CHAPTER. Chapter 9. Splashes and Smooches

DISCLAIMER. There are many things I own, but Bones is not one of them. All characters belong to Kathy Reichs, Hart Hanson and FOX.

I can so beat him. He doesn't stand a chance.

We were standing at the edge of the deep end side of the pool. Hodgins was standing in between us holding a flag. While Angela, Cam and Zack were sitting on deck chairs off to the side. I had challenged Booth to a race after he hinted at the fact that he could beat me in swimming. All of them seemed eager to watch the race.

Booth was looking awfully confident. He was smirking at me. He obviously had no idea that I was the swimming champion for two years back in university.

I smirked back. There was no way he could win.

"Ok. You guys ready?" Hodgins asked, shifting his glance between us.

"Yes. But hold on." I lifted up my index finger. "Let's make this more interesting. Shall we?" I said, crossing my arms across my chest.

"What do you have in mind?" Booth quirked an eyebrow.

"If I win, you have to let me drive for a month. And that means, your SUV or my car, or whatever car we get. Deal?"

"What if I win? What do I get?" he said in a interested tone.

"What do you want?" I shrugged.

He leaned forward and whispered into my ear. "Oh." I nodded. "So deal?"

"Deal." He turned back to face the pool.

I bent down and got ready to dive and glanced quickly at Booth before Hodgins began saying, "Ready, Set." At "Go!" I dived into the pool and started doing front stroke at a steady pace. We had agreed for a one lap swim, which was once back and forth. It just didn't seem fair just to race to the other side.

Out of the corner of my eye, I was able to see that Booth was behind me. He wasn't that bad himself though.

Breathe. In. Breathe. In. Breathe. In.

Was Angela cheering for me or for Booth? Eh, what does that matter?

I was closing in on the finish line. Almost there Brennan! Then, I grabbed onto the wall, lifting my head up in the process.

I looked around to see Booth still swimming.

Let's surprise him, shall we? I gestured for Angela to give me the water gun as I climbed out of the pool. I sat on the edge of the pool when Angela gave me a loaded water gun. Now I have to wait.

Booth's head bobbed to the surface a few seconds later, he looked confused. "How'd you get here so fast?"

"There's a lot you don't know about me...but at least I get the car!" I giggled, then squirted him with the water gun.

"Bones!" he shrieked. "Cut it out!" Then he grabbed me by the waist. Crap. "Booth!" It was my turn to shriek. But before I knew it, I was pulled into the water. Definitely crap.

I came back up, gasping for air. That was not smart of him. I turned to face him and started pounding on his chest, gently though. "You idiot!"

He was laughing, as I continued pounding. Everyone was laughing as well. "I'm sorry, Bones," he said, hugging me closer.

His lips met mine then. It was slow and soft, just like how our first kiss was. His tongue was gently probing the inside of my mouth, soon finding my tongue. Our tongues danced slowly and sent sets of tingly sensations down my body to the tips of my toes. His arms were wrapped protectively around my body, his hands playing with my hair. My arms were stuck on his chest, not being able to move them.

I will never get tired of kissing him. He's too perfect...

Are my legs turning into jelly? Please don't give out. It will be too embarassing.

Then it hit me. The rest of them were still there, probably watching us with wide-spreading grins on their faces.

I hesitantly broke away and snuck out my arms to wrap around his neck. Looking up at him, he gave me one of his patent charm smiles. I smiled back before placing my head on his shoulder to look at the 'squint' squad. I still don't know why he enjoys calling us 'squints' so much. I know we squint at things, but is the name really necessary?

"You better not start acting like Angela and Hodgins! Or I might as well bring buckets of ice water with me everywhere," Cam said.

"Hey! It's not my fault I love my fiancée so damn much!" Hodgins exclaimed, then kissed Angela.

"We'll stay professional..."Booth said, then added, "...at work." He smirked. I rolled my eyes, then smacked him on the arm playfully.

"What happened to being a good Catholic boy, Booth?" I smirked.

"Oh! You can't use that against me! You don't even believe in God."

"But you do. Don't you?" I heard some "ohhhhh..." and some howls of laughter. I couldn't help but smile myself when he frowned.

At around eight-twenty, the grilling and eating competitions ended. Obviously, Booth won every eating contest that Hodgins proposed. Guys will be guys.

But seriously, how does he eat so much?

To my, heck, everyone's surprise, Zack came in second. He told us he used to be a somewhat chubby kid when he was younger that got picked on because of his size.

Poor Zackaroonie...since when did I start saying that?

We were all inside in the living room, around the fireplace, sipping to beer, wine and/or Coke. Coke because Zack can't hold his alcohol, apparently.

I was sitting on the couch, my back against an arm rest. My legs were placed on Booth's lap, as he stroke the top of my left foot gently. The feeling was sending a shiver down my spine. His simple touches are so exhilarating. I ignored the thought of kissing him without self-control in front of all my co-workers. Instead, I lifted the glass of wine off the coffee table and took a sip, savouring the sweet flavour of the cool, red liquid. My glass froze in mid-air, as I listened to the conversation between my friends.

Do I consider Cam as a friend?

I guess you do, Brennan.

From the corner of my eye, I noticed Booth watching my every move. From the sipping of wine to the slight change in position of my finger. I glanced at him quickly and met his gaze. The corner of his lips curved into a smile. I smiled back.

"Ok, you two lovebirds. Stop 'eye-flirting' with each other or just kiss already." Angela air-quoted 'eye-flirting'. "You know you can go make-out in one of the many rooms Jack has in this mansion. You won't mind, won't you Hodgins?"

Hodgins shrugged. "No, you guys go right ahead and do whatever you want in the rooms. Just stop it with the constant 'eye-flirting' as Angela puts it."

"Sorry. We'll stop," Booth said with a chuckle.

"I never did anything! Booth just keeps looking at me," I defended.

"Sweetie, you looked back, so just drop it ok?" Angela said.

"Drop what? My glass? I don't think that's a good idea Ang." Why would Angela ask me to drop my glass?

Everyone, excluding myself, erupted in laughter. Hodgins almost spat beer from his mouth. What the hell is so funny? Why am I not laughing? Even Zack's laughing.

"What's so funny?" I arched my eyebrow and pursed my lips together.

"I didn't mean 'drop it' as in drop your glass, Sweetie. 'Drop it' means to move on from the topic." She was waving her glass around in the air, gesturing.

"Oh." My face was probably flushed red.

Hodgins finally relaxed. "But seriously, you can all stay here tonight if you want, there are at least five spare rooms in here. Besides, at the rate we've been drinking, not including Zack, it's a pretty good idea." He took a sip from his beer.

A wave of nods circled around.

End of Chapter 9.

My Free Gift: Zack's Coke
Reviews?: Gets a Dr. Temperance Brennan really drunk. LOL

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