Gotta Be With You
Morgan and Garcia
Chapter 3
September 2007
Slowly Derek turned around and took in the sight of Penelope standing there. She was self consciously straightening her dress- her face flushed a high shade of pink, her lips moist and slightly parted, her breathing just a little shallow still.
Her honey shaded eyes were wide and dilated. Filled with questions.
Standing there, in the small hallway at the bar, Derek felt wound tight as a drum.
Desire coursed through his veins, leaving him hot and throbbing, while hunger clawed at his gut. His chest heaved as he swallowed down unsteady breaths.
No kiss before in all his life had ever tilted his world like the kisses he had just shared with Penelope.
Not ready to talk about it yet- his mind not even able to process how much had just changed between them because they had kissed- Derek said "I could use a drink." His voice was rough now, huskier than before the kiss. "Care to join me, baby girl?"
She just nodded her head and walked in front of him toward the bar. He slid in behind her, as they wove their way through the crowd, his hand pressed to the small of her back. They made it to the bar and he ordered her one of the drinks he knew she liked. He stuck with a soda because he had driven there that night.
Leaning against the bar he took a hefty gulp of his drink. It helped a little to cool his overheated body but not enough to make him comfortable again. His eyes roamed over Penelope. There was no way he could look away from her at this moment. Her hair was mussed. Her lipstick just a little smeared. She looked like a woman who had been throughly loved on by her man.
Derek Morgan felt good knowing he was that man, and he wasn't looking at the after effects of some stranger pawing Penelope. That would be completely unacceptable. Not tonight. Not any night. If any man was touching her it damn well better only be him.
Lifting his hand he used his thumb to gently wipe some lipstick off the corner of her mouth. Her eyes were wide as they held his.
"Baby girl-" he murmured.
Just then Emily came walking up. "Here's where you two are hiding! We figured you had taken off already cause we couldn't find you anywhere. Come back to the table. You won't believe who we ran into." She named an agent from another unit who had left six months before to work in New York. "Come on. He wants to say hi."
Reluctantly Morgan nodded. He watched Penelope force a smile to her lips and by the time they made it to the table she was all bubbly again, making small talk with their friend and asking about his new gig up in NYC. Derek found himself barely listening to the conversation around him.
All he saw was her. All he felt was the memory of her lips against his. Soft at times. Rough at others. Desperate, needy, wanting him with a ferociousness that should have overwhelmed him with how deep seated it was if not for him wanting her just as much.
Their kisses hadn't satiated the want in him for her. They kicked his hunger into overdrive. Leaning back on his stool, which was pulled close to hers, he counted the seconds till they could get somewhere and be alone together.
The place didn't matter. All that mattered was that he needed her curvy, warm, sexy body in his arms again. Needed that sweet taste he had discovered on her lips to be on his tongue again. Needed to draw moans out of her. Needed to know that she wanted him with the same degree of intensity that she had kissed him. That her want was as strong as his and she hadn't had enough yet.
Penelope hadn't said a word to Derek since they had kissed. But he wouldn't allow himself to believe that she regretted it. There was no way a person could regret something so incredible as the kind of kisses they had shared between them.
Any sane person would only crave more. And, in that moment, that's exactly what Derek Morgan was doing as his eyes rarely moved off Penelope while all their friends chatted away around them.
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She wondered what he had been drinking tonight.
Funny but she hadn't tasted any alcohol in the kiss he gave her but maybe the mint he had been sucking on masked it. Cause he had to be drunk to just grab her like that- forgetting all about their unspoken just buddies pact- and kiss her as if his life had depended on it.
Penelope didn't know what to make out of what happened. Even now, more than an hour later, she still felt stunned. Though she wasn't wandering around in a daze, like she had been right after they broke apart, she was only faking her bubbly mood.
Inside she was raging with conflicting emotions.
Wanting more than anything to push Derek against the nearest wall and slam her lips against his again. Get as many kisses as she could from him before he sobered up and remembered that they both felt friendship was so much smarter for them.
Exactly why they had ever felt that way she couldn't remember now but they had, that much she knows for sure.
For three years they both felt like that. For three years they didn't cross the line. For three years they built up trust, made memories, and fought to understand each other better and be there for each other more. He had his walls up when they met. She had her fears of needing anyone too, too much. But neither let that show. Both always smiled, joked, and played like they were fearless. Until the truth would come out in the dark, quiet moments and then they would inch just a little closer to each other. Lean on each other a little more. As easily as they fell into a friendship it was still hard to deepen that friendship. It took trust and time. But after three years they were bonded in a way she wasn't with any other man.
Sure she lusted after Derek but first and foremost they were friends. Now they were friends who had kissed- over and over for several fantastic, unforgettable minutes- and Penelope wondered if that would forever make them uncomfortable with each other from now on.
She hoped Derek could laugh this off when he sobered up.
Because she didn't want to lose him as her friend. She had come to rely on him, come to care for him deeply, and come to count on the light and fun he brings into her world. And he had come to do the same with her. Derek was the type who didn't let people in easily but he had let her past his defenses in a lot of ways, but not all. Penelope didn't want to lose an inch of the hard fought for ground they had made in their friendship.
Though kissing him had been delicious- a soul shaking, body shivering experience- she didn't want to have some drunken making out in a bar ruin them. If only they could often do this- get wasted, sneak away and kiss each other breathless- and not have it mess up their friendship.
Penelope knew that was just a pipe dream though. Tonight's kisses with Derek were a one time thing and now she would have to do damage control so he didn't feel spooked and bolt on their friendship.
If only she knew the right words to say to tell him nothing had to change between them. The words that would make him believe her. Make him stay just as loose and comfortable with her as he always was. These words she needed desperately so she could relax and know they would be okay.
But she didn't have any words right then.
She was still half in shock and the words were buried deep inside of her somewhere she just couldn't reach. Those magic words that would explain how she loved kissing him but it was just one of those things that happened cause they had been drinking.
It didn't have to mean anything or change anything. She was so cool with just sticking to being buddies.
Even if she'd spend her life reliving in her head those kisses and no man would ever measure up to Derek for her again. They way Derek kissed had been a head to toe revelation for Penelope. No wonder that man never wanted for a partner in the sack.
Any woman he kissed like he had kissed her would surely cross heaven and earth to get back to his side...and back in his bed.
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Derek jumped off his stool a second after Reid said that he was heading home.
Derek asked "You know what? That sounds like a good idea. I'm wiped out. Long day today and tomorrow we start a new case. Time for me to get home and hit the sack."
Everyone murmured their agreements, stood up and started to gather their things to get ready to leave.
Leaning over Derek whispered against Penelope's ear, his voice going deeper and more hoarse, "How about you let me take you home?"