Never Going Back Again: Chapter Eleven.
A small slice of "afternoon delight". There must be something in the water because randy plot bunny has been active these past few days… Not that I'm complaining, you understand.
When they got back, it was to discover Callen was sitting drinking coffee in the kitchen with a morose expression on his face. From the sounds of Mozart drifting down from the drawing room, Nico was in the midst of practicing. She was using considerable volume and verve, rather more than was strictly required.
"Where's Deeks?" Sam wisely avoided asking Callen how he was feeling, seeing the evidence with his own eyes.
Callen raised eyes that looked like two poached eggs on a platter. "Upstairs. Somewhere. He disappeared with the laptop." His voice was rough and gravelly.
Kensi ran up the broad staircase that curved around the stairwell, her hand running lightly over the polished oak handrail as so many other hands must have done over the centuries. She was beginning to love this house, with its sense of history, its gorgeous proportions and the way that light seemed to flood into all the rooms. "Marty?" Her voice floated up towards the glass cupola that crowned the ceiling and let the sunshine pour down the walls like molten honey.
"Up here." His voice was very faint, as if he was a long way away. Kensi ran up the final flight of stairs to the top floor. All the doors were lying wide open, displaying the empty rooms, with no sign of any occupants.
"Stop messing around. We've got work to do. There's no time to play hide and seek."
Although that could be really good fun, in a house this size. If we were alone. Which we never seem to be. There's always someone else around.
"I'm up here. On the roof. Look up, if you don't believe me."
Kensi lifted her gaze up to the cupola and, sure enough, there was a familiar blond head looking down at her through the glass. "You're on the roof?" Sometimes she despaired of ever understanding the way his mind worked.
"Of course I'm on the roof," he said matter of factly, as if this was the most normal thing in the world. "There's a staircase in the cupboard in the back bedroom."
Muttering a variety of curses under her breath, Kensi picked her way gingerly up the narrow and incredibly steep wooden stairs, pushing open a door at the top. Coming out of the subdued gloom into the bright sunlight temporarily blinded her for a few seconds as her eyes adjusted. "Wow. That's… just amazing."
Standing three stories up, on the flat roof of a two hundred year-old house gave a whole new perspective on the City, from the dark, brooding mass of the Castle, down to the honey-coloured buildings of the New Town and their private, tree-lined gardens before sloping gently down towards the shimmering silver-blue sea. Kensi turned slowly around, enchanted by the panoramas that unfolded before her eyes. "What a view," she breathed.
Marty stood before her, his hands on his hips and a broad grin on his face. That was the only thing he was wearing, other than the long dressing that covered the wound on his leg. "Thank you kindly, ma'am."
"You're naked," Kensi said accusingly.
"I'm naked," he agreed cheerfully.
"What would you have done if Sam had been with me?"
"I checked – you saw me checking, for crying out loud. Anyway – Sam's not here and it's totally private. So why don't you join me?" His eyes held a familiar sparkle as he stood there, unabashed and perfectly comfortable in his own skin.
"In your dreams."
"Nice image. I'll file that one away for future reference: Kensi amidst the Georgian splendours, as naked as the way God intended her to be." What had originally started off as just an opportunity to get in some sun-bathing while he worked was now turning in to something completely different. Besides which, Marty reasoned, he'd been hard at it for a couple of hours and was due a break.
"You're enjoying this, aren't you?" Kensi was beginning to weaken, and her eyes kept drifting longingly over his toned body.
"Of course I am. Alone with the woman of my dreams on a sun-baked rooftop. What's not to enjoy?"
"Stop tempting me."
Come on: don't be a spoilsport." He stroked her shoulder enticingly, letting his hand drift down to her breast.
"We've got work to do," Kensi protested weakly. Even she could hear how half-hearted her voice sounded. It was awfully tempting: the sun was shining, they were hidden away from sight and Marty looked so damned amazing just standing there smiling at her.
"We can work up here. That's what I've been doing. You get a great signal and it's nice and quiet," he said persuasively.
Well, he had a point, Kensi supposed. Only she wasn't about to completely throw caution to the wind. "I'm not taking all my clothes off," she warned, stripping down to her bra and panties.
"That's a start, I suppose. I never had you pegged for the prudish type."
"I'm not prudish – I'm prudent." Kensi sat with her back against a sun-warmed chimney stack. "You want to show me what you've got?"
"I thought you'd never ask." He limped cautiously over to her, favouring his good leg.
"That's not what I meant and you know it!"
Only his lips were roving over her body and his own body was warmed by the sun and so smooth and golden, the muscles standing out in ridged definition across his belly that it was impossible to resist. Which was pretty much par for the course, Kensi thought, as she slithered down to lie on the roof and enfolded Marty in her arms.