Chapter 29-Hot Mama

"Brunettes Are In"

"God," Lee muttered as he violently tossed a sock across Amanda's den, then reached to pick up a hot pink tee. He sighed and said, "All right, let's-" He broke off as he glanced as what he was holding. "What is..." He turned it around for her to see and said, "You don't actually wear this, do you?" a hint of amusement dancing in his eyes at thinking of her of a "hot mama." She was definitely that, not that he'd ever admit that to her.

"Yes, Phillip and Jamie gave it to me," she said softly, still reeling from his callous remarks earlier about how she didn't have enough experience for the job she'd been assigned to. It was almost as if he blamed her for losing the sock.

"Oh, Phillip and Jamie gave it to you, did they?" He wondered what Phillip and Jamie would think of their "hot mama" if he knew that how hot she really was, if they knew he'd be violating their mother on a regular basis for over a year now. He suppressed those thoughts. That was the last thing he needed to be thinking about right now when the lives of three agents hung in the balance and time was running out. That thought just made his anger flare again. "Huh, well...Well, Hot Mama, It seems that three of our best agents are in a great deal of trouble right now because we lost a vital microdot," he said as he rose angrily to his feet and began pacing around her den. "And the only lead we have to this vital microdot is with some damn purse snatcher named Rollo and here I am, sitting in your den, going through your laundry and feeling very much like an idiot right now."

Amanda cleared her throat as she tried to keep herself from tearing up at his harsh words. Seeing the hurt look on Amanda's face, he tried to backpedal, "So..." he said awkwardly. "So..." He found that he had to look away from her as he couldn't stand the sight of the hurt he'd caused her. He walked the direction of her back door and said, "So... I'm very...I'm very sorry, Amanda," but couldn't look her in the eye when he said it, her disappointment in him visible on her face. How was it that with just a look, she could make him feel as if he were one of her children being scolded for being caught with his hand in the cookie jar? "I lost my temper again. I seem to be always saying things that...um..."

"Well, sometimes that's when people are most honest," Amanda said quietly, forcing herself not to let her tears fall.

"And the dumbest, so..." Lee said as he made his way back around her couch to face her again, then seeing that she still looked hurt, kept right on walking, intending to make another lap around her sofa until she spoke again.

"Lee, I think we should stop," Amanda said resolutely, the overwhelming hurt threatening to consume her. Her mother's words to her about having a man who'd devote more than just an hour of his personal time with her haunting her.

"I know, there's no microdot in this laundry-"

"No, I don't mean that," Amanda said, her voice overlapping his. "I think we should stop working together. I don't think we should be partners anymore."

"No, hold it, , whoa, whoa, whoa, we have never been partners," Lee argued to deflect the hurt she'd just caused him by suggesting such a thing, his usual defense mechanism of blatant denial kicking in.

"Oh, yes, we have. We've been partners," Amanda said pointedly meaning more than just their professional association.

Their voice overlapped again as he denied working with partners, while she pointed out that he was losing his temper again. They argument culminating with Amanda deciding to turn in her resignation, hoping that Lee would argue back and not want her to, but when he just told her to do what was best for her, then left, she heaved a deep sigh. Her heart was heavy at the idea that he couldn't own up to his true feelings. She knew they were there, but he stubbornly refused to admit it. She'd tried to be patient with him because he'd had a rough life, but enough was enough.

Lee's thoughts were whirling as he drove away from Amanda's house, his anger cooling, but his frustration growing. She'd acted heartbroken when he'd told her to do what was best for her. As much as it pained him to think of her leaving the agency, at the thought of never seeing her again, that was what was best for her, to keep her safe. Why couldn't she see that? His anger had flared primarily because this simple courier assignment had nearly gotten her killed. He was angrier at Billy for giving her that assignment in the first place. What the hell was he thinking about in putting his Amanda in that kind of dangerous position? He cringed as he thought of her again, of the sadness that he'd seen in her eyes. The moment he'd seen it, he'd wanted to apologize again, only this time not with his words. He'd wanted so badly to take her in his arms and beg her not to leave him, but he couldn't, not if leaving the agency meant keeping her safe. As hard as he tried, though, he couldn't get her pained expression out of his mind or stop wondering what she was doing now? Was she still sitting in that chair, finally letting the tears he'd seen forming in her eyes fall? "Damn it," he swore at the thought that he'd made her cry. Pounding his fists against the steering wheel, he made a quick u-turn, determined to make it right.

As he arrived back at her house, he felt a knife in his heart at hearing her terrified scream. He barreled in through the open front door, gun drawn, immensely grateful that his remorse had led him back here, otherwise who knew what might have happened to her. He had to admit that he was impressed during the ensuing scuffle at how well she fought back, thinking like he had a year ago after the Delano incident that she might make a decent agent someday. When it was over and they were both clutching the lamp that she'd nearly brained him with, he felt his frustration growing again as they rehashed their disagreement. When she yanked the lamp away from him, he sighed.

"See? You said it again," Amanda had said.

"Said what? I don't even know what I said anymore," Lee replied thinking that if he hadn't been able to stop her from beating him senseless with that lamp, it would have been no less than he deserved for the way he'd treated her. He was about to give her the real apology that she deserved, but as luck would have it, they were interrupted as usual by the untimely return of her family. He'd had to make a quick escape out the back door with Rollo in tow.

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As they worked together to work the pipe loose to free Lee from his bonds, he took the time to finally voice what had been on his mind from the moment that he'd learned of Amanda's courier assignment. "Maybe it's a good idea that you do leave the agency."

"Oh, no, I don't think so," Amanda replied as she turned from him still putting all her weight on the overhead pipe, then turned back toward him.

"Look, if you weren't working for the agency, you wouldn't be in a mess like this."

"Yeah," she said turning from him again, "but I wouldn't have you to save me then either, would I?"

Once it was all over and the suspects apprehended, they were left alone on the docks and had a chance to really talk about the situation. "Yeah, yeah, you're right," Lee said as he agreed with her about it not being her fault that the microdot had been stolen. "And...uh...you know that part about your...uh..."

"My resignation," Amanda filled in for him.

"Yeah, That part," Lee said feeling a sharp stab of pain at the thought of her leaving the agency, thereby leaving him. "Amanda, I think...I think you oughtta give it a little more thought.

"I think you're right," Amanda said with a warm smile. "I think maybe I didn't know what it was you were really saying." She was deeply touched by the fact that he'd confessed that his thought of her leaving the agency wasn't because he thought she couldn't handle it or that he didn't want her around. It was simply because he didn't want to see her hurt. While he may never say the words she wanted to hear out loud, that statement had spoken volumes all by itself.

Lee chuckled and said, "Yeah, that was probably it and I guess that I...uh...I didn't really understand what it was that you were saying, so...uh..." When she'd said they should stop, his first thought had been that she was done with him on a personal level and had tried to write ir off as just stopping their current task, but now, seeing her smiling at him, accepting his unspoken apology, he knew that he hadn't blown everything completely.

As they talked, Amanda's eyes widened in surprise at Lee producing her letter of resignation, then balling it up and tossing it into the nearby trash can. Her heart leapt when he smiled that beautiful smile of his at her, shook her hand and called her "partner." She reflected on the times they'd discussed what their relationship was and found that she liked the word, partner, as it conveyed so many things, more than just their professional relationship. He released her hand, and then slid his arm behind her guiding her to walk down the pier with him. "So...uh...it looks like Billy and Francine have everything under control, so...uh...what do you think we should do now?" she asked, his smile, his handshake and the warm pressure of his hand on the small of her back stirring the fire within her.

Lee paused and glanced at the ship that they'd just vacated and said, "You know...uh...we should probably get back in there and make sure that there's nothing that got overlooked. There...uh...could be more evidence in there, you know and you and I both know that the local PD aren't always as thorough as they should be."

"Right," Amanda said. "There could be evidence." They smiled at each other for a moment, both knowing that there was no way they were going to be looking for evidence.

"Right," Lee said as he guided her back onto the ship and they quickly made their way into one of its lower cabins for privacy.

Once alone with the door closed, they were in each other's arms, kissing and groping furiously, neither knowing who began the first kiss, just both knowing that the real "evidence" was of their unspoken need for each other after the intensity of their fight. Their kisses halted just long enough for them to both catch their breath before they began again, tongues dueling, bodies grinding against one another as their hands tugged at clothing, their fierce desire for each other driving them both to a need for completion as quickly as possible.

"Oh," Amanda cried out as Lee lifted her up against the door, shifting the fabric of her panties aside just enough to give him room to push inside her. She clamped her arms around his neck, looking into his eyes that were silently asking for permission to continue. Her answer was simply one word, "Yes," she whispered.

Seeing the consent in her eyes, combined with the glassy look of her raging desire, he drove up into her again as he nuzzled her neck. "Hot mama, indeed," He murmured against her skin, one hand holding her hip to steady her while the other slipped between them to stroke her as he pushed into her.

Amanda giggled at his words as she braced her back against the door to push against him, needing to feel him as deep inside her as she could. As he moved within her, driving her over the edge, she wondered how she could ever have been insane enough to think that she could give this up, to never feel his hands on her body, his lips on her skin, his erect shaft buried deep within her. "Oh, Lee," she cried out as he gave her the release she needed from the pain caused by their fight.

Feeling her writhing against him, her tight walls closing around him, gave Lee his own release as he pumped his essence into her, his legs soon giving out and like, once before causing him to topple to the floor with her astride him causing them both to laugh uproariously at the ridiculousness of the situation. "Ouch," Lee said with a chuckle through his irregular breathing.

"Yep, you're going to have another bruise on your ass, huh, Big Fella?" she said with a smirk.

"You got that right, Hot Mama," He said a little amused at hearing the word "ass" coming from her mouth, thinking once again that the more time he spent with her, the more she surprised him.

"You're never gonna' let me live that down, are you?"

"Mm-mm," he said with a grin. "I just wonder what those innocent boys of yours would think if they knew exactly what a hot mama you are."

"Oh, is that right," Amanda said.

"Oh, yeah," Lee said with a warm smile. "I'm thinking that I'm really glad that you're wearing a skirt."

"Well, I'm just grateful that you didn't destroy another pair of my underwear," she fired back.

"I'll buy you some new ones." Lee laughed as he thought of the past times when he'd done just that in his frenzy to be inside her, to possess her as thoroughly as he could. He was silent for a moment as his thoughts turned more serious. "So...uh...when you...uh...when you said that we should stop...I..."

"Yes?" she said expectantly.

He took a deep breath and steeled himself to pose the question that he wanted to ask. "When you said that we should stop working together...did that mean that...that you wanted to...uh...stop this too."

"I think that kind of goes without saying," Amanda said. At seeing his crestfallen face at her honesty, she continued with, "Look, I was hurt and you were angry, then I got more hurt because you got angrier and I...uh...I think we both said some things that we didn't mean."

"Yeah," Lee said. "I...just...I..."

Amanda watched the emotions play on his face, his remorse for his harsh words, his fear for her safety, his hurt at her confession that she'd thought of ending their personal relationship as well. All of these things conveyed to her more than any words could just how deep his love for her was, even if he couldn't say the words aloud. She placed a finger tenderly to his lips and said, "You don't have to say anything. I know." She then gently kissed him, rose from her perch to straighten her clothing and said, "We should get back out there before they start wondering where we are," giving him an out. She knew that while he loved her, he wasn't ready to say the words and she wasn't going to force them out of him. She just needed to be patient a while longer.

Lee rose to his feet, straightened his own clothes and smiled in wonder at her back to him, thinking about how lucky he was to have her in his life even though he was completely undeserving of her. Someday, he'd feel brave enough to tell her how he felt, maybe. If he could ever get over his fear of his life putting hers in danger, maybe.