Take Me Out Tonight

For a long time, he simply stared up at the plain white stippled ceiling. Every so often his eyes would flick to the spinning fan overhead and try to keep up with its movements, but it was going almost as fast as his mind at the moment. The circulating air felt good on his bare chest, and he brought a hand up, tucking it behind his neck as his blue eyes continued their survey of the ceiling.

Fitz wished he could stop thinking altogether, but the flashes of memories from the previous night's outing with Liv played on a loop in his mind, making that impossible.

At least he wasn't thinking about elephants.

He began to roll onto his side, hoping the change of scenery would help change his thoughts, but the ceiling fan caught his eye once again before his body could move. The moving blades of the ceiling fan reminded him of the ones at the second bar Liv took him to last night.

The first one had been a shit hole and he had given her hell for it.

A smile pulled the edges of his lips upward as he settled onto his back once again and recalled the events from the night before.

"Liv! I thought you were familiar with the local hot spots?"

"I never said that!" she said defensively and stopped walking in the warm sand, propping a hand on her hip. Her wild loose curls blew in every direction, making her look like the goddess she was. The sound of her dress flapping around her legs was it's own hypnotic sound and it made Fitz want to plop down on the sand and just watch it dance.

But there was an argument to win.

"You so did!" He chuckled. "You made it sound like you knew where the party would be."

Jerking a thumb at the place they had just left, he added, "And cricketville ain't it!"

She was laughing loudly at him. "You can be sooooo dramatic sometimes."

He stopped walking too and cocked his head to the side. Had it not been for the crooked grin on his face, one would think he was mad. "Liv. There were three guys in there."

"So!"

"And two of them worked there."

"Shut up!" She swatted playfully at his chest. "It's still early."

"Maybe we should just go home and read a book?" He teased.

"Are you calling the beach house home now?" She asked, teasing him back.

Instead of getting defensive about it, he chuckled. Why was talking to Liv so effortless? She could take a joke and give as good as she got. Damn if that didn't make him wonder about her taking something else.

Woah! He wondered where that thought had come from. The throbbing in his pants gave him the answer.

"Where did you just go?" Liv wondered out loud as she studied his face. "You were a million miles away."

Clearing his throat, he mumbled, "ahhh, sorry. Shit. You hate sorries. I ummm, was just thinking."

"About what?" She asked with a grin on her face. He had gotten super nervous all of a sudden and now she really wanted to know. Watching him squirm was a nice added bonus.

Think Fitz! His brain screamed. "I waaaas thinking that all this walking has made me hungry and I'll probably be starving when we get back."

"No." She crossed her arms in front of her chest, as if that made it final.

"Good thing I saved those leftovers."

"No!" Liv repeated more firmly. "You promised those to me!"

"I didn't promise anything." Fitz much preferred the teasing to the inappropriate thoughts right now. He'd think about her however he wanted to later on when he was alone upstairs in the beach house.

"You said you saved them for me."

"And then you said, and I quote, 'I love you'."

"You would remember that part clearly." Grabbing his hand once again, because she liked the feel of him touching her, she said, "come on. Let's go find that party I promised you."

The Tiki Oasis was by far the better of the two bars. Loud lively music being played from a live band could be heard from where the hand holding duo walked on the beach. As they got closer to the bar, Fitz could see a couple dozen people already enjoying themselves there. It was early for a party to get started, by beach standards, but it appeared this one was getting underway just the same.

The bar itself sat nestled under the middle of a large tiki thatched roof. A horseshoe shaped bar with clean wooden stools sat at the center with an endless supply of booze against the back wall. It had good lighting and ceiling fans spinning in lazy circles overhead. Large wooden Adirondack chairs with sea foam colored chair pads were scattered around the area in pairs or trios. Some of them were under the large roof and some were sitting under the open sky. Small wooden tables stood near their chair clusters to hold drinks or personal items.

The band played a familiar tune as Fitz and Liv walked up to a couple of empty chairs and sat down. They were both taking in their surroundings when a young man appeared and asked for their drink orders. After taking them, he headed towards the bar, leaving the couple to talk.

"This place is amazing. How did you find it?"

"Walking with you just now on the beach. Don't you remember?" She pointed at the place they had walked from for emphasis.

"I thought you already knew about this place? You said you did."

She shot him a confused expression. "Are we playing this game again? Okay. What happened was..."

Fitz laughed loudly. "What happened was...Best beginning of any lie."

She grinned at him and held his playful gaze as their drinks were set down in front of them.

"You really didn't already know about this place?"

"Nope."

"It's nice, has people..."

Liv stuck her tongue out at him.

Fitz grinned. "And the music is good."

"You can't beat a live band."

"You really can't." He agreed before taking a long pull from his beer bottle and glancing at the band. There was no explaining the feeling that suddenly came over him. It was silly to be nervous about something so ordinary, but he was just the same. Before he could second guess or over analyze it, he looked at Liv and asked, "do you dance?"

Her head snapped in his direction from whatever she had just been looking at. She faked outrage. "What?"

He simply sent her an amused open mouth grin before extending his hand to her.

Immediately getting to her feet, Liv said, "of course I dance!"

Gone was the guarded woman she claimed was trapped inside of herself. This woman was hilarious and beautiful and wild. Her energy was palpable. The two of them trudged through the sand to the dance floor. They had no sooner started to move with the rhythm of the beat than the song came to an end. Fitz cursed internally.

With his mouth much too close to the microphone, the lead singer informed the patrons, "It's a little early yet, but we're gonna slow things down for a minute or two. Grab your date and get cheek to cheek. You might like it."

"We can come back and dance some more a little later? I don't want you to feel uncomfortable." Fitz turned around and took a step towards their little chair cluster. He didn't get far because he felt a tugging on his hand. Turning again, he saw Liv still holding it.

"What I want is for you to hold me close and show me how you slow things down."

Staring intently into her coffee colored eyes, he didn't think Liv intended for her words to come out sounding as sexy as they had. The sultry look on her face said otherwise. She was flirting with him. This was another situation where he was going to go with the flow. Listening to her words, and fully understanding the meaning behind them, he smoothly replied, "that I can do."

He gently pulled her into his arms, letting his hands come to rest lightly on her hips. Watching her face for any signs of being uncomfortable with his actions, and finding nothing but challenge, Fitz abruptly pulled her body towards his, until there was no room between them. And then he brought his hand to rest on the small of her back.

Her breath caught in surprise.

It was difficult for him to refrain from smirking when he saw her eyebrows rise to search his for understanding, but he managed. He rather enjoyed catching Liv off guard it seemed.

Liv brought her arms up to his neck and gave him a smile. Since she had met him, she considered herself to be the braver of the two of them. Him pulling her up against his long hard body was definitely proof that he had a decent amount of bravery in him too.

She had been plotting internally how to get him to dance with her to a slow song since they left the house. Letting her hands slide down his firm biceps, she decided the short wait had been worth it. It was the first time she had noticed that he was wearing some kind of cologne. There was no way of knowing what it was without asking him, but Liv liked the smell of it as much as the mystery of not knowing it's name. It was very Fitz.

For a constantly moving bundle of femininity, Liv felt awfully tiny in his arms. Her shorter stature was much more evident as they stood flush against each other. Fitz kept waiting for it to feel strange or awkward, but it never did. Having Liv in his arms felt perfect.

The song played for what felt like an eternity while Liv and Fitz got lost in the moment and each other's eyes. It was starting to wind down and he felt the overwhelming desire to kiss her. So much so that his hands loosened their possessive grip on her and traveled up to her cheeks. It didn't help that she tightened her grip on his shirt sleeves and gave him the kiss me look. It just clouded his judgement more.

Four beats later, the song ended, making the decision for him.

Liv and Fitz stared longingly at each other with open desire, but managed to clap their appreciation for the band. Thankfully, Liv turned to make the move to head back to their seats first. He was sure they would have combusted right there if she hadn't.

Taking deep breaths in and letting them out was the best way to calm himself under the circumstances. It took them a little longer to get back to their seats because the smallish crowd that had been there when they arrived had more than tripled in size already.

Back at their seats, he picked up his beer bottle and took a long pull while still on his feet. He needed a minute before he could speak to her. His mind was still reeling at how close he had come to kissing her.

She probably would have slapped him or told him to go to hell; loudly. Thank God he hadn't acted on his feelings in the moment.

"Sit down with me." Liv coaxed with a smile from her own seat. She patted his chair in invitation. On the outside she may look cool and calm, but on the inside a fire was building that she knew she'd come dangerously close to lighting on the dance floor. Damn him for pulling back! She was even more curious about what that particular fire would feel like now. "That was fun."

"Fun?" His eyebrows fell low on his forehead. What part of almost getting slapped across the face or kneed in the balls did she consider fun?

"You didn't enjoy dancing?" Or holding me against your body with your big strong arms. Yea, that was fun too. But she didn't add that part.

"MmmHmm, that was great." Think of a cover that won't make you sound like a jerk. "I thought you meant when that guy almost bumped into us."

"I must have missed that." She watched his face as she took a sip from her glass. "Is that why you were holding me so close?"

Damn it! She wasn't going to let him off the hook for that one. The ironic thing was that Fitz knew she loved every damn minute of him holding her like that. She was just putting him on the spot. Trying to sound casual, he said, "nah. I wanted you close to me so I held you close to me."

She grinned at his honesty, nodding at him. "I love an honest man."

Leaning towards her from his chair and waiting until she did the same, Fitz rested his large hand on her smaller one. "It seems you have a growing list of things you love about me."

"Still a lot of things to discover too." She flirted, letting her eyes roam his body for a moment. When her eyes fell back on his, their heads moved closer together. The last thing Liv saw before she closed her eyes was Fitz licking his lips. She was breathing hard but wanted to be breathing so much harder. She could smell his breath. He was about to kiss her.

"Can I get the two of you another drink?"

The pair jerked apart like busted teenagers, and shot wild expressions at their waiter. Fitz looked at Liv with a grin on his face and gestured to her almost empty glass. "I'll have another please." She informed the ill timed waiter.

"I'll have another beer too please." Fitz told the young man before he could even ask.

"Very good. I'll be right back with those for you."

"Do you wanna go back to the first bar now?" Liv asked playfully. The two of them erupted into laughter and sank down into their seats before working on emptying their drinks.

"Now that we're alone again, what would you like to talk about?" Fitz asked.

"What are you making for lunch tomorrow?"

"I like a woman who likes to eat." He told her with a wink. "And don't mention the word fat."

"Oh I know I'm fine!" She said matter of factly.

Hell yes you are. Fitz surmised internally.

"So what are you cooking?"

"Do you have any food allergies?"

"Nope."

"Perfect. I was thinking of making chipotle fish tacos with peach salsa."

"Oh my god. Just when I thought you couldn't get any s..."

He sent her a lopsided grin as his ears perked up ready to receive a compliment. "What was that last word?"

"Smug." It was a lie, and a bad one at that. She was about to say sexier. She wondered if he'd let it pass, and then decided she didn't care if he did or if he didn't. "I will openly admit that I am very fond of your cooking skills."

"Thank you."

"But."

"Of course there's a but." He chuckled.

"The next time you cook for me..."

"You think there's gonna be a next time right before you give me a pointer. That's cute."

"I would like to see what you can do with..."

That was all it took for his mind to begin to wander back to those places he was working so hard to keep it from. Determined to give her his full attention, but knowing he missed the last few words, he swatted at a non existent bug in front of his face. "Sorry. What was that?"

Good. He was as side tracked right now as she was. It was his own fault for pulling her so impossibly close to his rock hard chest earlier. Misery does love company, and she was plenty miserable right now. Instead of venting all of that onto him though, she smiled politely and said, "I want something with steak in it please. I love fish, but you can only eat so much of it in a week. A girl needs variety."

She watched with fascination as the cogs in his brain moved at lightning speed.

"That's a good point. I'm..." Glancing at her he let the apology die on his lips. "I can make the tacos with steak instead if you'd rather?"

"Another round, you two?"

"Yes please." Liv told the waiter, before turning her attention back to Fitz. "I didn't mean to sound ungrateful. Chipotle fish tacos sound fabulous. Can we have mahi-mahi though? That's my favorite."

"That's my favorite as well. Deal!" At her proud grin, he added, "I'll also make something for dessert."

She opened her mouth to protest, but he was quick to cut her off. "Don't say anything about putting on weight. I held you in my arms tonight and you are just fine."

Her smug look was openly sent. "Besides, it's summertime. I'll make something light, okay? And steak the next night."

"Deal."

They worked on their next drinks and got to know a lot more about each other. It turned out their homes were less than an hour apart. They sat and talked about the wonder of living so close and never meeting, among other things as the night dwindled on.

Sometime around two am, Liv tried pulling Fitz to his feet from his chair. She was fairly unsuccessful due her uncontrollable bout of the giggles. "You hafto.."

Wild giggling as she tugged on his limp arm.

"Fritz!"

Very sluggishly he blinked his eyes and focused on her. "Diju jus call me Fritz?"

She dropped his hand and fell onto her ass laughing in the sand. There were tears streaming down her face now as the laughter grew louder and more out of control. "I did. Das sofunny."

"Fine. I kinbe Fritz. Yer gonbe lizard. Yup." He nodded once to make it official.

"Nooooooo way Hose Carevo."

He snorted at the absurdity of what she'd just said. "Hose Carevo!"

She stumbled back onto her feet, holding his hand. "Get up...man. We gotta go. S'late."

"Okay. Okay." He closed his eyes to make the spinning stop, but it just made it worse. On a groan, he put one hand on the side of the chair and held Liv's hand a little tighter. "Pull."

With one tug Fitz came out of the chair with much flair. One hand landed on Liv's waist and he happily kept it there. She put an arm around his waist and the two of them trudged through the sand towards the beach house in the dark.

"We shudda got a uber."

"We can do it."

"Did you have fun tonight, Fff...man?"

He chuckled at her for not saying his name. It took him a few attempts, but he booped her nose with his index finger. "I reallllly did, and I hope we can do it s'more."

"Me too."

By the time they arrived at the yellow house, and they got inside, the two of them were laughing once again at something ridiculous the other one had said. The door was locked behind them and their shoes were left on the mat by the door. "I'm gunna..." Fitz pointed upstairs.

"Hey, F...Fitz."

"You did it! Awww! Iso proud of you!" He hugged her tight before slowly releasing her.

She loved the feeling of being in his arms. It felt safe and powerful at the same time. She knew that didn't make sense. Her thoughts were muddled from the alcohol. But right now she didn't care.

Looking up into his happy blue eyes, she saw something in them. Something she couldn't explain. She'd think about it later. And that was when Liv took a chance. Keeping her hands at the back of his neck, she used them for leverage and pulled him down until their faces were an inch apart.

"Liv, I don't..." He tried.

She rose up on her tiptoes, closing the gap between their mouths, letting her lips graze his in a feather light kiss.

Magical. It was the only word she could think of. His lips were soft, but they tasted like the salty air and his beer. She wanted a better sample.

Tilting her head to the side, she opened her mouth and let her tongue slowly slither into his. The happy groan of delirium that came from her throat was primal. His body was hard and muscular, but his mouth was soft and pliable. It was a dizzying combination, but still she wanted more. Liv lifted a leg and wrapped it around his ginormous thigh. It was like she was addicted to him or couldn't stay away. Like magnets.

Even though his muddled brain was telling him this was a terrible idea, Fitz reached a hand down and held onto her bare thigh as he poured himself into the kiss. Her hands on him were filling him with desire just as the already consumed alcohol in his body was making his head spin. He wanted much more.

Moving quickly, he backed himself against the door, to keep them from falling over. In an instant one hand was on her chin, holding her mouth in place, while the other began to slide higher up her thigh under the sheer material of her dress. He was getting dangerously close to losing control. The kiss became all consuming, leaving them both breathless and wanting much more.

He pulled back an inch at first, hating himself for breaking the intense connection. He never wanted to do the opposite thing more in his entire life.

"Wassummatter" Her lips were plump from their intense kissing. Her hair was beginning to look rumpled, and she was pouting at him.

She was the sexiest thing Fitz had ever seen.

He kept his words simple, knowing they wouldn't come out the way he wanted them to. "I can't. Not like dis way. Talk tamorow." He stumbled to the stairs and began to climb up them.

And somehow, she knew exactly what he meant.

On a grunt, Fitz very slowly swung his legs from under the sheet to the floor. He sat there for a full minute holding his head in his hands. He had so much to drink last night. It was a wonder they made it back in one piece. Thoughts of his last two words spoken to Liv weighed heavy on him now. He hoped he hadn't hurt her feelings or made her feel unwanted. That was the last thing he wanted to make her feel.

It was morning and he said they'd talk about it in the morning.

Maybe she was still asleep?

Light singing could be heard from the space below him. Turning his head with a smile, Fitz realized it was the same song the two of them had danced to while plastered to each other's bodies last night. Liv had a great voice, he discovered. It was time to talk.

A/N- Just wanted to say I'm sorry for the late update. I had covid & was out of commission for a week. I'm just now getting back to myself and back to work. This was the last chapter I had halfway finished before I posted chapter 1, so updating was a bit easier because I stayed ahead. I have nothing written for the next chapter so please bear with me as I work on it when I can - after work & on weekends. Thanks for the amazing reviews. You guys are always so kind to me & I am so thankful! Til next time xo