Chapter 8 - Filipino breakfast

A couple of knocks on the door reconnected House's mind to the world in the exact moment in which Cuddy walked out of the bathroom and passed by his bed heading to the door. He ran a hand on his face and opened his eyes, looking at her as she exited the room.

The same T-shirt of the previous night. His T-shirt.

That T-shirt was definitely twice her size. And that pure observation awakened in him feelings he thought to be dormant after all those years. The sensation of her minute body against his. Of her body in his arms. The feeling of how he could wrap her body with just one arm.

He watched as she exited the room, tying her hair in a pony tail, careless, or maybe not, of the fact that that gesture expose her thighs even more than how they already were...

He let the aroma of coffee filled those two rooms before deciding to get out of bed.

He put on a pair of shorts and took a clean T-shirt from his suitcase, then putting it on as he walked into the kitchen, glancing at the breakfast tray on the table.

"That's puto" he said, looking at Cuddy as she watched that sort of rice wrapped in a leaf, next to a bowl of mango and a cup of what looked like hot chocolate "it's a steamed rice cake" he added meeting her eyes and... her smile.

He held her gaze for a few seconds before looking at the other plate. Sinangag... fried rice, longanisa... a kind of sausage, fried quail eggs and coffee... Well, definitely that wasn't for her.

"You know, I could really get married to a woman who makes me find breakfast in the morning, Cuddy!" He said with a slightly mischievous smile.

Cuddy laughed, shaking her head.

"I think I'll have to resign myself then" she said looking into his eyes and handing him a note. 'Helen' was the only word she could decipher of that note. Besides that international emoticon.

Nagawa mo na ba yung nararapat kapalit ng almusal na ito? Ay naku! Sigurado akong OO yunh magiging sagot niya. O baka nga nag-OO na siya ;) Helen.

House didn't replied and just looked into her eyes, taking that note from her hand. Cuddy continued to look at him as his lips curled into a slight smile at the words on that note.

So? Do you deserve this breakfast? Come on! She'll say yes. Or maybe she already did ;) Helen.

"What does she say?" She asked, smiling and taking a sip of her chocolate, watching him as he looked up from that note and looked at her.

"That... I do need a nourishing breakfast to regain energy after tonight" he said glancing mischievously at her and watching as she rolled her eyes and shook her head slightly, taking another sip of her chocolate.

She placed her cup on the table and looked at him again, as her fingers fiddled with the edge of her cup.

"Anyway... she really knows you very well" she said, smiling, nodding to his plate "What's weird is that... she knows me well too!" She said looking at her own dish with a raised eyebrow, looking up at him and bringing to her mouth a piece of mango.

Of course she knew her! He had told her things about himself, and about Cuddy, that he had never told anyone. Not even to Wilson. Things about himself that he would never have thought he wanted to share with someone... Why... her? He didn't know. It was a strange harmony. Not sexual attraction. She was like a sort of... big sister. She was like Wilson. A sort of female version of Wilson. But in a way she was more than Wilson. Because, unlike Wilson, she could think like a woman. Like Cuddy. And that allowed him to fill some of the missing pieces of the complicated unsolved puzzle that Cuddy was.

He was so focused on the thought that he almost didn't realize that he had spilled his cup of coffee, as long as that boiling liquid soaked his T-shirt startling him.

"Holy shit!" He exclaimed, standing up to that sudden sensation, while Cuddy stood up in turn looking at him as he quickly took off his soaked shirt, crumpling it and then using it to wipe his chest.

A few knocks on the door caught the attention of both of them and they looked at each other for a moment before Cuddy went to open it. House met the gaze of the boy on the doorframe as he greeted Cuddy with a 'Good morning Mrs. House'. A vaguely mischievous 'Good morning Mrs. House' that certainly didn't go unnoticed to him. But not even to Cuddy. She closed the door unable to avoid from smiling to herself, slightly biting her lip, looking down at her own T-shirt and then at House.

He was half-naked. And her too, since she wore just with his T-shirt. In front of the eyes of a stranger they were clearly a newlywed couple after what had certainly been a night of passion. And maybe even a newlywed couple... just interrupted during a moment of passion...

"Er... I'd better get dressed!" She said looking at the contents of the bag which that boy had just brought her from the laundry "And you too, House!" She said looking into his eyes with a slightly embarrassed look as she could almost still feel that guy's look on herself.

"Yeah" he said with a mischievous smile "Because ... you know that even that guy is now wondering if you had your panties on, right?" He added with a look somewhere between a challenge look and an amused one, looking at her bare thighs and then again at her eyes.

Cuddy rolled her eyes and opened her mouth to reply, but was interrupted by the ring of House's phone.

"JIMMY!" He said emphatically in the phone still staring at her, with a look that said 'saved by the phone!'

Cuddy bit her lip and House couldn't help but running his tongue on his lips as he looked at her. He watched her as she took her own cell phone checking the calls, then closing her eyes for a moment and biting her lip again with a guilty expression.

"Don't getting paranoid, Wilson!" House said in the phone letting out a laugh "She's here with me!" He added, glancing at Cuddy.

"What do you mean with what is she doing here, Wilson?" He said, rolling his eyes "You know... sun... tropical beach... me" he said still listening to his friend's voice the other end of the line but glancing at Cuddy again and deliberately emphasizing that 'me', watching her as she bent her head to the side as she did every time he said something inappropriate.

"No" he laughed, slightly shaking his head "not 'me' like that 'she's doing me'" he laughed again at the look Cuddy gave him, opening her mouth slightly "Although..." he continued, glancing at her with a very mischievous look, failing to resist the temptation to make fun of her "actually... she hasn't been wearing panties since last night" he said, looking at Cuddy as her eyes widened even more eyes and hearing Wilson almost choking on the other end of the line. He knew him so well that he could almost see him blushing even thousands of miles away.

Cuddy gave him a very dirty look as she literally tore off the phone from his hand.

House couldn't help but smile as he took a sip of hot chocolate from what had been Cuddy's cup and listened as she explained to Wilson that 'her panties were where they should be', then apologizing for having forgotten to call and advise him that she had decided to take a few relaxing days, as long as a week with House could be considered as 'relaxing', and that she would be back in a week.

"You're a jerk!" She said, staring at him and raising both eyebrows as she placed the phone on the table.

"You're a bad liar" he replied staring at her in turn.

Cuddy held his gaze for a few seconds before shaking her head and looking away, then passing near him and exiting the room. Clearly annoyed.

He leaned against the doorframe as he watched her taking her clothes from the bag, then disappearing behind the screen that separated their beds.

"Cuddy?" He said, lightly biting his lip in order not to smile, but without really succeeding in it.

"What do you want, House?" She said in an annoyed tone, without looking out "If you think I'll give you the satisfaction to prove that you're wrong, dream on!".

Of course she would have never given him the satisfaction to prove that he was wrong! But the funny thing was that... he was not at all convinced that he was wrong!

"You can come here or I'll come there myself" he said holding back another smile and watching her as she reluctantly went out from that screen.

Her head down like when she was very annoyed but didn't want to argue.

"What do you want, House?" She repeated with a sigh, then raised her head to look at him.

House didn't answer and she looked at him with an expression somewhere between an exasperated and a bored one while he went to his bed and took a bag from under it. He tossed it toward her and she caught it, then looking quizzically at him before looking at the contents of the bag, then looking up at him with a even more puzzled expression.

"For me?" She asked as her eyes opened wide.

"No, for Wilson" he replied watching as she bit her lip and smiled a half smile, nodding, looking at the contents of the bag and not at him.

"You bought me a...?" ... She smiled as she pulled out of that bag a pair of panties and a bra, then looking up at him with a questioning look.

Well... at least he hadn't brought her a micro leopard-print thong or, knowing House, edible panties.

No lace. No... well ... studs or leather garnishes in sadomasochistic style to make fun of her. None of that. A simple black outfit.

"How...?"

... How did you know my size? those were the words that wanted to come out of her lips as she turned that bra in her hands ... But that 'how' was the only word that came out... the remainder of that question got lost, replaced in her mind by the memory of the sensation of his hand on her breasts... and of how her breast perfectly fit in his hand...

House just stared at her, running his tongue on his lips as his lips slightly curled into a half smile. Into a half vaguely mischievous smile.

Cuddy held his gaze and couldn't help but smile in turn, nodding and bending her head slightly to the side while putting that bra back in the bag along with the panties.

"Why didn't you give me this last night?" She asked with a slightly mischievous smirk actually already foreseeing what the answer was.

"Because... your panties were where they should be" he said looking straight into her eyes and watching her shaking her head, but this time still smiling, although she still bite her lip.

House continued to look at her. Fuck... how could the mere thought that she was going to wear something that had been touched by his own hands be enough to trigger a reaction in his groin?!

"Since when do you have an obsession with my panties, House?" She said looking into his eyes, but letting out a laugh.

House looked at her and immediately rejected the first answer that appeared in his mind. Since I have an obsession for you! He dismissed even the second one. Since you don't wear them! And he realized that he was out of time to reply to her provocation.

He just watched her as she looked away and looking again at the contents of that paper bag. Who was he kidding? He had always had an obsession with her panties! And with her ass. And with her breasts. With every inch of her. Only that he had always tried to keep her at arm's length. One step forward and two steps back. Their game. In an endless cat and mouse playing. Yet the more they warded off each other the more they were pushed towards each other. Polar opposites. And the attraction between them was something that neither of them could control. The way she argued with him during their quarrelling was enough to turn him on. The way in which she placed her hands on her hips when she wanted to impose her authority turned him on. The way in which she just touched her neck as she talked on the phone turned him on.

Fuck! That woman could give him an erection just by responding to his puns...

He swallowed and shifted his gaze on her mouth before looking again at her eyes. Shit... the way she bit that damned lip... All he wanted right now was to bite that lip of hers. And suck it up to make her moan... and... Fuck, Greg! He shook off that thought and swallowed again. Has he never been so attracted to someone he can actually feel it driving him insane?

He looked at her as she pulled out of that bag a pair of flip flops and a linen dress, then smiling again.

A simple blue linen dress. Short but not too short. Spaghetti straps. Light blue. Well... actually not light blue... gray-blue...

"Thanks..." she said smiling, this time looking up at him and just partially managing to hide the mix of embarrassment and amazement she felt for that very unexpected gesture. Definitely an out of character gesture. "Blue like the ocean swept by Monsoons? " She asked smiling, while a amused flash passed in her eyes and she raised both eyebrows, biting her lower lip completely.

"Like your eyes" he replied looking at her for a moment and in turn biting his lip slightly, then walking out of the room.