Whisper Your Weakness

Mara had always admired Skywalker’s skill and grace with a lightsaber, even back when she had wanted to kill him. He made it look utterly effortless and no matter how hard she tried or what move she attempted, his blade was always there to block hers. Their duel ranged over the entire room, Luke evenly giving her advice the whole time, about her strokes, about her footwork, about her connection with the Force.

Mara was listening to the calm strength of his voice when she could suddenly hear him as he’d spoken to her the night before through the Force, his words imploring her to trust him. And, amazingly, she realized that she did. The thought startled her so much that her concentration faltered for a moment and the next thing Mara knew, Luke had flipped her lightsaber out of her hand with his own blade and it was flying halfway across the room.

His intense gaze made her duck her head.

“You weren’t paying attention there at the end,” he observed.

“I, uh, was thinking of something else.”

“During a duel, Mara? That can be a little hazardous.”

“I know that!” she snapped at him, irritated that he could read her so easily.

“What were you thinking about?” he asked quietly.

“Nothing,” she said quickly, still not sure that she was ready for the conversation she knew he wanted to have. “Can you show me that sidestep move you made? That one really took me by surprise.”

The look on his face told her that he was well aware that she was avoiding more serious discussion, but he walked over to her anyway. Turning so that he was standing beside her and they were facing the same direction, Luke showed her the placement of his feet and the angle at which to hold her lightsaber. Mara called her blade back to her hand and attempted to mimic his stance.

“No, you’re still too stiff,” he said, shutting his lightsaber off and snapping it to his belt in one well-practiced motion before moving to stand behind her. Placing one hand at her shoulder and the other at the elbow of her blade arm, he said, “This should be loose, fluid, ready to move however you need it to.”

“Well, what do you want me to do, just let my arm flop around all over the place?” she asked shortly.

Her jaw tightened at his patient sigh. “No, Jade. You’re an athletic woman, you know what I’m talking about.”


Gritting her teeth, Mara tried to reign in her irritation. Luke was only doing what she’d asked him to do, and - although she was loath to admit it - she still felt a bit guilty about throwing him out of her apartment the night before. “Show me again.”

Obligingly, Luke placed her arm in the proper position and showed her how to swing the lightsaber to the best advantage. Mara became aware of just how close he was standing behind her when she felt his breath warm on her neck. The hands that had been instructing were now caressing softly up her arm. Using his nose and chin to push aside the strands of hair that had escaped her braid, he tenderly kissed her temple, forging a trail down to her jaw.

“What do you think you’re doing?” she asked, a little breathless at the surge of desire that flared in her belly.

“What does it feel like I’m doing?” Luke murmured and she could hear the smile in his voice even though she couldn’t see his face.

“It feels like you’re playing a pretty dangerous game. We can’t do this here and you know it.”

“Who says we can’t?”

“Skywalk-”

“Ah!” he said in a warning tone. “What’s my name again?”

He swiftly wrapped one arm around her waist, pulling her tightly against his body where Mara could feel how aroused he already was. Her lightsaber dropped unheeded to the floor, although she still had the presence of mind to deactivate it first. Luke’s head lowered and his tongue darted out to taste that tiny spot in the curve of her neck that he knew always drove her insane and she couldn’t hold back a moan.

“Luke,” she said softly. Mara tilted her head and let it fall back onto his shoulder, her body squirming as Luke’s hands crept up to cover both her breasts, his palms hot and hard against them even through the thin material of her shirt.

Mara tried to regain a modicum of self-control. It was uncanny how Skywalker could make her lose that self-control so quickly with just a look or a touch. She desperately hoped he wasn’t aware of just how deeply he did affect her.

“Luke, we can’t do this here,” she repeated shakily and even she could tell the protest was weak.

Luke chuckled against the skin of her neck and Mara shivered at the delicious vibrations it sent through her system.

“We have complete privacy here, Mara. I always insist on it.”

“Privacy for a workout, Jedi, not sex! And what if you’re wrong?”

“I’m not.” His hands found their way under her shirt, gliding upwards to catch her already taut nipples between his fingers. At the same time, he ground his hips into the softness of her rear end and Mara gasped, helplessly surrendering to him. She tried to turn around in his embrace, but he wouldn’t let her.

“No, like this. I want you like this,” he whispered into her ear. His tongue traced the outline of her ear before drawing her earlobe into his mouth and suckling it. Mara melted, unable to resist him and, for once, she was not the least bit apprehensive about the fact. It was a quiet revelation, one that stole over her before she was completely aware of it…Luke would never use this power he had over her to hurt her. He wasn’t the Emperor and he never would be.

This newfound knowledge stunned her and nervously, she clamped down on it, still a little too unsure of her own feelings to share it with him at the moment. Luke must have sensed something because he paused in his attentions and murmured to her quietly.

“What is it?”

“Nothing. Just a little nervous about doing this here, I think,” she said, attempting to put him off track. He had a knack for ferreting out the truth and she simply wasn’t ready for him to do that right now.

“Mara Jade admitting that she’s nervous? Will wonders never cease,” Luke teased.

“So what are you going to do about it, Farmboy?” Mara teased back, getting into the spirit of the game.

“Hmm, let me think…”

Removing his hands from under her shirt, he let one trail down each of her arms. Reaching her wrists, he grasped them gently and raised their arms over their heads. In no hurry, Luke lowered his hands back to the bottom of her shirt and pulled it slowly over her head and up her arms, tossing it to the side once she was free of it. Her sports bra, usually worn only during workouts and lightsaber duels, followed suit.

Mara moaned as his hands returned to cup her now bare breasts. The combined feeling of the cool air of the workout room and Luke’s nimble fingers were enough to drive her mad with desire. His mouth continued its assault on her neck, kissing, tasting, gently biting until Mara could barely stand it. Again she tried to turn around and touch him, kiss him the way he was caressing her, but again he would not allow her to.

Luke’s hands drifted slowly down to the waist of her pants, undoing the fastener smoothly. Taking a step backwards, he kneeled down and removed her boots one at a time, permitting her to place a hand on his shoulder for balance, but still refusing to let her touch him any more than that. Her pants and underwear were slowly peeled off her body, Luke pausing to place tiny kisses on her hips, thighs, the backs of her knees. Mara truly didn’t know how much more she could stand.

“Not…fair,” she gasped.

“What’s not fair?” he asked as he stood back up, sliding his hands over every centimeter of her body as he did so.

“You’re still completely dressed.”

“Well, so I am. I’ll have to see what I can do about that,” he said in a voice that sounded totally unlike the Luke Skywalker the galaxy in general knew.

From the moment they had started down this path, Mara had been amazed at the differences between the public man who was her friend and sometimes adversary, and the private man who was her lover. There were no blushes or shy glances in the bedroom…her lover was a confident man who knew exactly how to touch and please her.

In a matter of only minutes, he was as naked as she was and Mara smiled as he once again encircled his arms around her from behind, continuing the incredible game he had begun.

“What’s that smile for?”

“You’re getting really good at taking your clothes off very quickly. Maybe you should make that a skill for your Jedi back at the Academy.”

Luke laughed softly and said, “I don’t think so. This is something reserved for Masters only.”

“Oh? And where does that leave me? I’m not exactly a Knight, much less a Master.”

For just a moment, the mood in the room faltered as Mara’s words brought to both their minds the disagreements they’d often had over her training, or lack thereof. Mara held her breath as Luke’s movements stilled, mentally kicking herself for ruining the moment. Funny, now I know how he must feel around me most of the time, she thought.

Mara was startled when Luke abruptly spun her around and claimed her lips in a searing kiss that seemed to pull the very breath from her body. His hands were framing her face as his tongue invaded her mouth roughly and she had the insane thought that he was somehow marking her as his own. When Luke pulled away and looked at her, Mara was glad for his hands steadying her as her knees felt none too secure at the moment.

“You are a very special case, my sweet. A very special case,” he whispered seductively. “Now come here. I want to show you something,” he said as he turned and walked towards the back of the workout room, leading her by the hand.

The entire back wall of the room was a giant mirror and Mara couldn’t help staring at Luke’s beautiful body in the reflection as she also got an intriguing look at the real-life backside of him. It was a dizzying view.

Luke lightly pushed her in front of him, carefully placing her hands one at a time against the mirror, so that she was facing it and leaning slightly forward. He again stepped behind her and renewed his loving onslaught on her willing form. Luke’s hands and lips seemed to be everywhere at once as he worked Mara’s senses to a fevered pitch.

“Luke, please!” she moaned, unable to stand not having him within her for another second. Catching his gaze in the mirror, Mara tried to muster up a scowl when she saw his satisfied smirk at her words.

Her ire was forgotten when he entered her smoothly from behind, filling her completely, his hips grazing her buttocks. Their moans mingled in the quiet of the workout room as Luke gripped her hips, slowly thrusting into her depths. One hand slipped around her to catch her nipple, squeezing it lovingly, as his other hand delved downwards to caress the sensitive bud between her thighs.

Mara’s fingers curled into tight fists and her head dropped as the familiar sensations began to build in her belly, stretching all the way down to her toes. She threw her head back with a loud cry as her climax slammed into her with the fierce intensity of a firestorm. As she reveled in the haze of pleasure surrounding her, Mara was vaguely aware of Luke plunging into her ever faster, harder, and deeper before he erupted inside her with a hoarse shout. Luke pulled her trembling figure close up against his own, nuzzling her neck.

*Open your eyes, Mara,* he commanded softly and it was all the more compelling through the Force. *Open your eyes and tell me what you see in the mirror.*

She did as he asked and gazed at the two of them, still flushed with the bliss of their mutual satisfaction, Luke still buried deep inside her body, his arms wrapped around her.

*I see us.*

*Do you really? Do you see what I see?*

*I…I don’t know. What do you see?* she asked hesitantly.

*Possibilities, Mara. This is more than just physical. I know it. And you know it, too. Don’t turn your back on it, on us,* Luke sent intently.

Mara’s breath caught in her throat as she looked at their reflection in the mirror with a different perspective. There was an aura surrounding the two of them, seeming to bind them closer together. Their eyes met in the reflection, holding in a gaze filled with amazing and wondrous…possibilities.

The jarring sound of her commlink going off abruptly shattered the moment and Mara dropped her gaze to the floor. A sound of frustration echoed from Luke as he withdrew from her and took a step backwards. Mara had to consciously steady her legs as she turned towards her bag halfway across the room.

“That’s probably Karrde. I should-”

“Yes, I know,” Luke sighed. He walked over to his clothes and began to put them on. Mara watched him for a moment before walking over and picking up the blaring commlink.

“Jade here.”

It was indeed Talon with a few last minute instructions for her and Mara talked with him quietly for several minutes. If her boss noticed her unusually subdued mood, he didn’t comment on it. When Mara disconnected with Talon and turned around, Luke was already fully dressed and she could see the mask of the Jedi Master falling over him. He stood silently by as she pulled her own clothes back on, her skin still tingling from the erotic experience of several moments ago.

“Will you call me when you get back to Coruscant?” he asked.

“Yes, if you’re still here,” she said. The atmosphere had suddenly turned awkward and Mara wanted to reach out to Luke, but something held her back. Whether it was fear of losing her identity in his Force-strong personality, or just the fear of allowing another person to see her vulnerable - which hadn’t happened in over a decade - Mara couldn’t have said. All she knew was that the moment was there, and then it was gone.

“I should get going. Karrde’s given me quite a list of things to do,” Mara said, not entirely able to meet Luke’s gaze.

“Of course.”

She hitched the bag up onto her shoulder and took a step towards the door. When Luke didn’t move, she looked back at him uncertainly.

“Are you…” she trailed off, not sure what she was going to ask him, not sure what it was that she even wanted.

“I’m going to get in a little more practice with a remote. I’ve been neglecting my lightsaber skills a bit in the past couple of months.”

“Oh. Okay then. Well, I guess I’ll see you the next time I get on-planet.”

Walking out the door, Mara found herself wondering what the hell had just happened. They had gone from being as close and intimate as two people could be to conversing like polite strangers in a matter of minutes. Halfway to the exit of the gym, her steps slowed and she came to a standstill. Something deep inside was screaming at her to go back to that room, to run back and throw her arms around Luke Skywalker and never let him go. She half-turned in that direction.

“Uh, Ms. Jade, are you all right?” an anxious voice said from beside her and Mara turned back in surprise to see the young desk clerk, Jek, staring at her with wide eyes.

“What?” Mara asked with a frown, and then took a quick glance around the gym. She had stopped in the middle of the gym and had been standing there, no doubt looking like a complete idiot! Curious gazes that had been directed her way swiftly found something else in the room to interest them when met with her piercing glare.

“I’m fine. Just…thinking about work and I got distracted. Excuse me,” she said gruffly and continued on her way out of the gym, not allowing herself to get lost in thought this time.

What in the sith was she thinking? Mara Jade and Luke Skywalker? No, that might be fine for the occasional tumble between the sheets, but it couldn’t be anything more than that. It mustn’t be anything more than that. Even if she no longer feared Luke’s power over her, the thought of what the people of the galaxy would have to say about their favorite hero and the former Emperor’s Hand…it caused her to shudder with revulsion. Hell, she didn’t even want to consider what Luke’s sister would have to say about the situation.

The smart thing for her to do would be to end this affair with Luke before they both got in over their heads. A little twinge of pain cut through Mara’s heart at the thought of never being with Luke again, but she firmly pushed it away. It was the realization that it was already too late and she was in over her head that she found impossible to ignore.

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