After hanging up with Francine, having related to her what had happened to him since he'd left the office, that his suspicions had been correct and having delivered his message for Amanda, Lee stripped out of his soiled clothes. He'd never imagined that when he'd continued investigating that he'd end up in the shape he was in now, covered in Milo's chili. He was only going to meet him to ask him some questions about where the coded message he'd passed Amanda had originated from and he'd soon found himself accosted by a no-neck goon and the next thing he knew, he was covered in Milo's extra-spicy chili and the goon had gotten away. He peeled off his sticky clothes and walked to his bathroom to shower the stench of it off of him.
As he stepped under the shower's spray, he found his mind drifting to his earlier shower this morning and how he'd tried so hard to use it to suppress the memories of his all-too-fleeting embrace with his housewife partner. No, not partner, he corrected himself. He couldn't start thinking of her that way, not after he'd watched his last partner gunned down right in front of him, taking a bullet that had been meant for him. If he started thinking like that, starting caring what happened to her... Who the hell are you trying to kid, Pal? he questioned himself. You already care about her as more than just a partner and you know it. He let out a deep sigh as he tried to force those thoughts away. He couldn't handle any entanglements. It just hurt too much when they ended. After all, he'd only recently come to terms with his screwed-up feelings over Eva.
And she helped you with that, the voice in his head reminded him. He recalled with perfect clarity how he'd told her that he was bad at relationships and boy, was he ever. She'd argued that he wasn't that bad, but she didn't know. That was just Amanda. She always wanted to see the best in everyone. What would she think of him if she knew just how bad he was; if he were to take a chance and pursue something real with her, only to screw it up with his own stupidity? But wouldn't it be worth it for a chance with her?
He knew he'd never know if it could work out unless he tried, but...how? How would the two of them ever make their two very different worlds mesh? She seemed eager, too eager at times, to learn about his world, but what effort had he really made to learn about hers? Sure, he knew the stuff she'd told him about the PTA, The Bombers, her neighborhood watch group, her self-defense classes, but all that was stuff she did, not who she was. Who was Amanda King underneath all of that stuff? It occurred to him that for as much as she talked and as much as she shared, it was all stuff about other people in her life, never about herself.
Was it possible that she was just as scared to share and open her heart as he was? After all, she was divorced and it struck him that he knew nothing about the circumstances of that divorce. He didn't even know who or where her ex-husband was. He now found himself burning with curiosity over what had led this sweet, guileless, loving, good-natured woman to becoming a single mother raising two boys alone. Had he cheated? Had she? "Don't be stupid," he scoffed. He couldn't imagine Amanda ever being unfaithful. She was the most loyal person he knew...yet still her marriage had ended. It had to have been on his end. He couldn't imagine someone like Amanda simply giving up on her marriage, so what else could it be? Had her ex been abusive? Was he a drinker? He knew the records of her divorce were holed away in the bowels of The Agency somewhere; he'd just never bothered to read it, but now he had to know. Who and where was this guy and why had he never seen him around even visiting his children?
That thought filled him with a fierce possessiveness and he found himself loathing the unknown ex-husband because he'd been close enough to Amanda at one time to conceive two children with her. That thought led his mind to drift to the moment of raging jealousy the other day at Milo's when she'd been talking about her lunch with Dean's mother and how he'd questioned her about still seeing that guy. He'd been stupid enough to really let that jealousy show in saying that he didn't see them together, when in reality he'd have given anything to be in his place. He knew if she was meeting the weatherman's mother, it must be serious. He may not be that successful in relationships, but even he knew that meeting the parents; that was a big deal.
He was pulled from his thoughts by a knock on his front door. "Dammit!" he swore. He turned off the shower, reached for a towel and wrapped it around himself, muttering curses under his breath as he did so, before he remembered that he'd told Francine to tell Amanda to come by his place. He shook his head, sending droplets of water flying everywhere as he stepped into his bedroom. His breath caught in his throat as he caught sight of his bed where he'd had that very vivid dream of Amanda last night. The same bed that she'd slept in when recovering from her car wreck. He wondered what it might be like to have her in his bed when it wasn't about sleeping. "Stop it, Stetson," he commanded himself. "That's never gonna' happen." He felt for sure that she'd never look twice at a guy like him, let alone let him take her to bed. He was mercifully spared from any further thoughts like that by another knock on his door.
Amanda fidgeted nervously, twisting her hands as she waited impatiently for Lee to open his door. She took a deep breath to calm herself, trying to decide how she was going to deal with being face to face with him again, knowing what she knew now. Would she panic and run the other way? Would her nervous motor-mouth get her in trouble by blurting out the wrong thing? Would she scare him off? Would he scare her off with one of his gruff responses? When she'd waited what she deemed an appropriate amount of time, she knocked again, harder this time.
"Keep your shirt on," she heard his voice grumble from the other side of the door.
When the door was abruptly flung open by a disheveled and wet Lee, Amanda let out a tiny gasp. For a moment, she thought her heart had stopped because she found herself unable to breathe.
"Hi," Lee greeted her in a softer tone. "You got my message?"
Amanda nodded numbly as he let her in and closed the door behind her. All her resolve crumbled when she was unable to tear her eyes away from his nearly-naked form in front of her. It's now or never, she told herself firmly and then without another moment's hesitation, she launched herself at him, snaked her arms behind his neck and pressed her lips to his in a fierce, hungry kiss.