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HERE'S THE NEXT CHAPTER!
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CHAPTER 4:
That night, after a luncheon, three seminars, a cocktail hour, dinner, and a walk around the hotel, Cuddy and Chase were back in their room.
Cuddy was in the bathroom. She had just finished brushing her teeth. She placed her toothbrush in the empty glass on the vanity, which also held Chase's toothbrush.
For some reason, staring at the two toothbrushes in the glass gave her an uneasy feeling. She immediately removed her toothbrush from the glass and placed it back in the plastic travel toothbrush case she had brought with her.
She then glared at herself in the mirror.
"NICE GOING, LISA," she thought to herself sarcastically as she gazed at her reflection.
She was wearing what she usually slept in—a white, whispery soft baby doll nightie with thin straps. The scoop neckline revealed just a hint of the cleavage that House drew attention to on a daily basis and a hemline that came down just to the top of her thighs.
And she had neglected to bring the hotel's complimentary bathrobe into the bathroom with her to change into her sleepwear.
She glanced at the hotel towels that were neatly folded on the shelf situated above the toilet. For a moment, she thought about wrapping one of the towels around her waist to hide her legs and the hemline that barely covered them.
But she dismissed the thought immediately.
"CHASE'LL THINK I'M AN IDIOT IF I DO THAT," Lisa thought.
She looked at herself again, standing up a little straighter.
"WHAT AM I DOING? I HAVE NOTHING TO BE EMBARRASSED ABOUT. THIS IS A PERFECTLY NORMAL THING TO WEAR TO BED AND CHASE IS A DOCTOR. IT'S NOT LIKE I HAVE ANYTHING THAT HE HASN'T SEEN BEFORE," she convinced herself.
With that, she opened the door to the bathroom, turned off the light and confidently strode out into the room.
And at that moment, everything that she had convinced herself of two seconds ago in front of the bathroom mirror immediately disappeared when she laid eyes on Chase.
He was sitting up half-way in the bed, leaning on his left elbow, the blanket covering the lower half of his body as he flipped through the channels of the TV with the remote.
He wasn't wearing a shirt.
The well- toned muscles in his shoulders, arms, smooth chest and abdomen were visible. His blond hair was tousled ever so slightly, several blond locks sexily falling in his face.
Cuddy hated that her breath had actually caught in her throat upon seeing Chase.
Upon her entrance into the room, Chase turned his head towards her.
His eyes almost bugged out of his head when he saw her.
Almost automatically, his eyes began to explore the curves and elegant lines of her body that were delicately framed by the nightie, but he stopped himself and quickly darted his eyes back to her face.
"…I wasn't exactly expecting company," Cuddy said with attempted levity.
Chase swallowed hard and smiled sheepishly.
"… Neither was I," he replied, thanking some deity that he had remembered to pack pajama pants and that the lower half of his body was currently covered up underneath the thick hotel blanket and sheets.
Cuddy remained standing a few feet from the bed, shifting her weight uncomfortably. Chase smirked in response.
"So are you planning on sleeping standing up tonight?" Chase teased her.
Cuddy smirked back and began to walk towards the bed.
Chase casually peeled back a corner of the hotel blanket, making her stop in mid- step. For some reason, she was oddly moved by the simple gesture.
After a moment, she collected herself and climbed into the bed with Chase. She tucked her bare legs and feet underneath the blanket, covering them and crossing her ankles, sitting upright. Chase kept his casual position on his elbow, facing her.
There was at least a foot of space between them in the bed.
For a few moments, neither of them said anything.
"You… wanna watch a movie or something?" Cuddy finally suggested, turning towards Chase, wondering if he worked out at home or at a gym.
"…Not unless you want to," Chase replied with a shrug, wondering the same thing about Cuddy.
"Anything good on?" Cuddy asked him, attempting to relax.
Chase flipped a few channels on the remote.
"'The Bourne Supremacy'… or… 'Matchpoint,'" Chase told her.
"Let's watch 'The Bourne Supremacy,'" Cuddy offered quickly, her mind suddenly replaying all the seductive scenes in 'Matchpoint.'
"Ok," Chase said good- naturedly. He then turned the channel back to the movie and focused back on the TV, silently willing the growing bulge in his pants to shrink.
As both Chase and Cuddy became engrossed in the movie, they both seemed to relax. Cuddy shifted her body down to a half- lying down position, resting her head on the pillow. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Around a half- hour later, Cuddy was lying almost completely on her back, her hand propping up her head as she tried to stay awake enough to focus on the movie. Chase eyes were completely glued to the screen.
Chase glanced at her out of the corner of his eye and smiled slightly.
"What?" Cuddy said.
"Glad to see you're finally relaxing a bit," Chase remarked.
"I can't help it. I'm exhausted," Cuddy admitted.
"Yeah, me too," Chase agreed.
"Have you ever seen this movie before?" Cuddy asked him.
"Yeah a few times," Chase replied.
"How does it end?" Cuddy asked.
"I'm not gonna tell you that," Chase told her jauntily.
"Oh, come on. I'm exhausted. I won't be able to stay awake to see the rest of this!" Cuddy pleaded.
"Then you'll just have to see it again," Chase told her with a dazzling smile.
Cuddy grimaced and turned back to the TV.
"So did you speak to Cameron?" Cuddy asked.
Chase looked down at the blanket briefly and then back at the TV.
"… I uh, tried her earlier. Couldn't get through," Chase said off- handedly.
Cuddy grinned broadly. "You're a lousy liar, Chase," she declared.
Chase took his attention away from the TV and gave her a lopsided grin.
"Somehow I couldn't find the exact right words to explain to her that I'm sleeping with my boss," Chase told her.
Cuddy chuckled slightly. She then rested her head on her pillow, draping her arm over the blanket while the rest of it covered her.
"Do you snore?" Cuddy asked him with a soft smile.
"No," Chase replied, returning her smile with one of his own.
"Good," Cuddy said before closing her eyes. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Several hours later, at around 3 AM, Cuddy was wide awake.
Chase was fast asleep beside her on his back.
He was snoring extremely loudly.
"Everybody lies," Cuddy muttered.
"CHASE!" Cuddy hissed loudly.
Chase didn't move an inch and was still snoring like a buzz saw.
Cuddy roughly elbowed Chase in the ribs, hoping he would turn over onto his stomach and stop his snoring.
But instead, Chase sat up suddenly with a dazed expression on his face.
"…What?!" Chase said in confusion, unable to focus on Cuddy's face.
"You're snoring," Cuddy told him.
"No I'm not," Chase said, still dazed, shaking his head.
Cuddy rolled her eyes.
"Just turn over," Cuddy said in annoyance.
Chase nodded, exhaled deeply and turned away from her onto his stomach.
As he did, he roughly pulled the blanket they were sharing over himself and off of Cuddy's body, leaving her with hardly any of it left to cover herself.
Cuddy stared at Chase in disgust and tried to pull the blanket back from him, but she couldn't. Chase, now back in his deep sleep seemed to have a death grip on the blanket.
Chase resumed snoring once more.
"CHASE," Cuddy said aloud.
Chase didn't respond and was still snoring.
"CHASE!" Cuddy exclaimed, pulling as hard as she could on the blanket.
Somehow, she managed to pull Chase along with the blanket, causing him to roll over on top of her in his sleep. Cuddy felt as if the wind was knocked out of her as Chase felt like dead weight on her body.
"…Chase… get off me," Cuddy managed to say, pushing him off of her with all of her strength.
He stirred and shifted his weight off of her in his sleep, murmuring something unintelligible.
Cuddy exhaled in relief.
But then she gasped in utter shock as she felt Chase spoon up behind her, placing his left arm around her.
Still asleep, Chase cupped her left breast with his left hand over her nightie.
Before she could react, she could feel Chase's thumb graze its way over her nipple over the fabric. He murmured again, seemingly happy.
She could feel his erection through his pajama pants pressed against the back of her panties.
Cuddy gasped in shock again as her nipple suddenly became erect. A flood of moisture involuntarily gathered between her legs.
Cuddy sharply turned her head towards Chase.
He was still asleep, the corners of his mouth turned up slightly. "Chase…" Cuddy said, barely above a whisper.
Chase slowly opened his eyes, the smile on his face still evident.
Their eyes met.
Chase suddenly became aware of the fact that he was snuggling his boss.
Chase then slowly looked down at his hand, which was still holding Cuddy's breast.
"OHMYGOD!" Chase yelped.
He quickly let go of her breast and jumped out of the bed in almost one motion. His face and neck were already deeply flushed with embarrassment.
His erection shrank like a frightened turtle.
Cuddy was not only shocked that Chase could move that fast, but that he seemed to react to her breast as if it were cyanide.
"Dr. Cuddy! I'm so sorry!" Chase apologized quickly, his hands out in front of him.
"Chase, it's all right—" Cuddy assured him.
"I was asleep. I didn't realize what I was doing—" Chase continued to babble on.
"I said it's all right, Chase," Cuddy repeated calmly.
Chase was frozen in his stance near the bed. He had no idea if he should leave the room, run to the bathroom or just quit his job right there and then.
Cuddy merely sighed in exasperation.
"I'm not going to sue you for sexual harassment if that's what you're worried about," Cuddy assured him.
Chase blinked twice. He hadn't even considered that possibility.
"…Are… are you gonna fire me?" Chase asked worriedly.
"For sleeping? If that was the case, House would have been fired years ago," Cuddy said with a smirk.
At this, Chase exhaled deeply in relief.
"Now stop standing there like a deer caught in the headlights and come back in the bed," Cuddy told him.
"Dr. Cuddy… if it's all the same to you, I think I'll sleep on the floor for the rest of the night—" Chase began.
"You're NOT sleeping on the floor," Cuddy said in her best Dean of Medicine voice.
Chase flopped his head down and raked his hand through his hair nervously. He didn't move from his spot, standing a few feet away from the bed.
"Fine. If you're happy on the floor, I'm not gonna argue with you. I'm going back to sleep," Cuddy muttered.
She then rolled over away from Chase, her back facing him.
Chase remained standing, having no idea what he should do.
He then exhaled loudly, knowing that he had no desire to sleep on the floor either, and reluctantly climbed back into the bed.
"How did we wind up… like that?" Chase asked Cuddy tentatively.
"You were snoring and hogging the covers. I tried to get them away from you," Cuddy explained, still facing away from Chase.
"And… that's how I wound up with your breast in my hand?" Chase asked incredulously.
"You were obviously dreaming about Cameron and thought I was her," Cuddy said, dismissively. "Don't read too much into it."
"… Yeah…" Chase said hesitatingly.
Cuddy turned back around to face him.
"Chase, it's after 3 AM. Can we go to sleep and forget about this?" Cuddy asked him impatiently.
"… S- sure," Chase said.
"Good. Now good- night," Cuddy said perfunctorily, rolling back away from him.
"G' night," Chase mumbled.
As Cuddy began to drift back to sleep, Chase suddenly realized that while he was fondling his boss's soft, supple breast, his erection pressed against her a$$, that he hadn't been dreaming about Cameron at all.
TBC…