AN1 There will be some crude and inappropriate language overheard by our characters in this chapter. So this is like a mini warning for it.
AN2 We enter the third arc to the story.
Who Dares Wins
Chapter Twenty-One: Red Alert
Saturday, 3 November, 2007
Sarah arrived at the top of the driveway to Chuck's home just after 1pm, where she came to a stop. She had stopped walking because Chuck's ex-girlfriend Jill was exiting Chuck's property with her remaining belongings.
Sarah was already aware that Jill was collecting the last of her things because Chuck had informed her earlier when they had made plans to see each other and head out together.
Today was Saturday, and it was Red Team's second of three days off work.
Chuck soon appeared in view at the doorway to his home. Sarah broke her gaze from Jill, who was making her way towards her, and she shared a glance with Chuck.
Diverting her gaze away from Chuck, she returned it towards Jill once more, who arrived in Sarah's immediate vicinity, which was close to Jill's car.
"You're welcome to him," Jill declared, meeting Sarah's gaze before she brushed past Sarah.
Sarah scoffed sharply. "Excuse me?" she inquired, and she turned herself to follow Jill's movement, who now had her back to her, but she received no reply.
Sarah shook her head, still scoffing occasionally as she glanced towards Jill, who entered her vehicle, and she promptly departed the street.
Turning to face Chuck, Sarah quickly cancelled out Jill's comments, for Jill wasn't why she was here to begin with, nor was she worth a second thought.
Sarah continued up Chuck's driveway. He was already waiting halfway, and he was grinning at her.
Sarah returned his smile, and she walked the brief distance towards Chuck before she stopped at her destination.
"Hiya," he said, holding his warm gaze.
"Hi," she greeted him back.
Chuck's gaze soon lowered down her frame to take in her appearance briefly, which Sarah instantly detected.
Sarah was wearing a purple dress today. For the first time since she joined the Regiment, she had gone out of her way ever so slightly to ensure that she looked good.
The reason why she had done this, of course, was because of an effort to attract the eye of the man who stood facing her.
Sarah quickly turned nervous in anticipation of whether he approved of the extra effort she had made towards her appearance today. Because it was still early in the afternoon, it was also very possible that the effort she had made was too much, which added to her nerves.
Chuck quickly razed his gaze to make eye contact with her again. "Sarah, you look great," he declared with a broad smile.
"Thank you," she replied as happiness erupted and shone throughout Sarah's features for his compliment of her, now feeling elated that the effort she had made was received well.
"Are you ready to head out then?" he asked.
She nodded.
"Great. Let's go then, though I'm feeling slightly underdressed for the occasion now," he declared, grinning.
"It was too much, wasn't it?" she asked as her mind immediately filled up with reservations about her chosen attire once more, and she started to consider whether she should have worn something more modest for the occasion.
He sharply shook his head. "Sarah, please don't feel awkward for a single second because that was not a complaint from me just now. It was merely an observation because you look more beautiful today than I have ever seen you before while I'm wearing this," he laughed, gesturing towards his own outfit.
Sarah broke from making eye contact with him, and she shifted her gaze to take in his appearance. He was wearing a maroon sweat jumper and jeans.
Returning her gaze to his face, she sported him a wry smile. He had a point. They were absolutely dressed differently. Nevertheless, in Sarah's opinion, he still looked good.
"I'm not gonna lie, I'm feeling tempted to go back inside quickly and throw on the best outfit that I have, but even that wouldn't match you right now, so why bother?" he said, suppressing laughter.
"Chuck, you don't look so bad yourself," she protested his comment in an attempt to make him feel more at ease.
"Please... I'm fantastic," he joked.
"Yeah," she said, nodding. "You are."
O-x-O-x-O-x-O
"You know, I was going to ring you last night," Chuck declared as he paused from eating lunch, and he crossed his arms.
Sarah rose her glance from the table she was seated at. "Me too," she admitted, gazing into his orbs.
Chuck laughed, nodding. "I was bored all day, and I didn't know what to do with myself," he said, grinning. "And this may come across as stalkerish, and you might run a mile after I've said it or slap me, but I couldn't stop thinking about you, Sarah."
Lumps formed in Sarah's throat as they held their glance, and she processed his revelation. Gulping a slight intake of air, she said, "I thought about you a lot too, Chuck."
He smiled at her.
The sincerity in his smile caused her to return it to him in kind.
The conversation paused briefly as they remained locked in their gaze for a few seconds before Chuck continued on, "So what did you do yesterday? Anything interesting?"
She shook her head. "What about you?"
Chuck took a moment in thought. "Uh, I had a long conversation with my sister, but other than that, I didn't do much else," he said.
"How is she?" Sarah inquired.
"She's busy," he laughed with a warm glance towards her for showing an interest in his family. "But actually, she has some time off at the moment, so she is going to come down to Hereford for a few days. I'm looking forward to it 'cause it's been months since I saw her."
"I know. You told me how long it had been since you saw her recently," Sarah declared.
Chuck nodded, holding his affectionate grin towards her. "So what was the highlight of yesterday for you? You have to give me something."
"Uh, relaxing with a glass of wine?" she laughed in shame because that really was the highlight of her day yesterday.
Chuck gaped at Sarah wide-eyed. "Wow, you drank more alcohol yesterday?" he asked in shock.
"Yes," she admitted while muting laughter.
Grinning broadly, Chuck shook his head.
"What?" she asked cutely while lifting her head up to inquire why he was shaking his head at her.
"Sarah, I don't know how you could have drunk more alcohol yesterday. After a night of drinking, I can't look at the stuff the next day," he laughed.
Sarah giggled sweetly. "Maybe it's a sign that you're getting old. I always knew you were all talk with your challenges," she teased with a fully developed smile.
Chuck quirked his eyebrows. "Is that a challenge?" he asked, lifting his gaze upwards and broadening his shoulders while grinning at her.
"If you're brave enough," she dared, still holding her friendly gaze.
Chuck audibly winced. "Challenge accepted," he said, grinning.
Sarah suppressed a laugh. "Don't make challenges you can't keep, Chuck."
Chuck frowned while he also moved a hand to rest on his chin. "I've somehow heard this script before. I wonder where?" he asked, as his face lit up with fake puzzlement because he knew exactly where and when this discussion had taken place, which was two days ago, in his house, just before they had sex.
She nodded. "Yeah. I'm using your words against you to see how you like them," she said, still suppressing laughter while gazing adoringly at him.
"It's not good to be unoriginal, Sarah," he joked, pointing at her while giving her a loving gaze back.
Sarah snorted in approval.
The teammates and close friends paused their conversation briefly as they took a bite of their lunch.
"Though as a side note to that topic of discussion that we just had, I feel it's important to state, for your information, that you didn't even drink most of the vodka. It was all me," Chuck teased as he smiled with glee.
It was Sarah's turn to open her mouth agape. "That is so not true!" she protested before she broke out with another colossal smile.
Chuck laughed, feeling very satisfied with himself. "But can you prove it?"
Sarah nodded. "I can, actually. We can buy another bottle and do it all over again, and then we will see who really drank most of it," she stated, holding her affectionate glance.
Nodding, Chuck said, "Great idea!"
Sarah frowned, sporting Chuck an inquisitive glance. "Was this your plan all along? To lead the conversation this way to get me to make another proposition towards you?" she flirted.
"Not guilty," he said, grinning, as he shook his head. "But it's actually ingenious. I'm sorry I didn't think of that!"
Sarah suppressed laughter as a smile escaped. "Who says I want to do it again anyway?"
"Because you're here now," he declared bluntly.
"I could be here to let you down gently," she retorted with a straight face as she burnt a stare into his orbs.
"And are you?" Chuck asked, holding her gaze.
There was a long pause as Chuck and Sarah held their meaningful glance. "No."
"I'm glad," he said.
"Wow!" Sarah laughed, shaking her head.
"What?" he asked.
"I'm surprised you didn't make an attempt at winding me up and flipping it on me by saying that's why you're here, to let me down instead," she joked.
Chuck raised a hand up to his chin. "You know actually, Sarah, now you mention it," he started.
Sarah's jaw dropped. "Chuck, don't you dare!" she said in dread.
He suppressed laughter, which she shared, now realizing he was joking.
"But seriously, Sarah," he started once their humour faded, "I would be the dumbest guy on the planet if I came out with you today with the intentions of letting you down. And if for argument sake I had, which I hadn't, then those thoughts would have left me the moment I saw how you looked today."
"What about our work? What if this compromises how we behave towards each other on the job?" she asked after a moment of consideration.
Chuck crossed his arms as he leant forward onto the table. "Sarah, I can't lie to you and say that it won't compromise how we behave towards each other at work. I was not raised to lie to get what I want. I will always be honest with you, so my response is that there is a strong chance that it could happen. It's new territory for the both of us, and we will only know in time if it compromises our ability to work together effectively or not."
"Yeah," she agreed, donning him a loving smile for his integrity. His honesty towards her only served as a reassurance that if there was one guy she would develop an intimate attraction towards in the Regiment, she picked the right one when she chose Chuck.
"Sarah, now that I think more about what you asked. We should probably have talked about it first before rushing into having drunken sex together," he joked.
Sarah snorted. "Yeah. Because now that it has happened, we're already in the deep end, but we hadn't learnt how to swim before we jumped in together."
"Exactly," he declared, grinning. "Which means we need to come to an understanding of the situation we are now in very quickly. So I'm gonna be very blunt with you now because I feel we need to be. I want to take that dress off you this evening, Sarah, and wake up the same way we did yesterday. I don't want Thursday to have been a one-time thing between us. That's the last thing that I want, Sarah."
Sarah's breathing deepened, and she now found taking in air a much more challenging task to accomplish because of the intimate intensity of his words to her and because her reply would almost certainly need to be similar in nature. "Chuck..." she started, but she paused briefly to build up the courage and also to ensure she had a transparent and open response in regards to what she could offer him. "I don't want to stop seeing you either. I wouldn't be here now if I did. And I guess I wore this dress hoping that it would please you enough to want to take it off me. But I can't enter a committed relationship with you, at least not right now. I don't know if that's what you're looking for from me, but I'm career-driven, and my focus is on having a successful career in the Regiment. If you're not ok with that, then we can stop."
Chuck took a moment in consideration, and he broke his gaze from her as he became occupied in thought. Raising his eye up towards her a few seconds later, he said, "I've just come out of a committed relationship, and I don't really want to rush into another one right now anyway. I can't promise that I won't develop those kinds of feelings towards you in the future, but right now, at least, I'm happy with just having a good time. If what we want from each other changes for either of us in the future, then we can talk about it if that's fine with you?"
Sarah nodded. "Ok," she agreed.
He grinned. "Shall we finish up here and head to a bar then?"
"If you're buying, yeah," she teased as a smile threatened to escape.
"Sarah, with how breathtaking you look today, I will gladly buy you as many drinks as you want," he declared, still grinning.
Sarah could no longer hold in her smile. "I guess I should dress up more then."
He nodded. "Yeah, I guess you should."
O-x-O-x-O-x-O
Chuck and Sarah stood waiting to be served at the same bar they had been at together when Chuck helped Sarah move into her apartment.
"You know, Sarah, I'm thinking that we should find something else to do together off-duty, rather than just drinking all the time," Chuck joked as he thought back to how much time the two had seemingly spent drinking together since they first met.
"We did because we ate lunch together first," Sarah giggled sweetly.
"Agreed," he said, nodding. "I'm just getting a touch of deja-vu because we seemingly always end up at the counter of a bar together."
"Are you getting cold feet?" she asked.
He quickly shook his head multiple times. "No, not at all. I'm locked into every upcoming activity today. I'm simply thinking in advance and planning future activities for us."
"Do you have anything special in mind?" she asked, smirking.
Chuck nodded. "Actually, I do. I'm thinking that we should go swimming together to see if you really can swim," he laughed.
Breaking out with a beaming smile, Sarah crossed her arms, and she shook her head in amusement at his harmless teasing of her.
For Sarah, she considered a sense of humour and the ability for two people to not take themselves seriously to be extremely important. She also thought two people just having fun together was a vital necessity of any sexual encounter. Factoring in her work, which was the most stressful job in the entire world, her ability to just have fun with Chuck was everything that she never knew that she needed until she met him.
"That sounds nice. And I might drown you while we're there," she couldn't help but add in.
Chuck winced. "That's not nice. I suddenly don't feel safe enough to go to the pool with you anymore," he joked.
Sarah laughed. "That's tough because I'm already bursting with excitement to go swimming with you," she said with glee.
Chuck nodded, suppressing laughter.
A short while later
"Chuck, I just remembered that you were heading out with Cole tomorrow. I'm starting to feel bad that we're here now. Well, not that we're here, but because you're drinking again," Sarah said, glancing at Chuck from where they sat.
"Sarah, I'll gladly drink water with Cole tomorrow," Chuck laughed.
Doing her best to hold in her laughter, Sarah closed her lips tightly as her cheeks greatly expanded until they started to hurt. Successfully containing her laughter after great effort, she replied, "Chuck, are you sure? It's ok if-"
Chuck cut in before she could finish, "Sarah, the moment you turned up looking as jaw-droppingly beautiful as you do today, my plans suddenly changed."
Sarah's cheeks flushed as she blushed over his comment to her.
Grinning, he continued, "Actually, I have to be honest with you. Cole hadn't been in my thoughts for a single moment today, nor had anyone else been. I fully intend to engage in alcohol consumption as much as you do tonight. When you've had enough, so have I."
Laughing, Sarah said, "Chuck, it would look kind of odd for you to be drinking ten pints of water while he drinks ten pints of lager."
Chuck laughed, nodding. "Sarah, I agree. But here comes the part where I tell you what that lot got up to on Thursday night and well into Friday morning, and then you'll change your mind."
"Tell me," Sarah said as she then took a sip of her drink.
Chuck nodded. "So, we kind of already knew that they had set us up together. We pieced that together easily enough even when drunk," he started.
Sarah nodded.
"What we didn't know or consider is that after they set us up to hook up together, they all proceeded to continue to get pissed together."
Sarah's jaw dropped. "They lied to us when they gave their excuses?" she asked.
Chuck nodded. "Yeah. I still don't know whose place they ended up going back to, or even if they stayed behind back at Jim's, but those bastards carried on drinking well into Friday morning, Sarah."
"How do you know?" she asked as she focused intently on hearing about the exploits of her six other teammates.
Chuck took a brief gulp of his drink before he continued, "Yesterday, I texted Jamie. I asked him if he wanted to do something together because I was bored out of my mind. He replied to me that he had a hangover from hell, a-"
"He was sober when he dropped us off!" Sarah interrupted with her mouth agape.
Chuck nodded, chuckling. "Exactly, Sarah, and that's not all."
Sarah smiled at him to encourage him to continue on.
"I also text Cole, but he didn't reply to me, the bastard," Chuck laughed.
Sarah shared the laughter with him. "Why didn't he reply?" she asked affectionately.
"Because he was laid up on the sofa with his head in his hands, Sarah," he declared, shaking his head as he grinned at her.
"He was pissed too?" she asked in disbelief.
He nodded. "Sophie told me that he came home only a few hours before I rang, which was around six o'clock last night."
"Do you think it was all of them in on it?" she asked.
Chuck nodded furiously. "The only one not in on it was Bryce, I'm sure, but I'm also sure that the bastards let Bryce in on it after they had Jamie drop us off."
Sarah shook her head before she quickly started to laugh. "Bastards!" she cursed, still laughing.
Chuck nodded with a loving grin before taking another mouthful from his drink.
"So whose place did they go back to?" Sarah asked.
Chuck shrugged. "Sarah, I'm not sure. It's also possible they went back to Jim's, but we'll find out. I'm determined to," he declared.
Sarah nodded. "Me too," she said as she moved to take a large sip from her glass. "Have they stayed back at Jim's before?"
He nodded. "Yeah, we have a few times. Jim's just as bad as the lads when he gets going, Sarah."
Sarah shook her head once more, and she raised her hands to rest on her cheeks, while a smile shone from between her hands in shock at her team's actions. "I'm speechless," she declared.
Chuck laughed. "Yeah. So Cole's already had his own party anyway, Sarah. Sophie told me that she'd never seen him so bad, and trust me, I've seen that bastard in some states in the years that I've known him."
Sarah laughed with him. "I'm sure," she agreed, gazing warmly at him.
"I'm not gonna lie. I'm feeling a little devastated that they left us out of that piss-up, 'cause it sounded like a great one," he joked.
"We had more fun anyway," she declared as she lowered her gaze down his frame briefly before she returned her glance to make eye contact with him.
"Yeah," he said, grinning. "We did."
Sarah laughed sexily in approval of his reply.
O-x-O-x-O-x-O
Leaning in close to Chuck at the bar, Sarah whispered, "You were right about something the other night, by the way."
"What's that?" he whispered back.
"You were solid as a rock," she declared as she broke out with an immediate radiant smile, and she emitted the briefest of muted laughter.
"See, what did I tell you?" he replied, returning her warm gaze as they remained in intimate proximity to each other at the bar.
"Always the showoff, huh?" she asked, holding their intense gaze.
"Nope. Just confident in my ability to give you a good time," he whispered.
Sarah giggled sweetly. "I wonder if you can bring your A-game two times running?" she mused, gazing up and down his frame.
"Sarah, I will bring my A-game one thousand times running, don't you worry about that," he fired back with a grin the size of a banana.
Sarah winced delightfully. "Ooh, one thousand, huh?" she flirted.
Chuck nodded as they held their intimate gaze. "I kind of have to. A girl as beautiful as you demands it of me," he said, grinning.
Sarah beamed him yet another loving smile. "I hope you know I'll hold you to that," she declared.
Chuck lifted his head up slightly as he queried, "What, even after the nine-hundred and ninety-ninth time?"
Sarah suppressed joyful laughter. "Yeah," she said, holding her titanic smile.
O-x-O-x-O-x-O
Chuck was present at the bar alone while Sarah had excused herself to the restroom.
Waiting at the bar for Sarah to return while feeling in one of the best moods he had ever been in—because of Sarah—he took note of a group of four guys who had entered the bar, and they walked close to the position at the bar that Chuck and Sarah had taken together over two hours ago.
It had turned 6pm, and bars would usually quickly begin to fill after this time, which was no exception this evening because the lively bar was already chocker.
Sarah soon appeared in view for Chuck.
Departing his stool to receive Sarah back into his company, he held his gaze towards her until she returned to his position at the bar.
They shared a smile before they moved to take up their seats once more.
Once seated, Sarah turned to her right to face Chuck, while Chuck turned to his left, and as he did so, he observed the group of guys that had just arrived glancing towards Sarah, who had no line of sight towards the group due to her being half turned to face him.
The group's gaze towards Sarah was a leery glance, and Chuck quickly averted his glance away from the group, and he shook his head in a slightly agitated frame of mind.
He wasn't upset that people had eyed up somebody he liked. Sarah was the most beautiful woman that he'd ever seen in his life, and throughout the month he'd known her so far, he had encountered many men affording her glances, which was to be expected.
But what pissed Chuck off slightly in this instance was the way the group had looked towards her as if she were a piece of meat simply existing for their pleasure.
Chuck puffed out a sigh before he quickly cancelled out the group's actions, and he continued on with enjoying being in Sarah's company…
An hour later
Chuck and Sarah remained at the bar they had entered together several hours ago.
For Chuck, the first two hours had gone great. But the truth was that Chuck had been unable to stop rising frustration from growing for the past hour.
His frustration was not towards Sarah. His teammate was perfection, and he was sure that she would never do anything to frustrate him for however long they knew each other.
Instead, his building level of frustration was towards the group of guys that had entered the bar some time ago and taken up residence in the immediate proximity of himself and Sarah.
Since they had arrived, they had been extremely loud, to the point that Chuck and Sarah could not enjoy a proper conversation together. In addition, frankly, their topics of discussion were rude and disrespectful, especially in the presence of women in attendance at the bar.
Chuck Bartowski may be a ruthless tier-one special forces soldier, but at the same time, he was a gentleman of the highest order.
There was a group of three women to the left of the group of rude guys, while the bartender was also female.
Even if Chuck wasn't out in the presence of Sarah this evening, he would have taken issue with the group's conduct because he didn't find it befitting of how people should behave in the presence of others.
Sarah had also sensed Chuck's growing frustrations, which added to his frustration because he felt he was ruining their evening.
With his drink in his hand, he glanced at Sarah, sighing, because he wasn't sure how to approach getting their wonderful evening together back on track.
Sarah gave him a reassuring smile.
"I'm sorry for my mood right now," he said, sighing.
"Chuck, it's ok," she said softly, holding her smile.
They paused briefly before the silence in this particular part of the bar was broken by someone from the group of rude guys.
"You should have seen the tits on this girl I was shagging the other night," one of them said in a loud enough tone for most of the people in the proximity of the group to pause what they were doing and to either glance at the group or turn awkward in the presence of them.
The group of rude guys broke out in laughter at the comments made.
But Chuck had heard enough. With his glass still in hand, he immediately slammed it onto the bar, and he stood up before he proceeded to raise a fist up to his mouth, and he sharply bit into it to curb his now dangerous levels of frustration. He felt close to punching the whole group.
Chuck's actions in slamming the glass onto the bar caused numerous people, including the guys in question, to glance in his direction because it was a loud and aggressive action.
Sarah quickly rose to stand. Taking Chuck's hand with her own, she said, "We're leaving."
Chuck sighed, still feeling as frustrated as he had felt in a while. "We shouldn't have to leave, Sarah. We came to have a good time."
Sarah nodded. And moving in closer to him, she said, "And we have had one. So, let's go back to mine to have an even better time. Come on," as she then pulled away at Chuck's hand, and they departed the bar...
O-x-O-x-O-x-O
Chuck and Sarah arrived outside an off licence together. Chuck had cooled down in the short walk it had taken them.
"Sarah, I'm sorry about earlier," he said, stopping out on the street.
Sarah paused from walking, and she turned to face him. "Chuck, it's ok. They were very rude."
"Sarah, some of the things they said was unacceptable in the presence of others. They had the whole bar feeling awkward, and a lady absolutely shouldn't have heard some of the things those tossers came out with," he protested.
Sarah nodded. "Which is why we left."
"I'm sorry you had to hear that from them and that I contributed to killing our mood. I was close to decking the lot of them," he said.
Smiling affectionately at him, Sarah entered his proximity, where she moved to caress his cheek. "You didn't kill my mood because I still have it. And you don't need to apologize. So let's purchase a bottle of Grey Goose, and let's see if we can better Thursday night."
Chuck nodded while returning her cordial glance.
A short while later
"Sarah, I still can't believe that you wouldn't let me pay for this," Chuck said, nodding at the bag he was carrying as they entered Sarah's apartment together.
Sarah turned to face him. "That's because I'm the host tonight, per the agreement we made when you purchased the takeaway the other night."
Chuck suppressed a laugh. "But Sarah, trust me, you don't need to pay anybody to have a good time."
Sarah nodded. "No. I don't. But I want to," she declared with no room for negotiation in her tone.
Registering the tone Sarah used, he nodded affirmatively because he didn't want to insult her by arguing otherwise.
She smiled at him before she turned, and she entered her bedroom briefly to place her bag close to the bed.
Departing the bedroom, she walked into the dining area of her apartment, and Chuck followed her behind.
"I have to say, when I was last here with you, I never imagined that I would be coming back here with you in an intimate context, and so soon after I toured this place with you and helped you move in," he declared.
"I had. I knew I wanted you the moment you helped me to fit in the Regiment," she admitted.
Chuck grinned. "That quick, huh?"
Sarah nodded as a smile enveloped her mouth.
"Wow," he declared, still grinning.
"What?" she asked.
Chuck swallowed air briefly. "I'm honoured. That a simple guy like me could attract someone like you," he said.
"Chuck, there's nothing simple about you. You're a perfect catch. I've seen many women with their eyes on you already," she declared.
"I've seen men with their eye on you too," he admitted.
"I don't want their eyes. I want yours," she stated bluntly as they burnt a stare into each other's eyes.
He gave her the biggest grin of the day. "Sarah, me too. I promise you right now that I will never play around on you. I know we agreed that we won't have a relationship, at least not right now. But I don't intend to explore intimacy with any other woman."
"Nor do I. You're more than enough to handle already. I don't think I would have time to see two men with you," she laughed.
Chuck shared the laughter with her as he winced. "Ouch. You sure have a way with words, Sarah," he teased.
"Shut up, Chuck," she said affectionately.
O-x-O-x-O-x-O
Chuck and Sarah poured themselves a second glass of vodka.
With their glasses in hand, they promptly returned to Sarah's sofa.
Now sitting on the furniture, they toasted their glasses together.
"Cheers," Chuck said.
"Bottoms up," Sarah replied, smiling.
They took a mouthful from their glasses before they returned their glasses to their places of rest on their laps.
Gazing at each other, they entered silence as they burned an intimate stare into each other's eyes. They both knew what they each wanted right now; it was just a question of who would make the first move as Sarah began to bite at her lower lip as they held their suggestive glance.
Chuck soon leant forward as he moved to place the glass in his hand onto a table.
Sarah repeated his actions.
With their glasses discarded, they returned to their positions on the sofa before turning, and Chuck quickly moved into Sarah's proximity.
Sarah supported Chuck's actions, and she met him halfway.
They took hold of each other before closing the remaining distance between themselves, and they connected their lips together.
Now kissing, they started to probe each other's lips with their tongues.
Sarah closed her eyes as they engaged in their first kiss of the day, which was soft and gentle, as they tested the waters with each other.
Separating their lips from each other, Sarah opened her eyes.
He was smiling at her.
And she smiled right back at him.
They quickly went back in for more, as a desire to express intimacy towards each other rapidly began to build, and each kiss became more desperate than the last.
The sensations they felt from kissing left them yearning for more.
They tightened their grips on each other, and their kissing deepened as their tongues intertwined in a passionate dance.
Parting from their latest kiss, they fought for every breath as they held their longing stare.
Their intimate actions already had caused their bodies to heat, and their skin felt clammy and sticky.
Taking Chuck's hand, Sarah rose to stand.
Now walking together, Chuck followed her hand-in-hand as they walked past the dining area and towards her bedroom.
Arriving at the door to the bedroom, they paused.
Sarah closed the distance between their bodies once more, and she connected her lips together with his own.
Parting from the kiss, she lowered a hand to Chuck's groin.
He was already aroused for her. And she was the same towards him in kind.
She started to back herself into the bedroom, and he followed her behind.
Still having hold of his arousal through his pants, they arrived at the bed.
They kissed once more as Sarah fell back onto the bed, and Chuck climbed on top of her.
Parting from the kiss, Sarah connected a hand onto his cheek, and she softly caressed his face. He grinned at her as she bore him a longing stare from where she lay under him.
They resumed kissing as Chuck took a firm hold of Sarah's breasts through her dress.
Sarah moaned in pleasure at his contact onto the most sensitive part of her body.
Deciding she wanted to return the favour, she fiddled around with her hand between them until she connected her hand onto his pants once more.
They broke from their latest kiss to regain their breath, and they were about to go right back in for more, but they paused because they were disturbed as a mobile phone close to their person's started to ring.
They instantly drew out sharp sighs in frustration that were completely in sync with each other.
The phone continued to ring as they shared a frustrated glance over the interruption of their activities.
Glancing down at Sarah, Chuck said, "It's yours," as he nodded over towards Sarah's bag that she had discarded in her bedroom when they arrived back.
Sarah nodded. "I really want to ignore it. But it could be work," she said breathlessly because of her activities with Chuck.
Chuck nodded, also feeling rather breathless himself. "Sarah, you have to answer it. That's just our life, unfortunately. But if it's a social call from the lads, I'm gonna kill them," he said.
"Me too," Sarah wholeheartedly agreed.
Chuck climbed off Sarah. He rolled to the side on the bed to take up a position next to her. Raising his hands to rest behind his head, he puffed out a long sigh in frustration because their activities had been disturbed.
The phone had been ringing for at least fifteen seconds. Sarah leant off the bed as she rummaged through her bag for a brief moment as she took out her phone.
Returning to sit on the bed, she composed herself and got her breath back enough to answer it. Ascertaining it was Jamie Hughes calling her, she glanced at Chuck and said, "It's Jamie."
Chuck nodded.
Sarah took a final second before she answered the call of her teammate.
Jamie spoke instantly, "Sarah, I'm sorry to ring and disturb your evening. If it wasn't important, then I'd have texted you instead."
Sarah processed Jamie's words. "What's so important that you needed to call me right now, Jamie?" she inquired.
"Chris just rang me a few minutes ago. We need to report to base right now, mate. It's a red alert," Jamie said, his tone sounding urgent.
Sarah turned anxious because of the tone of her teammate, and of his declarations. "A red alert?" she queried aloud because she wanted to apprise Chuck of the topic of conversation.
Chuck quickly sat up himself, and he entered a state of concern just like her and Jamie.
"Yeah. We'll be briefed on what's going down at the base. Is Chuck with you?" Jamie asked.
Sarah considered why Jamie asked that for a few seconds before she hesitantly said, "Yes."
"Can either of you drive right now?" Jamie asked immediately.
"No," Sarah admitted.
"Ok. Where are you both right now?" Jamie asked, sounding more urgent than she had ever heard her teammate.
"At my place. We just got back from a bar," Sarah admitted.
"Ok. I know where you live because you told me at work, mate. Stay there, and meet me outside. I'll be there in ten minutes or less and give you a lift," Jamie said.
"Ok," Sarah said.
"Ok. I'm on the way now," Jamie said, and with that, he disconnected the call.
"I heard most of it. That didn't sound good. Jamie doesn't usually talk like that," Chuck said, grimacing.
"No, it didn't," Sarah agreed, matching Chuck facial expression…
End of Chapter
AN3 Next Chapter: The team are briefed on an active threat, and the story enters a period of tension for a while.
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