Hi everyone, thanks so much for your reviews! This chapter is short because the next one is very long. And it was too much too post them all at once. Still have to have some extra inspiration for some of the parts...

Thanks to Sweepeapatch for being my Beta. Although I did change a few things so a few mistakes might have sneaked in there.. I hope not...

Please stay healthy!

Chapter 14

Beach bar El Tropico, Take 2

'Maybe if you let me touch you instead of the other way around." Richard proposed. Kris had come up with that idea, and it seemed like a good one. He'd feel more in control.

They were sitting at another table then last time when they had practiced here. Richard looked at the spot where Camille had thrown his ice cube only days ago. It felt like weeks. He hadn't ordered anything to drink this time. Making sure that she had nothing to throw with in her near vicinity would be a very good idea...Richard stood up to place an ash tray on the table next to them. He scanned the table, it was empty now. Good.

'Okay.' Camille said carefully. She didn't know what to think of that. But she remembered Kris's words to try and be patient. To not act, to let him act instead of react. She could do that couldn't she? And it was a good thing that he came up with an idea by himself wasn't it? That he was taking initiative in this?

Richard put his arm around her stiffly when he sat down again and Camille started to giggle. "What? What are you doing?" He asked.

"Nothing." Camille shrugged. "It's just... I don't know..' She giggled again as she took a sip of her drink. He acted so stiffly, it made her laugh now.

Richard took his arm back.

'O Richard, come on!' Camille regretted her behavior immediately. "I wasn't laughing at you!" She suddenly had an idea. She leaned towards him. "Is that why you act so stiffly? Is that what you are afraid of? That I will laugh at you?"

Richard swallowed. "I am not acting stiff. And I am not afraid. And you are laughing at me."

"Richard no, really. I'm not laughing." Camille assured him.

"So what do you call the giggling you just did?"

'Well I... I guess..." She thought about that for a moment. "I get a bit nervous too. It has gotten a bit loaded now hasn't it?" That must be it. The explanation for her sudden nervous behavior. Why did she feel like a giddy school girl all of a sudden? Instead of the secure, strong woman she usually is? "The whole touching thing." She said quickly as she tried to hide her insecurity. "I usually don't think about it that much, I just act."

"On impulse." He filled in negatively. How French.

"Non, not impulse. From my intuition, my feelings." She glared at him. "That's called passion." She knew what passion was. She knew it very well! She was a very passionate woman! What did he know anyway? He probably knew nothing of passion.

"Impulse." Richard mumbled stubbornly in a know-it-all voice. He decided to let it go as he moved towards her again.

Camille started to giggle again before he could even get close.

'What?" He asked annoyed now as he gave her an angry stare. He was getting impatient. This wasn't funny any more. It hadn't been funny from the start. But he had been the one with trouble in the touching department earlier. Not the other way around. And what the hell was so funny?! This wasn't supposed to be funny! This was supposed to be intimate, and serious and well played!

'It's just... Us together..." She gestured between them. "That would be weird right?" She asked. If only he would say yes. Maybe she would feel some sort of relief. Maybe she could let him go. Forget about him. Maybe her mother had been right. They were like day and night. He was stiff, she was passionate. They didn't belong together. Not like lovers anyway. As friends maybe, yes. But nothing more. Did they? She was crazy. Crazy as hell. And the worst part was that she had the feeling that she couldn't control that craziness... While all she wanted was to do just that.

"This is not real, just like you said." Richard grumbled.

Did she hear anger in his voice? Why?

Camille moved against him. 'Let's talk about Friday." They only had two days left before the party. "About how the meet will go." She said as she caressed his cheek. It went better when she had control. When she controlled the movements, not the other way around. Why was that? Asked a little voice in the back of her head. She pushed that voice away quickly.

"Yes." Richard mumbled chagrined.

"Are you angry?" She asked surprised as she sat back to study him.

'NO.'

"Then why do you sound so angry?"

"I do not." He countered.

"You do."

"I do not sound angry!"

"Yes you do! If I say you do, then you do!" Her French accent sounded thicker than usual.

"Because you're bossy."

"Because I have an opinion I'm bossy all of a sudden?!" Camille snapped.

"Your opinions never stop, and yes you are a very French bossy woman." Richard stated angrily as he stared at her hard.

"What does my Frenchness has to do with that?!" She snapped insulted.

"Camille just leave me be! Stop prying." He looked away with a scowl on his face.

"You always have to be so negative about French people-" She complained angrily.

"This really isn't working." Dwayne said as he walked towards them and shook his head tiredly.

"Like English people are so positive! Look at you! You aren't positive at all! You're bossy yourself. " She stood up. "And when you can't have your way, you begin to sulk!" She snapped.

"You're like a married couple without the love and sex. Just the fighting and bickering. Unbelievable!" Dwayne blurted out annoyed. He swallowed when both of the higher detectives looked at him at that. It seemed like their arrows weren't pointed at each other anymore but at him now. And that was never a good place to be in!