CHAPTER SEVEN

A/N : After careful thought and consideration, I've decided to continue this story. Hope you guys say SOME sort of encouraging words.

WARNING : Some nudity and adult content. Nothing graphic though. Still rated T...for now.

Neal woke up dreamily, his naked body all tangled up into the sleeping figure next to him, the sheets barely covering the both of them. The scent of both their hunger and fulfillment still lingered in the air. He remembered the night all too well, when he had Alex in his bed, twisting and writhing in a naked sweat, as he got himself fully reacquainted with her body.

He smiled as he recalled every detail of last night's passion...the pleasure was almost an overload to all five senses. The look of lustful longing when he stared deeply into her eyes. The sweet scent of Alex's fevered skin. The scrumptious taste when he devoured her luscious body. The electrifying sensation of being inside her. Her moans of ecstasy as he thrust himself inside every inch of her in an unrelenting pace. The way she screamed his name after every climax. Oh, yes...every detail of that night was committed to memory. It was indeed a night that they won't soon forget.

Neal turned to his side and feasted his eyes upon Alex's naked body, drinking in the delectable sight of her every curve. His hands gently explored her body. His fingers lightly traced the thin scar in the middle of her left thigh. He hissed softly when he found another one, a scar of what seems to be from a healed knife wound, on the base of her rib cage. He found another one that made him curious, a small round scar tissue barely visible, right above her heart.

Neal knew that Alex wasn't perfect...she never claimed to be. Those are scars were proof of that, for they were unavoidable in their line of work no matter how careful you were. But those scars do not detract from her or make her seem less impressive. Quite the contrary, those scars added to her...it made her real. It made her stronger. It made her even more admirable in his eyes. Her scars made her even more beautiful. Because scars do not form on the dying. Those scars meant that she's a survivor, no matter what life throws at her.

He continued to observe the flawed beauty before him. His gaze stopped and his mood darkened as he saw another scar. Neal was familiar with this particular scar. The scar that went from her left shoulder down to her arm, only visible upon closer inspection. That scar was a constant reminder of that fateful night in Copenhagen, when he and Alex made that jump off the palace gate house. Neal squeezed his eyes shut and tried to shake off the painful memory. He opened his eyes once more and stared tenderly at Alex's sleeping form. He leaned in and kissed the scar lightly. Alex moaned and stirred slightly, but didn't wake up.

He brushed a strand of hair away from her face, as he enjoyed the warm weight of her naked body lightly pressed against his. She had an innocent look upon her face, even after all that she had gone through in life. He continued to stare at her as she slept, a little bit more curious about the expression she wore. Her eyebrows were furrowed just the tiniest bit, as if she was worried about something. Her lips were pressed together, curving slightly every now and then, as if she were trying to smile in her sleep.

Are you dreaming of me , Alex? Neal thought with an impish grin.

Neal moved closer and gave her a soft kiss on her lips. Alex moaned again. Slowly, she opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was Neal's handsome face, and gave him a languid smile. Neal returned her smile, as he brought his hand to her face and gave it a tender caress.

"Good morning." he greeted her.

Alex slowly observed her surroundings, as if trying to remember where she was and figure out what happened to her. Her eyes widened when reality dawned on her and she quickly sat up on the bed. "Oh shit!" she exclaimed.

"Okay...not the reaction I was expecting." Neal replied, as he sat up on the bed as well. His eyebrows furrowed, worried that Alex may have some regrets over what happened between the two of them. "Alex?" he said questioningly.

She looked at him and grabbed his face with both hands. He was relieved when she brought her face closed to his and kissed him passionately on the lips. The kiss was quick and urgent though, as she pulled away in a hurry and stood up from the bed.

"I have to go." she announced. She wobbled unsteadily on her feet for a moment. "Christ, I can't even walk right!" she said.

Neal grinned mischievously. "Yeah...as I recall, things got a little too wild last night." he told her, his eyebrows wiggling. He beamed with pride as his gaze fell on the trail of bite marks on her breasts to her belly and the bruises on her inner thighs.

"Your behavior was not very gentlemanly, Mr. Caffrey." Alex told him in a mocked chastising tone.

"Yeah, well, you were very unladylike yourself, Miss Hunter." he replied, his grin grew wider.

Alex recognized her own work as she noticed the scratch and claw marks that went from Neal's shoulders to his arms, as well as the trail of love bites she left on his neck and chest. She bit her lower lip as she suppressed a sheepish grin. Neal moved quickly and sat on the side of the bed. He grabbed her and wrapped his arms tightly around her waist. She giggled as he peppered her stomach with open-mouthed kisses. She moaned when he darted his tongue in and out of her navel.

"Come back to bed...I'll make you walk wrong for a week." he pledged as he tried to ease her back to his bed.

Alex was quick to pull away from him though. She waved her index finger playfully at him and shook her head. "No." she said. "I told you, I have to go." she added.

"Just blow it off, whatever it is. We can just stay in bed naked, talk about our scars." he implied.

"You're flawless, Caffrey. You have no scars." she replied.

"None that you can see." he said.

Alex knew what he was implying. It's the scars that can't be seen that takes the longest to heal. Neal doesn't want to just have sex. He wants a serious conversation about the two of them...about their past...about what the future holds for them, if there even is a future for the two of them. Always a true romantic at heart.

She leaned closer to him and gave him a gentle kiss. "We'll have more time when I get back." she promised. She quickly turned away and went in search of her clothing. When she couldn't find them, she looked back to Neal. "Where are my clothes?" she asked him.

"I threw them away." Neal answered. "I like you better when you're naked. You look great with clothes on...you look AMAZING when you're naked." he smirked impishly.

"Give me my clothes back!" she demanded. "Seriously, Caffrey, I have to go. I have a flight that leaves in less than a few fours and I barely have enough time to go back to my place, have a quick shower and grab my gear." she added.

"Where are you going?" he asked her.

"We have a scheduled deep-sea dive in the French Atlantic Coast. It's a recovery expedition of a cargo steamship that sank back in the early 1900's." she told him. "Now give me my clothes back!" she insisted.

Neal was too caught up on his amusement over Alex's annoyance, that they both didn't notice the door opening and Mozzie walking into the bedroom. Neal stared helplessly, frozen in shock.

"Neal, we need to-" Mozzie began to say. He stopped dead in tracks and his jaw dropped when he saw Alex naked before his very eyes. He yelped as he quickly turned his back and covered his eyes with his hands.

Alex shriek at the same time and managed to grab the sheets to try and cover up her naked body. She stumbled and tripped over her feet and fell flat on her back down to the floor.

"I didn't see anything, I swear!" Mozzie said. "Okay, that's a lie...I saw practically everything! But don't worry, I think you have a fantastic body!" he told her, his back still turned and his hand still covering his eyes.

"Mozzie, get the hell out!" Neal yelled angrily.

"Yes, PLEASE get out, Moz!" Alex pleaded, still lying on the floor.

Mozzie walked towards the door and ran into a wall. He took his hands off his eyes and grabbed the door knob and quickly exited the room. Neal growled angrily. His gaze moved from the door, back to Alex, who was still on the floor. The fingers of her one hand clutched tightly at the sheets as if she was hanging on to it for dear life, while her other hand covered her eyes. Her shoulders were shaking, Neal thought that she was crying. She began to laugh hysterically. She looked at Neal, more amused than upset.

"Oh my God! That was so embarrassing!" she told him in between short bursts of laughter.

Neal stared at her while he helped her back to her feet. He didn't think it was possible, but Alex looked even more beautiful when she laughed like that. His anger slowly dissipated as he marveled at her beauty. He pulled her slowly to him and gave her a soft kiss on the lips.

"Now can I have my clothes back?" she asked him once they pulled away. "Otherwise, I'll have to walk out of here naked...and I'm fairly certain that Mozzie is still in the living room." she told Neal.

"Actually, I'm right here outside the bedroom." Mozzie revealed, clearly listening through the door.

"Mozzie!" Neal yelled again.

"Alright, alright! I'm going!" Mozzie replied. They soon heard his footsteps as he walked away.

Alex returned her gaze to Neal. "I don't care." she told him. "I'm telling you, I have no problem walking out of this room stark naked, Caffrey. After all, Mozzie already saw me in the buff, and he happens to think that I have a fantastic body, so I-" she said before Neal interrupted her with another kiss.

Neal then turned away from her and bent over, retrieving her dress from under the bed. He handed it over to her. Alex took it from him. She waited, her eyebrow arched, as she tapped her foot impatiently.

""What?" Neal asked, feigning innocence.

"My panties?" Alex said.

Neal grumbled and went back to the bed. He reached under his pillow and produced Alex's underwear. He grinned sexily as he twirled her lace tanga around his finger. Alex snatched it from him and put them on. Neal just watched as she put her clothes back on. She was having trouble with the zipper of her dress.

"A little help, please." Alex said frustratedly.

"I will gladly help you take your clothes off...but I will play NO part in dressing you." Neal replied.

"Pretty please?" she said in a phony distressed-damsel tone, batting her eyelashes at him.

Neal sighed and helped her zip up her dress. "This is so wrong...I'd rather have you naked." Neal told her. He kissed her lightly on her bare shoulders.

His hands soon explored her body. One arm wrapped around her chest from behind. Alex moaned as his hands caressed her breasts through the fabric of her dress. His other hand traveled downwards, lifting the hem of her dress. She whimpered as his strong fingers massaged that sensitive area in between her thighs.

"You don't play fair, Caffrey!" she murmured before reluctantly pulling away.

"Come on, Alex." he urged her. "Just one more time before you leave. I promise I'll be quick." he tried convincing her.

"We both know that you're not a one-minute man, Neal." she said, quickly dodging his grasp.

She went towards the nightstand and retrieved one of her shoe and by the armoire to get the other shoe, and quickly put them on. She turned around and headed for the door, when Neal's voice stopped her.

"Are you really going to leave me here so unsatisfied?" he asked in a pleading tone, as he sat on the bed.

She turned around to face him again. God! It should be a crime to look that gorgeous! Alex thought. She strode back to him and kissed him hungrily. "Don't worry...I'll be back before you miss me." she muttered in between kisses.

Neal groaned when she pulled away from him yet again. "Too late...I already miss you." he told her.

She smiled at him, before heading towards the door. She turned around and gave him one last look. "Oh, and by the way, Caffrey...I like you better when you're naked too!" she said in a sing-song voice. She gave him a wink and blew him a kiss. With that, she turned around and exited the room.

~END OF CHAPTER SEVEN~

FOOTNOTES :

*Short chapter, I know. Gonna try a scene-by-scene chapter, see how it works out. Hoping to write more soon.

*Alex doesn't really come off as the shy and prudish type, so her reaction to Mozzie seeing her naked shouldn't be surprising. Kinda imagined she'd just laugh it off instead of freaking out and getting angry. As for the scars...hopefully will explore on that on future chapter.

*Please feel free to leave reviews and kudos if you like the story/chapter. Remember that these things are tough to write and us writers appreciate kind words! ;)