To Kiss the Tender Inward of Thy Hand

[musicalluna]

Title: To Kiss the Tender Inward of Thy Hand
Fandom: Psych
Author: MusicalLuna
Rating: T
Characters/Pairings: Shawn/Juliet
Genre: Romance
Warnings: Sexiness may cause spontaneous combustion.
Complete: Yes
Summary: Shawn likes to fiddle with a guitar occasionally. What he doesn't know is that Juliet has a serious thing for guys who play guitar.
A/N: An answer to Mia's character fantasy of Shawn playing the guitar.
Disclaimer: Not mine to torment, but I do.

 

“You know what's really terrible?” Juliet said as she and Gus climbed out of the car at the back entrance of the Psych office.

“What's that?” Gus asked, looking down as he reached into his pocket for his keys.

“If we show our kids The Magic School Bus episodes, we'll have to talk to them about why they say Pluto is a planet in the space episode,” Juliet said. She and Gus had just gone out for one of their bimonthly lunch dates. He was easily one of her best friends. It was hard not to be considering the amount of time they spent working together and the sheer amount they had in common. Spending time with him was easy and relaxing. 

“Oh my god!” Gus said, just as she had expected. She grinned. “You're right! That's terrible.” 

“I know,” she replied, following him inside as he moved into the office. “Poor Pluto.” She was opening her mouth to comment about how much she had loved The Magic School Bus books when she was younger when a sound caught her ear.

It was the warm sound of a guitar being toyed with experimentally.

She glanced at Gus, questioning without words and he shrugged in response. The two of them moved further into the office, keeping quiet by silent agreement.

The notes coming from the guitar were casually played, more exploratory, as though a certain song was in mind, but not all of the chords and notes were remembered. Both she and Gus peered curiously through the picture window in the center office wall and found Shawn sitting in the middle of the front part of the office, focused on the acoustic guitar in his hands.

It was a dark brown, saturated with amber highlights and the contrast between it and the light color of Shawn's arms was extremely appealing. The blue shirt he wore only made the color combination that much more attractive. Shawn's face was set in deep concentration, his mouth puckered into a slight frown as long, slender fingers worked to find the right frets and chords.

“Did you know he played guitar?” Juliet whispered at Gus.

Gus shrugged. “He had a guitar when we were teenagers. Took a few lessons, but it sort of fell through after... I haven't seen him play in a long time. A client gave that guitar to us a while ago, but I've never seen him play.” 

Juliet nodded, worrying her bottom lip with her teeth. Interesting.

Shawn shifted then, back straightening a little and he gave the guitar a few quick strums, filling the office with the chords. His lips parted, murmuring something to himself and then he closed his eyes and with a few time-keeping headbobs, began playing.

His fingers struggled to land the first few chords, stumbling a few times, but he forged on and his playing got better--smoother. Juliet felt her mouth slip open as she watched his fingers stretching and curling around the neck of the guitar, pressing the frets down, his other hand plucking and strumming at the strings and found she couldn't bring herself to force it closed again.

The sound of the guitar was loud and all-encompassing in the small office.

He wasn't spectacular, and the music halted more than once as he stumbled over the fingering, but he obviously had some idea of what he was doing and even fumbling his hands looked spectacular. The intensely serious and unfamiliar expression on his face was something Juliet found herself marveling at as well. It was so rare to see him appearing this invested in something.

Like just about every other straight female on the planet, Juliet found musicians particularly sexy and guitarists were her particular preference. And good-looking as Shawn was, seeing the muscles of his already attractive arms bunching and curving as he played, in combination with the pale length of his fingers manipulating the strings, was making her a little breathless.

He looked so good.

She wanted to sit at his feet and watch him play for hours and then run her hands over the curves of his biceps, down the corded muscles of his forearms, touch those fingertips with her lips and--

Juliet sucked in a sharp breath and drew her gaze away with a jerk, swallowing hard.

The playing in the other room died abruptly and she saw Shawn turn toward them, a faint red flush creeping up his neck. He cleared his throat, arms and legs falling into a deliberately casual stance. “Hey, guys. What's up? I didn't hear you come in.”

Gus broke away from the window without problem, saying, “A few minutes ago. You need to lay off the WD-40 on the back door, Shawn or one of these days someone's going to break in here and you'll never even hear them coming.” 

“I'm not the one who was whining about the squeaky door,” Shawn retorted. He glanced over at her and she looked away, blushing.

It was the guitar. They made her completely irrational.

Shawn was covering well, but finding that they had been listening in on him had obviously thrown him off-kilter. He joined them in the main office, setting the guitar on a stand near his desk.

“You play pretty well,” she commented, gesturing awkwardly.

He shrugged, uncaring-like, and she stared as his fingertips glided over the head of the guitar, lingering. “I know a little.”

Sitting down at his desk, Gus shot Shawn a strangely disapproving-parent look. “He could be really good if he actually practiced.” 

“What exactly would you call what I was doing when you wandered in off the street?” Shawn said. The banter sounded right, but he was shifting around on his feet, hands in his pockets, still clearly uncomfortable.

Juliet was sorry that their intrusion had bothered him so much. She wanted to see his fingers moving over the guitar again. Maybe... 

“Would you show me a few things?” she asked. 

Shawn looked up at her, eyebrows rising. “What?” 

She gestured to the guitar. “Would you show me a few things?” 

He swallowed. “I'm not really--” 

Gus rolled his eyes. “Just show her a little bit, Shawn.” 

Shawn shot a dirty look at his best friend and then shrugged again. It was almost like he was trying to shrug off his discomfort. “Yeah, sure, Jules.” 

She felt a little shiver go through her as he wrapped his hand around the neck of the guitar again, drawing it into his arms. 

“Come on.” 

She followed him to the couch and sat down when he gestured with his head, their knees nearly touching. He hesitated, breathing suddenly seeming that much easier to hear and then scooted closer, lifting his arms to place the guitar in her lap. 

A definite shiver shot through her when he took her left hand, curling it around the neck of the guitar. “This hand goes here,” he said, voice husky.

He was definitely breathing more audibly now. She could feel the heat of it washing over her neck, raising goosebumps up the back of it into her hairline. He lifted her other hand placing it over the strings above the hole in the guitar's body. It was almost impossible to focus on the guitar. She could feel his heat through the thin cloth of their shirts, his chest against her back, his thigh pressed up against hers and blazing a trail of heat all the way down to her knee. She swallowed, trying to focus. 

“Uh,” he breathed, “the, um, easiest chord is an A.” Again, he hesitated and then wrapped his hand around hers on the neck of the guitar, his fingers guiding hers into position. 

As she watched him manipulate their fingers over the golden strings on the dark wood of the guitar, Juliet suddenly found it utterly impossible to breathe.

“Just show me,” she somehow managed to whisper, though her breathlessness was more than obvious. She slid her hands away from the guitar, giving him full access. 

Shawn swallowed, his chest rising against her back and she felt his breath against her neck. “Okay.” 

Then his fingers tightened around the guitar's neck, his wrist bent at a dramatic angle, fingers curved in an absurdly graceful fashion around the neck, the tips of his fingernails going white as he pressed them into the strings. His index finger stood out away from the neck, curled delicately. “Like that.” 

His voice was almost inaudible. 

Juliet imagined she might sound much the same if she were to attempt speaking. What the hell had she been thinking? This was nowhere near “keeping a safe, professional distance”.

Shawn's chest had flexed along with his movements against her back, his arms tightening and bunching just around her shoulder and the heat he was radiating all around her seemed to be crawling up her neck into her face. She glanced up, suddenly remembering Gus and was shocked to realize that he had disappeared. Oh, god. 

They were alone. 

“What's the next easiest?” she somehow managed to ask. 

Shawn's fingers shifted on the frets, the movement causing minute shifts in the muscles all the way up into his shoulder. Juliet's heart throbbed in an almost painful flutter against her ribcage. She turned her head, nearly brushing her nose against Shawn's as she met his eyes. “And do you just...” She made a little gesture to indicate strumming. 

His right arm moved, his chest shifting against her back as he illustrated, his bicep flexing and relaxing and before Juliet could really think about it, she had put her hand at his elbow, her thumb stroking along the soft, pale curve of the muscle. 

Shawn froze. 

His breathing sped up, pressing his chest in and out against her back. “Jules,” he whispered, “I--” 

Juliet twisted, bending her knee across his lap, and kissed him. 

Shawn made a soft noise that was some kind of cross between a startled cry and a moan. Juliet let her hands glide over the skin of his arms; she felt the muscles move beneath her palm as he put his hand around her waist, bending her backward a few degrees and let the guitar slide to the ground. His mouth was hot against hers, urgent, and the office, which had been pleasantly cool just fifteen minutes ago, suddenly seemed unbearably hot. Her hands worked their way up over his shoulders, one slipping into the hair at the nape of his neck and a shiver rippled up his back. 

Then the hands she had been admiring tightened around her waist, pulling her close against him and she sighed, reveling in the feel of his fingers spreading out over her back. 

Shawn whispered her name into the corner of her mouth and Juliet brushed a kiss against his lower lip. A second later his knuckles brushed feather-light across her cheek and Juliet wanted to kick herself for waiting so long to let this happen. She opened her eyes, looking down into his face. Her heart picked up speed again at the intensity of his expression. 

Breaking away from him, she watched as his eyes fluttered open, glazed over, and lifted his hand, kissing his palm. She threaded their fingers together and then bowed her head, resting her forehead against his. 

“Wow,” Shawn whispered, his eyes shutting again. It almost looked as though he were trying to remember something. 

Juliet felt a hot flush start to creep up her cheeks. Oh, god, she'd been so pushy. 

She suddenly felt self-conscious and she slid off of his lap, pushing the loose strands of hair in her face back behind her ears, despite their refusal to stay put. “Shawn--I'm sorry--god. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have--” 

Shawn looked up, his eyes widening comically. “Are you kidding me?” he said incredulously. 

Juliet glanced at him, her hands tucked between her legs, her shoulders hunching in embarrassment. What on earth was wrong with her, after refusing him so many times, just attacking him--

Shawn shifted toward her, reaching out and taking her hands. A shiver zinged up her arms. “Jules, I-- I can't even begin to tell you how fantastic that was in, oh, I don't know, every way imaginable.” He sobered, some of the life draining out of him. “I mean, I guess I understand if you want to take it back, but--” 

Juliet smiled, her heart starting to flutter again. “I don't think I could even if I did."

Comments

[miasedai.livejournal.com]

Aw, I had totally forgotten about this fic. Luuu. It's so squishy and wonderful! (And so are youuu <3)

[musicalluna.livejournal.com]

Hahahaha I'm glad you still think so. XDDDDDDD :D