Chapter 37

Tuesday

6:31 PM

Brennan stretched out her legs, letting the warmth of the sun hit her exposed skin. Although she wore no bottoms but her bikini bottoms, she had one of Booth's white, button-up shirts over her bikini, covering her top half. She pulled the bottom of the shirt down so it covered more of her thighs. She wasn't afraid of sunburn. Booth made sure that she was completely covered from head to toe in sun screen. What she was afraid of was revealing too much of herself. Years earlier, on the beaches of Hawaii on their honeymoon, Brennan hadn't been worried about people seeing her body. She had always kept herself in shape and knew that she was the type of woman that many men found attractive. But that was before she had gotten pregnant. Now she felt self-conscious, a feeling she was not accustomed to.

"Hey," Booth said as he walked through the open sliding doors onto the balcony where Brennan was sprawled out on a wooden lounge chair. He was wearing blue swimming trunks and nothing else. In the twenty-four hours since they had been in Florida, they hadn't yet made it to the beach. They were much too busy in their hotel room making up for lost time. Their hotel room, though, did have a very nice sized balcony with a gorgeous view of the white sandy beach and the ocean. While Booth was in the shower, Brennan had made her way to the balcony to enjoy the sunset.

"Hey yourself," Brennan replied.

Booth set down two glasses of wine on the ground next to Brennan's chair.

"Do you have room for one more?"

Brennan scooted forward so that Booth could sit behind her. He straddled the chair and leaned against the wooden back. When he was comfortable, he grabbed Brennan by the waist and pulled her against him. She leaned back, letting her body sink into his. Booth picked up the wine glasses from where he set them down and handed one to Brennan. He took a sip of the other.

"Thank you," she said.

Booth began to idly play with her hair, running his hand through her silky locks. He could see her bright pink bikini top through his white shirt. The straps holding the bikini up were tied around her neck. With one pull, Booth could have the whole thing undone. It was extremely tempting.

"I know what you're thinking," Brennan said.

"Oh yeah? Are you a mind reader now, Bones?"

"There are no such things as mind readers, Booth. Scientifically there is no way a person could know what is going on in someone else's brain. But, even though I am not able to read your mind, I believe I know you very well and I can hypothesize about your intentions."

"And what is your hypothesis, Bones?"

"You would like me to take my clothes off."

"Not quite."

"Oh."

"I don't want you to take your clothes off, Bones. I want me to take your clothes off." He moved his hands to her shoulders and began to knead her muscles.

"We are on our balcony, Booth. People could see."

"You make a very good point, Bones." Booth glanced over the edge of the balcony. There were dozens of people below on the beach. Booth tried to weigh the odds of someone actually seeing them. It's not like people were gazing at the hotel. They were all looking at the water.

"We could go in," Brennan suggested.

"We have spent all day inside, not that I am complaining."

"It would be nice to see the sunset. I have heard that it can be very beautiful."

"Not as beautiful as the view of you in our bed." He stopped massaging her shoulders. "Although I do have just one question."

"Yes?"

"Why are you wearing so many clothes?"

Booth took the sleeve of the button down shirt she was wearing and tugged on it. Although she didn't have the shirt buttoned up, it was pulled over her so tightly that Booth couldn't see any skin. He knew he was going to have to remedy that problem.

"It's protecting my skin," Brennan answered.

Booth continued to pull on the sleeve. The shirt slipped off her shoulder. Booth kissed the spot of newly revealed skin.

"I didn't bring you to Florida, Bones so I could see you with so many clothes on."

"I thought you brought me to Florida to have sex with me, Booth."

"Yeah, well that was one of the reasons. But, as I've already told you, the other reason was to get you in a bikini. Now, I see that you're in that bikini, but I think you're missing the point, Bones."

"And what is the point?" She asked, her voice low and sultry.

Booth nipped playfully at her ear as he spoke. "I want to see that bikini, Bones."

He pulled on the dress shirt even more until the two sides came apart and he could finally see skin. Brennan tugged the fabric back into place and sat up so she was no longer leaning against him.

"What's wrong?" Booth asked, rubbing her arms.

"I find I am feeling quite..." She trailed off, not finishing the sentence.

"Quite what?"

"Uncomfortable."

Booth immediately took his hands off her. He couldn't help but wonder if he had done something wrong.

"Uncomfortable? Why? Am I pushing you too fast? I thought you were ready, Bones. If you needed more time, you should have…"

Brennan turned her body so she was facing him. "No, Booth. I was ready. I am ready. I've very much enjoyed being physically intimate with you again. I missed having sex. I missed being with you. I've enjoyed spending this time with you."

"Me too, Bones. I feel like we're finally us again."

"I'm not sure I know what that means."

"It means we're back, Bones. We're back to being in love without fear, without holding anything back. We're us again."

"I like that."

"Yeah, me too, but you are holding something back from me, Bones. What is it?" Brennan turned back around so she wasn't looking at him any longer. Having moved away from him, she was sitting on the end of the chair. "Bones, talk to me. Please."

"It's just...Angela packed this bathing suit for me."

"This is about a bathing suit?"

"I am finding this bathing suit to be much more revealing than those I am used to."

"Bones, it's just you and me here and trust me, I am really liking Angela's style."

Booth was about to pull the shirt off of her completely to show her exactly how much he liked Angela's style, when she stood up and went to the railing of the balcony.

"Something's really wrong, isn't it?" Booth asked. He got up from the chair and stood beside her. She was looking out over the ocean. The sky was turning from blue to a deep orange. Booth leaned on the railing and looked at her.

"I'm not the same as I was before I got pregnant," she said.

"Of course we're not the same people, Bones. We went through a difficult experience. Isn't it the theory of evolution that states that we're constantly changing? We've changed, Bones, but it doesn't mean we've changed for the worse."

"I'm not talking about emotions, Booth, although I agree with you that we have changed emotionally. I'm talking about physically."

Booth shook his head, trying to make sense of what she was saying. "Wait a minute, you're upset because you think you don't look the same as you did before you were pregnant?"

"I have gained some weight, Booth."

"Seriously? You're worried about how you look? Bones, you're beautiful."

"I know I am still beautiful. I am just feeling…self-conscious."

"You? Self-conscious? I never thought I'd hear those words coming out of your mouth."

"It is a very foreign emotion for me, Booth."

Booth took his hands in hers and tugged on her so that she was facing him.

"You are more beautiful now than you were when I first met you," he said, looking into her eyes. He couldn't understand how she could feel any less than beautiful. She was stunning; Booth's perfect woman.

"I may be beautiful, but it doesn't change the fact that I may not be in as good of shape as I once was."

"Do you know how many women would kill for your body, Bones?"

"It would be quite ridiculous for a woman to kill for another woman's body."

Booth looked down to the beach beneath them. "Let's do an experiment."

"What?"

"An experiment. You know, like the ones Hodgins is always doing in the lab."

"But we're not in the lab."

"Just trust me. I'm going to prove to you how beautiful and amazing and sexy you really are."

Booth took her hand and led her back through the glass sliding doors. He grabbed a T-Shirt for himself off the bed where he had thrown it, and pulled it on. Booth opened the hotel room door.

"Booth, what are we…"

"Just trust me."

They walked out of their room, down the hall, and took the elevator to the bottom floor. They made their way through the lobby, which opened up right to the beach. Booth held Brennan's hand as he walked down the shore.

"Stand here," Booth said.

"What? Why?"

"Just do it. And take this off." Booth pulled the shirt Brennan was wearing.

"Booth!"

"Trust me," he said.

Unsure of what Booth was trying to prove, she looked into his eyes. She saw what she always saw. She saw love and she felt safe. Brennan finally conceded. She let him take the button down shirt off. She felt exposed standing in her pink bikini.

"Now, stay here."

With the shirt in his hand, Booth walked down the beach.

"Booth, where are you going?" Brennan called out after him.

"Just stay."

He walked about twenty yards away. She could still see him among the throngs of people, but he was too far to communicate with. Brennan put her hands on her hips, wondering what she was doing standing in the middle of the beach. After several minutes, Brennan was about to go stomping back to the hotel when she felt someone brush her arm.

"Oh sorry."

It was a man in his early thirties. His shirtless body was glistening with beads of water. He had a wakeboard in his hand. His dirty blonde hair fell into his eyes. Brennan quickly analyzed him. His bone structure was very appealing.

"Perhaps you bumped into me because your right leg is longer than your left."

"Excuse me?"

"Your tibias are not the same length. It is barely noticeable and should not cause you any real problems except of course that you might have slightly less balance than the average male."

"Are you serious?"

"Very."

"Wow, smart and sexy. You…ah…here on vacation?"

"Yes."

"Would you like to grab a drink with me?"

"I don't believe that would be socially acceptable."

"Why's that? Your attractive, I'm attractive. We are both consenting adults."

"You are implying that you would like to have sexual intercourse with me."

The man was taken aback. He simply smiled.

"I thought I might have to work a little bit harder for that one, but hey, let's just skip the drinks. Where's your hotel?"

"I…" Brennan began.

Booth walked up behind the man and put his hand on his shoulder.

"Take a hike, buddy," Booth said. He had taken off his shirt and had it slung over his shoulder. He puffed up his chest and put his hands on his hips.

"Look, buddy, I saw her first."

"Actually, I saw her first." Booth took Brennan's left hand and held it up with his own left hand.

"We're married."

The man raised his eyebrows. "Maybe you should keep your woman on a shorter leash."

Booth took a step towards the man, his eyes like slits, glaring at him. He knew within a second he could have the man face down in the sand.

"You want to say that again?" Booth asked, ready for a fight.

The man shook his head and headed off. Booth waited until he was far enough way that he could no longer hear them before he turned to Brennan, smiling.

"See," he said.

"See what? All I saw was you showing off your alpha male personality. The stance you took when confronting that other man was very primal."

"That wasn't the point of the experiment, Bones."

"That was the experiment?"

"How can you be so intelligent and so…clueless at the same time?"

"I don't know what that means."

"Bones, that man thought you were hot. That man wanted to sleep with you. Within two minutes of standing out on the beach in a bikini, you had a guy offering to take you to bed with him. A guy wouldn't do that if you weren't smoking hot."

Brennan's furrowed brow finally turned into a smile.

"So you wanted him to ask me to have intercourse with him."

"No! Trust me, I would have killed him if he put so much as a hand on you. But I did want to show you how attractive you are."

"Then your experiment was a success."

"Yes, it was.'

"Then you weren't really going to fight him?"

"Oh no, I definitely would have fought him. Do you really think I would allow some guy to talk to you like that?"

Brennan put the palms of her hands against Booth's pecks.

"Sometimes I find myself very attracted to your male tendencies, Booth."

"Only sometimes?"

"Sometimes I find them unnecessary."

"Stop talking and kiss me."

Brennan complied. She looped her arms around his neck. His arms immediately went around her waist. As Booth peppered her neck with kisses, Brennan smirked.

"Booth?"

"Mmm?"

"I have my own experiment I would like to perform."

Booth continued to kiss her. "Oh yeah?"

Brennan put her hand on his chest and pushed him away. "Meet me in the room in ten minutes."

"What?"

"It's part of the experiment. Stay here and then meet me in the room in ten minutes."

"Bones, what are you…"

'Trust me."

Booth wondered just what kind of experiment Brennan had in mind. He had to admit that he was a little nervous. Her idea of an experiment could be much more dangerous than his.

"Always," he replied.

Brennan ran off back towards the hotel. Booth watched her go, enjoying his view of her amazing body. Booth walked down the beach, looking at the sunset. After a few minutes, he realized he didn't have any way of knowing when ten minutes had gone by. He wasn't wearing a watch and he didn't have his cell phone. Booth glanced back at their hotel, but was too far away to see if Brennan was out on the balcony again. Not able to wait any longer, and assuming that it had been close to ten minutes, Booth headed back to the hotel.

As he rode the elevator up to their floor, he was feeling anxious. He had no idea what Brennan had in mind, but he was excited about it. Hardly able to stop himself from running down the hall, Booth speed walked to his hotel room. He stopped outside the door, realizing that he didn't have his room key. He knocked. There was no answer.

"Bones!" He called.

As he stood outside the door for one minute and then another minute, Booth's excitement turned into panic. He pounded on the door. As he wondered if he would be strong enough to kick the door in, it opened. Brennan was standing before him. Booth's jaw dropped.

"I guess I have my results," Brennan said, seeing the reaction on Booth's face.

She was wearing her Wonder Woman costume; the one that she always wore on Halloween. Booth had mentioned during one of their lazy mornings together months earlier that he desperately wanted to see her in that costume again if only to peel it off of her. The costume not only showed off her gorgeous legs, but it hugged her every curve. Brennan had even teased her hair and put on the headband.

"What…where…how?"

Booth couldn't think. All he could feel was need. He needed her.

"I had Angela ship it overnight."

"What?"

"I knew you liked it. I thought this vacation might be the perfect opportunity to wear it again."

"I love the way you think."

Booth took a big step forward and slammed the door behind him. His hands were all over her, touching every part of exposed flesh. His lips connected with her naked shoulder.

"Thank you for proving me right," Brennan said, arching her neck to give him more access as he kissed around her shoulder and up her collar bone.

"This was your experiment, Bones? To see how hot you could get me?"

"Obviously the experiment went very well."

"You are so hot."

Booth devoured her, glad to be part of her little experiment.

Author's Note: I know this chapter was a little OOC for Brennan, and I debated on whether or not to even post it, but, since I took the time to write it, I thought I'd take the time to post it. I wanted to write just a little more fluff before I moved on. 8 more chapters to go!