Bobby POV

"I'm sorry about that twin mix-up."

"You're sorry? How in the world is that your fault?"

"I never checked."

"Okay, let me get this straight," Alex said as she propped up her chin with her hands.

She was stretched out over top of me as we lay together on the couch, and until my comment, she'd had her cheek resting against my chest.

"You never thought to check whether or not the murdering wife of a dead judge has a twin sister who's been living out of state for the past forty years? I'm sorry, do we always check with the Office of Vital Statistics to find out if a suspect has siblings?"

"Are you mocking me?" I asked as a slow smile spread across my face.

"That's exactly what I'm doing," she replied. "And do I have to remind you that we might never have known that Martha Schuler was the killer, if not for you?"

"Oh, they'd have figured it out. Eventually, anyway. Once we got Misty Hahn talking, and I realized how clueless she was about that second victim, it wasn't that hard to see that she'd been set up."

"Not that hard for you maybe."

"It wouldn't have been for you either. And Wyatt and Yuille are good detectives. They would've come to the same conclusion at some point."

"Yeah, well…still. Thanks for your help on that one. And maybe it's turned into a mess now, but I'd much rather know the identity of the killer and just need to catch her as opposed to having absolutely no idea."

I hummed my agreement as she eased her head back down to my chest, and then I ran my hand over her hair.

We'd arrived home from Pete's an hour or so ago.

"Okay, everything off but the shoes," I said to her as soon as I locked the door.

"I can't believe you're going to fall into that stereotype," she teased as she pulled off her jacket and set it on the table before slowly unbuttoning her blouse. "I mean, how do you think these shoes got their nickname?"

"I know exactly how," I replied, my eyes fully focused on her progress as her fingers moved from one button to the next. "And it's for damn good reason."

She'd kept the two sides of her blouse together while she was undoing the buttons, but as soon as she finished, she whipped it apart and then let it slide from her shoulders until it fell onto the floor at her feet.

"That's what you…you had…" I began inarticulately as I saw what she was wearing underneath. "You've had that on all day?"

She didn't answer at first and I had to force myself to tear my eyes away from the delectable sexiness of her lingerie so that I could look her in the eye.

She smiled at me…a slightly cocky, cat-who-ate-the-canary kind of smile…and I couldn't help myself.

I couldn't hold her gaze.

As much as I love staring into her beautiful eyes, I couldn't keep from returning my stare to the rest of her.

While I watched, she reached for the clasp on her slacks.

"So I guess this means you like it," she said, and her voice only barely permeated my brain as I took in the sight of her…slipping out of the shoes just long enough to step out of the slacks, and then putting them back onto her feet so that at last she stood in front of me in those FMPs and that lacy concoction she'd been hiding under her power suit.

"Oh, wait. I'm sorry. You said the shoes and nothing else, didn't you?" she asked coyly as she reached for one of the straps.

"I changed my mind," I managed to say.

I don't think I've ever been so close to literally drooling over a woman before in my entire life.

"Okay," she agreed, sliding the strap back into place. "Well, are you just going to stand there and look, or…"

"I think I'm going to look for another minute, if that's okay with you," I said as I took a step closer to her. "I just…wow. Alex. I'm…wow."

"I love it when you can't put a whole sentence together," she teased lightly as I moved even closer.

I was itching to touch her, but I held back, knowing that the anticipation would draw out the pleasure for both of us.

"Then you must be ecstatic right about now."

She started to say something, surely a comment about the ironic nature of my statement, but at that moment, I closed the last bit of distance between us and then got down on my knees, so her attempt at speech was short-lived and turned into a sharp intake of breath as I finally reached out to touch her.

I started at her feet and those ridiculously high heels that accent her perfectly toned legs.

And then I worked my way up.

I took my time with it, too.

She ran her fingers through my hair and threw her head back against the wall and she was begging me for more before I even took off my jacket.

By the time I brought my lips to hers, she was pulling my shirt from my slacks and tugging desperately at my belt buckle.

I couldn't bring myself to stop kissing her, but between the two of us, we still managed to get me undressed with minimal damage to my clothes and then I scooped her up and carried her to the couch.

"I love this," I said, fingering one of the lacy straps. "But it has to go."

"Well, you said we're still partners, right? I put it on. You take it off."

So I did.

And now, an hour or so later, we were completely satiated.

But we didn't have anywhere that we needed to be, so we were both content to lay on the couch, with me stroking her hair.

"Mike and Liz sure left in a hurry tonight," I commented.

"It's their four-week anniversary."

"Huh. Yeah, I didn't think about that. It coincides with our return to Major Case."

"Uh huh. She was a little upset about Detective Coleman. Or not upset. Jealous, I guess."

"Mike didn't do anything wrong."

"I didn't think that he did," she replied. She hesitated for a minute and then said, "Maas said she's attractive."

"I guess. If you like that kind of look."

"What kind of look is that?" she asked, lifting up again to look at me with curiosity.

"The kind that's not you," I answered with a smile.

"You're so full of it," she said on a laugh. "But I love you anyway."

She leaned down and kissed me and I felt the stirring of renewed life in areas I'd written off for the night.

I brought my hands up to her cheeks, gently holding her face as we continued the kiss.

After a few more minutes, we finally pulled apart and she settled against me again, although she'd initiated the launch sequence with that kiss so it was only a matter of time before I was going to have to have her again.

"We need to find someone for Stanley," she said, throwing me off with her random topic.

"Um…why?"

"Because. He's been letting himself play second fiddle for twenty years now, both to Bill Casteel and to his dead former partner. It's time he had a woman who wants to put him first, over everything and everyone."

"You're going to play matchmaker now?" I teased.

"Maybe. Although I can't think of anyone off the top of my head. But he's such a nice man. He shouldn't have to be lonely."

"At the risk of sounding too much like a guy, maybe he just needs to go out and get laid. With someone other than Lisa."

"It's not just about sex."

"I'm not saying that it is. But maybe it needs to start there. I mean, think about it. He's been sleeping with a married woman for twenty-plus years. And he hasn't come right out and said it, but I'm pretty sure he wasn't sleeping with his own wife. Not for a very long time anyway."

"So you're saying he needs a rebound girl."

"Maybe."

"Hey, we could hook him up with Detective Coleman. Or wait, maybe your old pal Agent Hooker."

"Not my old pal," I corrected as I chuckled at her. "And something tells me we need to just avoid Coleman altogether. I mean, what if you set them up and they hit it off? I don't think Liz could deal with sitting across from her at a table at Pete's."

"No, you're right about that. I think she's really been through it with men in the past. Her ex-husband was a cheater. And then Ross…"

"Ross cheated on her?"

"She said that he was constantly on the look-out for the next best thing. Oh, and did you know they never slept together?"

"Liz and Ross?"

"Uh huh. I always just assumed they had, but she said they didn't."

"I'm pretty sure I don't want to think about Ross sleeping with anybody. And maybe I shouldn't say that, considering he's dead, but still…he just didn't strike me as the ladies' man type."

"No," she mused thoughtfully. "Me, either. I'm just glad Liz found Mike. And that he found her."

"Your romantic side is showing," I said playfully, sliding my hands up and down her back.

"Well, that's your fault. I was never a romantic before you."

"Oh, it must've been in there somewhere," I argued lightly. "I've seen you watch chick flicks. You're a sucker for the happy endings."

"That makes me a romantic? Then yeah, I guess so. But so are you."

"Absolutely," I agreed. I moved my hands further downward, grabbing onto her backside and pulling her tightly against me as I asked, "So are you wearing another power suit tomorrow?"

"You're not interested in the suit. You only want to know what's going to be under it."

"Busted," I agreed as I pushed my hips against hers. "Can you blame me?"

She flashed me an answering smirk, and it was just so…Alex.

That look did more to turn me on than the lingerie she'd been wearing earlier.

Or at least, in a different way.

I kissed her quickly and then wrapped my arms around her and shifted us on the couch so that she was beneath me.

In this position, she always seems so small and it never ceases to amaze me how someone of her size can be my whole world, but what can I say?

She absolutely is.

It's like what she mentioned wanting for Maas.

Someone to whom he's the most important person in the world.

Which is exactly how Alex makes me feel.

Second to no one.

"Did I tell you how beautiful you looked on TV today?" I asked her. "And how I love the way you put those reporters in their place? And how incredible you are to be able to keep on topic and never once reveal something by accident just because they pissed you off? And how loyal you are to publicly defend Yuille and never once put his or Wyatt's head on the block for that twins screw up?"

"No," she said, smiling fully now after my ramblings. "You didn't mention any of that."

"Well, I think all of that," I said pointedly, leaning down to capture her lips again.

It was lingering and arousal-inspiring and filled with mutual adoration.

"And did I tell you today how much I love you?" I asked her when I pulled back.

She still had her eyes closed until I asked the question, and then she opened them up and looked at me and smiled.

"Um…I think so. A few times."

"Only a few? I'm slacking."

"I think you need to correct the oversight," she murmured, pulling me down closer until her lips were a fraction of an inch from mine. "But don't tell me. Just show me."

And so I did.

TBC...