Stone Circle If I could arrest you for messing me up for all women, I'd do it...

 


If Stark had a crystal ball to know everything that Valette was going through he might have waited. He didn't want to seem like he was offering a cheap distraction - Valette deserved better from him after all. What he wanted to do was to provide her with honesty; he'd skirted around things long enough and he was getting more and more testy and protective. It was probably apparent to other people and Banner had been the one to call him on it after all. It wasn't much of a secret anymore. 

When Valette appeared on the horizon Stark couldn't help the smile on his face. His concerns shifted from his own inner turmoil over himself and fixated properly on her just like it should have been. As hard as it was to think of anyone other than Octavia in any sort of romantic capacity (sure, there'd been flings but that was different. Very different.) Stark hadn't quite noticed when he'd just....stopped thinking of her. It seemed like a sort of betrayal but it wasn't as if she was still in the keep (but she was - forever, her eternal resting place beneath the willows) and he was here with someone else and she didn't know (she didn't - and wouldn't) and Stark had to try to focus on the present and not the past. 

It was easier when he stepped forward, asserting himself as he nuzzled tenderly against her. His snout teased along hers and down into her scruff, teasing until he found her skin and could even taste her. For a moment he didn't even speak. He was just overcome with her.