Pants Fully on Fire
"Remember when we were paired up to escort Claudia and Henry?"
"I thought they stuck me with a goddamn boy scout. Some prissy nancy who got into the Marshal Service because of his family connections."
"That hurts. Just because I had manners and was polite you thought I was weak. You on the other hand appeared to be raised by wolves."
Mary smiled. "I did didn't I?"
"That wasn't a compliment Mare."
"No?" she shrugged. "Sounded like one to me." Mary sat on the couch, after handing Marshall a beer. They clinked bottles and wet their whistles.
"You told me you called your mother every day. What was I supposed to think? You might as well have had momma's boy tattooed on your forehead."
Marshall turned to her, grinning. "I lied."
"You said it just to yank my chain, didn't you. You sneaky bastard."
"Damn straight. That's me." Marshall looked as smug as his words.
Mary downed several swallows of beer and re-entered their latest competition.
An evil grin on her face, Mary asked, "Do you remember when I would come into the office bragging about blowing off steam with some cowboy?"
Marshall grimaced. It was one of his least favorite memories of Mary. "Of course I remember."
"Most of them weren't true." This Mary Shannon bombshell sent his eyebrows skyward.
"Then why would you tell me?" he retorted and sniffed. "I never appreciated your over sharing of romantic encounters." Mary never lied without a good reason. He couldn't wait to hear what her reason for lying about this.
"This is me. Romantic? I don't think so." Mary snorted.
Marshall lifted his bottle and swallowed, thinking. "So you lied to me. You led me to believe you'd drop jeans for almost any guy when you didn't? Why in the hell would do that?"
"There was one time I wasn't lying. When I told you, I saw your face fall and realized you were. . . something. Hurt? Disappointed? I knew you had a crush on me and it seemed like a good way to fix that."
"What do you mean fix it? Why would you want to do that?"
"Marshall, you deserve so much better than me. I didn't want you to fall for me, so I figured if I crushed your crush we could be friends." Typical Mary rationale.
"And partners."
"Yes, friends and partners. No romantic touchy feely crap."
Marshall smiled put his beer on the table and pulled Mary closer to him on their couch. His arm was around her shoulders, a huge grin on his face.
"And look at us now," he teased. He kissed the top of her head. She retaliated by facing him and capturing his mouth in a searing kiss.
When they came up for air, Mary's voice was husky. "Why look when we can do so much more?"
"What happened to no romantic touchy feely."
"This," she kissed his cheek, "isn't" another kiss to his nose, "crap."