Want You to Stay || Chenford / The Rookie

Part 26

And so Tim continues to be patient, even though, yes, there have been moments when he has been more than ready to beg Lucy to just, for the love of god, tell him how she feels, to put them both out of their misery.

Moments like this one, when she's sitting next to him on Angela's couch, her bare thigh pressed against his leg and the vee of her neckline showing just enough cleavage to be driving him insane. This, when he's just barely recovered from her FaceTime antics a few weekends prior.

They're at a baptism party for little Jack Evers — a sweet, pure occasion. Except that Tim has been bombarded with decidedly impure thoughts from the moment Lucy arrived in a short, flowery little wrap dress. He had mostly managed to keep it together, closing his gaping jaw and offering her a shaky smile before anyone else noticed. And he'd kept his cool through the buffet brunch, trying not to be too obvious when he stole glances at Lucy from across the room while she chatted with Nyla and Angela's mom.

But then the time had come for everyone to gather around and watch Jack (well, mostly Jack's parents) open up his baptism presents, and Lucy had sauntered over to sit down right next to him on the couch. And now her perfume is all around him and her long waves keep brushing against his arm, and Tim can't keep his eyes from darting back and forth between the smooth skin of her thighs and the subtle swell of her cleavage, no matter how hard he tries.

For her part, Lucy's sly smile when she sat down made it seem like she knew exactly what she was doing to him. Which is almost hotter than the damn sundress.

"You, ah, you look really nice," Tim finally murmurs. No one is paying any attention to them, too wrapped up in oohing and ahhing over some gift Jack has just gotten. Still, Tim keeps his voice low as he leans in closer to her.

"Are you flirting with me?" Lucy murmurs back, lifting one eyebrow as her lips quirk into a pleased little smile.

"I thought I was, but if you have to ask then maybe I'm not doing it right," he jokes quietly, his voice just the slightest bit husky.

Lucy shakes her head a little. "Hmmm... hard to say." She glances coyly up at him through her lashes. "Maybe you should try again, just so I can be sure." Then she slides her hands down her thighs, ostensibly to smooth out her dress, but Tim doesn't miss the way her pinky brushes against his own thigh.

He sucks in a sharp breath and opens his mouth to make a second attempt, but something across the room seems to catch Lucy's eye. She laughs out loud, hand automatically flying up to clamp over her mouth and stifle the unexpected sound. He follows her line of sight and sees little Jack holding a stuffed giraffe toy that is at least three times his size.

"What's so funny?"

"Oh my god... ah nothing," she offers quickly, her eyes still bright with her laughter even as her cheeks begin to flush.

He narrows his eyes. "It doesn't seem like nothing," he observes pointedly, eyes automatically returning to the creamy skin of her thighs as she shifts in her seat.

She waves a hand casually, as if attempting to dismiss his words, "It's not a big deal. It just... ah, reminded me of a dream I had a couple of months ago."

"A dream," he repeats, his voice a low rumble as he watches Lucy closely. "What kind of dream?"

"Just a regular dream... you know... a completely normal one," she squeaks, her blush progressing to an even brighter pink.

He pins her with his gaze, a knowing gleam entering his eyes as he opens his mouth to share his deduction.

She rushes to cut him off, eyes darting around to see who else might be in range of their conversation. "Okay fine, it was a sexy dream," she hisses, mostly mouthing the word 'sexy' so that no one else will hear.

"Involving a stuffed giraffe?" He arches an eyebrow.

"Involving you," Lucy shoots back, and Tim's mouth suddenly goes dry. "The giraffes were... tangential..." she adds after a moment with a shy giggle.

Tim blinks, setting aside his many, many remaining questions about the giraffes in order to process the information that Lucy had a sex dream about him and that his brain might be permanently broken from the hotness of this new knowledge.

"You... don't ever think about that night?" Lucy whispers, her voice suddenly a little uncertain.

"Are you kidding?" Tim responds immediately. Then he leans into her, so close that his nose is touching her ear. The warmth of his breath against her neck makes Lucy shiver. "I haven't been able to stop thinking about it, even when I was trying to forget about it... It was, ah," he swallows, "Very memorable."

It's the first time they've talked about it without the cloud of guilt and regret hanging over them — the first time either one has voiced aloud the undeniable heat that had ignited between them. A heat they had been trying to smother for far too long.

Lucy pulls her head back ever-so-slightly to look at him, and suddenly the undercurrent of want radiating between them is palpable. Far too palpable for where they are right this second.

"Hey Chen, come help me cut this cake," Nyla calls out suddenly from across the room.

Tim blinks rapidly and pulls back, realizing that the rest of the party apparently moved on from gifts to dessert while he and Lucy were casually discussing wet dreams and that one time they had sex. He rubs a hand over the back of his neck, reassuring himself that he definitely was not actually considering finding somewhere private in this house to continue their conversation before they had been interrupted. Definitely not at his godson's baptism party.

Lucy stands up quickly, another blush blooming on her cheeks as she gives him a final flustered smile before hurrying across the room to help Nyla. He's watching her walk away, his jaw still a little slack, when Angela suddenly sidles up next to him, little Jack balanced on her hip.

"What was that all about?" she smirks.

Tim avoids her eyes, all too aware that his friend is a great detective and that his heart is still beating faster than it probably should be. "None of your business," he says lightly, reaching out one hand to tickle Jack on his belly.

"Mmm hmm," Angela hums, clearly not buying what he's selling. "Well whatever it is, it's nice to see you smiling again." She pauses before turning back to the party, "Lucy looks really pretty in that dress, don't you think?" And then with a not particularly sly wink, she is gone.