A/N: Sorry for the extra long break. I have, however, kept up regular installments of Reckless. But, for a change of pace…
Part 9
Booth lay dazed, feeling Brennan's fingers trace lazy patterns across his chest. A breeze stirred the leaves outside the window, and shadows fluttered over the blanket that half covered them.
One lamp glowed in the corner of the room. She'd dimmed the lights at some point; he didn't remember when.
It all happened too fast, he told himself. Playing along was the safest choice, and I—
Safest? Oh God, what about birth control? He'd completely forgotten about it. He couldn't ask her and give himself away. But she must have something—right? Maybe when she'd gone into the bathroom before…
Jesus. Just what he needed was to get Bones pregnant, and she wasn't even his Bones.
He realized she was watching him. They lay there, her thigh curved over the top of his, his arm around her shoulders. He stroked her warm skin and she said, "You were a little quiet at the party."
"Am I usually that talkative?"
"No… you just didn't seem like yourself. I thought maybe you saw Hacker there."
He shook his head. His boss was here, too?
"Well, that's good. I thought you might have been angry about his fruitless attempts to flirt with me."
How would his counterpart react to that? "They better be fruitless." Now Booth moved his hand to her hair, separating out a strand and twisting it around his finger.
"I know it's hard to keep taking orders and being nice to him. But you did agree that's the best way to keep him…" She paused, and glanced sideways at his hand in her hair. "…wrapped around my little finger. That is, until we can take control with Angela and Grayson, and you can have his position."
Whatever Hacker's position is, Booth thought. He pretended to be engrossed with gazing at her hair, the dark brown with its streak of turquoise.
"You could even kill him if you wanted. He can be quite tiresome."
Booth grunted.
Brennan pushed herself up on one elbow. "I know it's not easy to keep playing this role, but it won't be for much longer. Once everything is worked out, I can go on being the head of the scientific establishment, and you can be the head of city law enforcement. Surprising all those fools who thought you were just a big, dumb bodyguard." Her fingers started to tease over his chest and nipples. "You can show them how much you use your brain… in addition to all your other attributes." Her hand stroked lower down his belly and he tensed. She laughed, kissing his cheek.
As she did so, the necklace she was wearing caught the light. He realized she'd been wearing it all day, but he didn't register its design until now. A silver skull and crossbones on a black cord, resting at the top of her breasts. He reached out, running his finger under the cord, along her clavicle, and saw her shiver. Now her eyes looked murky rather than clear.
"Today makes ten people, you know."
He didn't answer, but tried to look like he knew what she meant.
"Ten people that I've killed," she went on reflectively. "For our advancement, or Angela's. But I remember what you told me after the first one, when you gave me this. You have to crack a few eggs to make omelets?"
I said that, Booth thought, about killing people? And gave her a morbid necklace to commemorate it?
"I know your number's higher. But you've got to keep track, right?"
"Right."
Something about her tone... She almost seemed proud, or that she wanted him to be proud. But her voice, her eyes…
He remembered how she'd stared at Zack's blood on her hand after she shot him.
She was bluffing.
She had to be bothered by this, but was she afraid to let on? What kind of person was his counterpart? Were the two of them keeping track of their murders like notches on a belt?
Or were they like teenagers, egging each other on and only pretending to be thrilled by the crimes?
She was studying him for a reaction, and he thought he'd better do something to distract her. He pulled her face down to his and kissed her, hard.
When he released her, she smiled. "I thought so. A good execution usually makes you more… stimulated. But when are you going to tell me how you got Hodgins out of his double agent situation?"
"Uh… Tomorrow."
Her sly smile returned. "Does that mean you're tired of talking?"
He put his hand on her hip and then brazenly squeezed her ass. "Yep."
Leaning down, she placed her lips against his neck. "Why don't you pick something from the toy chest?"
