While waiting for the light to turn green, Emily was scrambling for ideas on how to get out of going to her mother's party. It was no secret that she hated said parties and, after she and Morgan had gotten married, she hated them even more. She felt bad for Morgan having to attend these stupid parties because of her. Sure, he looked good in a suit and he always made sure that they enjoyed themselves, but she'd much rather spend the evening alone at home with him.

"Turn back!" Emily said sharply as the light turned green.

"What?"

"Turn back," she repeated. "Let's go home. We can say that we were stuck in traffic... She'll never know."

Stopping at another red light, Morgan reached over the centre console and grabbed her hand, pressing a kiss to her knuckles. "Sweetheart, she'll know, she always knows. When all her other guests arrive on time..."

"I really don't want to go," she pouted. "It's Valentine's Day..."

He chuckled, "You don't even like Valentine's Day. You think it's lame. We don't even celebrate."

"It's never too late to start..." she said, working up her best puppy-dog look. "Think of all the fun things we could do..." she added lasciviously.

"We can 'celebrate' later; think of it as a reward for the torture we're about to endure..."

She frowned; her puppy-dog eyes had never failed before. "It had better be one hell of a reward," she grumbled, settling back in her seat, arms crossed, a slight pout crossing her lips.

"Have I ever disappointed you before?" he asked, grinning slyly.

They continued the rest of the journey in silence and, just as they were about to reach the hotel, Morgan thought he heard Emily mumble something.

"What was that?"

"I'm sorry." Emily looked at him apologetically. "I shouldn't have acted like a brat.

Morgan smiled, "It's alright, baby."

"No, it's not," she argued lightly, "You're trying to make this fun for us, but here I am, throwing tantrums like a child. It's not even your fault to begin with. I'm sorry."

Morgan smiled and turned into a quiet corner of the parking lot, so they wouldn't be distracted by the traffic. "It's okay, baby." Emily was about to protest again when he placed a finger on her lips. "Believe me, it's okay. I know you don't like functions like this; I'm not a big fan of them either, but I don't mind. I get good food and wine for free," he shrugged. This earned him a chuckle from her.

"The thing I love most about this though, is that I get to spend the entire night with you. And I love that you're all dolled up. Did I tell you how hot you look?" he grinned.

"You're too good to me," Emily smiled, leaning in to kiss him, "Thank you."

"You can thank me later," he whispered huskily into her ear and tugged her earlobe with his lips, completely loving the way her breath caught in her throat.

******

As soon as they entered the ballroom, Emily quickly pulled Morgan to a quiet corner, in the hopes of avoiding all the mind-numbingly dull conversations with various important politicians and dignitaries. But that wasn't the only reason why she wanted to be in a quiet corner...she needed a semi-private place to get back at him for teasing her in the car. Two could play that game...

Making sure that no one was watching them, Emily leaned up onto her tiptoes and covered his mouth with hers, covertly rubbing against him.

Pulling away, she grinned when Morgan growled softly. "Trying to kill me, woman?"

"Kill you? God, no..." she leaned up and kissed him again, "Tempt you? Maybe..."

"Unfortunately for you," he said cockily, "I have better self control than that."

"Really?" Emily giggled, "Did you leave it at home when you insisted I join you in the supply closet the other day?"

Before he could say anything, Ambassador Prentiss tracked them down like a bloodhound. "Emily, dear, so glad you decided to make it tonight." It was a rather back-handed greeting, managing to criticize her at the same time.

"So nice of you to practically extort us into coming..." Emily started to retort.

Morgan cut her off, "It's nice to see you again, ma'am. I'm terribly sorry we couldn't make it last time..."

Emily almost laughed out loud; even after all this time, Morgan was still a little scared of her mother, not that she could blame him, her mother was a rather frightening woman. As he was speaking, she couldn't resist torturing him a little, since as it was partially his fault they were there in the first place. Seeing as he had his arm wrapped tightly around her waist, holding her close, she surreptitiously slipped a hand under his conveniently untucked dress shirt, slowly trailing her fingers over the small of his back. A smile spread across her face as his eloquent conversation began to falter, loving that she had the power to make him so flustered.

In the ensuing pause, the Ambassador said, "There's some people I'd like for you two to meet." She turned and began walking away, obviously intending for them to follow.

The second her attention was focused away from them, Morgan turned to Emily. "What are you doing? You're making it really hard to think of anything besides pulling you into the nearest reasonably private place and having my way with you..."

She smiled triumphantly. "Then it's working. You know, we can always just leave... I'll make it worth your while..."

He seemed tempted momentarily, but quickly decided not to bend to her will; as much as he would have liked to do so, it would be more fun for him to torture her by making her wait. And, the longer they waited...

"We're here already," he said seriously, "No sense wasting a good party..."

She scowled. Obviously, she was going to have to try harder...