Ch 7

The street in front of the restaurant was crowded and Lauren thought she saw a few senior officers go past but she tried to look inconspicuous and ducked into the doorway. The Maitre D' looked down his nose at her casual dress but moved towards her to help her anyway. She smiled at him and then ignored him as she saw Lee already at a table. He stood up as she approached and she reached for him to give him a quick kiss. He smiled and they sat, saying nothing but just enjoying being in each other's company. Their waiter came over to the table and poured Lauren a glass of the wine that Lee had ordered.

He raised his glass in a toast and clinked it against hers, " To beautiful friendships and even more beautiful women."

"You sir, are full of shit!" she giggled as she sipped her wine.

"Seriously, you are the most beautiful woman I know. No…don't laugh at me. Lauren, I'm severely turned on by your looks but even more so by who you are. You make me feel like I'm flying without a Viper and I really do not want that feeling to go away."

The blush that shaded her cheeks was endearing and she struggled to speak but she finally choked out, "Lee…I…thank you. You've made me so amazingly happy since I met you. I don't know what I would do without you."

Their waiter returned and looked at them, waiting for them to order and Lauren hurriedly opened her menu, searching for something she recognized. Lee snatched the menu out of her hands and ordered for both of them which delighted her. After the waiter left they made small talk, discussing the course and what would be taught in it. Their food came and they both dug into it with gusto, comments going back and forth about the quality of the meal.

Once they'd stuffed themselves on fine food, coffee and a very rich dessert, they decided to go for a walk to work off some of the food. Lee guided her up a quiet street with small bungalows on it where many of the base's VIPs were housed. Lee stopped in front of one at the end of the street and looked at Lauren to see if she wanted to come in.

"I really shouldn't, my roommate is waiting up for me and she's worried I'm going to get in trouble. You wouldn't want to get me in trouble would you?"

He laughed at her implication and nodded, "Yup, I'd dearly love to get you into some exceptional trouble young lady."

She grabbed him by the hips and pulled him sharply to her, reaching up to kiss him with the passion he inspired in her. Lee walked her backwards to the door where he turned her around and leaned her against it so anyone passing by would see only him. His hands roamed up and down her back, slipping under her shirt and caressing the soft skin. She shivered as he sent spasms of exquisite fire along her spine and straight into her core. They devoured each other with their mouths for several minutes, hands exploring soft planes and gentle curves of each other's bodies.

Lauren broke the kiss and looked away, up the street to where a car was approaching. "I really should get back to my bunk. Susanna's right, I don't want to get in trouble with my instructor, he seems like a real hard ass about the rules."

Lee couldn't help but smile at her comment and he sighed as she pulled away. "Are you sure? I bet I can manage to get the instructor to cut you some slack."

"No, I really don't want any slack. I want to show this guy what I'm made of on my own merit," her grin was deep and she stressed all the right parts to let him know the subtext of her words. "However, I seem to recall on our schedule that there is no class the day after tomorrow. Perhaps Mr. Adama would be interested in resuming this conversation tomorrow evening? Maybe we could even go inside and see the lovely 'décor' of your home?"

"I would be humbled to have you see the 'décor' my lady. So I assume I can have the pleasure of your company for the whole night?"

"I'm sure I can think of something to shake my roommate. Yeah! Got a plan already. Gotta go now, can't make the teacher mad, he'll make me clean the erasers or something. Wouldn't want to be late for my appointment tomorrow night and if I had to stay after that would seriously put a damper on it all huh?"

Lee couldn't help but laugh at her. She chuckled back and started down the path in front of his house. Then she turned and ran back to him, jumping in front of him and sliding in under his arms for one last kiss. Then she laughed and jogged off into the night.