Chapter 59-Resident Lothario

"The Pharoah's Engineer

Lee pressed his lips tightly together, clenched his jaw and bit back the comment he wanted to make at seeing Lois Mendleson asleep in her bed. He turned to glower at Rupert and Amanda as they stood in the doorway flanked by the guards who'd opened the door to Lois's room on his say-so. He shook his head and with nothing more than a clipped, "Amanda..." and a nod of his head to indicate he wanted to speak to her alone, pushed past them. He paused and turned back for a moment to the guards with a terse, "Get him back to his bed. You hear me?"

When the guards nodded, he then turned his attention back to Amanda. "And you, come with me," as he stormed off down the walkway.

"Now, Lee, I know what this looks like..." Amanda began as she hurried to keep up with him.

"Oh, you're damn right, Amanda!" Lee snapped as he turned on her. "This looks like exactly what I said it was; Rupert's telling tall tales again! He's getting everyone worked up over nothing because he just can't wrap his mind around the idea that the spy game is over for him!"

"Lee, come on!" Amanda argued. "I saw the van too!"

"So, what? What did you actually see, Amanda? Did you see them actually take Lois? I mean, you also saw that she was sound asleep in her bed and so did I!" He then marched off again toward his car.

"Where are you going?" Amanda protested as she followed him. "We still have to figure this out!"

"Figure it out? Figure-" he sputtered. "Amanda, there is nothing to figure out because there is nothing going on here other than Rupert's overactive imagination and you are letting him take you along for the ride. Worse than that, you're dragging me with you...In the middle of the night, I might add!"

"Oh-ho! Well, I seem to recall a few times that you didn't mind me dragging you with me, middle of the night or not!" she fired back pointedly as she stood on her toes to look him squarely in the eyes just as they reached the edge of the lawn.

"That is completely beside the point!" He countered, but at seeing the fiery, determined look in her eyes, he couldn't help his mind flashing back to all the times in question that she'd utterly shocked him by the things she'd done to him. "We're not talking about us! We're talking about you and how you blatantly disregarded-" He broke off at seeing her look change to one of pure fury. "What?"

"Us? Since when is there an 'us'?" She challenged him hotly.

"What? Amanda, come on! How the hell can you ask me that after everything?"

"Well, gee...Let me think!" she snapped back. "You! Behaving like this when I was just acting on instinct, just like YOU always do!" She jabbed him in the chest with one finger. "Just like YOU taught me to do."

She began to poke him with her finger again, but this time he caught her hand in his and pulled her roughly to him, capturing her lips in a fierce kiss, his mouth crushing hers, his tongue demanding entrance to her mouth. She let out a low moan as she snaked her free hand around his neck, opening to him under his onslaught. Angry with him or not, she couldn't stop the feelings that he evoked in her. She felt shivers running up her spine as his tongue swept into her mouth and his hands roughly kneaded her bottom.

She pulled back from him and sucked in a great lungful of much-needed oxygen, but she wasn't ready to let him go just yet. She grasped him by the lapels of his leather jacket and pulled him toward the bushes that she and Rupert had used as a cover earlier that evening, where they began their duel again, lips and tongues clashing.

This time, Lee was the one to pull back just to look at her. He shook his head in wonder, still unable to get over what a contradiction she was. Here she was, in her pink coat with her fluffy pink sweater beneath it, enhancing her femininity, yet she was tough as nails when she refused to back down on something. It was infuriating and endearing all at the same time. He moved to strip her of her coat and dropped it to the ground, then reached for her again, beginning an assault on her neck, biting down harder than he normally would in his irritation with her.

Amanda gasped as Lee's mouth descended on her neck, biting into the tender flesh there. She knew that would leave a mark, but she didn't care. She had become all too skilled at hiding those since Lee had come into her life. She slipped her hands inside his jacket and began undoing the buttons on his shirt. Once she had it opened to his waist, she returned the favor, by taking one of his nipples between her teeth.

"Amanda," He growled as he yanked up forcefully on the hem of her sweater to distract her. He pulled both it and her pale pink blouse over her head, the sound of buttons popping accompanying his actions.

"Hey!" she protested. "That's one of my favorite tops."

"You know how to sew," was his gruff reply as he pulled her to him again. Amanda let out a snort of disgust at his comment, but before she could give it much further thought, he lowered her to the ground atop the pile of her clothing, positioning himself to lie above her as he took her lips with his own again.

Amanda pulled the tails of his shirt loose from his pants, undid the remaining buttons and pushed both from his shoulders, but found herself hampered by the cuffs at his wrists. She pulled back from their kiss and hissed, "Damn it!"

Lee chuckled as he quickly undid the offending cuffs and finished the job she'd begun. He then moved to reach under her and unhook her bra, enabled by her lifting herself up just enough for him to slide it down her arms and toss it aside while she toed off her sneakers and then reached for his belt.

He lowered his mouth to her bared breast taking one nipple between his teeth, causing her to cry out. He quickly raised his head and shushed her. "You're gonna get us caught!"

"Well, we wouldn't want that, would we? I mean, God forbid, anyone know about us!"

He pulled away from her, rose up to his knees, gaped at her and in an affronted tone, questioned, "Just what the hell is that supposed to mean?"

She propped herself up on her elbows and returned his gaze with a withering one of her own, "You know exactly what it means! It's all great that we have this...this...this thing together...and you say there's no one else. Okay, so I believe you, because I believe IN you, but still you and I are the only ones who know that! I mean, look at the case you worked with Francine! You called me nonstop, but yet you still can't admit-" She clamped her mouth shut as she realized that she was entering dangerous territory.

"Can't admit what?" He challenged.

"Well, I just think it's awfully funny that you got such a laugh out of the Mendlesons calling Rupert the resident Lothario when really that should be YOUR title."

"Except that unlike Rupert, I'm not in my dotage yet. I'm not a resident here, remember?"

"Oh, you know perfectly well what I meant! I meant at the agency!"

"Well, I'm here with you now, aren't I?"

"But for how long? How long before you go back to denying there's something bet-Mmmm." Her words were cut off and became nothing more than a series of breathy moans as Lee's lips crashed against her own again and he pushed her backward, pinning her to the ground, his hands groping for the closure on her jeans. She let out a gasp as he found his target, his hand sliding inside her panties and stroking her center. "Lee..." she hissed as she tore her mouth from his, all thoughts of their argument banished for the moment. She closed her eyes against the flood of sensations coursing through her. While they'd had their phone play last week, the two weeks without his touch became all too apparent as he brought her to her peak much more quickly than usual.

When her eyelids fluttered open and she gazed at him through passion-darkened eyes, he couldn't help grinning smugly at her. "What was it you were saying?"

She pushed on his chest and rose to a sitting position as he chuckled at her. "You're such a jerk!" She railed at him.

"Oh? Well, I didn't notice you complaining three seconds ago!" Lee replied with a smirk as he leaned back on his heels.

Amanda opened her mouth to speak, but then quickly closed it when she realized she really had nothing to say to that. Damn him and his ability to overcome her defenses even when she was furious with him. She decided to fight back with the weapon she had in hand. She pushed once more on his chest, knocking him on his back and resumed her earlier task of freeing him from his pants. She then took him in her mouth in long, slow, even strokes, grazing the tip of him with her teeth, taking smug satisfaction in hearing the guttural groans from him as she did so.

"God, Amanda," Lee spat out through gritted teeth as he tried desperately not to alert Howard and the other guards of their presence. He shut his eyes and found himself grabbing fistfuls of grass as she suckled him and brought him closer and closer to the edge. Then just when he thought he was going to lose it, the feeling was gone with a loud pop. Opening his eyes, he sat bolt upright and uttered, "What the hell?" as he saw her reaching for her blouse.

"Lee," Amanda smiled sweetly at him. "What did you do with my bra?" She then glanced under the bushes beside them. "I can't seem to find it anywhere."

"What did I do-" He glowered at her. As he rose to his feet, he shouted, "Just what the hell was that all about?"

"Well, you know, Lee," She explained as she pulled her ruined blouse on. "I just got to thinking about what you said when you first got here. It IS after midnight, you know. Plus, I left the house without so much as a note or anything for Mother to explain where I am if she wakes up." She tugged the sweater over her head then picked up her coat. "Though how I'm going to explain the grass stains on this coat, I will never know. I suppose I'll think of something." She patted him on the shoulder. "I'll see you at the office tomorrow." She then skipped off toward her car.

"At the office? Amanda, wait!" Lee reached for his discarded shirt and jacket, attempting to follow her. "Amanda!' He called, but she only looked back long enough for one final parting shot.

"Maybe next time, you won't complain about me dragging you along for the ride, Mr. Resident Lothario!" She then turned on her heel and strode back to her car, now more determined than ever to prove that Rupert was not telling tall tales this time, just for the sheer satisfaction of seeing the cocky look wiped from his handsome face like it had been tonight.