"Greg..."
His hands went to her hips and after a quick up-and-down glance his eyes stayed on hers. "You have a really great rack."
"You said that already."
"I know, and I lived to tell the tale. I'm afraid if I try any new material I'll end up washing my hair in the sink."
"No, you'll end up dead." There was no playfulness in her voice and her eyes were stormy. "Greg, we NEED to talk."
"Frank conversation. Yeah, I know." She had used his toothpaste, so the taste of her mouth was the same as the taste of his own when he kissed her.
Kelly was conflicted: she was livid that he would be so presumptuous, saddened because she thought she knew what he was really after, and terrified that she might be wrong. And she was completely turned on.
She affected the same tone he used in his differentials and that she'd heard many times when he put himself in competition with her uncanny intuition. "You're not here because you need sex."
"You're right; I don't like to skip bases. I'm OCD that way."
She ignored him. "What you're after is intimacy. You can buy sex, but what we have isn't for sale, and you're afraid that after last night I'm going to think you're too messed up to bother with and you're going to lose it. So you're testing boundaries to see if I'm going to walk away." She crossed her arms over her chest. "My eyes are up here, Greg."
"Oh, I'm sorry. You were saying...?"
She was annoyed that he couldn't be serious and was determined to stay serious herself. "I was saying that I'm not walking away. And if us being naked together is the kind of intimacy you need to believe that, than so be it. I'd walk around without clothes all day long if that's what it took."
"That might make for some awkward times at family dinners."
She was frustrated because she wasn't sure he was absorbing what she was saying, but she chose to barrel on. "But I'm not going to have sex with you. Ever, probably. And I really feel like I'm leading you on by allowing you to be in here, so I wanted to say it right up front: there will be no sex. Period. And that is NOT meant to be a challenge."
"Not everything I do is about sex, you know," he informed her without humour. "You need to give me some credit." He wasn't sure what had made him so defensive, but he lashed out a bit more forcefully than he had perhaps intended.
"Oh, that's bull and you know it." She gestured between them to the obvious evidence. "I've just told you what you NEED, but I'm not an idiot about what you WANT."
"And what about what YOU want? Are you telling me that there's not a part of you that wants to jump me right now?"
"I'm not denying that. But just like you what I want and what I need are two very different things."
He paused. "So... what do you need?"
Kelly's voice dropped. "I need you to get out of the shower. And I need you to talk to me."
Their eyes locked for a long moment, and then he nodded, resigned.
"Thank you." She smiled to show him all was forgiven. "Now get your cute naked behind out of my sight."
He raised an eyebrow and was about to say something when she pointed at the shower door to keep him moving. He obeyed, and after drying off went back to his room and climbed into bed.
As his body calmed down and the blood returned to his brain he was forced to consider her words. And he didn't like the feeling that she may be right.