Chapter 58-Double Break Point
"Playing For Keeps"
Amanda had been half-listening to her mother's conversation with the boys as she tried to get some much-needed rest while fighting the last remnants of the vicious cold that had struck her down, wishing that they'd just cool it so she could get well and feel like herself again. However, when the phone rang and she heard her mother addressing, "Mr. Simpson," she perked right up and held out her hand for the phone. If anything could make her feel better, it was hearing Lee's voice.
Dotty's eyes widened and she let out a little snort of disbelief at her daughter's actions as she handed her the phone. What was it with her and her fascination with this one man, who after two and half years didn't seem any closer to making a real commitment to her than he had in the beginning? Was their sex life that good that she couldn't help wondering. Of course, Amanda wouldn't even admit that there was a sex life between them and kept insisting that he was simply a co-worker.
When Amanda got on the phone, Lee's face fell at the sound of her voice. "Amanda?" He questioned in concern. "You sound terrible."
Dotty watched, hands on her hips as she heard her daughter's end of the conversation and her, "I could probably come in if you want me to." She let out a sigh. What pull did this man have on her that she'd go to work when she looked like Death? She just hoped to God that the man had more sense than to ask something like that of her. She couldn't help noticing the disappointment and just a hint of jealousy when Amanda questioned, "Overnight, out-of-town with Francine, huh?"
On Lee's end, he tried to reassure her, "Uh...I know, I know. I feel the same way, Amanda, but hey, it can't be helped." Damn it, he swore to himself. Why couldn't he just come right out and tell her that he loved her? He supposed now wasn't the best time anyway. If she were going with him, maybe... He shook his head as he listened to her questioning him about the assignment. He tried to evade her question, but when she got that stern "Mom" tone in her voice, he knew she wouldn't let him off the hook that easily.
Amanda let out deep sigh as Lee tried desperately to make it sound like it was going to be dull as dishwater, but a weekend at a country club and the fact that he was going to be there with Francine and not her just made her shudder. "Well, you have a good time," she stated with no real enthusiasm as she hung up the phone.
Dotty couldn't contain her curiosity any longer as she leaned against the back of the sofa. "Trouble in paradise?" she questioned.
"Trouble?" Amanda shook her head. "No, no, no trouble."
"Uh-huh," Dotty replied disbelievingly as she folded her arms across his chest. "Then why did you get that look on your face when he said he was going out of town and who is this...Francine?"
"No one, just another co-worker."
"Sure," her mother replied skeptically. "Just like Mr. Simpson is nothing more than a co-worker. I know you, Amanda and I saw that green streak written all over face and NOT from your illness."
"Okay, okay, she's a co-worker that he used to date years ago, but that's all over now...and...uh...since I can't go with this cold and he needs a partner for this new film, he has to take someone."
"So it has to be her?"
"Look, Mother, it's just business."
"I see, just like all these overnight trips you've taken with him are "just business?'"
"Yes, Mother, just business," Amanda stated adamantly, but she couldn't help that nagging pinch of doubt as she recalled another overnighter in which he'd made that crack that if Francine had come along... She cringed as she thought of Lee spending the weekend working with Francine and then it occurred to her that she hadn't thought to ask about what cover they'd be using. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if they weren't going as a couple. She brightened at that thought and immediately tried to call him back, but found the line in the Q went unanswered. She hung the phone up again and hung her head along with it.
"Just what I thought," Dotty crowed.
"Just business," Amanda repeated, but now she couldn't help wondering.
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"Looked to me like you were kind of...tripping over your own cover story," Francine crowed gleefully.
"Oh, you wish," Lee countered in irritation. It was bad enough that he couldn't have his partner with him when he needed her, but now Francine gloating was only making matters worse.
Knowing she'd gotten to him, Francine couldn't resist keeping it going. "Oooh, touchy, touchy," she replied with a grin before looking away from him again and watching the crowd, then added in a nonchalant tone, "Guess Amanda doesn't point these things out to you."
Lee shook his head at her sly dig at Amanda, but now was not the time to get into another childish verbal sparring match with her. "The point is, she bought your cover, right?" As they made plans for their next move and she walked away, he muttered, "Show-off."
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When Amanda got a call from Lee that evening, it did nothing to allay her concerns because it still seemed that he was trying too hard to convince her that there was no fun to be had on this assignment as he concluded his statement with, "I am bushed...dead on my feet."
"What's the matter? Too many tangos?" She questioned flippantly.
"No, too much Tina," Lee answered in annoyance as he explained to her what was going on while trying to shoo Francine away like an annoying housefly buzzing around his face. Letting out a deep sigh, he finally conceded and handed Francine the phone with a demand of, "Make it short, huh?"
Amanda rolled her eyes as she listened to Francine drone on and on and what a great time she was missing and the dancing they'd been doing.
"Hey!" Lee said repeatedly as he tried to get Francine's attention so he could snatch the phone back from her. "What do you think you're doing? You're blowing my whole gig, here!" He finally wrested the phone from her grasp, offered a quick explanation to Amanda that he had to go and hung up leaving Amanda staring at the phone in consternation.
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After taking down the attempted assassin and doing what he could to find out more about the well-known gun-for-hire because something just didn't feel right to him, as if it wasn't really over yet, Lee undressed and finally dropped onto the bed of his room. Needing to clear the air with Amanda, he reached for the phone to dial her number.
Back in the comfort of her own bed instead of on the couch, Amanda snatched up the phone. "Lee?"
Lee smiled. "Yeah, it's me. I...uh...I just wanted to call to say goodnight and to...um...to apologize for letting Francine ambush you earlier. I swear she said she only wanted to tell you that she was sorry that you're sick."
"Well, she did do that," Amanda commented.
"Amanda, I'm sorry," Lee responded effusively.
"Oh, look, it's not your fault. It was just Francine being..." A witch, she thought, but then said instead, "...well...Francine."
"It really hasn't been as exciting without you here," Lee stated honestly. "I wish you were here."
"Yeah?" She perked up.
"Yeah," He assured her. "This country club may be all kinds of fancy, but this big king-sized bed I'm in is...well, it's just..." He dropped his voice lower. "It's kind of a waste without you to share it with."
Amanda squirmed in her bed at his words, his husky-sounding voice sending shockwaves through her. "Oh? And what would you do if I were there with you?"
"I'd make love to you," he stated boldly.
"Mmm...You sure you wouldn't worry about blowing our cover like you were on the Marvin's case?" she teased.
"That was different. Francine was there giving us grief. If you were feeling better, it'd be just the two of us and no need for her to be here."
"Uh-huh. You sure you wouldn't prefer her being there?"
"Not a chance. You're the one I wanted with me. In fact, Francine wanted to come along from the beginning, but I told her I wanted you." In a deeper tone to convey his feelings for her, he added, "I always want you."
"Yeah?"
"Mm-hmm. If you were here, I'd have you in this bed with me and I'd take my sweet time making love to you. I'd start with the sensitive little spot on your neck right below your ear...the one that always makes you squirm when I press my lips to it. You know the spot."
"Mm-hmm. I do," she replied dreamily as just the thought of him doing things to her made her squirm. "I also know that you have a similar spot right above your collarbone. It makes you twitch every time."
"God, yes," Lee sighed, wishing more than ever that they were together as he felt his need for her growing with every word spoken. "What would you do to me if you were here?"
"I'd find that spot we were just talking about and bite down on it just the way you like while I ran my hands down your bare chest. I love the feeling of your hard muscles under my hands."
"Speaking of hard," he growled in a hoarse voice. "Do you have any idea what you're doing to me right now?"
"Not as much as I'd like to be doing," she fired back. "I'd love to wrap one hand around your thick, hard penis just to hear you groan the way you do when I do that."
"Ohh," Lee groaned as he slipped his hand into his boxers and stroked himself the way she was describing, imagining that it was her hand instead. "While you were doing that, I'd find that tender spot between your legs that makes you weak for me and always has you begging for more."
"Like this?" she questioned as she touched herself and let out a gasp into the phone at the contact.
"Oh, yes," he answered as he pictured what she must be doing with her hand and wanted so much to be doing it himself.
"I wish it was you touching me," Amanda cooed. "Your hand here where mine is right now."
"And I wish I had your hands wrapped around me right now, instead of my own...or better yet, your warm, wet mouth."
"You're right, that is even better...if your mouth were where my hand is now the way that it was that night my mother went missing..." She let out a squeal of delight as she thought of that night and began to stroke herself even harder.
No words were spoken between them for a while as the phone line soon became filled with nothing more than their moans and sighs of pleasure, each one arousing the other to a fevered pitch until Lee hearing her cries becoming more high-pitched and pictured her bucking her hips in ecstasy, finally choked out, "God, Amanda, I'm gonna'...Ohhhhh!" His sentence stopped abruptly as he let go and gave into the climax he needed.
"Lee," she hissed into the phone as she too, reached her breaking point and tumbled over the edge, dropping the handset as she clutched the sheet beneath her tightly with her now freed hand as wave after wave of pleasure overtook her.
The only sound Lee heard for a long moment after that was the one of his own heavy breathing. When he came to his senses, he realized that he didn't hear her anymore, just silence on the other end. "Amanda?" When he got no response, he tried again, a bit louder. "Amanda?"
Hearing his voice through her haze as she tried to control her racing heart, Amanda bent over the side of the bed and scrambled to pick up the phone. "Sorry. I...uh...I dropped the phone," she said with just a touch of embarrassment in her tone.
"Hmm...That good, huh?" Lee teased to put her mind at ease.
She chuckled in response and replied, "Well, it's always been good between us."
"No denying that," Lee agreed. "You and I, we have this undeniable-" Once again, he wasn't able to finish his statement; this time due to a loud knocking on his door. "Crap! Someone's knocking and I can just bet that I know who that someone is."
Amanda rolled her eyes and snorted. "Impeccable timing on her part, as usual." The words were barely out of her mouth when there was a knock on her own door. She sighed. "Speaking of...I have to go myself. I think my mother's at my door," she whispered. "Goodnight." She quickly hung up the phone, straightened her nightgown from where she'd bunched it up and opened her door to find that it was indeed her mother knocking.
"Is everything okay, Amanda?" Dotty inquired.
"Sure, it is, Mother. Why wouldn't it be?"
"I was just on my way to bed and I thought I heard you..." She paused. "Well, it sounded like you were having some trouble breathing. I just wanted to make sure that your cold isn't getting worse. You know, if you don't take care of yourself, you could end up making yourself even sicker."
"Oh, no, Mother," she assured her. "I'm just fine. In fact, I feel better now than I have in a couple of days." Much better, she added mentally as she thought of what had just transpired. Francine may be there in person, but she now had confirmation that she, herself, was the one with him in his heart.
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The next day when Lee called her to tell her that the case had been wrapped up, that he would be coming home and see her soon, as luck would have it, Francine interrupted again, but this time, he firmly put her off. She even heard Francine's questioning voice in the background speculating that she was the one he was talking to.
"Lee, what's going on?" she called loudly to get his attention. When he came back to the phone and began babbling about how it was different, she couldn't help interrupting with, "I missed you, too."
"Yeah," he responded with a slight flush. "Okay, I missed you, I admit it, but that is all over because as soon as this mess with my bill is cleared up, I'm outta here."
"You don't really expect me to believe that interruption was about your bill, do you? I heard Francine's voice in the background trying to distract you again."
"Ah, but it didn't work this time, did it? I swear that woman has pushed me to my breaking point this weekend with all her-"
"I thought I did that last night," she countered.
He grinned. "Yes, you did and the much better one. When I get home, once you're feeling better, how about we...uh...give it a go in person? You know, all those things we said we wished we could do if we were together?"
"Oh, I don't know," she said. "You know, since I didn't get much sleep last night, I think I might be starting to have a relapse." She faked a loud cough into the phone.
"Well, I just happen to have the perfect cure for that...a home-cooked meal, a nice bottle of wine, maybe a little romance..."
"Match point, Stetson," She responded. "Hurry home." She then hung up, giving him no more excuses to delay his return trip and shivered in anticipation of what his homecoming might bring.