"We'd better eat these burgers before they get cold," Kensi says and it might just be my imagination, but I'm almost certain I detect a certain note of desperation in her voice. It's good to know we're on the same wavelength. It would be even nicer to know we were in the same bed.
To give Eric his due, he practically sets a speed record for burger eating. And what's more, he refuses any beer. Good man. I always liked Eric. He's the type of guy you can rely upon. Nell, on the other hand, chatters aimlessly, and seems to be totally impervious to the fact that we are all just responding in monosyllables. This doesn't discourage her in the slightest, as she babbles away about her family, her plans for the holidays (going to visit her family) and how she really hopes Brad and Angelina get married soon and have another adorable baby and weren't they just incredible together in Mr and Mrs Smith? All you have to do is nod occasionally, and maybe make the odd sort of grunt and Nell is perfectly happy. I have never known a woman to eat quite so slowly in my entire life – but then she is talking a lot. My eyes are starting to glaze over after ten minutes of almost non-stop burbling, but I sort of jolt awake when I realise that Nell is now regaling us with the story of cousin Ann, who got a splinter in her foot, which then got infected so that blood poisoning set in and it had to be amputated.
"Nell – that's totally gross," Kensi manages.
"But it's true. And it just shows you the importance of good wound hygiene." She casts a knowing look at my leg, and I make sure the robe isn't gaping or anything like that.
"I won the hygiene prize at school," I remind everyone and then wonder once again why everyone in NCIS finds that so strange. What's wrong with a school reminding pupils of the importance of looking and smelling good?
Nell gives me another searching look, "But you've got to be especially careful now, Deeks – when your resistance is low."
That's true enough, I suppose. Right now my resistance is at an all-time low as far as Kensi is concerned. "Maybe it would be a good idea to get Kensi to help me change the dressings," I say, with as great a show of reluctance as I can muster.
"Do I have to?" She screws her face up in a parody of disgust that doesn't fool me for one instant.
"If Kensi's squeamish, I could help," Nell offers. I'm going to be generous and say that she is genuinely trying to be helpful. Eric has no such qualms. He looks at his watch, announces that it's getting late and they've got a busy day tomorrow.
Nell looks at him in disbelief. "It's only six thirty."
Really? It feels like they've been here for hours. Or even days.
"Deeks is sick, remember? He probably wants to go to bed."
I really do love Eric. One of these days I might even let him come surfing with me – on a day when the waves aren't too big, because although Eric likes the idea of surfing, he's more a boogie-board sort of guy. One day he might just manage to stay upright long enough to ride into shore, but I'm not holding out too much hope. The poor man just has no sense of balance.
"Yeah, bed sounds really good right about now."
From the sound she makes when I say that, Kensi's beer has gone down the wrong way and Nell rushes over to pat her on the back solicitously, but with considerable force.
"I'm fine," Kensi wheezes and then yelps as Nell gives her an extra hard smack right between the shoulder blades.
"You can't be too careful where choking's concerned."
"Don't worry – I'll look after Kensi. I did a couple of courses in emergency first aid. I can do CPR and everything." I smile blandly at Kensi, who promptly starts to choke again. Nell just looks confused.
"I think you've got that wrong, Deeks. It's the Heimlich manoevre you use for choking. Isn't it?" She slaps Kensi on the back again and nearly knocks her off the chair. For a small girl, Nell packs one heck of a punch. I've got a whole new respect for Eric. Maybe that's why he's so bad at surfing – because Nell has worn him out with outrageous sexual demands and he's too scared to say no? Stranger things have happened – like me and Kensi getting together. I never saw that one coming, even if it was the culmination of a hell of a lot of hoping and dreaming.
"We'll figure something out," I assure her, and Eric takes the opportunity to drag Nell bodily towards the door. For just one instant I have this fantasy of throwing Kensi over my shoulder and making a break for the bedroom, but just in time I'm remember I'm still on crutches.
"See you tomorrow!" Nell calls out and finally they are gone. I hear the sound of the key turning in the lock as Kensi makes sure we're not going to be interrupted again.
"Thank God!" Kensi collapses down onto the sofa and then winces as her back makes contact with the cushions. "I feel like I'm black and blue."
"Want me to check it out?"
"Check me out, more like. I know what you're like, Deeks."
"You can check my wound, if you want. Fair's fair."
Kensi looks at me and shakes her head. "That has to be the worst chat up line ever. 'You can check my wound' indeed. That's one's never going to work." Now, given that statement you would never guess that she had slipped her hand along my leg and was slowly caressing my inner thigh as she spoke, would you?
"Didn't you play 'I'll show you mine, if you'll show me yours' when you were a kid?" I tease.
She blushes and I know I've got her. "No way." Despite the denial, she moves along the sofa so that she's a little closer to me,
"Liar. You did and I know you did. Only I bet you called it 'playing doctor and nurse', didn't you?"
"That's where your toes turn up, Marty Deeks. I did no such thing." She's so close to me now that our legs are touching and her fingers are toying with the belt of my robe.
"Really?" I turn slightly, so that I'm looking directly at her, and I can see my reflection in her eyes.
"Oh no: we called it 'medic and casualty'. I was a Marine brat, remember?"
"Of course. I bet your first words were 'Semper Fi: Do or Die', weren't they?"
"Definitely. Most definitely." And Kensi's fingers have moved so that they're playing with the edge of my robe and her eyes are so huge I could drown in them.
I could ask her if she wanted to play now, or throw out a dozen other corny lines, but I don't. Sometimes you don't need to say anything, because words are inadequate. And anyway, I've got this feeling that if I don't do something soon then we both might die of frustration. So I kiss her again, one of these long kisses that make you forget everything else, and then I kiss her neck, easing her hair back so that I can continue round towards her ear, and Kensi arches her back slightly and moves her head slightly so that it's as if she is offering herself to me. Her eyes are half-shut and she reminds me of one of those mysterious cats you see on Egyptian wall-paintings: all smooth elegance and languid poise, but with a flash of danger.
And just when I think I know where I'm going, Kensi's eyes open and she looks at me again, and I can see the spark in her eyes, dragging me in as she reaches out, puts her hand on the back of my neck and it feels like all the bones in my spine click into place at her touch. "How about we take this through to the bedroom?" Her lips brush against mine as she speaks, and it's just the merest ghost of a touch, barely a breath of a kiss and yet it makes me tremble all over. My mind is filled with her and my body craves her with a yearning that is almost painful.
"That sounds good." By some miracle we manage to make it through to the bedroom without any further mishaps on my part and I manage to subside onto the bed. And now we're finally here, I suddenly feel like a kid of sixteen again, all gauche and even a bit embarrassed. But Kensi isn't embarrassed – she's leaning against the door and she's smiling at me with that look in her eyes I'm getting to know and to love.
"At last. Just us. No pretences."
She can strip me bare, metaphorically speaking, any day of the week. She can strip me bare literally too. Let's be truthful- Kensi can do whatever the hell she likes with me and I'm not going to protest. Usually I'm the one making all the moves, so it kind of takes me by surprise when she takes the lead, but that's cool. No, that wrong – it's not cool at all. It's just about the hottest thing that has ever happened to be and I'm getting so turned on it's untrue.
"No pretences. Just you and me," I agree, all the while wondering what she is going to do next.
"Good. I'm glad we agree on that." As she walks across the room, Kensi kicks her boots off. Me, I'm barefoot already, so I just kind of sprawl on the bed and watch in wonder. I also wonder what my blood pressure's like, but then I decide I don't much care. There are worse ways to die.
"Are you just going to lie there, or are you going to help me?" She shucks off her jeans, so that she's standing there is just her shirt and a pair of panties.
What kind of a question is that? I've seen Kensi in various states of undress before, that's true. I've seen her in a swimsuit and her bra and in a dozen little black dresses that cling to her body and do obscene things to my mind, but this is different.
"Seeing you put it like that.
My fingers are fumbling with the buttons on her shirt, but that might have something to do with the fact that Kensi has slipped her hand inside my robe and her fingers are gently moving across my chest, tracing a pattern that seems to leave a trail of fire. It's kind of hard to concentrate when the blood is pounding through your veins and your heart is thundering like an out-of-control steam train coming down the tracks. I just pray I'm not going to have a stroke. Or, if I am, that it can hold off for another fifteen minutes. That's not too much to ask, is it? After all, I can see tomorrow in Kensi's eyes. Somehow I manage to slip the shirt off and almost fall back onto the pillows when I'm finally looking at Kensi kneeling in front of me in what has to be the most incredible lingerie known to man – these wisps of fiery orange-red silk and lace that makes her skin seem to glow as if she's bathed in the rays of the setting sun. Okay, I've just had my quota of dreams coming true for the rest of my live. If I die now, I'll die a happy man. I'll die with this big grin on my face and no mistake.
"Look at you." I could look at her for the rest of my life.
"Right back at you. You look good in that robe." Kensi's voice is kind of low and husky, and the sound of it sends a shiver down my spine. "Just like I knew you would. But I'm guessing you're going to look even better out of it."
I've changed my mind. I don't want to die. Not just yet. Definitely not yet. Over the course of the last year or so I might have thought vaguely about making love to Kensi, but it never crossed my mind that she'd be the one making love to me. Which is a very good lesson on the importance of being open-minded and letting your heart float free, because being seduced by Kensi is very definitely the biggest turn on known to man. She can do anything she wants to me, and then some.
"Really?" By some miracle my voice isn't squeaking up into the high resisters.
"Really," Kensi agrees. And who am I to disagree with her? So that's it for the robe then. There's a smile starting to curve across her face as she tugs the garment off and then a slow exhalation of breath that almost sounds like an accolade as Kensi's index finger slowly describes a line from my collar bone right down my sternum, then continues to my belly button. It doesn't stop there though, and I'm hitching in my breath and watching her face and praying that she going to keep on going.
"Aren't you something?"
I'm speechless, that's what I am. I am also hers to do with as she pleases. What man doesn't want to be the plaything of a beautiful woman after all? But this is better than I could ever have imagined, because this is Kensi and this is really happening. I nearly cry out when Kense's finger stops before it reaches its appointed destination, but when she reaches around behind her back to unfasten her bra, I've got o objections at all. In fact, I'm pretty sure my eyes are open as wide as possible and my jaw is probably kind of slack. I always realised what incredible breasts Kensi has, I just didn't appreciate how totally, mind-blowingly perfect they are and I reach up to cover them. It's like she's been waiting for this moment, for my touch, because she arches her back and the low moan she makes sounds almost like a purr of pleasure. Just the way she reacts to my touch is incredible, I can scarcely believe it, or the reaction her joy creates in me.
You can forget how good the simplest things in life can be, like the feel of skin against skin, or even skin caressing skin when the smooth sensation unfettered and unhindered by clothing. I'm seeing a different side to Kensi: it's as if she has shed all protective layers along with her clothes, and now she is teasing and demanding and the feel of her body reacting to my kisses is tantalizingly wonderful. Added to which she just feels so good as my hands start to explore her satiny-soft skin and her roam over mine.
We kiss as if the world is about to end, and then we kiss again. There is no such thing as enough when it comes to kissing Kensi and being kissed by her. These kisses start slow and languid as we take the time to start to really discover each other and begin to explore all the nuances that a kiss can hold. But while a kiss may start off as tentative and gently seeking, they rapidly build up in intensity to become passionate and demanding.
Kenisi pulls away from me and places one hand on my chest. "Lie down."
I obey without question and lie there, just looking at her lying beside me: so incredibly gorgeous and fully in control, hair loose and tousled and her mouth slightly swollen from our kisses. She's the one in control here, she's calling all the shots and I'm finding that more erotic than I'd ever imagined. I'm pretty much hers to command. However she want to do so, where ever she wants to take this is fine by me. I saw tomorrow in her eyes and now I want to see a whole string of days stretching out ahead of us. So I'll follow her lead, I'll let Kensi dictate the pace.
7. Take
For as much as you give, also be a good taker. If a gift is offered to you, be gracious about it…your lover wanted to show you appreciation with a present so don't ruin the moment and say "you shouldn't have" or be apathetic about it! Say "THANK YOU" and give a hug and a kiss. It will make the moment magical.
"How come I feel like I've known you forever?" she asks, as my hands glide down to her ass, barely contained by those absurdly erotic panties.
"Because I've been waiting for you," I reply, and then turn so that I can kiss her stomach, right above her belly button ring before moving downwards and taking the waistband of those panties between my teeth as her hands tangle in my hair.