Author's note:

Wow, guys – thank you so much to all of you for such wonderful reviews! I'm so glad that you're enjoying this story. Thank also to those who followed or favorited... :) It really made my day.

This chapter is not what I wanted it to be but it holds important information about the story and so on. So instead of another large author's note to explain what is going on in this story, I decided to write a chapter about it. That's why it's so short – it's the shortest chapter so far.

But I promise you that the next chapter, which is coming on Monday – one day before the premiere, is totally worth to wait... :)

So, enjoy this little intermezzo before the whole 'kissing deal' will begin and again – thank you, thank you, thank you!

Apologize:

As I was notified by my dear regular reviewer BertAndTiva (whose words always make me happy – just in case that you might think I'm mad at you – I swear I'm not, on the contrary I absolutely value your reviews) – the marriage ring goes on the left hand, not right. I'm sorry for it – I guess that I just didn't pay attention when I was writing the chapter and it absolutely didn't hit me. Well, it happened and I'm happy to learn from my mistakes... :)

Disclaimer:

I do not own NCIS or the characters.

Kissing Deal

Chapter 2 – The Dinner

Tony smoothed his tie as he eagerly raised his hand and knocked on Ziva's door. This assignment was a godsend for him. He just couldn't wait for the moment they'll check in the hotel and finally – they'll be alone.

What he didn't expect was the man who opened the door for him. He was young, somewhere between 20 and 30 years old, well-built and handsome. Tony blinked surprised as he looked at door again just to be sure that it was really Ziva's apartment.

"Uhm, hi. I'm looking for Ziva?" He asked uncertainly as the man looked him up and down with a smile.

"Oh, yes! Come on in! You're Tony, her coworker, right?" The man said and opened the door for him so Tony could enter the apartment.

"Yes." Tony said suspiciously wondering what the man was doing there. Abby was saying that she doesn't have someone – so who the hell this man is? "And you are?" He asked him carefully ready to pull out his gun in the case that the man wasn't supposed to be here at all.

The man just smiled at him and reached out to shake his hand. "I'm Cory, Ziva's..." but he didn't have the chance to finish because in that moment Ziva emerged from her bedroom with a bag in her hand.

"Oh Tony, it is you!" She exclaimed surprised that he was there on time and flashed him one of her best smiles.

She put the bag down and turned to Cory as she handed him her spare keys. "Thank you really much, Cory..." Then she stopped as she realized that men didn't know each other.

"Oh, I am sorry. Cory – this is Tony, my partner. Tony – this is Cory..." She began to introduce them as Cory interjected, "Her neighbor." He explained to Tony because Tony's gaze was so full of distrust, anger and jealousy that it began to scare him.

"He will take care of my apartment while the two of us will be gone." Ziva further explained as she saw the look on Tony's face. He was obviously jealous but he didn't have any reason to feel like that. But that didn't mean that she couldn't have little a fun with it.

Then she turned back to Cory. "Thank you again, Cory. I really appreciate it." She told him as she leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek as a reward. And also to tease Tony a little.

He smiled at her as he rubbed her shoulders. "Everything for my Israeli princess." He told her as Tony felt himself to reach for his gun. It was too much for his liking. Ziva flashed Cory another smile, told him goodbye and grabbed Tony's hand before he could do something stupid as she led him into the elevator with the bag in her other hand.

Tony felt like if someone slapped him directly into his face. They were obviously close – so Abby either lied him about the fact that Ziva doesn't have someone or she didn't know about this Cory. And how he could miss that there was some new man in Ziva's life?

"So... Cory..." He began jealousy dripping from every letter in the word. Ziva turned her head aside so he couldn't see her smirk at his jealousy. The fact was she was flattered by it and she knew that once Tony will learn the truth about Cory, he will feel embarrassed so she decided to tease him.

"Yes, Cory." She confirmed trying to stifle the laugh that bubbled inside her.

"Nice guy. When did you two meet?" Tony asked her looking at her, trying to ignore the pain in his heart.

"Few months ago, on the morning run. He just moved into the apartment next to mine." She explained still amused with the whole situation.

Tony nodded as he contemplated what to say next. "It won't work between you two, you know. You don't fit to each other." He said hoping that it won't sound too much cheekily. All he wanted to do was to protect her. If she couldn't love him then he wanted her to be happy with some man who really deserves her.

Ziva's smile widened as she exited the elevator without a word. Tony went after her and practically bumped into her when she suddenly turned around and leaned against the front door of her apartment building.

"If you want to ask some question about Cory, then ask. I will answer you." She told him with a smile as she decided that she teased him enough. Now, she wanted to see his embarrassment.

Tony looked at her unbelievingly pondering whether to ask the question he wanted to know or not. But she gave him permission, so... "Fine. Do you sleep with him?" He asked anger absolutely evident in his voice but he just couldn't control his emotions anymore.

Ziva leaned her head back against the door as she began to laugh aloud. Tony flashed her puzzled look as Ziva tried to subdue her laugh. "He is gay, Tony." She told with amusement as she waited for his reaction.

Tony's eyes widened as he realized how foolish he can be sometimes. Well, she get him in this. "Oh! Oh, that's great! I mean for him..." He began not sure what to tell exactly.

She rolled her eyes as the laugher still bubbled inside her and opened the front door. "Come on, you jealous clown." She told him and went outside to take a seat in their taxi.

The taxi driver helped her to put the bag inside the trunk while Tony rather flopped down inside trying to hide himself from her. He was acting like a jealous madman but after he found out last year that she slept with Adam, he watched every man that approached her and threatened him to leave her alone. She was supposed to be happy with some good man and they all wanted her only for one thing – and he can't let that happen. She deserved more than this. Ziva knew what he was doing with her potential suitors but because she realized that she was in love with Tony, she didn't mind. Not that she told him that.

She sat back in the taxi still smiling and amused by his behavior. Tony told the taxi driver the address of the restaurant where they had reservations for their dinner.

Then he turned to her wanting to apologize. "I'm sorry, I was just..." He began as she looked at him and winked. "Jealous." She finished for him as she reached for his hand and squeezed it to assure him that she wasn't angry with him. He smiled at her grateful that she wasn't making fun of him.

He wanted to forget about it but he also wanted to pay her back for it so when they arrived to the restaurant, he decided to return her teasing. They sat down into their chairs and he waited patiently until the waiter approached them and they told him their picks, together with the bottle of red wine.

She still had the amused smile on her lips so he leaned over and caught her hands as she looked at him surprised. He leaned even forward so their faces were only millimeters apart. She gulped nervously as her eyes slipped to his lips and then back to his face.

"Wipe that smirk off your face, Ms David, or I'll wipe it off by myself." He told her in a dangerous, yet soft tone, licking his lips in the process.

She chuckled as she tried to hide the sudden arousal that shot through her body and yanked with her hands to free herself. But he tightened his grip as she grimaced in pain and then he released her with a satisfied smirk on his face.

She glared at him but stopped smirking. "So, we are here to make some story about our marriage." She rather changed the topic and waved at him with her finger where her ring was.

"You're right." He confirmed as he poured them the wine. "So, where did we meet?" He began with one of the most important questions.

"I was thinking that we should lie as little as possible." She told him sipping her wine as he nodded appreciatively. "Good idea. So, we met in work." He said glad that the first thing was behind them.

"Fine, but what our job is?" She asked because she couldn't come up with something that didn't include some agent stuff.

Tony nodded in contemplation as their meal arrived. "Well, that's hard to say. I've always been cop, then agent..." He said as Ziva snapped with her fingers while she began to eat her pasta.

"What about a lawyer?" She suggested and he looked at her surprised. That really didn't come into his mind. But it wasn't bad idea after all.

"OK then, a lawyer. And what are you? My secretary?" He suggested and wiggled his eyebrows on her seductively.

She shot him a glare, rolled her eyes and shook her head disapprovingly. "No way. I will be your client." She said still thinking about the work she could do.

The same question was running in Tony's head. "Oh, great. So I was your lawyer and we fell in love. And what's your job then?"

"I will be..." Ziva began after few seconds of intensive thinking, "manager of reality estate agency." She said not really knowing from where the idea came from and judging by the look on Tony's face, he was surprised too but nodded in agreement.

"And how long we have been together?" Tony asked another necessary question.

Ziva pouted in contemplation. "That depends – how long we have been married?" She retorted and Tony shrugged.

"About a year or two..." He offered and she nodded approvingly as she finally began to finish their story up.

"Fine – I will wrap it up. So – you are my husband, a lawyer and I am your wife, manager of reality estate agency." She began to form the story of their fake marriage.

"We met 5 years ago, when I needed some legal assistance. You fell in love with me but I was resisting for a year. Then we got together and after three years we got married. So, we are celebrating our first anniversary as a married couple." She explained and Tony had to smile when she said 'resisted for a year'. It was great parallel to their relationship – she has resisted for 8 years. But he planned to make her yield because he just couldn't stand the tension between them anymore.

She looked at him to confirm that he agrees. He nodded and finished the rest for her. "We're celebrating our first year anniversary in that hotel, because we're two very busy people who need to be on alert because of our work but we also want to spoil ourselves."

Ziva smiled at him as she was glad that the story was done. They won't probably tell this story to anyone but just in case that someone would want to know who they are, they were prepared.

The waiter went to pick up their empty plates and Tony asked him if he could call a taxi for them because they had to go to the hotel. The waiter nodded and Tony took a deep breath as he prepared himself for the important part of the conversation with Ziva. He was excited about this part and he just hoped that she won't back away.

He leaned over so he wouldn't have to talk so loudly. "And now I think it's time to get to the important part of this conversation." He said as he poured the rest of the wine to their glasses and Ziva leaned over to him too.

"And what it is?" She asked curious what he had in mind.

"Well, we are supposed to be a married couple..." He began as she waited and hummed in approval.

"And married couples, as well as couples in love, usually do certain things..." He said mysteriously as Ziva gulped because she realized where this conversation was heading. Her heart began to beat so fast that she thought it might explode. But if it was caused by his burning gaze only he could produce or the tone of his voice she secretly loved so much, she didn't know.

"What certain things?" She finally managed to say as she slowly began to lose in his eyes.

"Well, there are common things such as unwitting light touches..." He said as he raised his hand and caressed her cheek. To his surprise she didn't shove it away but she leaned into his touch instead.

"They are used to walk hand in hand..." He continued as he reached out for her hand with his second and intertwined their fingers. She just stared at him unable to move or speak.

"They call each other with endearments..." He told her as she smiled widely because she knew what her endearment will be.

"And I just want to know if you're OK with it." He finished as he stroked her cheek lovingly and she was practically melting. She loved how he was always considerate of what she wanted or didn't want, needed or didn't need... It was one of the things because of she fell in love with him. She felt suddenly disgusted by herself that she was always pushing him away while he tried to do everything he saw in her eyes just to make her feel better, without any ulterior motive.

She felt herself to raise her hand that was free and caressed lightly his face and ruffled his hair as his eyes filled with something that was so burning that she suddenly realized what she was doing and put her hand back down quickly. Tony saw the abrupt panic in her eyes as her face went red and he had to smile at her shyness. Although she was embarrassed with her behavior he couldn't care less – he knew that this type of touches will come more frequently in the following days.

"Yes, I am OK with it." She confirmed quietly, knowing that if they are supposed to married couple, they'll have to behave like that as well.

He smiled and wanted to say something but the waiter interfered with the announcement that their taxi arrived. Tony paid for the dinner while Ziva excused herself that she has to go to the restroom.

She looked at her reflection in the mirror and cursed herself silently for few times. She wasn't supposed to behave like that. She decided to kill her feelings for Tony, for God's sake! She was forbidden to enjoy his closeness, to think how great it would be if she kissed him, how wonderful it would be if they gave in to the temptation...

No, no, no, no, no... She shook her head vehemently. You cannot think like that! These stupid feelings just make you weak! And you are not allowed to be weak! She reprimanded herself for her weakness for him. She hated to be weak, to not be in control of herself, her body and her mind.

Last time she felt absolutely miserable and on the edge of nervous breakdown, she slept with Adam. And it was one of the biggest mistakes in her life. She didn't even enjoy it because she was too disgust by herself and what was the worst – Tony didn't take it well and she knew that she hurt him by it. However, she hurt herself by it too – but she didn't see it back then. It was few weeks after she realized that Adam just took advantage of her and she took advantage of him. And if she hadn't been in Israel but in DC instead and if it had been Tony's door she had knocked that night, Tony wouldn't have done such thing. He would have told her no and would have tried to console her in absolute different way.

But she had different problems now in front of her – first night in the same bed with Tony. And because she felt weak and vulnerable right now – she was terrified by it. She couldn't let happen that again. She will have to resist the temptation because if she sleeps with Tony she will do it because she wants, not that she feels weak.

She gulped and took few deep breaths as she rubbed her face and put on back her normal expression – ex-Mossad officer, now NCIS special agent with a mission ahead. She went out from the restroom and caught up with Tony as they got on their taxi and headed into their hotel.

The End of Chapter 2

So, I just wanted to give Tony some moment of jealousy because he isn't the one who will be jealous in the future chapters... Ooops, little spoiler... :) Trust me, you have a lot to look forward to. Let me know what you think and stay tuned for the next chapter where the 'kissing deal' will be made!