AN: There were some liberties taken with this episode ("Sudden Death"). Bear with me. Some stuff might border on an M-rating? Maybe? Not really? Meh.
/
Feeling rather ridiculous, Amanda waded through the bushes and located the rendezvous point. She crept to the manor, flattened her body against the brickwork, and hovered her head under a window apron. The role reversal was not lost on her. She heard him before she saw him.
"Are you out there?" Lee called out, creaking the window open.
Amanda's heart leapt in her throat. She hopped up and rested her elbows on the sill.
"Of course I'm here," she said.
Lee reeled back and let out a muffled oath. He returned to her with much eye-rolling and muttering. Amanda couldn't stop a small smirk from wandering her face. She hadn't meant to startle him, but a taste of his own medicine couldn't hurt. Maybe he would think twice about scaring her all the time.
Who was she kidding? This was Stetson she was talking about.
They huddled together, each bent over the window as they whispered. It was a hurried exchange, full of rapid-fire instructions and culminating in Lee handing over a roll of film. Amanda curbed the last of her questions. With Lee, she had to accept that not all of his actions made sense.
After all, what did she know? She was only an assistant agent. Apprentice agent? Whatever.
"Is there anything else I can do?" she asked.
Just then, a southern drawl boomed from the back of the room. The Pioneers' coach was on a rampage.
"Newcombe?! I'm looking for you!" he hollered.
Lee's head swivelled one way then the other, a wince flickering across his face. He reached out and brought her close.
"Yeah, this."
Amanda's squeal was swallowed by the cavern of Lee's mouth. Through her delirium, she felt a hand attach itself behind her neck. His other hand caressed circles into her wrist, coaxing her into silence. A thrill ran up her spine when his tongue speared through her lips.
It was not a real kiss by any means. The motions and sounds were exaggerated for their audience's sake, but she was spellbound all the same. Amanda's mind could tell the difference. Her body had other ideas.
Approaching footfalls put an end to their performance.
"ExCUSE me, Mr. Newcombe," said the coach. He was a stout man, red in the face and wearing an equally red cap.
Lee took his time in pulling back, calm, collected, and completely in character. For her part, Amanda did not need to pretend to be smitten. She yanked away her wrist almost as an afterthought.
"I hope you, uh, got all that you came for, Mrs. King." Lee winked. "Interview-wise, that is."
Amanda jerked a fist close to the window frame as if to strike air. She was steamed in more ways than one.
The coach sneered over Lee's shoulder. "Enjoy your work, do you?"
Recovering quickly, Amanda said, "Yes! Very much. Thank you so much. I have a deadline to meet."
She gave two awkward nods, one for Lee and one for his coach, then scurried out of sight. Instead of going straight to her car, she rounded the outside of the house in a fog. Lee's little stunt was branded into her memory. She replayed the images in a frenetic loop.
No. She had not got all she came for. Not by a long shot.
A beat pulsed in her ears and between her legs. The old nymphomania had reared its head throughout both her pregnancies, here and there with Phillip, and relentlessly during Jamie's first trimester. There were many long, lonely nights without Joe, when her libido was through the roof and her hand was barely enough. This pregnancy was no exception.
If there really is a pregnancy.
She banished that thread of thinking. The p-word made her gorge rise on a good day, but the anticipation of telling Lee was almost too much to bear. She knew that she was stalling but justified it behind walls of doubts—doubts about how Lee would react and doubts over whether there was a little one at all.
What she needed was a distraction.
Wrestling with her mounting anxiety, she fumbled along the wall until she found a side door. On a whim, she jiggled the knob and discovered that it was unlocked. The door yielded and before she could chicken out, she was squeezing through a foot-long gap.
What am I doing? she thought as she ducked down a hallway. Illegally entering… for cock? What was she, seventeen?
She constructed a clumsy story about forgetting her purse somewhere. No one would believe her, but it wasn't like she could get in any more trouble. She stumbled across a stairwell and snuck along a procession of dorms, keeping her eyes peeled for room 209. Lee had told her the number "for emergencies".
This was undoubtedly an emergency.
Softly, she rapped on his door and waited for it to open. The tell-tale sounds of Lee's gait were like staccatos in her ears. The door being flung open was a forte.
"Coach, come on. This is getting ridic-"
Lee stopped at seeing her face. He wet his lips and scratched his scalp, but Amanda was more focused on the lack of fabric covering his chest. He must've been getting ready to turn in for the night.
"Christ, Amanda. What is it? Did Billy relay anything else? Don't tell me you lost the film," he said.
A blaze of anger rippled through Amanda's blood. She was hot, and bothered, and hungry. She lingered at the threshold, taking in his bare trunk and dark slacks. It was at that point that she lost all tatters of control.
Amanda made the first move, but Lee was not far behind.
If their first kiss had been gentle, then this one was a thunderbolt. They crashed together like two runaway trains, pawing at clothing and twisting their necks. The frisson from before rose up through Amanda's toes and spread through her fingertips. Blindly, she closed the door with her foot. Lee rose for air with a wild look in his eyes.
"Amanda, what-"
She kissed his clavicle with increasing urgency, relishing in his intake of breath.
"Please, um, stop talking, before I lose my nerve," she squeaked into his skin. "Unless you want me to go, that is. In which case…"
Lee replied by scooping her into his arms and shoving her against the wall. Instinctively, she draped her legs around her hips. Her back crept up the plaster and Lee's teeth found their way to her left earlobe.
Voice roughening, he said, "You are just full of surprises."
The next few minutes were a flurry of movement and roaming mouths. It didn't take long for Lee to grow turgid beneath her. She arched, flexing down while Lee bucked upwards. Every nerve came alive in a crackle of electricity. The fast and frantic friction built to a crescendo and then-
-Stopped.
Lee perked up, listening intently to the outside of the door. A number of scuffs and scrapes told him that the coach was still prowling the halls, and Amanda sagged with disappointment when he lowered her to the floor. Somewhere in their throes she'd lost the fastenings on her bra, and Lee his belt. That was as far as they got, though. The mood was thoroughly spoiled.
"You should get out of here," he said.
His irises had gone cold and his stance was dismissive. Suddenly very vulnerable, Amanda drew her cardigan tight. The film felt heavy in her pocket.
"Right, it's after curfew. Bed checks, your cover..."
"A little extra necking wouldn't be inconsistent with my cover, but yeah, you'd better go," Lee said. He looked almost sheepish as he opened the door, and his touch was feather-light on the small of her back. "Be careful on your way out. One of the players is asleep in the next room."
Amanda moved to the hall, head sinking between her shoulders, but was pulled back at the last instant. Lee moulded her body to his and administered a bruising kiss that left her breathless.
"We can continue this later," he said, releasing her.
She nodded dimly, then retraced her prior route through a series of stumbles and shivers.
/
Lee daintily picked his way through the tulips, dallying under the Kings' open window. Tucked under one arm was an autographed football, and in the other, a bottle of champagne. He kept low until he knew it was Amanda puttering around the kitchen, and that she was alone. Payback time…
"Hi!" he said, straightening.
Amanda nearly jumped out of her skin. She lobbed a wet cloth across the kitchen, leaving dribbles all the way up the island, then grasped the edge of the sink. A shaky sigh punctuated the air.
"I swear to God... one of these days I'm going to put a collar and bell around your neck."
"Oo, kinky." Lee preened before presenting her with the champagne and pigskin. "Here, a souvenir of our case, signed by 'Sandy Newcombe' himself." They shared a chuckle. He passed over the ball and made to pop the cork on the champagne. "I'm out celebrating the end of my illustrious football career. Got any flutes?"
"Yes, but- I mean- no, thank you," said Amanda, waving away the bottle. "I'd, uh, better not. 'Just took some medication earlier."
Lee might've believed her, if not for the crimson creeping up her cheeks. He frowned. Turning down a drink was not a good sign. He cocked his head at her in contemplation.
He had not been impressed to see her on that football field. Not at first, anyway. There were plenty of qualified agents who'd jump at a messenger gig. Out of all of them, Billy chose Amanda, again. God, it was almost like he knew…
As long as she was around, though, they might as well enjoy each other.
He stretched on his toes and booped her nose with his.
"Y'know, Sandy Newcombe may have been a mediocre tackler, but you played a heck of a good reporter. 'Surveillance could use some work, though." He bit a runaway curl of hair, snickering when she yelped. "Sleep well."
Before she could reply he was striding through the yard, the Ruinart swinging merrily at his side. On his way out, he overheard her mother speaking.
"-saying something? I thought I heard voices."
"Just talking to myself, Mother," Amanda said.
"Ah… Sometimes you puzzle me. I mean this only in the most loving way, but last night you didn't get home until morning. Then, dear, you get all these phone calls, after which you go rushing out of the house. I mean, I'm sure that it is perfectly innocent-"
Lee grinned to himself. Quiet as a fox, he unlatched the gate and sauntered to his Porsche.
Against his better judgement, he harboured a soft spot for the suburban divorcee. It wasn't as if Amanda was his only prospect. Hell, he'd spent the night with Marilyn not too long ago. But it was different with Mrs. King. Unlike a lot of his former lovers, she had a family, and her involvement with the agency rested solely on his shoulders.
But it wasn't just that. She'd saved his life on more occasions than he cared to count, through sheer luck and loyalty. That sort of debt was not easily washed away. Lee had an obligation to her, whether he wanted to admit it or not.
It was a shame that they couldn't finish what she'd started at the training camp. Getting cozy in a straight jacket was a tad difficult, and three towering linebackers had done a number on Lee's body after that. He felt battered all over, and much too sore to perform properly, otherwise…
He cast a longing look back at the house. Another time, maybe.
/
AN: Thanks again to any reviewers, and as always, I will try to PM reply when I can. :)