A/N: This whole chapter is basically not-very-explicit smut. You've been warned.


Neither of them was laughing by the time they reached his apartment half an hour later. Bobby's grip on her hand had tightened so much that it was almost painful, but Alex, wondering what in the world she was doing following this lion into his den, was too distracted to protest as she allowed herself to be led inside.

He paused a few feet into the apartment, let go of her hand, and moved his hands to her shoulders. "Alex."

She pulled to a surprised stop at the touch and looked up at him. "What?"

"Are we . . ." He broke off to drop a feather-light kiss on her forehead, then let his lips linger there as he went on, "Are we ok? I need you to understand . . ."

She leaned into him, nodding. "I do. But there's something I need you to understand, too," she added as she wound her arms around his neck.

Distracted by the sensation of her breasts pressing into his chest, he barely managed to mumble, "What?"

"If we do this . . . tonight . . ." Her head settled into the hollow of his shoulder as she stretched her body up, and her lips brushed his neck, eliciting a soundless shudder from him. "If we do this, that's it. No rewinding, no backpedaling. No more going to Danielle, or anyone else, because you're angry at me. Do you understand me?"

"Alex -" he began, speaking into her hair.

Before he could say anything else, she kept going. "Tonight is your second chance. And I don't think I have it in me to give you a third, Bobby."

"Alex," he said again, touching her cheek lightly with one hand in an effort to bring her words to a halt.

She let out a breath against the skin of his neck, but said nothing more.

He put two fingers under her chin and forced it up so he could see her eyes. "You are what I've been hiding from. I'd . . . I'd rather fight with you than go to bed with someone else, so as long as I have you - as long as you want me to have you - you're it."

She acknowledged that with a short, silent nod, and then brushed his fingers away and turned her face into his neck again, trailing light kisses down from his jawline to the collar of his shirt. "This is a bad idea," she mumbled between kisses. "For so many reasons."

One of his hands slipped down to rest on her hip, fingers skimming daringly over the skin above the waistband of her pants. "Do you want to stop?" he asked quietly, even as he pulled her closer to him and savored the touch of her lips.

She shook her head and abandoned his neck long enough to pull her head back and look up at him with a tiny smile. "Half the things I do with you on any given day are bad ideas." Noticing the intensity in his eyes, she paused long enough to allow him to dip his head and kiss her hungrily, then pulled back after a few seconds and gave him a teasing shake of her head. "But somehow, most of them seem to work out ok."

"Alex . . ." Without warning, he dropped his hands to her shoulders again and pushed her back against the wall.

Keeping her arms around his neck, she allowed herself to be moved, smothering a giggle when he didn't seem to notice that he'd moved so quickly and was pressing her so firmly against the wall that her feet had left the ground and were dangling an inch above the carpet. "Why, Detective! Where's your self control?" she murmured, using one of her homeless feet to rub his ankle teasingly.

His response was to groan and thrust a hand into her hair, dislodging the clip that she had been using to hold it back. Surprised at feeling plastic instead of skin, he pulled his hand back and opened his eyes to see what he was holding. It took him a second to identify it in the semi-darkness, and then he gave her a sheepish look and held it up."Uh, sorry."

Without speaking, she just took it from him and clipped it to her shirt just above one hip, then turned her attention to tugging his shirt out of his pants so she could get her hands on his skin. "Bobby . . ."

He groaned again, the muscles of his abdomen reflexively tightening at the touch of her hand, and bent one of her legs up to his hip, his thumb caressing her thigh through the slightly rough fabric of her wool slacks.

The movement brought her hips forward, and she let out a quiet sigh at the feel of his hardness against her, then redoubled her efforts to render his upper body bare. "Too many layers," she muttered against his shoulder as she pushed his shirt off it.

That got a quiet chuckle out of Bobby, and he stopped kissing her long enough to pull back and look pointedly at the suit jacket and blouse she was still wearing. "You're telling me."

"Then why don't you do something about it?" she challenged with a grin.

That was all the encouragement he needed, and within seconds he'd pulled her jacket down her arms, tossed it to the side, and latched his mouth onto her neck while he toyed with the top button of her blouse. "Better?"

"Mmmm. Off," she managed through a groan, trying to pull his undershirt over his head without moving hers.

He gently pushed her head away and obeyed the order, not paying attention long enough to watch the shirt land on the floor next to her jacket. "Your turn."

"Oh, is it?" she said with a smirk, touching one finger to his lips and then slowly trailing it down to the top of his pants. "I kind of like the status quo, actually."

"I bet you do." He nipped lightly at her neck and then laved the spot with his tongue, earning himself a shudder and a thrust of her hips, and returned his hands to her buttons, this time making quick work of them. "Ah," he managed reverently as he parted the sides of the blouse and slid it down her arms. "Alex . . ."

Not giving him time to continue, she tightened her arms around his neck, hooked her raised leg around his waist, and kissed him, hard.

The action ripped a moan out of him. Clamping a hand down on her hip, he thrust up against her and dropped his head to kiss the top of her breasts, which were being displayed by a bra that was black and white, satiny, and way too trying to his self-control.

"Bobby," she breathed, arching her back to give him better access. "You - ah!" Her words dropped off and she let her head fall back against the wall as he took the hint and closed his mouth over the satin covering one nipple, at the same time bringing the hand he had on her hip around to work on the fly of her pants.

She moaned thickly as the zipper gave way and his fingers dipped inside to skim over the top of her panties. Bedroom manners dictated that she should return the favor, but for some reason all she could do as his touch moved closer, then teasingly trailed away again, was press her face into his neck and try to keep breathing.

He felt her teeth sink into his neck and smiled to himself as he continued his ministrations, finally venturing under the fabric and feeling her whole body tighten in response.

"Jesus Christ, Bobby," she panted.

"Hmm?" he hummed smugly against her mouth, enjoying his newfound ability to steal her self-control.

She lifted her other leg to hook it around his waist, too, smirking back at him when he sucked in a breath in response to the increased pressure the position caused against his erection. "This might be more comfortable if you didn't have to hold me up and try to undress me at the same time," she murmured, twining her arms around his neck. "Want to give the bed a try?"

His hips jerked involuntarily and he groaned against her cheek, then tightened his hold on her and turned toward his bedroom.