CALLEN'S POV:
That night, when Livy and I climbed into bed, she tucked herself close to my bare chest and began to explain what had happened on her mission.
"It was simple," she told me. "We went over there to investigate the mysterious death of a Marine who had been killed at supply base in Kuwait. Preliminary finding suggested that he had been killed by a sniper, so my team was called in because several of them had had experience in the Middle East and one of them spoke Arabic." She paused for breath and I interlocked our fingers tightly, knowing she would need support to continue.
"It's all right," I assured her. "Go on."
"We landed at the airbase and had to join a convoy to reach the supply camp. En route, we took fire from some small weapons—AK-47s, mostly. It was just a few insurgents and we had it under control in less that five or ten minutes."
"But that's not when you were ambushed, right?" I asked.
She shook her head. "No. We had solved the case and were on the way back to the airbase about four days later. Ironically, we were in the same place where we had taken the small-arms fire when an IED exploded underneath the vehicle in front of us. Everybody in my vehicle was thrown around a little, but not hurt bad." Livy stopped for a moment, the memory very real to her, if the expression on her face was any judge. "They were all around us, I guess, because they opened fired on the convoy. Our Humvee was riddled with bullet-holes in a matter of seconds. We were trying to take cover and return fire when a missile came out of nowhere. I was about ten feet away, but my Senior Agent was closer. He saw it coming and dove to protect me. When I came to, he was lying on top of me. Dead."
Tears filled Livy's beautiful eyes and she sobbed for the first time since she'd begun telling the story. I knew that there was something special about his agent.
"Were you in love with him, Livy?" I wanted to know.
She shook her head adamantly. "No, but he was in love with me. It wasn't the first time he'd put his life in danger to protect me. We were close, but I never was attracted to him, not to mention I was a more by-the-book kind of girl back then. Anyway, all I remember after that is that someone pulled me out from underneath his body and then I blacked out from the pain. When I woke up next, I was in a hospital somewhere in Germany, being treated for my injuries."
LIVY'S POV:
When I awoke the next morning, G was still asleep beside me. I carefully disentangled myself from his protective arms and headed to the bathroom to get my morning shower over with. Thankfully, we only had a ten minute drive to OSP, so that meant that both of us got to sleep a little later than the average federal agents. But, Callen and I weren't the average federal agents; We were trained operators who went undercover on a daily basis, risking our lives every minute of every day.
I was out of the shower before Callen finally pulled himself from the bed and got ready to take his own shower.
"Good morning, baby," he greeted me, sweeping my wet hair off my neck and leaning in to kiss it lightly.
"Good morning," I replied, my hand stopping midair as I savored the feel of his lips.
Slowly, his lips trailed their way down my throat and across my bare shoulder in an intimate gesture that I loved. Callen might be a gruff person sometimes, but no one could ever accuse him of not being a terrific lover. He made me happy, at least.
"G…I've got…to get…dressed…for work," I managed to say as he turned me around in his arms and kissed me on the mouth.
"Why?" he asked me, a mischievous smirk appearing on his handsome face. "We could just call in sick and stay in bed all day." His hand reached to pull my towel away but I smacked it playfully.
"G Callen, you're going to make us late!" I told him, pushing him away. "You're making it so hard to resist."
"I don't want you to resist," he replied innocently. "I want to make love to you, sweetheart." He leaned in a kissed me, long and deep.
I glanced over at the clock quickly. We had just under an hour to get to work. "Okay, but we have to make it quick," I told him.
An hour later, we walked into the OSP as if it were just another regular morning. Hetty was waiting for us when we came in and the rest of the team was nowhere to be seen.
"You're eight minutes late," she informed us. "Mr. Callen, your team is already upstairs."
"Sorry, Hetty," I apologized, following G up the stairs.
"We'll be here early tomorrow," I promised her. " Honestly."
We walked into the dark operations room where the team was all standing in front of the large screen.
"Nope, guys, it looks like all they do out there is kiss," Eric was saying.
"Is that the security camera outside?" I asked, staring at the footage.
"Yeah, and that's our car," Callen added. "You guys are spying on us."
"You were late," Sam pointed out. "We're investigators. This is what we do."
"Sure it is," G and I chuckled.
Later that morning, Sam and I headed out to interview a witness. We were driving down the streets of Los Angeles and I caught him looking at me out of the corner of his eye several times.
"What do you want to ask me, Sam?" I finally asked him. "If you're wondering why were late this morning, you're not getting any juicy details."
"Actually, I was thinking about how good you look," he told me. "You've changed since you and G got together."
"Thanks," I replied, smiling at my brother-like friend and teammate. "I think there's a compliment somewhere in there."
"There is," he assured me, pulling up to the curb in front of the witness' house.
"So, what did this guy see exactly?" I wanted to know. "I missed that part this morning. I think I was in the bathroom."
"You're not pregnant, are you?" Sam asked me quite suddenly.
"No!" I replied, taken aback. "Of course not!"
"Good," Sam said as we walked towards the house. "Cause if you get pregnant, you're not going to be working out here in the field."
At that very moment, an explosion knocked us backward, engulfing the entire house in flames. Sam and I were slammed to the pavement violently by the force of the explosion.
OOO!!! A cliffhanger! Yay me!