This is for Greengirl82 for reminding me that I haven't written in a while. So hopefully this will give me another month before she comes around again!
"Prentiss why are you dressed like that?" Hotch asked sternly with clear disappointment written across his face.
"I had a date," she said quickly avoiding all eye contact.
"And you decided to wear that?"
Emily looked down at her outfit and knew that she should have picked another outfit. She just wanted to feel sexy for the date that didn't show up. His loss, she thought to herself.
Hotch couldn't stop his eyes from roaming over Emily's body quickly. She had on a blood red skin tight dress with a deep v neck that showed a lot of skin. He shut his eyes quickly, but it was too late, her image was now imprinted in his brain forever. Emily watched as Hotch's grip on the steering wheel tightened and she arched an eyebrow.
"Are you alright?"
He loosened his grip and looked over at her. "I'm fine. What happened to your date?" he asked with a small amount of venom in his tone.
"Well my car broke down and I never made it to the restaurant but right as I was about to call Mike he called me and said he couldn't make it."
"He cancelled on you when you were already supposed to be there?"
Emily nodded her head sadly, "Yeah, I guess it was payback for the last time I had to cancel on him."
"Is that why you decided to wear that outfit? Try to make it up to him?"
"Hotch!" Emily practically yelled and waited for him to look at her before her hand collided fiercely with his face.
Hotch swerved slightly at the impact then reached up to touch his stinging face. "What was that for?" he barked.
"You know damn well what that was for," she crossed her arms over her chest and gazed out of her window, doing her best to keep her hands to herself instead of punching him.
"I'm sorry," Hotch told her after a few seconds of silence. "I didn't mean it like that."
Emily snorted in disbelief. "Yeah right."
"I didn't!" Hotch protested. "I just worry sometimes. Put yourself in my shoes. I get a phone call telling me to come pick you up and I roll up and you're looking under your hood wearing a very short revealing dress in the middle of the night. Anyone could have pulled up instead of me asking if you needed help and you don't need to be a profiler to know what could have happened. Then you tell me that you're dressed like that because you were going on a date. A date you feel the need to make it up to since you blew off last time. What do you want me to say? Something could have happened to you Emily," he said firmly trying to tell her that in a way he was looking out for her and wanted her to be safe.
Emily's anger slowly died down some as she let herself see where Hotch was coming from. She uncrossed her arms and placed them in her lap. "You still didn't have to insinuate I was a whore Hotch."
"What? Emily I have never thought that, and I will never think that," Hotch informed her in all seriousness.
"I don't want to talk about it anymore. I don't want to fight with you. Thank you for picking me up," she said as she looked out of her window again.
Hotch's hands gripped the steering wheel again and he watched her out of the corner of his eye. After a very long moment he reached out and grabbed her hand that was on her lap. He watched as she turned her head towards him and shot him a questioning look. "I don't want you to be upset with me."
"And I don't want you to think any less of me," Emily countered back.
Hotch shook his head and locked eyes with her for a split second before returning them to the road. "Never."
The two went back to sitting in silence with Emily's hand still being held by his larger one. "I just wanted to feel sexy," Emily finally confessed.
"You are very beautiful Emily. You shouldn't have to dress a certain way to make you feel that way because you're amazing the way you are."
"Beautiful is different from sexy," she informed him then let out a loud groan. "Why am I having this conversation with you?" she mumbled.
"You are both," he squeezed her hand.
Emily couldn't resist rolling her eyes, but she also felt the butterflies invade her stomach at his words. Did he really think that or was he just saying it to make her feel better? Thoughts ran through her mind about what she could do to figure out if he really felt that way about her.
Hotch pulled up to Emily's building and looked over at her. "So are we okay?"
"We're fine," Emily smiled up at him. "Thanks for the ride Hotch, I really do appreciate it." Before Hotch could tell her it wasn't a problem Emily leaned over and placed her lips gently but firmly on top of his for a kiss.
Caught blindsided Hotch didn't know how to respond. He wanted to kiss her back but his lips weren't cooperating with his mind. His hands gripped the steering wheel again tightly until his knuckles were ghostly white.
Sensing that Hotch wasn't going to return the kiss, Emily pulled back and blushed from embarrassment. "Sorry Hotch," she mumbled as an apology, said thanks again and quickly got out of the car then briskly walked into her building.
Hotch continued to sit paralyzed in his seat, staring at her front door wishing she would come back out and see him. Why didn't he kiss her back? He was so stupid! When a beautiful woman puts her lips on you, you return the favor Aaron, he thought to himself. His grip on the steering wheel finally relented slightly as his mind and body started to relax some. Should he go up and see if she was alright? Let her know that she had no reason to be embarrassed because he wanted her as well? Would she even believe him considering he just sat there like a damn lump on a log as they shared their first kiss?
First kiss, he thought to himself. That was not how he wanted their first kiss to be. He wanted it to be romantic and he wanted to participate, which he clearly failed in doing so tonight. Slapping his hand against his face he started to yell at himself mentally for being so stupid. For letting a beautiful, attractive, funny woman kiss him and not respond. Then he thought back to her dress and he felt like an even bigger moron. She was there in his car, wearing a barely there dress, after being rejected from a date, she would have been more than willing to do anything Hotch wanted her to do. But he didn't want to be with her for the first time after someone rejected her. Finally a small knock on his passenger side window brought him back to reality.
Hotch turned his head and saw Emily standing there still wearing the 'dress' that she had on earlier. He unlocked the door and she quickly got in.
"What are you doing?" she asked quietly as she shut the door behind her.
"What do you mean?" Hotch asked clearly confused.
"You're still sitting out here. It's been fifteen minutes Hotch."
Hotch arched an eyebrow and his mouth hung open. "Wow, I didn't know that. It felt like a few minutes."
Emily turned slightly in the seat to face Hotch while pulling her dress down over her thighs. "I didn't mean to freak you out Hotch. That wasn't my intention. I don't know why I kissed you, it just felt right, like it was the right thing to do. I apologize; I don't want things to be weird between us now."
Finally his mind started coming back to him even though his eyes kept drifting back to her bare thighs. "Nothing is going to be weird between us now Emily, you just threw me off for a second, I'm sorry."
"Why are you apologizing?" Emily asked as she arched an eyebrow.
"I don't want you to think you're unattractive or not wanted because I didn't kiss you back because you aren't either of those things. You are beautiful Emily and you don't have to dress a certain way to get someone's attention and if that's the only way to get a guys attention than that guy isn't for you."
Emily looked down and picked her nails with her hands in her lap. Hotch called her name gently which caused her to look up at him with uncertainty in her eyes.
"I don't want to do anything tonight that you might regret because some jackass blew you off, but if you still want me tomorrow then let me know and I promise I will show you how much I want you."
"You really want me?" Emily asked as she bit her lip shyly.
"More than you'd believe," Hotch confessed as he leaned forward and cupped the back of her head and pulled her into him. His lips collided with hers for the second time in less than half an hour and he took his time in expressing how he felt through his kiss. Emily moaned into his mouth and he fought every desire in his mind to keep his hands from roaming all over her body because he knew that if he let himself he would take her right here, right now in the car and she deserved so much more than that.
It took every ounce of strength in him to pull away from her delicious lips. He felt his ego swell slightly as her took in her flushed face and closed eyes. Hotch watched as she licked her lips and slowly opened her eyes.
"Tomorrow?" she asked softly.
"Tomorrow."
Emily nodded her head as she leaned in for another quick kiss then hopped out of the car. "I've never been more excited for a day in my life," she gushed as she slammed the car door shut then ran up to her building as quick as those heels would allow. Hotch watched her go and knew that tomorrow was going to be a great day, his only concern was doing something spontaneous to show her how much she was worth. But in his mind it was a challenge he willingly accepted.
