So far, there hasn't really been much progress in the story line (yes, there is a plot! LOL). But in the next update things should be moving along, so hang in there.
Song lyrics are Kylie Minogue's "Tightrope."
Saturday
10:15 pm
Up for some clubbin'?
An impressively swift flurry of activity two hours and eleven minutes later, and here they are in a trendy nightclub in LA. The posh establishment screams of glitz and glamour. From the furnishings to the DJ, to the upper class clubbers themselves, everything here is far more superior than your average nightspot. But breathing life into all clubs alike, is the air, smog thick with sexual vivaciousness and the atmosphere coming alive with human energy running amuck.
Mac observes Harm at the pool table, his lean form bending forwards to line up a shot. She isn't the only one watching him attentively, and it's not his playing skills that they're all concentrating on. Dressed simply in skin-hugging black Calvin Klein tee shirt and slacks, he's The embodiment of the 'tall, dark and handsome' male population she teased him about last week. All the bachelorettes are sticking to him like magnets to a fridge. In fact, some of the women hitting on him aren't even one of the fifteen 'official' bachelorettes.
Tonight, things were really beginning to heat up - Literally and figuratively speaking. As the hours wore on and the crowds multiplied, the place is reaching near claustrophobic levels. In comparison, it makes close quarters on a sub seem like the master suite, Harm thought with a sigh. Besides the scaling room temperature, it's getting hot in here for an altogether different reason. All the women were exercising their rights to frivolity to the full extreme on him. There'd been a dozen too many brush-ups here, and a few too many touches there.
He glanced in Mac's direction. She's the odd one out, the only 'bachlorette' who's not persistently at his side. The only one whose touch he wouldn't mind. But she's brushing up to some stranger who'd picked her up as soon as she'd stepped on the dance floor. Without much thought, he's been keeping a close eye on her movements. His gaze lingers on her lilac coloured dress. The loose-fitting material swishes enticingly around the luminous skin of her legs¯
"Harmmm"
A hand touches him on the arm, another slides up his shoulder. It's his turn again. Harm returns quickly to the pool table. He aimed, sinking the ball in with a bit too much force than necessary.
The deafening music and the multitude of flashing disco lights illuminating the darkness is all contributing to Harm's light-headedness. Or perhaps it's the double bourbon and countless cocktails currently flowing through his system. He rarely ever drank so much in one night, and never before in Mac's presence. But there'd just been no way around it. Earlier, Mac had been questioned on her lack of alcoholic consumption. Subject to the inquisitive looks, she'd simply stated she was a non-drinker. 'It's bad for the eyes,' Dr MacKenzie had claimed convincingly.
Not quite.
She hadn't been offered another drink since, but it hasn't deterred the others. The women were ganging up and utilising their most common weapon; Seduce the man when he's drunk. Being a red-blooded male and The Bachelor no less, Harm was powerless to decline without raising undue suspicions. So, he'd downed drink after drink, feeling more and more relaxed by each passing minute.
For so long I've been too scared
To show the way I feel for you
But I know what I have to do
The music pounds through his veins, oh-so-wistful lyrics taunting and daring him on.
Love is like a game
And I'm gonna play it, play it
I hope you feel the same
Well if this isn't a game, I dunno what is. He grins and excuses himself from his latest dance partner.
Can't think and I can't sleep
I'm high up on a tightrope
And it always leads to you
These days, I find
You're always on my mind
I'm high up on a tightrope
And I got to get to you
Pressing through the throng of people, he comes to standstill behind the man whom Mac is dancing with. Harm tapped the guy's shoulder, nodding his head at Mac in a polite gesture for him to step aside. Receiving no objections from Mac, the man shrugged and incorporated his way to the adjacent group of dancers.
Mac looks amused. Harm finds himself smiling broadly at her for no apparent reason. He mirrors her movements, dancing in rhythm to the rapid beats. She calls out something he doesn't quite catch above the noise. Bending his head low, he tilts his ear in front of her mouth.
"You can dance disco?!"
He improvised a new twist to his steps for good measure, all the while continuing to grin lopsidedly.
That there's a love I can't deny
And it's too much to keep inside
Inevitably, already limited space contracts and close body contact is made. A frisson of buried pleasure sparks between Harm and Mac. Their dance falters with uncertainty, before it's resumed with escalated intensity. They've both become pawns in this game of seduction. Involuntary players; nevertheless, mutually tempted by the opportunities being presented.
Love is like a game
And I'm gonna play it, play it
The reverberation of the music is pulsating through his body. The beats are hammering in time with his heart. Acting without their usual verification from the mind, his hands reach out to her hips, gliding up lazily to close around her slender waist. Harm pulled her up flush against his body.
No more time should pass us by
In unison, her hands move to entwine themselves behind his neck. Mac dismisses the warning signs which are blinking riotously in her head.
We're just having some fun. Innocent fun. Innocent fun... It turns into a mantra, in an attempt to fool herself into believing.
Her eyes are locked on his, her fingers stroking the hair at the nape of his neck.
But this time is made for you and I
There is nothing at all innocent in the sensual swaying of their hips.
Week 2: Monday
8:40 pm
Roberts Residence
"BUD look!" Harriet exclaims excitedly. The premiere episode of The Bachelor is claming her undivided attention. Even though the couple on her TV screen are two pint-sized dolls, Harriet just knew without a doubt that it's Mac who Harm's holding in his arms.
"FINALLY they get to start acting on their feelings for each other," she sighed.
Bud ambled back from the kitchen with a bowl of ice cream in hand. "Honey, don't you think you're reading too much into the tiniest of things?"
Harriet took no notice of her dubious husband. Reading between the lines is what she's been doing for years. That's the rule of the trade. Subtlety and significant gestures. It's the way her superior officers and close friends, operate.