“Are you enjoying yourself yet?”
She looked at the man sitting across from her at the table, and felt a smile taking shape. “Yes,” she nodded. “I am. Thanks for taking me out, Paul.”
He smiled back at her. “You’re a difficult woman to get time with, but it’s worth it.”
“I’m glad to hear that,” she let him take her hand in his. They were in the middle of a coffee shop, not skulking around behind closed office doors, and she knew that was the missing link in her relationship with Gil. Secrecy was a turn on, to some extent. She wanted a man to be with her in public, too. Paul might not be the right man for the job, but he was available.
Paul’s smile made her weak in the knees. She didn’t like how easily he could disarm her. “Can I see you again?”
She shrugged, knowing it really wasn’t appropriate to date someone when she was head over heels in love with someone else. True, Gil might never return her feelings, but she still had them which meant she couldn’t give her heart to someone else.
“I don’t know,” she replied honestly. “I... I’m having a good time, and all, but there are other things to consider.”
He traced circles on the back of her hand. “Like?”
“Like,” she pulled her hand out of his so she could focus. “My daughter. My job. They’re what’s important right now.”
He frowned. “I didn’t ask you to quit work or give your daughter up for adoption, Catherine.”
“I know,” she nodded. “I just don’t think I’m ready to date just yet.”
“Well,” he smiled. “You promised me two coffee meetings and one kiss.” Catherine mentally kicked herself for making that deal with him, even though it had been the only way to get him to stop calling her for two days straight. “So, you could kiss me now, but then there’s nothing exhilarating to end our next date on.”
She laughed. “This isn’t a date, Paul. It’s coffee.”
“Same thing.”
Before she could talk, her cellular phone rang. “Hello?” She spoke into it once it was at her head.
“Hey, it’s Brass. We need you to work today.”
“What happened?”
“A baby was kidnapped...” he rattled off an address that she printed into her memory. “Can you be here soon?”
“Give me fifteen minutes,” she shut the phone, and tucked it into her purse. “I have to go, Paul.”
“Duty calls?”
“Yes, it does.”
He stood up with her. “Can I call you again, and see about the rest of that promise you made?” He handed her another card. “Take this, so you can’t tell me you lost my number.”
She smiled at his persistence and took the card. “Yeah, sure. I’ll talk to you later.”
~*~
“Hello?” Catherine answered her phone as she walked out of the bathroom.
“Hey, Cath,” it was Nick. “Is Gris okay?”
“A little shook up,” she replied with a frown. “Why?”
Nick replied: “He just freaked out. He slammed Ecklie’s cart of blood samples into a wall, yelled at Greg, and stormed out.”
“Yeah,” she knew her voice shook a little, but she couldn’t help it. She was concerned for Gil. He was taking this very personally. “That’s how he likes to react. I should probably catch up to him.”
She heard the commotion, and made it to him when Sara had caught him. He turned and looked at her. He was definitely ragged around the edges; this case was hurting him more than he’d like to admit.
“Mr and Mrs Anderson are calling,” she told him, “They want to know why you haven’t released the body for burial. They said you gave the coroner strict instructions.”
He nodded and closed his eyes. He opened them and spoke. “You better drive.”
“Sure,” she said as he started to walk past her. She gave Sara a sympathetic smile, and turned to follow him.
When they were outside, she grabbed his arm. He tried to shake her off, but she had a tight grip. “Geez, Cath,” he shook his arm, but couldn’t shake her. “Let go, would you?”
“No,” she responded, heat in her voice. He was going to be hard to deal with. “You’re freaking everyone out.”
“So?”
“So,” she answered, letting his arm go to take his hand. “You’re the glue that holds us together... and when your molecules start bouncing...”
He chuckled. “That was the beginning of an awful metaphor.”
She smiled. “You know what I mean.”
“I do.”
“C’m’ere,” she released his hand to open her arms. He leaned, her arms wrapped around his torso, his wrapped around her shoulders. “Deep breaths, okay?”
He nodded into her neck. She heard him breathe, she felt his system leveling off. “Thanks.”
“Think nothing of it,” she replied, rubbing his back with her hands. She almost laughed, realizing they were out in the open, touching intimately.
“We should get going.”
“Are you alright?”
“You’re here,” he smiled, although trying to be strong, she could still see his weakness. “And I just had the best hug I’ve had in a long time.” She blushed and smiled back at him. He even put his lips to her forehead. “You’re still driving though.”
She nodded as they parted to head to her Tahoe.
~*~
Catherine poked her head into the lab Warrick was working in. “Hey, Warrick, what’s up?”
“How’s Grissom?”
She shrugged and sat down next to him. “Still a little on edge. I forgot how human he is sometimes.” She met his eyes and saw a very weird expression cloud his face. “What?”
“I was in the locker room the other day...”
Catherine’s eyes widened, realizing what he meant. She felt her jaw open, but she was able to close it again. Warrick chuckled, and typed something into the computer. “So, I guess our secret’s out, then?”
“I haven’t told anyone,” he replied. “I figured if it was a serious thing, for real and all, you two would step up or something.”
She felt her cheeks burning up. “There’d be a lot to consider. Office romances aren’t exactly entertained here.”
“True,” he responded.
She leaned into her seat and sighed. “Ohhh boy, Gil’s gonna love hearing this.”
“Are you two in love?”
She rolled her eyes, thinking the question was inappropriate, but feeling comfortable enough in her relationship with Warrick to tell him the truth. “We haven’t gotten to that yet.”
His eyes met hers; she knew she was being studied. “You love him, though.”
She dropped her head. “Yeah. Can we just get to work?”
He smirked, but let her have her way. “Okay, this is the 911 call from the Anderson house at 4:30 AM.”
They listened to it. Catherine asked: “Mrs. Anderson wasn’t there?”
“You wouldn’t think so, but I went ahead and separated out any underlying voices.” He played the background noises. “She was standing like 2 metres from the phone.”
“Yeah, well, it’s a legitimate comment,” she defended the mother. “It doesn’t make her guilt of anything.”
He nodded. “I know, so I checked to see if she was like faking her concern. This program measures the stress level of the speakers, and the stress is real.”
They talked a bit about the Jon-Bennet case, and Catherine suggested to him that he see if Tyler Anderson had his own cell phone. He agreed to do it, and then her phone rang.
It was Gil. She couldn’t deny her pleasure at hearing his voice. Warrick gave her a funny look when she told Gil she’d be ready at 7. Catherine wanted to ask him if she could come over after she dropped a couple things off at the drugstore, so she thanked Warrick and headed down the hall.
In the background, she could’ve sworn she heard her coworker laughing.
~*~
“God, Cath,” Gil was almost purring underneath her, his voice muffled by the pillow. “Feels so good.”
She smiled from her position above him; sitting on his bottom, she was leaning forward and kneading his weary back muscles with her hands. “Good. You’ve had a hard couple of days. You need to relax.”
“Are you going to do the front, too?”
Catherine laughed. “Well, I don’t have a comfortable seat if I do the front.”
He lifted his head a little to look at her out of the corner of his eye. “You mean you’re sitting on my ass wearing nothing but my shirt, and you have no intention of turning me over?”
“Well, when you put it that way...” she joked. “No.”
Before she could react, he turned quickly. She had never seen him move that fast before. He caught her in his arms, settling her on his lower abdomen. He grinned proudly. “That’s better.”
“Is it?” She smiled down at him as she put her hands to work. She massaged his chest, keeping her eyes away from his. He reached up to take her hands, but she swatted him away. “I’m working here, Gil.”
“But, I can think of better ways to work.” He caught her unaware again. This time, he grabbed her arms, knocking her support system out from under her; consequently, she fell against his chest. She made a mental note to keep her guard up around him when she was trying to win a battle, but still smiled. “See? This is better.”
“Yeah?”
He nodded. “Yeah.”
She let him roll them over, and when he started opening her shirt, she helped by starting at the bottom and working up until her hands met his. Her hands slid up his arms, to his bare shoulders, while he put his arms on either side of her. He kissed her lips and then trailed down to her chest, where he paid very close attention to each breast.
“You’re right,” she muttered as the fog rolled in. “Way better.”
She felt one of his hands slide lower and when he reached her inner thigh, she jumped against him. He chuckled and kissed her neck. “Ready already?”
She nodded. “Always ready.” After sliding her legs apart, easing them into a bent position, she started pleading for him. He obliged her with a smile; once they were joined, she felt complete, momentarily sated.
It didn’t last long though. He waited for her to adjust, and when she started to move against him, he joined her. While he held her shoulders with his hands, she wrapped her legs around his hips and arched her back. Her hands scratched at his back, which increased the speed of his thrusting.
He nipped and sucked at the flesh on her neck, sending electric shocks into her system. It never took long, she mused absentmindedly, while grabbing at him greedily. “God, Gil...”
She slipped one hand under his arm, trying to find something else to drive him wild. She tickled the hairs there, and was pleasantly surprised. He shuddered and buried his face into her shoulder. This made Catherine laugh, and while he kissed the secret spot on her neck, she alternated between scratching his back and playing with his underarm hair. He grunted and moaned, and finally exploded inside her.
When he pulled out of her, neither of them said a word. Catherine was going to say something like ‘It doesn’t matter, I’ve already had two tonight,’ but he put a hand over her mouth, and let his other hand slid over her stomach until he found what he was looking for. He slid an index finger inside, and curled the finger towards her stomach.
She jumped at the touch, her eyes seeking his in confusion. Just when she thought men didn’t understand girly body parts, he would have to be the one to prove her wrong. She writhed underneath him as he carefully stroked the incredibly elusive spot inside her warmth.
He played with her until she could take no more. When she cried out, he was there to kiss her lips. She panted and pulled away, resting her head against his chest.
“Goodness, Gil. Where did you learn to do that?”
He blushed and shrugged. After some more prodding, he finally gave up his source: “The internet.”
She surprised the urge to laugh, not wanting to make him uncomfortable. “You did research?”
“Yeah,” he nodded. “I wanted to... know how to do it. Was it—”
Catherine cut him off with a kiss before speaking. “Perfect. I owe you.”
“No way,” he smiled. “We’re even.”
“Alright,” she responded, sitting up to look around the room at the mess they made. Then, a thought popped into her mind. “Warrick knows.”
Gil looked surprised. “How? Did you tell him?”
She shook her head. “He was in the locker room, when we decided to get frisky in the bathroom.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah,” she sighed, taking his hand in hers. “He’s cool with it. Didn’t seem too fazed.”
Gil kissed her. “It’s okay. As long as he doesn’t send out a newsletter or anything.” Catherine chuckled. He then changed the subject: “Did you pick up those chocolates on your way here?”
“No,” she shook her head, and then cursed. “I forgot to run my errands. I was in such a hurry to get over here...”
He grinned. She shoved him, sending him onto his back. He grabbed her, and asked: “Do I get the rest of my massage now?”
The End!
