Stripped

A/N: Thanks again for the reviews. You guys don't know how much it means to me that you're diggin' this. I love that. Anyway, not really anything special to tell you about this chapter. Hope you dig it. I don't own 'em, and you all know it. Enjoy!

John liked to think he was pretty good at reading people. He spent a fair amount of his time hanging back and watching them interact, listening more than talking, and he was usually pretty certain of their intentions before they made them known. But Olivia was one safe he just couldn't seem to crack.

There were moments when they were clearly friends, laughing and joking together as though they'd known each other forever. And there were moments when they were clearly co-workers, studying tape and debating the business in general. There were even moments when they flirted, trading winks and innuendos. But, for the life of him, he couldn't tell if she wanted him to act on his feelings, or keep them bottled up inside.

And this night had been more confusing than most. Their show had been early, so he and Adam arrived at her suite as she was leaving for her party. Distraught, she explained that she never did a solo show without a bodyguard at the door, but that she had forgotten to book one for the evening. John had, for reasons he still couldn't explain, offered to do the job. And he had watched with pure amazement as she paid careful attention to every man in that penthouse, giving them just enough of what they wanted to keep them wanting more.

She finished her performance with no incidents, and John followed her back to the suite like a faithful puppy, wanting to comment on the poetic and graceful manner in which she worked. But every time he started to tell her how magical she was, he thought about that broken woman on the bed, and he just couldn't say anything. She needed all of the ego-boosting she could get, he knew, but he just couldn't bring himself to compliment the work she hated.

Now he was stuck watching her again, this time from the kitchenette of the spacious suite. Randy and Adam were playing some football video game, and Olivia was trying her best not to laugh as Trish tried to execute a back bend in the lap dance that her new friend had been teaching her. She didn't just have a beautiful body. She wasn't just a beautiful girl. She was a beautiful person. Especially when she smiled.

"No," Olivia finally laughed, grabbing Trish's back and standing her upright before she broke herself. "You're over-thinking," she insisted, her hands on the shorter woman's shoulders. "Watch." Everyone in the room stopped what they were doing to watch as Olivia stood beside the chair and carefully bent backward, grabbing the seat and flipping herself over. "Like that."

"Oh, bravo," Adam clapped his hands and stood, sticking his thumb and middle finger in his mouth to whistle loudly. "That was beautiful."

Olivia rolled her eyes and smiled sheepishly before casting a glance at John. He was smiling, but there was something deeper behind his blue eyes. Something that looked like a mixture between lust, awe, and jealousy. It was the look he always gave her when he didn't want to share her attention with Adam and Randy. He thought she didn't recognize it, that she hadn't figured it out. And she would let him keep thinking that.

There was absolutely no reason for her get involved with John. He was her friend, and that was good enough. But something about the way his lips curled up when she said something funny, and the way his eyes twinkled when he told her a story he knew she would like, made her tummy flutter a little bit. It was an innocent feeling that she hadn't experienced in a long time, and she liked entertaining it, even if it wasn't permanent.

"Hey, Liv," Randy called out, interrupting the unspoken moment between Olivia and John.

"Hmm?" she asked, tearing her eyes from the man at the kitchen counter.

Randy smiled and nodded toward Trish. "Teach her that thing you do on your knees."

Blushing deeply, Olivia looked at the ground and then at Trish, who raised an eyebrow in amusement. "That thing on your knees, huh?" Turning back to Randy, she put her hands on her narrow hips. "I thought you already liked the things I do on my knees."

Throwing his controller at the television with a loud thud, Adam groaned. "God dammit, you two. We get that all you ever do is fuck, but can't you just talk about something else for a minute?"

"Awe," Olivia pouted slightly. "Someone sounds sexually frustrated." Moving slowly toward him, she rested her hand on his shoulder. "You want me to show you that thing I do on my knees?"

Without a word, Adam, and everyone else, watched as Olivia drug her fingers over his shoulders and circled around until she was standing directly in front of his place on the couch. Bending at her waist, she placed her palms on his knees and looked at him through her thick lashes before pushing his legs apart. She dropped to her knees in a fluid motion and slid her hands up to his thighs. Sticking her chest forward, she slowly rolled her body up, brushing it ever-so-slightly against his. When she had returned to her full height, she met his eye, and swung one leg over his, then the other, straddling his lap as she threw her head back and draped her arms around his neck.

His breathing was ragged, and a silence engulfed the room as she dismounted and stood before them, smiling at Trish's shocked expression. "That's the thing on my knees," she shrugged, moving toward the kitchen for a bottle of water.

"That was fuckin' phenomenal," Trish clapped finally, giggling.

Randy reached over the arm of the couch and grabbed her, pulling her into his lap. "You think you can do it, baby?"

She shook her head and looked back at Olivia over her shoulder. "Are you kidding? I want her to do me next," she winked at her friend.

Olivia's laughter was mildly amused as she leaned next to John at the counter. "Hey, you," she smiled, nudging him with her shoulder. "Whatcha doin' over here by yourself?"

Without thinking, he answered. "Tryin' to hide how much I liked that little move you just pulled." A light pink tint crept into his ears, spreading to his cheeks as he thought about what he had just said. "Um. . ."

Putting a hand on his atop the counter, Olivia shook her dark hair and met his eye. "Did you mean it?" He nodded and she nearly buckled at the sincerity radiating back at her. "Then don't take it back."

Her words said that she appreciated the compliment, but her eyes said that she needed it. As she leaned her body against his shoulder and ran her fingers over the back of his hand, he wished to God he had the balls to do what he really wanted. If she knew how badly he wanted her, would it flatter her, or make her run scared? If she knew how unfriendly his thoughts were at the moment, would she return them, or shut him down and end the best thing he'd had goin' with a woman in years?

Olivia watched a myriad of emotions play across John's handsome features as he avoided her eye and watched his friends in the living room. There were moments in time that she preserved like snapshots in her mind. Her first sexual experience. Brandon's birth. The day she purchased her own home. The first night she headlined at Pandora's. Her debut on RAW. They were all milestones, monumental in the scope of her mind.

And, as she put her palm on John's cheek and turned his face toward hers, she felt the shutter in her mind snapping their first kiss into her memory. It wasn't something she had pondered, plotted, and planned. And it wasn't something that she had over-analyzed or talked herself into, or out of. It was natural, instinctual. And it felt more right than anything had in a long time.

Crash and burn tomorrow, or live in the flames of eternal passion forever. It didn't matter to Olivia as he pulled back and smiled at her, shock giving way to a peaceful contentment. Turning his hand upward, he wrapped his fingers around hers and raised them to his lips, carefully kissing her knuckles and then letting go of her hand.

Another smile passed between them, along with a million unspoken terms of endearment and affection. It wasn't love, not in a dramatic, epic sort of way. Olivia didn't believe in that love, and John wasn't sure he was ready for another whirlwind romance. He may not have been able to read her well, but he was sure now, without having to say a word, that they were on the same page. And the book was pretty damn hard to put down.