The Lady in the Red Mask was supposed to be a little one shot story, but due the responses of a follow up I decided to take it past the ball room. I hope you enjoy.
Lee held the door open to let Amanda enter into the car. Making sure she was in he shut the door and walked around to the driver seat. He started the engine and began to make his way toward Arlington. They drove in silence to her house and he did everything in his power to not look at her. She was still wearing her mask and he could tell why, he saw the pins in her hair that was holding the mask and hair in place. God he wanted to run his fingers in it and make it a tangled mess while he lay above her body as he found a new way to show her the meaning of partner. He already had a mental picture of her sliding out of the dress and anything else that may be underneath. His corvette was filling with the smell of her perfume and bath soap. Now there was a new thought for him to explore; her and him in the shower and his hands running along her slender frame while he…
His thoughts were interrupted as Amanda said, "Lee you are going to pass the house up."
"Oh, yeah sorry," was all he could manage to say as he pulled in front of her house. He got out and opened the door for her.
"Do you want to come in for some coffee? No one is home; it is okay."
"Sure that sounds great." He followed her up the walk and waited for her to unlock the door and he walked through the front door. It was one of the few times he had and it still gave him an uneasy feeling.
"I'll start the coffee." She went and walked toward the kitchen and he followed her, but then he had a great view of the back of the dress as she walked in front him.
"Amanda, do you plan on wearing that mask the whole night?" He asked trying to lighten the mood and the tension in his pants.
"I forgot I had it on." She reached up and began to take the pins holding the mask and her hair in place out one by one. Lee wasn't prepared for the sensual way her hair fell to her shoulders or again for the sudden need for him to run his fingers through it. He watched as she leaned over and shook out the curls and when she flipped her head back up he got the best view of her cleavage from the sweetheart cut of the dress. Next thing he saw was her coming slowly towards him and moving her hair to the side she quietly asked, "Could you help with the clasp of this necklace?"
The necklace of pearls that had made Lee earlier kiss her neck and place them under his tongue as he ran it across her neck; yes he would help get rid of those pearls. His hands grazed her bare skin as he grabbed at the clasp and began to unfasten it. He slid the necklace from her neck slowly and watched as her breathing slowed. He couldn't stop himself before he knew what was happening he leaned down and began to place soft tiny kisses along her neck.
She turned to face Lee and took the necklace from him lying it on the counter with her mask and continued to make coffee like it was everyday he kissed her neck. Lee didn't see the turmoil going on in Amanda's brain. He didn't know that her heart felt like it had just ran a marathon, twice, or that he made butterflies take flight in her stomach.
She told Lee, "While the coffee if making I am going to go change and don't worry no one is going to walk in on you, Mother is visiting a friend in New York and the boys left yesterday for a school trip."
Amanda went upstairs and looked at herself in the mirror and then before she lost her nerve she yelled for Lee. Lee heard her and took the stairs two at a time and busted into her room, "What is it? Was someone here?"
"No, the zipper on my dress is stuck can you get for me? I mean as much as I love this dress I don't want to sleep in it." She turned her back to him and in the mirror she saw as he ran his hand through his hair; she knew he did this when he was nervous or frustrated she was just wondering what he was at the moment.
After a moment he walked across the room to her and placed one hand on the fabric and the other on the zipper; feeling it stick some he gave a little harder push and the zipper came down and he finished unzipping her. She held the dress in place as he stepped back and left the room.
She went to her dresser and put on a pair of sweat pants and a Kappa tee shirt. She went downstairs to find that Lee was gone. She found his note next to the coffee pot; Amanda I am sorry but I had to go. I will see you later at work. Lee.
She went to the couch and pulled a pillow close to her chest. She began to cry and scolded herself for thinking she was capable of seducing Lee Stetson. He couldn't wait to get out of her bedroom or her house fast enough. She sat there for an hour crying and feeling sorry for her and then she remembered something.
She grabbed her keys, locked her door and left her house. On the drive over to Lee's apartment she didn't know if it was adrenaline or anger that had her revved up but she thought it may be the combination of the two.
Lee thought he heard someone yelling his name as he stepped out of the shower and then as he entered his bedroom he froze as he saw Amanda standing there. That was a waste of a cold shower he thought as he saw her. He also noticed her eyes were red and puffy as if she had been crying.
"Amanda, are you okay? Why are you in my bedroom? How did you get in my bedroom?"
"Fine, this is the room to get to the bathroom, and you left your door unlocked."
"So you found my apartment unlocked and you decided to what join me in the shower?"
"No I want to know what this means?" Holding the note he left for her up for him to see.
He saw the note in her hand and said, "What does it say?"
"Don't you dare do this what in the hell are you sorry for now?"
"Amanda, you read the note, you know what it says, and besides I am not going to stand here in a towel in my bedroom and fight with you."
"Fine, go get dressed and then fight with me in the living room." She walked out of the room leaving him standing and staring after her. How does that woman know how to push every emotional button I have in one damn day he thought as he pulled on a pair of his sweat pants and a blue tee shirt.
He found her in the living room and as much as he wanted to take her back into the bedroom and make her forget about fighting he knew that was out of the question.
"Amanda, why are you here?" Lee stood in front of her and he could tell she had been crying; it broke his heart.
"Why did you leave?"
He ran his hand through his hair, "I just thought it was better if I did."
"What are you sorry for?"
Lee couldn't believe this conversation she wanted to have. It wasn't even a conversation it was going to argument.
"Amanda, I don't feel like arguing with you."
"Good then if you would answer the damn questions then we won't argue."
Lee sat and looked at her and knew he couldn't give her the answers she was looking for because he was having trouble figuring them out for himself. Before he even began to speak again Amanda was on her feet and pacing his apartment. Damn he thought she even looks great in sweats.
"You know Lee I consider myself to be a very logical person, but where you and Francine are concerned here lately I don't know anymore. On one hand Francine does everything in her power to make me feel inferior and then tonight she gives me a compliment in her own way I know but it was still one. Then you, you, oh damn you."
She walked over to him and hit him on the shoulder. He looked at her and she looked like she wanted to hit him again and he grabbed her hands and set her on the couch next to him.
"Amanda, what do you want me to say? I am sorry I left without saying goodbye or giving you a reason but I had to get out of there. If I didn't then work on Monday would have a whole new meaning to the word partners. You are not a woman to casually have sex with, you…"
"How do you see me Lee?"
"What do you mean how do I see you?"
"How do you see me as an agent, a person, a woman?"
Lee looked into her eyes and hoped she couldn't read his thoughts as to how he saw her. For the life of him the visions of her naked in his bed wouldn't leave his brain.
"Lee, answer me please. You are my best friend and I hate the way I have been feeling. At work you no longer act as if I am underfoot, you really seem to be encouraging my training and I appreciate that but it seems like you get so short with me and then tonight you knew it was me in that mask and you knew it was me when you asked me to stay after the bust and I know you knew it was me in my house. Then you were gone."
Lee knew he was busted and busted big time. "Amanda, you have come a long way at the Agency, you are doing great with your training and yes, I feel like you are ready for some assignments and not so much for others because I know what those assignments would entail. Not that I don't think you could handle them but because I as your friend want to protect you from them. If you want to do this job you have to handle a gun and you need more work on that." He sat closer to her and brushed her hair out of her eyes and continued to answer her questions.
"You as a person, you are a great person. You are a loving daughter and fantastic mother, you are my best friend and I know that isn't an easy job. You have great organizational skills which is another reason why I love having you as a partner." He smiled and despite her anger Amanda smiled back at him.
"You are a great cook and make the best homemade cookies and brownies. You know when I am blocking people out and call me on it. You are a great person and I know that even Francine would have to agree to that."
She placed her hand on his chest and let her fingers trace the fading letters on his shirt and it wasn't missed as he took a sharp intake of breath. She let her fingers rest on his leg that was inches from her own.
"What about the other part of the question, Lee; how do you see me as a woman?"
Lee's hazel eyes looked into her deep brown eyes and he was starting to feel lost again. He didn't know what she wanted from him.
"If you didn't know me Lee and we had randomly met how would you see me?"
"Well I would have to say that if I didn't know you and we randomly met then I would have to say that you would start working as a spy and lying to the people you love because a cocky agent dragged you into the intelligence community." His smile didn't work this time on her as she raised her eyebrows at him.
"Amanda, you are good at what you do. I underestimated you in a lot of areas, but don't think I have ever seen you as less of the woman you have been. I have known for a while that you are a woman that could make a man fall to his knees and leave him wondering how it happened. You have a power that you don't even know you have and that is the power. How many times have we been at a party and I leave to go to my meet and come back to find a flock of men around you? Men are just attracted to your beauty. It is a real and true kind that comes from a person with a heart like yours."
"Lee, if I have a power like that over men than why did you leave?"
"I left because I respect you and what you believe in. You are someone that if you share your bed with a man it is because he has put in the work and made it worth your time. The man that gets you in his bed is the luckiest bastard in the world, because he would know the woman he was getting and tonight I am not the man that earned that honor. I am the man that wants to earn that honor and I had to leave to do that. Does that make sense Amanda?"
She knew what it took for him to admit that to her and she knew he needed more time and she was going to give it to him. She stood up to leave and Lee walked her to the door. He leaned in to kiss her just as his phone rang and stopped him; little did he know that was the first of many interruptions when he would try to kiss the wonderful and beautiful Mrs. Amanda King.