Author's Note: For this chapter, I had to come up with a reason that Amanda was so nervous about sleeping in the same bed with Lee after all the times that they'd had sex, so I did a little bit of setting that up with the final scene in the last chapter and will expand it further here. For this one, since it's still a little too early on to get them into a bed, I opted to play with the shower scene instead and delay Tucker's kidnapping a little. On an additional note, since there was about a month between airdates from the last episode to this one, I decided to play with that too.
Chapter 20-You're Spending The Weekend With Me.
"Weekend"
"You're spending the weekend with me," Lee said with a cheeky grin.
Amanda chuckled nervously, Lee's words jolting her after his invitation to spend the night with him after their last encounter, "I'm spending the weekend with you?"
"It's not that kind of weekend," Lee said with a cheeky grin, although he was secretly hoping that it could be even though they'd be working. After all, they'd be sharing a hotel room in a ritzy resort.
"Oh, no, of course not. It wouldn't be that kind of weekend," she said nervously, her voice overlapping his as he said, "this is strictly business."
"Strictly business," She repeated, "Of course, it's strictly...strictly...what kind of business?"
"Agency business," Lee answered succinctly.
"Agency business...What else? It's gotta' be..."
A few minutes later, when packing, Amanda fidgeted nervously about the idea of spending an entire weekend with Lee at a "dressy" resort. She' been nervous enough when he'd asked her to spend a single night with him for fear of where it might lead. She already had a hard enough time keeping her hands off of him when they were together for even part of a day. What would happen during a whole weekend, work-related or not?
Amanda's nerves only became more frazzled on the drive up to the resort when Lee avoided the subject of what her job was and became even worse when his slipped the wedding set on her finger and said slowly in his low, husky voice, "This weekend, you're Mrs...Lee...Stetson," emphasizing each word as he looked at her with that undressing-her-with-his-eyes gaze that she knew all too well.
Through the course of the evening, her nerves became more frayed than a hand-knit sweater attacked by a housecat. Hearing the resort staff and Mr.s Craddock refer to her as Mrs. Stetson, his continually calling her "Darling," the wedding ring on her finger, his soft touches and kisses to her hand filling her with unease as she knew that they were going to be forced to share a room and possibly, a bed.
She mentally kicked herself for insinuating that they were honeymooners and now their cover role had become an even more intimate one that it had started out to be. She kept trying to calm down by telling herself that it was just a cover and she'd pretended to be his wife once before, but this time it was different. The prior one had been under an assumed name. Calling herself Mrs. Stetson, thought of the two of them being on their honeymoon conjured up way too many images of a future that she knew she could never have. While Lee was a skilled agent who could play any cover and make it convincing, she knew that that's all it was. The long, loving looks he'd been giving her, the endearments, his arm around her when they walked together were all part of the cover and when this assignment was over, he'd be back to treating her the same way that he always did until he had an itch that he couldn't scratch on his own. Her mother's warning of not settling for less than what she wanted haunted her.
When walking back to their room, Lee pondered the events of the day, wondering why Amanda was so nervous, so tense. They'd played husband and wife once before and had done it successfully. He thought they were carrying it off pretty well now, but Amanda, for some reason, looked like she was ready to jump out of her skin at any moment. He couldn't quite understand it. After Francine's lecture about Amanda having a crush on him and her bold visit to his apartment just a month ago when she'd purposely worn a sexy dress just for him, he would have thought that she'd get a big kick out of her cover assignment as his bride. He glanced at her briefly and wondered again about her divorce. Had it left her that scarred that she couldn't contemplate the idea of marriage again, not even a fake one.
As a door opened down the hall, her pulled her to him in an attempt to keep up their cover both nodding in greeting and saying hello to the passing couple. He smiled at her warmly, but was disturbed by only seeing a wary half-smile from her in return, a smile that didn't reach her deep, chocolate eyes. What the hell is wrong with her? He thought, an eerie sense of foreboding filling him. That feeling only grew as they rounded the corner and she abruptly pulled herself from his grasp, sighing as she did so. he cleared his throat awkwardly as he unlocked the door to their room and gestured for her to enter, which she did, albeit reluctantly. Feeling the need to break the uncomfortable tension between them, he said, "Well, I think we carried that off pretty well," as he closed the door behind them, purposely brushing against her as he passed by on his way toward the bed.
"Oh yes, very well," Amanda agreed with a nervous chuckle, shifting uncomfortably as the burning embers within her continued to be fanned by his fleeting touch, her eyes inexorably drawn to their "honeymoon" bed.
"And I also think we were very convincing," he said with a smile hoping that she would agree with him and see that cover assignment or not, they might be able to carry off a real relationship.
"Oh, yeah, we were very convincing," Amanda said still shifting her weight nervously on the balls of her feel while she gripped her clutch purse tightly. At hearing Lee's nervous laughter, she continued, "We convinced Mrs. Cradock and she's been married thirty years."
"Yeah, ha, ha," Lee said as he tossed his jacket onto the bed.
Amanda, seeing that Lee was getting undressed, shifted again and stammered, "uh...Well, I guess you plan to...Uh..." she gestured to the bed, wondering what was on his mind. What he expecting her to join him. The memory from a month ago of him attempting to carry her to his bed replaying again in her mind. Had it really been a month since he'd touched her in that way? She nodded toward the bed that she hadn't been able to stop staring at since entering the room.
"Uh, yeah, do you mind?" He answered awkwardly. "It's been a long day." He began to loosen his bowtie intending to get a quick nap before beginning surveillance on David Bosca.
"Oh, no, no, no, I know you must be...tired," Amanda answered wondering if that was all that was on his mind. He'd been shamelessly "playing their cover" and she couldn't help wondering if he was expecting her to take their cover all the way.
"Oh...tired," Lee concurred.
"Yeah," Amanda said. "Uh...but you probably do wanna' keep an eye on Mr. Bosca's room...or if you like...I could keep an eye on it." She felt a great need to stop thinking about their cover and what it could lead to, the idea of being his wife, the fact that he'd sprung in on her, and the tender way that he'd slipped the rings on her finger as a real groom would have, having thrown her for a loop. All of that combined with her mother's incessant probing about her "love affair" and her not-so-subtle hints about its future, had her reeling. She was desperately trying not to get caught up the fantasy that their cover had created.
"No, no, no, I'll keep an eye on it. They're not gonna' make a move on him while there's still so much activity around here. I just wanna' grab a couple hours of sleep."
"Well, you have to get your rest to do your job well," Amanda said, trying to remind both him and herself that this was a job, that she wasn't really his wife and never would be. She'd heard it too many times, loner, Casanova, Romeo, playboy, not the marrying kind...she'd heard through the agency grapevine that in the month since they'd last...he'd been making the rounds through the steno pool again.
Sensing her intense discomfort, Lee said, "Amanda," as he crossed the room, sighed then taking her hand in his, continued, "You know, you're not being compromised."
The tender touch sending electric shocks through her whole body was too much to bear, "I know that," she said smacking his hand away from her with the clutch she still held, knowing that if he didn't' stop touching her, she'd give into the fantasy of the honeymoon that she knew could never be a reality.
Lee, completely startled by her violence, looked at her in utter horror. What was going on? He'd touched her much more intimately than that many times and she always seemed to welcome it and in fact, had at times begged for more, so what was the big deal now? It wasn't as if he was trying to seduce her, not that he felt he'd have to if he wanted her. She'd been perfectly willing all on her own many times, so why was she acting like a blushing, virgin bride? Bride, he thought. Was that it? Was the idea of being his wife so abhorrent to her that she couldn't stand to let him touch her anymore?
Maybe it wasn't him, he thought. He knew that she'd repeatedly turned down proposals from the weatherman, even though he was, on paper, a great catch and he knew from all the time that he'd spent lurking outside her house that her mother had many times encouraged her to accept. Maybe it was just the idea of getting married again at all that was distasteful to her. He thought back to her words from a month ago when her reason for not spending the night with him was that her children already had to live without their father. That thought filled him with a renewed hatred for the mysterious, missing ex-husband that she never talked about, making him want to smash the guy's head into a wall. He shook his head, perturbed by the fact that a guy he'd never met and knew nothing about could bring out that of violent thought in him.
Amanda at seeing the hurt look on his face, stammered an apology and as their debate continued, she was startled herself when Lee brought up Francine. She shuddered a little at the image that conjured up in her mind. Long after he'd left in a huff, that image had stayed with her. She sank wearily to the bed, her mind whirling at the idea that had it not been for a toothache, it would be Francine here pretending to be his wife and a woman like Francine, she imagined would have no trouble at all, playing all the parts of their cover. She shuddered at that notion, wondering if that's why Lee hadn't shown an interest in her in a month's time. She knew he'd once had a thing with Francine, courtesy of the rumor mill at the agency and wondered if they'd started up again after she'd refused his invitation to spend the night at his place. She shivered as she lay down on the bed, pulling the bedspread over her, wondering if that refusal had driven him back into Francine's arms.
Lee, in the cramped closet, across from Bosca's room, reflected on the events of the evening, still wondering what was up with Amanda. Why was she suddenly acting as he if were some vile Casanova? He couldn't understand it. He thought he'd made his feelings clear to her when he'd tried to get her to spend the night with him, when he'd teased her about their last night together being a "hot date." but she'd turned him down cold. He knew he had a bad reputation around the office, but he thought that he'd managed to convince her that his reputation wasn't all that it was cracked up to be. He really didn't sleep around the way that his co-workers seemed to think he did. Sure, he'd had probably more than his fair share of lovers, but not anywhere near the number that people seemed to think. The past month was a prime example. After Amanda's rejection, he'd begun prowling the steno pool, looking for a distraction since Amanda didn't seem willing to really date him, in spite of their mutual attraction. While he had taken out two or three different ladies, ladies that he knew wouldn't hesitate if he asked them to spend the night, the evening had always ended with him dropping them back off at home and with him going home alone, taking a cold shower and falling asleep fantasizing about the one woman he couldn't have. If he couldn't have Amanda in his bed, he didn't want anyone else there either.
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The next morning, Amanda awoke to the sound of the shower running. She climbed out of bed, tiptoed to the bathroom door, listening for a moment, her pulse racing at the thought that Lee was wet and naked just on the other side of it. She took a deep breath and decided to take a chance, consequences be damned. If he broke her heart, she'd deal with that when it happened. After a month without him, she couldn't stand it anymore. she kicked off her heels and quickly undressed, opening the door as quietly as she could, closing it behind her. Her breath caught in her throat as his bare body silhouetted against the steam-covered glass doors. She took a deep, shuddering breath and padded across the room, opening the door and stepping in behind him, sliding her hands up his bare back, lightly finger the scar from the knife wound that Russell Sinclair had left behind. She placed a soft kiss to the puckered skin there.
Lee gasped at the tender touch of Amanda's lips to his skin, her hands on his back, softly caressing him. He turned to face her and softly whispered, "Good morning, Mrs. Stetson," before capturing her lips with his own in a fiery kiss as he slid his hands to her slender waist, pulling her close to him. A month of not having her had been driving him mad with desire for her. He pressed her back against the wall while he ravaged her mouth with his own, his hands touching her anywhere that he could reach, relishing her eager response and the savage moans her heard emanating from deep in her throat.
Amanda felt herself coming alive again under Lee's kiss, her need for him only escalating as they kissed and touched each other, her desire for him pumping through her, delighting in her response to her. Her fierce passion for him overrode all common sense as she pushed aside the thought that he'd most likely been sleeping with someone else in the month since they'd been together. She found that she couldn't care about that right now. All she cared about was having him again. She gripped his bottom firmly as he ground against her, his obvious arousal only further fueling her own, her heart pounding as his hands seemed to be everywhere all at once. Desperately needing air, she pulled her mouth from his gulping down much-needed oxygen while Lee used the moment to lower his lips to her neck, suckling her tender skin, spurring her on. "Lee," she sighed as his hand found her center, slipping one finger into her while he caressed her with his thumb, her body alight with a flurry of sensations all at once. "Lee," she choked out again through her rapid breathing as she reached down to take his erection in her hand, caressing him in long, slow strokes.
Lee groaned against her wet skin, hearing her whispering his name, her heavy breathing in his ear, her hand on his shaft, only increasing his dire need for her. He increased the pressure with his thumb, inserting another finger in her, wanting to hear her not just whispering his name, but screaming it out as she had in the past. He knew her body so well now; knew what would bring her over the edge and he was soon rewarded for his efforts.
"LEE!" she shrieked as her climax overwhelmed her. She released her grip on him and clung tightly to his shoulders, burying her face in his chest and hanging on for dear life as her knees threatened to buckle beneath her at the intensity of it, her body trembling against his.
Lee raised his head and with his free hand, lifted her chin, saying, "Amanda, look at me." When her passion-filled gaze met his own, he removed his other hand from her, using it to lift her leg up onto his hip as he slowly pushed into her, watching her facial expression change as he immersed himself in her, emitting a low groan as he did so, while Amanda gasped.
They stayed like that for just a moment, gazing into each other's eyes, their heavy breathing and the running water the only sounds in the room. Finally, Amanda said, "Lee, please don't tease me." as she pushed her back against the slick shower wall in an attempt to push him deeper into her, desperately needing that connection.
Lee, upon seeing the hunger in her eyes, hearing her frantic pleading, complied with her wishes, tugging at her bottom to push deeper into her, as he once again lowered his mouth to her neck, lapping at the droplets of water on her skin.
"Oh, Lee," Amanda cried as she locked her legs around him, her arms around his neck. She rained kisses on his face, his neck, and his shoulder while he gripped her bottom tightly to hold her steady while he pounded into her, fulfilling the craving that had been festering for a month.
Lee felt himself giving way all too soon, "Can't...hold...on..." he panted as the feeling of being inside her again took him over and he soon felt himself exploding, crying out her name as he emptied himself into her.
"LEE!'She cried again as he shook against her, his guttural cries of pleasure only increasing her own as he continued to push into her until there was nothing left to do except ride out the wave.
Lee stilled his movements, but didn't withdraw from her. Instead he pulled his head back to look at her and seeing something in her eyes that he couldn't quite identify, he began, "Amanda, I..." He broke off at seeing the expectant look in her eyes and unable to continue, just kissed her softly trying to convey in that kiss, just how much he felt for her. He pulled back, released his grip on her, gently lowering her feel back to the shower's floor.
"You...?" Amanda probed wondering what he'd been about to say.
"I...Um...I'm sorry. I...uh...don't normally...um you know...that quickly...it...it's been a month and I..." he stammered nervously.
"It has?" Amanda said her thoughts racing again as she wondered if that meant the last time for him had been with her.
"Yeah," he admitted sheepishly. "You should know. You were there."
"Oh," Amanda said, her heart leaping at the thought that he maybe the rumors at work were unfounded. "You mean, you..um...you haven't...with...um...anyone else...I mean."
"No," Lee said honestly.
"But what about Francine?"Amanda inquired.
"What about her?"Lee said thoroughly confused. What did Francine have to do with this, he wondered.
"Oh, well, you...um...last night you said that if Francine had come along..." Her voice trailed off wondering if Francine would be the one in his arms right now if it hadn't been for her dental problems.
"Oh, that," Lee said realization dawning, a slight smile crossing his face at the idea that Amanda seemed a little jealous of Francine. "I...um...I didn't mean that Francine and I were...or that we would..." He sighed. "Francine and I have a history, that's all. I know that with Francine here, the accommodations...or lack thereof...wouldn't have been an issue. My thing with her was over a long time ago and we're just friends now...well, sort of...I...I just know that it wouldn't have been a problem if I had to share a bed with her because there's nothing there anymore... not that there really was to begin with."
"Oh," Amanda said breathing a sigh of relief. "Good."
"You know, I...um...need to..." He nodded toward the showerhead.
"Yeah, I should...uh...let you finish your shower," Amanda said smiling at the knowledge that she was the only woman he'd been sleeping with as she slipped out of the shower reaching for a towel, wrapping it snugly around herself, then making her way out of the bathroom and began to get dressed.
After she'd left, Lee turned back to the shower to resume cleaning himself up and was amused a few minutes later to hear Amanda yelling at him to get out of the shower, wondering if she was after more already.
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Amanda stood quietly for the most part throughout their conversation with Valerie Tucker, not at all liking the way she was leering at her "husband" or staring her down as if she were a fly that needed to be swatted. She just smiled sweetly at the memory of Lee's hands all over her in the shower and knew this vacuous tart would never have a chance.
Lee, still trying to play his cover of devoted husband, had deflected all of Mrs. Tucker's obvious attempts to be seductive, reminding her repeatedly in his suggestions of all of them getting together, that he was there with his "wife."
After she'd departed, he turned to Amanda and said, "Alright, follow her and try not to be..."
"Conspicuous," Amanda finished for him.
"Yes," Lee confirmed. "I'll search for Tucker."
"You sure you don't wanna' follow her?" Amanda quipped dryly with a knowing smile.
"Sweetheart," Lee cooed with a hand on her arm grinning at her broadly as the memories of their time in the shower together flooded through him. "We're newlyweds."
"I know," she said smiling back at him before they took off in opposite directions.
Lee shook his head, wondering with all the fire in her what it would be like if her really was married to her and could experience that fire on a regular basis.
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As Amana entered the kitchen preparing to feed her family, she heard a rattling at the back door. She turned to see Lee peeking in the door, saying, "Amanda, is the coast clear?" Without waiting for a response, he walked in meeting her halfway as she crossed the kitchen.
"No, the coast isn't clear," Amanda said stopping him from walking further into the house. "Mother and the boys are upstairs," she added, a hint of panic in her voice. The last thing she needed was for her mother to walk in and find him there after all her endless questions about who her "mystery lover" was.
"Ah," Lee said with a nod.
"I thought you left," Amanda said though she had to admit that she wasn't unhappy to see him.
"Well, I...uh...I...did," he said stumbling over his words as he tried to figure out how to tell her what he wanted to tell her. Playing her husband for the weekend, hearing her being called Mrs. Stetson, had opened up his eyes to a whole new world of possibilities, "But I came back."
"Oh," Amanda said with a nod, hope burgeoning within her.
"Yeah," He said. After a beat, Lee said, "you forgot your toothbrush," as he held it up.
Amanda smiled and chuckled slightly as she took it from him. "You know...uh...that's...um...a pretty flimsy excuse to come back," she teased. "Are you sure there wasn't another reason? I mean, you could have given it back to me at work tomorrow."
"Oh, yeah...I guess I could have, but I...you know...I thought you might need it before then."
"Oh, no, you're right...I...um...might need it...before then," she said, her smile widening knowing that neither of them was talking about the toothbrush anymore.
Lee stepped closer to her, leaning in for a kiss, but before his lips could connect with hers, Dotty's voice rang out, "Oh, it feels so good to wear normal clothes again."
"Crap," Lee growled as he hurried out the back door just as Dotty entered the room.
Dotty, having caught just the tiniest glimpse of Lee's retreating form, said with an arched eyebrow, "So, is that him?"
Amanda smiled innocently and said, "Is that who, Mother