A/N: At the beginning of the series a man was moving stuff rather sneakily out of Tempe's apartment. As I've read the Kathy Reichs books I may have got slightly confuddled and thought that this guy was Pete, her ex husband, hence the reference to him in this chapter. I may be wrong, he mayjust have been a live in lover, so please excuse if it is a mistake.

Enjoy, this is a nice fluffy chapter before we return to that thing called a plot...

Chapter 8

She looked around Booth's apartment, taking in her surroundings. It was immaculately tidy with several photos adorning the place, mainly of his son Parker.

"You have a nice place," she told him truthfully.

"Thank you," he replied, holding out his hand to take her coat. Brennan felt the slight strangeness of the situation. She was in Booth's house in a different capacity to what she was normally and she wasn't quite sure what to say or how to act. Something urged her to talk about work, it was a safe topic, but she felt that wasn't appropriate.

"I'm going to start cooking," Booth – Seeley – announced. "You can wait in here or join me in the kitchen," he offered, smiling at her.

"I'll watch you cook. It'll be interesting to see how you manage," she smiled a little shyly and followed him into the kitchen.

"I'll manage just fine," he said, a little arrogantly and begun to unpack the grocery bag. "There are wine glasses in there," he pointed to a cupboard and then put a corkscrew on the kitchen table. She found the glasses, her confidence showing through and acting like she had been in that kichen a million times before,and began to uncork the wine, sitting down at the table and watching him as he handily took out implements and set about preparing dinner.

He was right, he did know what he was doing and for a few minutes she simply watched him, chopping and dicing vegetables, preparing the duck, and an elaborate looking sauce that he hadn't needed a recipe for. She was impressed.

"So, how did you get so good at this?" She asked, once he had finished chopping.

"Living in my own for so long and entertaining beautiful women. Cooking impresses the ladies," he shot a grin back at her.

"Do you often cook for other women?" She felt something she identified as jealousy race through her and took a long drink of her wine.

He placed the veggies in a pot and came to sit beside her at the table, picking up the wine he hadn't yet touched. He glanced at her, his expression serious for once. "I haven't dated anyone in a while, Tempe," he admitted. "So you're the only woman I've cooked for recently."

She eyed him and reached for the bottle to top up her glass. "I feel like I should be honoured," she smiled, pouring a generous helping of wine. She added more to his glass also.

He smiled back, almost shyly, playing with the glass' stem, running his fingers gently up and down it, occasionally twirling it round. She noticed the ease of his touch and wondered what it would be like for his fingers to touch her. She tried to shrug of the thought, and then stopped. It wasn't an unpleasant imagining. "Nah, I'm just an old FBI agent. It's me whose honoured, having the famous Temperance Brennan here, forensic anthropologist and author. I'm sure many men would be envious," he stood up and went to check his cooking, putting the prepared duck in the oven and setting a timer.

"I doubt it!" Brennan responded. "I'm not sure that they would like the reality of eating with someone who does what I do all day!"

He laughed softly and sat back down. "You say you've not had a relationship that wasn't based on convenience – but you were married, weren't you?"

Brennan rolled her eyes. "Just because I had the idiocy to marry Pete doesn't mean that it wasn't because it was convenient. He and I went to university together. It was very easy to get married to him, and obviously it was easy for him, although he didn't find it easy to actually stick to his vows." The tone in her voice let Booth know what her thoughts were on the subject.

"You don't see yourself ever getting back together with him?" He asked.

Brennan laughed. "No, in a word. That ship has sunk. What about you and Parker's mom?"

Booth smiled slightly and shook his head. "I think you mean 'that ship has sailed'! She's engaged and I think she probably wishes that Parker's dad was the man she was with now."

"No, I did mean sank. It's a good description of mine and Pete's relationship. Why did you and she split up?" Brennan asked. This wasn't a conversation she had ever dreamed of having with Booth, but somehow, given the circumstances it seemed right to have it tonight.

"Work. I worked all the time and she thought I was neglecting her and Parker. I probably was, although I didn't intend to. She left me when Parker was nine months old and moved in with Carl – the man she's with now," he explained.

"That must be hard, having another man bring up your child," she said, trying to stop anthropological studies of cultures where that happened frequently from coming into her mind.

"Yeah, it is. She's not keen on me seeing him all that often, but he knows who his daddy is," he smiled. Talking about Parker usually made him smile.

"You like being a father, don't you?" She said, smiling at him as he drank his wine.

He nodded before swallowing. "Parker's great. I just wish he was with me more often. He does have a good mom though, and his step dad is okay too, but…" he tapped his finger on the table in annoyance.

"He may chose to be with you when he's older, Booth. He could get that option," she tried to comfort.

Booth smiled at her and she felt her heart melt a little bit more. "I know," he paused. "So Pete was unfaithful to you?" He asked openly.

Brennan nodded. "By the time I found out it was just a good excuse to end the marriage. It had been a stupid idea in the first place and if I'd thought about it logically it never would have happened."

"But love's not about being logical," he replied.

"Attraction is," she looked up at him. "Through pheromones the body can identify whether a person would be a good match to produce children with, and if the other person can make up for any deficiencies and hence produce healthy offspring. It's a survival instinct."

Booth laughed. "It's more than that, Tempe, and you know it. Fair enough, there may be chemicals involved and pheromones, but that can only last for a short while before either a relationship dissolves or something else is there kicks in. There needs to be something to explain why some couples stay together all their lives and other last a night, months or a few years."

"Societies mores and norms can answer a lot of that. Couples in years gone by would stay together because that was what was expected of them. It wouldn't mean that they were happy, or weren't having affairs. In one culture women mate with a man and they bring the child up on their own, not maintaining a relationship with its father. Love certainly does not make the world go round," she felt that she was becoming too serious for a date.

"So explain us," he demanded, the question taking her by surprise.

"What's 'us'?" She asked, needing clarification.

"Us. Sat here now, having a date after working together for so long. We agreed it was a date, Temperance, so you're not here to just talk about work," he responded.

She looked thoughtful for a second.

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He expected her to begin a long diatribe involving chemicals and societal rules, and was surprised when it didn't come.

"I don't know," she said softly after taking a gulp of her wine. The answer knocked him back and he laughed.

"Maybe it's just something we have to get out of our system," she said a little tentatively.

He filled up her glass and emptied the bottle. They had been drinking quickly. Thankfully he already had more wine in. It looked like they would need it.

"Maybe it is," he replied. He knew it wasn't. He knew well by now that he couldn't go a day without at least having some contact with Brennan. She had become as vital to him as oxygen. They provoked each other and argued almost incessantly some days, but that fire only added to the attraction. He got jealous when she had gone on dates with other men and when her ex boyfriend had turned up, something he wasn't prone to doing. He'd been jealous once just because she'd had an hour long conversation with some man on the phone about a university they'd both attended, so much so that he'd managed to get his name and check him out, feeling slightly stupid when he'd found out that he'd been in a relationship for five years with his partner who was called Michael. That same night, he'd gone out with Tessa for a meal at a posh restaurant. She'd talked endlessly about a new lawyer who had started at her office, telling him all about how he'd used to model and how intelligent he was. Booth had responded by telling her to go out with him except she'd taken that as a sign that he'd been jealous. He hadn't; he'd meant it. And that was the beginning of the end of him and Tessa.

Bones looked at little blankly at him and he wondered if he had given her the right response. He hadn't told her truth, but he doubted he'd get very far into a relationship with her if he confessed his undying love right here and now. Was that it? He wondered to himself as he stood up to check their meal. Was he in love with her?

She was quiet for a few minutes while he added something extra to the pot with the duck in it and he worried a little about whether he should have said that he didn't think it was something they just needed to get out of their systems.

"Nearly ready," he told her, sitting back down. She gave him that smile that was one of the reasons he wanted to get up in the mornings. Get up and see her.

"It smells good," she said, sniffing appreciatively. "Do you have many hidden talents?"

He laughed, grateful for the change in conversation. "I might let you find out some more of them if you're lucky!"

"If Angela heard you say that she'd want to know what you were implying," Brennan laughed with him.

"Where is Angela tonight?" He asked. "She's usually with you till quite late, I was surprised that she wasn't still at the lab."

"She's gone on another date with her boyfriend," Brennan informed him.

"So he's become the 'boyfriend' then?" Booth pulled a face that made Brennan laugh. It made him feel like some knight to be able to make her smile or laugh like that.

"It seems so. She's all loved up and talking almost non stop about him. The only time today she took a breather from telling me how his body looked naked was when she…" Brennan stopped mid flow.

"When she what?" Booth pushed, having a feeling that they had been talking about him. In fact, he imagined that right after Angela had finished talking to him she would have gone straight to her friend and said a few choice things. He doubted she had told Brennan that they had had such a conversation, but he got the feeling that Angela was desperate for Bones to have a little love in her life.

"She asked me about you," Bones said evasively.

"And what did you say?"

"That you had strong pectorals."

He laughed heartily, realising that there was a lot that he could probably read into that statement without being wrong. He was aware that reading people was one of his fortes, and if he was reading Bones correctly then she was attracted to him. He wondered if it was just pheromones as she said, or whether it was something more. He went to the cooker as the timer rang and began to get everything ready to serve. "There a candle in that cupboard over there and a table cloth, if you would," he nodded to the cupboard that he meant and she stood and got out the items, laying them out then getting cutlery from the drawer.

He noticed how they moved about each other, not clashing about the small area. She put her hands on his hips as she moved passed him, a gesture that startled him. She wasn't an especially tactile person, and he had seen her flinch when touched on occasion. She'd set the table by the time he'd put out the food, pleased with his efforts.

"Shall we have some more wine?" She asked him, standing close. He left the two plates on the kitchen work top and turned around to face her. His eyes locked with hers and he found his hand moving up to her face, brushing her jaw with his fingers. He felt her shudder at his touch, and realised that she had enjoyed the small sensation and had felt the chemistry that was flowing between them.

He decided to take his chances. He bent slightly and moved toward her to kiss her, stopping just short and giving her the opportunity to move to him and accept the kiss. She did, and he felt their lips touch.

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She had wanted him to kiss her, that had been why she had stood so close in the first place, but even so, when his lips finally met hers she had almost fell down with the intensity of it. It started off as a gently, rather like how a powerful wave begins, and then grew in force. She found her arms were wrapped around his neck and his were clutching at her waist, their bodies as close as possible with clothes separating them. She felt as if she was pleasantly drowning as the crest of the wave grew, and her hunger was no longer a hunger for the food that Booth had cooked, but for the chef instead.

Eventually, the kiss ended. They stood, still clutching at each other, both a little taken back by what had happened. She looked into his eyes, searching for an answer to a question she wasn't sure of yet. He looked back at her, a grin slowly forming on his face. He didn't say anything, but the silence was not uncomfortable. Instead his mouth again moved to hers and began another kiss, less intense than the first but with a depth that Brennan had not experienced before, even with her ex husband. She wondered how she was going to continue to stand up; her legs felt as if they had been turned to something unable to withstand her weight and she was aware that he was practically holding her up. But she daren't break away from the kiss, it felt too good.

After several months of denying that she had any feelings for the FBI agent other than annoyance the kiss came as a relief, a venting. She was aware of his taste, of the feel of his lips soft against hers and the impossible joy of his grip. He was the one controlling it, the pace of it, its depth and force. His hands were gently holding her, but they were firm. She felt safely on fire, and it all felt so right, like the pieces of a jigsaw that had been clicked together.

The kiss changed, he changed it into quick, hard touches of the lips, leaving her gasping for more. Her hand rose to the back of his head and pushed him back to her. He obliged and their lips locked once more. She could feel the passion grow again, and although their hands had stayed still, she was aware that at some point they would want to wander and the kiss would go further. She knew that was what she wanted, this need in her that Booth had created to be fulfilled, but she knew that it shouldn't be tonight. If it was then it would only be out of convenience, to scratch an itch, and she wasn't sure whether this was something out of convenience, even if he thought it might. He was a good man, maybe he was worth taking a risk on.

Eventually lingering lips parted and he looked at her, smiling, their bodies still close and her arms still wrapped around his neck, his around her waist. She realised that he didn't look worried or regretful, or confused or smug, just happy.

"We should eat," he said, not letting her go. "Before it gets too cold."

She nodded, looking down toward her feet that she could barely see. One of his hands moved from her waist and a finger pushed up her chin so she met his eyes.

"You're still holding me, Tempe. You've not slapped me yet, or tried to give me the anthropological reason for what's just happened," he said softly. She found herself smiling, her surprising shyness waning.

"You didn't force me to kiss you," she said, her hands moving down his back and under the top his shirt. She felt goose bumps appear on his back as she touched him and was pleased by the reaction she could cause in him.

"No, that's true," he paused. "We should eat this food. It would be a shame to let it get too cold." He bent down and gave her a quick kiss before unwrapping himself from her and picking up the plates, putting them down at the table. She sat down with him, knowing that she could hide the smile she wore on her face. But that smile was mirrored on his as well, and she knew that what had just happened between them had affected him just as much as her.

She found she was hungry as they both began to eat, and the meal, if not piping hot, was delicious.

"How did you do this?" She asked.

"What? Become so irresistible to forensic anthropologists?"

She laughed despite herself and shook her head. "Cook so well?"

Booth shook his head. "It's just something I can do. I've never had lessons. I like nice food and I think I have good taste." His eyes twinkled at her.

She felt herself flush a little, understanding the hint he had given her, but her eyes remained meeting his. They ate quickly, both hungry, and said very little. Brennan noticed how he was smiling more than she ever seen and something told her that that was because of her.

Once they had finished she collected the plates and took them over to the sink. Standing there, she felt arms snake round her from behind her close and her back made contact with Booth's chest. He began to kiss her neck, moving her hair gently out of the way. She felt her eyes close, holding onto the sides of the sink for support. She knew that they ought to discuss what was happening, but this was so much easier.

Then her phone rang. Booth stopped what he was doing and paused as if in shock at being interrupted.

"I should get that," she sighed, and hunted for her bag.

Angela's name showed up on the caller id. "Ange?" She answered.

" Tempe, there's a problem at the lab."

(TBC)

Thank you to everyone who hasreviewed so far, particularly if you've done every chapter (feyrey and Sonnet, Slayergirlkal, Stephanie519, Canadiangirl, Erkith, Gossipgirl1031, Dianmonds in the Sky, and Azarethangel among others!).