The scene he was supposed to process was handed off to Greg Sanders and Nick was told to go home. Trouble was, he couldn't get Sasha out of his head. Her long raven hair, her sparkling blue eyes, the feel of her beautiful feminine form against his, the way she had the ability to make him laugh, all of it filled his thoughts even as he lay his head on his pillow to go to sleep. What could have been a nightmare filled with flashbacks and claustrophobia had actually been a pleasant experience, save the oppressive heat.

Suddenly, the words flowed from her fingertips as though someone had opened a dam. Sasha sat at her keyboard and wrote until daybreak, finishing her chapter ahead of schedule, and filled with an idea for a chapter dedicated to her signature local fare places. That was if Nick called her, but she wasn't thinking about the negative when she finally lay back on the expansive suite canopy bed. No, she was thinking about how good it had felt to be in the arms of a man again.

At about noon, Nick dialed the newest speed dial in his phone and prayed she'd pick up. "Hi, Ma'am." The smile on his face hurt it was so wide.

"Hi, East Texas. How did your case go?"

"Turns out evidence doesn't wait for any CSI and they reassigned it."

"I'm sorry."

"I keep telling you not to say that unless you planned on getting stuck in that elevator last night."

"I wish I could be that creative, East Texas."

His smile went into a grin. The way she flirted was subtle enough to be classy, but straightforward enough to let him know she was still interested. "I'm sure you are. How'd it go with your editor?"

"I actually didn't need an extension. I finished the chapter early this morning after I got back to my suite."

"Come on now." The Texas drawl was thick, but he didn't care. "I thought you were going to let me take you around to all the out of the way places."

"I'm sorry, East Texas, but I couldn't wait around hoping that the perfect man was going to actually call me." She laughed. "So, I talked my editor into letting me add a chapter devoted to just the local places."

"Now, that's more like it. I'll pick you up in fifteen minutes. That is if you think you can stand getting into an elevator again?"

She laughed again. "I'll see you when you get here. I'm in Room 1603."

Fifteen minutes later, Nick was smiling once more when she answered the door to her suite wearing a fitted cotton blouse in a vibrant red and blue jeans that hugged her curvaceous hips and well toned legs. "Hi Ma'am."

"Explain how one two letter word can have five syllables, East Texas?" She grinned and did a quick once over of his well-tailored white Oxford and black jeans.

"How about I explain it over lunch?"

"That sounds like a great idea." Linking her arm with his, they walked to the elevator. "Are you sure you want to chance it?"

"I rode up in it. How did you get to your floor last night?"

"I ran up the stairs." Her eyes searched the plush carpeting for nothing in particular.

"It'll be fine, Sasha." He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and kissed the top of her head. "Besides, I'm with you. At least you know you won't be bored if it gets stuck again." The laugh that answered him burst out of her causing her entire body to shake and when she looked up at him her blue eyes shone like two perfect sapphires. There was a clarity that he'd never seen before and they drew him in. Never had he felt such a draw, an almost magnetic connection, and it intrigued him.

They'd known each other for less than a day but it felt like she'd known him her entire life. In only five hours in an elevator, she'd formed a connection with someone who had been a complete stranger. Even as they spent another five hours together, this time wondering the city of Las Vegas instead of trapped in an elevator car high above it, they connected. They laughed together like she'd never laughed with anyone before him. They had similar likes and dislikes; music, literature, even cars and ice cream flavors. Being with Nick almost made her forget why she was in that city in the first place.

Arriving back at Sasha's hotel suite after a day of fun, food, sun, and laughter, he took her up on her invitation to come in for coffee. He didn't have to be back at work until midnight and he certainly didn't want to go home to an empty condo and leave her. "Nice room."

"It's OK."

"You've had better?"

She laughed as she started the coffee pot. "Nick, I write travel guides. Every hotel puts me in their best suite. They begin to all blend together. After a while, the only thing you remember are how well you slept on the beds."

"Where was your best one?" He put his arm around her when she sat down next to him on the couch, his face just inches from hers.

"Do you really want to know?"

"Yes, Sash, I really want to know. Why do you always ask me that when I ask about your work?"

"Because my job is boring and you have a look in your deep brown eyes that is telling me the question you really meant to ask how that one is up there." She gestured to the canopy king against the inner wall.

"There's time for that."

"True gentlemen to the end are you, East Texas?"

"Yes, Ma'am, I am." Leaning forward, he kissed her with a delicate caress and pulled away before either one of them was really satisfied, leaving them both wanting more. "You never answered my question, Sash."

"I'm not sure I remember it after that." She traced her finger down his defined jaw line as she attempted to regain her composure and attempted to kiss him again.

He shook his head and placed a finger against her soft warm lips. "Answer my question first."

"After that, you expect me to remember where my best night's sleep was?"

"Yes, Ma'am, I do."

The drawl was a tad bit stronger when he spoke and she couldn't figure out if he was doing it on purpose because he knew it turned her on or if it was because he was just being himself, but either way, it caused her to give him what he wanted. "Philadelphia. I know, right?" She smiled when he looked at her with a look of surprise. "I've been around the world and that's the city I pick, but it's the truth. The Sheraton in Philadelphia had the perfect bed. It was both soft and firm and the sheets had a high thread count so they were buttery smooth, gliding across your skin like the gentle hand of a lover, and the pillows, oh my, Nick. They were this gel-like substance that just conformed to your head when you slept, cradling it as though it were specifically molded for only you."

"Makes me want to go to Philly." He smiled.

"It really is a great city."

"When were you last there?"

"Last year. I don't think I'm going to get to go back for awhile, though. My editor today told me that they want to send me to more exotic and foreign locations next year."

"Hey, free trips to paradise."

"Yeah, paradise." She looked away, but then looked back at him. "You should come with me."

"And do what?"

"I don't know. Pack up your Super Boy Scout Kit and come travel the world saving wayward women from faulty elevators."

He laughed at her description. "My 'Super Boy Scout Kit', huh? And just what does one carry in a Super Boy Scout Kit that has the ability to save wayward women in faulty elevators?"

"You tell me. You're the one who seemed to be able to pull everything we needed out of it last night."

"Then it isn't so much the kit as it is the man."

"You might just have a point here, East Texas."

Her smirk answered his and he leaned forward, kissing her once more, but not pulling away until he was good and ready. Problem was, he never reached that point and one kiss turned into more, and kissing led to the caressing of her amazing feminine form. His hand first slid up her denim clad thigh as she leaned closer to him, leading next to just above the waist of her jeans where her blouse separated and allowed him access to her silky smooth skin, and glided to the small of her back. She gasped slightly and tilted her head back so he could lay tender kisses against her neck.

When he began caressing her neck, Sasha slid her hand into his soft dark hair, holding him to her, before she unbuttoned her blouse and made quick work of his shirt, exposing the same muscular chest she'd slept against that morning. Now, it wasn't sticky from sweat, but it was still hot. It was the same heat, the same fire, she felt burning within her. Suddenly, the air conditioning she had set at sixty degrees was inadequate. They were generating a heat greater to the one they'd experienced in that elevator.

The sensation of her body against his as he carried her to her bed felt just as good as it had twelve hours before. It felt even better, more intense, when they pressed their bodies together on the bed. Her arms around his chest, her hands gripping his shoulders, then her legs around his waist as he slid into her slick depths, caused him to moan a low moan that caught in his throat as he kissed her once more. They fit so well together, moved with a timing that spoke of a relationship they didn't have yet, and finally climaxed with an intensity neither had ever experienced before.

"Mmm, what's that noise?" Sasha questioned the darkness when she awoke.

"Ah, damn," he sighed and reached down to the floor for his pants, "that's my phone." He fumbled before answering. "Yeah, Stokes."

"There's a four-nineteen in Henderson and swing is short-staffed. Can you take this one, Nicky?" Grissom's voice came through the line.

"I'm sort of," he stopped himself, "yeah, I'll be there in a half-hour."

"Thanks, Nicky."

"Another wayward woman in a faulty elevator?" She tried to make a joke to cover her disappointment and kissed his chest.

"Something like that." Rolling her onto her back, he kissed her deeply. "I'll make it up to you. Let me buy you breakfast after my shift." Even in the dim light of the city outside her window, her smile was radiant. "What did I say?"

"It's what you didn't say, but I guess I'm just going to have to get used to being in the presence of a honest to God gentleman."

"Yes, Ma'am, you are." He kissed her again. "So, what is your answer?"

"Room service would be lovely whenever you get off."

"Yes, Ma'am." One last kiss, one last smile, one last laugh together, and he slid out of bed.