her chest, Rosalind cast a quick glance around. Were they getting stares for their scene in the streets? She had a bad habit of attracting attention - willowy girls with heads of blond curls tended to do that - and the argument with a Neanderthal would make it worse. She continued to frown up at him, determined not to be shaken by him. She didn't agree with his logic at all. People could fail, but only if they didn't stick around to get through the hard times with her, that was when they disappointed her. What happened if she put her trust in him again and he disappeared on her when circumstances were even more pressing? They had tried to date. To Rosalind, there was a difference between having a fun, non-committal fling with someone and dating. She had flings all the time, because she loved having fun and being intimate with someone to share her fun. Dating, on the other hand, was the road to marriage. Maybe she should have filed Jonathan away in the 'fling' category instead of giving him even a minute amount of her trust.

"Maybe I don't care anymore, Jonathan," she said coldly. The blazing gold sparks in her eyes didn't match her chilly tone, though. She was obviously furious, but some passionate emotion was better than nothing at all. Rosalind was determined, though. Absolutely, positively determined, not to repeat at of her past mistakes. Ugh, what was up with her hair?! She needed to get out her wand and just straighten the bloody mess before it all fell into her eyes. "For the last time, I am not-"

Her words were cut off by Jonathan pressing his lips over her mouth. As her brain turned to jelly, Rosalind's remembrance of what had attracted her to Jonathan in the first place was freshly renewed. He exuded power and masculinity and she loved the feeling of his scruff on her soft skin. His mouth was hot and needing. Oh, what the hell, might as well, she thought, as she began to kiss him back. Her hands come up to push over his rough face and into his long hair. Her mouth demanded that the kiss be heavier, deeper, even while her mind was screaming for her to calm down, take a deep breath, and reassess the situation.

[Jonathan Blackwell]

A muffled groan came from the pit of his belly creating a rather nice vibration in his throat as she latched onto him. He molded her to him quite easily as his large hands came to scoop her up and sort of pin her into a very convenient nook somewhere off to his left. He didn't think this kind of thing was for display then again he wasn't exactly in the 'thinking things though' mode anymore.

Rosalind always had appreciated rash behavior what with being a Gryffindor and all.

He rained little kisses across her jawline and down her neck once his lips were free to roam. He bit her neck softly as he made his way back up and captured her lips once again. His roaming hands were behaving themselves for the moment as they were concerned with pinning her to him and not letting her run away.

Merlin he had missed her. It was amazing really how many tiny seemingly insignificant details you can remember about a person when you miss them enough. Like a particular expression that keeps replaying in your head, or words uttered in the silent of the night. The way hair falls at a particular angle, the way danger flashes before her eyes as she gets ready to argue, the beautiful flush to her cheeks when she's embarrassed... The little things he figured were the things that mattered the most.

What flashes above everything else in a memory. "Rose." he whispered delicately in her ear as his mouth moved to trace light patterns on her skin. He was trying to slow things down, trying not to kidnap her and have his way with her... His fingertips traced her spine as his grip slackened slightly. "Just listen to me." he managed to get out as he sunk he head into her shoulder all the while lavishing attention to her skin.

The words 'highly inappropriate' rang through his head at the thought of the public display but he just couldn't find it within himself to care.

[Rosalind Arden]

He was moving her. Physically, not emotionally. That brought reality crashing down in her thoughts and she began to reevaluate the idea of kissing him back. Opening her eyes, Rosalind stared back out at the street. Hm, oops. It was hard to hide the Amazon and the Neanderthal necking in a corner of the street. This took 'public displays of affection' to an uncomfortable level, but she wasn't sure if it was even that exactly. She shouldn't be uncomfortable with this level of affection because she liked to defy boundaries. She was normally the one to initiate the daring act. No, it wasn't even that. She had grow accustomed to not having Jonathan's hands on her waist, his lips touching her mouth, and the feel of his body so close. It was that fucking scruff! It made her brain and insides turn to mush.

When his grip loosened, she almost started to push away. He put his head on her shoulder, reminding her of a lost puppy, and she couldn't bring herself to kick him away. She dropped her hands to his waist and sighed sadly, reluctantly staying in his arms and hearing him out, risking someone she knew passing by and seeing her. David had a horrible habit of running into her in public places. It would be just like him to see her like this, though Jonathan did have seniority in her life. Well...sort of. He had disappeared on her. She had to remember that! Stay angry, remember how much pain he had caused her.

"I'm listening."

[Jonathan Blackwell]

He released a sigh keeping his face firmly hidden on her neck her hair tickling his nose slightly. He was ... quite surprised she relaxed against him and actually gave in. Hell, surprised didn't quite cover it. This wildcat of a woman had a grand tendency of turning things into a frenzy quite quickly when she was angry.

And she was plenty angry at him.

His brain was still recovering from everything that had just happened and he sighed as she put her hands on his waist. That was always a good sign. Now that she was relatively calmer he could have a shot at explaining himself a little better. The fact would always remain that he was never a good talker - at all. Words just wouldn't fuse for him in a way that was beneficiary.

"I'm sorry." pathetic pathetic attempt really but it was nonetheless true. Equivocally. "I let my job distract me and I loss sight of what was really important to me. With all the things happening lately... People outside work have been asking about added security for their homes." it wasn't a shock they'd want to reinforce their shields. And he was an expert at keeping species alive. "Its crazy and I know it isn't a completely valid excuse for the way I've been acting but... everyone deserves a second chance sugar." he told her softly still resting where he was his breath making the little curls move across his face.

The pad of his thumbs brushed against her waist in lazy circles. Time -- it had been something he had been lacking in but goodness he missed her. He knew she was something he couldn't do without no matter his many aspirations. He knew she wasn't needy and he worried about his ability to make her happy, but he had to try at least. Even if the thought of a separation in the future being more than just heart breaking. "Please."

[Rosalind Arden]

Rosalind didn't know what to do or say in reaction to a gigantic man pouring his heart out on her shoulder. On one hand, she was happy that Jonathan had taken the time to explain to her, even though, if that had really mattered she would have just read his letters. She had already known that it hadn't been something she had done. Though, every time a relationship failed, it didn't help her self-esteem when it came to long-term romance. She'd pretty much given up on the idea entirely of getting married. She couldn't settle for anything less than spectacular and she scared off all the good ones away with her impulsive behavior and smirks.

"Jonathan, I'm glad that you told me," she began, evidently unsure of everything she should say. "We can't just...start dating again. It isn't that easy. I-" She broke off, trying to decide if she should continue with what she had originally intended to reveal. He might get a little, er, upset. "I already have plans for this weekend, plans that involve sweat and tangled sweats, plans that don't involve you."

Her voice was shaky, but certain. There would be no changing her mind. See what she meant by that it wasn't that easy? Not that David was a longterm commitment, not by any means, but Rosalind wasn't willing to give up her weekend with him for a man that could disappear again. Nothing that Jonathan could say would make her decide not to go ahead with being with someone else, not after he had left her alone for so long.