Title: Focus
Rating: T
Summary: "I'm going to need you to put on some underwear before you say anything else."
Note: Another Ridiculous Sentence Prompt. Set after Spring Break, before Outside Looking In.
Emma swiped across the photos Gia sent for the next Anderson meeting, absently chewing her lip as her mind wandered. She was stretched across the bed, stripped down against the balminess that permeated the room. The AC had broken down earlier that day, and still there was no word on when it would be fixed. Luckily, the weather was finally being a little forgiving, and the late evening was allowing a cool breeze from the open window.
Still, she didn't feel right. She barely registered the designs she was flipping past. Her skin was feeling tight and uncomfortable even as she consistently readjusted.
She was so out of it that she didn't even realize Graham was in the room until the bed sunk next to her. He smelled like soap and pine, and his body emanated with a coolness even though they didn't touch. With his presence came the sudden click of realization of what her hormones were trying to tell her.
Her body hummed, and she swallowed thickly, hand coming to pat across her stomach almost in accusation. She felt her eyelids droop heavily, eyes dilating, but she tried to focus on finishing up the task at hand. Gia would never stop bugging her if she didn't give a response tonight.
"Why the ferry pass?"
Emma blinked, then looked up from her phone to find Graham staring intensely at the ceiling from next to her. She wondered briefly at his train of thought, before her lust-addled mind caught up with her. "Linetti?"
He nodded, his brow furrowing. "Everything else falls into place but that. He never even used it, no record of him ever purchasing one before."
Emma sighed, watching as Graham sat up next to her, the lamp clicking on from the bedside table. He pulled the notebook from the drawer, a pencil already available and poised in his hand. She flopped against her pillow almost in defeat.
"No, but it doesn't make sense. Linetti was never seen near Staten Island before; no family, no friends. Why would he have even gotten the ticket?"
She pressed a hand against her abdomen again as if it could stave off where her mind was lingering. Carefully, she settled against the mattress in a position that allowed her to watch him, an even easier feat in the soft light.
He scribbled furiously as worked out the kernel of the case that had swarmed into his head. She was used to this: late night epiphanies or questions that he felt the need to attack immediately. She tried to help where she could; she wasn't typically by-the-letter when it came to police work, but she had enough instinct to help him better understand behavior patterns of criminals and victims.
Right now, she was finding that difficult, though.
Emma tried to keep herself focused on his speech, her head slowly rising and falling with the cadence of his words. She propped her head up on her palm, and felt her gaze start its descent downwards, heat coiling in her belly as she did.
"So, what do you think?" he asked.
Her eyes snapped back up. She blinked away the fantasies that had been weaving through her mind, and she tried not to be aware of how hot she felt. She swallowed again, and her eyes fell down the same path inadvertently. "I … I'm going to need you to put on some underwear before you say anything else."
He looked up, startled. His eyebrow rose slowly. "Are—are you serious?"
She nodded with a long groan of frustration. She pushed back her sweaty hair, throwing a glare his direction. "It's your fault, anyway."
"December frolicking was your idea, remember?" he said with a grin, but leaned over to kiss her anyway.
Her nose wrinkled as they parted. "Don't use that term again," she insisted. She couldn't help bringing their lips together once more, lingering against them as she realized how much she really did need even the small touch. "Seriously, though. You want my input but I can't concentrate, and it's all the mango's fault."
"Already changing your tune, I see," he murmured, then pressed another kiss along her jaw. "And blaming the twins."
She couldn't even manage to roll her eyes at his teasing, and didn't bother to correct him. Her skin was tingling in the wake of his lips and she sighed pleasantly. Her eyes closed, nails digging into his sides just enough to indent his skin. "So you need to decide if you want to put on some clothes, or let me shower for an inordinately long time before helping, or … find something else to help those neurons firing."
He chuckled. "I don't know how well that helps the thought process, exactly."
Emma grinned and slid her nails lightly up his side. "Clears the head."
"I suppose," he began, amusement in his tone. "I shouldn't argue with my pregnant wife's logic, huh?"
"You never questioned it when I was just Miss Swan. Why start now?" she countered.
"Excellent," he said, kissing her again. "Point."
If she woke to 38 texts the next morning and only a half-though-out lead for his case, it didn't matter. They had their priorities, after all.