Spencer was still dressed in the gray slacks, black converse, lavender long sleeve shirt, and dark blue, gray and purple sweater vest that he had on when he went to see Chelsea at brunch with her grandfather. He also was wearing his black trench coat and purple scarf; she had mentioned she liked it and he found himself wanting to please her, especially tonight. On the way home from the Rifle Club, he had stopped and picked up a bunch of purple irises, one of her favorite flowers as well as a package of condoms. He had been amazed by all of the different types. There were different shapes and sizes, some were ribbed, some lubricated both inside and out. He had not done research in this area before, and it was more that he had imagined.
He had gone back to his apartment to get his go bag, his brown satchel and had time to take a short nap. He had not slept at all the night before and he didn't want to fall asleep eating dinner. He left for the 20 minute Metro ride to her apartment just before 5:00. Fortunately it was less than a 10-minute walk from the stop because it had started to lightly rain again.
He felt bad about both not remembering Valentine's Day and how he had left things last night so he was glad he had picked up the flowers. When he entered her building, Charlie the night doorman said "Hi" and waved him through to the elevator. He no longer had to show his ID to get into the building. All of the doormen knew him by sight. The elevator was very nice and large and the building was only built in 2005. He knew it was safe, but he still was slightly anxious since last year when he and Morgan had been stuck in one. He was feeling anxious all afternoon, ever since she had asked him to come over for dinner and to stay the night. Somehow the elevator was more intimidating tonight.
She opened the door and he smiled seeing how beautiful she looked. She had changed into bright pink sweat pants and a white short-sleeve T-shirt with a design of pink, yellow and orange flowers. He noticed she was barefoot as she leaned up gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and thanked him for the flowers. She told him to hang up his coat while she put the flowers in water and roast back in the oven. He had just finished hanging up his coat and scarf on the coat rack by the front door when she was back at his side. She was chatting the whole time telling him she loved making an old fashioned beef roast with potatoes and gravy but it wasn't something you made just for yourself. Her chatter made him think she may be as nervous as he was and somehow that relaxed him a little.
She grabbed his go bag and motioned him to follow her into her bedroom. "Is there anything you need to hang up?" she asked as she pointed at the closet. I've cleared a space and have some hangers.
"Just a few shirts" his voice cracked a bit as it sometimes did when he was nervous as he noticed that the bed had been turned down. She set his bag down on the settee at the end of her bed and helped him hang up his things. When they had finished, she put her arms around his neck and pulled him close for a kiss. She started lightly and as he responded, the kiss became deeper and deeper. She pulled away slightly and whispered, "I want you" as she gently pushed a loose piece of his hair back behind his ear. "I don't want to try and make small talk for the next hour knowing that I want you." The last of her words were muffled as she again kissed him.
Spencer's heart was racing and he was beginning to breathe harder when he pulled away. "I haven't….I never…" words failed him. He didn't know what to say and knew he should be embarrassed but he wasn't. She knew so much of his history, he was sure that she understood that he had never made love to a woman. He had kissed a few girls over the years and even had a few witnesses, cops and prostitutes come on to him, but he had never felt this close to someone to want to get intimate. As his words trailed off, she responded softly in his ear, "It doesn't matter, do you want to?" He moved to gently take her face in his hands, looked her in the eyes and said "Very much so." He saw her start to smile as he kissed her passionately.
Chelsea led him over to the bed and sat him down to help him take off his shoes and socks. She smiled as she noticed the later were mismatched as usual. One was purple with small black stripes and the other was a purple, orange and dark blue paisley pattern. Even mismatched they had style, Spencer style. She then sat on the bed next to him and helped take of his vest. She noticed again how lovely he looked in lavender and the sweater vest seemed to suit him perfectly. She felt incredibly blessed to have this wonderfully gentle man staying the night with her. Hopefully, the first of many.
He helped pull her T-shirt over her head and his breath quickened when he fingered her bra strap and kissed her neck. He pulled back and looked into her eyes seeing his own desires mirrored there. He brought his mouth down on hers and was lost in the kiss.
-#-
An hour later, Chelsea had dressed and gone to the kitchen to finish their dinner. When Spencer came out of the bedroom walking towards her ten minutes later, she thought he looked so amazing it almost took her breath away. He had a slight smile that shone through to his eyes. His hair was tussled and he had tried to push it behind his ears, but a few strands were hanging across his forehead. He was wearing the same pants and shirt that he arrived in, but the shirt was untucked and the two top buttons were undone. He was also barefoot. She was happy that he seemed comfortable in at her place, but he still seemed a bit shy.
Chelsea wanted to make him feel at ease and started some small talk about how she was making a roux with flour to thicken the gravy. When he walked up she noticed his eyes were looking down at her hip. She looked down and there was a full handprint of flour on her bright pink sweats. She laughed, "I always wear as much flour as I use. You should have seen me earlier, when I made cookies."
Spencer raised an eyebrow "Cookies?"
"Lemon, with lemon powdered sugar frosting" as she pointed to the plate. She watched him look over at the plate saying, "You want one before dinner?"
He replied, "Do you mind?" She answered by handing him the plate. She watched as he took one of the cookies from the plate and took a bite, she felt like she could watch his hands for hours. Those glorious hands, she felt herself flushing thinking about what his hands had just done to her body and turned back to the gravy before he could notice.
"These are amazing, as he finished the small cookie. You remembered I love lemon?"
"Yeah, my mom used to make these when I was little; I thought of you so I pulled out my old box of recipes to find it."
Chelsea had set the table before he arrived and ask Spencer to pour them both a glass of wine. He noticed the irises he had brought her in a crystal vase in the center of the table. They looked nice and he was glad he had thought to purchase them for her. She handed him the bottle of Merlot that she had opened to cook the roast with earlier. It had been years since Spencer had had a home cooked meal like this. He was proficient in the kitchen; he had made meals for his mom and himself growing up and later living alone, but not something like this. Hotch and Hailey had had several of the team over for dinner a few times before they separated, but with their crazy schedule the team ate out most of the time.
He not only enjoyed the meal, but the company. They always seemed to have something to talk about. When they were cleaning up, Chelsea asked if he'd mind watching an hour cable program. There was a MSNBC special that night with a segment on one of her current cases. One of the principals of Abbot & Carson Brokerage had hired her to do an internal investigation into the SEC's claim of insider trading. There were four defendants in this case. Most times during an active investigation, everyone was quiet. This time one of the accused men felt he was being railroaded and was hoping to get the public behind him. She wanted to know if he would mistakenly give away any new information or say anything sensitive. The court had issued search warrants for all of the documents from all of the accused, but this man had hidden all of the documents and was going to be arrested on Monday for obstruction of justice. She took a few notes during the show and put a pot on to boil water for tea during a commercial break. Spencer was fascinated by the case and Chelsea's involvement in it. He knew she could not talk about an ongoing investigation other than the information that was given on the program.
When the show ended, she served the Sleepytime Decaf Lemon Jasmine Green Tea with lots of sugar for Spencer and lemon cookies. She teased him that he liked his hot tea so sweet that it was like Kool-aid, but in truth she preferred her tea sweet also. She turned the TV to a Contemporary Jazz station. While he preferred classical music and she listened mostly to pop, they found they both liked Jazz. There were four Jazz stations on her cable company line-up and they had enjoyed all of them on different evenings.
After they had finished their tea and had eaten many of the cookies, Chelsea started the dishwasher, turned off the living area lights and led Spencer to the bedroom. They both took out their contacts and finished getting ready for bed. She took off her clothes and left on her bra and panties jumped up on the bed and motioned Spencer to do the same. He followed her lead, left on his boxers and climbed up on the bed and mirrored her position sitting cross-legged facing her, not knowing what to expect. The lights in the room were out except both bedside lamps on the nightstands. She took both of his hands in hers, resting them on his knees. "I remember that you don't like to sleep in complete darkness."
He started to protest saying "How…" then remembering, "…when I was in Sarasota, Florida working on the teenage murders."
"Yes" she smiled, "the first night you called me just before bed to say good night and turned off the lights while I was on the phone."
"I was thinking out loud and said how dark it was and went to turn on the bathroom light. I then realized I needed to explain what I had said." He seemed embarrassed by the whole conversation. "It's OK if you prefer the dark, I'll be fine."
She just smiled and told him she had a surprise for him. "Close your eyes." He started to protest, but thought better of it and complied. She kept telling him to keep them closed and she released his hands. He could feel her moving around on the bed as she flipped a switch that turned off both bedside lamps. She came back to her original position and once again took his hands. "Can I open them yet?" he asked quietly.
"Yes," she said, as he opened them. He was pleased at what he saw. "This is my own version of a night light," she announced as he looked around the room. The room was glowing a soft blue, almost purple illumination. As he looked out the wall length, floor to ceiling windows behind her bed, he saw the source of the light. About 500 yards away, was a large office building with a red and blue band of neon tube lighting aligning the top of it. Looking down to the first floor, on each corner was a yellow and green logo he recognized of a local bank. The building was over to the far left of her room so it did not block her view of the city or green areas, nor were the lights over powering.
"Those lights are on 24/7 365 days a year. When I purchased this place, the automatic blackout curtains were included. I guess most people like to sleep in the dark, in private. I don't worry about people looking in my room. It's an office building mostly occupied in the day, it's far away and at a strange angle. Someone would have to be using binoculars and really, really want to be watching to see anything. I've only closed the curtains a few times. I really only close them when I've had the flu or something and needed to sleep during the day. I like the glow the lights give this room."
She climbed around behind him and started to massage his shoulders. "I'm sure you have figured out what time you need to leave to get to work in the morning. I suggest you make sure you are early. Your coworkers are going to know something's different with you and if you walk in after they do you are going to get hit with questions." He was listening, but he was so relaxed with her massaging his shoulders and neck, he didn't answer.