However Do You Want Me... || Chenford / The Rookie

Part 2

Dimples nods vigorously, not seeming to fully process her confusion. "Yup... Good ol' Battle of the Exes. Brutal for us, but great for the ratings." He nods toward the busty blonde that seems to have no concept of personal space. "That's Leah. My ex. So trust me, I get it."

Lucy's breath catches in her throat as she tries to wrap her head around the implications of her and Tim being cast together as partners on a reality TV show that will air nationally with the theme 'Battle of the Exes'.

"I — uh — thanks, but no, I'll get my bags in a minute; I'm just going to go say hello." She stashes her bags into a corner of the foyer before making a beeline toward Tim.

His eyes crinkle at the corners as he catches sight of her over Leah's shoulder, but his smile quickly fades as he reads her expression, concern clouding his features.

She's almost reached them when she's jostled by two idiots carrying three oversized unicorn floaties toward the pool, and she's unable to catch herself as she stumbles into Leah, who in turns slams into Tim, her drink painting the front of his shirt a deep pink as it sloshes between them.

Tim grips Leah's arms to steady her as Lucy grits her teeth trying to regain her own balance as people continue to brush past without seeming to care one bit that they've instigated a collision.

Leah whirls to face Lucy in irritation, "Seriously? Can't you watch where you're going?"

"I—" Lucy doesn't get the opportunity to explain or apologize because Leah's already turned her attention back to Tim, fretting over the stain her spilled drink has left on his shirt.

Tim grabs hold of both of her wrists as she begins to tug at his hemline. "Leah, it's fine. Don't worry about it. I've got it." He nods toward Lucy over her shoulder, "Can you give us a minute?"

Leah glances back to Lucy before returning her gaze to Tim, a small frown marring her pretty face as she seems to be doing the same math as Dimples before her.

Lucy clears her throat, "We need to talk..."

Tim nods, stepping around Leah, and placing a hand on the small of Lucy's back to guide her back into the house. "Are those yours?" he asks, nodding to her bags.

Lucy nods and though she knows it's different from loading war bags into the shop, is still pleasantly surprised by his chivalry when he picks them up and gestures toward the stairs, "Come on, I'll show you where our room is."

And Lucy is momentarily rattled by the realization that yes, of course, they will be sleeping in the same room, likely with a few other teams, but the thought of sleeping next to Tim Bradford every night somehow hadn't factored into how she had envisioned this would all unfold. In fact, she's starting to quickly realize that she'd let the glamorous ideas of being on TV and traveling the world and kicking butt in the competition completely box out any practical and realistic consideration of what living here in this situation for the next few weeks will actually be like.

She's jolted from her thoughts when she realizes Tim has come to a stop in one of the bedrooms, depositing her bags on what she assumes will be her bed, and is now pulling off his punch-soaked shirt in front of her.

Her eyes widen in surprise as she numbly processes that, yes, he looks just as good, if not better, than the last time she got to see this particular show.

If he notices her response, he doesn't say anything, instead turning to dig through his own bag for a new shirt.

"What's wrong, Chen?" Tim asks as he glances briefly back at her.

Get a grip, Lucy tells herself; if the show is anything like prior seasons, she's going to need to get comfortable with shirtless Tim Bradford and fast. "Do you know what the theme of this season is?"

"The what?" Tim turns back to her, fresh shirt in hand, and though Lucy knows she should be keeping her focus on his eyes, she can't help but follow the path of the cotton as he pulls it over his head, down over his broad chest, before slowly, but surely, the fabric obscures the beauty of his chiseled abs. "Lucy?"

She coughs, feeling a slight flush heat her cheeks as she brings her eyes back to his, trying to recollect the seriousness of the matter at hand. "The theme. You know — there's a premise each season, Rivals, Battle of the Sexes, PD vs. FD..."

"Okay, and...?"

Lucy huffs a frustrated sigh, "The problem is that the theme of this season is Battle of the Exes."

Tim's eyebrows knit together in confusion, "Ex-what?"

"Oh my god," Lucy groans, bringing her hands up to cover her face momentarily, before allowing them to drop as her eyes meet Tim's again, "What do you think, Tim? Exes. Ex-lovers."

"But we're not..."

Lucy briefly wonders how much he's had to drink with how slow he seems to be on the uptake at the moment. "I know we're not. But... oh my God, all of America is going to think I fucked my TO."

***

Tim's eyes widen at her words, as they spur an alarmingly vivid visual of boot Lucy climbing over to straddle him in their shop, one hand reaching up to remove her necktie while the other reaches back to let her hair loose from her bun.

He swallows, forcing his mind back to the present, telling himself that he has no control over what Lucy's explicit word choice might have conjured up in his head and that there's nothing there to read into.

"But we're not; w-we didn't..." he offers again, unsure of how to process her revelation amidst the intense awkwardness he's still feeling as he tries to stop his mind from cataloging all of the viable sex positions they could have tried out in the shop. What the fuck is happening?

She stares at him incredulously, "I know that."

"So why would they cast us on this dumb show if we're not exes?" Willfully reeling his mind out of the gutter, he softens as he takes in how upset she clearly is. "Lucy, look, it's fine. We'll just talk to Lisa. Explain the mistake and get the hell out of here. No one's going to think that we..." He trails off as she looks up at him with that hopeful, trusting look in her big brown eyes that never fails to tug at a deep-seated compulsion to protect and reassure her. He stops just short of reaching for her, not entirely trusting himself given the unexpected recent trajectory of his thoughts. "It'll be okay, Lucy," he offers instead. "Let's go find her now."