|
Adrenaline, fear and anger had all pumped wildly through Kate’s body in the last hour. Now, as the prisoner rolled
away in Gibbs’ car, she felt them begin to drain away. And she could tell that the resultant crash was going to be
a big one.
“Hey, DiNozzo! I’m hungry and I’m tired. Please tell me you have something edible in there.”
Tony walked up carrying a few things from the car, including her purse. “I don’t know. If we’re really
lucky, I have one frozen pizza left. And maybe some beer.”
“I’d actually eat the pizza frozen right now.” She leaned on him as he unlocked the door to his apartment.
As soon as he had the door open he steered her to the couch, then went to check on the food situation.
“You’re in luck, as long as you like supreme,” he called. He opened two bottles of beer, since it was about
all he had to drink.
“Just feed me.” She gave him a grin and continued, “That’s the last time I opt for sex over food!
Look where it’s got me. So hungry and tired, I’m not up for any more...” She was completely and effectively
silenced by a very demanding and pleasurable mouth on hers, making her surrender. “Yeah, you’re right, who needs
food anyway,” she breathed when they broke apart. “I love the way your kisses make me feel.” She slid
her hands up his stubbled cheeks and tried to draw him back for more, but he chuckled quietly.
“Plenty more of that in a few minutes, my love. First, gun safety.” And he took the weapons and headed for the
locker.
Kate stood up and rested her foot up on the sofa. She unstrapped the knife sheath, then looked up, surprised, unaware that
Tony had reentered the room. “Oh! Ah, here’s your knife back. Hope you don’t mind.”
“Honey, watching you take that guy down was, well honestly it was pretty scary. And then when it was all done, and
I knew you were safe, and I realized you’d used my knife to hold the guy, it was... kinda sexy.”
“What?” Kate just stared at him. She was just a little too tired to process his last remark.
“You know -- armed and dangerous. My Kate, taking out the bad guys...” he said as he drew her into his arms.
She thought about this and then a slow, wicked smile grew across her face. “So you like a tough girl? One who can
play with the bad boys, maybe teach them a thing or two?”
“Oh, yeah. Care to show me what you got?” he whispered seductively.
“Not until I’ve eaten!” Kate slipped out of his embrace and walked back to the couch, taking a drink of
her beer.
Tony laughed and finished putting away the weapons.
When the pizza was ready, Kate offered to sit at the kitchen table, but Tony insisted she stay put. He carried out the food
and more beer, handed her a plate and sat down next to her.
“I can handle the crumbs, I know how to vacuum. We’ll both be more comfortable sitting here.”
“No doubt. But the beer’s going to put me to sleep faster than anything else tonight.” Kate took a bite
of pizza and leaned her head back while she chewed.
“It’s all I have, unless you just want water.”
“Well, pizza and beer does sound better than pizza and water. Still, after I finish this one, maybe I should just have
water. Otherwise I might not wake up at all in the morning.”
“Whatever you want.” Tony thought for a moment, then, “Can I ask you something?”
Hearing the tentative tone of his voice, Kate turned and looked at him. “Sure, what?”
“Well, you said you’d had a bad night, and I was wondering...”
Kate cut him off before he could go any farther. “Tony, the only parts of my night --no, make that my whole day that
have actually been any good have had to do with you. I hate this case, I hate the way it’s been tearing me up inside,
and I actually hate the fact that I have to be thankful to it for dropping me into your arms. Don’t get me wrong.
I’m not sorry about a single thing that’s happened between us since you caught me. In fact I feel happier than
I have in a long time. I just...” She was silenced as her lips were once again captured by his amazing soft, sweet
mouth.
When their lips finally parted, Tony slipped his arms around her. “I think I understand,” he told her. “This
case hasn’t been haunting my every moment the way it has for you, but I think I understand what you mean. As long as
you’re not sorry. About us, that is. For the first time in a very long time I feel like I have someone important in
my life, and I like how that feels. I don’t want this to be over yet.” Tony stroked her hair as he spoke, loving
the feel of the rich brown, silky strands cascading through his fingers.
“I guess it’s my turn to ask a question. Do you think we’re moving too fast? I mean this just happened
on Tuesday and here it is barely Friday. I’m not normally the kind of girl who would...”
It was Tony’s turn to interrupt. “Beg a man to make love to her on the first date?” He gave her a grin
and she swatted at him, playfully.
“I suppose you could consider it our second, sort of, in a way. Whatever. But yes. That’s just not who I am.”
“That doesn’t matter to me. What matters is if you regret it now. Do you?” Tony held his breath as he
waited for her answer.
“God, no! Tony, I’m not the least bit sorry we made love. I was just worried that maybe you thought we were
rushing things. I don’t want this to end anytime soon either.” She focused on the plate in her lap, suddenly
shy about admitting how much he meant to her.
Tony was quiet for a minute. When he spoke, it was clear that he’d been thinking about the matter for quite a while.
“You know, I don’t know if we rushed into this or not. We’ve known each other for a long time now. And
it’s true that our friendship has had its ups and downs, but we’ve always known we could trust each other. I
don’t know about you, but I feel like recently I’ve been growing closer to you, sharing a meal now and then, confiding
in you more; since we sorted out our differences.”
“Those ‘differences’ were just about my last defense against you. I think I’d already realized you
were destined to break my heart; I had to keep you away or risk losing everything again.” Kate sighed. That had not
been easy to admit to him.
“Aren’t we a pair? Both of us afraid to let ourselves fall in love and be happy. Well, I for one, am grateful
you’re with me right now, Special Agent Todd. And I don’t care how it happened, or how fast it happened.”
He smiled at her and was happy to see her beautiful smile in return.
“I’m with you? I thought you were with me, DiNozzo. Guess we’ll just have to work on that one, won’t
we?” Her smile turned playful as she went to reach for another slice of pizza, discovering that they’d eaten
it all during their conversation. She finished her beer and stood to take her dishes to the kitchen, only to be surprised
when the floor tilted sharply under her.
“Whoa, Kate! Let me give you a hand, Honey.” He took the dishes from her and led the way to the kitchen. Together
they loaded the dishwasher, and then Tony gave Kate a glass for some water. Just as she was pouring, the lights flickered
once, twice and then the power went out.
“Great. Now the power goes out. It’s gonna get hot in here tonight.” Tony reached over to Kate in the
dark. “Are you going to be okay with that?”
“What choice do we have? Just as long as we have an alarm clock for the morning. I don’t think Gibbs is going
to let us off with ‘the power went out’ as an excuse for showing up late.”
“Yeah, I have a battery back-up on mine. Speaking of battery...” he pulled out his cell phone and pressed a
button. “That’s what I was afraid of, battery’s nearly gone. I was going to charge it tonight. How’s
yours?”
“Got a flashlight? I don’t know my way around here that well yet.”
“Oh, sure. It’s in the bedroom. I think.”
“Forget it, just bring me my purse.” Kate poured herself more water and listened to Tony bump through the living
room.
He handed her the bag and she rummaged through it as he guided her to the counter. Kate opened her phone and found the battery
wasn’t much better than his.
“Let’s put them both on the bedside table, just in case.” Tony said, putting an arm around her waist and
leading her down the hall.
“Why? The phones do still work even when the power’s out, you know.” Kate found herself at the doorway
to the bathroom. “Got an extra toothbrush?”
“Nope, sorry. And I know the phones work, if you have a corded phone, which I don’t. Mine’s a cordless.
So it’s either our cells or it’s nothing.”
After some fumbling in the dark, she managed to brush her teeth with her finger and dry off her hands and face. “Would
you excuse me a minute?”
“Huh? Oh! Sure, I’ll, uh...” Slightly embarrassed, he wandered off to the bedroom and considered opening
windows. He was still standing and staring out one of them when he heard her come into the room.
“Tony?” He turned around and faced her shadowy form. “We’re going to have to set the alarm a little
early. I don’t have clothes here.”
“Do you want me to drive us back to your place now?”
“No, I’m too tired to go back out now. Let’s get some sleep and we’ll worry about the rest in the
morning.” Kate waited for him to head for the bathroom so she could change for bed. Then she realized she didn’t
have anything to wear to bed, either. ‘I suppose I can just wear my t-shirt. Or I can ask Tony for something.’
She was still dithering over her dilemma when he came back into the room.
“Kate? Is there a problem?”
“Sort of. I don’t have anything to wear to bed. I could just wear my t-shirt, but I’m going to need that
for the morning. Do you have something I could borrow?” Kate suddenly felt hopelessly puritanical.
“Yeah, sure. But you’ll want something as lightweight as possible,” he said, fishing through a drawer as
he spoke. “In a couple of hours it’s going to be pretty warm in here.” Finding what he was looking for,
he handed her something soft and white.
“Thanks, I’ll go...” she motioned toward the bathroom.
“Don’t bother, I’m going to get some water for in here. That way we don’t have to kill ourselves
when the heat starts to get to us.”
Kate changed quickly into what turned out to be a men’s tank-top style undershirt. The ambient light was quite dim,
but it was enough to let her know that she’d have been less provocative in nothing at all. She almost took it off,
but the at last moment chose not to. Tired as she was, she had to admit she felt incredibly sexy knowing that she was wearing
one of his t-shirts and that it made her look hot. She climbed into bed and was asleep the minute her head hit the pillow.
“Here we go, Kate, I...” Tony trailed off at the sight of her in his bed. Carefully setting down the large plastic
tumblers of water he carried, he allowed his eyes to feast on her, the way her curves made his undershirt look like seductive
lingerie instead of a simple piece of cotton underwear. The panties that she’d worn after their earlier lovemaking
were barely more than the scrap she had on when he undressed her. Tony smiled and shook his head. She had been shy in front
of him just now, and yet here she was looking like a veritable seductress. And the worst part of it all, she was sound asleep.
As he slid into bed next to her, he tried convincing himself that sexual frustration was actually very healthy. Kate sighed
and rolled in her sleep, draping herself carelessly across his body. His last conscious thought was lost in a haze of pleasurable
physical sensations combined with the satisfaction of having Kate share his bed.
|
