I said, "Goodnight, Vince. Sleep well. Don't touch or I'll most likely marry you in the morning."

He started to rub my back and down my hip. The feeling was addicting. Definitely if there was such a thing as reincarnation, I wanted to come back as Vince's cat; I'd never stop purring.

"This afternoon," he mumbled and he was gone.

Vince the Moderate Merry Man Part 5
By Alfonsina

When Vince mumbled 'this afternoon' I wanted to have no idea what he was talking about. If I hadn't been so comfortable and so tired, I might have panicked. As it was I decided to pretend he hadn't said anything.

Around 8:45 my cell rang. I groaned and tried to find it. Squirming on top of Vince was a lot of fun, but it didn't answer the phone. When I finally found the phone, it had stopped ringing. I checked the display to see who I'd missed; it was the bonds office.

I called back and immediately got Connie.

"Are you coming in this morning? I've got a new file for you and some possible gossip," she said.

"Ummmmmmmmm. Later, I'm not awake yet."

"Long night with the cop? I heard he was over there last night. Rumor is you're gonna be getting serious with him again."

"Dead rumor. Can I talk to you about it later? I was just about to adjust my pillow so I could sleep for a few minutes."

I smiled at the little pun I'd just made. There were all kinds of adjustments I'd like to make to Vince and I knew just where I wanted to start.

"You're gonna want this file and you're gonna need backup. Jerry Capaldi isn't a nice guy," Connie said disrupting my mini-fantasy.

"Very few are nice guys. I'll be in later this morning," I mumbled into the phone.

I closed my phone and put my head back on my new favorite pillow. Unfortunately my pillow was now awake and his stomach was grumbling.

"Tank's gonna kill me for being late, Steph. I need to go," he said with a yawn and a stretch.

Since I was still on top of him, I actually got a much better measure of the man. Let me say, impressive doesn't begin to cover what he was hiding under his sweatpants. I sort of hoped he wasn't able to feel the dampness that was beginning to form between my legs. I didn't want to be married, at least not today, and as a result I was doing I was going to have to take a very long shower when he left.

I didn't make a move to get off his body because I was comfortable.

"I mean it, I need to go," he said.

I still didn't budge, I figured he could figure a way out if he wanted to badly enough. I also didn't realize that my hand had wandered back to where it had been in the middle of the night.

"Three," he said as he flipped us so he was on top of me. Previously he'd kissed me in a quiet and amazing way. This kiss was a passion that was completely unleashed and something I wouldn't have expected.

I was able to pull away long enough to ask, "What happened to 'one' and 'two'." I was panting and could barely get the words out. I licked my lips, then I licked his lips. Finally I said, "Usually when people count to three, they use one and two first."

"Used them at 4:00 this morning," he said as he resumed the kiss.

I was starting to realize how it was that he'd gotten so many women to say 'yes' and marry him. While the kiss last night had been perfect in its slow attention to detail making all sorts of promises, this kiss was the prelude to fulfilling the first of those many scrumptious promises.

While I've been responsive to Morelli in the past, there was just no comparison to Vince's careful ministrations. It was like we had ESP together. He knew exactly how I wanted to be touched and where almost as soon as I thought it. There was still too much clothing between us one of us was about to remedy that horrible circumstance when Vince's cell phone rang. Fortunately he found it before it quit ringing, unfortunately he had me trapped by my hair.

"What?" he barked into the phone.

There was evidently a long conversation on the other side that was none too happy. Actually none of us was happy; not the caller, not me, not Vince and not Mr. Happy in Vince's pants.

Vince moved off of me and looked for his bag, grunting into the phone. "My own car." Pause. "I have a life." Pause. "None of your God damned business." Pause. "I'll be there in about twenty minutes." Pause. "Got it. Later."

He had his back toward me while he was digging around for his pants from last night. He didn't go into the bathroom to redress, he just stayed facing the wall. I'd suspected he'd been commando underneath the sweats and my thoughts were confirmed. Too bad he was leaving, I would have enjoyed kissing that tiny little smiley face on his right cheek.

I couldn't resist I had to say something about it.

"A smiley face tattoo? That's not like you, is it?" I asked.

He still hadn't turned around. "Tell you about it tonight, OK?" he asked as he was tucking in his shirt.

"Sure. Hey, you mentioned meeting up after work to see Binky. What's that about?"

"Binky and I play catch up on a regular basis and there's some stuff I want to go over with you. Nothing bad, I promise. You at Rangeman today or on your own?"

"On my own."

"Make sure you have a hamburger for breakfast this morning; I'm late replacing Manny on a stakeout."

"Yeah guy, I remember hamburgers are the cornerstone of any nutritious breakfast."

I was still on the bed but hadn't pulled all of the blankets up yet. I was admiring the now fully clothed view of Vince; I could look at his body all day long. Damn cell phones.

"I'll lock up behind myself," he said with a smile.

I like to think people need a key to get into my apartment, but seems that on the hiring application you have to be able to both break into my apartment and lock it so no one, i.e. me, knows you've been there.

I couldn't resist because my body was on fire, I said, "Kiss me good-bye?" Why not? He'd shown incredible alacrity and skill. I didn't want to miss out on observing his skills now did I?

He walked over to the bed and instead of kissing me on the lips, he started to leave open kisses on my feet and then my calves. His lips had reached the top of my thigh and about to approach the promised land when his phone rang again.

"Finish you later?" he asked with a grin. "Speak. On my way. I still have ten minutes before I'm there."

My apartment was going to go up in flames and I was going to be accused of arson. I really hoped that I could put out the fire he'd just lit with a shower massager or I was really going to suffer all day. So I'd helped to stoke the fire, so what? Now I was going to have to find some way to put it out, all by myself.

thanks for reading and reviewing!! alf