The final chapter...
XxX
"Look," he breathed. All he had to do was get through the next five minutes and he'd never have to talk about it again. Of course, that wouldn't stop him thinking about it, but at least he could pretend in the sanctuary of his mind that it wasn't as bad as he knew it was. "It was a long day. It was hot. I just did it. And it felt so good that I fell asleep."
Okay, that part at least made sense to her. If she could only grasp whatever else it was that he was skating around the edges of, she knew that she'd understand the whole picture. "You must really have been relaxed," she encouraged gently.
"I was," he affirmed. "Then you walked in and woke me up."
"I'm really sorry about that," she began hastily, only to be cut off when John held up his hand and shook his head.
"It wasn't that bad. I mean, you'd caught me, but I wasn't feeling embarrassed or anythin'. Until I looked down and saw what you were lookin' at."
"I wasn't looking," she denied. She'd glanced – quite innocently, mind you, and then well . . . okay, then she'd looked. Stared. Whatever. Not that she was going to admit to that.
"Was so. Was lookin' pretty hard, too."
"I wasn't!"
"Uh huh. Whatever you say. But that's when I started freakin' out."
"Just because I happened to glance –"
"If we're bein' honest here, Mon, you have to admit that it was more than a glance."
Okay, so he'd noticed her noticing. It wasn't the end of the world. She could probably even manage to talk her way out of it – if he gave her the chance. "Well – it was just there. I couldn't help but see it."
"If that's your story, you stick to it. I'm just sayin' that if you had walked in half an hour earlier it would have been a whole other story."
"Why?"
"Because the water was still warm then."
"I don't understand. What are you . . . oooooh!" And then the penny dropped.
"Exactly. You know what happens to a man when he's immersed in cold water, don't you?"
"I'm aware that the cold can affect the size of . . . that is, it can reduce the . . . that things can seem less than they usually . . . yes. I know what happens."
"Now you're gettin' it."
"So that's what you were so eager to explain to me?"
"Yup."
"I don't get it. Why was it so important?"
"Surely that's obvious."
"I guess it's an ego thing, huh?"
"Kinda. But no man wants the woman he's head over heels for to see him exposed like that and find him lacking."
"You think that I found you lacking?" she asked, and then burst into laughter when he nodded. "You are so far off the mark that it isn't even funny," she managed to choke out. "Lacking? John Doggett, if that is your definition of lacking I never want to see your definition of . . . of . . . not lacking," she finished delicately.
"But you . . . you took one look – one very long look, I might add – and bolted. Then you couldn't even meet my eyes for two days."
"Did you ever stop to think that it was because I liked what I saw that I ran? That I knew exactly how inappropriate it was to be staring and imagining . . . well, never mind about that," she blushed as John's eyes narrowed and then lit up with realisation.
"I think we need to work on our communication," he said finally, taking her hand and bringing it over to his lap. "Because if I'd had known then what I did now . . ."
"What?" she pressed when he trailed off.
"Let's just say that we would have been upgrading to a room with a hot tub."
She laughed then, and felt that since the whole mess had been cleared up she could have a little fun with it. "I've been thinking," she began slowly, "that I really should investigate this phenomena more closely."
"Really?" he smiled. "You want to see my proof?"
"I think that I'm going to have to insist on it, yes."
"Okay then," he replied, and she liked the predatory look that entered his eyes as they bore into hers. She liked it very much. "I'm just wondering where we should start," she mused, the words 'head over heels for' spinning around and around in her mind.
He pulled her to her feet and led her upstairs. "We need to recreate the scene, of course."
"Of course," she agreed.
"The wiring isn't really good up here, so we might have to make do with candles," he continued.
She squeezed his hand and played along. "That's quite alright. I'm sure we'll manage."
"Mon?" John stopped when they reached the bathroom. He turned to her with a boyish grin on his face and asked, "How do you feel about bubbles?"
End