Chapter 40

After feeding, Hotch made his way outside to his family. He found Kahlan just off the porch and saw the kids laughing on the far side of the lake. He shook his head as he went down the stairs. "The otters sure are getting braver." They were actually letting Joey and Wyatt get pretty close to them.

"Uh-huh," she hummed as she looked him up and down. She wasn't sure, but with the way his t-shirt was stretched across his pecks and biceps at that moment, she thought that his muscles might have actually grown a little. That or I shrunk his shirt. . .

He frowned at the way she was studying him and he looked down at his shirt thinking he had gotten some blood on him or something. "What?"

She shook her head slowly as she smiled. "Damn, Hun."

He took a deep breath as he heard her heart speed up. "What?" he asked as he frowned again.

She licked her lips. "You've always had that alpha strut, but. . ." She blew out a breath. "But damn. It's like your oozing power."

A little smirk worked its way to his lips. "Yeah?" His chest swelled with his inhale. "I always feel pretty powerful after I feed."

She nodded absently as her tongue traced her bottom lip. "I saw a little bit of it Friday morning, but it's really prevalent right now."

One of his brows shot up playfully. "And that's a good thing?"

She huffed. "A pretty damn hot thing," she insisted as she flicked her brows and took a step closer to him.

"Oh yeah?" he asked with a smile as her heart jumped.

"Oh yeah," she breathed as she moved even closer.

He licked his lips as he mentally winced with the way she was starting to breathe. "Stop."

She stepped closer to him as her lips morphed into a sly grin. "Stop what?"

He took a step back. "Stop thinking what you're thinking or imagining or whatever."

She frowned. "You can read my mind now?" she asked as she moved closer to him.

He took a shuddering breath and took another step back. "No, but with the way your heart's beating and the way your breathing. . . the shiver that just ran through you. . ." He ran his hand down his face and moved back some more. "It's obvious you're turned on and that's turning me on, and that's not fair because the kids are right over there," he insisted as his eyes flashed to the kids and back to her.

She glanced at the kids, who weren't paying any attention to their parents and then giggled her secret giggle as she moved in all the way. She smiled as she ran a light hand up the front of his pants. "We've played this game before, Hun." She added some pressure and he moaned which made her giggle her evil giggle. "You can handle a little distraction, can't you, Aaron?"

He grabbed her hand and forced it away from him. "But that's not fair anymore. You know how badly you affect me now." When he saw a flutter run down her abdominal muscles, he had to bite back the groan that wanted to escape.

She smiled, got up on her toes, and leaned in to get close to his ear. He put a hand on her chest to stop her whole body from pressing in on him, but she was close enough that he felt her breath on his neck and that made him shiver. She giggled again. "Maybe if you're a good boy, I might even let you have a taste," she murmured and then she almost fell as Hotch abruptly shot about five feet back from her.

He shook his head at her. "That is definitely not fair!" he scolded as he adjusted himself.

She gave him an innocent grin. "What? We could always take another walk in the woods." When she saw him swallow back the saliva that had flooded his mouth, she giggled again and moved to get closer to him.

"No!" he almost screamed as he moved back even more. "We've spent too much time out there already. We're supposed to be having family time this weekend," he insisted and moved to join the kids before she could take another step towards him.

Jack startled so badly when Hotch suddenly appeared by their side, that he almost fell into the lake but Hotch grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him to safety; and that made Wyatt and Joey laugh, but the otters scattered.

Kahlan watched her husband and huffed at him escaping, but a sly grin appeared on her lips. "Aaaaarrrrooonnn," she whispered knowing Hotch could hear her. When his head turned towards her, she flicked her brows. "Tonight," she breathed, and even from her distance, she could see his eyes widen, his cheeks heat, and his legs shift to apparently cover an increasing problem; and she giggled.

He stood up as he inhaled and shook his head at her which made her giggle even more.

XXX

After hanging out with the kids for the rest of the day and then packing up, they headed home. Joey ran in the house first and her "Ut-oh," exclaimed form the family room, made all of the other Hotchners quickly go see what the problem was.

Joey shook her head at the boys as she pointed at the couch. "Mommy's gonna kill them," she stated plainly.

Hotch frowned as he pushed past the boys to see what had his daughter's attention, and then mentally winced when he realized she was pointing to the couch and the cushion he had ripped. "Ah. . ."

"Sampson! Goliath!" Kahlan yelled as she turned to the dogs who stood there wondering what the hell was going on. "If I ever catch you on the couch again, I'm throwing you both out and getting two more cats!"

Sampson frowned as he looked at her, but Goliath's tail tucked between his legs as he whined. Apparently he felt guilty without even knowing why.

"I'm so sorry, Mom," Jack started. "I can't believe they did that," he told her as he moved and grabbed his dog's collar.

"Yeah, we're sorry, Mom. We'll pay to have it fixed. Promise!" Wyatt quickly added.

Hotch's eyes locked with his wife's and his clearly showed he couldn't believe she was blaming it on the dogs, and he licked his lips. "That's not necessary, Guys. I'll get it fixed. I noticed the seam was fraying last week, but I didn't say anything. I don't think they did it on purpose. It was probably just their weight that did it," he tried.

Kahlan huffed, though, trying to keep up the charade of being pissed at the dogs. "I'll take care of it, but I'm telling you, if they destroy anything else, their butts are being locked in a kennel when we leave."

"They won't," Jack told her and moved to take Goliath downstairs with him.

"Leave him. You need to go get ready for bed and he needs to go out," Hotch told him.

Jack and Wyatt shared a look, but went down the stairs towards their room.

"At least Muffin has never done anything like that!" Joey proclaimed happily as she went upstairs.

Once the kids were gone, Hotch looked at his wife.

She snorted. "What? Did you want me saying you ripped in a fit of passion?"

His eyes grew with that thought. "No, but. . ."

She shook her head as she went to the kitchen. She was back in a moment with two massive pieces of jerky. She squatted down in front of the dogs who had given her their full attention once they smelled the treat. "Sorry, Guys. I know you didn't do it, but I had to say something. Here," she told them and gave them each a treat. "And you get one more tomorrow for being good sports," she added as she rubbed their heads.

Hotch chuckled at their apparent joy over the treat and the attention, but then he shook his head. "That's sad. I've got the dogs taking the blame for me now."

She stood up and looked at him. "I don't think they really minded, Aaron."

He sighed.

She went to him and pulled him to her. "Cut yourself some slack, Aaron. It's going to take some time to really get used to all of this."

He nodded.

She tugged him even closer. "And you can learn to control yourself even more if you practice," she suggested as she flicked her brows.

He huffed as he looked down into her eyes. "You're bad."

She nodded. "Yep, and horny."

He choked. "Behave. The kids aren't even in bed yet."

"But they will be soon."

"And I have a few files I have to get done for the morning. Go tell the kids goodnight then go take a bath and relax so maybe you'll actually be ready for bed."

"Oh, I'm ready to go to bed. . ."

"To sleep," he corrected.

She snorted. "Party pooper!"

He shoved her towards the steps. "Get out of here."

She started away but turned back to him once she was about five feet from him, and she licked her lips seductively and then smiled. "You have to come up eventually."

He shook his head.

XXX

After tucking the kids in and taking an hour long bath, Kahlan went in search of her husband. She found him at his desk still working. She sighed and went up behind him and started rubbing his shoulders. "You really think hiding in your files will save you?" she asked as she leaned down next to his ear.

He flinched back as her lips ghosted his neck and pushed her away with a hand. "Stop. I have to get these done in case we get called out right away."

She shoved his hand away from her and forced her way onto his lap. "Come on, Hun," she pleaded as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

He sighed as he scooted his chair back to let her have some more room. "Babe, I didn't take any work with me to Rossi's cabin on purpose so I could concentrate on you and the kids. I really need to get these done."

"But we didn't getting any quality time this weekend," she tried.

His brows shot up. "What about Friday night? And Saturday morning if you want to get technical. You act like you haven't gotten any in forever or something and it was only about forty hours ago."

She wilted as her bottom lip pouted out. "But you turned me on this morning and it has only gotten worse with watching you all day."

He gave her a small smile. "I know, and I'm sorry." He did know. He had spent the day trying to ignore her mood and by evening, he had grown immune to it. "But I have. . ."

She shook her head and grabbed his file off his desk as she jumped up. "No!"

He sighed. "Give me back my file, Kahlan."

She moved further away from him as she stuffed the file under her shirt. "Come and get it if you want it so badly."

His left brow rose as his eye twinkled to the challenge and he stood up. "If I get it back, you have to leave me alone so I can finish it."

She lifted her chin. "And if you can't, you have to go to bed now, but you're not allowed to go to sleep."

He huffed. "You really think you can win that now?"

She shrugged. "We won't know until you try."

And he was to her in an instant. He smiled as his hand went under her shirt, grasped the file, and started to pull on it. Her hands shot under her shirt to hold the file, but her face scrunched up in frustration as the file slipped in her fingers. His brows rose as he smiled and pulled more of the file away as she tried to keep her hold on it, but she was losing. "Just let go, Babe. You can't win," he insisted.

Her knuckles turned white as she tried to keep ahold of it, but he pulled it out even more and she pouted. "Aaron."

He shook his head. "Nope. You challenged me, so you have to live with the consequences."

She bit her lip and adjusted her hold on the file again, determined to win.

He laughed and snatched it away from her. "Ha! You lose!" he exclaimed with a triumphant grin, but she hissed.

"Owww!" she exclaimed as she grabbed her finger. "Damn, Hun. You didn't have to cut me!" she told him as bright red blood seeped into the inch long paper cut.