**I'm playing fast and easy with the rules on this.. I didn't enjoy the interruption to this scene so I took her.. I mean.. I took IT OUT

They'd barely sat down at Molly's when Stella looked across the table and smiled. "Let's play a game."

The corner of his mouth curled up in a sly grin. "I'm not going to play whirlyball."

She rolled her eyes and sat up, away from the table, sending her wavy curls back over her shoulder giving him a great view of the bare skin from her neck down her toned and graceful arm. "Not that kind of game," she sighed. "You think I wore this to do that?"

This. That sinfully amazing black dress that reminded him of just how amazing her body was in… or out of her clothes.

"I think you wore it," he smiled even more, "because you know how good you look in it and you're just trying to torture me in front of our friends." He saw the barest of blushes on her cheeks and knew he'd come close to her plan. "So, what kind of a game?"

She shrugged and again his eyes were drawn to that sexy shoulder of hers. "A guessing game."

"Guessing?" He winced a little. "Is this one of those 'How Well do You Know Your Girlfriend' quizzes in Cosmo? Because if it is, I don't think they have questions in it like, 'How Amazing Does She look in Turnout pants?"

Her long-suffering sigh was one of his favorites. "That's not the game." She gave him a hard stare when he tried to interrupt again. "You have to guess… What color underwear do I have on under this dress?"

Kelly was so glad he was sitting down because there weren't enough people in the bar to cover exactly how well he liked the idea of finding out the answer to that question. "So," he leaned on the table and moved his cold bottle of beer away from his arm, "what color are you wearing?"

"I'm not going to tell you," she laughed at his pointed look. "The whole point is that you have to guess the color."

He had to admit, the question alone was fun, but there had to be more than just a guessing game. Stella always had a little something more about her… in this case… it was trouble. And heaven help him… he liked her kind of trouble… a lot.

"What do I win if I guess right?"

He watched her and waited for the answer.

Her eyes softened a little, the fine arches of her eyebrows lifted just a bit, her mouth… that amazing mouth… lifted a fraction at the corners. And when she spoke, her voice had lost the playful tone she'd had only moments before and had lowered just enough to remind him of late nights in the dark with her lips teasing his ear.

"You," her eyes warmed even more and filled with just a hint of challenge, "get to take it off."

He stared at her lips for a little longer than he should have, but he had to wait until enough blood rose up into his head to string together the right words. "I like this game."

She leaned on her side of the table and gave him a half-smirk. "I had a feeling you would."

He looked at her dress and the bare shoulder. "I'll start with something basic… black."

She shrugged and then shook her head. "No, sorry."

Stella picked up her beer and took a long sip, turning slightly to listen to the music.

"Hey," Kelly looked at her waiting for her to look back at him.

Slowly, she turned. "Hmm?"

He gave her a little pout. "That's it?"

"You tried. You got it wrong. Game over."

"No," he leaned forward a little more, "I want to guess again."

She considered his words and then shook her head again. "Those aren't the rules, Kelly."

He reached across the table and took one of her hands in his. "Then change the rules, Stella. I want another chance."

Looking up at the clock she gave a thoughtful little pout as she considered the hands and their placement on the face. "Okay," she told him and held up a hand for him to wait, "in twenty minutes."

By the time they'd left Molly's and Sev bundled Stella into his Mustang and drove her back to her apartment, he'd tried: Red, Green, White, Yellow, & Purple.

Each time she'd given him this wide-eyed look and then shrugged. "Nope."

As he followed her up the stairs to her apartment, he couldn't help himself. He kept his gaze fixed on the generous curve of her hips and the seductive sway of her perfect backside as he struggled to think his way through Stella's lingerie drawer. What color had his missed?

Stella stopped at the top of the stairs and then reached out an took hold of his hand, pulling back his cuff to see his watch. "One more?"

Kelly felt a bit of his frustration bubble up to the surface. "You're telling me that if I don't guess what you're wearing that I don't get to come in?"

She turned slightly and gave him an amazing side view of her body in that sexy dress. "Make it closer than the last one and maybe I'll give you one more after this for good behavior."

His eyes narrowed at her. "What would you give me if I'm bad?"

She laughed and shook her head. "Nope, not gonna distract me."

Kelly blew out a breath and made a Hail Mary pass. "Lace." Then he tried to add something and make his chances better. "Something see through."

Her laughed turned more than a few heads in Molly's and her looks kept a few of them turned in their direction. "That's not a color."

His head hung forward and touched his chin to his chest. "But please tell me I was close? Closer?"

Reaching into her clutch, Stella pulled out a key and pushed it into the lock. Once the door swung open she turned to look at him with her eyes wide and smiling. "Come inside. You get one more guess."

If she had said no, his last-ditch effort would have been the guaranteed heart attack he was going to suffer if he didn't get to see what he'd already missed more than a handful of times.

Setting her clutch and keys on the table she walked over in front of wall mirror.

He saw the look in her eyes and followed her, standing just behind her and off to the side enough to look over her shoulder and into the mirror.

"So, how close was I?"

She shrugged and then laughed when he reached for her. She dodged his hands in one direction and then before he could try again she took of his hands and set it on her hip.

Kelly moved the palm of his hand over her hip in one direction. When his thoughtful look turned into complete confusion, Kelly set his other hand on her hip and repeated the gesture.

When he met Stella's eyes in the mirror, he slid both hands forward and felt the edge of his thumbs trace the impossibly high curve of stitched elastic edging.

He knew what color it was, he'd seen it in her laundry hamper at his apartment. "It's you," he grinned, "it's nude."

He saw the triumphant look in her eyes as she pressed her full lips together and nodded. "The correct term," she sassed him, "would probably be 'skin tone.'"

Kelly held her hips still as he stepped up behind her and gently pulled her closer until every spare inch of their bodies that could possibly get closer… was. "I like your skin."

Stella's voice was barely a whisper, deeper than her normal tone. "I like yours too," She reached back and laid her palm over the muscled length of his thigh. "I like pretty much every inch of you, Kelly."

He leaned forward, placed a slow kiss against her neck, and felt her pulse jump just under her skin. "So…" he felt the vibrations of his voice against her skin, "I'm waiting for my prize, Stella."

Turning a coquettish look to the mirror, Stella reached up along her side and found the hidden zipper pull. With a whisper of sound it loosened the fit of her dress and with a shrug of her shoulder, sent the dress on a slow, graceful fall to her feet.

Kelly was fairly sure that he'd stopped breathing.

Stella stood before him in a pair of black stiletto heels and a sinfully cut skin-toned G-string that left literally nothing to his imagination.

Just the way he liked it.

Stepping closer he retraced the high-hip cut edges with the tips of his fingers, watching her reflection in the wall mirror. Hooking his fingers into her waistband, he gave it a little tug and slid it down an inch until it was riding on the fullest part of her hip. He grinned at her. "You know if you wanted me to get you naked, all you had to do was ask."

She shrugged his mouth went dry. "I wanted it to be a little fun for you."

Biting into his lower lip, he crouched down toward the floor in a slow descent. When his hands were inches from the ground he felt her hand settle on his shoulder to keep balance as she lifted one foot and then the other to step out of her underwear.

"Well?"

He looked up at her and couldn't help the half a dozen physical reaction his body was going through just looking at her body. Once he got his hands back on her, he was going to return the favor.

All night long.

He smiled, and he saw her confusion plainly written on her features.

"Well what?"

She gave him a heated look out of the corner of her eyes. "Did you enjoy my little game?"

Tucking her underwear into the pocket of his slacks he laughed when he saw her wide-eyed outrage directed at him. "Any time I get to touch you means I win."

Stella turned and bit her teeth into the fullness of her bottom lip. "I say we both win."

"No argument from me." His arms were already wrapping around her when he pressed a hungry kiss against her lips.