Lady and the Coward

Bobby relaxed and sank back into sofa, smiling as he heard the shower water turn on. The image of a naked, wet, slippery, soap-lathered Alex filled his imagination. But just as quickly, other thoughts crept into his mind.

"Over-thinking" things was one of Bobby's biggest downfalls –well, that's what Alex and Lewis always told him, anyway; that he was his own worst enemy. But he couldn't help himself and soon, the pleasant and erotic images of Alex slipped away and were replaced by his usual thoughts and feelings of apprehension and confusion: apprehension over whether he should make the move and bring his relationship with Alex to a deeper level; confusion over whether or not he was interpreting her correctly.

Bobby sighed and rubbed his hands over his face, noticing how hot and sunburned his skin felt. "I've been getting so many mixed messages from her, lately," he thought to himself. "She touches me, flirts with me –and a minute later she's back to talking about a case – all business."

He grabbed the remote and switched from The History Channel to The Discovery Channel. "A repeat," he moaned, and then quickly switched to HBO.

"And this afternoon," he continued silently thinking. "The way she looked at me –an, an, and touched my chest –my tattoo—and said 'I love you.' But she's told me that she loved me before –well, that's how she always signs my birthday cards and Christmas cards. Maybe she just meant 'like a friend' –I dunno." He exhaled another deep sigh.

Bobby got up and went to the kitchen, grabbing a cold beer from the fridge. The shower water was still running, he noticed. He also noticed the nervous knot forming in his stomach –almost fearful of what would happen once Alex emerged from the bathroom wearing nothing but his undershirt.

As he walked back to the living room, he realized that he had made his decision. "I'm not gonna take the chance that I've misinterpreted her words or actions –if I make the move and I'm wrong –well…it could damage our relationship –we wouldn't be able to go back to the way we are –things would never be the same."

He was tempted to grab another undershirt from his dresser, so as not to be semi-naked in Alex's company for the rest of the night. But his sunburn was hurting him and he actually felt better without the material rubbing against his skin, so he decided 'no.'

Bobby consciously walked passed the sofa and settled into the recliner –in his self-admitted cowardly way of thinking: a safe seat for one. "If Alex wants something to happen, she's gonna have to be the initiator."

X X X

Simultaneously…

Alex entered the bathroom and began undressing. She caught her reflection in the mirror and noticed the "tan lines" left from her bathing suit. A pang of sorrow gripped her heart for a moment –quickly replaced by a little smile, as she thought of her husband –back to their honeymoon in Aruba. After spending a glorious day at the beach, Alex had boasted: "Honey, look at how tan I got today." And her new husband had responded, "I'm much more interested in the parts that didn't get tan."

Alex turned on the water and stepped into the shower – "Bobby's shower," she said to herself with a smile. "I wonder if he's as interested in the still-white parts?"

As she reached for the bar of soap from the holder, images began to fill her head. Images of a sunburned, muscled, wet, soapy, Bobby who had just occupied the shower shortly before her. "Oh, you lucky little bar of soap," she teased, smiling as she thought about the intimate journey it had taken over every inch of Bobby's body just moments earlier. "Why should you have all the fun?"

She remembered back to earlier in the afternoon, on the raft – seeing him, touching him –being wrapped in his arms in a hug. How he had said, "I love you."

In an instant, the pleasant, erotic images of Bobby vanished. She panicked as she realized, "I said 'I love you' to him first!"

She froze, standing still under the pulsating water as her mind replayed the events of the afternoon. "How could I have done that to him? Put him in that position? What if he didn't want to say it back – what if he just said it back because he didn't know what else to do? 'Cause he was embarrassed or didn't want to hurt my feelings?"

And at the moment, she made up her mind. "I'm not taking the lead anymore. If Bobby's interested in me that way, he's gonna have to pursue it."

Alex quickly rinsed off and shut off the water. She grabbed a towel to wrap her hair, and grabbed a large bath towel to wrap around herself. She looked at Bobby's tee-shirt hanging on the hook on the back of the door. "Over my dead body," she said to herself, as she realized the transparency of the thin cotton –not to mention the plunging V-neckline that would probably expose everything down to her navel.

She opened the bathroom door and headed straight for Bobby's bedroom, briefly stopping that the intersecting hallway to call to him in the living room.

"Bobby! I'm going in your bedroom for a few minutes. Don't come in, okay?"

X X X

Bobby sat in the recliner and breathed a sigh of ---well, he wasn't quite sure if it was one of regret or relief. But at least that message from Alex was clear.

X X X

Approximately ten minutes later, Alex emerged from the bedroom and entered the living room, wearing a crew-neck dark blue NYPD tee-shirt which hung below her knees. She had put her bikini bottom back on, underneath. It was the most "presentable", "ladylike" outfit she could muster up.

The first thing she noticed was Bobby's choice of seating. Second, the almost-empty bottle of beer dangling from his long fingers. She pretended the seating arrangement didn't bother her.

"You mind if I get one for myself?" she asked.

"Help yourself," he said, casually, refraining from any comment about her change in intended attire.

Alex returned from the kitchen and settled on the end of the sofa, closest to Bobby's recliner. She tucked her legs under herself and ran a hand through her wet hair, teasingly flicking droplets of water on Bobby's shoulder.

Her actions elicited a small laugh from Bobby, but he kept his eyes on the TV.

She drank a gulp –then two, keeping her eyes on him all the while. "Damn, he looks good," she complained to herself. "Look at those shoulders…that chest…mmmm."

Another half hour and another beer passed… then another…and another. It was almost 9:00 p.m.

"Are you uncomfortable?" Alex asked him. "Your sunburn has really come out now. Does it hurt?"

Bobby raised his fingers and lightly touched his forehead. His skin felt like it was on fire. The tops of his shoulders were stinging, too. "Yeah, it's umm, it's starting to sting pretty bad."

Alex, full of three beers' worth of courage, got up from the sofa and walked to the plants by Bobby's front window. She broke off a stem from his aloe plant and began squeezing the sticky sap from the leaf.

Rounding his chair, she quickly resumed the lap-straddling position she had taken earlier and began soothing his skin with the cooling, natural lubricant of the plant.

"What are you doing?" he asked, somewhat startled –but fully enjoying her presence on his body after the past couple of hours of being ignored.

"I'm taking care of you," she answered in a semi-drunk sing-song tone. She smiled as she looked at him, gently applying the gel to his forehead…then nose…then cheeks…then shoulders.

Without realizing it, she found herself impulsively leaning into him, dipping her head and planting little kisses on his shoulder, down to his bicep and back up again.

A little sound escaped her throat as she continued pressing her lips against his warm skin, feeling the underlying muscles. It wasn't quite a moan; it was more like a "mmmmmm" –the sound a person makes when they're tasting something delicious. She hadn't even noticed her involuntary response to touching him, but Bobby certainly did.

He closed his eyes as he felt her beer-chilled lips traveling across his chest (lingering again on the tattoo, as she kissed his chest there several times) to his other shoulder, where she repeated her kissing ritual.

He found his hands traveling up and down the soft, smooth skin of her thighs –and immediately felt the reaction in his groin.

"I think I'm getting this message loud and clear," he joked to himself. "So much for safe seating."

End Part IV