House opened the door and smiled. "Evening."

"Evening." Cuddy smiled in return. In her arms was a box full of bourbon and scotch.

"Come on in." he said, holding open the door. She breezed past him and turned to the kitchen. He followed and watched as she loaded the bottles into the cabinet.

"Happy now, Greg?" she smirked.

"Very happy," the doctor said, leaning against the counter.

"You said we were having dinner."

"No, you said we were having dinner. I just agreed to it."

"I don't smell any food cooking," she said, closing the cabinet door. The box sat empty on the counter. Neither made a move to discard it.

"Dinner is on the way. You didn't specify what you wanted, Lisa, therefore you can't complain about what you get, and you can't say I didn't hold up my end of the agreement."

"Careful what I what wish for, I just might get it."

"That's always a bitch."

"What are we having?" she asked, folding her arms. House tried not to stare at her chest and was unsuccessful.

"I shouldn't say. Karma might bite you in the ass again," House said, tossing the cane from hand to hand. "I got what I wanted with no regrets as of yet, so the evening's not a total loss. At least not for me."

"So what did you get?"

"You in my home, bringing back my liquor, of course."

"That's all you wanted?"

"Again, I'm just holding up my end of the agreement. Remember, I gave a list of reasons of why you should accept my offer of coming over hereand you didn't say no to any of them. I said you wanted to come over simply because you wanted to, and here you are, making no effort to high-tail it out of here. I said you didn't want me to drink all the scotch and bourbon by myself and you didn't disagree." He took a bottle of scotch from the cabinet, then fetched two glasses. "Dinner was your idea and I've taken care of that." House set the glasses down and poured couple of fingers into each one. Handing a glass to Cuddy, he continued. "The only thing left is to play some requests for you. As long as I know the songs I plan to hold up my end of that agreement. So as you can see, this whole evening was your idea. You wanted to come over to my place, you wanted to drink some of my scotch, you wanted to hear me play the piano. If I were a betting man I'd have to wager that you're here because you can't enough of me."

Clicking her nails on the glass, Cuddy said, "That's quite a speech, Greg. Did you spend the afternoon rehearsing it in your head?"

"Am I that transparent?" House threw back his scotch and set the empty glass in the sink. "I also considered that you might want to get me drunk, tie me up, and have your way with me. But if you want to tie me up and have your way with me all you have to do is ask."

"I left my whips and handcuffs at home," Cuddy said, sipping her scotch.

"That's too bad." He tilted his head, his electric blue eyes glinting in the kitchen light. "I should stay sober anyway. I need to keep an eye on you."

Cuddy nearly choked on the remains of her drink. "Keep an eye on me? What for?"

"You stole my liquor," he said, taking the empty glass from her hand and drawing her closer.
"You stole my tee shirt. Next you'll be driving home with my piano strapped to the roof of your car."

The lady doctor slipped her arms around his waist. "I brought your liquor back and you said I could keep the shirt."

"Hmmm...true and true. Are you going to steal my piano?"

"I'll pass on that one. It looks kind of heavy."

"It's nice to know my boss has some integrity," he said, bringing his mouth to hers. The scotch tasted sweet on her lips. His fingers became entangled in her hair.

Pounding on the front door. Dinner had arrived.

"Dammit," House scowled, annoyed at the interruption. "Karma decided it's my turn to get bitten on the ass."