Title: A Healthy Appetite

Author: Battus philenor

Disclaimer: If they were mine, the show would be called the Grissom and Sara Hour.

A/N: This is an Unbound challenge response to which the first and last lines are given. Thanks to Eva Pires for betaing this for me. Any remaining errors are all mine.

"You shouldn't have… you really shouldn't have." Sara breathes out as she looks at her wrist which is now adorned by a beautiful diamond laced bracelet.

He watches the light from the candle reflect off the stones and dance over her skin, the shadows flickering and migrating, seeming to search out and discover her skin as the air manipulates the flame. With his arm outstretched, her hand sits gently in his in the middle of the table as his fingers make slow circles on her palm. His thumb lazily caresses the back of her hand, as he absently weaves an uneven pattern around her knuckles. The evening moves along at a leisurely pace as appetizers turn into the main course and furtive glances develop into something more.

She looks at him now from across the table. An intimate dinner, the fifth in as many weeks, but this one is different. They can both feel it. He looks back at her, but he's almost looking into her now, through her eyes and into her body. Not intruding, for she's offered him entry into her soul, allowed him to peruse her being, first with questions both personal and probing. Giving answers which she normally kept sheltered from others. Now she's given him access with his eyes, burrowing into her, prying, needing to know her more deeply, penetrating her in a way she wishes his body would.

Slightly uncomfortable under his scrutiny, she breathes steadily, purposely steeling herself against the intrusion for she knows it must be done. To be close to him she must let him in, completely. Harder than she imagined after all that has passed between them, she braces herself for his inspection, hoping he stays after he sees what's there.

Looking at him she sees it, that boyish grin that deducts fifteen years from his normally distinguished manner. She can't help but smile back at him as he continues to try to see her from the inside out. His crystal blue eyes sparkling as he squints as if trying to look even further inside of her.

His head tilts slightly to one side seemingly asking an internal question; one to which he seems to have found the answer to as the lines surrounding his eyes deepen momentarily before fading completely again as his grin widens.

He blushes slightly and blinks at her, almost as if he'd been caught spying on her. Smiling in response she lowers her head, hiding a blush of her own as she hopes she knows what his thoughts were regarding. Her pulse quickens and she can feel her heart beating beneath her shirt, pounding out a rhythm that she can feel reverberating up her neck. She momentarily fears something is medically wrong with her, but the sweaty palms along with the way her stomach is whirling, assures her it's only desire. The same feeling she's had for him for years only at an almost alarmingly overwhelming intensity now.

When dessert is offered by the young man waiting on them, a question is posed between them, even though no words are spoken. If the young man knows of the thoughts and hopes in the minds of the couple before him, he isn't saying so. He's just relieved that the gentleman finally decides that they will indeed have time for something decadent.

Sara's blush returns as the word decadent rolls off Grissom's tongue. And as his fingers begin their massage of her palm again, the image of him continuing that sensual massage over the rest of her body sends a shiver traveling the length of her body. She finds herself hoping the chocolate raspberry dessert will not be the only decadent treat for them tonight.

She slowly lifts her fork piled high with chocolate cake and fresh raspberries drizzled with a chocolate sauce that has just a hint of raspberry liquor in it. The site of the tantalizing dessert, a rich dark chocolate brown and the brilliant red of the raspberries, plump and ready to burst from their juices, prove almost as enticing as the shape of Sara's mouth. Open slightly, tongue darting out to get a sneak preview of what's to come, her lips full and ready for the treat. He thinks that if he could freeze that moment, the exact time in which the bite crosses the threshold in through her lips, that would be the most erotic vision he's ever witnessed.

Already hoping tonight would be the night, he finds he's barely able to contain himself. His mind is already home with her; his hands already beginning their journey, exploring her body. His body starts to follow those thoughts as he becomes more and more excited while sitting there enjoying the site of her devouring the dessert. As his arousal increases he begins silently berating himself, as his body reacts like a teenager's to the beautiful specimen of woman before him. He's forced to order coffee, if only for the time, a few moments to calm down and be able to walk out of the restaurant with some dignity.

She knows. He knows she knows because the gleam in her eye has changed. She is no longer timid and hopeful; she's now smiling with a confidence that says she knows what she has done to him, what response she's caused in his body. While he's angry with himself for the weakness, he's surprised she hasn't truly known it all along. While he'd tried his best to hide it, he thought his love and attraction to her was too great for anybody not to have known.

And as they walk into her apartment together he kisses the back of her neck, his breath tickling her skin, causing goose flesh to form and a chill to run down her entire body.

With a knowing grin he teases, "You alright?"

"More than." She responds with only the slightest hitch in her breath. She walks past the couch where they'd spent the end of their previous dates kissing and holding each other.

"Where are you going?" He asks hopefully.

Lingering momentarily at the corner of her hallway, she glances down towards her bedroom before looking back longingly at him. "Follow me and find out." With a wink, she was gone.

End

Battus philenor