~o~ Chapter Four – Feeling A Moment ~o~
Closing the door to Sweets' office, the partners share giddy smiles before composing themselves, Booth's hand guiding Brennan out as professionally as always.
"Have a good day, Marjorie." Booth calls as they pass by the aged secretary's desk.
"The same to you, Agent Booth," she sweetly returns. "And Dr. Brennan." Her smile seems to fade a bit with the last remark, yet Brennan nods and returns the polite expression. Her eyes widen though as she observes Marjorie pull her glasses further down her nose and raise herself higher to look past the edge of her high receptionist-style desk.
"She's… Booth!" Brennan whispers, quickly turning to face her partner.
"I know, Bones. Shhh! Just keep walking," he says, pulling at the set of highly-reflective glass doors in front of them.
Once on the other side, Brennan stops and spins toward him. "She was looking at your ass."
"Bones! Shhh!" He grabs her arm and looks ahead, spotting the door for the stairwell. "C'mon," he directs as he pulls her along.
He allows the door to shut behind them, never releasing the loose grip he has on her. After pausing to listen and then peering up and down the flights of stairs surrounding them, he turns to her and presses her forcefully between him and the nearest wall. His hand is behind her head, his lips crashing on hers, his hard body pinning her deliciously into the cool concrete behind her.
"Mmm," he moans into her mouth before reluctantly leaving her lips and peppering kisses down her jaw to her neck. "You jealous, Bones?"
"Mmm, hardly… oh, Booth… that's nice." She feels like she's melting under the intense heat of his fervent ministrations. He knows exactly how to make her weak in the knees.
He pulls away and frames her face with his hands, his palms against her cheeks, his fingers stroking into her hair. "Tell me you felt that too? That it felt as good to tell someone as it did for me?"
Her smile, wide and beaming, the twinkle in her eyes, her precious laughter, reactions he's seen so many times before when she's really really happy about something - dining and dashing, singing her heart out onstage, opening her eyes to him after completely splitting apart beneath him - these are reactions he would sacrifice almost anything to be honored enough to see for the rest of his life.
"Yes, Booth. It was quite… liberating." She laughs again then pulls on his tie to bring him closer, her lips caressing his, her hand moving to stroke the hairs at the nape of his neck before drifting down his back.
"Yeah it was, baby," he whispers against her mouth. "God, I l…" And he can't hide the way his spine stiffens beneath her hands, the way his breath catches at what he's almost said. Not here… not now. He busies his mouth at her neck for a few moments, trying to reign in his wildly rampant emotions, hoping she doesn't realize what almost came to light there.
He pulls back to look at her, his hand brushing her hair behind her ear. "I can't wait to go away with you, Bones. I can practically hear the waves on the shore right now." He gives her a quick kiss, just as he hears the door swinging open from the next floor up and people's voices echoing off the bare walls.
They spring apart, hastily straightening their clothes, checking each other out before nodding their approval.
And everything's professional once more.
They move to take the stairs down to Booth's office and before the people behind them can catch up, Brennan slips her hand in his and whispers, "Me too." Then moving ahead of him a bit, she calls quietly behind her, "But who says we're going to the beach?"
"We'll see, Bones. We'll see. Guess we have some things to discuss later, huh?" And he ushers her the rest of the way down.
Once back in his office, Booth seizes the opportunity to move behind his desk, putting a little distance between them. He's noticed his brain taking longer to switch between personal and professional modes the more they are together like this. He has to clench his fists to keep from reaching for her or potentially touching her 'improperly'. Man, I really do need this vacation.
She hasn't said a word since the stairwell and he's noticed. "You okay, Bones?"
She moves to the front of his desk and lightly taps the helmet of his bobblehead, sending the Bobby into a good frenzy of erratic movement. "Do you think he'll tell anyone?"
"Not if he knows what's good for him."
She just nods.
He can't help but reach across and lightly touch her wrist. "We'll be fine. Sweets… well, I think we can trust him with this. At least for a while."
"I hope you're right, Booth. I just really… I want us to have a good footing before everyone else finds out."
"Hey. We will… we do." He allows his thumb to brush over the soft skin on the inside of her wrist for a moment, before pulling back, restoring that 'safe' distance. "Have dinner with me tonight? We'll go someplace nice. Discuss all the details…"
"I have a lot of work to do if we're going to be gone…" Her brow furrows as she realizes she doesn't know, that she'd just assumed. "When, when are we going? Next week?"
"Details. Dinner. Me and you. Tonight." He reclines back in his chair and puts on his best, most-charming smile. "Please?"
She releases an exasperated sigh, but can't help but reflect his smile back at him. "Fine. But you're taking me someplace nice… and very expensive."
He groans and pops the chair forward, "You've been hanging around with Angela way too much."
He swears there's an extra little sashay in her step as she walks toward the door of his office, calling back, "See ya later, Booth."
He shakes his head and adjusts his pants, mumbling, "Death of me" to the towering piles of paperwork that seem to fucking breed when he's not looking.
A few minutes later, his phone chimes, notifying him of an incoming text message. Smiling, under the assumption it is his partner, he flips open his phone to check it immediately. His expression tempers as he sees the message is from Sweets: Biggest payout of your gambling career, I presume? Congrats - your secret's safe with me.
Closing his cell, he picks up his office phone and dials a number – calling in a favor for a last minute reservation – all the while thinking of how close they'd come to never making it to this point.
He'd sworn he would never gamble again. And at the time, the bet on 'them' was anything but a sure thing.
And now?
Well, he's been feeling like a million bucks the past few weeks and he knows it was all worth it. Every moment, every time he'd played it safe.
But most of all, the one time he'd laid it all on the line… and then held.
He'd known from the start – he was that guy - and yet she'd shored up her heart. But he'd shown his hand and she came through... for the both of them.
He had to hand it to her, though, she'd had one hell of a poker face.
TBC…
