Author's note: Thanks for the awesome reviews! You guys are really amazing.
IIII
"You made it," LaSalle announced unnecessarily. He was dressed in a pair of well worn jeans and a dark green tank that pulled over an impressive chest.
For a minute Sonja had considered not showing up, but it felt childish so she got her big girl panties on and made the drive to the pier. The Three Blind Mice sat rocking in the dark waters and even from her stance she saw bright lights coming from the deck.
"I figured you know where I live, where I work," she paused and shrugged. "What's the point of ignoring you indefinitely?"
Also there was that tell tale flutter in her chest at the thought of LaSalle to take into consideration as well.
LaSalle grinned. "That's my girl- sharp as a whip," he commented. Then he offered her his hand. "Want to climb aboard?"
Sonja hesitated before taking his hand.
The sight that greeted her took her breath away. There was a table set for two but the wow factor were the several dozen candles placed around the deck like floating stars. It was like she'd stepped into some mystical place.
Her resolve wavered at his thoughtfulness.
"You should have told me we were dining out," she remarked still admiring the display. "I would have worn a dress or the very least heels." She was dressed in jeans and a shirt with her combat boots, definitely not what she'd call her fancy attire.
"You look good in anything," LaSalle said earnestly.
"Thank you."
Gosh it still felt awkward.
He cleared his throat, scratched at the back of his head. "I'm really no good with apologies but I owe you one for how I acted earlier," he said sincerely. "I'm sorry, Sonja."
Sonja bit her bottom lip. Earlier she'd been fuelled on her own anger so she hadn't been able to see it in his eyes. It wasn't easy being a woman in the law enforcement, more so a black woman at that. For the majority of her career she'd always felt like she had to work twice as hard to prove her worth. When LaSalle questioned that, no matter the well meaning intentions behind it, it struck at her core and her automatic response was to be defensive. However that was her demons, not his.
Clear headed she could accept her own fault in their argument. She had ignored his call and it had been a good call. If he hadn't yanked her back she could possibly have suffered worse than a mere grazing on her arm.
"I'm not good at this apologizing thing either," she began holding his gaze. "I'm sorry too. You made a good judgment call and I should've listened."
"If you had we might not have saved the hostage," LaSalle said.
Sonja rolled her eyes. "Can we both be wrong and move on already?" she asked in exasperation.
He smiled. "You know when I was a boy my mama used to kiss my booboos," he said moving closer now that they were back to good terms.
"Boy, I aint your mama," Sonja scoffed crossing her arms over her chest.
He chuckled as he folded her into his arms. "So no to kissing it better?" he asked huskily.
The man was going to be her undoing. Sonja thought in exasperation. She lifted her head. "No because I know you and you got ideas," she said. "I'm actually hungry." And she was, her fallout with LaSalle had left her listless without much of an appetite until now.
"What ideas you think I got?" he teased.
"Nothing good," she answered. "In case you haven't noticed your candles are a fire hazard should we engage in risky behaviour."
"You know for a good girl you sure do like getting me in bed," LaSalle said in amusement. "The only ideas I had was us sitting down for dinner but you're such a bad influence."
Sonja scoffed. "So I'm the bad influence?" she exclaimed.
"Yes ma'am," LaSalle replied with a nod. "But you know what?"
"What?"
"When it comes to you, I'm very impressionable."
/
Percy grinned as she collected her winnings, eliciting a collective groan from the rest of the table.
"This is why women shouldn't be allowed to join poker night," Triple P complained with a huff as he shot LaSalle an accusatory glare to which he could only raise his hands in defence.
It wasn't his fault Sonja turned out to be really good at the game. Two hours ago when Triple P thought he'd be winning her money, he'd been all in in having her join them.
"Stop being such a sore loser, Patton," Brody chirped from her perch on the bar stool. She'd wisely opted not to join the game. A stance he probably should have taken as well. LaSalle could not help think. "Sonja won fair and square." She added.
"Fair?" P balked, eyes wide. "It's his fault we lost!" he accused pointing at LaSalle.
"What'd I do?" He asked baffled.
"More like what you didn't do," Sebastian quipped. "If you weren't so busy being distracted Sonja wouldn't have won four straight games in a row.
Percy chuckled. "Come on Weird and Nerdy," she began in a sing-song voice. "It was five straight games in a row."
LaSalle shot her a look to which he received a triumphant smirk and a wink. If only Sebastian and Patton really knew why he'd been so distracted. How was he supposed to concentrate on a card game with Percy's hand on his thigh?
"I think it's best if you sit the next round out man," Triple P suggested with a frown.
"Actually I think I'm going to call it a night," LaSalle said, taking care to avoid glancing at Percy. He hoped she'd follow his cue.
"But it's not even eleven yet?" Sebastian claimed.
It could be day break for all he cared. He needed to remove himself before his hardon embarrassed him and had his friends asking questions he was in no way ready to answer.
"Sorry guys," he apologized as he stood up and grabbed his jacket.
"Well LaSalle's my lift so I guess I'm also calling it a night," Percy announced.
"What?!" P exclaimed. "You can't leave yet!"
"Yeah we still need to win our money back!" Sebastian piped in.
Percy snorted. "No offense boys but I think both of you have lost enough for one evening, let's not make things worse."
After making their farewells they exited the kitchen with Sebastian and P still grumbling their displeasure.
"You cheated," LaSalle accused in a whisper as they made their way to the parking lot.
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Percy said innocently.
LaSalle scoffed, leading her to his car. "Your hand on my thigh, remember that?" he asked.
She stopped, eyebrows raised. "I may have patted your thigh once or twice, that hardly constitutes cheating," she claimed.
"Patted?" he echoed in disbelief. "Any higher and you'd have been cupping my balls."
"That's a real interesting allegation Christopher, but unless you can back it up I'm innocent of all accusations," Percy stated with a smirk. "'Sides if you can't handle the heat, get the hell out the kitchen."
LaSalle's brows furrowed. There was no way he was going to let Percy get away with sabotaging his game. He'd been the reigning champ for the last two weeks and she'd played dirty, which didn't come much as a surprise considering how competitive she was. His lips slowly curved upwards as an idea began to form in his head.
It was Percy's turn to frown in suspicion. "What?" she asked.
He took a step forward and she took one back.
"I'm just thinking that was a foul move you pulled back there," he answered.
"So?"
"So... that means as the wrong party I'm entitled to some form of retribution."
Percy backed herself right into his car, realising her mistake a second after he'd managed to trap her between his arms.
"LaSalle, someone might see us!" she hissed wide eyed.
"So?"
"So stop playing around!" she snapped.
He was really enjoying getting the unshakable Sonja Percy all wound up. "Say Uncle and maybe I'll step back," he taunted with a smirk.
"Are you kidding me?" Sonja blurted. "Those losses must've gone straight to your head."
He just smiled without budging so much as an inch. A silent stare off ensued with LaSalle confident, Percy would fold first.
She huffed, rolling her eyes. "Okay fine, I may have cheated," she relented reluctantly. "Are you going to let me go now?"
LaSalle shook his head in the negative. "See, had you admitted this two minutes ago I might have let you get away with a stern warning but..." he allowed his voice to trail off as his eyes dropped to her rising and falling chest.
The white tee she wore hugged her breasts in a very alluring manner. Knowing Percy she wasn't even aware of what a distraction that was.
"But?" Percy prodded sounding a bit breathless.
This close he could almost taste her arousal and it was driving him crazy. He can't remember any woman who could annoy and arouse him in one breath until Sonja. To be honest he'd just wanted to ruffle her feathers a bit, but his harmless plan had taken a nosedive once they were all but touching.
Shit. Why were they both fully clothed again? He wondered. Lifting his eyes to her face once more he saw his own want reflected in her eyes.
"Your place or mine?" he all but bit out.
Sonja licked her suddenly dry lips. "Yours."
He pulled her into a heated kiss, familiarising his tongue with her mouth once more. Her fingers gripped his arms as he snaked his hands around her waist. When he felt his control slipping, he reluctantly pulled away. The last thing either needed was to get arrested for public indecency and that's where that kiss was headed.
"Get in the car," he said stepping back.
"Bossy much," Percy quipped though she wasted no time climbing into his truck.
Taking a deep breath, LaSalle worked at calming himself down. He just needed to get them to his place safely then, well, all bets were off.
/
Groaning Sonja blinded reached for her phone. She didn't know what time it was but her internal clock said it was way too early to be answering phone calls. After last night's marathon sex she could do with a few extra hours of sleep.
"There better be a dead body," she muttered as she located the ringing device. She opened one eye, squinting at the display before answering. "Morning, Merri," she greeted groggily, her voice thick with sleep.
"Uhm Sonja?" Brody questioned on the other end. She sounded started but Sonja was too tired to try and figure out what was going on. So she'd just ask.
"Yeah so whatsup?" she asked sitting up. She glanced at the empty spot next to her and then LaSalle's bedside alarm clock: 6.32 am. It was too early!
"Oh was just checking... wanted to know if you'd gotten any leads on the Curry case?" Brody asked.
Sonja frowned rubbing her eyes. "I think that's LaSalle's case," she replied.
"Right!" her friend exclaimed. "Sorry to wake you I-I-I'll call him later, no problem."
Meredith was all over the place, Sonja's suspicions rose. "Merri, are you okay?" she asked.
"Of course! Just one of those crazy mornings."
The response was too quick. Something was definitely up, but again it was too early for her brain to be working on solving mysteries. "Okay if you say so," she said just as LaSalle entered the bedroom back from his morning run.
"Yup, I'll just hang up now," Brody said.
The line went dead, leaving Sonja mildly perturbed.
"What's up?" LaSalle asked as he pulled off his sweaty tee.
"That was Meredith," she said trying not to drool. It didn't matter that she'd seen him shirtless countless times before, the effect seemed never changing.
LaSalle raised an eyebrow. "Everything okay?" he asked, patting his face dry with his tee.
Come to think of it, it was time to wake up and sharing a shower would definitely conserve water.
"That's the thing, she sounded weird," Sonja said sitting up after putting the cell phone on the bedside table.
"Sonja?"
"Hmmm?" she asked as she twisted her hair into a knot on top of her head.
"What were you doing with my cell?"
She blinked, hands still raised.
Then,
Shit.
