(A/N: As always, I do not own and no money is made or received for this or any of the characters mentioned. Though said characters may be returned a little dirty. LOL!
This has me a little worried. I didn't intend for this scene to be so long. But, it sounds and feels right and seems to be ended in the right place.
Reviews appreciated!)
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"Dave, this is not just a cabin. This is THE cabin!" In her amazement, Penelope used Dave's name as she turned around looking at the kitchen and living room. "This is amazing." Garcia placed the bags on the counter as she moved to the center of the room and looked around. The cabin was one main floor with a fireplace on one wall with a couch and chair before it. One wall held a flat screen TV and entertainment center while another held floor to ceiling book shelves. She and Rossi had entered the cabin at the kitchen and there was a stairway leading up to a loft above the kitchen, which held a bedroom and full bathroom. There was a small room off the kitchen that held a toilet and sink for quick access. But everything on the ground floor was open, kitchen and living room area only separated by a low bar that held three stools.
"Look in the refrigerator and set out the bottle of white wine. Then have a seat, while I bring in the wood for the fire. This one large room is mainly heated by the fireplace. I have a gas heater in the bedroom and the bathroom though." Dave turned to head back outside. He hadn't been planning this when he left work this evening. He never brought anyone to his cabin. This was his place to escape to. The invitation to join him tonight had just seemed to flow from him as soon as Penelope had spoken to him. And right now, the thought of that one loft bedroom kept returning to haunt him. Taking the time to re-adjust his pants before bending and lifting an armful of wood, David could only wonder how long Penelope could actually go without being connected to her extended network online. That woman had the world literally at her fingertips at any given moment. Maybe he could keep her distracted from the world, at least for tonight.
Coming back inside after his third armful of wood, he found that Penelope had put up the cold food items and was busy rinsing vegetables and setting them to the side. "Kitten, you're a guest and I'm going to be cooking for you" David protested.
"Ah, my caramellino, you must let me help. I'm not a chef, but I can help do the little things for you." Opening a cabinet door, she tried reaching for a pot for the pasta on the top shelf.
David enjoyed the site of Penelope's dress rising above her knees as she reached over her head. He let his eyes travel over her, from heels, smooth skin, and slip of a dress and to the top of her blonde tresses. Taking a step forward till he could feel those voluptuous hips nestled against his, and taking one more step he hustled Penelope till she was pressed between him and the counter, her back to his front. Releasing a growl at the feel of his hard length pressed against Penelope's ass, Dave paused a moment before leaning up over her to reach the pot she was trying to get. Putting it to the side, he placed his hands on her hips and pressed closer for a few seconds as he leaned down to speak lowly in her ear, "I told you, streghetta mia, there is nothing 'little' here." Taking a heady whiff of her scent, David eased back from where Penelope was now clutching the counter. "I'm going to go start a fire. I'll be right back."
Penelope slowly forced herself to release the death grip she had on the counter as she murmured to herself, "'going to start a fire'? As if the man hasn't started one here already," Her whole body was on fire! And, David Rossi-! He was attracted to her. There was no hiding that. And he wasn't trying to. Penelope gathered her thoughts with a firm will. And if that was how he was going to react each time she happened to call him little, she could see a great many times that 'little' would be mentioned in the future. With a chuckle, she turned to the sink and ran some water into the pot, adding a touch of oil and salt to the water, then the pasta, she set it on the stove to start to boil.
Penelope turned just in time to watch Dave take off his jacket and roll up his sleeves before he bent down on one knee before the fireplace. Leaning onto the counter and propping her head in her hands, she watched with a high degree of lust as his pants pulled tight over that wonderful Italian ass as the muscles in his arms, revealed by the rolled up sleeves to his black shirt, moved under that wonderful tanned skin as he put wood in the fireplace and started a fire. Damn, that man was sex on a stick and she wouldn't mind a chance to taste.
Dave stood up and headed to the kitchen, walking around the bar; he found a corkscrew and opened the bottle of wine. Pulling a decanter from the cabinet, he slowly filled it from the wine bottle before setting it on the counter.
Penelope had swiveled to lean back against the bar as Dave had come into the kitchen. With a coquettish look, Penelope lightly asked, "My sexy Romeo, do you plan on getting me sloshed tonight and having your wicked way with me?"
"Sit while I prepare our dinner." Taking Penelope's hand, he pulled her around to the other side of the bar and pulled out a stool, "I seem to remember you telling me that I would be begging 'on my knees' for you to use your skills for me. Consider this as the beginning of me trying to persuade you." Dave ran his hand from Penelope's arm down and over one hip before stepping back and walking back to the other side of the bar to begin the pesto.
Chatting back and forth for a few minutes while David chopped and mixed ingredients before putting the sauce on to simmer, Penelope felt herself gradually starting to really relax and start feeling like she belonged here. Dave was cooking and they were talking, flirting, and he didn't act like she didn't belong or like she might have said the wrong thing or spoken out of turn. This was so casual and relaxing. The only problem? Dave was so damn stimulating, at least to her senses. He was interested in her as well. The real problem? She didn't know if she could have only one night with Dave. He could be so addictive. Putting the thought from her mind for now, she decided she would do as she had all evening, take what comes and make her decisions based on the situation as it happens. It had worked so far, this evening was quickly becoming one of her most enjoyable ones.
Dave put the pesto on the stove to simmer and checked the pasta Penelope had put on first. Pouring two glasses of wine, he came round the bar to hand one of the glasses to Penelope. Taking a seat on the other bar stool, he turned so that he was facing Penelope, one of her knees between both of his so that they were close, intimate. With a quiet look, he said "May we always look forward with happiness, and backward without regret." It was what he truly wished, for Penelope and honestly, for himself. He always wanted to be able to see her happy face in the mornings at work. It was one of the saving graces of coming to work with this team and he did not want to see it disappear.
Putting his glass down, Dave cupped Penelope's knee between his hands as he looked at her. "Now, Kitten, why don't you tell me the complete story of Mr. Lynch and why I shouldn't go pull him ass backwards through a very small keyhole?" He let his fingers rest against the smooth warm skin of her leg as he asked this, hoping to provide some distraction in case Penelope was still upset over Lynch.
Taking another sip of her wine, Penelope set her glass down but left her fingers to play with the stem while she thought for a moment. Dave's hands were sidetracking her attention, warm and intimate where they lay. "Kevin wanted to buy the farm."
With a frown, "He was suicidal?" Dave's fingers clenched a little into Penelope's skin as he thought of all the scenarios that could have unfolded with Kevin in that frame of mind.
"No! No, not suicidal. He actually wanted to buy a farm. With me." Taking a breath, Penelope got ready to deliver a truth she had realized. It had come to her in those seconds after Kevin's proposal when he had first mentioned buying a farm, along with a strong sense of betrayal, and she had had plenty of time to think about it.
"He wanted us to get married and buy a farm. He wanted me to quit my job. Leave the BAU." Looking at David, she admitted something that had taken a long time for her to admit. "It really wasn't that Kevin had done something wrong. It was just; he was supposed to be safe. He worked where I worked, he knew and understood what it was I do for the BAU, he wanted a family, and I loved him. When he asked me to marry him, I think I knew it was coming, but I was hoping maybe we could have a long engagement, eventually getting married, and find a place here to make into a home for both of us. But, then, out of the blue, he started talking about leaving the BAU, buying a farm, having this whole different life. " With another sip of her wine, Penelope added the one hard truth that had put paid to the whole proposal, "and, at that moment, I realized, that no matter how much I cared about Kevin, how much I loved him, I didn't love him enough to leave my family. I didn't love him enough to leave you guys behind." With another sip, Penelope put her glass back down before looking at Dave. "Isn't that what love should be though? Two people that can't live without each other? That's what I've always thought it should be. And I realized that I could live without Kevin. But, I couldn't live without my family."
Dave looked into Penelope's eyes. "Kitten, I wish I could say something pithy and meaningful that would make you feel all better right now. I can say; you've come upon the one truth that it has taken me three divorces to realize." Dave pulled the fingers on one hand from Penelope's skin to take up his own wineglass. "I tried time and time again to devote myself. But, each time, by the end, my needs, what I wanted and what I thought would be best for us, usually became more important than what my ex-wives might have wanted. I would like to say I'm wiser now. Now, I know I'm a very selfish and arrogant man." Glancing at the simmering pesto, he knew they only had a few more minutes before he would have to get up. "It seems we both need to relax and recharge tonight, cara." Wanting to change the mood now that he knew his Kitten hadn't been damaged by Lynch, he curled his fingers below Penelope's knee and caressed into the hollow in the bend of her knee as he took a sip from his glass.
Penelope's insides trembled a moment at the feel of Dave's fingertips sliding under the edge of her skirt and stroking the area behind her knee. "It seems to me, I may need to spend some time with an arrogant and selfish man. If it's the right one. Maybe someone that is arrogant because he's proud of his skills and actually knows what he's doing, and maybe someone willing to be selfish enough to take the decisions out of my hands for a time. Trying to please someone that doesn't know what he wants is not an easy thing to do. My tigrotto, just to give me an answer to the biggest office question, just between you and me, how 'knowledgeable' a man are you?" With a cute simpering look, Penelope eased her foot off where she had propped it on the edge of her stool, and raising the leg that wasn't between Dave's, placed it on the outer leg of Dave's stool so that her skirt fell away from her knees and farther up her thighs. This also caused Dave's fingers to slide down the underside of her thigh as her muscle flexed with the movement.
How could someone be so frozen in place but so very very hot? Dave wondered stupidly for a short minute of reflection. Looking at the glimpse of skin that ended at a shadow between her thighs, Dave could feel his pants tightening, blood surging to his lower body. Unable to stop, he slid his hand slowly higher watching as his thumb slid along her soft white skin and feeling that muscle in her thigh pulled tight as his fingers slid up the back of her thigh. Both he and Penelope were breathless, watching the slow movement of that hand, when suddenly a smell of scorching food brought them back to the present.
"Fuck!" Dave's low voiced swearing had a dark gruff sound to it as he clenched his hand around her thigh before standing up. For one brief moment Dave was standing between her spread thighs, as he had slid forward off his stool. Placing one hand on the bar, he curved the other around Penelope's thigh pulling it higher and tighter against his hip, leaning towards Penelope till his lips brushed her ear. "Woman, do not think I haven't noticed that you called me 'little' again. We will be discussing that later" with a quick nip at her ear lobe that made Penelope flinch with delighted sensation; he let her leg back down beside her stool and moved a little stiffly around the bar, removing the pesto from the stove and draining the pasta.
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(A/N: I just couldn't Lynch bash. Kevin never came across as a total loser to me. He just seemed like he tried really hard, but couldn't quite be what Penelope needed. So, this is how that explanation came out for me.
And, I wanted to notch up the sensual tension a bit.
Hope you enjoy, KK!)