A/N: Arm is still in pain although it is mostly my shoulder now. I should've rested it completely but of course I still had to get on my computer and read because I'm super dumb. Anyway, I hope it doesn't slow me down a lot, but of course this took me an extra day so I'm not holding my breath. Thanks for your patience. Another genuine thank you for the reviews, follows and kind words, it means the world.
He was behind her, she could feel him there, he was following her cautiously towards her door. She turned the knob and walked in, Roxy glanced at the two of them, noting their return and promptly going back to her nap. Penelope waited for him to step inside and then slowly shut the door. All of her movements were cautious. Luke watched her, knowing that her mind was racing. She went to the bags she hadn't put away yet and began to put things in her storage closet. After she was done and had nothing else in front of her to occupy her time she almost gave in and spoke to him.
"Are you never going to look at me again?" His smile was genuine as he questioned her.
"I -I'm looking at you." Her eyes glanced up at him as if to prove her point.
"Okay, so… can we spend some time together tonight? I'd like to, if you would." Luke wondered if he was the only one that felt impatient. It was as if he had been waiting forever and easing into this seemed like torture.
She finally met his eyes again, "Yeah, I would." She tried to contain her smile, knowing that she couldn't only made her blush even more. "Ya know you could've told me you wanted to kiss me, I wouldn't be wearing leggings and a t-shirt." She finally found her sass again.
His big smile was plastered on his face, "Actually, I am quite enjoying the leggings." His eyes travelled down to her legs.
"What is that? What are you doing?" Her voice was rushed and almost sounded angry.
"Oh sorry - I didn't - I was - sorry. I don't want to make you uncomfortable." He didn't want to be that guy.
"No, no it's not-" Her voice softened. "I just don't understand what's happening. You're like checking me out and you've never done that and I don't get it. My brain is not comprehending."
"Actually, I've checked you out plenty." His eyes widened. "Uh not that… What is your brain not comprehending?" He changed the path of the conversation, ignoring his confession.
She was indeed weirded out but not creeped out, which was different, "I just - do you - is this some joke? Like you think it will be a funny way to, I don't know…"
"There's really nothing funny about the way I've been feeling about you." His eyes were serious.
"So you want to kiss me again?" Her voice portrayed her curiosity.
He stepped closer to her, "Is that an invitation?" He knew it wasn't but he thought it was a good move nonetheless.
Her eyes bugged out looking at his face wanting to turn away but realizing that her body wouldn't let her. "I - I - I-" Her words weren't coming to her so she boldly decided words were not what she needed.
She closed the space between them and grabbed at his shirt this time, reaching up to kiss him without warning. Luke was stunned but only momentarily, soon he was kissing her back with just as much passion as he'd let overwhelm him just minutes ago. He brought his arms around her, pulling her body closer to his again. After a few moments of adjustment, their tongues started to play with each other.
She moved her arms up to wrap around his neck. She wasn't the shortest girl out there but she was still shorter than him and he planned on kissing her for as long as she'd let him. To accommodate that, he backed up a few feet before he felt the couch at the back of his knees. He didn't want to break the kiss by falling backwards awkwardly onto it so instead he turned her around pushing her down and leaning over her as he did. She was in a sitting position and he was thinking he could sit beside her comfortably if she were willing to lift her leg over his lap but he wasn't going to assume she would want to. Before he could think it all through she turned putting her legs up onto the couch to lay horizontally but also never breaking the kiss. He smirked but never let his lips leave hers, he brought one leg up to be on the outside of hers and then the other to be in between her knees. He pushed her all the way back until her head hit the couch cushion. Holding himself up by his hands so not all the pressure was on her body.
They both were aware of what they were doing and who they were doing it with but they were under the haze of euphoria where reality is suspended, simply because your lips are touching someone else's.
He avoided lining his pelvis up with hers, thinking that might be too much too soon. She let go of his shirt, running her hands up his chest to his neck, her fingertips touching his hair. She pulled him gently towards her, he moved down to his forearms his body coming closer to hers. Putting both hands on the sides of her head, her hair tangling between his fingers. They continued to kiss, once again losing any sense of time. However, with nothing to stop them there was only so many ways this could go. They either went further than he thought they would or they had to find a stopping point and come up for air. He hadn't tried to touch her and she hadn't felt him anymore than his arms after her hands left his chest. This wasn't high school and he wasn't trying to push as far she'd let him go, he was trying to start something real. He pulled back reluctantly and slowly, still giving a few kisses as her lips seemed to still be seeking his. His voice was low and his eyelids were half closed, drunk from the physical connection they had. "Penelope."
"Mmmhm?" Words were lost in lust as she kissed his chin.
"If we don't stop, I'm not going to stop." Her eyes finally opened just as heavy lidded as his but scanning his face, knowing she didn't want to do that before she knew what was happening.
"Party pooper." She muttered, even though she understood what he meant, if there were no real-life conflicts she wouldn't have let this man move away from her.
His all-knowing smile was back in place, this time with a hint of levity, "I'd rather the party continue but I thought maybe we'd need to talk first."
A sheepish grin was her response, "Yes I think we need to, but I don't want to."
He chuckled at her but finally moved away, sitting back, letting his feet hit the floor again. She righted herself, reaching up to her hair, hoping it wasn't too far out of place. He put his elbows on his knees, turning his head to look at her, then scratching that spot on the back of his head suddenly feeling self-conscious.
She smiled at that. "What is happening?" It was the same question she had asked just a few days prior, except this time she expected to get a better answer.
"I - uh - I - think-"
"Don't tell me you don't know, because I don't know, and that means we are going to sit here and figure it out."
"I think I like you." He made his eyes meet hers again.
"Oh." She suddenly felt as if she had less air in her body, she had asked hadn't she? As her brain caught up to her mouth, "Yeah, I think I like you too."
They both turned away from each other as they contemplated the new information they had just received. Both smiling wildly, she bit her lip again trying to contain her blush. "So what are we going to do about this?" He quizzed her.
"You're asking me?" She brought her lip back between her teeth.
His eyes travelled to them noting how they looked swollen from his own assault on them, suddenly his focus was gone as he thought about starting another makeout session but shaking his head as if to clear it like an etch a sketch. "I'm not the type to date a lot." She was about to give him a sarcastic response but he held up his hand to stop her, "Seriously, I don't really date, Penelope. I have, I can, but I don't. When I was in the Army it didn't make sense with how much I was gone to have anyone waiting on me. Since being at the FBI, I've been working my way up, focusing on learning all the different things I needed to, to be a good agent. It just never seemed like a priority." He shrugged.
"So you're not the type to commit - or have a serious - what I mean is …" She trailed off, not knowing what to say, asking about commitment sounded too serious. But at the same time if he wanted kisses it was something she was allowed to ask, if only to protect herself. Her voice was small as she decided what she needed to say, "Luke, I don't want to assume anything here, I do know myself though and I don't do this kind of thing casually. I understand dating may not always lead to something and that's fine, but we're not going out on a first date to a restaurant here. I just want to say that if you want someone to see when you're in town, when you feel like not being alone, I'm not that girl."
He nodded at her, his thoughts coming too fast to him, "I don't want to do this casually."
"I understand." She gave him a tight lipped smile.
His face was blank, "I don't think you do, I don't want to do this casually but I do want to do this. If I had met you randomly, asked you out, then yeah we'd go slow because we wouldn't know anything about each other but, I know you, I know how to make you angry, I know how to make you smile in spite of yourself, and I know exactly how to make you bite your lip and I definitely know what makes you cry. I don't want casual either, Penelope."
Eyes wide, "Oh." It was barely a whisper.
"I understand if you think that's a bad idea with work and everything but whatever is happening here, I want to know what it is." Luke's eyes were studying her as he spoke.
"So you want to date each other? Only each other? Exclusively?" Her voice was at the peak of curiosity.
"Yeah."
Her mind raced with too many thoughts. She liked him, she probably always had. That's why she pushed him so far away. She didn't push other guys away, she'd date them for years in fact. Dating Kevin was safe, as much as she cared for him she would never fall head over heels for him, Sam either. They weren't the head over heels guys, but Luke was and it was as if her entire being knew it from the beginning. It was terrifying and so far she had done a great job at keeping herself as far away from it as possible. If she did this with Luke it would be different, there was no doubt for her about that. She had pushed him away, not only because she could fall for him so hard but because she never thought he would fall for her. He was supposed to be some typical Army guy, who slept with girls wherever he was stationed and went out with his buddies to start fights. He was supposed to be the guy who went and picked up girls in tiny dresses because he could give them a smile and wink and they would melt. He wasn't supposed to be the guy that took the time to be her friend. Her voice was full of emotion as she spoke "Promise not to break my heart?"
"Promise not to break mine?" He countered before softening. "I promise." He held her eyes in his, wanting her to know that he meant what he said.
"You're my boyfriend?" She queried.
"God, I hope so." His smile finally returning.
Her face finally broke into a big smile as well. "I was not expecting this."
"Really, because I've been thinking about this for awhile." He raised his eyebrows at her.
"Well I might have thought about you once or twice, maybe, but ya know, not like much or anything." She was giving him her typical tone of nonchalance that he knew really meant the opposite.
"Well I'm glad you've been able to sleep without me because I haven't as much as our movie night." He was laying on the charm now.
Sarcastic tone in full force, "Well I did sleep pretty soundly that night if you must know." She switched back to her reserved voice, "So I guess it's a good thing that you're here tonight."
He raised his eyebrows at her, his face full of surprise.
"No, not that. I understand we already know each other so all the awkward getting to know you is over, but this physical stuff is new. I think I need to ease into that."
A small smile was on his face, "I wasn't expecting anything. Wanting something, yes, expecting, no. We don't have to do anything you're not ready for."
"And you still want to be my boyfriend, exclusively?"
"Yes. Garcia, this isn't about something that's just physical, this is about more than that for me." He assured her. "That being said, I do want the physical stuff, all of it. A lot. But not until it's right. So no physical stuff right now it's okay." He had a joking tone to his voice but he meant what he said.
She was definitely trying to keep her blush in check now. "Well I didn't say no physical stuff at all."
"Oh yeah?"
"You're staying the night right?"
"If it's okay."
"It's okay, it's definitely okay."
They both turned away, embarrassed again. Sergio started stretching, finally waking up from his deep kitty slumber and jumping off of his cat tree to get some water, alerting Roxy that nap time was over. The two on the couch finally remembered that there were other souls on the earth, they weren't alone in the world. "I have some stuff in my car, I can take Roxy out and then grab it."
She nodded. He stood up calling Roxy over, he saw Penelope sitting at the edge of the couch taking in all of what just happened. Her overwhelmed face was adorable, he leaned down to kiss her, he was just going to give her a quick peck but the kiss escalated and he began pushing her back onto the couch again ready to start up where they had left off until Roxy, confused why he called her over for nothing, gave a whimper. "Right." Luke pulled away from Penelope, "I was doing something." He exited with Roxy, closing the door behind him but not before shooting Penelope another shy smile as she watched him over her shoulder.