[Room 15, with Michael]

[notinthebook]

 She's got the brand-new bottle of Johnny Walker Blue in one hand when she knocks at the door of Room 15, feeling unaccountably nervous.  

It's not like this is weird, or anything.  It's not like she thinks he'll be unhappy to see her -- or the whiskey.  And she wants to know how the latest mission went, whether there were more crab-monsters involved, or...whatever might be out there.

(But they haven't talked, alone, since her stint as bartender and the fight they'd had, which, in retrospect...she doesn't even remember how it got started, or why.  That feeling of sinking unhappiness is pretty immediately recognizable, though.)

If asked, she might not even be able to say why she's here, aside from the simplest reason she can put in words: she wanted to see him.

I miss you, he'd written, once.

Well, the feeling's mutual.

Comments

[luvs_yogurt]

"Nothing," he shakes his head, smiling softly. After peeling off her shirt and the opened bra, he quietly adds; "You're, uh... you're beautiful, Emma. I just hope you know that."

It's awkward and strange and anyone but him would have sounded a lot more smooth saying something like that. From him it sounds the same way genuine compliments always do - simple and yet foreign.

Shaking his head again, he leans back down and presses a warm kiss against her chin - trailing his mouth and tongue to her ear as he enjoys the simple comfort of skin to skin contact across his chest.

[notinthebook]

She has to half sit up for him to slide the shirt and bra off, tousling her hair in the process, and she's only just laid down again when he answers her, voice low and sincere. His eyes are so blue it's dizzying, and a warm flush floods her skin, turning it pink in pleased embarrassment, like she's some sort of infatuated teenager.

Fortunately, she doesn't have a lot of time to be embarrassed before that flush warms further, thanks to the shivers chasing over her skin at the feel of warm breath and lips against the sensitive skin on her neck and ear. Another gasp drags itself from deep in her chest, and her fingers tighten against his back, digging in, wanting him closer, tighter.

She was an idiot to leave that night.

"You've been driving me crazy," she says, when she can string together enough words to form a full sentence without her brain exploding or her breath disappearing. "Just so you know."

[luvs_yogurt]

He's not sure what she means, he can't be sure - there's so much he could read into her words. So instead, he focuses on that pleasant gasp and the way she seems determined to pull him even closer.

His teeth find the ridge of her ear, distracting her with a gentle nip as his palms fold over her bare breasts - drinking in each sensation and yet forcing himself to take it slow and easy.

It could go fast... so very fast and energetic like a series of concussive blasts.

[notinthebook]

Last time, it was all desperation, a deep desire to prove to each other that they'd made it through the night and the job and that they were both alive and in one piece. That's what had sparked those kisses, those touches, the need to be close and closer.

Right now, though, she doesn't have adrenaline pumping through her veins, isn't afraid that he was dead or hurt. The sun hasn't even really set, spilling through the window and warming the bedspread they're so thoroughly messing up. This is just about him, and what they both want, and the fact that what she really needs, right now, is to be wanted.

So she closes her eyes and concentrates on the way his teeth skim over her ear and how his hands and warm and gentle and how it feels so good when she runs her hands up the dip of his spine, slide them over his chest. She finds the juncture of neck and shoulder and kisses there, sliding mouth and tongue up the tensing muscle at the side of his neck and tasting salt on his skin.

[luvs_yogurt]

Slow is good, slowly enjoying the curves of her body - drinking in the warmth of the moment as they take their time in heaving, shuddering and exhausting gasps until they're left satisfied and wrung out like sponges as he clings to her in the mussed collection of overpriced egyptian cotton sheets and decorative pillows. Such a contrast to the way it had been before - something new and almost entirely different.

Just as nice.

"Mmmm, Emma...." he traces his hand down her side as they lie belly to belly - looking at her with what he's sure is a dopey, exhausted grin. "I'm thinking dinner."

[notinthebook]

Slow is definitely good.

It's nice to take their time, and it quells the little nervous jumps she keeps getting: maybe this is due to the job, maybe it's thanks to the missions he's been going on, maybe he'll change his mind. Each slow, deliberate kiss and gentle touch and movement together soothes her a little further, winds that knot up until it finally snaps, making her whole body shake and her hands tighten against his back and finally, finally letting her relax.

She feels like a puddle of herself, legs tangled in sheets and him, her arm loose and comfortable over his waist, fingers idly tracing the curve at the small of his back.

"If I could move, dinner would be great," she says, laughing, letting her head sink a little further into the pillow. This is it, what she's been needing, the thing that will shake all her tensions and aches away.

He's got such a stupidly amazing smile, and she leans over to kiss it, lightly. "I'm kind of a fan of staying here for a minute, though."

[luvs_yogurt]

He can't help but keep grinning at her - it's not fair that someone can do this to him... that a friend can make him feel like this.

"Mmm, I could probably manage putting on some shorts to make it to the door when room service comes." He answers, echoing her kiss with a somewhat harder one. "And then you could simply enjoy yourself until food is brought up."

It wouldn't take much to get used to this, he thinks, to actually care about the person you're in bed with - to want to make them feel special and adored. The thought disturbs him so he buries his head against Emma's sloped shoulder - kissing the familiar pinked flesh.

[notinthebook]

"I'm enjoying myself right now," she says, letting herself be drawn closer. He's warm, comfortable, and her eyes slide shut when he kisses her back, making her press forward to let it linger.

"Not that I'm against the idea of room service."

Times like this are what room service is for, so they can stay here and she can make up for leaving before, see what it's like to stay on purpose, to be with somebody deliberately. He buries his face against her shoulder, and she grins, shivers at the kiss. Her palm runs over the smooth, slight rise at his hip. "I mean, I do have that breakfast I missed out on."

[luvs_yogurt]

"Mmm, it's different when I make it for you..." He somehow manages to grin even wider, kissing her again as his body rocks gently against her - enjoying not on the sensation of her skin but the easy way each touch warms him.

"Besides," he whispers against her ear; "I'm enjoying you enough that if I don't put some shorts on we may have to postpone dinner."

[notinthebook]

"Rain check, then."

This bed is stupidly huge, all white sheets and too many pillows (a few on the floor, now), and here they are, clinging to each other other in the middle of it like they'll fall off if they let go.

It's kind of a nice feeling.

She tips her head back for his kisses, providing a long, slim stretch of throat, smiling again, like she can't stop herself. "I wouldn't argue with that, either," she teases, sliding her hand up his back, mapping the muscles there.

"But we do have all night. And most of tomorrow."

[luvs_yogurt]

The tease elicits a low, pleased groan and another hard dig against her side - God he feels like a teenager. For the moment, he can't think of a single better place than being adrift in the tousled bed and taking out every ounce of frustration and anger and fear they've both had until they're so wrung out they can't even move.

But, she does have a point.

"Mmmm, tomorrow's work... tonight..." he growls again, nipping playfully at the joining of her shoulder and neck; "I've got other things on my mind."

[notinthebook]

That little bite makes her breath catch, makes her laugh. "Good."

He's been on her mind, too, and not just because of what happened with Graham. She's been curious about what he's been up to, unsure of how to act around him because what always seems to end up happening is that she wants to be right here.

"I'm, uh, feeling a little fuzzy, myself. This clearly calls for room service and something stupid on TV. And more of the same."

Her hand curves around his shoulder and she slides a little closer, planting kisses on the solid muscle there.

[luvs_yogurt]

His own laughter catches him off guard again, curling him against her with almost desperate giggles into her shoulder. Catching himself after a long moment, Michael sighs and shakes his head - lifting it up to meet her gaze with glassy eyes.

"Yeah," he nods, grinning wide and real in a way that will scare him when he has time to think about it. "You find something stupid and my shorts? I'll do the honors of calling down?"

It's the kind of place where there aren't even prices on the room service menu - if you have to ask how much it is, you shouldn't order it. Everything is good.

[notinthebook]

"It's a deal," she says, grinning, cheeks dimpling, though she's reluctant to actually move. Her body doesn't want to respond, wants to stay right where it is, in the comfortable dip they're making in the mattress, but she rolls over with an effort, sheet tangling around her legs and hip. His shorts are...somewhere; she sifts through a few pieces of clothing before finding them and tossing them his way.

The remote is easier, and she starts flipping through the channels, frowning thoughtfully at each offering.

Bond marathon: kind of on the nose.

Food Network: not before they eat, it always makes her hungry.

She settles for some action movie that fills the room with slightly muted noise and light against the sunset outside, tosses the remote on the mattress so he can grab it if he wants to. Grabbing a pillow, she stuffs it against the headboard, slides down on it with a sigh.

"That's about all I'm good for."

[luvs_yogurt]

He'll be too wrapped up in her and his own thoughts to watch anyway.

Michael manages himself up and to the bathroom, returning with his shorts on only to pick up the phone and menu.

Two shrimp dinners and a bottle of champagne ordered, he curls himself against her again - holding her tight.

"I meant to tell you earlier, but thank you for doing this for me."

[notinthebook]

She settles, heavy and lazy, against his side, her hair tangling between her head and the pillow and his arm and shoulder. The movie is vaguely distracting, but she turns hazel eyes on him when his voice comes low in her ear.

"I told you," she says. "Anytime. By the way, you know you don't need to pay me for helping you out, right?"

That five thousand in cash helped out with her tab and Mary Margaret's, and he hasn't seemed to notice the addition to his tab, or anything, but still. She feels weird about taking his money.

Not about this, though: not about curling up in bed with her head pressing against his, letting her leg slide between his, and relaxing, and that's weird enough to make her want to tense up.

"And...I wanted to see you."

[luvs_yogurt]

"It was your cut," he murmurs against her ear, squeezing his arm around her. "That's how I work - when a job pays, everyone gets their fair share."

He lets the last words linger a moment, burying his face against her hair before he quietly replies; "I'm glad."

And he is, even if she's too close - if every sensible thought is telling him he needs to back away and cool it off before he's in too deep to walk away or cope when she does. If he hadn't walked away from Fiona first back in Ireland, when she left it would have gutted him. He can't let that happen again.

Still, it would seem sensible thought can be easily buried by the sensation of her skin against his and his lips on her forehead.

"I missed you."

[notinthebook]

"You're the one who needs the money," she points out, but it lacks sting. She's feeling too lazy to really argue, and when he kisses her forehead, she feels a tiny smile pull at her lips, a little dip of a frown forming where his lips pressed.

This is...nothing she's used to. One-night stands are just that -- one night -- and when you agree to be friends afterwards, you don't end up in bed, wrapped up in each other like the body heat is needed for survival.

When was the last time anybody touched her with that kind of tenderness? She wants to grab hold of it, keep it close and safe, and fling it out the window at the same time.

"Then it's a good thing I came by."

[luvs_yogurt]

"It's always a good thing," he sighs, kissing her head again and closing his eyes. Part of his brain is screaming to let go, to find his binoculars and go to the window and start casing the house - to do anything but let himself get used to this. It'll only end badly.

But, he remains - stubbornly needing this moment of secure comfort.

"Don't worry about money. I called in a favor and I've got more than enough." For now, a lot of it is going into this job, but there'll be another job - there's always another job.

[notinthebook]

"Yeah?"

She tips her head back to look up at him, hair making a gentle rustling noise against the clean fabric of the pillow. Her hand slides up to rest on his chest, and that shouldn't feel as secure as it does.

This is stupid. That's what everyone says at the beginning, before everything goes to hell. She knows better than to believe it. It's a line like any other.

It'd be nice, though. Nice for him to mean it, and maybe he does, for now.

Now's just going to have to be good enough, and it's not like she needs more. "I'll have to keep that in mind."

[luvs_yogurt]

"You better," he smiles again, pressing a kiss to the tip of her nose, and then against her lips until he can taste her again.

He's torn, as always, between what he wants and what he thinks is best for both of them. For the moment, all he wants is more of her - more of this moment and the brief taste of a normal life he could never have as though there wasn't some psychopath agent that burned him breathing down his neck.

Somewhere a million miles away on television, an action star blew up a house that Michael would have picked apart the inaccuracies of if he wasn't far more interested in fitting his hand over Emma's breast and drinking in the sensations of touching her and kissing her again.

[notinthebook]

Now that they aren't pulling at each other like she's trying to climb right under his skin, she can actually concentrate on this: this kiss, his mouth, the way his tongue sweeps across her bottom lip and the little noise that pulls out of her when his teeth graze the same spot. She can roll them both over, remote falling to the floor with a clatter, until his weight is pressing her into the mattress. Just for now there's nothing except the slanting sunlight falling across them both, warming the sheets, and that pleasant knot tying itself in her stomach, and the way her thumbs fit into the hollows of his hips.

If they're getting dinner anyway, then she's absolutely determined to work up an appetite. And what's the point of doing anything other than enjoying the moment? Isn't that why she came to find him, so she could have something else to think about, someone else to focus on?

God, is she screwed in the head, or what?

So she threads fingers into his short brown hair, tugs him down for another kiss, deep and lingering, and, really, Michael should not be this addicting. It's just another sign of how dangerous he is, right?

[luvs_yogurt]

Letting out a soft moan against her lips, Micheal lets himself get swept away in the moment - part of his brain still lingering on the outskirts enough to know every bit of what's going on around them, but more than anything he's considering how good it feels to press against her and just let it happen.

"God... Emma..." he murmurs, letting out a shuddering breath when the knot of arousal returns like the flick of light switch. "You have this... amazing effect on me..." he laughs, almost sheepishly before kissing her again. "It's really not fair."

[notinthebook]

Well, crap. That noise he makes sends shivers running over her skin like someone's holding an ice cube to the back of her neck, and she grins, bites gently at the fluttering pulse in his throat, voice teasing.

"I don't think it's exactly all that unusual."

There's nothing weird about this. He's an attractive guy, and he happens to be attracted to her; they like each other; they get each other. Normal, right?

Never mind the part where she sucks at normal, wouldn't know it if it smacked her in the face.

"I'd like to point out that you brought me to a super nice hotel in Miami. If anyone's not playing fair, here, it's you, not me."

[luvs_yogurt]

Definitely unusual for him, but he knows his frame of reference is skewed. The concept of normal doesn't happen anywhere near the Westen family tree.

"Mmm," he kisses her again, stopping her words a long moment before admitting; "in all fairness, Barry picked the hotel because it's within visual range of the house."

Hoping to gain a little face, he nips her lower lip and adds; "I just thought of you when my plan needed a beautiful woman that knows how to handle herself that I can trust."

The last being the biggest compliment he could give.