Disclaimer: Not mine, see CBS for details.
Blindsided
By
Rogue Amazon Boo
Danny Messer liked women and women liked Danny Messer. It was simple mathematics; X + Y equals sex, and it was an equation that had worked for him his whole life.
Some people might even accuse Danny of liking women a little too much, and dating more than his fare share of the fairer sex.
Danny wasn't sure he saw it that way. In his mind he was male, he was heterosexual, he was unattached and he liked women. There was nothing wrong with that, nothing at all.
Where in the rules did it say that he had to fall in love with every woman he dated? Did women always fall in love with every man they happened to be seeing, or sleeping with?
No, because attraction and love were separate variables all together. One could exist without the other on both interested parties parts.
Had he ever broken a woman's heart? Yeah, of course he had. He hadn't done it on purpose; he wasn't malicious like some men could be, but sometimes life didn't work out the way you planned. Sometimes the girl you were into on Tuesday lost her appeal by Wednesday. Sometimes you were together for months and then one thing or another happens and things just don't work out.
It happened, and not just to him.
Sometimes though, just sometimes, a woman came along and stuck in your head, and no matter how much you tried, you just couldn't get her to leave you alone.
Lindsay Monroe was that woman. She was his Kryptonite, his Achilles' heal, his Basheba, his Helen.
She was his weakness because she was different than the others. Danny's eyes shifted from behind the microscope he had been looking in and found her small frame processing evidence on the large white table.
Was she beautiful? Sort of, not conventionally, but her face had so much more character than most. She wasn't beautiful in the way that we have been programmed to see beauty. She wasn't a supermodel; she was too petite for that and too memorable.
Supermodels, sure they're gorgeous and every once in a while one or two will stand out from the crowd, but for the most part they are interchangeable. Living clothes racks so rich people can do their shopping.
She was not interchangeable. She had a mouth that was a bit too wide, but begged to be kissed. She had eyes that were too large, the color of good whiskey, and that revealed too much. Her face was expressive, it only went blank when she was trying to control her emotions or keep a secret. More often than not her features were alive; her feelings bleeding though like a masterwork on canvas, so much emotion.
He knew that if he ever took her to bed she would respond to everything. All of it would be in her eyes, in her gestures. She was that kind of woman, the kind that would re-act to his slightest touch. The thought was intoxicating.
Danny watched her tilt her head and the light caught her hair. He smiled. He loved her hair, loved the burnished color of autumn that glinted in the light. Loved how it was sometimes wild and untamed, like she just rolled out of bed. She cocked her head to the side and he caught a glimpse of her profile.
She had a slight cleft in her chin that deepened like the furrow between her brows when she was concentrating too hard. She had a jaw that was too strong, too defined for the faint dimples that flashed when she smiled.
Add the parts up to a whole and she shouldn't be beautiful, but she was, and he hadn't been the only one to notice.
He hated that other guys had noticed; hated that she turned heads without even realizing it. He knew that green was not a flattering color on him, but he couldn't seem to help himself. She clouded his rational mind with all sorts of irrational thoughts.
He had no claim on her.
He sure as hell didn't want to claim her.
He was very good at lying to himself.
Danny glanced sideways and watched as she leaned over the lab table to get a closer look at the knife they had found at their most recent murder scene.
His mind wasn't on the case. Instead it seemed to have latched on, along with his eyes, to the outline of her breasts against her white lab coat.
She had world class breasts. They were perfectly round and just the right shape and size. He had a lot of fantasies about those breasts, about the things he wanted to do to them. He licked his lips and his gaze drifted lower.
His eyes followed the path his hands were itching to take, down the graceful curve of her back, over the slight swell of her hips, to rest briefly on the curve of her ass. He shook himself.
No doubt about it. Montana had a great body.
She had the kind of body that inspired lustful fantasies and wet dreams. Lust; he could deal with lust, had before, but his problem went deeper than hormones.
His problem was that she fascinated him. He found himself wanting to know things about her, both life changing and mundane. He wanted to ask her about her home, her past, how she took her eggs, what chore did she hate doing the most when she was a kid, did she ever play sports, what kind of music did she like, what was her favorite color, food, cartoon character, anything, everything.
He wanted to get close.
So he stayed far away.
Still his fascination drove him. So he flirted and hinted and watched, but that was it. He wasn't ready for what lay beyond, not yet.
He sighed and watched her work. She was smart, scary smart, and she had good instincts. Smart, intriguing, and beautiful, how he loved flirting with danger.
Danny smirked, she still hadn't looked up from the evidence and that was fine by him. He let his gaze wander over her.
Dangerous, she was so dangerous she should come with signs, high voltage, beware, hazardous material, something. No wonder he couldn't seem to stay away.
She would be bad for him; she would draw too much from him. All those things he was terrified of giving to another human being he knew he would give to her.
Danny knew what would happen, he knew it would start out small, oh so small and soon, too soon, he would start care too much, give too much. He might even be tempted to give her all of it, everything, body, mind, heart…soul.
The price for having her, indulging, it was too high.
And still he flirted, hinted, teased, lusted, wanted…needed. He needed her. He craved her trust, her smiles, her unwavering strength, and most importantly, her respect.
How had this country girl from Montana managed to get under his skin?
No doubt about it. Danny Messer liked women, and some would still probably go on record that he liked them a little too much, but all that was before he had met a country girl with tawny hair and golden eyes.
He found that he was slowly developing tunnel vision. He seemed to see only her.
It's was a hell of a thing. She had blindsided him.
Love will do that to a man.
Even when he wasn't ready to admit it.