To Serve and Protect

Chapter 5 - Playing with Fire

If you are ever in doubt as to whether to kiss a pretty girl, always give her the benefit of the doubt. - Thomas Carlyle

Chapter 5 - Playing with Fire

*Flashback*

The evening was still young and neither Helen nor I were willing to call it an night. Instead, I grab a movie and she goes off to the kitchen to make some popcorn. With her feet curled tight under herself and me on the other corner of the couch, we settle in.

The silence between us is not as comfortable as it had been just a few hours earlier. She breaks the tension with, "I'm sorry. I'm not the type usually to use people like that. I'm sorry, really." Her lips are tight, but her apology was genuine.

"It's ok. Ex-boyfriend?" As much as shouldn't have asked, I still did. "Sorry, none of my business."

"No, Luke is a nice guy, even though tonight he sounded like a jerk, he's nice. I'm not sure why he's with her, but that kiss wasn't about him."

"It's really none..."

"I feel I owe you an explanation. Maggie isn't a very nice person. She was a cheerleader with me at the university. She had a habit of tearing down others to help build herself up." She grimaces and then smiles at me in a way that makes my heart almost skip a beat, and I feel myself smiling back. "I have a face of a perky 16-year-old girl and a body not much different than an adolescent boy, and she liked to make fun of me."

"Helen, that's..." I want to tell her how pretty she is, how cute I think she is, how much her smile makes me happy.

"Don't get me wrong, I don't have a body image problem. The way I see it I'm not much different looking than Audrey Hepburn in body type, with a large mouth and eyes to match. If she's could rock the look to get the attention of Gregory Peck, Cary Grant, and Sean Connery, then I'll do just fine, also." She laughs but it's not in a self-deprecating way. "Maggie used to say I'd only attract the attention of skinny, nerdy geeks. In her words, never a real man."

"I don't under..." She keeps cutting me off, or maybe I keep trying to interrupt her train of thought.

"You're a hot beefy stud muffin, Holden." Her smirk makes me laugh. "The opposite of everything she said, and I just felt like showing off with you. I know I overstepped our friendship and I'm sorry, but can I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

"Why did you kiss me back?" She bit the corner of her inner lip, struggling with the situation.

"Honestly, I don't know. You surprised me, and I just wanted to kiss you, again." Her face flames a bright pink, and she shakes her head. "Do me a favor though, the next time you feel the urge to kiss me, make it because you want to kiss me, ok?"

"Deal."

She settles back in her place on my couch. My legs are stretched out on the dark wooden coffee table, and she stretches her legs across the couch, barely touching me. The sound of a soft groan comes from her lips as she stretches her neck. "Can you hand me one of your pillows? I'm getting a little stiff necked."

"Here," I say. I place a pillow in my lap, offering her a place to lay her head. This was done so quickly; I couldn't take back my actions.

"Thank you." She nuzzles deep getting comfortable, making the most erotic noise deep in the back of her throat. My hand move her hair out of her face and tuck it behind her ear, giving me an unhindered view of her pretty face. "Hmmm," escapes her mouth, and I can no longer control myself.

With the touch of my finger and thumb, I tilt her head my direction, causing her to lie on her back, and I bring my lips back to hers. My fingers trace the outline of her face, committing her to memory. Again, words cannot describe the feeling she sends through me. She lets me part her lips, letting me tug her bottom lip with my teeth. My tongue explores her mouth until her tongue meets mine. She lets out the sweet little moan, and she shifts to a sitting position on my lap, getting even closer to me.