Chapter 23 - Dance
The trip to Indonesia had been ground breaking; healing to the point which Mac felt an actual weight come off of her shoulders. Lilliana was alive and so happy to see her. The girl raced into Mac's arms, hugged her tightly and then presented her with a gift. It was wrapped in an old handkerchief, burned on some of the edges and the ink was slightly smeared - Harm's letter.
She didn't want to show such emotion in front of the little girl and her mother but, the tears came anyway. "Thank you Colonel for keeping her safe."
"No ma'am. She kept us safe." Mac replied and agreed to spend the following day in their home and then returned back to Washington.
A little over a week later Mac sat in her office buried deep in a pile of folders strewn across her desk. She was typing frantically on the computer when a knock on her door made her look up. "Enter."
It was Harm sporting an almost shy look on his face that made her imagine much of the same expression when he was a young boy. "Hey, I know you're busy but...tomorrow is Friday." And between her trip to Indonesia and his to Pensacola they had barely seen or spoken. He hadn't forgotten her suggestion and only hoped the mountain of paperwork didn't mean she would be busy.
Mac grinned. "Yes it is. It usually comes after today which is Thursday." She tried to joke but, his somber expression only seemed to grow. It wiped the grin from her lips and she motioned for him to step forward. "You okay?"
"No… Well, yeah… Yes." Harm was stuttering and his arms were folded across his chest so tightly it was like a kind of armor. He shifted from one foot to the other and found interest on the scuff mark on her floor. "You said I could ask you out on Friday… It's a week later, well, two weeks later but I was hoping the offer would still hold… So, would you like to go out with me tomorrow?"
The grin he flashed was adorable and nothing like that flyboy kind that he used to charm women. This was sweet, cute even. "A date?"
"Yeah, Mac. A date. We went from zero to 80. We can take this slow or restart if you will."
"Back at the beginning?" She offered and he nodded. "So, where are you taking me?" Mac grinned up at him and leaned back into her chair. She almost laughed when his expression changed and any apprehension washed away.
"Ladies choice. Anywhere you want."
"Mmm." She contorted her face, dramatizing the thought process but, for some reason there was only one thing she wanted to do with him….Okay, two things but, they were starting slow, weren't they? "Dancing."
"Dancing? No dinner?"
Mac shook her head. "Nope, just dancing… Pick me up at 2100 tomorrow and don't be late."
Harm was early, twenty minutes early to be exact and he couldn't stop ogling her when Mac opened the door to let him in. She wore a fiery red dress and while not indecent, it clung to every sexy curve of Mac's body and came down just below her knee in uneven strands. The cups enveloped her breasts leaving just enough skin showing to make his brain shut off for several seconds. "You alright?" She queried, carefully taking the dozen yellow roses he shoved at her.
"Me? Oh, yeah...Just a little tired." He stammered out and tried not to cringe as Mac's characteristic eyebrow rose in amusement.
"We can do this another time if you're too tired." She threw over her shoulder, crossing the apartment in order to find the vase under the sink and put the flowers in water. "But, I was really in the mood to dance."
"What? No..no, no...I'm fine, really." He was following her, leaning against the door frame and watching with interest as she squatted down and grabbed the vase. It was a fluid movement, revealing nothing and gracefully Mac stood back up despite teetering on impossibly high heels. If he didn't know any better, she was trying to seduce him and the tightening of his nether regions altered him that she was doing a good job of it. "So where am I taking you?"
"El Centro."
The lively Latin music thumped alive at the small restaurant which boasted a rooftop dance club on the weekends. It was one of those spots you had no prayer on getting into unless you knew somebody or looked like Sarah MacKenzie did in that red dress. Intricate bass patterns thumped against his chest to a wild and exotic rhythm; a living and breathing collection of instruments played by the live band on a tiny stage.
Mac didn't bother sitting, simply led him through the crowd and to the center. She had a wicked expression, her lips turned up in amusement when her hips began to sway. Harm's hands automatically came to her hips without any sort of apprehension that lived between them for the last few months. It felt natural to touch her, to sway with her and when Mac threw her arms over his neck, he was done for. "Didn't know you could move like that, Marine." He whispered in her ear once there was a pause in the music and Harm could speak without yelling.
"College. Cuban friend."
As the music began again, he pushed off her hip and then pulled her back so that when he grabbed her, Mac's body pressed into him. One of her hands rested against his shoulder, the other was threaded with his as Harm guided her through the dance floor. "I dated a flight attendant from Miami...She may have taught me a move or two." To prove his point, he led Mac through a series of turns one of which brought him just half an inch away from her breasts.
It made her laugh, a sound which cut through the pounding music and fed his soul. She really did have the prettiest laughter although Harm certainly biased when it came to Sarah MacKenzie. "You look stunning, Mac….I'm gonna have some pretty nice dreams tonight." He admitted, grinning as she rolled her eyes playfully.
"I had fun." He said as he brought his Lexus to a stop just outside of her apartment building. Any other time Harm would try to go up for a night cap but, he was taking it slow with her. Although, if he spent another night dancing with her that way he wouldn't be able to slow things down anymore.
"Me too. Never thought you could move your hips like that flyboy."
Harm bit back the urge to tell her how well he really could move them on a bed, with her beneath him. "I'll walk you up."
"Okay." Mac slid her arm through the crook of his and kept it there as she opened the downstairs door, slipped into the elevator and then walked to her apartment. She released him only long enough to pull the key out of her purse and open her door. "Thank you for indulging me."
"I should indulge you more often." He grinned. The air between them became charged much more than it had been throughout the evening. His eyes dropped to her lips and Mac anticipated his kiss, she was excited for it - her heart hammering hard as his head came down to hers. Only he didn't claim her mouth and simply pressed one chaste kiss on her cheek. "Good night, Sarah. See you Monday."
Mac glared at his retreating form, ignoring the want to fling one of her heels at the back of his head as Harm began to whistle "Anchors Aweigh."
"We kissed." Mac said, flopping onto one of the oversize chairs in front of Dr. Taylor's desk. "We kissed and I swear to God, I've never been kissed like that before." She also never wanted someone so bad before. Ever since their little date at a dance club, Mac's body was humming, aching and she only wanted his touch.
Her dreams were keeping her awake now for other reasons - images of them making love. He was above her, holding her hands down to the mattress, moving within her. But, no. They were taking it slow and to Mac it felt like a leisurely seduction.
Sunday morning she'd gone for a run hoping to exhaust herself into a long nap on her couch after a bath and a late breakfast. Mac headed off to Rock Creek Park, ran one circle and was about to begin another when she spotted a familiar form. He was quicker than her, always had been so she doubled her efforts and hurried after him. On a dead sprint she pushed past, hurled an insult about the Navy and sprinted harder when Harm gave chase.
Mac went through the wooded areas, slowing down once she reached a steep hill with exposed roots that could have and did trip her up. She managed not to fall even when the skies suddenly opened up and turned the dirt into slippery mud. Harm didn't fare the same, his taller frame making it harder for him to keep his footing and soon he was on the ground.
"Harm! You okay?" She came to his side, dropping to her knees and running her hands over his body to make sure there wasn't anything broken. The fall seemed terrible to her and it was only when she brushed over his ribs and he began to laugh that Mac slapped him on the chest. "Jerk! You could have been hurt."
He sat up and that was when it happened. Amidst the swirling wind and the pounding rain, another storm began to brew but this one was far more electric than the crackling lightning above. Their eyes met and gazes held in a silent contemplation of something they both were yearning for.
She was wet, soaked to the bone and the grey USMC shirt she wore was sticking to her skin revealing every delectable curve. Mac's hair was a mess, the rain forcing it to mat to her face and for the life of him he'd never seen anything so sexy. "I want to kiss you so bad." Harm said in a voice roughened by the desire he felt and could no longer hold back.
Tentatively, Mac reached out to touch him, brushing off a streak of mud from across his cheek. She let her hand drop, moving slowly down the planes of his chest and pressing just over his heart. The beat was rough beneath her palm, wild like the storm around them. He leaned in and she did too and this time none of them stopped until their lips touched.
They moved achingly slow as if remembering how it felt when they had done this a few times before. It had been months and the circumstances hazy at best. This was new, it felt like the first time and surpassed that kiss on the Admiral's porch. Harm's tongue swept over her lower lip in askance and when Mac opened her mouth to him, he lightly tasted and nibbled. It was so completely devine and all of the running she'd done suddenly made zero sense. Mac wanted this man, needed him like the very breath he'd drawn out of her as he stopped and kissed the corners of her mouth. "Harm."
"I know… I know… Slow, right?" For her sake he would stop, wouldn't push but he would take another kiss from her this time deeper than before. He fused his mouth to hers, pulled Mac's body across him as he dropped onto the soggy ground. His arms held her steady all the while she returned his kiss with equal fervor. And then he let her go. "Slow, Mac."
"Yeah… Slow." And yet, she pressed her lips to his again.
…
"I forgot how good it feels to kiss him… but this time… God, it was like everything aligned. It felt like the first time and I wanted it so bad. I wanted him." Mac bit her lower lip. She was practically giddy recounting their kiss as chaste as possible. She didn't mention that the back of Harm's hand had brushed past the swell of her breast or that she could feel his arousal straining for her.
"Do you think he'll ever abandon you?" The question was hard to ask when the woman before her seemed to finally break some sort of ground. Mac was genuinely happy for once but, Dr. Taylor needed to get to the crux of what had started this pitfall.
"No."
"Will you abandon him?"
Mac's eyes narrowed and for the briefest of moments she felt personally attacked. She opened her mouth to defend herself and then stopped, rationalizing Dr. Taylor's query. Running was in her blood - forged by her youth. Her mother left her father and Mac did as well. She left Chris to rot in jail. She swallowed back the lump at her throat and thought back to the last few months and the hell they'd both been through. She'd almost lost Harm in a storm tossed ocean and despite the things which that forced her to feel, Mac walked away from him - hurt him - because she could. She needed that control in her life and now it seemed so foolish. "I don't want to run from him anymore."