Hey, guys, I apologize for the erratic updates on EM lately. I got kind of involved in what started out as a one shot for a friends birthday but you guys should know by now that I find it virtually impossible to write a short story. Anyway, this is what it turned into. Here's the first chapter. I hope you enjoy but please let me know either way. Thanks, T.
Disclaimer: Not mine.
Angela Montenegro and Dr. Jack Hodgins glanced up as Dr. Temperence Brennan slammed through the doors of the Medico-Legal lab of the Jeffersonian (well, as close to slammed as you could get considering they slid open when you approached) and stalked toward her office, fists clenched at her sides and muttering under her breath, fury in every line of her body. Giving each other a wide eyed, questioning glance, they suddenly understood as the doors once again slid open and a furious Seeley Booth burst through them.
"I'm not finished, Bones," Booth yelled at her. Angela's eyes widened as she saw her best friend actually quiver in rage but her step didn't pause, nor did she deign to answer the furious man hot on her heels. She simply slammed her office door in his face. Booth didn't even pause, his hand shooting out and shoving the door open to follow her inside.
"Whoa," whispered Hodgins, his wide eyes meeting Angela's.
"Yeah," she returned, standing on tiptoe to get a better look at what was going on in that office. No matter how she craned her head, she couldn't see so she started off the platform as if in a trance, excitement building as she realized this could be the moment she had been waiting on for years.
"Where are you going?" Hodgins demanded, grabbing her arm. She didn't even glance his way, her eyes and ears straining to catch anything coming from that office. She tried to shake his hand off her arm but his grip was surprisingly firm. Tearing her attention away from Brennan's office with extreme difficulty, she turned to Hodgins and patted his hand affectionately.
"It's all right, Hodgie, I won't get caught," she assured him with a wicked grin that he couldn't help but return. That hadn't really been his concern but he could see where that could be bad. He sure as hell wouldn't want to get caught spying on the two furious people in that office, especially since they had both been losing it with the least provocation for a couple of weeks now.
He had no idea what had happened between them but he could pinpoint the when down to the day or rather, the night. They had left the lab one evening to go see Sweets and they had been fine but the next time he had seen them together, they had been all weird and fidgety around each other. Oh, they had tried to pretend that everything was fine but had been walking on eggshells around each other for weeks now, making everyone in the lab fidgety and nervous from the tension and just knowing that something wasn't right between the partners.
"Ange, have you ever seen either one of them that upset?" He didn't even wait for her to finish shaking her head before he continued. "We should just leave them alone and let them fight it out," he urged. Although his own curiosity was demanding appeasement, more than anything he wanted them to just get whatever the hell it was out into the open it and work it out already.
"Oh, come on, Hodgie, you know you want to know what's going on in there just as much as I do," she teased and he couldn't deny it. "Come on, Jack. This could be it and you know you want to see that," she cajoled, referring to her theory that Sweets had prodded them into verbalizing their feelings for each other and something had gone wrong. She had questioned Sweets extensively and made her displeasure at his interference clear, but had gotten zip out of the tight lipped psychologist so she had simply watched and waited, knowing it couldn't be long. And now that the time was here, Hodgins expected her to just let the opportunity to watch from a ringside seat pass her by? Yeah, like that was gonna happen, she snorted internally. Determinedly, she gently removed Hodgins' hand from her arm and linked their fingers, turning toward Brennan's office.
"Ange, this is a bad idea," he warned even as he allowed her to pull him off the platform and toward Brennan's office, trying to be as stealthy as possible and only being very, very obvious that they were trying to be sneaky.
"Relax, Hodgie, they're too busy yelling at each other to notice us," Angela assured him, pulling him into a corner and parting the leaves of the plant they were behind to give them a bird's eye view of Brennan's office. Giving in to the inevitable, Hodgins leaned forward to get a better look.
Brennan stiffened at the sound of her office door lock being engaged, unable to believe that Special Agent Seeley Booth would actually have the gall to follow her into her office when she had made it clear that she was finished with their conversation. Crossing her arms over her chest, she turned to pin him with an icy blue gaze filled with displeasure, tamping down the pain and the absolute fury that she had been carrying around for the last two weeks. Or trying to, at least, but it was difficult considering she wanted to fly across the room and physically attack him, the very source of all that rage.
Booth met the icy gaze but he didn't flinch, he was just too damned mad to let her closed, angry stance keep him from venting his own rage. Stalking toward her, he didn't stop until they were toe to toe. Opening his mouth to calmly express his own irritation, he was just as surprised as she was by what actually came out. "What the hell were you thinking?" he bellowed into her face.
Brennan blinked and instinctively recoiled from the rage in his face and eyes. Then her own anger kicked in, her eyes flamed and she stepped even closer to him. "I was thinking that you're my partner and that you needed my help," she yelled right back, poking him in the chest for good measure, refusing to give him the satisfaction of admitting that she had messed up and absolutely refusing to quail before him.
Booth's hands clenched into fists at his sides to keep himself from grabbing the infuriating woman and shaking some sense into her, his stomach in knots as the earlier scene in the alley played through his mind over and over. "I needed you to let me do my job and not try to do it for me. You had no business jumping in and frisking the suspect, Bones," he hissed through gritted teeth, knowing that incident wasn't completely responsible for his anger but it was a damned good excuse to express some of it and he wasn't about to pass it up.
"I am perfectly capable of adequately performing such a simple task," she snapped before she could stop herself, furious at him for yelling at her in front of everyone in that alley, furious at herself for messing up, furious at the suspect for his very existence. She knew it wasn't logical or reasonable but, hell, lately the fact that the sun was yellow and grass was green angered her, one of the interns breathing in her general vicinity sent her into a rage and just looking at the man standing before her made her hurt in ways she hadn't known existed until two weeks ago. Desperate to keep her mind from going there, she planted her hands of her hips and lifted her chin pugnaciously, if Booth wanted a fight, she would give him one he would never forget.
"Obviously, you're not," he snapped right back, running a hand across his face in agitation, wanting to grab her and show her what she was throwing away, to physically tie her to him, to make her understand that it was killing him inch by excruciating inch to be this close to her every day when she didn't love him like he loved her. But his own stupidity had made releasing some of his rioting emotions that way impossible and the rage generated by his failure to protect her, almost allowing her to get hurt back there in that alley piling up on top of his already brimming anger left him floundering. Knowing that if he didn't release some of that anger soon he was simply going to explode, he cautioned himself not to lose his temper when he explained to Brennan that she couldn't just jump in and do whatever she wanted. He had to make her understand the danger she had put herself in with her impulsive actions and that impulsive actions in the field were completely unacceptable.
"I can do anything you can do, Booth," she snapped snidely, her tone implying she could probably even do it better and Booth's eyes snapped to her face, taking in the stubborn tilt of her chin, the blue eyes that were sparking with temper, the smirk curling her lips and Booth's temper ignited so quickly that he didn't have a hope in hell of controlling it.
"Fine," he growled, "if you want to do my job, you're going to learn to do it right." Ignoring the warning voice in his head telling him it was a very, very bad idea for him to put his hands on her at any time but most especially in his current state, he grabbed her arm and pulled her toward the back wall in her office. Startled, she didn't try to pull away until he swung her around to face the wall, his chest pressed against her back and took both of her hands in his, raising them and planting them against the wall, his big hands covering hers and holding them firmly in place. "Spread your legs," he said huskily into her ear, fighting the urge to put his open mouth on every inch of her that he could reach, hating that he didn't have the right to do that, that she would push him away if he did that. Besides, this was about teaching her a lesson, not satisfying the constant desire he felt for her.
"What?" she gasped, turning her head to meet blazing brown eyes and the lust, the utter need she saw in those depths was almost her undoing. Her belly tightened and she fought to hold on to her own anger and ignore the lust flooding her system at having him this close. God, why did this have to be so hard? Did she really deserve the punishment of being taunted with what she wanted most in the world for trying to protect the man she loved? "What are you doing?" she gulped breathlessly.
"I'm teaching you the proper way to frisk a suspect, Bones," Booth replied smoothly, resting his chin on her shoulder and shooting her his own little version of a smirk. "Don't make me handcuff you first," he threatened when she halfheartedly tried to pull her hands from beneath his, delighted with the flush spreading across her cheeks. She was pissed? Seriously? Well, she might as well suck it up and get over it because he hadn't even gotten started yet.
"I'd like to see you try," she snapped, doing her best to feign outrage when her knees were threatening to buckle from the feel of his body pressed so tightly against hers and his breath washing over the sensitive skin of her ear and neck sent a shiver down her spine.
Booth fought back a shudder, his eyes closed and his hands tightened on hers as a multitude of scenarios with him doing more than trying to handcuff her flashed through his mind. In every single one of them, she was wiggling and squirming against him and it somehow became necessary to discard clothing, his and hers, to accomplish his task. God, he had to stop thinking like that and he had to stop this before he got himself in real trouble, before he messed things between them up even more and she ran away.
Knowing that he would never forgive himself in that happened,he had every intention of taking his hands off of her and leaving until they both cooled down until he opened his eyes and met taunting cerulean eyes daring him to do his worst. And just like that, his primal, aggressive instincts were aroused and he simply couldn't pass up the opportunity to put his hands on her, for what might be the last time ever because God knew, he couldn't take this aching want that knotted his guts and squeezed his heart every time he looked at her since she had made it clear she didn't love him.
"Maybe later," he murmured under his breath, knowing he was going to be paying penance for the fantasy that remark generated come Sunday but not really caring. Reminding himself that if he wasn't going to have any control whatsoever over his partner when they were out in the field, he needed to make sure she knew what she was doing and nothing like today ever happened again, he told himself he could keep this professional, despite the way his whole body hummed and his hands literally itched with anticipation. Okay, fine, so maybe he was going to enjoy it a little bit but that really couldn't be helped, he was doing this for her own good. "Okay, Bones, I'm going to show you how to frisk someone." His voice wasn't entirely professional but he wasn't drooling in anticipation so he was happy with that.
"I don't think that's such a good idea, Booth," Brennan protested wide eyed, starting to squirm against him and definitely trying to pull her hands out from under his. In fact, she knew this was a very, very bad idea. She had been furious with herself and him when she had walked into her office. Truth be told, she had been furious with everyone for weeks but now, having him this up close and personal, she wasn't sure what she would do if he put his hands on her, even innocently. She had struggled with her developing love and, to be honest, lust for him for years but it had never been as hard or as painful as it had been for the last two weeks, since he had offered her everything she had come to crave with every fiber of her being and she had refused because to accept would mean the certain loss of what she loved the most in the entire world. Him.
"Afraid, Bones?" he taunted, a little surprised at the fierceness of the roar of outrage over being deprived of this opportunity ringing in his head. Oh, hell no, he deserved this, he needed this and he wasn't just giving it up without a fight. He had done entirely too much of that recently and look where that had gotten him.
Stiffening, Brennan's eyes narrowed and she ordered herself to not take the bait, to ignore the mocking challenge in his voice and eyes but, God, her body was aching to feel his hands running over it. Would it really be so wrong to enjoy, under the pretext of learning, something she so desperately wanted? "Of course not, Booth," she scoffed. "I can take anything you can throw at me," she challenged, trying to keep the desperate need she was feeling from her voice.
"All right then. Let's get this show on the road," Booth smiled so innocently that Brennan felt a quiver of apprehension run over her but her pride wouldn't let her back down.
Within seconds, she knew she had made a very big mistake and it was going to cost her dearly. Booth's foot slid between hers and nudged hers further apart, widening her stance. His hands pressed hers to the wall in a stay there motion then slowly slid away, gliding lingeringly, caressingly up her arms. One came to rest on her shoulder and the other moved to grip her hip. Biting her lower lip to hold back a whimper, Brennan closed her eyes and just lost herself in the tortuous pleasure of his hands stroking her body.
"To start with, you have to get them off balance. Make them feel defenseless and make it more difficult for them to attack you," he whispered in her ear, pushing lightly on her shoulder until her torso angled forward slightly. The hand on her shoulder slid down to rest on her other hip and he applied pressure to pull her hips backward. He had only meant to get her in the correct position, he hadn't meant it to be a sexual act but that was exactly what it became the instant his thigh slid between hers and her bottom nestled against his growing erection. And, God, the things he wanted to do to her, the images that were flashing through his mind really weren't helping to keep things professional.
They both froze and Booth's hands tightened on her hips, every ounce of the pain and anger, the grief and loss he had felt since she had denied him instantly turning to lust and need. Regardless of knowing where he stood with her, knowing what he was doing was wrong on both the personal and professional levels, knowing that it was stupid to torture himself with something that could never be his, he couldn't make himself step away. If he moved at all, he would have her turned around and pressed between his body and the wall and he knew his hands and mouth would be all over her, showing her what she was giving up, begging her to give them a chance. Holding perfectly still was the only way to stop himself from acting on his impulses and he could only hope that she didn't notice what being this close to her was doing to him.
There was no way she couldn't notice the hardness growing against her bottom but she forced herself to hold still instead of grinding against him and groaning like she wanted to. Gritting her teeth, she fought the urge to turn and throw herself against, begging him to forgive her for hurting him and just love her. God, she had wanted him like this since day one and for the first couple of years of their partnership, she wouldn't have hesitated to take advantage of it, to have a sexual relationship with him, and during that time, she could have compartmentalized and handled it. But not now, not after Booth had taught her what love was all about, not when she had seen how vulnerable he had been after the surgery, not since she had realized how much she wanted to be with him, and most especially not after he had asked her to give them a try and she had seen how badly she had hurt him. She never, ever wanted to cause him a moment's pain and if she was in his life as a romantic partner, she had no doubt that she would do exactly that on a regular enough basis to finally drive him away forever and she simply couldn't exist in a world that he wasn't part of.
Feeling his hips rock forward and his erection press firmly into her left hip, she couldn't stop the shiver that ran down her spine but she bit her lower lip almost hard enough to draw blood to contain a moan. She'd had a multitude of fantasies about something like this happening between them for years and had thought she knew what it would feel like but she had been wrong. What she was feeling was so strong that it was almost frightening. Her breasts tightened and tingled, her nipples hardening, her belly tightened and she fought the overwhelming urge to turn around and crawl all over him. Not sure how long she could control her baser urges, she made a move of pure self reservation. "What's wrong, Booth? Forget what you were doing?" she asked over her shoulder in her snarkiest voice and it did the trick. He stiffened and moved away slightly but his eyes promising retribution kept her from relaxing too much.
"Not at all, Bones," he purred against her ear. "I just wanted to make sure you got the stance down pat," he bluffed, "but if you're ready, we can move on." The sheer anticipation in his voice made her quiver all over.
"Booth, maybe I should get someone else to show me," she said a little desperately as he dropped to his haunches behind her, both hands grasping her right ankle.
"Don't you trust me, Bones?" he asked quietly, knowing that there was no way he was going to give up the opportunity to touch her, even if it wasn't entirely the way he had fantasized about for so long. He tried to make his touch brisk and impersonal as his hands smoothed up her slender leg but he could feel the heat of her thigh through the thin yoga pants she had just changed into when he had picked her up and he could imagine that his hands were running over hot, naked flesh. He could smell her skin and he desperately wanted to lean forward and taste the strip of skin revealed where her shirt rode up in the back. No freaking way was this impersonal. With him and her, it was as personal as it got.
Brennan's breath caught in her throat and she forgot his question as his fingers overlapped around her leg, moving caressingly up her calf and onto her thigh, stroking higher and higher. She could feel his hot breath puffing against the bare skin of her lower back and bit back a moan, her logical brain screaming at her to stop this now. But her heart and body weren't quite ready to give up his touch, even though she was so turned on she could barely stand still and how pathetic was that? That the most arousing sexual encounter that she'd had in years was from her partner frisking her? No, not just her partner, the man who already was who everything but she was too damned scared to take the last step and make him her lover, her lifetime partner in everything. That was what was really pathetic about this situation.
Booth forced his hands to move from Brennan's right leg to her left and trace his previous path in reverse, his eyes never leaving her curvy bottom cupped and outlined so lovingly in tight cotton pants. Pants that were so thin, he could see the outline of her bikini panties and the way her buttocks clenched every time he hit a sensitive spot on the inside of her thigh. Even though she was holding her body under rigid control, those movements were a dead giveaway and Booth couldn't resist tracing those spots repeatedly. But all too soon to suit him, he knew it was time to move on. He just wasn't entirely sure how to do that. Just touching her so innocently, okay, not so innocently, had him so revved up that he knew better than to reach out and put his hands on her bottom while he was looking at it. No way could he handle that.
Pushing to his feet, he slowly dragged his hands up the backs of her calves and thighs, intending to simply skim or bypass her bottom entirely but his hands refused to listen. They touched the firm mounds and lingered, despite his mind's frantic orders to move on. Brennan gave a strangled gasp and jerked backward against him, trapping his hands between them, fingers spread out and gripping her butt. Booth's entire body clenched with desire, waves of lust washing over him with such force that his knees threatened to buckle, unable to completely smother the low growl rippling deep in his chest. He knew he needed to take his hands off of her and get the hell out of here before she turned around and kicked his ass or he managed to step even further across the line and ruin their partnership for good. He was practically molesting her under the guise of teaching her FBI procedure and God help him, he couldn't make himself stop.
"You have to be very, very thorough," he assured her huskily, his hands thoroughly smoothing over her buttocks.
Brennan took a deep, shuddering breath and rested her head against her left arm. No matter what he said, she was certain that the way Booth was touching her was not the proper procedure taught by the FBI. If it had been, the female crime rate in the Metropolitan DC area would increase by 1000% and the women would be lining up in front of the Hoover building to turn themselves in. She knew she should demand that Booth take his hands off of her immediately and severely chastise him for the inappropriate touching. And she would do exactly that, she assured herself, just as soon as she stopped enjoying it so damned much and managed to catch her breath. Oh, who the hell was she kidding? She had no intention of stopping him, she too badly wanted to go where this was leading.
"Do you have anything dangerous in your pockets?" Booth breathed directly into her ear as his hands moved around to smooth over her front pockets, his big body unconsciously moving closer.
"Keys. Right pocket," she managed in a strangled voice, shudderingas he bent over her until his chest molded to her back and she could feel how very much he was enjoying this against her bottom.
Booth felt the shudder and it partially brought him to his senses just as he was about to slip his hands into her pocket, which would be totally inexcusable. What the hell was he doing? His eyes opened wide, shocked at himself and the liberties he had just taken with his partner's delectable body. No matter how much he was enjoying this and wanted it to continue to its inevitable conclusion, this was completely unacceptable, both his behavior and where it was taking place. The sad thing was that even know how out of line he was, how very wrong his behavior was, he just didn't want to stop. His hands ached to trail up her sidesand cup her lush breasts. His aching body urged him to drag her over to the sofa, strip her down and make love to her on the spot and his entire body clenched at the images floating through his mind. And it sure as hell didn't help that he could hear her soft, gasping pants to catch her breath or feel the subtle grinding of her bottom against him, an action he didn't even think she was aware of but was driving him out of his mind. God, he had to get out of here. NOW.
He knew he owed her a sincere, heartfelt apology but he just couldn't find the words to explain something he didn't really understand himself. That wasn't true, he admitted to himself, he knew exactly what was happening. He was so in love with his exasperating, irritating partner that he could barely see straight and he had carried around an aching desire for her since the moment they had met. That desire had only gotten stronger as his love for her had grown and he had stupidly blurted it out in a way almost guaranteed to freak her out, to get a negative response. So he had silently been nursing a broken, angry heart for the last two weeks and seeing her in that alley with some scumbag holding a knife to her throat had simply pushed him over the edge of control. But he couldn't tell her that. She wouldn't want to hear it and it wasn't really an acceptable excuse for his completely unacceptable behavior.
Closing his eyes, he forced his reluctant hands away from her body, praying that she would just let him walk away until he could pull himself together. He had just learned two very important things and he had some serious thinking to do before they discussed this and they would discuss it even if it resulted in her kicking his ass or demanding a new partner. "I'm sorry, Bones," he whispered into her ear, apologizing for the entire last two weeks, before turning and walking out of her office.
Brennan sagged against the wall, her shaking legs barely supporting her weight. What the hell had just happened? Okay, stupid question, but then again, maybe not, because she was seriously confused. Admittedly, it was difficult to focus her thoughts when her entire body was shaking with the need to chase her partner down and drag him down to the Egyptian Room but she should be able to process better than this. Forcing herself to push away from the wall, she shakily walked to her desk and sank down into her chair, dropping her face into her cupped hands, trying to calm her breathing and focus her finely honed analytical skills on the problem at hand.
Okay, she understood that the debacle in the alley had made them both angry and put them on edge. They had chased two suspects in an investigation into an alley and while Booth had covered her, she had disarmed the smaller man of a gun. High on adrenalin, she had pushed the man up against the wall and frisked him, declaring that he was clean and Booth had trusted her assessment. While Booth had been handcuffing the larger, more dangerous looking man, Brennan's attention had wandered and the smaller man had pushed away from the wall, pulling a knife that she had missed during the search and held it against her neck, demanding that Booth let him go. Booth had refused and Brennan had easily taken the guy down while his attention was focused on her partner but Booth had been seriously pissed that she had overstepped and frisked the guy in the first place. He had actually yelled at her in front of the perps and the policemen that were on site by then. Even though she had known she was in the wrong, she had been hurt and embarrassed by Booth's reaction and she had instinctively taken refuge in anger, yelling right back. Booth had dragged her to the SUV and they had returned to the Jeffersonian in stony silence with her stiffly informing him she didn't want to talk about it before sliding out of the SUV and stalking into the lab.
Yes, she understood that they had both been pissed and the release of adrenalin could sometimes alter your perception of a situation but, she also knew that this was about so much more than what had happened in that alley. Booth's anger might have pushed him into touching her in the first place but she would have to be ten kinds of stupid not to have felt the tenderness in his touch, the way his whole body drew hard and tight from having his hands all over her and no one had ever accused her of being stupid. Her belly tightened at the memory of his hands gliding over her legs and buttocks and the way they had clenched on her hips when it had been obvious that Booth was fighting for the control to pull away from her had her breath hitching in her throat. She wished with all her heart that he hadn't been able to amass that control.
For the first time in her adult life, she wanted someone to take a choice out of her hands and make it for her, to push her into what she really wanted and not what she knew was for the best. She wanted Booth to show her that she was worth fighting for, to ease the sting of his saying he had to move on so quickly when she had made her knee jerk denial to his proposition. She needed him to say that he loved her so she would know with absolute certainty and not just see what she wanted to see or hear. Fair or not, she was absolutely furious with him for forcing her to acknowledge, even to herself, how she felt, what she actually wanted.
Oh, she had known for years that she loved him, she had fantasized about him, dreamed about him and couldn't even bring herself to take someone else to her bed to satisfy her biological urges for the last two years. But he had always been so careful to keep the boundaries clear on them having a romantic relationship that she had resigned herself to him being her best friend and partner, idealized the relationship in her mind. She had convinced herself it was better this way, to not have to maneuver the pitfalls of a romantic relationship with someone who was so very important to her, knowing there was less likelihood of losing him from her life this way. But that was exactly what was happening. She was losing him and had been ever since that night two weeks ago and she could almost hate Sweets for being responsible for that. So, it had come down to this, to her having to make a choice, the most important choice of her life and just the thought terrified her.
In her opinion, she had two options. She had thought she could ignore what had happened and they could continue to simply be best friends and partners. And pretending that nothing had changed was exactly what she had been trying to do for the last two weeks since she knew she didn't want to lose him from her life and she knew that she was very, very bad at relationships, that she would hurt him time after time until she lost him for good. But the earlier scene had pointed out, even to her, that pretending was no longer possible and trying to do so was only going to drive them further apart, hurting them both in the process, exactly what she was trying to avoid.
Her second option was to stop being a coward. There she had finally admitted it to herself. She was a coward where Booth was concerned. She loved him and she was terrified of telling him that, of taking a chance on them, even though she thought the things he had said to her that night were beautiful and she knew, in her heart, that he loved her, even without the actual words. He showed her that every single day in the way he protected her, the way he fed her, the way he showed up at her apartment at night just to say goodnight. Even though she had denied it, she had seen the way he looked at her and knowing that he desired her made it even more difficult to walk away from him every night. Because of her fear of messing things up between them, of driving him completely out of her life, she had forced herself to ignore all of that but now she was at a crossroads. She had been telling the truth about needing to protect him from her but she had hurt him two weeks ago and every day since all in the name of protecting him. Where was the logic in that? Sadly, there was none and Brennan found the fact that none of her feelings were logical or rational terrifying but she suddenly knew what she had to do. She either had to find the courage to tell Booth how she felt or to let him go completely. Anything else simply wasn't fair to either of them and she was so very tired of letting the fears of a young girl rule her life.
Did she have that kind of courage? She honestly didn't know but if there had ever been anything in her life worth taking a risk on, it was Seeley Booth. Her stomach cramped into knots at just the thought of him not being in her life and she knew she couldn't deal with that. Had she already lost her chance? Had her turning him down that night hurt him so badly that he wouldn't even consider it if she told him how she felt? Terrified that that was the case, her mind wandered back to his hands roaming her body and how his body had reacted, her tummy fluttering with pure lust at the thought. It wasn't a guarantee that he would be amenable to her proposition but it at least gave her something to work with.
And she could most definitely work with that, she decided, raising her head a decidedly wicked smile curving her lips. Booth had been determined to teach her something but he had walked out before he was sure she had gotten it and she, dedicated to learning as she was, just couldn't let that stand. Seeley Booth was about to find out what an excellent student she was and if they both learned a few things along the way, well, all knowledge was good, wasn't it? Grabbing her coat, she strode from her office with a determined gleam in her eyes, so focused on her destination and what would happen when she got there that she didn't even notice Angela and Hodgins watching her with wide, shocked eyes from behind a plant across from her office.
"Whoa, did you see that?" whispered Hodgins, not really sure "Damn that was hot" was an appropriate response for what they had just seen. Even though seeing Booth and Brennan practically vibrating with the effort to keep their hands off of each other had been one of the hottest things he had ever seen, he felt a little voyeuristic at spying on something so personal.
"Yeah, I saw it," breathed Angela, not feeling at all voyeuristic. "Damn, that was hot," she grinned at Hodgins flirtatiously, moving closer and running her hands up and down his arms.
"Umm hmm," he agreed, knowing exactly what was on Angela's mind because he was having the same thoughts. "Where do you think Brennan is going?" he asked absently, his hands moving to her waist and pulling her closer.
"Oh, she's going to find Booth," Angela replied confidently and Hodgins blinked in surprise. He had thought maybe Brennan was going to find something to punch, that was how wound up she had looked but he thought her finding Booth might have a much better outcome for the both of them. If what had happened in Brennan's office was any indication, they would be all over each other in seconds, exactly the way he wanted to be with Angela.
"I could use your help with something in the Egyptian Room," he murmured, pulling Angela closer.
"Of course, Hodgie, I'm always happy to help you out," Angela grinned, slipping out of his arms and taking his hand to pull him toward the elevator. Hodgins followed without hesitation giving only a fleeting thought to hoping that when Brennan chased him down, Booth got as lucky as he was about to.
