"The Most Eligible Bachelor"
Summary: Summer and Seth are leading separate lives now, but what happens when Summer's story for a leading magazine forces them together?
Disclaimer: I'd like to stake a claim on Adam Brody's dimples, but really, I don't own any of the O.C. characters or story lines.
Chapter Thirteen: Sexy Surprises
When they reached the hotel room, Summer had excused herself so that she could go to the bedroom and change. She rifled through her underwear until she found the black lacy bra and panty set she had bought from Victoria's Secret two years earlier. She had refused to wear them for the longest time, because everyone knows why a girl chooses to wear black underwear, but tonight, she rationalized that they would probably be the 'most comfortable thing.'
After changing her undergarments she put on a silk lavender camisole and matching bottoms and went to the bathroom to wash her face and brush her teeth.
As she walked out of the bathroom with her hair lying messily down her back and her pjs on, Seth swore that he had never seen her look more beautiful. He secretly wondered how it was possible for her to look more beautiful when she went without makeup, when for most other girls, it was the exact opposite.
"You look really pretty," Seth said, with a genuine smile.
"Shut up, Cohen," Summer replied, dipping her head from embarrassment. "It's a pair of pajamas. Not that special."
"I know. It's just, it amazes me how beautiful you can look without any product in your hair or makeup on your face," he said, voicing his internal monologue.
Quickly changing the topic away from herself, Summer offered ordering a bottle or two of wine from room service. Seth agreed, and she dismissed herself into the other room to make the call and give her skin a chance to return to its natural color.
The room service arrived and after a small debate, Seth opened the bottle of Pinot Grigio first. After pouring two glasses of wine, he walked over to where Summer was sitting and handed her one, taking the seat beside her. They sat in a comfortable silence for a moment.
"It's so crazy to think about our two best friends getting married," Summer started, quickly downing her glass of wine and pouring herself another.
"I know what you mean," Seth said, taking a large swig of wine, trying to keep up with Summer's pace.
"It's like just yesterday we were in high school."
"Going to the diner after school together."
"Causing drama. Or helping to solve their drama."
"Yeah, we didn't have too much drama."
"Cohen. We've had our fair share of drama."
"Yeah, but if there was a scale for like the magnitude of the dramatic event, the award would definitely go to the Ryrissa team."
"I guess. There WAS Oliver."
"Don't forget the pregnant ex-girlfriend."
"Need I bring up the felon brother who came to town only to be shot by Marissa after almost killing Ryan who came to fight him after finding out that he, on a previous occasion, tried to rape her?" Summer managed to say in one breath. Seth just laughed. "What?"
"Oh, nothing. I think it's safe to say that you can beat me in the longest sentence in one breath competition when you're drunk," Seth replied. "Oh, and we can't forget surfer Johnny. That was probably the longest bout of drama, so to speak."
"Ok, so they have all that," Summer paused, taking a sip from her fourth glass, "and we have Tahiti, Zach, Anna, Reid and the comic, and-"
"The second comic book project," Seth finished softly, moving to open a the bottle of Shiraz. "All things considered, I think we're amateurs in comparison to our best friends in the drama and angst category," he said, trying to lighten the obvious tension that had just entered the room. The two shared a laugh and realized that they were both well on their way to being drunk.
"Seth, I have a confession to make," Summer said, looking down with an almost shamed expression.
"Ok," he replied, sobering up for a moment.
"Well, earlier, when I went into the kitchen to talk to Marissa and you went into the living room to talk to Ryan, I kind of, may have, I don't know. I didn't want to interrupt, because I heard you talking, and then instead of going away, I listened, because what you were talking about was-"
"You," Seth said, shortly. He nodded his head repeatedly trying to form words, but quickly realized that his intoxicated mind was even worse than his sober mind at formulating coherent thoughts. "Summer, I'm sorry you heard that. I don't want you to be freaked out," he settled on finally, fixing his gaze to a spot on the floor.
"It's not that, Seth," she said in a small voice. "I mean, yeah, it freaked me out. But it was also reassuring," she paused to catch her breath and take a drink. "Reassuring that you expressed what I've been feeling since I first saw you in your office."
Seth's eyes shot up from the floor, and he tried to gauge Summer's emotion through her face. "That's, uh, well. What?"
"Why are we doing this? Hiding this?" Summer said, voice full of emotion and rising by the second. "We're 25 years old! Neither of us have had a second date or a one night stand in 6 years, because we've been waiting for each other!" Seth opened his mouth to say something, but Summer raised her hand to shush him. "And don't even THINK about saying you were the only one waiting, because you didn't attempt to contact me either."
Seth scooted closer to where Summer sat and turned her to face him, taking her hands into his. "Summer, we don't have to wait anymore. If you want this all you have to do is say the word." They sat for several seconds, gazing into each other's eyes trying to read the other's thoughts.
Summer inched her face closer to Seth's until he could almost taste the wine on her breath. After a moment's hesitation, she leaned the rest of the distance until her mouth crashed into his in a passionate kiss.
"Or you can do that, too. That works," Seth joked, breathlessly breaking away for a second, only to be quieted by Summer's lips attacking his again.
As the passion grew, Summer repositioned herself until she was straddling Seth's legs. She slowly grinded her hips into his and let out soft moans, as he left a trail of kisses down her neck. Seth's hands gripped on either side of Summer, moving her hips harder in motion with his own small thrusts.
Summer's shirt was the first article of clothing to hit the floor, but was soon followed by Seth's. As their hot skinned touched, Seth found himself quickly reaching the point of no return. He thought back to the other night, when Summer hadn't wanted their first time back together to occur when they were intoxicated. Right as she reached her hands down to his belt buckle, Seth, despite his desires, reached down to stop her action.
"Oh, so now you want to make this more difficult?" Summer giggled, fighting to get her hands away from Seth.
"Summer, seriously," Seth said, letting a soft smile playing on his grace his lips before a more serious look took over. "We have to stop."
Realizing that Seth was applying the rules of Monday night to tonight's main event, Summer began shaking her head. "No, Cohen. Fuck what I said the other night. That was the first time we saw each other, before I was really aware of what was happening between us. Tonight, we know, without doubt, that we are still in love, and we need to seize this opportunity." Seth looked unconvinced. "I'll let you give me a field sobriety test," Summer joked with a seductive smile.
Seth leaned his head back and rubbed his hands over his face before reinitiating the eye contact between himself and Summer. "You know I can't resist you and your smile. But I have one condition."
"What's that?" Summer asked, willing to do whatever it took to get him to make love to her.
"In the morning, you still have to love me, no matter what," Seth said, softly.
Summer smiled and took Seth's face in her hands. "I could never NOT love you, Cohen." She paused. "But you do have to catch me first," and with that she ran into the bedroom and collapsed on the bed where Seth pounced on top of her.
"I love you, Seth," Summer said, breathless from laughter.
"I love you, too, Sum," he said, smoothing the hair from her face. He leaned in and gave her the sweetest and softest kiss she had ever had, before he slowly reached down to remove the rest of her clothes.
Summer woke up around 8 a.m. at the sound of a knock on her door. She cuddled into Seth's embrace, hoping that it would cease, but after about 2 minutes, she realized whoever was at the door wasn't going away.
She sighed and rose from her bed, careful not to wake Seth. She looked down at Seth as she donned her robe and couldn't help but smile at how adorable he looked in his sleep. Biting her lip to contain the giggle that was about to escape, she exited the bedroom and headed to the door.
When she opened it, she was shocked to see Charley standing there with a suit case and Blanche's pet carrier. "Oh my God, Charley!" Summer exclaimed reaching out to hug her editor and friend. "Blanche!" She said, breaking away to retrieve her dog from her carrier. "What are you guys doing here?"
"Well, are you going to invite us in or what!" Charley said before answering the question. Summer looked apprehensively at the closed bedroom door before stepping out of the way to let her boss into the suite. "You said you wanted your dog with you on vacation, and rather than having someone else do it, I decided I could use a two day vacation, so I came to see you and to hopefully meet Mr. Dimples."
"You are a relentless meddler," she replied, giving Charley an amused smile while Blanche licked her face. The women sat in silence for a couple of seconds while Summer got reacquainted with her 'baby.'
The silence was finally broken by the sound of the bedroom door opening to reveal a half naked Seth. Both women looked over, Charley with a look of amusement and Summer with a look of absolute horror.
"It looks like I won't have to wait too long to meet him after all!" the older woman said, laughing mischievously. Seth just smiled and waved, as the redness quickly overtook his face.
A/N I hope you guys like this chapter. I was going to hold off from the inevitable Seth/Summer hookup, but I couldn't stand it any longer. Charley will stay for a couple of chapters (it's Thursday now, she leaves Friday) and then we will get some Ryrissa, Sethummer, and Kandy action when Summer and Seth go with Ryan and Marissa as they make 'the announcement.' Keep readin', reviewin' and enjoyin' the story. Peace.