Chapter Eight

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Steve scratched his head wondering for probably the hundredth time, in as many days, what was going on with Naomi? She had been acting strange for the last couple of weeks. He understood she was busy, she had classes constantly and she was working part time as a waitress as well, so it wasn't like she did have too much spare time.

Maybe he just needed to get used to the fact that she had other priorities in her life other than him. He tried to make himself not feel as offended as he was feeling, but he enjoyed having a place in her life that was exclusive. She knew how he felt about her, even though they had decided to remain friends for now.

He walked into his house and spotted Mary chatting on the phone animatedly. As soon as she saw him, she quickly wrapped up the call and disconnected.

"Hey bro. How was work?"

"Paperwork today, nothing that interesting" he walked toward the sink and poured himself a glass of water. "Have you heard from Naomi?" he asked trying to sound casual.

"I was just speaking to her when you walked in".

"Didn't you tell her I came in? I wanted to talk to her, she's been so busy that she hasn't answered any of my messages".

Mary had a guilty look on her face, "Actually, she's kind of been avoiding you on purpose".

"Why the hell would she do that?"

"Because she saw you with Catherine. Apparently you two looked quite cosy" she looked at him with a frown.

Steve groaned as he sat down hard in a dining chair, "Oh man! I took Catherine to dinner as a farewell. I told her all about Naomi and how I felt about her" he sighed, "Did she see her kiss me?"

Mary flinched, "Yup".

"Fucking hell!" he got up and ran his hands through his hair, "Call her and tell her I'm coming over and that we need to talk".

Again Mary flinched, "Actually she has a date".

Steve stopped in his tracks, "A date? Who with?"

"Some guy her father introduced her to, James something".

"James Remington" Steve snorted. "I thought she didn't like him".

"Well he called her the other day, just after she had seen you with Catherine. I guess she was feeling a little raw, so she agreed to go have dinner with him" Mary looked at her brother sympathetically; "It's only dinner Steve".

"Yeah whatever" Steve left the kitchen and walked into his bedroom. He changed into his running shorts and shoes. He needed to blow off some steam.

As he ran, he kept getting madder at Naomi. Why couldn't she have come to him and talked about what she had seen? Women always jumped to conclusions and it seemed Naomi was not an exception, no matter how much he had wanted her to be.

The thing that was pissing him off even more was his own reaction to the news about her date. He had never been jealous of a woman before in his life. He obviously would have to have a talk with her about it.

He reached home after an hour's run on the beach and went to Mary's room. She opened her door after he knocked, "Can you call her and tell her to come here on the weekend. Tell her it's a party or something, and it's yours. Otherwise she won't come".

"You're behaving like a cop now".

"Maybe that's the only way she'll agree to listen to me".

He went for a shower and hoped for some peace of mind where it came to Naomi.

-X-

Naomi looked at herself in the mirror and pulled a face. She knew she looked good, but somehow the satisfaction of dressing up and looking nice was missing. Maybe it had something to do with how miserable she was.

A couple of days ago Mary had called and told her she was having a beach party. So she had agreed to come and for some reason she had also invited James to come with her.

She had gone out for dinner with him, and surprisingly he was not as bad as she had initially thought him to be. He was dressed differently, in casual jeans and cotton shirt, rather than a suit; he had been charming and polite, and quite funny. Every time she realised she was having a good time, she felt guilty. Then an image of Steve kissing that woman flashed through her mind and she would feel better.

At the end of the night, he had very respectfully dropped her to her door and given her a chaste kiss on the cheek before wishing her goodnight.

Tonight she wore a blue dress, which was strappy and formfitting on top with a floaty skirt, which swirled around her knees as she walked. She wore her white leather sandals and pulled her hair away from her face and clipped it leaving the rest loose; by default her hair had crinkled and it looked rumpled and beach ready. She didn't bother with make up, only wore her silver hoops, silver cuff on one wrist and her watch on the other. Now she was ready, she looked good, she was coming with another man, and she felt confident.

She mentally chastised herself for behaving so childishly, but she couldn't help it. She would have to face Steve and if the chance came to talk to him, she would have to if she didn't want to create a scene.

"Naomi, James is here" Kat yelled from the doorway.

"Coming".

She walked out and saw him standing at the door, looking casual again in jeans and a black Polo t – shirt, expensive watch in place along with Italian leather loafers. He was a far cry from Steve and all of sudden she remembered how cute he had looked when he came to pick her up. She felt a pang in her chest; she missed him so much.

"Hi. You look lovely" he kissed her on the cheek.

"Hi" she felt strange when he kissed her, and not in a good way like Steve. Luckily, he never tried more than that.

"I fed the address you gave me in the GPS so hopefully we wont get lost" he laughed as he led her to his fancy sports car.

"I'm sure we'll be fine" she wasn't in the mood to talk now and she hoped he would turn up the music.

The drive was boring with minimal of chatter between them, and she had a feeling James was picking up on her sullen mood. They reached Steve's house and there were quite a few cars lining the street so they had to walk to the house after parking further away.

When the bell was rung, Danny was the one to answer the door. "Hey there stranger" he came to her and enveloped her into a bear hug, and Naomi felt the affection from him. "Where have you been?"

"Oh just busy with college and work".

"You better not forget about us. I know we're not all as smart as you are Miss. Almost a Doctor".

She laughed, "Of course not. I missed you guys" she turned to James when she noticed Danny looking at him suspiciously, "Danny this is James Remington. James this is my friend Detective Danny Williams".

"Hey I'm off duty right now" he raised his beer bottle but ignored the hand that James had stuck out, "Nice to meet you". But Naomi felt that it was not a genuine one. She knew what he was thinking; how could she move from Steve to this guy? "Come on in. The party's moved to the beach".

They went out and there were quite a lot of people. Naomi recognised some faces, Steve's SEAL buddies and their partners. She chatted with all of them, introduced them to James. She also noticed how out of place he seemed.

As she was talking to Mary who had met her enthusiastically, hugging her, Steve came up to them. She pulled away from Mary and looked into his blue eyes, which were a little distant. "Hi Steve" she said as she tried her best to not embarrass herself by jumping into his arms, clinging to him like a monkey.

And he looked great, in spite of the distant eyes. He wore a grey t – shirt and jeans, his feet bare. He looked completely at ease in his environment, so different from James.

"Hey. Long time no see" he dismissed her as he looked at James, "You must be James. Heard a lot about you" Steve shook hands with him and grinned widely, "Hope she doesn't drop you as fast as she dropped me" he said this as he looked at Naomi then walked off.

She got mad now, enough of being polite pretending that nothing had happened. So she stalked after him, pulling him to a stop when she caught hold of the back of his shirt.

"I did not drop you, you're the one who was kissing another woman" she said louder than she had meant to, the people standing near by stopped talking and looked toward them.

"It was nothing. She was an old friend and I was breaking up with her" he explained then looked toward James, "Now I see I didn't need to. You had Daddy's hand picked boyfriend ready to treat you to the life you were used to".

"How dare you say that to me, when you know how I feel about you" she asked him hurt by his anger.

"All I know is that I'm the guy who rescued you. You felt safe with me, practiced all the kissing and making out in the world with me, then when you felt you could do it without help, dumped me for the first guy Daddy picked for you" he pointed to James. "I thought you wanted to be independent".

"I do want to be independent. And are you pissed because all I did was make out with you? You know what my problem is" by now people were being treated to a full-blown argument.

Steve snorted, "I was willing to wait as long as you wanted to. How the hell did I know you were hiding behind your problems just to run away from any real relationship in your life? That's probably the reason you broke off your engagement" he looked angrier than she had ever seen him, and she had seen him kill not one but two men.

She felt tears in her eyes, "You have no right to say that to me". She turned and walked to James.

She groaned and dropped her head into her hands, "What the hell was that all about?" asked James looking puzzled.

"Nothing, lets just have some fun" she took James' hand and walked toward the table that held the food and alcohol. She refused to slink away, advertising her embarrassment. She was determined to stay and enjoy herself even if it killed her.

The evening was turning into the crappiest she had ever had. No one was really talking to them including Danny, Kono was not there so another friendly face was missing. Mary was busy with her guests, whom she had not seen in a long time. The worst was Steve, he just stood broodingly on the beach and watched her with angry eyes.

At some point, dancing started and couples moved to the beach. James pulled her toward the crowd, "No James I don't want to" she protested.

"Come on, the least you can do is dance with me" he said as he pulled her close. She didn't feel as comfortable with him as she did with Steve; she just wasn't able to relax.

The song turned to a slow one and she looked around for Steve but he was nowhere to be found. James then pulled her closer, bent his head and started running his mouth over her ear, "You look so beautiful, I want to kiss you" he whispered.

She shivered from fear rather than arousal but that is what James took it as. Without further warning he lifted his head and slammed his lips onto hers. He held her head tight, winding his hands in her hair, hurting her.

At first she was in shock and stilled. He probably took that as encouragement, so he deepened the kiss. That was when fear slammed into her body. She started to struggle; she pushed against his chest, and turned her face around, "James stop. Please".

She had not realised that they had moved a little further from the crowd while dancing; he was so tall that her struggles were not visible to the others. Naomi started to panic and she bit his lip hard. The next thing she knew she was pushed away from him, "You fucking bitch" he yelled and slapped her.

She gasped as she stumbled from the blow and fell into a hard wall, which moved and she realised it was Steve. He steadied her, then moved to James. Without another word he laid his fist into his jaw, knocking him off his feet.

"Get the fuck out of my house" Steve didn't yell, but spoke very calmly which was worse.

James tried to defend himself, "The bitch drew blood" he said as he felt his swollen lip. Naomi felt quite happy when she saw that he was bleeding quite a bit down his chin.

"She should have cut your balls off" Steve reached for his collar and walked him to where Danny was.

"I'll take the trash out. It's the least I can do" Danny said as he escorted James.

Steve turned to her and without a word gathered her in his arms, holding her tight.

-X-

Steve had not wanted to be part of the crowd, so he had moved to the shadows near the water. That's where he had seen Naomi struggling with James. His heart had stopped at the sight, images of her lying bruised, chained to the wall flashed in his mind.

He smiled now as he remembered how she had bitten James, although she had gotten slapped. He didn't want to think what could have happened if no one had been around.

When he turned to her after handing the scumbag over to Danno, he saw some of James' blood on her soft lips. But he never said anything. All he could do was gather her close and hold her tight. He felt her arms creeping around his neck just as tightly as he lifted her and walked into the house, ignoring everyone else.

Mary and Danny came up to them, "Is she alright?" she asked.

Naomi lifted her head, "I'm fine you guys".

Steve didn't stop for them to chat. He walked straight into the downstairs bathroom and helped her wash off the blood. Neither spoke, but then Steve looked into the mirror, their image reflected. She looked perfect beside him. He also noticed a red handprint forming on her pale cheek where James had slapped her.

He wet a washcloth with cold water and set it against her face, "It'll probably bruise" he said as he bent his head and kissed her bruised cheek.

He watched her in the mirror; at first she was composed, then her face crumpled into tears, "I'm sorry" she cried, tears running down her face.

"Hey, hey sweetheart. You have nothing to be sorry for" he turned her around and cupped her face, "I'm sorry for everything I said to you in front of everyone".

"But you were right" she tearfully admitted.

Steve reached for the washcloth and wiped the tears from her face, "I think we need to admit that what we have is more than just friendship".

She looked up at him, "I know. I felt so jealous when I saw you kissing that woman outside the restaurant".

"That was Catherine. We had dated for a while on and off, and I had taken her out for dinner as a goodbye. And the kiss was nothing more than that" he rested his forehead against hers, "I told her I had met someone, and that I could not be with her anymore".

"The only reason I went out with James was because I was upset about you" she said as she snuggled closer to him.

"For the record, I was jealous as hell of you and that James. It's sorted then. We're not just friends anymore".

"No we're definitely not just friends" she agreed with him thankfully. And to his surprise she reached up and kissed him.

He wanted to kiss her, but after James, he wasn't sure if she would be okay with it. It was her who deepened the kiss, by slanting her mouth onto his and stroking his tongue with hers. They both groaned as she slid her fingers through his hair, she felt so good.

They broke apart, breathing hard, "Do you want to head home?" he asked her caressing her bruised cheek.

She just smiled, "No. I think we should go out and enjoy the party".

Steve couldn't help but laugh. The fact that she was okay with going out meant she was feeling better.

He took her hand and walked to the back door. Everyone had gone back to having fun. So when they walked onto the beach to join in the dancing, Steve didn't anticipate the reaction they would get. Everyone stopped, turned to him and Naomi, started cheering, hooting and whistling loudly.

He looked down at Naomi and she was smiling. He felt his chest tighten; it was going to be all right.

Hopefully that wasn't too bad. Please review!