A/N: As I said, I will never hold a story hostage to reviews, but I am curious as to what you think, or if anyone is still with me, so if you have an opinion, please do let me know (and if it is criticism, please make it polite and constructive!). Also, one note—when I named my character, I wasn't thinking of Kate Todd, just in the event that anyone was wondering. I decided to name my red-headed character in honor of my little red-headed daughter…Kate.
It was late afternoon and neither Gibbs nor Kate seemed in a hurry to get off the water. They stopped at a marina with a dockside restaurant, and Gibbs dashed in to grab grilled chicken salads for their dinner, and when he returned, he found that Kate had tuned the satellite radio to a jazzy Latin music station. They navigated to an out-of-the-way slough to eat their dinner and Gibbs relentlessly peppered her with questions. Did she have siblings? One older brother, she told him. How much older? Five years, and very protective, she said mischievously. What kinds of music did she like? Almost every kind under the sun, he learned. What were her favorite movies? Favorite colors? Favorite foods? Did she have any pets? When the dinner was eaten, Kate opened the cooler and dug out a beer for each of them, and they drank in silence for a moment, lounging on the swim platform, listening to the music and watching the sun slide lower. The late August heat was thick in the air, leaving them warm in their still-drying swimsuits. Gibbs sipped his beer contentedly and watched his date as she leaned back on her elbows, face turned upward, drinking in the warmth of the evening. Her eyes were closed and a half-smiled played about her lips, accenting her already-considerable beauty. Gibbs was suddenly overwhelmed with the urge to kiss her and decided not to fight it this time. He leaned up on his left elbow and reached for her waist with his right hand. She opened her eyes and looked at him with quiet surprise, and he pulled her body toward his, making his intentions clear. She rolled toward him easily, without resistance. He slid his right hand up her side, skimming her left breast as he did so, until he reached her neck. His eyes were aflame as he drew her face toward his. Her lips parted and he felt her inhale quickly in anticipation. When his lips connected with hers this time, there was nothing soft or chaste about it. He was consumed with desire for her and wanted her to know it. He kissed her mouth hungrily, parting her lips and tangling his tongue with hers. She responded by gripping his neck tightly with her left hand and wrapping her left leg around his right one, bringing their entire bodies into contact. She was clearly as much in the grip of their mutual attraction as he, and this only encouraged him. He kissed her harder, stroking the side of her neck with his thumb, his breathing becoming ragged. She slid her left hand up to the back of his head, running her fingers through his hair. He felt himself becoming aroused, and when she pressed her hips more firmly against him, he knew that she did, too. He knew he had to stop himself if his "take it slow" plan had a snowball's chance in hell of staying in place. His fingers were grazing the ties of her bikini top at the back of her neck and he knew it would be only too easy to give one gentle tug and have her out of it. This wasn't the time or the place. Reluctantly, he broke the kiss, closing his eyes and willing his breath to slow to normal. "Sorry," he said to her, eyes still closed.
"Why?" she said, sounding the slightest bit hurt.
His eyes snapped open. "No, not about the kiss. That…um, that I'm definitely not sorry for. I was talking about bailing like that." She waited expectantly. "If I didn't stop right then…well, then I probably wasn't going to."
She smiled and leaned in, kissing him lightly on the lips. "Well, I can't say I'm not disappointed, but I will say that it's very nice to know that the feeling is mutual. Oh…and it took you long enough," she smirked. "I've been waiting for that all day."
He raised an eyebrow. "Hope it wasn't a letdown," he joked.
"Indeed not," she asserted.
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Kate needed to get back in the water, both to cool down and to prevent her from launching a full-body assault on Gibbs. She had never felt such an intense physical connection to any man, and when he had kissed her, she had completely lost her senses and set herself loose on him. She had been thrilled—and aroused—to observe the evidence of his own pleasure at their situation, and keenly disappointed when he had pulled away. So she stood silently and dove into the water as he watched her. She came to the surface, shook the water from her face, and began swimming away from the boat. "Where are you going?" Gibbs called.
"Nowhere," she replied. "Just trying to burn off a little energy. You got me all riled up," she laughed.
Gibbs thought her idea wasn't half-bad, and dove in after her. He swam hard underneath the surface until he caught up to her, and grabbed her leg playfully when he surfaced, making her squeal in surprise. She spun around in the water and shoved his chest. "You scared me to death!" she complained, laughing. "I'd like to make it to thirty, please, so give my heart a rest, ok?"
"Ahh, yes, that. The birthday. You said it was in a couple of weeks?"
She nodded. "September 4th, to be exact."
"You dreading it?"
"No, not at all. On the contrary, I'm looking forward to it, and have been for a while."
Gibbs cocked his head. "And why is that?" Truly, this woman challenged every preconception he'd ever had about women.
Kate thought for a moment. "I think a woman is at her sexiest in her thirties. She's still young enough that her looks haven't started to go, and everything is still where it's supposed to be on her body." At this, she laughed. "But in her thirties, a woman knows who she is and what she wants from life. I mean, let's face it: most of us spend our twenties floundering around like a fish out of water, trying to figure out how the hell we grew up so fast and what in the world we're supposed to do with this thing called adulthood. By the time you're thirty, you've more or less got it figured out."
Gibbs nodded in awe. She was incredible. She had a completely different perspective on life than most anyone he knew. And he wanted her to know how intriguing he found her. "You are amazing," he said softly.
She leaned her head to side. "Why is that?"
"You just have an outlook on life—and a self-assurance—that is so unusual for someone your age…and I don't mean to beat the age thing into the ground, but I've just never met anyone like you before, and the fact that you're so young just makes you that much more captivating to me. I can't imagine what it would be like for a man your age to be around you. I'm very nearly intimidated by you, and I'm 21 years older. I can imagine that you would truly unnerve a man your own age."
Kate blushed and then turned thoughtful. "Hmm…that might explain a lot."
"What?"
Kate laughed. "I can't seem to get a date with a guy my own age. Well, no, that's not exactly true. I can get dates, but they don't seem to want to stick around very long…and that's never been a problem, because I've generally never cared enough to want them to stick around, but I will admit to wondering exactly what it was about me that was turning them off…" she trailed off. "I guess I never thought about it from the angle of being intimidating." She seemed displeased with the thought and Gibbs voiced that observation. She answered, "Well, I am who I am and I'm not going to change that. But I don't want to run people off…" she trailed off again.
Gibbs moved closer to her in the water and kissed her lips softly. "Don't be absurd. You are perfect the way you are. If there are those who can't appreciate that, the problem is with them, not you."
Kate breathed out quietly and rewarded him with a small smile. "Thank you," she said softly.
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Gibbs and Kate stayed in the water, swimming and playing, for another two hours after the sun finally set. Kate was thrilled to be able to dispense with the constant application of sunscreen and just enjoy the water, and enjoy it she did. She dove off the boat repeatedly, swam circles around Gibbs, and took advantage of a rope swing they spotted a bit further up in the slough. After watching Kate clamber up the bank and make like Tarzan into the river a few times, he decided to give it the old college try himself. Kate very much enjoyed watching the movement of the muscles in his back as he climbed up to the ledge, but that was nothing compared to the enjoyment she derived from watching how his strong hands wrapped around the rope and his biceps flexed when he finally let himself fly off the ledge. He cannonballed into the river and came up laughing as he shook the water from his face and hair.
It was well after dark, as Kate and Gibbs were talking and enjoying the feel of each other, Kate's legs securely wrapped around Gibbs waist as he held on to the swim ladder, when Gibbs realized that Kate was cold. Really cold. She was shivering rather violently, as a matter of fact. "Kate, you're freezing," he said. "C'mon, let's get out," he said, as he started to turn to climb up the ladder.
"N-n-no," he said, teeth chattering. "It'll be so much colder if I come up out of the water!" she complained.
Gibbs rolled his eyes. "God, you sound like a ten-year-old. What, hypothermia makes your level-headedness go straight out the window? Kate, your lips are blue, for God's sake. Let's GO." His tone left no room for argument. She unwrapped her legs from around him so he could start up the ladder. When he reached the swim platform, he turned around to reach down for her. She was on the bottom step, clearly miserably cold. He reached down and grabbed her under the arms and hauled her out of the water quickly, before she could object. She found herself distracted by her front-row seat to his flexing biceps, and she was wrapped in a clean, dry beach towel before she knew what was happening. Gibbs was still standing there in just his swim trunks, his arms wrapped tightly around her to keep her warm. "Cabin," she said tersely. "There's a heater." Gibbs steered her toward the bow, grabbing his own towel on the way, opened the hatch to the cabin, and gently nudged her down the steps. He followed behind her, closing the hatch behind them as he went. Kate slapped at a switch, turning on the heat, as she stumbled, hunched over against the low ceiling, toward the bunk nestled in the bow of the boat. She pulled open a compartment, removed a sweatshirt, and turned her back to him, dropping the towel swaddled around her. She knelt on the bunk and pulled roughly at the ties holding her bikini top in place, seemingly oblivious to Gibbs' presence. As her top dropped to the bunk in front of her, Gibbs stared for a moment at the pale, smooth skin of her bare back, and then cleared his throat. "Uhh…you want me to leave?" he asked.
"No," came her curt reply. She tugged the sweatshirt over her head, and when she raised her arms, Gibbs got the barest glimpse of the side of her right breast. When her sweatshirt was in place, she grabbed a thick blanket and gestured for him to join her on the bunk. He approached her, and she held open the blanket, indicating that he should get underneath it. He complied, and she joined him, spooning herself up against his chest and pulling his arms around her under the blanket. "Thanks," she said in a low voice. "I hate being cold."
Gibbs chuckled. "I hadn't noticed." She was still shivering a bit, and he tightened his grip around her, trying to transfer as much of his body heat to her as possible. As he waited for both of them to warm up, he looked up at the clock in the cabin and was shocked to see that it was 10:15 p.m. They had spent twelve full hours on the water. He closed his eyes in contentment as he relaxed against her. She found his hands against her stomach and laced her fingers through his; in response, he once again kissed the back of her neck, this time allowing his lips to linger for a few moments. Bit by bit, her shivering ceased, and as they grew more comfortable, their legs tangled together under the blanket, drawing their bodies even closer together, if possible. Few words were exchanged as drowsiness took hold of them, and before either of them realized what was happening, they were asleep.
