Chapter 54-Light of the Day

"Flight to Freedom"

Amanda has just started to close her eyes when the annoying flicking sound of a lighter and even more annoying flicker of a candle disturbed her attempt to go to sleep. She popped her head up and gave Lee her best perturbed look over the top of the table between them and questioned, "Shouldn't it be dark in here?"

Nervously fidgeting, Lee stammered, "Heh...uh...I-I...uh...like to sleep with a...a light." He glanced at her warily uncertain of her reaction to such a revelation as he knew in a way he'd always been her hero in a way and he liked that she saw him that way. He'd always tried to keep up that hero bravado around her, the facade that said he wasn't afraid of anything, but yet somehow...somehow, she always pulled things out of him that he didn't want to reveal and now he wasn't sure how to feel about it. Would this change things between them? He'd never shared that bit of himself with anyone; he'd never needed to. There's never been enough women spending enough nights with him to worry about it. He cringed inwardly as he thought of how he'd been before meeting Amanda. She seemed not to mind though. The real question became, could she handle the little quirky things about him or would they drive her crazy?

Amanda made a sour face. "You like to sleep with a light on?" Yikes! she thought as she began to think about all the times in the past that he'd pleaded with her to spend the whole night with him and she hadn't and now found herself wondering how that would have gone. She knew that she just couldn't sleep unless it was completely dark. She bit down on her lower lip as she pondered further wondering how they would handle things if they ever did become serious enough to spend an entire night together. Could she handle it? Could she bend that much? While she was on the subject, could he handle her need to have the window cracked open at night, she had to have the fresh air or she'd wake up in the middle of the night feeling suffocated. It had been so long since she'd shared a bed with anyone except Joe. Now, there had been the few cover assignments with Lee, but except for the one shared room in which they'd fought and he'd stormed out, the issue had never presented itself.

Okay, so maybe she can't handle it, he thought glumly.He decided to take a different approach. "Yeah, I like to sleep with a light on," Lee told her with more confidence as if it were the most natural thing in the world, not at all liking the look on her face. He wrapped his blanket around himself like a cocoon and began to explain about his stint trapped in the catacombs in Istanbul but then seeing the horrified look on her face in conjunction with his own bitter memories of it, thought better of it and said, "I don't wanna' give you the details," just as she said, "I don't wanna' hear this."

They said goodnight to one another and he watched as Amanda hunkered down under her own blanket and tried to shake off the dismal memory just as she bolted back up and put out the candle's flame. "Oh, Amanda," he protested.

"I can't sleep with the lights on," she stated simply as she lay back down, but then rose again upon once again hearing the flick of Lee's lighter and in a sharper tone said, "I'm not gonna' get any sleep all night." When Lee smiled smugly at her after re-lighting the candle, she gave him an equally smug grin. "I'll blow it out as soon as you go to sleep."

"Oh, you will, will you," he challenged, his smirk widening as he leaned across the table toward her.

"Bet on it," she countered as she too sat up and met his gaze leaning toward him as well.

"Hmmm..." He paused thoughtfully. "But what if I never go to sleep?"

"You're gonna' stay up all night?" She teased with a light flick of her tongue against her upper lip, her tone taking their banter in a whole new direction.

Damn it! How does she always do that? Lee couldn't help being mesmerized by her suggestive tone, the sparkle in her eyes illuminated by the candle's glow and found himself taking the bait against his will...as usual. Leaning as close as the table between them would allow, he growled in a low voice against her ear, "I have been known to stay 'up' all night a time or two."

She shivered as the sound of his sexy, low voice sent chills up her spine. "All night?" she questioned seductively in his ear as she ran one hand up his chest and nipped lightly at his earlobe.

"ALL night," he confirmed with a sigh.

Amanda never knew who moved first, whether he'd pulled her to him, whether she'd pushed him backward or whether they'd simply moved together. The only thing she knew was that one moment they were across from each other leaning on the table and the next, he was on his back atop the blanket that had been wrapped around him with her above him and that they were sharing heated kisses under hers while they groped and tugged at one another's clothing. She shivered slightly as she felt his hands sliding along the skin of her bare back, not even realizing until that moment that he'd worked his hands under her top and unhooked her bra. She broke their kiss and let out a tiny gasp when she felt his hands moving to her front to caress her breasts.

Lee chuckled at the look on her face, the blazing desire in her eyes illuminated by the candle's flame, as he paused in his exploration of her long enough to urge her to raise her arms so he could yank her top over her head. Before moving back to his task, he just gazed for a moment at her now bared torso in front of him, just smiling. She cocked her head and looked at him quizzically. "What?"

Still smiling, he replied, "Nothing."

"No, really, what?" Amana insisted.

"Nothing," he repeated as he grasped her hips, pulling her flush against his erection in an attempt to distract her from his wandering mind. "See? Very up."

"Yes," Amanda sighed as Lee began letting his hands wander again. one hands clasping her breast while the other flicked open the button of her jeans, but just as he reached for her zipper, she stopped him with her hand on his and a shake of her head.

"No?"

She leaned over him, running her hands up under his shirt and caressing his bare chest underneath as she did so. When her lips with a hairsbreadth from his, she replied sassily, "Just so we're clear. Don't think I don't know what you're really up to."

"Oh? And what, exactly, is that?"

She tugged on his arms and urged him to lift his torso up enough to pull his shirt off before she pushed him back down. "Distracting me with seduction, maybe thinking you'll wear me out enough that you'll win the light fight."

Lee shook his head as he grasped her hips and thrust his own against hers and grinned. "Haven't you ever heard the old phrase the difference between light and hard is that you can sleep with a light on."

She slapped at him playfully and he reached for her hands and entwined his fingers with hers as they began another round of searing kisses, their hands soon disentangling and tugging at each other's jeans until they reached the point where they had to stop for air and because they were both still wearing shoes. "Damn," she panted as they broke apart quickly untying her sneakers as he worked on his own and they both shucked of their pants, Lee finishing first and he sat on the bench watching Amanda with his eyes dancing in merriment. When she turned to face him with another, "what?" He pulled her into his lap so that she was straddling him as without a word captured one nipple in his mouth while his other hand ran lightly up her back and ground against her. She let out a low hum of pleasure as she rocked against him, bracing her hands on his shoulders, giving into the sensations for a moment before pulling back. Mindful of the still-lit candle she stood, reached for her discarded blanket, wrapped it around herself, tucking the end in like she would a towel after a shower and sat across from him on the table.

"Amanda," he growled in frustration.

"Mm-mm." She wagged a scolding finger at him. "Not until you tell me what that nothing was all about."

"Uh-" She raised an eyebrow at his hesitation followed by folding her arms across her chest and a pointed ;I'm waiting' look. "You'll get mad."

"I'll get madder if you don't tell me," she countered.

"I...uh..."

"Okay, fine," Licking her fingers as she had earlier while Lee watched, she pinched out the candle's flame again and started to rise to make her way back to her own bench.

Lee, having watched her move with her tongue and her fingers and thinking just how damn sexy that move had been grabbed her and pulled her back to him, yanking firmly on her blanket to bare her lithe body to him again and whispered low against her, "Okay, you got me."

"Yeah?" She linked her arms behind his neck.

He sighed, "yes, but if you get mad, don't say I didn't warn you." Again, she raised her eyebrows expectedly. "Okay, okay. I was thinking about the name of this boat...the Mata Hari...and the spy she was named after and how she made me think of you."

She gave him a curious and slightly perturbed look. "An exotic dancer turned spy reminded you of me? I've gotta' hear this one."

"Well, she was a single mother-" Lee thought quickly hoping that would get him out of hot water. "Divorced, you know...and became a spy."

"I don't buy it." She shook her head. "Not the way you were looking at me then."

"Amanda," he whined piteously, as he leaned in to nuzzle her neck but she stopped him with a hand on his chest.

"No, I don't believe it."

"Come on!"

"Mm-mm...Truth.."

Lee sighed, "Fine, you win! Are you happy now?"

Amanda smirked. "I am a woman who enjoys herself very much; sometimes I lose, sometimes I win."

Lee rolled his eyes and explained. "It was because Mata Hari was known for being self-conscious because she had small breasts, okay? That she was very rarely seen without a bra even though she was an exotic dancer."

Amanda burst out laughing. "That's it?"

"What do you mean that's it?"

"That's what you thought I'd be mad about?"

"You mean you're not?" He looked at her in amazement. "I mean, you're not exactly-" Lee decided he'd best quit while he was ahead and clamped his mouth shut tight.

"I'm know I'm not and that's not exactly something I can help, but it's not as if I've ever heard you complain when we're-" Her sentence was cut off by Lee's lips descending on hers. She returned his kiss with equal fervor as she reached between them to guide him into her, both of them sighing as they wrapped their arms around one another. She pulled back from their kiss, and with the light from the doorway above behind her, she had the advantage in the dark room of being able to clearly see his face as they rocked together. The love he felt for her, even though the words were never spoken, was clearly etched all over it as he held her to him and whispered enticing words to her, how much he wanted her, how hard she made him, how good it felt to be inside her.

While they were not the romantic declaration of love she was waiting so patiently for, she knew that it was as close as he could get for now. When he lowered his lips to the tender skin at her neck, she soon found herself echoing similar words to him, how much his touch set her on fire, how he filled her so completely like no man ever had before, how she couldn't get enough of him. She clenched her thighs tighter against his and wrapped her arms around his back clinging tightly to him once she began to feel the tremors of her release begin. "Leeeeee," she hissed as she nipped at his neck.

"Ah, yes, My Mata Hari," Lee urged her on as he slipped a hand between them to stroke her lightly increasing her pleasure until he felt her tightening around him and before he could stop it, himself being pulled along with her, both of them shaking against one another as he erupted inside her and called out her name. "My Amanda," he whispered repeatedly as they rode out the final waves together until neither had anything left to give and Amanda sagged wearily against him peppering his neck and the side of his face with tiny kisses.

When their breathing had finally slowed Amanda pulled back slightly to look at him and said, "You know if you really need to have the light on to sleep, I...uh...I guess I can live with that." She gave him a warm smile that she hoped conveyed that she meant that for more than just tonight.

"You know, Mata Hari means 'Light of the Day,' so as long as I have you with me, I don't think that I need it."