Ch.2
Staring down the barrel of a gun wasn't how David expected to wake up that morning. His eyes travelled up the barrel of the semi-automatic, up her bare arm, across her bandaged shoulder, up her neck to look into the eyes of the brunette seductress brandishing the weapon.
"Who are you and where are my clothes?"
He put his hands up to show her he wasn't a threat. "Names David, you colapsed outside my cabin last night. Probably something to do with the fact it was twenty below out in that blizzard…and the bullet wound on your shoulder."
She glanced at the bloodstained bandage. "Adrianne Cox, FBI. I'm following the trail of a suspected killer."
"And you think that's me?"
She studied him; the gun still aimed at his head. "I'm not sure yet…"
The distinctive rumble of a Harley Davidson motor pulled her away from her newest trashy romance novel, 'Armed and Seductive.' She looked at the clock, five to four on the dot. Wendy hurried to the window to see him pull off his helmet and run his fingers through his hair, trying to fix the muss from his helmet. She grinned when Hodges looked at his watch, debating if he was too early or not. He fidgeted with his helmet, his globes, his coat before she finally took pity on him and opened the window and stuck her head out.
"Hey! You comin' up or not?"
His face colored with embarrassment and he hollered back. "Hold your horses! I'm comin', I'm comin'!"
"You aren't even breathing hard."
He turned beet red and his jaw his the sidewalk. "Simms!" He squeaked.
She grinned back at him. "Geez, Hodges. I didn't know you were such a prude. Come on up. I'm almost ready to go."
He gave her a dirty look before dismounting the motorcycle. She crossed her eyes and stuck her tongue out in reply.
"Don't stick that thing out unless you intend to use it, Simms."
Her jaw dropped this time and he smiled what the other lab technicians appropriately dubbed the 'Smug-Bastard-Smirk-1' (An aggravatingly conceited version of the 'Cat-Ate-The-Canary' look. Not, of course, to be confused with the 'Smug-Bastard-Smirk-2, 3, and 4' – the asshole variations of 'I-Know-Something-You-Don't-Know', 'I'm-So-Much-Smarter-Than-You', and 'I'm-Invincible'…Sorry 'bout that – rambling on. Now back to your regularly scheduled program.)
When she heard him knock half a moment later she ran for the door, threw it open, grabbed the lapels of his leather coat and laid a hot, wet kiss on his astonished lips. She drew back after a bit and considered him before pecking his still mouth lightly.
"You should know better than to dare me, Hodges." She said, smoothing his rumpled collar.
"David." He mumbled, grabbing her wrists, stopping her as she went to pull away.
"What?"
"If you're going to keep insisting on kissing me like that, we should probably be on a first name basis…Wendy."
She smiled coyly at him. "And what if I do insist on kissing you like that again? What're you going to do about it…David?"
He brought her left hand up and nuzzled it, placing a kiss on her palm while his thumb drew maddeningly gentle circles on the inside of her wrist.
"Remember what I said? Turn-about's fair play."
Wendy's heart skipped a beat. This little game of theirs had gone from teasing and flirting to full on blatant seduction and torment. And Wendy didn't know if she was ready for that yet. But she knew she wanted it, badly.
"I…um…I'll go get my bag."
"Yeah." He sighed.
They stood in an awkward silence until she raised her hand and wiggled her fingers in his face. "Earth to Hodges. You wanna…you know, let go?"
"No."
"No?"
"Not 'til you ask right."
"Please let go…David."
He kissed the back of each hand and slowly let go. She backed away nervously, nearly tripping over the corner of the coffee table. Together they laughed at her clumsiness, but it didn't break the tension that crackled between them.
"I'll just go get my bag…" She made a face. "I already said that."
"Yeah. Grab your swimsuit too."
Wendy hurried to the bedroom and closed the door behind her. She leaned heavily against it and looked down at her hands. 'What in the world just happened?'
Out in the living room Hodges stumbled to the couch and dropped onto the nearest cushion. He shifted uncomfortably and stared at the ceiling. 'What in the world just happened?'
The line they'd carefully drawn in the sand had been stepped over and another was drawn five miles away. What had started as simply a professional relationship – two coworkers, nothing more – had slowly matured into something else. Both had strong competitive natures that quickly lead them to a fierce rivalry to be the best tech there was. As with any working relationship – especially one built on so much contention and conflict – chemistry developed.
With a few ill-placed Freudian slips Hodges had quickly let Wendy (and everyone else in the building) know he found her attractive. Wendy hadn't made it a secret that she liked him as more than a colleague but Hodges was just a bit too dense to pick up on it…or so everyone thought.
Hodges knew Wendy had a thing for him. It wasn't every day that a healthy, attractive, intelligent woman made a pass at him. Actually, it never happened. But, back to the point at hand, it wasn't that Hodges was to thick-headed to understand the signals Wendy threw at him, it was that he thought he didn't have snowball's chance in Hell.
Back in the bedroom Wendy took a few deep, cleansing gulps of air before grabbing the knapsack and leather jacket off the bed. Hodges stood by the door fiddling with his keys as he mentally dowsed his libido in frigid water hoping she didn't notice what their little interlude had brought up.
"Ready?"
"Yep. So, what's for dinner Tall, Dark, and Dorky?"
Hodges smiled. This glib and goofy Wendy he could handle. The other…he mentally smacked himself. 'Don't…just don't go there David, or we'll never make it out of her apartment.'
He adopted a cheesy French accent. "Why, no'zing but ze finest cuisine offered at ze Po'Boys on Flamingo."
She giggled, finally breaking the tension that permeated the room. This fun and flippant Hodges she could handle. The other…her breath caught for a second. 'The way he looked at me…No! Keep this up and we won't get out of here.'
She locked up while he jogged ahead to start the bike, hopefully putting enough space between them for their still-smoldering ardors to dwindle. When she climbed on the back of his Sportster they found they were woefully wrong.
Dinner at Po'Boys was awkward and quiet – both afraid to broach the subject of 'them' and worried that any witty banter would quickly evolve into more unresolved sexual tension and they already were almost vibrating from the scene back at her apartment. When the check came they both reached for it but Hodges was faster. He quickly stuffed it in the breast pocket of his button-down shirt, put a hand to his temple and gave her a wide-eyed stare.
"This isn't the bill you're looking for, move along." He did his best Obi Wan Kenobi impression.
She burst out laughing and wiped a tear from her eye. "That only works on the weak-minded, David."
"Darn…Well, then…check out this Jedi Mind Trick." He took off for the register, reaching in his back pocket for his wallet. She ran after him, giggling like a five-year-old with a sugar high. She caught him just as he handed the bill to the girl behind the counter.
"No! Wait, I'll pay the bill…" She dug in her purse for money but he wrapped her in a one-armed hug, effectively pinning her arms and purse between them.
Hodges held out a twenty to the bemused teen. "Just shut up and let me pay, Wendy. Chivalry isn't dead."
"But…" She protested.
"I said hush." He leaned down and kissed her. It was short and chaste, with the simple purpose of quieting her. He pulled away quickly and a second leater she stood on tiptoe and kissed him back. The pulled apart when the little girl behind the counter dropped Hodges change in his outstretched hand and beamed at them.
"You two are so cute."
They both blushed and went to collect their jackets and headed back out to the bike. Wendy wouldn't admit it but it had been a while for her and even longer for Hodges. And with the way things were progressing it was going to be a long and tortuous night for the two of them.
