Chapter Two
Lunch was an interesting time in the lab. It was rare for more than two people to stop work and eat at the same time, but somehow, it had worked out that everyone was in the break room that afternoon, with the detritus of their lunch on every available surface. Coversation had started with the case that they were working on, the obese man that was murdered in his rundown house, slit across the throat, and tied up like a victim. Once they had run out of all avaiable subjects to do with the case, they had all broken off into their own conversations, filling that room with the rare sound of laughter.
Calleigh had turned to talk with Alexx Woods, picking away slowly at the salad in front of her. "So, there I am, laying on this pool chair, right? Skimpy little black bikini, the whole nine yards. And this gorgeous hunk of a man walks into the back yard. Blonde, blue eyed, muscles like you wouldn't believe, deep tan."
"Really?" Alexx asked, her eyebrows raising as she listened to her friend's description.
"His name is Svend. He has the accent and everything. He comes up to me and says, 'I'm Svend, the pool boy. Svend has come to clean your pool.' I swear, word for word." The three women giggled, and the men dropped all pretense of conversation as they listened to what was going to come out of Calleigh's mouth next. "He leaves, and then comes back with all his pool cleaning gear, and starts. I watch him the whole time, watchthose muscles rippling under the sun, watch his hands...that part gets me every time." The three men traded a look, and continued to eat. "When he finishes, he walks over to me, and say, 'Svend is finished. The pool is clean.' And I look up at him, batting the eyelashes and smiling, and tell him, 'No, Svend isn't finished.' He leans down to me...and I wake up. Every time. I never know what Svend does to me, but whatever it is, I'm sure it's good."
Eric Delko shook his head as he balled up the now empty bag of chips and tossed it into the nearby garbage can. "You have to be kidding me, Calleigh. Svend? The things that come out of your mouth sometimes..." He trailed off and chuckled when he felt her gentle kick under the table.
"Don't mock Svend. Svend loves me. He visits me at least once a week. Svend talks in third person."
"Svend sounds like a Swedish meatball," he teased in return, slapping Speedle on the back when he choked on the mouthful of pop. Speedle coughed, waving a hand to ward off his friend, and laughing all at the same time.
Megan rolled her eyes and looked over at the youngest man, leaning her elbow on the table as she turned to look at him. "Are you going to tell me that you don't have fantasies, Eric? You don't wake up in the middle of the night with a smile on your face?"
"Yeah, but mine are garden variety. I don't have elaborate storylines and names for them. Svend," he muttered again, turning to look at Speedle.
He raised his hands quickly. "Hey, I'm not saving you from this one. You heard the woman, don't mock Svend."
Calleigh laughed as she tossed her hair over her shoulder. "So, why weren't you talking about your guy stuff while we were talking about...what we were talking about." She bit into a piece of carrot. "Whatever happened to football, women, cars?"
It was a painful sigh that came from Eric. "The football season sucks so far, the women aren't talking to me, and my cars in the shop. See, covered everything. Besides, why do you care if we were listening or not? Maybe it gave Speedle a thrill." He accepted the punch on his arm with a wince, rubbing the now sore area, wondering if there would be a bruise there when he woke up the next morning.
The entire time, Horatio Caine had watched his team tease each other and bicker playfully with a patient smile on his face. It was the reason that he had handpicked every one of them. Not just because they were all excellent in each of their chosen fields, but because he wanted a team that would get along, that would actually be a team. The only person he didn't have the authority to choose, Alexx, was a welcome addition. He wouldn't have been able to choose better himself. But at the moment, he got to his feet and looked around at everyone else. "You know what I care about? Closing this case before the end of the week. Once you're finished..." He trailed off and left the room.
"Looks like it's back to work," Speedle muttered, balling up the wrapper from his sandwich and throwing it in the trash can, before following behind his supervisor.
One by one, they cleaned up and left the room.
"Tim?" she called as she walked in the door, looking around the living room and kitchen for him. His voice floated out to her from the small porch, and she walked through the doorway, watching him. "Uh oh, you're grilling. What's wrong?" she asked, walking out to stand next to him, looking down at the plump t-bones that he was currently basting with a barbecue sauce that he made by hand.
"Nothing," he said lowly, shaking his head as he put the small brush back into the bowl, licking sauce from the tip of one finger. He looked at her and groaned. "Really, Calleigh, there's nothing wrong. I just had a...yen...for a steak."
"A yen?" she asked, crossing her arms as she watched him lift the bottle of beer and tip it up. "Now you're pulling out the vocabulary. I know that something's wrong."
His response was to pick up the unopened bottle of beer and turn the cap, listening tot he brisk snap before he handed it to her. She sipped it, wrinkling her nose at the foam. "It was Megan. She was having a bad day, or something. A bad week. We had a little...thing." He shrugged and turned his attention back to the sizzling steaks. "You know me."
"Always in a bad mood whenever you fight with Megan." Calleigh moved away and sat down at the patio table, curling her denim clad legs towards her. "And you'll both be steaming mad until tomorrow morning, because you're going to bring her some coffee, and she'll smile like she's surprised, but she knows that you're going to do it anyway. She'll apologize, you'll shrug and say that it was no big deal, and all will be forgiven until the next fight, when you do it all over again." She smiled at the look of surprise on his face. "Don't forget, I know you. I have sex with you, I should know you."
He shook his head with a chuckle and left the barbecue to sit down across from her. Immediately, she uncurled her legs and kicked off her sandals, laying her feet in his lap. His hand automatically went downto her ankles, caressing them unconsciously. "You've seen me do it, huh?"
She shrugged her shoulders, reaching her arms up to release her hair from its french braid. He watched, entralled, as the blonde ripples fell down past her shoulders. There was something overtly erotic about watching her hair rest on her breasts like that, he told himself. "Of course. I was walking by one day and I saw it happen, that's all. It's not like I go around spying on you." She smiled brightly. "Well, I don't spy on you every day."
"Uh huh." He reached for his beer, both of them silent, the only sounds were that of the barbecue and the ocean. "So, how come you never told me about Svend?"
"Do you need to know everything about me?" she asked, blue eyes wide.
His lips pursed as he drummed his fingers on the table. "So, that's why you woke up last night around midnight." He watched as a flush came to her cheeks. "What, you thought that I wouldn't notice? You were really getting into it."
Her blush intensified, and she ducked her head, hair framing her face and hiding it from his view. "I didn't."
"You did."
It was hard to hear them from where I was standing, but I could hear the occasional sentence, the occasional laugh. He was laughing. That was rare.
"Heavy breathing, whimpering..." I heard him say, and I felt my face redden. Not with embarressment, but with anger. Didn't want to hear this. Had to hear this.
She protested, he went on. I couldn't see them, but I could just imagine. Imagine them sitting side by side, her head on his shoulder, his hand on her arm, maybe brushing her breast. Disgusting. Both of them, together, absolutely disgusting. Probably inseperable, side by side.
"Well, you know, we could go live out that fantasy," she proposed. I heard his protest about the steaks and her offer to pay for pizza if they got burnt. They were probably kissing now. Touching. Did he put a hand or both on her face when they kissed? Did she caress whatever part of him she could touch? They must have been barefooted, because I heard their awkward step back into the house, her giggle when they bumped into something.
All the windows, all the doors were open. Did they not care, or did they just want the sound and smell of the ocean to drift through the rooms? They probably didn't care about making noise; there were no neighbors to disturb. Just this lonely little house, so easy to get into if no one were home, so easy to get into even if people were at home.
Heard her moan. Heard his chuckle.
I left.
It wasn't time yet.
It had been pizza that night, rather than the steaks. She had felt bad at first, when they had discovered that the meat had been completely burnt, but ont he other hand, she reasoned, she felt damned good after sex with him. They were side by side on the couch, both with their feet propped up on the table. She was wearing one of his tee shirts and a pair of panties. He had put on a pair of jeans and nothing else. They just sat there and sedately ate their way through the pizza silently.
"Why don't you ever turn the television on?" she asked suddenly, breaking him out of whatever reverie he had been in. "Every time I'm here, the only time it's on is if we're watching a movie."
"Have you seen what's on television nowadays."
"Not even the Discovery Channel for Shark Week, or History...something?"
He shook his head. "Nah. I've got you to entertain me."
She smiled at that and leaned over to kiss him, licking her lips afterwards. "You taste like pepperoni."
"Thanks," he returned, giving her a funny look as he reached for another piece. "You want any more?"
She shook her head, wiping her fingers with a napkin. "No, thanks. I'm full, I'm tired, I think I'm just going to head to bed."
Speedle caught the look and grinned. "You're on."
Chapter Three coming soon!
