Chapter 32-For You It Will Be Pleasure

"The Three Faces of Emily"

Amanda sighed and picked up her paint samples, flipping through them, as she walked from her foyer toward the kitchen, "Hmm, burnt sand" she said thoughtfully.

"Sounds like what I'm drinking," Lee said from inside the refrigerator.

"What are you doing here?" wondering why she wasn't even surprised to see him rooting through her refrigerator.

"Morning," Lee said with a smile. "Uh...you wouldn't have and half-and-half?"

"I ran out this morning," Amanda said as she approached him. "What are you doing?"

"Coffee break. I like my coffee black, just no this black," Lee said with a disdainful look at the coffee cup he'd swiped from her cupboard.

"Um, why don't you try the milk? It's better for you," Amanda suggested.

"Milk?" Lee said dubiously.

"Mm-hmm," she said with a nod.

"Okay," he said skeptically as he grabbed the milk jug, walked to the island with it and began to pour while Amanda closed the fridge.

"You need anything else," Amanda said in a somewhat sarcastic tone, a little unnerved by having him in her kitchen this early in the morning as if he lived there.

"No," Lee answered.

"Would you like some sugar," she said her voice overlapping his.

"I'm fine."

"How about the morning paper?" Amanda said, no longer even attempting to mask her sarcasm or her irritation with him.

"No, no," Lee said with an awkward chuckle as he took a seat at one of the stools.

"How about telling me what you're doing here?"

"I need you," Lee said.

"You need me?" Amanda questioned nervously wonder exactly what he needed her for. True to form, after their last encounter, he'd distanced himself from her and had even starting dating someone new. She was very grateful now that she hadn't poured her heart out to him in her moment of fear.

"I need you," Lee replied with an impish smile as he leaned against the island. "I came to ask you out."

Amanda heart leapt as she said tentatively, "You mean like on a..."

"A date?" Lee finished for her. "Yeah...well, sort of..." he said hesitantly. Damn it, he thought. Why couldn't he just come right out and say that he wanted her as his date? For that matter, why couldn't he just admit that he wanted to date her, in general, not just for work-related events?

"Oh, sort of," Amanda said acidly. Of course, what else had she expected? Lee would never actually ask her out on a real date. He was fine with being close to her when they were making love, but when things got too intense, he backed off and his behavior became aloof, belying the warm feelings she knew were there beneath his cool exterior. "You mean, it's...it's business." She fiddled nervously with the paint samples in her hand as she stammered in agitation, disappointment flowing through her. "It's not...uh...you know, it's not pleasure."

"No, no, no, that's where you're wrong. It is pleasure. For you, it will be pleasure. now, me, I may have to work just a little bit, but for you, it's just straight out pleasure," Suddenly not liking the direction he conversation was taking as he thought of all the times they'd taken pleasure in each other's arms, he stopped talking abruptly.

"Oh," Amanda said feeling awkward at his awkwardness. "Well, if it's gonna' be such a lot of fun, why don't you take that girl you're seeing now?" She turned to the fridge to avoid eye contact with him, making a big show of distracting herself with the task of straightening the photos tacked to it with magnets. "Who is it...Um...Margo? She's the current one, isn't she?"

"Margo and I aren't seeing each other anymore," Lee said, his voice overlapping her this time.

"Oh," she said facing him again with a smile. "You do go through them," she said cattily. She couldn't understand it. Every time they began to get closer, he'd start seeing someone new and act as if they'd never meant anything to each other. Why couldn't he see that she was here right in front of him? Didn't her realize that if he'd give her a chance, he wouldn't be in that boat? Hadn't she more than proven that she'd be there for him, no matter what?

"Wait, now, look, she took off with an airline pilot, okay?"He said rising from his seat angrily. His anger had more to do with the woman in front of him than the one who'd left him. After all, it was her fault that Margo had left; the way she'd cajoled and manipulated him into falling in love with her to the point that he couldn't think about anything or anyone else. She'd subtly wormed her way into her heart and his mind, leaving room for nothing and no one else and Margo had noticed, just like Gillian before her.

"Okay," she said holding her hands up in surrender.

"Okay," Lee said feeling a little calmer. Damn her, Lee thought. How does she always do that? How does she have this uncanny ability to make me go from steaming mad as a grizzly to purring like a docile kitten in three seconds flat?

At the party later that night, as they walked with Emily, Lee said to her, "Uh, Amanda, I wonder if you might mingle alone for a little while. I wanna' talk to Emily."

"Ohhhh," Amanda said, realization dawning as she looked around and then lowered her voice. "That's what this is all about; you two are on a case together."

Lee and Emily exchanged looks and Lee said, "What can I say, Emily, she just has this suspicious streak in her."

Emily laughed heartily at this, her own suspicious streak kicking in as she watched the exchange between the two of them with Amanda telling him she'd be okay and couldn't help noticing the way they were smiling at one another. Her amusement continued at Lee's flare of jealousy a short while later when he saw Amanda talking with their target. She wondered who he thought he was kidding. He wasn't irritated that it was Sidney Whitsett that she was talking to; he was mad that it was a man in general. It was obvious to her that Lee was deeply in love with the captivating young woman he'd arrived at the party with.

Amanda was in a state of panic at what was being done to her dining room, feeling helpless as Lee and Emily directed the setup team, telling them where to put things.

"You, Amanda, what do you think?" Emily asked her regarding the portrait of Lenin.

"Oh...uh...I don't know what to think," Amanda stammered.

"The point is what will Mr. Whitsett think?" Emily said.

"You know, I...um...I think I'll...uh...just leave you to it," Amanda said feeling very much in the way. She quickly exited the dining room, making a beeline for the stairs.

Emily nodded to Lee and gestured with her head for him to follow her. When Lee stared at her dumbfounded, she shoved him toward the door and said, "Go on, my boy. Amanda looks like she could use a little reassurance right now. I've got this covered." Lee shook his head and followed Amanda just as Emily was scolding one of the setup crew, "No, no, no, not there. Are you insane?"

Lee didn't catch up to Amanda until she was already in her bedroom. He hesitantly walked through the partially open door and closed it firmly behind him. He found her in her bathroom, fumbling with the clasp of her necklace. He reached for her arm and said, "Hey, are you okay?" causing her to jump. He abruptly removed his hand and said sheepishly, "Sorry."

"No, it's...um...it's okay. I...uh...I guess I should be used to it by now," Amanda said. "I'm sorry. I'm just...um...I'm just a little...overwhelmed by all of this."

"I know," he said softly. "And I'm sorry about all of this. If there was any other way..."

"Yeah, I know," she replied. "I...uh...I just feel..."

"I know," Lee said taking both of her hands in his, intending just to comfort her, but the contact jolted him and when his eyes locked with hers, comfort became the last thing on his mind.

"I...um...I'm just going to...uh..." Amanda pulled her hands from his and turned back toward the mirror working at her necklace again.

"Uh...yeah," Lee said. "Here, let me," he said when he saw her nervous fingers still struggling with the clasp. He gently pulled her hair back, undoing the clasp, his hands sliding to her shoulders as he re-fastened it in front of her. She took it from him and set it aside. He found his hands sliding to her waist. "Did I tell you how beautiful you look tonight?' he whispered in her ear.

Amanda blushed slightly and answered, "No, you...uh...you didn't."

"Well, you do," He said in a low voice as he raised one hand and lightly fingered the thin strap of her party dress.

Amanda turned to face him. "Well, you...uh...clean up pretty good yourself," Amanda said as she tugged at his bowtie.

Their eyes met again and neither quite sure who moved first, they were in each other's arms again, kissing feverishly, Amanda's arms around his neck, his around her waist. Amanda gasped as Lee's hands moved to cup her bottom, a tiny, "Oh," escaping her lips as he lowered his lips to her neck, finding the tender pulse point that he was so good at finding. She tugged at his tie to loosen it, quickly dropping it to the floor, then began to work on his shirt.

"Amanda," he whispered against her skin as he pressed her against the counter while his hands slipped under the skirt of dress to caress her thighs. The white dress she wore had been driving him crazy all night as it brought to mind another kind of white dress as he thought about how close he'd come to telling her just how much he loved her. He'd never really thought of himself as the marrying kind, but with her, everything was different.

"Lee," Amanda sighed as she slipped her hands inside his now open shirt to caress his bare chest while she felt him tugging at her panties, dropping them to her feet.

"Mmm," Lee moaned at the feel of Amanda's hands on him. He lifted her up onto the bathroom counter, and then dropped to his knees in front of her, hiking her dress up to her waist as he dove between her legs to taste her.

"Oh, Lee," she cried out at the contact as she gripped the edge of the counter for support while he made her wild with desire with his mouth, suckling and hipping at her, knowing just where to touch her to send her spiraling over the edge, the hammering in her heart drowning out the hammering coming from downstairs. She didn't even recognize her own voice as she heard herself screaming his name with the intensity of her climax as she bucked her hips against him, shaking uncontrollably.

Lee rose to his feet, grinned at her smugly and said, "Feeling calmer now?" She smacked at him playfully wanting to smack that cocky look off his face. Lee laughed and said, "Well?"

"Y-y-yes," she said through her still heavy breathing.

"Good," he said with a smile.

"Stop that," Amanda said with a pout.

"Stop what?" He said with a knowing smirk,

"You know what," she said. Deciding to take matters into her own hands to get him to stop with the looks, she hopped down from the counter and before he knew what was happening, she dropped his pants and boxers to the floor and had him in her mouth.

"Oh, God, Amanda," Lee groaned in delight wondering just how the hell she'd turned the tables on him so fast. "Ohhhh," he groomed again as she worked him furiously with her mouth, brining him so close to the edge that he knew he wasn't going to last much longer if he didn't stop her. "Amanda," he spat out as he tugged at her hands to pull her to her feet. "Stop, I want to..."

"Yes?" she said expectantly.

His answer was to kick off his shoes, shuck off his clothing, pull her into his arms again, and kiss her soundly while his hands found the straps of her dress to drop it to the floor, reveling in the feel of her bare body against his with no barriers remaining between them. He lowered his head to nip at her neck again, then murmured against her skin, "Let's take this to the bedroom."

"Mm-mm," Amanda replied, her panic rising again only for a different reason this time. Taking him to her bed would be just too much when he'd treated her so indifferently since their last encounter and had immediately started dating Margo. "Here, Now."

"Amanda," Lee growled in frustration as he pulled back from her to look into her eyes.

"I need you now," she pleaded.

Lee turned her around, braced her hands against the countertop, pushed into her from behind as yanked her hair aside again, this time not nearly as gently as he hand before, and clamped his mouth down on her neck. He raised his head for a moment as he pulled back and slammed into her watching with delight in the mirror as her facial expression changed. "Is this what you want?" he growled as he lowered his head again, biting down on her neck.

"Yes," she cried out. "I want you, all of you."

Spurred on by her cries, Lee gripped her hips and drove into her as hard as he could, suckling hard on her neck, knowing it would leave a mark, knowing that he'd get there before she did and not caring. He was feeling the need to show her what she did to him and a selfish need to punish her for flirting with Sidney Whitsett, for denying him access to her bed. He groaned loudly as he felt himself erupting into her all too soon, then feeling a little twinge of guilt, he slowed his movements and slid his hand between her legs to stroke her, needing to feel her tightening around him before it was too late. He was soon rewarded by her loud cries as her tight muscles around him milked him dry. "Amanda," he whimpered softly against her neck through his ragged breathing as he collapsed against her. He placed a tender kiss to the bruise he'd left behind and then pulled out of her, quickly gathering up his clothes, dressing as hurriedly as he could.

"Oh," Amanda whimpered at the loss of him. She turned to face him and said, "What are you doing?"

"I...um...I should get downstairs and help Emily set up for Phase Two."

"Right," Amanda said getting the message that he didn't want to talk about what had just transpired...as usual. She quickly hurried into her bedroom to her dresser to pull out her nightgown and by the time she'd pulled it over her head, Lee was emerging from the bathroom fully dressed. "I...Um...I'm going to call it a night," she said.

"Yeah, okay," He said, pausing for a moment hopefully, wondering if she might finally concede and invite him into her bed.

"So...um...goodnight," she said as she gestured toward the bedroom door.

Guess not, he thought sadly. "Yeah, goodnight," he said as he took the hint that he wasn't welcome in her bedroom now that she'd gotten what she wanted and left the room to focus on the case.

The following morning, Lee tried to ignore her and pretend to be engrossed in listening in on Emily's interrogation of Whitsett, but she wouldn't let him, insisting that he explain what was going on with Whitsett since he was in her house. He couldn't help smiling to see Amanda in a sweatshirt with a collared shirt underneath, no doubt to hide the evidence of their encounter of the night before. He had to wonder though, what the Georgetown sweatshirt was all about when he knew from her background check that she'd gone to UVA. He'd seen her wearing Georgetown gear before, but never could quite figure it out. He searched his memory banks for anything he'd seen in her initial background check about it, but drew a blank.

He thought about asking her about it, but their conversation was interrupted by Emily, then by Amanda's determination to get her painting done leaving him wondering what the hell was going on. He just couldn't quite figure her out. It was obvious that she had feelings for him, but she wouldn't acknowledge it and wouldn't let him acknowledge it. Then there was the fact that she seemed perfectly happy to let him do whatever he wanted to her in the throes of passion and took many liberties with him that he very much enjoyed, but yet she still staunchly refused to share her bed with him. "Oh, Amanda," he said with a sigh after she'd left and he prepared to make his call to Francine to bring her up to speed.

Later that afternoon after pretending that Emily had shot him, he finally had a moment alone with her. "Oh my gosh," she said when she saw his appearance.

"Relax, Amanda, it's okay. I'm fine. It's fake," Lee said.

"Oh," she said breathing a sigh of relief. "You know..uh...you should probably get that taken care of before it stains."

Lee chuckled that that was her next thought now that she knew he was okay. "I'll get to it later," Lee said.

"Oh, no, you should probably get to it now. You can let something like that set it. I...I could take care of it for you," Amanda offered.

"Yeah, sure," Lee said with a smile as he unbuttoned his shirt slowly and watched her reaction, her eyes widening a little. It was clear that she was thinking about how she'd nearly stripped him of the same tuxedo shirt last night. He made a show of taking a little longer to undo the cuffs at his wrists than was necessary, thoroughly enjoying making her uncomfortable.

Amanda cleared her throat loudly, turned from him and said, "I...uh...I'll just get the bleach while you're doing that." She made a hasty escape to the laundry room, taking her time to come back with the bleach. When she returned, she stopped short at finding Lee completely shirtless at the sink, sponging his torso down with a damp dishcloth. "I...um..." she licked her lips nervously then slammed the bottle of bleach on the counter. "What are you doing?"

"Just cleaning up," Lee said with an impish grin. "I hope you don't mind. This stuff is kind of sticky."

"Oh, no, of course...Yeah, I mean, I wouldn't want you to be uncomfortable," Amanda said. Liar, she scolded herself. She'd like nothing better than to make him as uncomfortable as he was making her and she knew he was doing it on purpose. She forced herself to look away from the way he was slowly running the cloth across his chest, reached for his discarded shirt and began filling the sink with water to soak it in while he used the other side. Just when she thought she couldn't take anymore of him being bare-chested so close to her, he moved away and pulled on the pale blue shirt he'd been wearing earlier, causing her to breathe a sigh of relief.

"So, Amanda, I have a question for you," Lee said.

"Shoot," she said without turning around, busying herself with his shirt.

"You...uh...you went to UVA, right?"

"Mm-hmm," She answered.

"Hmm, then what's the deal with all the Georgetown shirts? I've noticed you've got several of them."

"Oh," she said seeing the opportunity for a little payback. "Well, Joe went to Georgetown."

"Joe?" he questioned. Who the hell was Joe? Was she seeing someone else? He again searched his memory banks trying to recall if she'd ever mentioned anyone named Joe.

"Yeah, Joe," she said as she turned to face him. "You know, Joe King, my ex-husband who I was married to for ten years, the reason that I'm Amanda King, the father of my children, Phillip and Jamie King." Take that, she thought with a grin at seeing his face fall at the blunt reminder that he wasn't the only one with a past. He had flaunted his girls in front of her so it felt good to get a little payback.

"Right, your...uh...your ex," he said feeling stupid. As many times as he'd looked at her background info, he should have known that, but in his mind, he'd tried to suppress anything related to her faceless and up until now, nameless ex-husband. He was going to have to remind himself to look at her background stuff again to find out more. What a putz the guy must be if he left a beautiful, desirable woman like her behind. "So...um...ten years, huh? That's a long time. That... um...must have been quite a blow when it ended," Lee said burning with curiosity now as he wondered just what had caused it to end. "What happened?"

"Nothing," Amanda said evasively turning back to Lee's stained shirt in the sink.

"Nothing? Ten years of marriage just ended like that?" Lee said with a snap of his fingers.

"No, not just like that," Amanda said turning to face him, shock evident on her face. "I didn't choose to end my marriage lightly. I tried everything to make it work because I believe that when you promise to be with someone for life, that's what you're supposed to do." She sighed. "Look, it doesn't matter. It's done and over with, part of the past." She was regretting now ever bringing it up.

"But why? I mean, if you once loved him enough to marry him..."

"I-" Amanda was spared answering by Emily entering the room.

Emily picked up on the tension between the two immediately. "Well, our little charade worked like a charm," she said as she tugged the wig off her head. Whitsett sang like a canary. How's everyone in here?"

"Fine," Lee and Amanda answered simultaneously and not very convincingly.

"You know, I need to get clean up," Lee said making a hasty escape up the stairs.

"What's wrong with him," Emily asked as she glanced at the door.

Amanda changing the subject focused her attention solely on Lee's shirt in front of her, saying dramatically, "Oh, the things you people do in your business."

Emily chuckled at Amanda's very obvious attempt to hide her feelings and decided to play along, "I admit it's not like other jobs."

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That evening, after the house had been restored and the boys were in bed, Amanda sat on the couch, half-heartedly perusing the evening paper when her mother entered the room. "So, now that the children are asleep, do you want to tell me what really happened while we were away?"

"Oh, so, Mrs. Gilstrap was making up more stories when she said she saw you coming home the other night in a party dress with two men, one of whom looked like he was passed out drunk?"

"Mother," Amanda sighed in exasperation, though she cringed a little. That was exactly what she'd worried about when Lee and Emily had brought Sidney Whitsett to her house, that the neighbors would think she'd brought a drunk man home from the party.

"Or maybe Mrs. Daley was making up stories when she said she saw that silver sports car in the driveway off and on this weekend. Or maybe I was hearing things when I came downstairs and hour ago or so and heard you and Mrs. Farnsworth talking about a man named Lee?"

"You were eavesdropping on us?" Amanda said, her eyes narrowing.

"No, not eavesdropping. I was planning to make a cup of hot chocolate and I couldn't help hearing your conversation. It seemed that she was asking you what your relationship with him was. This Lee, is he the man you've been seeing?"

"Mother..."

Taking her reaction as confirmation, she nodded, "Lee what?"

"No, Mother," Amanda said firmly.

"So, your friend, Mrs. Farnsworth knows who he is, but I'm not allowed to? Is that it?" Dotty said the hurt evident in her tone, "And what about this drunk man?"

"Look, Mother, Emily knows him because she was helping us out on our latest...um...film project. The...um...the drunk man was our contact and he...um...overindulged a little at the party we went to, that's all. He's not from around here and neither is Emily, Lee only lives in a one-bedroom apartment, so logically, we thought the best place for him to sleep it off was on the couch here."

"Hmmm," Dotty said thoughtfully. "That still doesn't answer my question about your mystery lover. Why is it that she gets to know everything about him and I don't?"

"Mother, they've worked together before. In fact, she's known him longer than I have. Besides, she's not going to try to marry me off to him."

"That's what this is really about, isn't it, Amanda? You're afraid that if I knew who he was, I'd do something crazy, don't you? What is it you're afraid I'll do, lecture him about the way he's been sneaking around with my only daughter?" Truth be told, the thought had crossed her mind.

"Are you telling me that you wouldn't?"Amanda fired back.

"Amanda, Darling, you know me better than that. I'm not one to pry into your private life. All I want is for you to be happy."

"I know, Mother, but the answer is still no," Amanda said. "For the record, I am happy." She didn't yet have everything that she wanted with Lee, but they'd made up a little since the tension had arisen between them the night before. She smiled fondly at the memory of him blowing her a kiss at the liquor store and his smile at her when leaving her house with the portrait of Lenin. Her smile widened as she wondered where this would all lead them.