A/N: Thank you for the beautiful reviews!

Disclaimed, as usual.

Chapter 4

Liz's bath was wonderfully relaxing, but she had yet to come up with any new ideas on how to get Red to make a move. She had already tried so hard, Femme fatale she was not. Setting out to actively seduce him was much harder than originally anticipated.

Lost in her thoughts, she took the plug out of the drain and left the tub, only to immediately slip and fall.

She grabbed the only thing within her immediate reach-the shower curtain. Instead of preventing her from hitting the ground, it ripped out of the hooks and down she went, screeching the entire way. As she hit the floor, her breath was knocked out of her. She couldn't breathe no matter how hard she tried.

Within seconds, Red was banging on her bathroom door "Lizzie, are you alright? Answer me or I am going to break down this door!" He waited a beat for her to reply, and since she was still trying to catch her breath, he simply knocked the door in.

Liz finally coughed, gasping for air as splinter from the door went flying. Red fell to his knees beside her and ran his hands over her head, her arms. "Did you hit your head? Sweetheart, are you ok?"

She was still coughing while batting his hands away from her. Her humiliation was officially complete. "God, Red I'm…fine. I slipped and fell. I had my breath knocked out of me. Go away." Her face felt like it was on fire.

His sudden stillness and lack of reply let her know that he had just noticed how naked she was.

She jerked her head up to meet his eyes, but his were firmly on her chest. As she was already embarrassed enough for the both of them, she spoke softly so he wouldn't be embarrassed as well. "Thank you for coming to help me so fast, but as you can see, the only danger I am in is dying of mortification and the only injury I suffered was to my pride."

He finally looked up to meet her gaze. His eyes were nearly full black. "Let me help you up. Uh, sorry about the door, I'll fix it tomorrow." He stood and held out a hand to assist her.

He pulled her up, looking everywhere but at her. His eyes finally landed on her towel on the counter. He grabbed it, shook it out, and wrapped it around her. He put his arm at her back and led her into her bedroom.

She turned quickly to thank him and hope would take the hint and leave her…immediately. Except she couldn't because he was squeezing his eyes shut as if he were in immense pain. She rubbed her hand up and down his arm "Hey, I'm ok, it's alright. Are you alright?"

His eyes finally opened. He stepped closer to her. Close enough that their breaths mingled. His was either worry or passion induced. Hers was because she was a clumsy fool that can't put a towel down before she takes a bath.

"Do you want me to take a look?" Red said. "Huh?" Was all Lizzie could think to reply, so maybe she actually hit her head during her fall.

His voice was rough, yet smoothed her nerves "Your back. Would you like me to…look at it? To make sure you aren't injured?"

She was in pain and all she wanted to do was crawl into a hole where there was no embarrassment and now he wanted to flirt? "Red seriously, I'll live. I really just want to get some sleep, kay?"

He shook his head as if clearing it and stepped away. "I apologize. I am glad you are fine. Goodnight."

She closed the distance between them and kissed his cheek "Night, Red."

He just cleared his throat, nodded his head towards her, and left the room.

Great, now he was back to being closed up.

She sighed loudly and flopped back onto the bed, uncaring of getting the covers soaked from her hair.

She was back to square one, it seemed.

Holy Christ, Lizzie was so beautiful, there were no words to do her justice. She was so perfectly formed, he had wanted to fall to his knees at her feet and beg her to let him worship every square inch of her with his lips, his tongue…every inch begged for his touch.

And then he behaved like some moony-eyed kid during his first make out session, nearly coming in his pants just from looking at her.

There was no way he could ever touch her. Not unless some serious masturbation took place beforehand. His reputation as a skilled lover would be null and void in her eyes if he couldn't keep control of his dick. All of her signals were coming back to him and reminded him that she wanted him to. Every action, every statement testified to the fact that she wanted to move their relationship to the next level.

Her naked body must have scrambled his brain because there was no way he would ever be deserving enough to touch her. She had trusted him to save her, to flee the country to escape their adversaries. He couldn't screw it up by giving into his need and making her uncomfortable during the inevitable 'morning after'. He would respect her if it killed him.

Tbc…

A/N: Thank you so much for your response and support of this fic!