Title: Folie à Trois, Chapter 2
Timeline: pre-season 4 (late season 2 or season 3)
Summary: Was I seriously going to try and seduce both my ridiculously attractive co-workers at the same time?
I didn't expect anyone else up at this hour.
I immediately wondered what I had walked into – or rather: what might have been about to happen before I interrupted – as I laid eyes on them. The lights weren't on, but even in the sparse moonlight some things were clearly visible.
As always they were standing way too close together – even in this heat, ludicrously.
Brennan leaned back and held the counter; her arms at her sides and resting behind her, shoulders pushed back. Her upper body was open and inviting to him, even while she challenged him with her chin and eyes.
Booth looked like the picture of sexual aggression. His hips were thrust forward towards hers, one hand resting on the counter beside hers – trapping her – and his feet were planted firmly astride one of her shins. A bottle of beer dangled from the hand that he was raising up, his index finger rudely pointed close to her face.
While he provocatively crowded her space in the muggy midnight, pheromones hung as heavily in the air as the sultry smell of honeysuckle.
Of course, these moments between them happened so often as to be practically meaningless. Or rather: meaningless as a means of divination for the status of their relationship. Because of course their body language was perpetually pregnant with meaning – just none they were willing to acknowledge, even to themselves, it seemed.
---
I had not been aware of even a whisper as I approached, but my distraction and the soft whir of the useless fan in the kitchen probably contributed to that. In any case, it would appear that the heat hadn't depleted what had to be a sheer endless reserve of their ubiquitous bickering.
They looked up when they registered my entrance in the corner of their eyes, and both their expressions carried a brief glimmer of guilt; of being caught. I bit my lip to keep from smiling.
We were all here as guests and therefore we all had every right to be there, even at this hour. And there were no overt signs that anything inappropriate was carried on here. So how come I still felt a little bit like my father busting in on me with one of my boyfriends?
I drew up a questioning eyebrow, and Booth took a step back from his partner, but looked at me defiantly. None of your business, Camille.
Brennan was the first to fold. "We…couldn't sleep, because of the…heat," she stuttered. In an oddly cute way. She kept sneaking uncertain glances at Booth.
My eyes were shifting between the two of them, to read their body language and get a feel for the atmosphere. Was it as charged as it seemed, or was that just my imagination?
Perhaps the notable lack of decent attire also played a part in the sensuality of the moment, in this dusky kitchen.
I knew Seeley's body like the back of my hand, but unless they knew something I didn't, Brennan had never seen so much of his skin at once. His large feet were bare, and almost the entire length of his long, athletic legs was showing under his short, loose-fitting running shorts, and a torso-hugging wifebeater. He had crossed his arms in front of him, making every muscle stand out.
Dragging my eyes away from his delicious and distracting form, I couldn't resist the opportunity to give Brennan the once-over. The lines of her body were sharply outlined against the moonlight coming from the screen door at the far end of the kitchen.
I admired her long legs, at a slight angle from where her bottom rested against the kitchen cabinet; her slender waist and the generous – wow, how did I not know they were so generous before? And so shapely too? – curves of her chest. Her sleep shorts and her painted-on, low-cut tank top left little to the imagination. She, too, was barefoot.
I couldn't blame them, really. The heavy, humid night air demanded as little fabric uncomfortably warming and constricting the skin as possible. I had merely covered myself with just enough fabric to keep from sticking to myself, which was the only thing worse, as I slept. Or fruitlessly tried to anyway. And it wasn't much more than they were wearing.
Only the moonlight provided soft illumination and offered scant cool relief on their heated, moist skin; neither partner had bothered to turn on the light. Perhaps they were afraid if they did, they'd be too self-conscious of how dressed down they were – or too appreciative. Or both.
---
Brennan held up the beer bottle that had been obscured by her body. "You want a cold beer too?"
After I nodded and smiled appreciatively she pushed off from the counter, and my eyes were glued to her languorous, hip-swaying saunter to the refrigerator.
Drawn in by the sight of Brennan opening the refrigerator door and helpless not to notice her nipples drawing tight as the wave of cool air hit her, I approached her without conscious thought. She eyed me curiously as I stood unusually close, but didn't back down. Of course she wouldn't.
She unabashedly held my eyes hostage while she further minimized the space between our bodies, by stepping aside to allow the refrigerator door to fall shut again behind her, until we were so close that I could feel her body heat radiating towards me.
When she held up a beer for me I reached out to take it, but when my fingers curled around the – oh blessed relief – ice cold glass of the bottle neck, she didn't immediately release it.
For a few breaths, we were both holding the beer bottle, our eyes still attached to each other. She gave me a small smile, but I wasn't sure if it was sincere or irreverent.
"Enjoy," she wished me in a low, throaty voice.
"Thanks. I'm sure I will." The tip of my tongue raced between my dry lips to moisten them.
Her eyes fluttered down, breaking the spell. She let her fingers slide from the bottle, and goose bumps erupted on my skin, in the wake of the stream of air that trailed behind her as she slipped past me.
I quickly twisted the cap to open the bottle, lusting after its contents. My mother wouldn't approve, but that's just the way it goes, so in the end I didn't hesitate to put the bottle straight to my mouth and wrap my lips around the rim. I sucked in a good long drink of cool liquid, my throat working to greedily gulp down as much of the cool drink as possible before oxygen ran out.
It tasted really good. Probably better than it should. I savored the refreshingly bitter tang of it, which reminded me of the way cut grass smells after a refreshing spring shower.
I closed my eyes and tilted my head back in pure, unadulterated enjoyment of the refreshing treat. A gratified sigh accompanied the release of the bottle from my mouth.
When I slowly opened my eyes again, both partners were staring at me curiously from opposite counters, a mixture of shock and amusement on their faces.
Oh.
Perhaps the gratified sigh had sounded just a tad too…sexual.
Booth, leaning against the counter opposite Brennan, looked at me from under hooded eyelids – and I knew that look. "Was it as good for you as it was for me?" he deadpanned.
Brennan turned to him swiftly, surprised to find her partner for once comfortable with sexual innuendo in her presence.
"Best I've had in a while," I quipped good-naturedly.
I rubbed the sweating beer bottle all over my overheated forehead, neck, throat and chest. It offered delicious relief, but my heated skin warmed the bottle, and my skin quickly warmed to the air again.
"Damn this heat. I'm gonna need more than a cold beer to cool off," I muttered.
Inspiration struck – providence granted my wish. I opened the freezer above the refrigerator, rummaging around until I found what I was looking for: a full tray of ice cubes.
The flood of crisp, icy air on my face was delicious, and I was in no hurry to shut the door again. I, too, felt my nipples tightening against the fabric of my tank top as the downward stream of cold air washed across my chest.
---
I popped a frosty cube and let it follow the same trail as the bottle, with much better results: finally a more lasting coolness on my skin.
My face, neck, the uncovered part of my chest and arms all got the cold and wet treatment, until the ice cube had all but melted. Sighs and the occasional hissed 'yessss' expressed my gratification. I could care less about whether my colleagues were gawking, or their possibly orgasmic connotations – only one thing mattered to me right now.
"Aren't you gonna share the wealth?" Booth scolded, but the tiniest movement of his upper lip betrayed that he was baiting me.
I cocked my head at him, all caution melting away in the heat and washed off by that blissful ice cube. "Be happy to, Seeley. All you had to do was ask."
I was in front of him in a heartbeat, and touched the ice cube to his lips, effectively silencing him. He moaned a little and not from discomfort. I took that as encouragement to let his entire face and neck benefit as well, but with a slow and sensual touch – because my ego couldn't resist the opportunity to test if I could still affect him physically.
I had no intention of following through on my flirtation, but he clearly wasn't sure of that. The tension rose. It was amusing to see him fidget and flounder, before he finally sucked in a big gulp of air and folded.
"Cam…" he warned.
I smiled sweetly. "Relax, Seeley, I'm not going to jump you. Especially not in the company of the lovely Doctor Brennan. I hope your ego can stomach the fact that we can in fact control ourselves around you. Shocking, I know," I mocked, with raised eyebrows. "Even though you do look good enough to eat, wearing that, and Doctor Brennan has got to be just as hot and bothered as I am." I played it cool.
The object of my observation piped up then, dryly stating, "Actually, I am admittedly experiencing increased psychosexual stimulation from witnessing that."
That was her way of saying she thought it was hot? Wow.
God help me, the heat was stirring the devil in me. And her shameless honesty wasn't helping. I itched to rattle her just a little bit. Give pause to the unflappable, seemingly impossible to shock Doctor Brennan.
"Are you saying you'd like to participate in Seeley's cooling, or would you like me to administer the same treatment on you? Or do you just like to watch?"
She swallowed, open-mouthed. "All three of those options appeal to me, actually." Elegantly, she touched the tip of her tongue to a pearl of sweat at the corner of her mouth. Then she blinked twice in rapid succession. "Is it hot in here?"
I laughed silently, and shook my head. She clearly wasn't put off.
But the opportunity to have some fun with the good doctor, to mess with her a little bit, was just too precious.
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Is it hotter in here? ;-)