Chapter 60-Game of Hearts

"The Triumvirate"

Author's Note: For this one, I decided to take a bit of a liberty with the episode and delay Francine's arrival.

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Lee smiled at Amanda's mini-ramble and all too quickly replied, "Okay, I can stay."

"That'd be nice." Amanda smiled back. It seemed that ever since leaving him in the lurch at Birchwood last week, he had been much more attentive.

Lee couldn't help grinning like a fool. He'd noticed that following their "morning after" make-up conversation after their fight at Birchwood, she no longer seemed to be mad at him. Of course, a lot could have to do with the fact that she had proved him wrong. She did seem to gain a tremendous amount of satisfaction from doing just that. In this case, she had done so, much to his surprise, with Rupert's help. He couldn't help the slightest of chuckles escaping him as he recalled the way the older man had blatantly flirted with Amanda at the surprise birthday party they'd thrown for him, keeping his title of 'resident Lothario' intact.

Off his chuckle, Amanda looked at him curiously. "What?"

"Nothing," Lee shook his head and tried to turn his expression back to neutral one. He continued to laugh inwardly at the ridiculous notion that Rupert had a shot with HIS girl, rep as a resident Lothario or not. He soon found that as he reflected on other events that had occurred, he no longer had to work at keeping the smile from his face. It disappeared on its own as it struck him just how much it had pissed him off that Amanda had used that same title in reference to him. His attempted neutral expression quickly turned into a frown.

Amanda noticed the change in Lee's countenance instantly and her curious questioning became a worried, "What?"

"Nothing," he grumbled in response as he finally tore his gaze from her.

"No, really, what?" She was getting concerned now. Just moments ago, they had been sharing flirtatious looks, but now he was clearly no longer in a flirting mood. Something had gotten under his skin…badly.

Lee sighed. "I said it's nothing, Amanda." He wasn't about to give her more ammo to use against him by revealing to her how much her comments had stung.

Amanda tossed her magazine onto the coffee table and moved to kneel in front of him. "Lee," she began gently as she laid a hand on his knee. "If there's something bothering you, don't you think we should talk about it?"

He gave her his best innocent look and responded, "Talk about what, Amanda? There's nothing bothering me TO talk about."

"Oh, now, Lee, come on. I know that that just isn't true. I think I've gotten to know you pretty well by now and I know when you've got something on your mind and-"

"Oh, I know what you think is on my mind," He huffed as he rose from the chair and began pacing. "The same thing that every other damn person at the agency thinks is on my mind all the time and you know something? It's just not true! I have told you multiple times that you...YOU, Amanda King, are the only woman I've been with since the day we met, but yet you still-" He broke off abruptly when he realized that she was once again getting to him and making him do exactly what he didn't want to do. "You know what, it doesn't matter. If you're really not tired, I think I'm gonna' go lie down for a bit."

Amanda jumped to her feet and hurriedly stepped in front of him, placing her hands squarely on his shoulders. "Oh, no you don't. You're not running away this time!" When he stopped, she continued. "As for it not mattering, that's not true either. If it matters to you, it matters to me, but I really don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't you?" He couldn't believe this. Here he was practically pouring his heart out and she didn't get it.

"No, Lee, I really don't," she answered sincerely, "but I think we should sit down and talk about this, whatever it is." When he stood stock still, her voice took on a pleading edge as she added, "Please?" Still, he didn't move, but she could see his face had softened somewhat and no longer did he have the tight edge in his jaw. "Listen, if I've done something to hurt you, I can't make it right or even apologize if I don't know what it is."

Lee ran a hand through his hair and conceded, "You're right," then sank down on the sofa and repeated, "You're right. That's part of the damn problem; you're always right."

"Oh, Lee, I'm not always right," she replied with a chuckle as she sat next to him.

"Pretty damn often! TOO often. It got me to thinking that what if you were right when you called me the agency's resident Lothario? What if that's all I'll ever be?"

"What?" She gawped at him, her eyes wide with surprise. "Why would you think that? If what you've told me is true and I'm the only one that you've been with these last couple of years and I have no reason to believe that you haven't been honest with me, what would make you think that?"

"You tell me," he countered. "You're the one who said it." Amanda licked her lips nervously and let out a sigh, but didn't answer right away. Lee bolted to his feet again at her silence and snapped accusingly, "See? You do believe it!"

"No, Lee, I don't and if you'll just sit down and let me have a minute to think, I'll explain."

"Explain?"

"Yes, explain. You know, give you a reason for why I said what I did."

"I know what the word means, Amanda."

"Then will you please sit here with me and give me a chance to explain?"

"This better be a hell of an explanation," he grumbled as he flounced beside her on the sofa.

"Okay, look, first of all, we weren't on the best of terms in that moment. You were angry, I was angry and it brought out some thoughts that have been...well...sort of brewing for a while. We agreed back in October that we were only going to see each other from that point on, right?"

"Yeah," He confirmed with a nod.

"Well, I know that I've lived up to my end of that agreement and I believe you one-hundred percent when you say that you have too."

"So, then what's the problem? If we're seeing only each other, that should be a good thing, right?"

"Oh, it is, it is. It's great, really. It makes me happy. Being with you makes me happy, but..." She hesitated.

"But? There's a but?"

She took a deep breath and nodded. "But being with you only in secret doesn't make me happy. In fact, it makes me wonder if your heart is really in this, like the way Francine has nearly caught us so many times and you keep insisting that there's nothing between us and I keep playing along because it seems like that's what you want and I see you still playing the playboy role at the office as a cover so that no one will know we're together and it almost seems as if you like having that reputation so that you don't have to get really serious. If that's the case, then I can accept that, but if you really don't want to be with just me then-"

Light dawned halfway through her ramble and he pulled her to him, kissing her soundly to stop the flow. When he pulled back, he uttered, "Stop. Amanda, just stop. It's not what you think at all."

"It's not?" she questioned hope rising in her that what she felt for him, he might actually feel in return.

"No, it's not. Look, I know around the office, I act like you're not my girlfriend, that you're just my partner and that I'm still the wild, devil-may-care playboy, but that's not because I don't want to be with you. It's also not because I like having that reputation. I hate it, in fact, but that's WHY I don't want anyone to know that you and I are seeing each other."

She stared at him blankly. "Okay, now you lost me."

"My rep is bad, Amanda, and I mean, really, really bad, but the thing is I don't give a damn what anyone there thinks of me. They can go on thinking the worst of me forever as far as I'm concerned. God knows that even though I haven't done half the things they say I've done, I've earned my rotten reputation, but you haven't. You're the shining pillar of everything good there at the agency and if people knew that you and I were together, you wouldn't have that anymore." He took both of her hands in his. "Don't you see, Amanda? It's not that I am trying to live up my bad reputation; I'm trying to protect your good one."

She rolled her eyes and gave him a perturbed look. While his heart may be in the right place, him making that kind of decision for her was rather irksome. "That's really very sweet of you, but don't you think you should let me worry about my own reputation? Besides, maybe if it were publicly known that I was your girlfriend, it might help to improve your reputation."

"Come on, Amanda, you and I both know that'll never happen. I mean, look at the way Francine treats you; how she keeps telling you how naive you are to trust me."

"But she has a personal reason to feel that way, doesn't she?" She countered.

"Okay, yes, but..."

"All right, look, I can see that you're uncomfortable with the idea, so we can table this discussion for now."

"Really?" This time it was his turn to be surprised. Was it that easy?

"Yes, really. At least we got it out in the open now so there are no more hurt feelings, right?"

"Right, right." He nodded and gave her an affectionate smile as he released on hand to cup her face. "You're something else, you know?"

"Well, you are too," she answered as she leaned into his caress then brought his hand to her lips to kiss it.

They gazed at each other quietly, much as they had when they'd still been sneaking glances at one another from across the room, only now they were close enough to touch and were, in fact, touching. As if by unspoken agreement, they moved toward each other in tandem, their lips meeting in a fiery kiss and their hands began to wander over the now-familiar planes of one another's bodies. Lee quickly took the lead, teasing her lips with his tongue. Amanda responded instantly, sliding her hands up to rest on his chest, opening her mouth beneath his, gasping as his tongue tangled with hers and sighing in contentment as his hands found their way to her hips to pull her into his lap.

Lee pulled back for a moment to catch his breath and panted, "I have been wanting to do that all night."

She leaned her head against his, looped her arms around his neck and responded, "I've wanted you to." She then began to work loose the buttons on his shirt. "I've wanted you to do more than that," she added boldly. "It's been a couple of weeks now since we-"

"I know," Lee agreed in a husky tone as he felt her hands caressing his bare chest. "It's been making me crazy too." He halted her ministrations for a moment to finish the job she'd begun on his shirt and carefully remove his gun holster, laying it aside on the end table. "Since you don't like guns," he explained.

"Very thoughtful of you," she commented. She leaned down and kissed him tenderly. She was delighted when she felt him respond by sliding his hands up into her hair deepening the kiss. As their kisses grew more heated again, she lowered herself back onto his lap astride him, her hands on either side of his face while he began to unbutton her blouse, soon pushing both it and her pale cardigan to the floor.

He lowered his hands to her bare back, just savoring the feeling of her soft skin. He pulled her closer to him and rolled her beneath him as he clasped his hands with hers, before lowering his lips to her earlobe taking it between his teeth causing her to cry out. He paused to smile at her then resumed his task lowering his head again to suckle the tender pulse point at her neck, while she freed one of her hands from his to caress his back, sighing at the feel of his lips on her skin.

"Lee," she sighed as she moved both hands to work his belt loose, then pushed frantically at his pants in an attempt to lower them.

Hearing the edge in her voice, Lee pulled back from her for a moment to slide her panties down her legs, but before he could rejoin her on the sofa, she had sprung up and knocked him back down to a seated position. "Amanda," he protested, but then ceased when her hands reached inside his boxers and began stroking him. He let out a guttural groan at feeling her touching him again in that way, throwing his head back against the sofa.

Amanda moved to sit astride him again and his hands moved to caress her thighs under her skirt as she lowered her lips to his neck and guided him into her. "OH," she gasped as she sank down fully onto his erection, driving him deeper into her, which turned into a moan when his fingers found her swollen nub. Amanda found her heart rate accelerating rapidly at what he was doing to her, unable to form words anymore, just moaning at the sensations his touch created. She couldn't believe that as many times as they'd made love, she still wanted more of him. She clung to him as they began to rock against one another.

"Amanda," he groaned when he raised his head up to look at her again seeing the fierce desire in her eyes, feeling her nails digging into his back as he thrust up into her repeatedly, reveling in the feeling of her plunging downward to meet him thrust for thrust. Lee winced a little at her fingernails digging into him, but the slight pain was worth it to feel the exquisite pleasure being within her brought. He'd never felt this much for any woman in his life and was delighted to feel her muscles clenching around him as she cried out his name. He moved his hands from under her skirt to tug on her waist in order to drive himself deeper into her. His own climax soon overtook him and he called out her name in a strangled voice as he emptied himself inside her and wrapped his arms around her as they rode out the wave together.

"Lee," Amanda sighed as she struggled to slow her pounding heart. "I-"

Her words were cut off by an untimely knock on the door. "Shit!" Lee growled and they hurriedly separated and scrambled to get back into their clothes. Once they were both presentable, Amanda hurried to resume her position on the sofa with her magazine while Lee strode to answer the door.

At seeing Francine on the other side, he let out a deep sigh and opened it with, "Hi," he greeted her way more cheerfully that he felt. "Francine, what are you doing here? You're not expected until morning."

After explaining why she was there and once Lee had departed, Francine looked around and with a wicked grin said, "well, well, well, Isn't this quaint...and cozy." When her desired reaction of getting a rise out of Amanda failed, she suggested, "Wanna' play Hearts?"

Amanda shook her head and thought, I WAS playing hearts until you got here.