I don't own Matt Houston
"The Hunt"
He waits. From his hiding spot he can see her pace her office as she gathers files. He allows himself the luxury of admiring the sway of her hips, her elegant curves, the beauty of her face in deep concentration. Then snapping himself away from her distraction his eyes concentrate on his true target, a small key dangling on a delicate chain around her wrist. The prize it unlocks belongs to him. She has taunted him with it for days, daring him to come and get it, it calls him by it's presence alone. The fact that he has to go head to toe with CJ Parsons to get it, merely adds to the thrill of the hunt. She carries herself well, but her obvious intelligence and agility will be no match for his guile and bulk. He merely had to wait until she was alone. Her loyalty to her work will be her downfall, her office is not that secure, the whole building is practically deserted past 8 p.m. on a Friday night.
Suddenly his prey is on alert, what's that saying "like someone has walked on your grave.". He's so attuned to her, he sees the the goosebumps on her skin even from a distance. No doubt he'd have to make a move soon, while he still holds the element of surprise. Hunting, he crouches further into his hiding place as his prey shakes off the late night jitters exiting her office for the penthouse bar, the files are getting to her it's time for a break. It's the move he's been waiting for and as she edges one step closer to the bar, he pounces. Later he'll blame her tight jeans and the dip in her blouse for failing to notice the baseball bat she'd taken with her. Lucky for him the moment of recognition stops her mid swing. But it did not stop her from taking advantage of his relief. CJ uses all her intelligence, speed, and training to flip him over her small frame and promptly pin him to the floor, a foot away from the jacuzzi and dangerously close to tumbling to the couches down below.
"Matlock Houston! I can't believe you'd do something so stupid, or maybe I can. Did you really think you could steal the key and peak at your birthday presents!" CJ huffs indigently, as she raises the key on her wrist out of his reach, while using her other arm to pin him further into the floor.
"Well, clearly I was taunted. Really CJ, how am I suppose to wait two more days, when you claim to have found the perfect gift, hide it in a cabinet in your office, and then dangle the key in front of my nose." Houston tried his best pout and then changed his tone and thickened his Texas twang, "and really what if I built up this gift in my head to bigger than what it is, if I had a peak, then there'd be no danger of me showing any disappointment at my party. Honestly, I'm just trying to keep you from getting your feelings hurt."
The roll of her eyes told Houston she wasn't buying his new tactic, even before she confidently proclaimed, "Oh you won't be." Then Houston took great delight in CJ's sudden awareness of the placement of their bodies. But instead of any embarrassment he might have expected she flashes him a trademark grin, cocks her head to the side and asks, "Regretting teaching me self-defense now?"
Houston's "No" was quick, and he promptly follows it up by tilting their bodies and dumping CJ unceremoniously onto the couch below his momentum carrying him over the edge as well. Luckily Houston manages to use the back of the couch to control his fall simultaneously keeping some of his weight off CJ, now pinned beneath him, and reaches out a finger to snag the key off her wrist. Houston smiles, waggles his eyebrows, and dangles the key on the chain now wrapped around his digits. "That's because I didn't teach you everything I know."
"You most certainly did not." and with that CJ closes the gap between their bodies and seals her lips onto his.
Houston's eyes slip closed savoring what he normally only gets the briefest glimpses of. His best friend's body pressed intimately close to his own, her soft lips blending into his, her soft sigh as mouths open and the kiss deepens, and then nothing but air followed by a sharp pain to his rear as he hits the floor.
"Just for that you aren't getting your present until after the party."
Houston flabbergasted at the turn of events, looks up at a triumphant CJ already off the couch and back on the top level, key in hand. Her glowing smile somewhat soothing his bruised ego and backside, despite his best efforts to be mad. She's jumped over a line they'd only allowed their toes across. Part of him is worried about this new game they've started, but mostly he's happy she's willing to play.
His reply is cut off by a familiar chuckle, Houston stand and meets the laughing eyes of his uncle entering from the lobby, "Uncle Roy."
"Yes, in my day this was what 'working late' on a Friday night was code for too."
CJ at least looks chagrinned as she beats a hasty retreat back to her office, but can't stop herself from calling out, "Your nephew was trying to steal a peak at his birthday present.". And raises the key over her head for emphasis.
Roy waits for CJ to close her office door before he let's his nephew hear his reply, "Are you sure that's all you were trying to get a peak at?" The tension between those two has been higher than he's ever seen it. It's like something has clicked in the weeks following Matt's broken engagement to Elizabeth.
"Now Uncle Roy, you know CJ..."
"Save it, I just came back to get the tickets to the show I'd left behind." Taking one last glance to make sure CJ's door is still closed, Roy pats his nephews arm, "I just want you to be happy, and that girl has always been the key to your happiness...Now don't do anything stupid."
Houston watches his uncle go, and then ducks his head into CJ's office offering her a soft "good night.". He's retreating from the challenge for tonight, but the next 48 hours are going to be fun, because he isn't just hunting for the key around her wrist anymore. No Matlock Houston has set his sights on a whole new birthday present.