"Excuse me, I'm sorry," she said, taking a quick step to the side to allow him access to the door.
"It's all right. Are you Detective Alexandra Eames, by any chance?" the man replied with a smile in his voice. Alex's head shot up...she would know that voice anywhere.
"Oh my god," she breathed out, covering her mouth with her hand.
"You like?" he asked, pivoting around so she could get the full effect.
"Wow."
It was hard to think of anything else to say, given the situation. For standing before her was one Detective Robert Goren dressed as just about the last thing she would have imagined…Frankenstein. Of course it suited him perfectly, especially given his natural height. She gave him a quick once-over and saw that he had gone the whole nine yards, from the green makeup to the bolts on his neck.
"You look pretty wow yourself. In fact," he paused as he took a moment to give her a very thorough head-to-toe inspection that left her blushing, "I'd have to say you look amazing."
Oh boy. Her eyes widened and her lips parted. The way Bobby's eyes traveled over her body gave Alex goosebumps. Maybe some of that makeup had toxic chemicals that seeped into his brain, causing this episode of abnormal behavior.
"Yeah, well, I have this thing for campy 60s tv shows based on comic books, what can I say?"
"Mmm," was the non committal response she received. That and a hand held out to her, she noticed belatedly. A little wary she nonetheless reached her own hand out. His fingers encased hers and he lifted their arms up.
"Turn around so I can get the full effect," he said and she couldn't help but laugh as she did so. From an outsider's perspective it looked like they were executing a dance move.
"You know when you said you were dressing up as a kitten I had no idea you meant this kind of kitten," he teased as she finished her impromptu pirouette and he released her hand, "It would seem that I'm not the only one who's been keeping secrets."
"What can I say, Detective? I've got hidden depths," she bantered back, still feeling a little out of her element but deciding to just relax. This was Bobby, after all. Plus she couldn't deny that it felt good, correction, it felt really good to have him look at her like that. Like he actually meant what he said.
Of course he meant what he said; he was surprised he was capable of speech after seeing Alex in that outfit is all. She was wearing a Catwoman outfit and it looked like it had been sewn on. She definitely gave Julie Newmar a run for her money. He had been so caught up in the kick he was going to get over her reaction to him…and she hadn't left him disappointed. He had been watching the door and he saw her come in and recognized her easily since she didn't have her mask on at first. He had stealthily crept towards her, wanting to take her by surprise. For a moment she had been completely unaware of whom he was. Then her eyes had widened and she had been unable to utter anything but first "Oh my god" and then "wow." She had even covered up her mouth in a natural reflex to the shock. It was a better reaction than he had anticipated. When she gave him the once-over he had taken a moment to do the same, ready to tell her she looked nice. But then his mind had convinced him that he couldn't possibly have seen the image in front of him. And he realized that he had failed to prepare for his reaction to her. So even as he repeated Alex's words back to her he had been giving her a slow and steady perusal that led him to a couple of startling conclusions.
The first was that he needed to tell her how great she looked. But great wasn't the word. No…she was sexy as hell, simple as that. But he figured that wasn't the most gentlemanly thing to say so he settled on amazing. The next thing he had concluded was that he had to touch her. It was a weird compulsion but fortunately for him his brain concocted a plan to enable him to do just that as quickly as possible.
The feeling of her hand in his was a good thing. It felt natural. Then he got to appreciate the whole view of Alex's costume as she twirled and he had realized that he needed to stop touching her or else he was going to want to do a lot more than just hold her hand. Then he became conscious of the fact that he was acting a bit out of character and maybe making Alex feel uncomfortable. His brain had come up with a smart-ass comment to try and test the waters between them, see how much damage had been done. He was happy that she teased him back for that meant she wasn't too weirded out by the whole scene between them. That gave him hope. Hope for what, he wasn't too sure. He would dwell on that later.
"So where's our guy?" she asked, trying to direct the conversation back to why they were there in the first place.
"He hasn't arrived yet."
"What should we do while we wait for him to make his grand entrance?"
"Let's go and see what kind of food they're offering."
She nodded and they silently crossed the floor, keeping an eye out for Jun-Thai or anyone else of interest. As they arrived at the hors d'oeuvre table they noted most of the offerings were pretty high class fare such as foi gras and caviar, with plenty of champagne to go around. They both declined any alcohol and quickly went through the line and then stood off to the side so they could watch the doors. They had both finished snacking when Jun-Thai made his entrance. He chose not to wear a mask so it was easy to spot him. He was dressed as a Chinese Emperor and his costume was beautiful. It was a saffron colored silk dressing coat with elaborate embroidery of dragons and various leaves and flowers intertwined throughout its design. It must have cost a fortune, Alex thought.
"His costume is magnificent," she said to Bobby.
"It is stunning," he agreed.
Jun-Thai's entrance caused a ripple of excitement to pass through the crowd. People didn't stop what they were doing necessarily; they just adjusted their positions so they could see him for a moment. Goren and Eames watched as he made his way around the room, pausing every few seconds to shake a hand, give someone a pat on the back or to kiss a proffered cheek. There seemed to be no shortage to the contacts he had present but they noticed that he seemed to be conducting a visual search of the room in between visits.
Jun-Thai finally settled in at one of the tables that adorned the outskirts of the dance floor, where he was quickly joined by a bevy of guests, mostly female. One of the women who entered the ring of admirers carried a plate of food in one hand and a bottle of champagne in the other. She was allowed to sit next to Jun-Thai and feed him hors d' oeuvres while he regaled those present with some tale or another. Alex and Bobby had just decided to move closer when Jun-Thai stood up and walked away, beckoning to the woman who had been feeding him. They halted their progress momentarily until it became apparent that Jun-Thai was headed for the dance floor.
"Well this may be a prime opportunity to get up close and personal with our boy," Goren whispered. Alex raised her eyebrows and tilted her head so she could look up at him.
"I hope you're not suggesting that I cut in," she announced.
"No, although the thought did cross my mind. But we don't want him to remember seeing you here so we're going to have to do the next best thing."
"Let me guess: you're going to cut in."
He leaned down and she could see his teeth flash white. He shook his head while gesturing to the dance floor with a sweeping motion of his arm.
"Would you care to dance?"
She agreed readily and let Bobby lead them around the floor in a seemingly random pattern. She recognized it as a trajectory that would put them on the path to intersecting Jun-Thai and his dance partner.
"We'll take turns watching him. We don't want him to sense that we're up to anything so we'll switch places fairly often, move around the floor as much as we can without losing him."
"Like we would if we were actually dancing, you mean?" she spoke the words in a dry undertone.
Another flash of teeth was all the indication that he had heard her. Otherwise they fell silent and soon Alex got into the rhythm of their movements. After the first few turns she knew when to look over at Jun-Thai and when to look away again, based on Bobby's positioning of their bodies. From what she could tell Jun-Thai didn't seem to be in a hurry to do anything else but dance, although she did catch him glancing at his watch more than once, a fact she mentioned to Bobby.
"So we think he's probably waiting for someone to arrive, right?" she asked.
He nodded.
"It would seem so given that tidbit plus the fact he just scanned the room again," he replied, looking down at her. She felt his eyes on her and looked up, confused.
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Disclaimer: 1) Remove standard disclaimer from package 2) Blow off any dust 3) Remove paper and expose adhesive 4) Apply to story.
Author's Note: Hey guys! Sorry about the delay in updating, I was on the other side of the country for awhile. Hope you enjoy! Thank you's are below:
QuasiAngel—Thanks so much! I love hearing that people read and enjoy my stories! I'm sorry that it was sort of a weird place to end it, too. I'll work on that. *grin*
Fallon3—I hope I didn't disappoint you with Bobby's rxn to her costume. I'm thrilled that you're still enjoying this!
Autumngold—Thank you! I'm so happy that you like my story! What did you think of Giren's costume?
Robin—Thank you! I will!
Kiera Kingsley—Awww, you're just too sweet, you know that, right? Thanks for the review!
Thermy—Frantic chipmunk! Ha! That was one of my favorite lines! Too funny! I'm so glad that you've been taking the time to read and wirte about my fics, you're a peach!