Author's note:
Guys, I have no words for all the appreciation you gave me, I'm truly happy that so many of you, and I mean MANY, are glad I'm back and that you're enjoying this story. :) Thank you all, you rock! I was completely blown away with the reactions and your reviews, I'm completely overwhelmed that I truly don't know what to say, you left me speechless. I hope I won't disappoint you. :)
Just a warning for those who are eager and impatient – if you've read any of my stories (mainly Kissing Deal and Pianoforte), you know I'm very cruel and I love to be very descriptive in writing the sweet surrender so if you think that those two will cross the line immediately, you're very wrong. :D I just have to do it, I love to throw few plot twists on the way and I really want to convince you that the giving in will be completely natural and unconditional. So, please bear with me, I promise that it's completely worth your while. You'll get what you want in the end, as always. ;) But you have to be patient because 'Rome wasn't built in a day' and so the story has the necessary development. For now, just enjoy the 'Tony seduces Ziva who struggles with herself' plot because this first part of the story I'm presenting right now is one huge foreplay and I hope you'll like it. ;)
Since I didn't have the chance to thank you personally as I could to others – thank you, my Guest reviewers – Debbie, Azucar, mishka and two anonymous guests for your reviews. :)
Great appreciation belongs to my newly found Beta – Laitie. Thank you so much, you really helped me a lot! :) Thanks also to your mother who read my stories and led you to me! :)
Don't forget I love you all! :) Thank you again and go read the new chapter! Let's continue in brightening your Mondays!
Disclaimer:
I do not own NCIS or the characters.
Towel – Chapter 2
*** WHERE WE LEFT OFF ***
With another unbelieving chuckle she stepped out of the bathroom, yawning and stretching her body. The door from the bathroom closed behind her and she leisurely started her way to the bed where her baggage was. She caught a glimpse of the alarm clock and was satisfied to find out that she still had a plenty of time to make herself presentable before the dinner starts.
But then her biggest nightmare at that time became a reality. She didn't have any chance to react as the door from the interconnected room opened and Tony entered. "Hey Ziv, I'm sorry to interrupt but you left..." He began cheerfully but in the moment his eyes laid upon her, his voice abandoned him.
*** AND NOW WE CONTINUE ***
She stood there in front of him, wearing nothing but a towel, her wet hair framing her face as the drops fell. She didn't try to cover herself with her arms or anything, she just stood there frozen. The shocked expression on her face revealed how perplexed she was with his presence in the room. But he hadn't meant to interrupt her shower, he swore – it had been accidental.
Because she was still saying nothing, totally dumbfounded and unable to react, he drank in the sight he was offered. Her long, slender legs, freshly shaven as he noticed, had never looked smoother. He watched as she unconsciously lifted her left foot and scratched her right calf with it in nervousness. But she didn't do anything else. She didn't tell him to go away, she didn't scold him for being in her room, simply nothing. He looked back into her eyes but she seemed to be far away from here.
So he took advantage of her distance and returned to his examination of her divine body. He slowly licked his lips as he inspected her thighs, and his eyes danced around the area of her crotch, which was covered by the fluffy towel that she had wrapped around herself. It was ridiculously short and he was sure that if she turned around with her back to him, he would see part of her cute little butt. But still, it covered enough of those parts of her body he had been dying to see for years.
He would trade anything in the world for that. He actually began to think about throwing away his career. His job didn't interest him anymore, he would be totally content with a new employment that didn't include so many life-threatening situations. To become a towel in her bathroom was now his dream job. If he wrapped himself around her body so tightly like the towel was right now, he would live happily ever after. And he would never let her go.
Even though she was apparently transfixed, he was at least sure about her calmness. Her chest didn't heave with short, agitated breaths. She continued to breathe peacefully like nothing serious had happened, like if it was normal thing that he ogled her while she was wearing just a towel. Her arms, however, unknowingly shifted to cross her chest and cover her breasts even more when he paid them more attention than it was appropriate.
Ziva was reeling. When she'd meditated in the bathroom on what to temporarily wear just to cover her body enough to go out and take some clothes on, worrying that Tony might enter her room and see her, she had meant it innocently. It had been another 'what if' scenario. She would have never guessed it could actually happen. But he was here, unabashedly enjoying the sight she was providing in her attire – if she could call it like that.
She was at loss for words, she didn't know what to do or say. Go quickly back to the bathroom? Yeah, she would make another show since her ass was just covered partially. And it didn't give her the certainty that he wouldn't follow her there. Ask him why he is staring at her like that? Well, both knew that he was undressing her with his eyes since she was wearing just a towel and it was clear she was naked under it. Moreover, the conversation would probably end in very dangerous waters.
Go closer to him and push him out of the door while chewing him out? Who he thinks he is to enter her room without asking? Well, that was practically impossible since she couldn't make her body move, and she was afraid that the moment she touched him, all of her willpower would be gone. She wasn't far away from having an orgasm just by the way he was looking at her. She rather suppressed any thought of what a touch from him might do to her.
Ask him what he is doing here? That was probably the most reasonable thing to do. He was supposed to be in his room, unpacking his things and preparing himself for dinner. He certainly wasn't supposed to be in her room, admiring her body wrapped in a small towel. And she knew him well enough to know what kind of thoughts were circling around in his head.
However, she couldn't but notice what he was wearing. She loved these particular jeans on him and her breath caught in her throat when she noticed the black T-shirt. It was a T-shirt she'd given him as a Christmas present because she had thought it might look good on him and she hadn't been mistaken. He looked incredibly sexy and ruggedly handsome and so attractive as the T-shirt hugged his form in the places that she ached to touch.
She had to shake her head at herself. She'd bought that T-shirt while she was choosing a Christmas present for Ray. Instead of buying something for him, she had ended up buying this piece of clothing for Tony. She had seen him in it few times, but had never drooled over it like she was right now. Her mind already started working in very inappropriate ways as a few flashes of another sexual fantasy appeared in her head, seeing herself take the T-shirt off him, or more like tear it off him.
Thanks to it and her rationality, she managed to snap herself out of her reverie and she realized how long they had been staring at each other without a word. She composed herself and got back to her agent mode. "Tony, what the hell are you doing here?" She hissed at him, trying to sound irritated, covering the fact that they couldn't take their eyes off each other.
His eyes narrowed but he took his time and once again roamed her body in the towel, watching with an amused smirk how she tightened the fabric around herself like if she was afraid that it might fall down. Not that he would mind it because the first thought of his in the moment he had seen her was that this towel should be gone very soon. And he decided to take care of it. It was an offer he couldn't refuse.
He could notice that she blushed a bit when she saw him openly ogle her, but her eyes were telling him that he really should clarify why he so rudely dared to come into her room without asking her for permission and abused their sleeping arrangements by making use of this opportunity. And the fact he didn't think of knocking, just to be sure she was actually inside, wasn't helping him in this situation.
He stretched out his hand and showed her the purpose of his visit. "I brought you your shoes, you left them in my baggage. I just wanted to give them to you." He said innocently, proving that his intention certainly wasn't to interrupt her during her shower and take advantage of her state of undress. But it didn't mean he wasn't glad for that he surprised her like that.
Ziva looked at the shoes he was holding in his hand. They were really hers. She didn't have enough space for them in her own baggage and Tony was the only one who had. So she'd gratefully accepted his offer that she could put them in his baggage with assurance he would give them to her later in the hotel. So he was here truly unintentionally, he just wanted to give her the shoes because he knew she might need them.
"Ah, that's nice..." She answered. "You can put them over there, thank you." She pointed her finger at the spot where her baggage lay on the floor. It was farther away from her because, even though she needed those shoes with the dress she chose for tonight, and the dress was hanging on the wardrobe just few steps away from her, she didn't want him to come closer.
Tony just nodded in understanding, using that nod to give another appreciative gaze on her body and then made few steps aside to put the shoes on the place she indicated. His eyes, however, never left hers. He didn't dare to break the eye contact because he tried to hypnotize her, to keep her in the state she was in. Nothing was so advantageous for him like her current incompetence to stop him.
He bent down to put the shoes down and straightened back up, returning to the place where he was standing before. He didn't have any intention to go back to his room, he wanted to stay here. This was a chance he couldn't let to slip away, he finally had the opportunity to show her how much he actually cared about her and maybe to finally let his feelings out of his chest and stop being a coward.
He had never thought he might fall so deeply in love with someone like that once again, but apparently it was possible. He had been crazy about her for years, but the fact that he couldn't tell her was tearing him apart. There was too much unfinished business between them, moreover she'd had a boyfriend and he couldn't think of anything better than to start sleeping with EJ just to forget for a while about his feelings for his co-worker.
But EJ knew he loved her, she wasn't blind and stupid. That's why it wouldn't work between them, so she'd rather let him go. However, when finally CIRay was out of his way, he had to have bumped into his ex-fiancé who had to have reminded him how much love can hurt and how painful feeling it sometimes was. But even she'd recognized immediately that his heart was captivated and that it belonged to another woman.
He had tried to suppress it, to fight against it, but to no avail. She had found a way to his heart and, to his mind, she was giving him the oxygen he needed for breathing, and her smile was what was keeping him alive and sane. He couldn't think of anyone else, even if he wanted to. But he knew she wasn't ready. He was aware that her feelings for him didn't have to have the nature he so much wanted.
So, to prevent himself from unrequited love and to satisfy his needs a bit, he'd started to build a totally new kind of relationship between them. In friendly way, of course, he didn't want to scare her. So the going out they practiced over the last few months was completely innocent. He'd even assured her that he didn't expect anything else from her and that he didn't take it as dating.
Nevertheless, his feelings were too strong so as the time passed, it became more for him than friendly leisurely activities. It was helping him to deal with his feelings without revealing them, so even though he knew that when she took his hand, smiled at him or kissed him on a cheek, she meant it in non-romantic way, his heart always leapt in his chest, but that was all that happened. It delighted him, made him happy, and that was enough for him.
But lately, he had begun to question whether she might have similar feelings for him. She thought he didn't know about it but he was pretty aware of their secret sleeping snuggles when he 'accidentally' fell asleep in her apartment. He'd once woken up during the night and registered their sleeping position but he certainly wasn't complaining, so he left it like that. He'd wanted to ask her about it the next morning but she had been gone and pretended that she'd slept in her bedroom.
So he didn't push her about it, he was smarter than that. He'd acted as if he dozed off the other night, waiting for what she will do and she'd totally taken his breath away. It hadn't taken her long to wrap herself up into his embrace and sleep with him on her couch, sometimes even watching him in his sleep and tracing her fingers all over his face. However, in the morning, she hadn't been in the same place, looking totally innocently and creating false presumption that she had slept in her bed.
He didn't know what to think about it and why she pretended that it wasn't happening, but she apparently had some reason for doing so. To be honest, he wanted to talk about it with her here at the wedding. It was a great opportunity, they were finally out of work, at the wedding where they should enjoy themselves and not to be tied by some rules or duties. He was determined to make her talk to him and try to find out what her feelings towards him were, if she had some, of course.
So, he was overjoyed with their sleeping arrangements, knowing he might enter into her room at any time he could and the same went for her. He was rather curious as to whether she wanted to take advantage of it and sneak into his room during the night, so he couldn't wait for the rehearsal dinner to be over, even before it began. This was the opportunity he waited for so long.
Everything was going well and the fact he just caught her wearing just a tiny piece of fluffy fabric was just great. How could she defend herself when she is practically naked? How hard it could be to seduce her and show her how deep his love actually is? It was a challenge, a dream that just came true and he couldn't do anything else than accept this offer. It wasn't just about the sex, he wouldn't do that to her, but he couldn't find any other way how to convince her about his feelings. And the situation they were just in was suggesting itself, screaming at him to go for it.
He was just three or four steps away from her, watching her in amazement as few drops fell down her hair ends and streamed their way down her arms. It was a fascinating sight and he hungered to stop them by licking them off her skin, tasting her delicate body. He was sure that the flavour would become his favourite, and he wouldn't want anything else to eat in the following years of his life.
Ziva watched him alertly, her heart threatening to explode, though she tried to suppress by her calm breathing, but it was still beating like she had just run a marathon. She could hear the blood rushing through her veins, supported by those loud thuds her heart was beating. She was thrilled and afraid of the gleam in his eyes that clearly showed what kind of fantasy he was experiencing.
But her ninja-agent senses kicked back in and she was determined to put an end to this staring-at-each-other thing. "Thank you, Tony. You can leave now." She expressed her thanks again just in case he didn't hear it before and politely signalled to him to go away. She tried to sound completely normal, not at all nervous or shaky. All she needed was him to go back to his room so she could be absolutely fine again.
However, all he did was lick his lips visibly as he watched hers moving and cross his arms across his chest cheekily as he looked her up and down. Even though what she said sounded reasonable and understandable, her eyes were telling totally different story, he could see that. The only way she could get him out of her room was to ask him to leave, but it had to be completely serious so he would know that she wanted his leaving on one hundred percent. And her eyes were now telling him that she wanted him to stay.
"I don't think I want to leave." He said calmly, looking directly into her eyes, wanting to convince her that he wasn't making fun of her and that he was pretty serious.
She furrowed her eyebrows, taken aback by his answer and momentarily forgetting that she was standing in front of him wrapped in nothing but a towel. Why would he want to stay? Sure, they had agreed on that they would go to the wedding 'together' – she didn't want to be bothered by some men, she wasn't in mood for it and he neither so they made a deal about becoming a safeguard if such situation occurred. But that was supposed to be happening in the company of the others, not when they were alone.
She opened her mouth to ask him what was happening with him and what it was supposed to mean but her words got caught in her throat and in that moment he suddenly made a step forward, closer to her. She was literally rooted to the floor, unable to react in any way as her heart stopped beating and she just stared at him with a mixture of consternation and fear, but she found it exciting and cheering as well.
He ceased his movement immediately and watched her reaction to his first attempt on some advance towards her. She was completely astounded and the only unconscious reaction she made was that she tightened the towel around herself for assurance. It seemed that somewhere in the back of her mind, she was aware of his intentions, and her eyes narrowed while her pupils darkened with desire in the moment the realization dawned on her. Like he thought – although her mouth was ordering him to leave, her eyes were begging him to stay.
It encouraged him to make another step forward, but he was still cautious and waited for her reactions. After all, he didn't want to force her to do something she didn't want to. But in that case, she had to say it. He was just giving her the chance to back away if she wanted to because his plan had to be pretty obvious right now. He really wasn't going to slip such a chance away.
She gulped as her heart again kicked in and she took a deep breath to calm herself down but it wasn't helping. She was literally panting, so she put her arms over chest to cover her breasts once more so he wouldn't watch as it heaved up and down under her fitful short breaths. She was terrified but on the other hand she couldn't hide the excitement over his actions, hoping that he really wanted to go further.
Either way, she finally managed to get her body to work and took a step backwards. Her common sense was still the winning element in her brain, so although her libido wanted nothing else than to fall into his arms and let him to make her his, she knew it was wrong. They should talk first, at least, because they had a plenty of issues to solve between them. Then she could finally give in. But judging by his current behaviour, the talk was the last thing he would like to do right now.
He smirked in amusement at the tiny step she took, because it didn't even have the length of half of his footstep so he was still a lot closer to her than he was just few seconds ago. He broke the eye contact they had been holding for an eternity and slipped his eyes down to her heaving chest as the calmness of hers was slowly fading away. Because even though she had her hands over her chest to hide her breasts from him, he could clearly see the way she was breathing heavily.
Another step of his followed, and this time she reacted immediately and started her way backwards. But it was only tiny step again, she didn't try to leave quickly or something. She parted her lips and inhaled the fresh air by her mouth, intensifying her breathing even more. It was noticeable that she was very confused – on the one hand she wanted him to stop these advances but on the other, there was nothing she wanted more.
He couldn't help than chuckle when he took another step forward while she did the same but in the other direction, digging her nails into the fluffy fabric wrapped around her body, trying desperately to hold onto something. Her lips moved in desperation but no actual words came out as she was silently asking him what he was doing and why. She was so engrossed in keeping some distance between them that she didn't realize he was leading her right towards the place where he wanted her to be.
But it dawned on her the moment they continued in their dance consisting of her step backwards and his step forward. She gave out a surprised gasp when her back hit something solid behind her and it took her a while to register that she couldn't make any movement further. Her eyes widened in fear because she didn't have any route to escape now. He was less than one step away from her and she couldn't step aside because it wouldn't help her in any way.
She instinctively looked behind her to see why she was unable to carry on in moving backwards, only to find that she crashed into the door to bathroom as she guessed, judging by the doorknob. It was her great mistake that she stopped perceiving him, because he took advantage of her current obliviousness and took the final step to bring their bodies closer.
The End of Chapter 2
Does this count as cliffhanger? :D Well, probably... And I'm not sorry for in the least, once again. ;)
Well, I hope you liked the chapter – we had more of Ziva's feelings in the last one, now we focused more on Tony's – I assure you, his intentions are really pure. ;) He will show it during the following chapters, you can bet on it. This story is truly about love, not just the sexual tension between them so you don't have to worry about them. They'll reach the mutual understanding in some point.
I want to thank you again for your responses, I was completely surprised with it and if you want to tell me what your opinion is, I don't have any complaints. :) Thank you also for your patience to wait for this chapter for so long – school and friendship duties, plus some health problems (my gallbladder hates me) came into my way, and I now promise, the updates will come every week on Monday. ;)
Love you all and have a wonderful week! I totally have since my classes were cancelled for today and we have public holiday tomorrow so I don't have to get up so early. :)