Protecting Sunshine

10. My Mistake

After they shared a kiss that Lucy seemed to totally regret, Tim did his best to keep his distance...while following her around, of course. Tonight's plan was to have him observe karaoke night. Although he could not confirm it, he suspected Angela was the mastermind of Lucy's dangerously short skirt and the plunging neckline of her top. Even if it were not his job to stare at Lucy all night, he was unable to resist looking at her under normal circumstances, but this outfit kept his eyes glued to her body.

The two women drank way more alcohol than Tim had ever seen either of them consume before so much so that Lucy was swaying on her feet when she got on the stage of the karaoke bar and started singing. Even inebriated, she sounded pretty great. Her performance earned her a lot of whistles from the crowd as her hips moved to the beat, but one wrong step, and she tripped. Tim was right there lunging to catch her and flipped her in his arms to carry her with an arm under her knees and another wrapped around her back.

"Put me down," she slurred.

"Time to go home," he insisted and wove through the bar to the nearest exit.

"She can walk!" Angela protested to the agent's back while following as quickly as she could.

"No, she can't," Tim responded gruffly. After making a fool of herself for an hour and seeing that she was only becoming more uncoordinated as she drank more alcohol, he did not trust her to walk.

Lucy settled her head on his shoulder and nuzzled his neck. "You smell so good I just wanna bottle it up," she chuckled.

He smiled but would not dare to respond to the compliment. Instead, he carried her all the way to the door of her condo, but Angela threw her body in the doorway to stop him. "You're not coming in!"

"She's drunk! I'm gonna help her get to bed, and then I'll leave."

"You shouldn't even touch her! You shouldn't be anywhere near her!"

"It's his job, Ang. Let him carry me to bed," Lucy smiled lazily.

Tim flashed an "I told you so" face and shouldered past Angela to take Lucy into her bedroom. He laid her down carefully and then immediately took off her shoes.

"You've done your job. You can go," Angela snapped.

He stepped around her to go into the bathroom, then, he returned with a makeup wipe. With careful strokes, Tim started removing her heavy mascara and eyeshadow. "Lucy hates sleeping with her makeup on, so I'm gonna make sure her face is clean first."

"This is way beyond your job description," Angela crossed her arms and popped her hip to the side.

"I don't take care of her because it's my job. You know it's more to me than that."

She rolled her eyes. "Don't you dare even think of sleeping with him!" Angela ordered and exited the condo to find Wes. Though he was not her favorite person, she knew Tim could be trusted to help Lucy considering how sweetly he was wiping the makeup off of her face.

Lucy chuckled and traced his cheekbones, "You're so pretty."

"So are you," he smiled.

She made a happy little sound and blushed, "You think I'm pretty?"

"Actually, you're beautiful. Especially without all of this makeup." He wiped off the last bit of foundation and admired her face.

Lucy ran a hand through Tim's hair, disturbing the way the gel held it in place. They both shut their eyes and sighed at the sensation.

"I'm gonna go get you some water," he finally said and stood to dispose of the wipe in his hands and get some distance before kissing her like he desperately wanted to.