Amanda fidgeted nervously while Lee was in the shower. Looking for something to do, she walked to the closet, pulled out a hanger and neatly hung her wedding dress on it, draping the flowery veil over its hook. She held it at arm's length and gazed at it for a moment a little sadly. No, this was definitely not how she had thought about getting married again. She crossed the room to where their suitcases were stacked up. No, she thought just before she picked up her suitcase. She didn't want to take the chance that she'd be halfway through getting dressed when Lee got out of the shower. Although, maybe seeing her in a partial state of undress would make him wake up and admit that he at least felt something for her. Stop it, Amanda, she scolded herself at those thoughts. As she tried to get her mind off her hunger for her new husband, her stomach growled loudly reminding her that she had another hunger to take care of. She walked to the desk and picked up the room service menu, perusing the selections deciding she'd order dinner for them. After all, it had been a while since either of them had eaten. He'd probably be hungry too. That thought made her thoughts turn back to the other hunger again, wondering why he was so reluctant to admit that he was just as hungry for her as she was for him. She shook her head as if to shake off that thought and picked up the phone.
Lee scrubbed himself furiously wishing that he could scrub away the memories of what he'd just witnessed in this room. Just minutes ago his wife had been in here right where he was standing, one hand between her legs, the other on her breast, touching herself with wild abandon and clearly thinking about him while doing it. What thoughts had gone through her mind, he wondered. Was she imagining that he was the one touching her, or had her fantasy gone further than that? Did she imagine that he'd been in the shower with her, kissing her, holding her, making love to her? Did she fanaticize about how he'd feel inside her, how they would move together? Was she thinking about the fact that this was technically their honeymoon and that under normal circumstances they should be spending the rest of the night locked in each other's arms, whispering words of love and desire as they sated each other? Without even realizing it at first he'd found his hand had drifted south to the now almost-painful erection that his disturbing vision of her had caused. What the hell," he thought. If she can do it, so can I. What's a little harmless fantasy? Besides, he reasoned with himself, getting his rocks off might help relieve the tension that he knew there would be when he went back into the room they were to share for the night.
After placing the room service order, Amanda continued to wander aimlessly around the room. She decided since food was on the way, she'd occupy her time by getting the dinner table ready. She walked toward it, plucked the champagne bottle from the ice bucket and began to peel the foil from the top of it. It was then that her eyes fell upon the gift basket sitting next to it and noticed that it wasn't your normal fruit basket. Instead it was more like...well, there was no other word for it...it was a goody basket. Inside it was an assortment of condoms, lubricants and lotions, a pair of fur-covered handcuffs, a blindfold... Amanda began to get warm at reviewing the items in the basket, in spite of the chill on the champagne bottle in her hands as she imagined what she and Lee could do with these things. The release she'd given herself in the shower now a distant memory as her mind flooded with images of the two of them together, taking pleasure in one another the way a newly married couple should on their wedding night. Her thoughts then drifted to Lee in the shower as she pictured his wet, naked body and imagined the water from the shower running down his firm, well-muscled chest that she'd glimpsed on occasion while they'd been on assignment and then pictured the water cascading even lower. Stop it, Amanda, she chided herself again. She averted her eyes from the basket and tried to focus all her energy on the bottle in her hands. She could really use a drink right about now. She knew those thoughts would only serve to make her more frustrated. Even though she knew Lee desired her, she also knew he'd never own up to it. Of course, she couldn't really judge him for that, not when she was guilty of the same thing. She wanted him so badly she could taste it, but to say so would open a can of worms she knew shouldn't be opened. When she finally got the foil off the bottle, she found she couldn't keep her eyes off the basket.
Lee buried his face in the washcloth hanging on the rack within the shower, hoping to muffle the sounds of his groans as his release hit him full force leaving him trembling, his legs weak, gripping the bar for support until the shaking subsided. "God," he said aloud once he could breathe normally again. If fantasizing about making love to Amanda could bring on a climax that strong, he could only imagine what actually making love to her to be like. He shook off the nagging thoughts as he knew it wouldn't do him any good. In spite of the fact that they were married now, at least on paper, Amanda would never let her guard down enough to allow him that close to her, no matter how much she might want to. He turned off the water, yanked the door open forcefully, reached for a towel and began to dry himself off sighing in frustration as he did so. Why was even worried about it? Like he'd told her, he didn't want to be married, not just to her, but to anyone and he sure as hell wasn't ready to take on the responsibility of someone else's kids. Although, he had to admit, from what he'd seen, her kids were pretty great. He supposed that had a lot to do with the fact that she was a pretty great mom. In his lurking around her house, he'd observed her with them many times and seen the interactions between them. She always did everything she could to make sure that they were well taken care of and that they knew they were loved. If a time ever came that he decided to settle down and have kids of his own, she'd be exactly the kind of mother he'd want for them. Whoa, Stetson, where did that thought come from? He tried to shake off the thought, but it wouldn't go away. Now that he'd seen Amanda naked, he wondered what she'd looked like when she'd been pregnant. That thought led to the idea of imagining what her incredibly sexy body would look like swollen with his own child. He closed his eyes and willed that image to go away. When it finally did, he finished drying off, tossed the towel aside, yanked the hotel robe from its hook on the back of the door, slipped into it and belted in tightly around his waist. As he exited the bathroom, he was startled by what he saw. Amanda was still dressed only in her own hotel robe and staring intently at the gift basket on the table. He crept softly up behind her. When he glanced at the contents of the basket, he found he couldn't resist teasing her. "See something that interests you," he said in a low husky voice in her ear.
"Don't do that!"She said slapping at his shoulder. "You know I hate it when you sneak up on me like that."
He laughed heartily and grinned at her. "So, do you?" he said with a glance at the basket hoping to get a rise out of her.
"No," she said quickly as she averted her eyes from his and once again tried to return her focus to the champagne bottle, but found her shaking hands unable to make much progress. "I was, just...just thinking...thinking that it's not your typical hotel gift basket," she stammered nervously, mortified by the fact that he'd caught her staring at the basket.
Lee noticed her struggling with the champagne bottle. "Here, let me," he said taking the bottle from her hands. He quickly completed the task and poured them each a glass, handing her one before placing the bottle back in the ice bucket.
Amanda took the glass from him and said, "Thank you." She took a deep breath, turned back to face him and asked, "So, what should we drink to?"
"How about to the closing of this case," Lee said.
"To closing the case," Amanda said with a firm nod clinking her glass with his before taking a sip of the bubbly liquid. "I...um...I ordered us some room service," she said. "I don't know about you, but the events of this afternoon made me work up quite an appetite."
"Great, I'm starving," He said.
"You like your steaks medium-rare, right?"
"Yeah, I do," he answered with a warm smile, touched by her thoughtfulness. That was Amanda King, always thinking of what other people needed.
"That's actually what got me looking at this basket," she said. "Since our dinner should be here anytime, I thought I'd get the table set up. I just got distracted when...when I..."
"Saw what was in it?" He completed for her with an impish grin.
"Uh...yeah," she said as she blushed furiously very grateful that he couldn't tell what she'd been thinking when viewing the basket's contents.
"Here, let's just remove the distraction then," He said as he picked up the basket and set it on the nightstand beside the bed. Uh-oh, bad move, he thought as it only served to draw attention to the location those items would normally be used and they still hadn't discussed what they were going to do about the sleeping arrangements for the night. He swallowed hard as his attention was once again drawn to the rose-petal covered bed and found himself imagining what they could do with those rose petals. Normally, the smell of roses repulsed him after what happened to Dorothy, but when mixed with the intoxicating scent that was unique to Amanda King, he imagined he would feel anything but. He felt as if the scent was working on him like an aphrodisiac.
Amanda couldn't help but notice his gaze lingering on the bed and felt the need to pay him back for embarrassing her. "See something that interests you?" she quipped throwing his own words back in his face.
Lee whipped around to face her, tearing his eyes from the bed, but found looking at her with the teasing smirk on her face made it even worse. He cleared his throat loudly and said, "um...no...I...Uh...was...just...uh...thinking...we...we haven't discussed...our..." he paused, shook his head to clear the erotic images that had formed in his mind and said more forcefully, "...our sleeping arrangements for the night." He tore his gaze from hers and looked around the room gesturing to the loveseat in the living area of their suite. "The couch in here is too short for either of us to be comfortable on so..."
"So..."Amanda probed expectantly, the amused grin at his obvious discomfort never leaving her face. Good, she thought. I'm glad he's as nervous about this as I am.
"So, we need to figure out what we're going to do," he said in irritation. Doesn't she get that this is an awkward situation, he thought. This situation was different than any other they'd ever been in together. While they hadn't planned on it, they were married now and this was their wedding night and they were going to be forced to spend it together whether they liked it or not.
"I couldn't agree more," she said. "If you have any suggestions, I'm all ears."
"Damn it, Amanda King, You are the most maddening, infuriating, obstinate woman I have ever met in my whole damn life!" he bellowed as he approached her, his face coming within scant inches of hers. "Why can't you just give me a straight answer to my question for once?"
"I don't remember hearing you ask a question," she fired back hotly. "All you said was that we needed to figure out what we were going to do and you're right, we do!" she added pointing her finger first at herself then at him, jabbing her finger into his chest.
Lee abruptly grabbed her hand to stop her wild gesturing. It was then that he noticed that she was still wearing the wedding set he'd put on her finger. He glanced the shiny gold band and sparkling diamond, then at his own left hand and realized he hadn't taken his off either, though he couldn't for the life of him figure out why he hadn't and furthermore why she hadn't. It's not as if theirs was a real marriage. Was it? Was she thinking that they maybe had a shot at making it work, at making it a real marriage? He gazed into her eyes looking for any kind of sign that she felt that way, then his gaze fell on her lips and he vividly recalled how soft they were, how yielding they'd been under his when they'd kissed during their wedding ceremony. He was close enough to kiss her again and it hit him hard how much he wanted to do just that. He swallowed hard and said in a softer tone, "Well, what do you suggest?"
Amanda's breath caught in her throat at the way he was looking at her, the fire of anger that had been in his eyes was now replaced by a different kind of fire. The angry tone in his voice replaced by a low, sexy one. The way he'd relaxed his grip on her hand and was now caressing her ring finger with his thumb was sending shivers up her spine. She wondered if he even realized he was doing it. His nearness was making her warm all over again. It wouldn't take much for her to close the gap between them. All she'd have to do was place her free hand on his face to reel him in for another kiss like the one they'd shared earlier. She found herself unconsciously doing just that, her breath quickening as he leaned in, accepting her invitation for what it was. She closed her eyes and parted her lips in anticipation. His lips had barely brushed hers when there was a knock on the door. They abruptly broke apart both startled by the intrusion as if they'd been caught doing something they shouldn't. "Our dinner," she said as she hurriedly made her way to the door inwardly screaming in disappointment at the bad timing of the delivery. No, she argued with herself. Maybe this is fate's way of intervening before things get out of hand.
"Damn!," Lee muttered under his breath as he ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. So close, he thought. He sighed then thought, No, it's better this way. This was perfect timing to keep things from going too far.