Thank you all for the lovely feedback! Here's another idea I had – loosely inspired by two very cute limes from my other obsession, Fantasy Island. Enjoy!


Slow Burn

She's not sure what lead to this. A close call with a heavily armed perp, a few celebratory drinks, a moment of weakness or those stupid brown eyes of his, but it's morning, she's in his bed and her dress is on the floor, but at least there's no evidence to suggest that they...

No. She refuses to even entertain that thought.

There is, however, one silver lining, he's still fast asleep. She slides out from under the covers, careful not to disturb him as she quietly collects her belongings and pulls on her dress. Holding her breath as she tiptoes towards the sliding door, opening it just far enough to slip out.

Magnum wakes up with a smile on his face, recalling the memories of the previous night. They had been up late, talking about everything and nothing, just enjoying each others company – until he hugged her good-night, lingering just a little longer than he should have. But it was Juliet who leaned in first.

The rest of the night was a blur of mumbled apologies and heated kisses that eventually turned into an unhurried, gentle exploration in his bedroom until the events of the day caught up with them and they fell asleep side-by-side.

Wanting to continue where they left off, he reaches over (eyes still closed), only to find the space empty, the sheets cool under his palm.

xoxo

"Hey Kumu, have you seen Juliet?" The P.I. asks as he enters the kitchen of the main house. He considered letting Juliet come to him, but he knows her well enough to predict that that would lead to a couple of very awkward days (if not weeks).

"Good morning to you too Thomas," Kumu replies, giving him a stern – but warm – look.

"Apologies, good morning," he flashes her a smile and helps himself to some coffee.

"So have you seen her?"

"You just missed her, she said she had some errands to run."

"Oh," he frowns. "Did she seem upset?"

"Why would she be upset, did something happen? What did you do?" She raises an eyebrow at him.

"Why do you think I did something?" He laughs, trying his best to appear nonchalant.

"Well, you're looking for her and you're worried that she's upset, so you must be arguing about something."

"You'd be surprised," he takes a sip of coffee to hide his smile, before the anxiety creeps back into his mind. "Can I ask you something?"

"Of course," Kumu replies.

"You've known Juliet and me for a while. Did you ever think that we, I mean hypothetically…"

"Sit down Thomas," she orders.

He does as he's told and joins her at the breakfast counter.

"Why is this coming up now?"

"Last night, we..." he takes a deep breath, contemplating how much he should tell her. "We had a moment."

"A moment?"

"A very nice moment," he elaborates, earning an encouraging smile from her. "But now she's running errands."

"I see," she nods. "To answer your hypothetical question, it's obvious that you care a great deal for each other, you always have. And there's always been a spark between you. Truth be told, I'm still surprised you didn't ignite it right after you moved in here, all that bickering…"

He laughs, but he has to admit that she's not wrong.

"But then you became partners and friends and created boundaries to protect that friendship because it means the world to you."

"And she doesn't want to jeopardize that…"

"It's not my place to to tell you what to do, but I do think that denying yourselves what you really want is ultimately going to be the bigger risk."

"How do I tell her that?" He asks, looking down.

"I think she already knows," she gives him a little nudge.

"Thanks Kumu."

xoxo

Juliet doesn't return to Robin's Nest until the late afternoon, hoping that the reason for her excursion is hiding out at La Mariana's – but the Ferrari in the driveway tells her that she's not that lucky. After putting the groceries away (she really did have some shopping to do, just maybe not in five different stores), she retreats to her office where she finds Magnum asleep on one of the lounge chairs…

"Of course," she huffs and steps back towards the exit when…

"Are you really gonna do that twice in one day?" He says, opening his eyes.

"I didn't want to disturb you," she counters.

"Oh, so you were just being polite then."

"Whatever," she snaps back. "Just get it all out of your system, so we can move on."

"Come on, Is that really what you want?" He sits up, looking at her with the same sincerity she saw the night before – and it's terrifying.

"You're my best friend," she swallows hard, trying to focus her eyes on anything but him.

"Higgy…" he wants to hold her, kiss the top of her head and tell her that he's not going anywhere, but she's not quite there yet. "Can we talk about this?"

She hesitates for a moment before she crosses the room and takes a seat in the chair next to his – all without making eye contact.

"Why did you really leave this morning?" He asks softly.

"I panicked," she shrugs.

He nods understandingly "Listen, before you say anything else I need you to know that no matter what happened, or happens between us…" he pauses, making sure he has her full attention.

"…I'm always gonna be your friend."

"Friends don't do what we did last night," she argues, finally meeting his gaze.

"Hey, we're both single and it was strictly PG-13. No harm done," he replies, giving her an out (if she wants it).

"Right…" she agrees somewhat reluctantly. "But …" She takes a deep breath. "What if it were to happen again?"

"Then I guess Kumu was right…"

"You told Kumu?" She looks at him in horror. "Do Rick and T.C. know, too?"

"Give me some credit! I left out the details. And of course they don't, they'd never let me hear the end of it…"

"You know that whatever she's imagining is going to be so much worse, than what actually happened! I can't leave you alone for five minutes…"

"In my defense, you were gone all day."

"That's not the point…" she stops, when she notices him smiling at her. "What?"

"This," he gestures between them and laughs. "I don't think we have anything to worry about."

She can't help but return the smile, their dynamic really was something special. "So, what did she tell you?"

"In a nutshell? That you want me," he replies matter of factly.

"Magnum, I swear…"

"I'm not kidding!" He raises his hands in defense. "She said, that we shouldn't deny ourselves what we really want."

There's that sincerity again, but this time it's reassuring.

"So you do? Want this, I mean," she blushes a little.

"Under one condition."

"Yes?"

"The next time you kiss me good-night, I get to kiss you good-morning."

She raises an eyebrow, weighing her options. "That sounds reasonable."

"Good," he leans forward and brushes his lips against the corner of her mouth.

"You know where to find me, friend," with that he gets up and heads back to the guest house – leaving a slightly perplexed, but smiling, Juliet behind.


That's it, I leave it up to you to decide if he gets his good-night kiss or not.

Feedback is always appreciated, and i hope to finish the next one-shot by Valentines day. I have a rather sweet idea.

Love,

Laura