Chapter 62-How Would You Rate Me?

"Wrong Number"

Looking over Amanda's report, he couldn't help the pride he felt in how well she'd done with it, but also couldn't resist teasing her with just the slightest bit of mock jealousy in his tone. "You really like this guy, Towne."

When Amanda explained to him how she came up with that rating, he beamed at her, and as she was getting ready to leave, a hint of mischief on his face, he asked her on her way out the door, "Hypothetically speaking, how would you rate me?"

Rising to the challenge and wanting to wipe that cocky smirk off his face, she fired back, "I wouldn't..." then paused, grinned at him, added, "Not yet," and quickly backed out the door.

Lee's smile faded as her words sank in. What the hell had she meant by that? Surely they knew each other well enough by now, especially after she'd just spent five days at his place with him. Granted, most of it had been just them hanging out and her mothering him endlessly, but still it had been nice. He bolted from his seat and chased after her, catching up to her just before she reached the outer door, clasped her arm and spun her around to face him. "What was that about?"

"What was what about," she asked innocently, squirming a bit as he leaned toward her backing her into the door.

"Don't pretend you don't know," he replied as she placed one hand on each side of her head on the door. "I think we've spent enough time together, that you should know how to rate me by now."

"Well, gee, I don't know, Lee. We've only just spent a full night together for the first time this past week. That's hardly enough time to learn each other's habits and little quirks that might drive you nuts."

"What quirks do I have that drive you nuts?" He looked affronted and pulled back slightly.

"Quirks, you know...just quirks. I didn't say yours, but you know, little things like how I like to sleep with the window open."

"Which you did, all five days you were at my place last week and I had no issue with," he reminded her as he leaned in again. Then a disconcerting thought struck him and he pulled back again. "Wait a minute. Are there little things about you that I don't know, that you think would drive ME nuts? Is that what this is about?"

"I'm sorry, but didn't you say that you had work to do? Something about figuring out who the Russians have?"

"Oh, right, right," He acknowledged and let out a deep sigh. "Back to work."

"Yeah," she teased. "I mean, we ARE at work and I have to get this down to Billy."

"Right," Lee nodded.

"Right," Amanda repeated as she headed out the door, but couldn't help grinning all the way down the stairs.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

She was not grinning at all the next afternoon, however, in Billy's office when she was trying to explain why Mr. Towne couldn't be the KGB agent that he was suspected of being and was becoming increasingly irritated with Lee for refusing to even acknowledge that she was the agent of record. After all, she had done all that work. She even explained to Billy that she'd investigated all the facts, fed the facts into the computer and that's what the computer had come up with, so why was Lee, her partner, so unwilling to trust her instincts. For that matter, why had Lee already been so testy at the start of her assignment, telling her that Billy had been humoring her in calling it her "first assignment" and how he'd snapped at her about using his desk.

Lee sat in Billy's office, listening in disbelief as Amanda spouted off excuse after excuse for Towne. Here they were with evidence in hand, video evidence even, showing Towne involved in a drop, yet she still refused to believe it. Was she really that naive? Hadn't she been at The Agency long enough to realize that people were very rarely who they appeared to be on the surface?

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The following day, things went from bad to worse for Amanda when she had to go back to work on Sunday.

"Oh, no, it's no problem. If you need me to come in today, I'll come in today," she was saying on the phone in an exaggeratedly chipper tone.

When she finished her phone call, she confirmed with boys that they were going to clean the garage and they'd taken off up the stairs, her mother snapped at her, "Since when do you have to work on Sunday?"

"Mother, when you have to go to work, you have to go to work," Amanda tried to get out of it gracefully as she backed up toward the stairs.

"Are you sure this is work?" Dotty eyed her skeptically.

"Mother, I'm sure," Amanda said in a conciliatory tone.

"I don't believe it," her mother stated bluntly and she didn't, not after her daughter had spent nearly a week with Mr. Simpson, claiming it was work.

"Mother!" Amanda continued her journey toward the stairs.

Dotty shook her head and repeated, "I don't believe it."

"Mother!" Amanda replied in a sharper, shrill tone as though shocked that her own mother didn't believe her, but she supposed she really shouldn't be surprised with as many lies as she'd told over the last three years.

Watching her daughter dart up the stairs, Dotty proclaimed after she was out of sight, "It's getting to the point where I don't believe it."

The day got worse from there as they got in an argument after taking William Towne to the piano bar, got jumped, shot at and now Towne was in a holding cell while the two of them were being refereed by Billy.

Billy, meanwhile had had just about all that he could take of the pair of them sniping at each other. "Please," he barked in his booming voice. "Just put your personal differences aside." After he dismissed them, he couldn't help noticing the way they were glowering at each other and wondered if something had changed in their personal relationship causing there to be more behind this bickering than just the case. He couldn't help thinking that the longer they worked together, the more they began to sound like an old married couple.

After Billy's order to get him something more concrete, they made their way to the records room of the county courthouse in Culpepper. Just as they had exiting Billy's office, they jostled each other in entering the records room.

"Amanda," Lee hissed.

"Haven't you ever heard of 'ladies first," Amanda sniped. "You used to be a gentleman."

"Well, I guess that's just one more quirk to drive you nuts until you decide to rate me, huh?" he fired back.

"What is that supposed to mean," she questioned him with a perturbed look, hands poised on her hips.

"It means exactly what it sounds like it means," Lee responded in irritation as she slammed the door behind them.

"Oh, I can't believe you're still sore about that. Just because I didn't feel the need to inflate your ego any more than it already is, this is how you're going to be from now on? If that's what you expect out of this relationship, maybe you should just go back to your nightclubs and your black book, brain-dead girls!"

"You think that's what I want?"

"Isn't it? I mean, ever since I spent all that time with you at your place, you've done nothing except bite my head off, about your contact book, the cactus-"

"Well, you try sitting on a cactus and see how well you like it! It smarts, let me tell you that."

"Oh, poor baby. You don't know from smarts. I've given birth to two children. You wanna try that some time?" She got in his face as she said this, daring him to challenge her.

Lee rolled his eyes and backed her up against the door. "Well, you can lay the blame for that one on your ex, not me. Maybe if you're not happy with me, you oughtta just go back to him. That would sure as hell make your mother happy, wouldn't it? You, him, the kids, all one big, happy, normal family again!"

"Well, maybe I will!"

"Good! And maybe I WILL go back to my nightclubs!"

"Good!" she shouted.

"Good!" Both breathing heavily they stared at one another, fiery expressions on both their faces.

Neither was quite sure who moved first, but one moment they were staring each other down, the next they were locked in a fierce duel of mouths crashing together, tongues battling for dominance and roaming hands.

Pulling back abruptly, Lee snarled, "God, you really piss me off sometimes! You know that?"

"Right back atcha'," she fired back just before his mouth crashed down on hers again.

This time, there was no doubt who was in control as Lee grabbed both of her hands in one of his and pinned them against the door above her head, while he slipped the other hand under her skirt, yanked on her panties and began kneading the soft flesh beneath them.

Amanda tore her mouth from his and let out a long, low moan as the fire from his touch threatened to consume her. Why was it that, even furious with him, he could still make her feel like this? "So...good!" her raspy voice choked out. She closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the door as he worked her to a fevered pitch until she could do nothing more than cry out his name as she twitched and trembled with the intensity of her orgasm Her eyes flew back open as she felt him releasing her hands and heard the hiss of his zipper.

Freeing himself of the constraints of his pants and boxers, Lee plunged into her as hard as he could, emitting a loud groan and giving her a cocky smirk at the squeal that came from her. He lifted her leg up to rest on his hip as he withdrew and thrust into her warmth once again, never taking his eyes off her face, immensely enjoying watching her reactions to his presence within her.

Amanda only became further excited by the smoldering look in Lee's sexy hazel eyes as he penetrated her repeatedly. Unsure she could take that gaze any longer without giving in on their fight, she clasped his back to pull him closer and clamped her mouth down on his neck.

"'Manda," he growled. How was it that unlike any other woman he'd ever been with, she had the power to make him this hot, both with fury and passion at once? He gripped her hips tightly and pounded into her, pouring both into her at the same time. Hearing her stifled screams of pleasure against his neck and feeling her tightening around him sent him tumbling over the edge and all too soon, he was exploding inside her and crying out her name. Leaning against her for support on shaky legs, he couldn't resist teasing her. "How would you...rate me...now?" he sputtered through his heavy breathing, flashing her a cocky self-satisfied grin.

"Jerk," she muttered, sputtering and gasping herself. Amanda lowered her leg and pushed firmly on his chest to get him away from her, then began to straighten her clothing. "We...we have work to do," she reminded him as she struggled to slow her pounding heart down, irritated with herself for letting him get to her again and with him for being such a horse's ass about it.

"Yeah, that we do," he concurred as he began to right his own clothing.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After the Townes and Francine had left, Amanda marveled at the way things had calmed down, not only with having rescued Francine without having to sacrifice Dr. Towne, but also between her and Lee, especially since he'd finally admitted that she was right, gave her due credit for being the agent of record and had just complimented her in front of both the Townes and Francine.

"I knew he wasn't KGB," Amanda stated confidently.

"You knew?" Lee questioned, gazing at her speculatively.

"Mm-hmm," she nodded while picking at her Chinese food with her chopsticks.

"That's pretty strong. You were fairly certain, but you didn't really know."

Amanda chuckled softly that their old familiar banter was back. "Oh, you know me too well."

"Listen to me, Amanda, will ya?"

"What?" she questioned as she finally looked up from her plate, stifling a giggle.

"Most of the time, we only think that we know, therefore, I can't really know you too well." He flashed her a dimpled grin.

"Exactly my point," she replied saucily as she popped a piece of chicken into his open mouth. She couldn't help the laughter that bubbled up inside her as she thought of all the fun they were going to have in really getting to know each other better.