Chapter 15
He expected her to yell back, or to punch him again. What he didn't expect was for her to laugh and throw a pillow at him. It was his turn to gape at her. "What the . . .?" Rather than looking murderous, Sara was laughing at him!
"Grissom . . . do you realize how LONG we've all been waiting for you to crack like that? That was great! I'd pay to see it again!"
The shock of Grissom yelling had shaken Sara right out of her anger, and the sound of her laughter had the same effect on him. "You've . . . been waiting?" he stammered. "For me to crack? Er, Sara . . . what's going on here?"
She giggled. "Sit back and relax, bugman, because you're about to take the Sara Sidle anger management course. The materials you will need include a pillow, soft projectiles, and someone who trusts you." Grissom blinked.
"Step one," Sara continued. "Don't bottle up anger. Punch a wall, throw a pillow, grind flour into your girlfriend's hair . . ." She stopped. "Er, I mean your friend's hair." Grissom raised an eyebrow.
"Step two," she pressed on. "Trust that your friends know you well enough so that they know you're just blowing off steam." Beginning to get the point, Grissom nodded.
"Step three: do something fun to control your anger in the future. Me, I have tickle wars with Nick." She was silently amused when Grissom stiffened. "That or I sneak into Greg's lab and we headbang for a few minutes. No, seriously, we do!" When he moved to interrupt, Sara continued. "I know you say you ride roller coasters . . . but you don't ride them for the emotional release, you ride them to separate your mind from the emotions. Big difference."
Grissom sighed. "Sara, I don't . . ." He was stopped by her hand covering his mouth.
"Shut up, Grissom. You do. So just do what I say for once, 'kay?" After a moment, Grissom nodded and Sara removed her hand from his mouth, but didn't move her body away from his. "Let him be the once to make the move," she ordered herself. So she waited.
Grissom gulped. If her was ever going to get a chance, this was it. Sara was leaning into him – almost pressing against him. Was she trying to send him a signal? What if she wasn't? What if she was?? "Breathe, Gil. You can do this." Slowly, he leaned toward Sara, millimeter by millimeter, giving her every chance to pull back. She didn't.
Grissom's face was so close to hers. Sara fought the urge to either grab him or take off running. She had to find out whether he was really going to do what he seemed to be doing.
A foot . . . 8 inches . . . 6 inches . . . Grissom was getting so close to Sara that he could smell the scent of shampoo coming from her hair.
Sara swallowed hard. Those blue eyes, always so intense, were now focused on her face. She tried not to faint.
As he came close enough to feel her breath, Grissom saw Sara's eyes drift shut. Oh god. He hadn't felt this much tension between him and a woman since . . . he didn't know when. He tried not to pass out.
Finally, he was there. Sara felt the air part as his lips came toward hers . . .waited to feel the pressure as they touched . . .
Oh the tension…I want to see how this story turns out too, so don't kill me for leaving you with this cliffhanger!
