I know you are all hungry for more smut but you have to give me time for a little plot development. Its me and you can rest assured there will be plenty of smut to go around. I have chapter 4 half done so it should be on the way soon. Thanks for all the reviews so far.
Damnit, almost for got the disclaimer...Don't own it yadda yadda yadda...
"Can I borrow this spongy thing?" he asked over the spray of the shower.
"Of course," she replied patiently.
"And the shampoo?" he added.
"Just use whatever you want Cal. Didn't you bring your own?"She set her makeup down on the counter and looked toward the glass enclosure where she could she a fuzzy silhouette of his naked body.
"I did, but your stuffs better."His voice drifted out to her.
As she resumed applying her mascara he began lightly humming beneath the spray of the shower. She was surprised to find that his singing voice was actually quite pleasant with a slightly gritty timbre like an old time crooner's that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up and sent tiny quivers up and down her spine. The things she didn't know about Cal Lightman. What was that he was humming? It had a familiar sound to it…the Clash? She suppressed a giggle.
She smiled as she zipped her makeup bag, turning for the door. Just before she slipped out, she snuck a glance over her shoulder where the angle afforded her just a sliver of a view in to the shower. Currently Cal was leaned back with his head beneath the spray, rinsing lather from his hair. Her eyes involuntarily followed the flowing foam down over his shoulders, taking in his smooth, lean, and flatly muscled chest, the slight tapering of his waist. She licked her lips as her eyes moved lower, following the soft and narrow trial of hair from his abdomen to the slightly darker curls just above his cock. Immediately she pulled he eyes back up, ashamed at herself for ogling him, only to find him staring at her, amusement plain on his face. She quickly ducked out, shutting the door behind her as she tried to calm her racing heart.
Swearing softly at herself, Gillian began searching the room for her belongings. She opened the closet to find that her clothes had been hung neatly next to Cal's two identical blazers and pants. She reached for a conservative jacket and pants set and then thought better of it, choosing instead a fitted pink dress that she knew showed off her best assets. If she was going to face this situation head on, she was going to do it looking her best damn it.
She tossed the dress onto the bed and began opening drawers, disconcerted to find that her things had been tidily put away. She selected a matching bra and panties, trying not to think too hard about who had put their hands on them to arrange everything so neatly.
Here eye caught on the breakfast cart and she realized she might finally be able to eat something. She was actually starting to feel hungry. She walked over and lifted one of the silver domes. Steam wafted from a stack of fluffy pancakes and she grabbed the plate, poured herself a glass of orange juice and climbed back into bed, tucking her legs underneath her. She took a tentative bite, waiting to see how her stomach would handle food. When she didn't have the immediate urge to bring it back up again she slathered the stack with syrup and dug in.
She'd nearly cleaned the plate when Cal emerged from the bathroom in a cloud of steam, a white towel wrapped snuggly around his waist. His hair stuck out at odd angles as if he had scrubbed it with a towel to dry it and then skipped the brush all together and his skin was slightly flushed from the hot water and steamy air. In short, he looked sexy as hell.
He turned toward her and she realized that she had paused, a forkful of pancakes halfway to her mouth as she stared at him.
"Hungry?" he asked, his eyes boring into hers with intensity.
"Excuse me?" She tried to ignore the thrill of excitement that shot through her and made her heart flip.
"The pancakes, looks like you were hungry." He gestured to her plate.
"Oh," she bit her lip, "yeah I was. I'm sure there's more if you wanted something." She set her fork down, suddenly deciding she had had enough.
"Hard to think about food at a time like this, love." His voice was heavy and level.
She knew the tone he was using. It was that tone he used when he wanted to keep the conversation safe so he could keep his distance but wanted her to know his words had deeper meaning. "You mean when we need to be finding out what happened last night?" She steered the conversation to safe ground as she always did, ignoring his opening.
"Yup, exactly what I meant," he lied.
"I thought so," she lied right back. "I'm going to get dressed."
"Excellent," he threw himself into a chair next to the breakfast cart, openly leering at her as if waiting for something.
She rolled her eyes, "in the bathroom, Cal."
"Pity, that. Oh well, think there's any crispy bacon in here?" He began rummaging through the cart.
She grabbed her clothes and slipped back into the other room, thankful for the privacy. She quickly blew her hair dry, twisting it up into a clip behind her head. She dressed, turning slowly in the mirror as she smoothed the pink dress over her hips. Happy with the result, she went back to the main room to find that Cal had dressed as well and was currently talking on his cell. He pressed the speaker button and held the phone up so she could hear.
"Yeah, this is Dr. Lightman, I'd like to speak with Mr. Bolton if he's in please."
"I'm sorry Dr. Lightman, he's not in his office, but he is in the hotel. Would you like to leave a message for him?" a polite female voice responded.
"Yeah, could you tell him that my wife and I appreciate the upgrade in accommodations and that I'd like to meet with him as soon as possible to review some of the findings from our interviews yesterday?" He shot her a conspiratorial grin.
"Certainly Dr. Lightman, and let me just say congratulations to you and your beautiful wife. We were all so excited when we heard you'd taken advantage of our hotel chapel yesterday afternoon. I can't say I'm surprised though, I've never seen two people so in love with each other as you and Dr. Foster, if you don't mind my saying. Mr. Bolton left instructions for us to set aside the room for you for the remainder of the week if you choose to stay," she explained politely.
"That's very generous. We still have a bit more work to wrap up and I'm sure my wife would love to stay a bit longer. Could you tell Mr. Bolton I'd like the meeting as soon as possible? My wife and I have a few more inquiries to make on the Casino's behalf but he can reach me on my phone." He kept his tone even and light, not giving her any reason to be suspicious.
Every time he used the word "my wife" Gillian's heart gave a little extra beat. She realized she had somehow missed the possessive familiarity of that title since Alec and hearing it from Cal's lips somehow pulled at her in a way that was surprising.
"I'll pass it along right away. Congratulations again," the receptionist added.
Cal pressed end and threw his phone on the bed, scrubbing his hands over his face.
"Now what?" Gillian asked.
"Now we wait. I don't like it any more than you do, probably even less, but I need to see Bolton to know whether he's tied up in this or not. In the mean time I want to get Torres reviewing all the footage from yesterday's interviews and I want to use Loker's snooping skills to see if he can hack into the Casino's closed circuit system and scan for anything that might have the two of us in it. It would help if we had some sort of time frame to work with." He rubbed a hand through his hair.
"I can ask to review the last tapes from yesterday and check the time and date stamp. That way we can see the time our last memories come from and also try to figure out what it was we might have seen that would scare someone," she offered.
"Good idea, but you're not going anywhere without me. While you were dressing, I called in those favors I told you about and I have people trailing Bolton and Hankins. What I don't know is if they're trailing either one of the people involved in this. I'll get a call if either one of them makes another move but we might have gotten on the wrong side of someone else entirely. The surest way to me is through you and vice versa. I won't take any chances." His tone was fierce.
After 9 years, she was used to Cal's overprotective nature but she wasn't used to him being this out in the open about it. He actually sounded a little frightened.
"We do know if we want answers about the wedding bit we can go to the Casino's chapel. They must have some record that can confirm the time we were there if that receptionist was correct," she offered.
"Sounds like an excellent place to start," he agreed. "Let me get Loker and Torres on the phone and then we can go face the enemy. So to speak, that is."
"What are you going to tell Loker and Torres?"
"Nothing more than I have to at this point," he said gravely as he picked up the phone and dialed Loker's cell phone first. Eli answered on the first ring.
"It's Lightman. Listen Loker, I don't have time for a lot of questions but I need to know if you can get into the Bellagio's closed circuit archives and search camera footage from last night. I'm looking for Casino floor, tower elevators, lobby, anything. Can you do it?"
"That's a huge order, systems like that have massive security protocols and…" he said.
"Bored," Cal interrupted. "Just answer the question Loker, can you get in?" Cal pushed.
"I can get in. It will take some time though. It would be helpful if I knew what I was looking for and what times to search through."
"You're looking for any footage of Dr. Foster and me. I'll get back to you with a timeframe in a bit. I don't want anyone else's' eyes on this but yours and Torres's and if you find anything at all I'm the first and last to know about it. Are we clear?" he asked.
"I got it. Why am I looking for footage of you two, is Dr. Foster okay?"
"She's fine, she's right here. No questions Loker, just do it, right?" His tone left no room for argument.
"I'll call you as soon as I find anything."
"Is Torres with you?" he asked.
"Yeah, here you go." There was silence for a moment.
Cal proceeded to ask Torres to review all the footage and to call with her conclusions. Cal dodged her questions about what she was looking for and simply told her to look for anything at all out of the ordinary. Finally he hit end on the phone and shoved it in his pocket, offering Gillian his elbow.
"Ready to greet the world Dr. Lightman?" he asked sarcastically.
"Who says I'm changing my name? I have my own professional reputation," she sniffed.
"You wouldn't take my name?" he sounded hurt but she was quite sure he was mocking her.
"I'll think about it. For now let's stick with Foster okay?" she said in her best 'drop it Cal' tone of voice.
"Right, well, ready to greet the world, wife?" he tried again.
There was no getting out of that one for the moment. "No time like the present," she sighed.
She picked up her purse from where she had found it on the bedside table along with two plastic hotel key cards. They headed out and made their way to the elevator. According to the sign on the doors they were on the 15th floor.
Cal suddenly turned toward her and reached out a hand, gently stroking the side of her face with his thumb. Startled, she pulled back putting her hands on his chest as she often did when he got too close for her comfort.
"What the hell are you doing?"She looked at him as if he'd grown a third eye.
"Easy love, he said in a soft voice. Just remember that from this moment forward, there are eyes on us. We're in love, remember? At least while we're in public. We're both going to have to learn to go with that for the moment. Can you do that?" he asked as he reached out to her again.
She let him touch her this time. She looked at him and saw the intensity in his eyes. The tiny muscle in his jaw that quivered when he was trying to control himself twitched as he stepped closer to her. They were inches apart and she could hear her heart pounding in her ears as he brushed loose strands of hair away from her ear and his eyes scanned her face from top to bottom. He brushed his lips against hers gently and she parted her mouth for him, whimpering softly in the back of her throat as his tongue gently traced her bottom lip. She wound her arms around his neck pulling him closer. One of his hands gently caressed her back as he supported her head with a palm at the back of her neck, his thumb lightly stroking the sensitive spot beneath her ear.
And suddenly it was over. He gently pulled back from her and she stood still for a moment before she realized her eyes were still closed. As her eyes fluttered open she was shocked to see Cal looking at her with a soft, open expression. She had expected hauteur or at the very least, lust, but he looked almost as awed as she felt.
"Well, I think that should fool just about anyone? What do you think, love?" he asked softly.
"I'm convinced," she replied, trying to shake off the feeling of his lips against hers.
At just that moment, the elevator arrived.
More soon...