Author's Note:
Again, thanks for the positive feedback. I decided to switch the point of view to Harm for this chapter, and I'm hoping you like it. If you've got ideas, I'm more than happy to hear them and try to include them. Just know that I'm all for the fluffy stuff. If you aren't fluffy, then… well… you should be, cause fanfic is the way that I get my fluff on. Review if you would like, and thank you soooo much for all the kind responses.
While I am not the guy that just wants a woman for his arm candy, I take pride in the fact that Sarah MacKenzie is the most gorgeous woman in the room tonight. I may be biased, but she took the breath out of everyone tonight, myself included.
Black dresses should be against the law for this woman to wear. Especially if the back of the dress leaves little to the imagination. I feel the strong, but slight muscles of her back beneath my hands as I hold her close while we dance.
After the first dance we shared she stopped and looked up at me with a wonder I hadn't seen before.
"You know how to dance."
"I do." I say in a way that acts like I'm surprised as well, which gets me a slap to the arm.
"No, I mean that you really know how to dance. Not just simple NATO ball and Surface Warfare dancing…Why?"
"Promise me that you won't laugh?"
"No promise of the sort will ever be made when it comes to you, Harmon Rabb."
"Fine… I'll still tell you." I say, watching as her eyes glitter with a glimpse of victory. "My mom insisted that I take lessons before I got out of high school. She said that she knew I was hell bent on going to the academy and that was one thing she wished my father had done. They had formals all the time and he would drag her there and refuse to step on the dance floor. I was actually pretty good at it, so I did a few even while I was at the academy to learn new things."
"I wasn't expecting that."
"Well, I wasn't expecting that you were the dancing type, so we are both full of surprises."
"I…" she starts, and then stops her thought to look down, "I never really got to do the whole high school dance thing. Everything in my childhood was so messed up. After he sobered me up, Uncle Matt insisted that I learned how to be a lady. He got some women from the local church to help get me up to speed on dancing and etiquette. I hated it, but it has come in handy through the years."
"Huh…" I say, truly marveling at the woman before me.
"What?"
How do I describe what I see when I look at her. Her whole being just radiates grace and beauty. Nothing looks learned or forced with her, and it's hard to believe that she was ever anything but this put together, beautiful woman that's here with me now.
"You're amazing, you know that?" I say simply, knowing that it doesn't cover my thoughts.
"Harm…" she says, shyly looking back at me.
"No, you are. You overcame a pretty crappy situation to become this amazingly beautiful and graceful woman. You could probably go back and teach the old ladies a thing or two." I say, laughing.
She simply smiles back at me, not adding anymore to the conversation. But she begins to lean into me more as we keep dancing the night away.
It's past midnight when we get back to the apartment. The second we step into her building, Mac has taken her shoes off and they are dangling from her fingers while we ride the elevator. She isn't a short woman, in fact, she's perfect. She insisted on wearing these tall torture devices though, and I can see the wincing as she is trying to stretch her sore feet out.
"Is there a foot rub needed in the near future?" I ask, turning towards her and smiling.
"No way… nobody goes near my feet."
"Ticklish?"
"No, I just think it's weird. Is that odd?"
"No. How about I run you a warm bath instead?"
"Honestly, this has been the perfect evening, and all I want to do is curl up in my warm bed and dream happy dreams about it all night."
"That good, huh?"
We reach her door at that moment, and suddenly she seems nervous.
"Mac?"
"This is weird…"
My heart jumps into my throat at the comment. Maybe it was a great night, but great in like hanging out with your best friend and having fun great. Maybe she didn't feel the same way as I did about how it all went. She's about to tell me that it's done. She doesn't need two weeks, because her decision has already been made.
"What?" I hesitantly ask.
"Well, you know how a date is supposed to end. If it's the first few, you share reserved kisses in the hallway and shyly say goodbye. Or you make out against the door until you realize that your neighbors are going to complain. If it's been a lot more than a few dates, you invite the other in for some coffee, which is code for 'take your clothes off'. It's like we've known each other for a million years, but I can't do the latter."
"So… what are you saying?"
"Can I just try something? I just… and then we go in, we go to sleep, we don't talk about it, and that's it?"
"Yes?" I say more like a question than an answer.
What happens next, I'm not particularly expecting. I assumed that Mac would want to take everything at a snail's pace, which I was fine with. She just came out of an engagement, and I expected to take things slowly where the physical stuff came into play. This evening's small peck on the lips before our date was nothing compared to what we entangled ourselves into at that apartment door.
After a few minutes, I have her with her back against the door and my hands in her hair. Can you blame me? This woman has been the single focus of my fantasies for the greater part of our time together. She's not shying away though, and I'm viewing this as a positive sign. We take it slow, taking the time to explore everything about each other. Unlike the heated kiss we shared at her engagement party a few months ago, this was all about finally having permission to stay awhile.
When we pull away from each other, looking back into half lidded eyes, I realize again why I'm in love with her. "So… that's what you wanted to try?"
"Uh huh…" she says, nodding her head, her eyes still focused on my lips.
"And?"
"And what?" she asks, looking up at me.
"Were there fireworks?"
I don't know what I said that made her so happy, but the smile that breaks out on her face causes a shoot of pride to fall over me. I put that smile there. Me. I did it.
When she pulls me back in for another kiss, I still don't know what I said, but I'm not one to lift a gift horse in the mouth.
"Colonel MacKenzie?" I hear from behind me and turn to see a fifty something woman looking at us.
"Hello Mrs. Porter. How are you this evening?"
"Not as good as you, I see."
Mac and I both blush, but she doesn't hesitate to reintroduce me to the older woman, "You remember my partner, Commander Rabb?"
"I do. And I haven't seen that other gentleman in the past few months."
"Oh…" Mac stumbles for a moment, "um… he and I split things off."
"Good. He wasn't the one for you." She pauses, taking a look at me for a moment, "this is the one who you're meant for. I'm glad you finally figured it out. Just don't wait too long to make it official."
As she walks away, we start laughing. Laughing at being in our mid to late thirties and being caught making out in the hallway. Laughing that the older woman had more insight than both of us combined.
"Ready for bed?" I ask as we walk into the apartment.
"yeah, why don't you get ready? I'm going to grab us some tea."
"All right."
"Harm?" she says, causing me to turn toward her again, "Huge… lots of colors… exploding all over the place with a cacophony of sound."
"A cacophony?"
She nods her head up and down quickly with a smile, and I'm smitten yet again.
