Love like This

Chapter 2

Booth woke early the next morning to the sound of the shower running and found himself a little disappointed that she hadn't waited for him. All sorts of things ran through his head and he wondered if she was regretting their actions after all. He wasn't. He had never cared for a woman like he did his Bones. As much as she aggravated him, he found her fascinating. As much as she argued with him, he couldn't stay away from her. He still wasn't sure how he'd fallen for the one person who frustrated him like no other. Maybe it was the fact that she was the most genuine person he'd ever met. What you saw was what you got with Bones. She wasn't the type of woman who played games with a man, unlike Parker's mother Rebecca, and even Tessa to some extent. Things with Tessa were nice when they actually got a chance to be together, but most of his time was spent with Bones. If he was honest with himself, he would admit that he hadn't minded it so much. Many times, Tessa would be at his place when he arrived home, but his thoughts would still be with his partner. Did she go home after he had left her at the lab that night or did she stay and work late as usual? He and Tessa had fun, but they really didn't have anything worthwhile to begin with.

It was different with Temperance though. One night of intense lovemaking and he was hooked. Who am I kidding, he thought to himself. He had been captivated by her for some time, but yesterday had finally brought about the opportunity for him to show her. Closing his eyes, he pictured her body as she cried out his name, the intensity in her eyes. He smiled, remembering how he had called her name, too. He shifted uncomfortably underneath the blankets, finding himself wanting her again. His prayers were answered when she strolled into the bedroom with a towel wrapped around her torso.

"You're awake," she said with a small smile. Booth smiled in return and crooked a finger at her, motioning for her to come to him. She obliged and he pulled her down onto the bed next to him. "Booth," she whimpered, only halfway resisting the kisses he placed on her neck and shoulders. Her skin was still wet from the shower. "We have to get to work." Her breathing picked up as his hand ran along her thigh, his long fingers sneaking past the edge of the towel. "I need to get to the lab and look at the reports that the team probably left for me." She tingled with pleasure as his fingers crept closer to her most sensitive flesh. Her legs parted of their own will.

"It's only six-thirty," Booth said. He abandoned the warmth underneath her towel and received a low, albeit, sexy growl for his teasing. He opted instead to remove the towel altogether. He moved until he was hovering above her and bent down to take a hard nipple into his mouth. Temperance moaned loudly and he was almost ready to abandon the game he had started. He felt himself growing harder at the noises she was making, but he forced himself to keep control as his kisses moved down passed her navel. His tongue delved into the smooth, soft flesh, pink with arousal, and it was his turn to moan at the taste and scent of her. He felt her fingers in his hair, tugging roughly, and his hands moved to steady her hips.

Temperance thought she would die from the pure, delicious torture of it.

It was nine o'clock by the time they had finally pulled away from each other.

"This is your entire fault, I hope you know. I wanted to get there early and make up for all of the time I took off," Temperance said as she sat on the passenger side of the SUV.

"I'll gladly take the blame," Booth said giving her a cheeky smile. "And besides, you only took of a half a day really. We'll get this case solved in no time," he said.

"You didn't even have time to go home and change. Angela has eyes like a hawk. She's going to know that something is up."

"Bones, will you calm down? No one is going to know anything. Besides, would it be so bad if they did? I don't mind people knowing how I feel about you," he said with conviction.

Temperance looked over to him, her gaze softening. "Booth, its not that I'm afraid of people knowing…" she trailed off suddenly uncertain. "It's just that…well, I've never actually felt this way about someone before and I was hoping that we could just enjoy it privately for a while. I know that Angela only means well, but if she finds out, we'll never hear the end of it. She'll only make it harder for us to keep our professional and personal lives separate."

Booth reached over to take her hand and placed a kiss on her fingers. "Don't worry, Bones. I don't mind keeping this just between us for now. I kind of like having you to myself, too."

Temperance smiled at him fondly and Booth let go of her hand as he pulled the vehicle into her reserved parking spot.

"Don't worry, Bones," he said as they walked inside. She was looking a little antsy. "We're professionals. We'll do our jobs just like any other day." She gave him a stiff nod and he could almost see the 'lets get down to business' persona wash over her. Giving her one last crooked smile, they entered the Jeffersonian ready to get to work.

Temperance could feel his eyes on her as she worked. Every so often she would throw a discreet glance his way, only to find that he was looking off someplace else. Images of last night and that morning continually ran through her head. Sex with Michael had been great, but it had never distracted her from her work. Booth had been on her mind non stop.

So far, none of the others had noticed anything different between them. If Angela had, she wouldn't have wasted anytime commenting on it in front of everyone. They had done well in hiding the change in their relationship though. They had even bickered some and it wasn't just for the sake of hiding their newfound love.

Love?

It couldn't be love, Temperance thought as she held a tiny, jagged piece of metal underneath the magnifying glass. She would know if it was love. Looking up at the feel of his stare again, her heart fluttered and she wondered why he wasn't doing work at his own office. She already couldn't get him out of her head. She didn't need his physical presence reminding her as well.

After instructing Zack to try and find out what type of metal it was and where it came from, she headed to her office. Booth hadn't followed her right away and she was glad for the breather. She had never been so overwhelmed by one person before. As she sat at her desk doing paperwork, she found herself wanting to feel his kisses and the touch of his hands.

This has to stop, she said to herself. Her work was too important to be distracted by a man. The slightest slip in concentration and she could miss an important detail. She decided that she was going to send him away when he came into her office speaking into his cell phone. He snapped it shut after a few minutes and looked at her.

"We've got a lead, Bones."

With a sigh, she grabbed what she needed and followed him without hesitation.

A few hours later, they had discovered that Carol Montgomery and her husband Ron had been seen leaving their house at nearly three in the morning, one day before he had reported her missing, something he had failed to mention in their initial questioning of him. He had just moved up to number one in the short list of suspects they had gathered so far.

Now, they were at the park, sitting in a small gazebo that was facing the water. It was a bright and clear day and Booth had insisted on going there for lunch, but not much consumption was happening.

"Booth, I thought we came here to eat," Temperance said in between his kisses. She couldn't have stopped him even if she wanted to. It didn't make any sense. There was no reason for her to be feeling so out of control around this man just because they'd had sex together.

"We did come here to eat," he said devouring her lips.

"I though you meant food, not each other," she said, causing Booth to shake with laughter.

"Don't I taste good?" he asked.

Temperance thought about it for a moment. "Well, if I had to guess, I'd say that you tasted like some sort of mint flavor."

Booth smiled. "I've been eating breath mints all morning."

"Well, as pleasant as you taste, I don't think it's going to stop my hunger pangs." She reached around him and grabbed for the bag of sandwiches they had picked up earlier and then leaned back against him comfortably.

Booth sat back and watched as she took a small nibble of her sandwich, taking a bite when she offered it to him. "What are you thinking about?" he asked her after a few minutes. She picked at the crust of the bread before answering.

"I'm thinking that you're distracting me from my work," she answered honestly. She looked up at him to see that he was proud of the fact, judging by the smirk on his face.

"That's okay. You distract me, too," he said leaning down for yet another kiss. He was stopped by her hand over his mouth.

"No, Booth. That's all we've been doing is kissing."

"Again, that's okay," he smiled.

"I have to be able to focus fully on my work and I couldn't do that this morning when you were around." She had a feeling that it didn't really matter whether he was there or not. "What if I had missed some key piece of evidence? In our line of work, that could make or break the case."

Booth put an arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer. "Relax, Bones. You're getting all worked up for nothing."

"I hardly call missing some key piece of evidence nothing."

"Ah, but you see, you didn't miss any key pieces of evidence…"

"Yeah, that we know of…"

"You see what you're doing here? You're making up all these scenarios because you're scared…"

"Scared of what?" she interrupted. Her gaze traveled out over the water as he spoke.

"You're scared of what you're feeling for me," he said matter-of-factly. "It's perfectly normal for new lovers to be consumed by each other."

"Well, I've had lovers before and I've never felt this way." She just knew he was grinning and looked up to confirm her suspicions. She rolled her eyes and stood to walk to the entrance of the gazebo.

"Why'd you get up?" he asked following her.

She could feel his warmth on her back and she forced herself not to lean into it. "Well, I wasn't sure if there was room on the bench for me anymore. Your head and your ego seem to be growing by the second," she huffed.

Booth chuckled. "Oh, come on, Bones. I'm absolutely flattered that I'm the only man you've ever felt this way about. I feel the same way." He moved until he was pressed against her and his hands snuck around to splay across her abdomen.

"I find that hard to believe," she told him.

"What?" he asked confused. "Why?"

She turned around in his embrace to look him in the eye. "I find it hard to believe that I'm the only woman you've ever felt this way about. You're a romantic, Booth. I can't imagine that you didn't feel this way about Parker's mother and maybe even Tessa," she shrugged. Tessa was still a bit of a mystery. She knew that they had dated for several months, but she still wasn't sure why things hadn't worked out between them.

Booth thought about her statements. She wasn't completely wrong. He did have strong feelings for Rebecca, especially in the beginning of their relationship, and Tessa…Tessa was a long story. "True, but it's still different," he said, not bothering to clarify and glad that she hadn't asked him to. Maybe he was a little scared at how he was feeling, too. "I'll tell you what," he said pulling her into a hug, "I'll drop you off at home so you can get your car and then I'll go back to my office. That way, maybe we can both get some work done today," he smiled. Temperance thanked him with a kiss.

Booth sat in his office going over the case notes they had gathered so far. Now, he was starting to understand what Bones meant when she said she couldn't concentrate.

Focus, Seeley, focus.

He read over a few more notes and then his mind inevitably drifted back to her. He wondered if she wanted to get together after work. He knew that she would want to work late as some sort of penance for taking the day off, but he wasn't going to let her. He'd let her work until six, unless they got a lead, and then he was going to take her to dinner. With any luck, they would be spending the night together again.

It suddenly occurred to him that they still hadn't really talked about what they wanted out of their impromptu relationship. They had established that they cared about each other, but he was pretty sure they cared about each other before, too. Maybe he should ask her to be his girlfriend.

"Or maybe I'm getting ahead of myself," he said aloud. He decided that it would be best to just let things happen naturally. It seemed to be working for them so far.

They had gotten another lead before the day was finished and now they were walking back to the car in silence. Temperance looked over at Booth who was quietly fuming.

They had to talk to the victim's mother again. The husband was no longer cooperating and they needed to know if there were any problems in the marriage that might have caused Ron to have grief with his wife. They found out that Ron had an affair nearly five months ago, but supposedly, it had ended.

As they were leaving, the woman asked how her daughter had died, saying that Ron hadn't really told her much.

"There was extensive damage to her skull and several of her vertebrae…" Booth let out a relived sigh that she had kept the explanation brief.

"…the mandible jawbone and the temporal bone were crushed by some sort of blunt object and there were three stab wounds to her back..."

Booth looked at the agony on the woman's face and hung his head at his partner's tactlessness. She really was clueless when it came to other people's feelings and that was exactly why he'd made the comments that day in the lab.

"Booth, you're upset," she said once they were seated inside of the vehicle.

"Ya think?" he replied while starting the engine.

"Well, I'm not completely sure I understand why. I'm assuming that it must have been something I said."

"Bones, you have got to learn to be more sensitive to the feelings of the victims. Did you really have to go into the gory details back there?" He looked at her confused face. How could he be falling in love with her one moment and infuriated with her the next?

"She asked for the truth about what happened to her daughter. I gave it to her. You heard her in there, Booth. Ron Montgomery wouldn't tell her what really happened," she defended. "You might be surprised at how many people appreciate the plain truth."

"Oh, so now you're the expert on people?" She didn't say anything and he knew he should have stopped while he was ahead. "You know, I was thinking about having Parker over his weekend, but now I'm not so sure it's a good idea."

"Why not?" she asked incredulously.

"Because, Bones, there are certain things that a child doesn't need to hear or be exposed to and I'm not sure you could handle being cautious around him, especially if the way you handle some of these victim's families is any indication."

"What? You think you have to protect Parker from me?" She was shocked. Hadn't it been just last night and this morning that they were making love? Now, here he was treating her like he had during some of their first cases together.

"Look, all I'm saying is that you aren't really the best when it comes to discretion. I'm not sure if I'm ready for Parker to be exposed to the naked truth about certain things." He had a white knuckled grip on the steering wheel.

"Kids are a lot smarter than we give them credit for. Telling a child the truth will only be better for him in the long run."

"Well, guess what, Bones? You're not the one that gets to decide that. I am because I'm his father."

The rest of the trip was made in hostile silence. Booth stole glances at her occasionally, but he couldn't see her face as she stared out the window. How had they gone from being lovey-dovey to biting each other's heads off? Was this how it would always be if they were to continue in a relationship? He wasn't sure if he wanted to deal with such an up and down rapport. It was bad enough when they were only fpartbers, and it would only make things even more difficult now that they were lovers.

By the time they reached the Jeffersonian, Booth had decided that he was too hard on her. If they were going to try and have something together then they certainly needed to get off to a better start. He came to a stop in front of the massive building and put the car in park.

"Listen, Temperance…" he began, but she was opening the door before he even finished saying her name. He watched as she walked quickly inside the building and he debated on whether or not to go after her. His cell phone chose that moment to ring and he saw that it was Cullen. Fist slamming into the steering wheel, he put the car in drive and sped away.