Frozen

Chapter 13)

Brianna

I climbed into bed and was immediately hooked around the waist and pulled into Barney's warm, hard, muscular form, covered with only a pair of boxer shorts.

"How was your date?" he mumbled lazily into my neck, where his face was tucked.

"Mmm, better than expected," I answered, burrowing myself in closer, reveling in my hot nest of safety.

His arms tightened for a second reflexively then loosened again and I felt his lips press into a barely there kiss on my neck before he spoke again.

"Yeah? How so?"

He was being super affectionate tonight. I mean, he always was. He liked to be near me, touch me, hold me, and because I loved it probably more than him, I allowed it. But tonight he was even more than usual.

"I mean, Jesse and I ran in the same circles in high school, but we were never really close, and for a reason. We didn't have a ton in common. So I guess I was expecting a lot of awkwardness, and there wasn't," I answered.

"Hmm," Barney hummed, the vibrations ticking my neck, making me giggle softly. "Will there be a second date?"

"I gave him my number. So, it's up to him," I said.

"There'll be a second date," Barney immediately said.

"By the way, mister," I said turning in his arms and putting my hands on his bare chest, "what the hell was that with the whole dinner thing?"

He grinned and moved his head so his forehead was touching mine.

"It was a sincere offer," he defended. "If you two are going to..." his face darkened for a split second then the shadow passed as quickly as it came, "you know, get serious, then I want to get to know him better."

I stared at him for several long seconds, trying to gauge whether or not he was serious, then nodded.

"Okay, I'll invite him over for dinner," I agreed.

"Tomorrow," Barney quickly said, "dinner. It's done."

"But-"

"Sh sh sh sh sh," he cut me off, putting his hand over my mouth, "just let this happen."

I laughed and licked his hand, but he didn't move it. Instead, he somehow flipped me around so we were spooning again with his hand over my mouth and nuzzled his face back into my neck.

"Tomorrow," he whispered, "my place, six o'clock. It's done."

I sighed loudly against his hand, but he ignored it.

After no protests from me for several seconds, his hand became an arm around my waist and I snuggled deeper into him.

"Night, baby."
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Jesse pulled up in front of Barney's house and whistled softly.

"Wow," he said under his breath.

I remained silent.

Yes, it was in impressive looking house. But it wasn't ostentatious, it wasn't overtly showy, it was just...very nice.

Bentley, who had been to Barney's place many times, no longer became awed every time he saw it, so he simply took my hand and pulled me to the door.

Incidentally, my little monster was excited for this dinner.

When I told Bentley that him, Jesse, and me would be having dinner over at Barney's apartment, his mouth had spread into an evil little grin that I just knew he had picked up from Barn. We only had to knock on Barney's door once before it opened to a smirking Barney dressed in jeans and a black tee shirt that somehow set off his light baby blues even better than a blue shirt would.