Author's Note: Hello all you wonderful people! I have been debating back and forth if I should work on a sequel to A New War and finally decided to try a couple chapters to see if anyone would even want to read it. So, here's the first chapter. If you want to continue to read about my This Means War world, let me know!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to This Means War. I only own the characters that I have come up with.

Love & War

Chapter One

Amanda Simmons put her ID back into her bag as she stepped into the bar. The music pounded and made her headache worse, but she couldn't make any more excuses. It had ben two months since she'd had a night with Lauren and Trish. And this time, she was only half an hour later.

She scanned the room and found the two women in a back corner booth. She moved as quickly as she could through the throng of people and joined them.

"Well, damn, you do exist," Trish said as she joined them. Amanda rolled her eyes and smiled. She stood and hugged Amanda and then Lauren did the same.

"This is cute," Lauren said, poking Amanda's leather pencil skirt.

"Amazon. Fifteen bucks," Amanda said.

"No shit?" Lauren replied.

"Fake leather, too," she told the two women. "And it has an elastic waist.

"Awesome!" both women exclaimed.

"This is all great, but I have to live vicariously through you two because I have Bob, so…" Trish said. "I want details. Are you and FDR working on baby number two yet?" she asked Lauren. "And you…" she turned to Amanda. "Why haven't you set a date yet?"

Amanda gulped down a large wig of her vodka cranberry and left Lauren to answer.

"Well…"

"Well what, missy? You and that man should be at it like rabbits. If you need a break, I could volunteer myself as tribute," Trish said.

"That is really nice of you, Trish," Amanda told her.

"Yeah, thanks, but I think we're good," Lauren said.

The three women spent the next couple of hours chatting and catching up, along with drinking and dancing. Amanda was calling for a ride home to take the three of them home when another of Amanda's vodka cranberries arrived at the table.

"Oh, I've cashed out and we're headed home, but thank you," Amanda told the young waitress.

"It's from him," she pointed across the room at a dark-haired man.

Amanda followed the pointed hand and made eye contact with the guy before rolling her eyes.

"I'm good, thanks," she said.

"Do you know him?" Lauren asked after the waitress shuffled away with the drink.

"Matthew Jones," Amanda said, sighing. "We should get going. The car will be here in two…"

"Mandy, Mandy, Mandy…" the voice said.

"Mandy?" Trish snickered. Amanda tossed her a look and the women was instantly silenced.

Amanda turned around and looked up into the face of the man.

"What are you doing here, Matt?" Amanda asked.

"Well, I just moved here, sweetheart," Matt said. "I can't believe I'd run into you on my first night in town," he said. "You look good. I like this skirt. It makes your ass look…" he said, patting her rear end.

"Well, this has been great, but…"

"We can catch up on Monday instead, honey," Matt said.

"What?"

"I moved here to work here, Mandy," Matt said. "I'm in your office under Collins, too."

"Why?" Amanda asked. "Because…"

"Because the east coast is so cold, honey. And I missed you," she said, putting a hand on her hip. "I really like this skirt, you know. It's going to look great in a heap on the floor. Do you still wear those stockings that you used to wear for me?" he asked.

Amanda stepped back out of his grasp and turned to Lauren and Trish. "The car is outside. Have a great night," Amanda said over her shoulder as she marched the two women from the bar.

In their ride, Trish started questioning Amanda. "Who was that? I'm going to need a lot of detail."

"Matt Jones is an ex-boyfriend, well, ex-fiance," Amanda said.

"You were engaged before?" Lauren asked.

"A long, long, long time ago. I have told Tuck, so it's not some scary secret that he can't know about. But…yeah. I guess Matt doesn't remember everything he'd done, including cheat on me."

"Is he with…?"

"Yes. Unfortunately."

"He's hot."

"He knows it, too," Amanda said. "Tuck will not be happy."

"Maybe he'll be in a different department than you all?" Lauren suggested. "I really didn't like the way he was touching you," she added. "You can't just walk up to someone and put your hands all over them."

Amanda had already checked herself to make sure he hadn't put a bug on her. There were a lot of reasons to not trust Matt Jones and she assumed that this meeting tonight wasn't the chance encounter he'd said it was.

"Matt's never been good on rules…"

"But he just harassed you," Lauren argued.

Amanda nodded. "Yep. Matt Jones is an asshole. Always was one and probably will always be one."

Amanda was the last of the three to be dropped off that night and Tuck was still awake, despite the late hour. He sat on the couch with a beer watching the soccer match on TV. Joe was at his mother's house that weekend, so they were all alone.

"You are a sight for sore eyes," Tuck said from the couch. "Please, come here," he beckoned with this finger for her to join him.

Amanda kicked off her high heels and joined Tuck on the couch. She pulled up her skirt and crawled into his lap, straddling him.

She leaned down and kissed him passionately. His hands found her hips and he pulled her close while her hands quickly undid the buttons of his dress shirt.

"I know it's only been a few hours," Tuck said between kissing her. "But I missed you and I couldn't stop thinking about you."

"Bedroom?" she said.

"Bedroom," he said in a deep voice. He picked her up in one smooth motion and she wrapped her legs around him so she could be carried without breaking contact. She found the pulse point on his neck and sucked on it before grazing it lightly with her teeth. He hissed in pleasure.

Tuck moved even faster and soon they were in the bedroom. He slammed the door behind them before he set Amanda on her feet. Her hands quickly unbuckled his belt before unbuttoning and unzipping his pants. They each made short work of their remaining clothing.

"Tell me what you want," Tuck whispered.

"You," she said breathlessly.

…

"You – you are going to be the death of me," Tuck said as he drew lazy circles on Amanda's back while he held her against his chest. They'd made love several times and now, both spent, they were enjoying the quiet of the house.

"I would say I'm sorry, but I'm not, so…" she smiled into his shoulder.

"How was your night with Lauren and Trish?"

"It was fine," Amanda said. "Drilled me as to why we haven't set a date yet, though."

"What did you tell them?"

"That it's all your fault," she grinned, clearly lying. "I told them that we are just enjoying us right now. And then I was told that I'm not getting any younger and to figure it all out and to do it quickly."

"That sounds rather like Trish," Tuck replied.

Amanda nodded.

"So, would you care to share with the class, i.e., me as to why you came home and ravished me? I don't really mind, as I enjoyed it immensely, but you, well, I know something is wrong. You should probably just tell me what that is."

Amanda drew a breath. "I ran into someone tonight that I don't particularly care for. It has made me incredibly…I am just so happy to have you in my life, Tuck," she said. "That's all."

"Well, there's nothing wrong with that," he said, smiling. "Who did you run into?"

"Uh…Matthew Jones," she said slowly.

"Oh," Tuck said. "Matthew. Your ex."

"And I wanted to let you know how lucky I am," Amanda said. "In my head, that meant ravishing you."

"I do like the way your mind works, darling," he grinned widely.

She sat up and looked down at Tuck. "There's something else."

Tuck's smile fell.

"And you will not like it," Amanda added.

"What is it?"

"He's transferred out here and he's going to work under Collins," Amanda said.

"If he puts one foot wrong, he'll be in a body cast," Tuck said.

"You can't do that, Tuck," Amanda said while she stood from the bed. She moved and pulled one of Tuck's sweaters on over her head and it fell over her body to her thighs. "As much as I'd like it."

"It will be fine, you know," Tuck told her. "Come here," he said, beckoning for her to come back to bed.

"If I come back to this bed, I might not ever leave it," Amanda said.

"That's the plan," Tuck said. "I can't think of a single thing I'd rather do this weekend," he told her.

…

Monday morning came about far too quickly and Tuck and Amanda walked into the Agency building side by side. Tuck was not looking forward to meeting Matthew Jones and he absolutely didn't want him anywhere near Amanda. He planned on talking with Collins as as soon as he could.

Amanda nudged him slightly with her elbow and motioned upwards with a head nod. Tuck followed her gaze and looked up. On the next floor, Collins was talking to a man he didn't was talking to a man he didn't recognize, but it had to be the now-infamous Matthew Jones. Amanda shrugged it off and started walking while Tuck remained still.

She turned around and linked her arm through Tuck's. "Come on," she said.

Matt looked down at them and grinned at Amanda while he ignored Tuck entirely. Amanda hurried Tuck off towards the annex where Tuck and FDR had their desks.

"Aw, mommy walked you all the way in today?" FDR joked from behind his desk.

"Oh, I think that sounds like jealousy, Franklin," Amanda said with a smirk. "Did Lauren make you take care of your own breakfast today?"

"And I had to pick out my own clothes," FDR fake-pouted.

"Oh, the indecency of it all!" Tuck laughed.

"Now, I want you boys to play nice today," Amanda said.

"You should talk to Collins about moving your desk over by ours," FDR said. "It would be fun for all of us."

"I would never get any work done. I'm sure Boss would go for that," Amanda said, smiling. "Lunch today? BBQ truck?"

"Sounds good. We should go now," FDR said.

"It's 8:15 in the morning!" Amanda replied.

"But I'm hungry," FDR pouted again.

"Eat a muffin," she told him. "See you both later," she said before bending to give Tuck a quick kiss.

She turned to walk away, but FDR spoke.

"What about me?" he asked.

Amanda turned back and looked at him, but Tuck spoke. "What about you?" he asked.

"Don't I get one?" he said.

"No," said Tuck while shaking his head.

But Amanda was moving around FDR's desk. She grabbed his face in both hands and planted a chaste kiss on his forehead.

"Are you happy now?"

"Incredibly so," FDR laughed. "So hot."

"Is there a queue I need to get in or a list I can put my name on to get one, too? Or is it a walk-in kind of thing?" a man's voice asked.

Amanda knew who it was without looking.

"Nope. All reserved for decent human beings," she said. "And since you definitely don't fall into that category…"

FDR's eyebrows shot up and Tuck came to stand next to her.

"Tuck, FDR, this is Matthew Jones, scum of the earth," she said. "Welcome to the west coast."

A/N: let me know what you think! Thank you!