Hello to everyone and thank you for all your warm feedback to the previous chapters! By now you all know that I get inspired by songs, right? Well, sometimes my taste in music surprises even myself 'cause actually I'm not a fan of this singer, but one morning, driving toward my work place and listening to the radio I bumped into a sort of revival of the summer greatest hits of the last ten years and I found myself thinking 'whoa, this fits with my fanfic!' (Even the time since it's a 2007 song) So here it is. Obviously I don't owe the songs in here and bla-bla-bla. I hope you'll enjoy.

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Chapter 9 - Every time we touch

...

"Remind me never enter again into one of these places with a woman with an American Express Platinum, Cuddy!" He said giving her an unconvincing scowl as he looked around among the shelves of the mall.

Cuddy smiled, placing on the shelf one of the tank top in her hand and taking another one.

"I didn't ask you to accompany me, House" she said, smiling "and I'm beginning to think that that Meningococcus gave you some neurological damage" she added, letting out a half-laugh.

House shook his head.

"It's not about that Meningococcus. If I find your corpse left in a garbage dump, Wilson is going to kill me! "He said, turning away and looking at one of those bikinis on the hangers.

Cuddy nodded and smiled, still looking at him as he watched those bikinis one by one, unable to help smiling at the thought of how much he seemed out of place in that store. How many women had he accompanied to have shopping in a mall? Certainly not his occasional women. Well, Stacy of course, but that was a long time ago... and before his leg.

"Buy this, Cuddy!" He said, looking at her with a very mischievous look.

A laugh burst from her lips as soon as she looked up.

"Sure!" She said, laughing "I really need a full Brazilian for that one, House!" She laughed again, looking at him as he nodded in turn, watching that miniscule bikini and not her.

"Killjoy" He said glaring at her, although unable to prevent his lips from curling into a slight smile.

...

He sat on one of the two bamboo armchairs under the porch, savoring the evening breeze. Closed eyes and a beer in his hand as he took a sip from time to time directly from the bottle.

"Holy cow..."

He suddenly opened his eyes to the sound of those two words pretty much stifled by Cuddy's labored breathing, and watched her.

Standing in front of him, leaning with one hand on the wooden stair handrail. Her other hand on her hip as she tried to catch her breath. Her hair tied in a ponytail from which a few curls had escaped sticking to her forehead. A pair of shorts that barely covered her bottom and a soaked tank top. House couldn't help but swallow while the trickle of sweat on her cleavage focused his gaze directly on the line between her breasts that then disappeared into the neckline of that top.

Fuck Greg, what are you? Fourteen? He said to himself, settling in that armchair as the tension in his groin grew immediately at that view. But... was there something sexiest than a sweaty and panting Lisa Cuddy? At that moment the only thing his brain could think about was how much he wanted to feel the taste of her skin on his tongue...

"Holy. Cow." she repeated again, enunciating those two words, this time laughing and shaking her head, distracting him from that thought.

She ran a hand over her face, moving the hair escaping from her ponytail and bending over, placing both hands on her knees, gasping for breath.

"You don't have the physique, Cuddy!" He said, laughing and teasing her.

"I'm... completely... out of training" she said, laughing and shaking her head "...I barely ran a few miles and I feel like that corpse in the garbage dump, House" she said meeting his gaze, still laughing.

He watched her laughing and took another sip of cold beer, trying to cool something more than his throat. Because if that was a corpse, he had just found out he decidedly was a necrophiliac!

He held back the urge to follow her with his eyes as she walked through the door, but looked at her again as she came back a few seconds later with a bottle of water in one hand, drinking a couple of sips and then resting it on the coffee table in front of him.

She moved with one hand one of the curls that fell over her forehead and then untied her ponytail, shaking her head slightly and letting her hair falling on her shoulders. She turned in her fingers the elastic band meeting House's eyes and literally reading in his eyes what had just appeared in his mind.

A black strapless dress. Her hair tied up in a sort of chignon, held in place only by the same pencil he had looked at for an entire semester. HIS hand taking off that pencil from her hair... He had watched her straight into the eyes as she slightly shook her head letting her hair fell on her shoulders.

Just like now.

She tied up her hair again into a tighter ponytail, biting her lip almost imperceptibly and looked away, turning to look at the ocean.

Yeah... Just like now. Only with a different ending this time...

"Plans for the evening?" He asked nonchalantly in the same tone he would have asked about the weather.

"Aside dying on the couch?" She asked smiling, turning her head to look at him "Honestly, I have no strength left even to take a shower, House." She said, shaking her head slightly. "You?"

House just shrugged.

"No plans" he replied looking at her for a moment and taking another sip of beer.

Yeah, no plans. Why the hell couldn't he just ask her out!? It wasn't that difficult, right? Hey, Cuddy, how about going for a drink? Why was he so afraid of a no? The worst that could happen to him was to drink alone for the umpteenth time! Which would still have happened if he wasn't going to ask her out! Only 8 words put together! And yet ... 8 words that his mind refused to put together!

...

He turned his glass of Scotch watching that amber liquid dancing into it. No ice. Maybe he should have taken it on the rocks in that hot night refreshed only by an almost imperceptible breeze... but he had preferred not to water down those 40% alcoholic volume. Perhaps at least it would have clouded his mind just enough to make him stop repeatedly calling himself a fucking idiot!

"All alone tonight?" The barman had asked him putting in front of him a second drink.

House had simply looked up at him. The same guy of the previous night. And... well, he was a man! Obviously he remembered of his wife! It would be weird otherwise! But even if he hadn't been known to be a very unsociable guy, certainly making conversation was the last thing he wanted to do at that time. For more with that guy. He opened his mouth to answer with one of his sharp comment... something that took away from that guy the will to make comments at least for the rest of the week... but he didn't have the time to do that.

A Latin-featured brunette approached the counter and ordered a Cosmopolitan, focusing on herself the attention of both of them.

A Cosmopolitan. Eight hundred drinks on the list and that woman had to ordered exactly a Cosmopolitan?! He looked at her out of the corner of his eye as she sat on the barstool next to his. Her hair tied in a braid and a red dress.

He couldn't tell if she flirted more with the barman or with him. What he knew for sure was that, from the way she laughed, she didn't stand alcohol very well. As some he knew.

He watched as she had another joke with the barman, then turning her head again toward him and smiling. She flirted with him in a subtle and in a sense intriguing way, slightly biting her lip, in a way that reminded him inexorably of someone.

And he was surprised by what he felt as he watched her.

"Do you think if I get drunk I'm not a good girl?" She asked him, laughing and taking a sip of her third drink.

"No" he answered almost snapping that no from his lips, glancing at her and then watching his glass of Scotch before looking at her again "If you get drunk you won't be a good girl" he said, raising an eyebrow as she nodded and ran her tongue on her lips.

"Well, you don't look like the good-girl type of guy" she replied staring at him with a very explicit look.

Yes, he was surprised by what he felt.

A beautiful woman. Long legs highlighted by that dress that barely covered her bottom. Probably Brazilian, because of her accent... Caliente like all Latin women. Yeah, he was surprised by what he felt. Or rather... by what he didn't feel. No movement in his lower parts. How was it possible that that damned woman had ruined him for all the other women!

A hand on his shoulder made him suddenly look up.

"Am I interrupting something, honey?" She said, raising an eyebrow, looking into his eyes and then glancing at the woman next to him, reaching out at the same time for the drink on the counter in front of him.

House looked at her as she took a sip of his whiskey from his own glass, closing her eyes for a moment as alcohol burned her throat, then opening them again to look at him.

Fuck... she was...

The adjective 'beautiful' didn't do her justice! Her hair partially up. Eye shadow, eye pencil and mascara emphasizing her eyes. Fuck... he hadn't see her wearing makeup for a month and he realized it only now. Because the truth was that she was beautiful. Period. Even without makeup. With only her long dark lashes to emphasize the color of her eyes. But that dress... Holy shit! How happened he didn't notice such a dress among the five hundred dresses she had tried that morning! It wrapped her body in a way that inexorably emphasized her curves while the skirt slightly ruffled in the night breeze. An Oriental motif. Blue, white, gold and brown mixed together in such a way that they enhanced the light tan of her skin after that sunny day. And... a plunging neckline. Fuck, Cuddy... since when do you dislike wearing a bra?

He swallowed.

"Where did you got that dress?" He asked, almost biting his tongue as soon as those words escaped his mouth. What the hell...? Where the fuck did that ridiculous question come from?

"Why? Don't you like it?" She simply replied, looking down at her own dress and then again up at him with a quizzical look, continuing to turn his glass in her hands.

Don't I like it? Holy shit, Cuddy! Does the fact that I'd tear it off of you count as 'I like it'?

He didn't answered her question, looking for a joke with which regaining control over the situation. But his brain didn't cooperate. And probably because all his five liters of blood were suddenly channeled in one part of his body. And definitely it wasn't his brain!

"Never leave a wife and a credit card in the same room, Sir" the barman said, laughing, listening to a piece of their conversation and watching him and then the two women in front of him, shaking his head.

What the hell...? Even this guy now?

He didn't replied, just giving him a half-scowl as he settled better on the barstool.

"Are you resurrected?" He asked trying to change the course of that speech "I know of a guy who succeeded once. Actually one of yours " he said, raising an eyebrow and looking at her as she watched the woman next to him standing up from the stool and walking away, gesturing a bye to the barman.

She turned to him and smiled, then sitting down on that same barstool, settling her skirt although she couldn't prevent the dress tear to open up, exposing part of her thigh.

"It took me less than three days!" She said smiling, settling better on that stool and bending her head by side, just watching him for a moment before looking away, focusing on the barman, smiling and gesturing him to get her a drink.

House realized only then that they have been working together for almost ten years but they had never been together in a place that was not the hospital's cafeteria. But... it was not so bad chatting with her. Sure, it would be easier if they could finally lower their usual defensive barriers! Not turning around each other like a tiger which studies its prey and not getting defensive like that same prey, expecting to be devoured at any moment. Was it really so hard to let himself go? Was it so dangerous?

The truth was that he wanted to let himself go. But he didn't like changes... and letting himself go would have changed things between them definitely.

His gaze focused on her fingers, lightly touching the rim of the glass, as she watched the people that in the meantime had filled the dance floor in front of the counter top, as the notes of a song turned into the ones of the next song. If he wasn't who he was, he would have asked her to dance. But... well... he was who he was ...

He continued to watch her as she slightly moved her head to the music without looking away from the people dancing in front of her, meeting from time to time the gaze of the guy who had been staring at her now for at least ten minutes, a few feet away.

"Look who's back!" He said, nodding toward that guy, watching her as she instead turned her head toward him, meeting his gaze "By the way that Marco is looking at you, Cuddy, he's dying to dance with you!"

Cuddy smiled and shook her head.

"Dance?" She repeated, unable to keep from laughing at the mischievous look that appeared in House's eyes "I'm not sure he wants to dance, House!" She said looking at him with the same look and taking a sip of her drink, then looking back to the dance floor.

"I thought you liked dancing, Cuddy" he said pointing out that 'dancing' in a somewhat too naughty way and watching her as she ran her tongue on her lips and then turned to look at him straight in the eye, with the same look she usually gave him every time he said something very inappropriate.

"Sure. He can't compete with me!. But dancing with him is better than nothing, right?" He said still teasing her while she sighed and then rolled her eyes.

Even if she'd have had a little doubt, the way he looked at her didn't leave her none about which kind of dancing was he referring to.

"It ache all over, House. I don't think he wants to dance with a corpse..." she said, ignoring his provocation and instead smiling slightly, trying to change the subject of that conversation.

House looked at her raising both eyebrows.

"I don't know what's your idea of a corpse, but I have the impression that you attended a more interesting pathological anatomy class than me" he ironically said looking into her eyes and letting out a half laugh.

He met her eyes while she weighed up that answer, slightly swinging her head in what was a sort of yes and of no at the same time, then failing to suppress a half smile, slightly biting her lip to which, in House's language, was a compliment. Neither of them spoke. The silence between them filled only by the first notes of yet another song.

"Hhhmmm ... I like this version of this song" Cuddy said, almost to herself, looking at her own drink and taking another sip.

Again she couldn't help but bite her lip, even if only subtly, to that 'I still feel your touch in my dreams...' and she met House's eyes while the corners of his mouth curled slightly in what might have become a smile. He inhaled, slightly opening his mouth as to say something, but closing it again just a moment later. He looked away for just a fraction of a second before looking at her again with a completely different look. The one she knew all too well.

"It doesn't point out in what kind of dreams" he said with a mischievous smile, looking at her straight in the eye "In my dreams, yours is what makes me..."

The glare she gave him silenced him instantly.

"Just finish that sentence, House, and I swear that the only thing you're going to dream is an urologist's phone number!" She said, looking into her eyes and then turning to look back at the dance floor.

House looked at her, unable to hold back a smile.

"Come on, Cuddy!" He said, laughing, "In a way, it was a compliment!"

"The compliment of a pervert!" She replied without looking at him, though he could tell to see the corners of her mouth curving almost imperceptibly.

Beautiful. That was really the only word that came to his mind. Beautiful when she laughed. Beautiful when she bit that damned lip of hers holding his gaze. Beautiful when she was mad at him. Beautiful when... she pretended to be mad at him. He continued to look at her and he knew that she knew he was watching her. He knew she could feel his eyes on her even if she pretended to look at those couples moving embraced, into the music, on the notes of that 'Every time we touch' that would probably rose to the top hit of that summer and then perhaps disappear into oblivion a few months after. A much slower version of the original one. One of the many love songs sung by an all-boobs-and-ass blonde... Not his kind of music! The same refrain repeated endlessly. And that ... 'everything we touch I get this feeling' that turned in his mind although he tried to think of something else. Because, as he tried, she was the only thing he could think about. And perhaps he simply just had to stop thinking.

If that hand hadn't been his he wouldn't have believed it. If he had thought before doing that, he wouldn't. But he didn't think. His hand took the glass from hers and pulled her on the dancing floor without giving her time to reply and practically dragging her there as her 'House' got lost among the notes of that song. And again among the words of that same song.

... I want this to last ... need you by my side ...

His hands found her waist gently drawing her to him, leaving only a few inches between their bodies. Close to each other as they weren't for too long... but not that close. Cuddy realized she had been holding her breath only as soon as her lungs demanded air and she rested in turn her hands on his shoulders then making them slip along them and behind his neck, holding back the urge to run her fingers through his hair.

God... the last time she had been with House on a dance floor had been... when? ... Certainly not to the dozens of charity galas of the hospital! ... If he went there (and it was mandatory to add that 'if') he stood at most somewhere, leaning against a wall or a counter top with a glass in one hand... so... the last time was... that time...

... can't you feel my heart beat so, I can't let you go... want you in my life...

"So... what is this, House?" She asked, raising an eyebrow, looking at him straight in the eye and lightly biting her lip as she held back a smile.

"Dancing, Miss SingleBallroomDanceLovers-dot-com" he replied smiling slightly and continuing to look into her eyes as she shook her head, smiling on that 'the bad and the good one we've got through them all'...

He wished her scent was not so intoxicating. It was even when she didn't use any, but her scent mixed to that perfume was absolutely extraordinary. Jasmine and spices. It was soft and sensual... like her...

He swallowed, trying to focus on something different than the woman in his arms. Because the beat of his heart wasn't the only thing he didn't want to get her aware of.

His hand slightly loosened his grip on her waist and Cuddy looked into his eyes. Was he uncomfortable? Knowing him he was probably already regretting that gesture. Maybe... not about that gesture in itself, but certainly the impact that the gesture could have. They stared at each other, reading each other's discomfort... but neither of them would have admitted that. Did he really want to step back? Because what she wanted at that moment was instead exactly that. His arms around her body. Because...

... 'cause everytime we touch I get this feeling...

Yeah... because every time they touched she get that feeling ... something she couldn't describe...

And him too.

... I want this to last... need you by my side...

He focused on the music. The notes of a piano. Chords he could play by ear even without watching the arrangement. And he met her gaze on the last note of that song.

Close. So close. He could feel the warmth of her body even though it wasn't pressed against his. He could feel her breathing and she could feel his. Her gaze lost in his.

He bowed his head slightly toward her while some electronic notes unexpectedly replaced the previous soft ones. The same chords of a few seconds earlier... and again that "... 'cause every time we touch", but a completely different rhythm, stressed by the bass hammering in his ears in the decidedly now hands-up version.

They continued to stare at each other, but a laugh simultaneously escaped from the lips of both of them at that sudden change of atmosphere. He felt Cuddy's arms leave his neck and let in turn go of his grip on her waist, watching her as she slightly moved her head and hips to the music.

"Quite a bit too much movement for my leg, Cuddy!" He said, laughing as he watched her, his lips moving closer to her ear so she could hear him despite the several decibels.

The look he found in her eyes wasn't the one he expected.

"I thought your leg could keep up with me, House!" She practically screamed in his ear so he could hear her, then looking at him with a mischievous look that didn't leave him any doubt about which leg that two-way was referring to.

He smiled, holding her gaze and running his tongue on his lips. How much he liked that side of her! How she was able to stand up to him, returning his jokes and teasing him as he did with her.

And if he knew that a single drink had that effect on her, he would have offered her a drink time ago! He continued to watch her dance. Sexy and beautiful, while swaying her hips to the music. A Lisa Cuddy he didn't believe still existed.

And again that ... 'I can't let you go ... want you in my life' ... this time almost screamed by the rhythm of the music while even that song ended, giving way to an equally hands-up "Because the night ".

And he met Cuddy's look on the first words of that song.

Take me now, baby,

Here as I'm

Hold me close, try and understand...

They stared at each other.

Holy Shit, Lisa! Can you really sway your hips in front of him on this 'take me now, baby'?

"Fine" she said, raising a hand and letting out a laugh, still looking into his eyes "I'm not drunk enough for that" she said, laughing again and then looking away as he laughed in turn.

"Does that mean that you could be?" He asked again with a mischievous smile as of course she rolled her eyes, however, continuing to smile, then turning and walking toward what was her barstool a few minutes before.

House followed her, gently biting his lip and rubbing his chin as he smiled, watching the sway of her hips. Because... well, fuck, all what he wanted right now was to take her now, here as she was and held her close! And there was nothing to understand! Too bad that he didn't have the guts to let himself go and try.

He shook his head on the notes of that 'can't hurt you now', can't hurt you now, can't hurt you now'.

Since when it seemed that even the most banal lyrics was a message for him? Too bad, again, that it was just what held him back. The fear of being hurt. And of hurting her. Because this was him. He hurt people before they could hurt him. Because that was. And the few times in which he had trusted in someone he had been hurt more. Hurt and betrayed. By his father. By Stacy. He knew he had a bad temper and he certainly didn't blame them for who he was. He blamed them for having made him harder and more diffident than he already was by nature. And yet ... he wanted to be able to trust in her...

He sat down beside her, watching her as she drummed her fingers on the glass to the music. If he didn't know her well he would tell that she was simply drumming her fingers on her glass to the music. But he knew her well. He could almost hear the sound of her thoughts, despite the many decibels of the music still sounding around them. The way in which she stared at her drink without looking at him was a clear sign that she was actually analyzing what had happened between them, and valuing how to respond to that move. She was wondering why he had done that. If again he just wanted to make fun of her. He knew that she was wondering about what he wanted. What he couldn't tell was what she wanted! Because as far as he knew her, that woman still was an enigma.

He took a sip of his whiskey and met her gaze for a moment before she looked again at what was left of her drink finishing it in one long swallow almost like it was just mineral water instead than a cocktail with at least 15 % of alcohol by volume. Was she trying to ease her nerves?

"I'm not going to carry you to bed, Cuddy!" He said, staring at her as she turned her head to look at him, meeting his gaze again.

"What?" She asked with a very quizzical look.

"If you get drunk, I'll have to leave you here to sober" he said, looking at her with a more serious look than she would have expected as she stared back at him with a look in turn halfway between a serious and a questioning one.

"I had a couple of boozes, House. I'm not drunk" She said, looking straight into his eyes.

House held her gaze.

"You probably drank in two days more than you usually drink in six months. Your highest night hoot is a herbal tea, Cuddy! 0,5 oz of alcohol per booze is 1 oz in less than half an hour. That it wouldn't be so bad if you were a 200 lb man who marinates his liver into alcohol every night. But not for a 110 lb woman who, according to my intuition, is also empty-stomached. At most you ate... what? A few crackers a few hours ago?"

Cuddy held his gaze, though slightly biting her lip.

"A mango bowl" she said looking into his eyes, unable to prevent the corners of her mouth from curling slightly into the hint of a smile at the way in which sometimes he was able to analyze her as she was one of his puzzle.

"Yeah, sure! Sorry!" He said while in turn he held back a smile "No carbohydrates" he said, looking at her and this time smiling, looking away and shaking his head slightly.

"Are you caring about me, House?" She asked, looking up and meeting the blue of his eyes "Because... you know, I'm beginning to be worried..." She added, looking at him with a slightly mischievous look.

"I'm caring about myself, Cuddy! As feminist as you are, your liver enzymes metabolize alcohol in twice as long than a man's ones... so... I'd like to avoid having to went back to our room with a 110 pounds deadweight"

Cuddy glared at him and shook her head slightly, but again unable to hold back a smile.

"Want me walking on a line or me touching the tip of my nose with a finger, House?" She asked, standing up.

The world spun for a millisecond, but she didn't get perturbed and continued to look at him. God! How could he always be right ?! She wasn't drunk, but by the lightness of her head she had drunk too much for someone not used to drink.

"Does it spin?" House said pointing to her head, letting out a half-laugh, looking at her with a look that was clearly an 'I told you!'

She didn't answer but laughed in turn.

"I hate you" she said, looking at him and shaking her head.

House held her gaze and licked his lips, standing up in turn.

"I know" he replied, smiling slightly in turn as they looked into each other's eyes. Again blue lost in the blue.

...

"Do you need a hand to get out of that dress?" He asked with a very mischievous look, raising an eyebrow, looking at her as she took off her sandals.

"I'm not that drunk, House" She repeated, looking at him straight in the eye and then rolling her eyes to the gaze in his eyes "And no, definitely not enough for that 'take me now, here as I am', House!" She added, glaring at him.

"You weren't so boring!" He said, staring at her and shaking his head slightly, letting out a laugh "I liked you more twenty years ago."

A laugh that she didn't return. She held his gaze while that smile disappeared from his lips.

God, Lisa, you're such a stupid! What did you expect? Sex. That's what he wants and... what he always wanted. Did you really think that he was going to...?

She sighed and lightly bit her lip, looking away for a moment and then looking up at him, finding her composure again.

"One of us grew up, House!" She said with a look that could have frozen him despite those 100°F.

If he hadn't been himself he could have tried to save the night apologizing for the interpretation that could be given to his words, but... well, it was himself.

"A part of me has certainly grown now, Cuddy!" He said with a very mischievous look to which she replied with a loud sigh, before turning, giving him her back as she took her pajamas from the drawer.

House looked at her shoulders and, well, of course at her ass, biting his lip in turn and holding back a smile. God, he liked so much to annoy her! Had she a vague idea of how much sexy she was when she got mad?

"With all those gala charity of yours, I thought you were more charitable, Cuddy!" He said looking at her back as her shoulders lowered slightly as every time he said something very irritating.

"What the hell are you talking about, House?" She said, turning her head to look at him, her pajamas in one hand and House's T-shirt from the night before in the other one.

"I'm saying that you should give a hand to... someone who need it..." he said, staring at her with a very explicit look.

Cuddy sighed again, but was unable to prevent the corners of her mouth from curling into what looked like a sort of half smile to the way in which he was watching her. So annoying and yet so...

She shook her head.

"You already have one, House!" She said tossing his shirt to him and looking at him as he opened his mouth to retort with another joke. Probably something like 'yours is better'.

But she gave him no time to do that. Her hand on his mouth stopped those words in his throat. Her fingers against his lips. And they looked into each other's eyes to that contact...

...'Cause every time we touch I get this feeling ...

"Goodnight, House" she said, smiling slightly, still staring at him, removing her hand from his mouth and resting that same hand on his arm, just for a moment.

"Goodnight, Cuddy" he replied, still looking at her while she looked away, following her with his eyes until she disappeared behind the bathroom door.

He looked at his own arm, at the exact spot where her hand had touched him, unable not to think about how those same hands had been around his neck just less than an hour before on the notes of that song...

'I still feel your touch in my dreams' ...

'Goodnight, Cuddy' he repeated to himself as that song resonated in his head along with the feeling of her body close to his.

...'can't let you go'... need you in my life...

Author's note: Just in case you want to listen to the songs, they are Cascada's 'Every time we touch' (in the slow version and then in the original hands-up version) and "Because the Night" (here again in Cascada's version)