Fic: Consumate
I blame Chibs for this. I really do.
Title: Consumate
Rating: T
Word Count: Insane (8 598 words)
Genre/Pairing: Romance, Jane/Lisbon, The Mentalist
Summary: Even if most things about his return to the U.S. are better than he deserves, at least one thing is unacceptable. He's determined to fix it though. He hopes he can. He certainly wants to. Jane drops by Lisbon's apartment, long after the case is closed, with an unexpected question. And she isn't sure how to react. For Chibs, set immediately after 6.11.
A/N: Hello Readers. Before you get to the fic, I feel a need to tell you a story. A story of chizuru_chibi and her crazy prompting powers (at least where I am concerned; see: Stolen Kiss, Secret Drawer, Working Out, etc.). She asked me how I would write and I quote, “A steamy TM fic.” Because she was curious as to how I would do it (the answer is probably Restraints, P.S.). I don’t know if this even qualifies. But this is the best I can do, at this point. I’ve been picking at it for a month. It needs to be posted. A thousand thank you’s to spyglass_, for reading it over and telling me it wasn’t terrible.
xxx
“What are you doing here?” Lisbon asked as she let Jane into her apartment.
He followed her into her living room. “I needed to see you.”
“Okay,” she said, wondering what was going on him with him. He didn’t usually visit her at home.
When she reached the centre of the room she turned and stopped walking.
He didn’t.
Jane advanced gradually, smiling slowly in a way that Lisbon knew promised nothing but trouble.
She had an inexplicable urge to shift slightly backwards and to the right, putting her coffee table between them, but she resisted it. After all, there was no need to step away from Jane.
Besides, something told her he’d have just walked around the obstacle anyway, the way he was prowling.
He seemed to sense her attempts to squash an instinctive flight response. “I just want to ask you a question,” he assured her, coaxing and cajoling and not fooling her for a second. She knew him too well. And he was up to something.
“So ask,” she all but ordered, well aware that most times the best move was to confront a circling predator head on. If they couldn’t hide in the grass and take you by surprise, they often turned tail and ran.
Jane’s smile widened, as if he’d been expecting confrontation, as if she’d walked right into...
A quick intake of breath stilled in her throat.
And Lisbon suddenly knew she was in very, very big trouble.
“I just wanted to ask you,” Jane promised again, his voice warm and smooth and treacherous. “Lisbon, darling, have you ever been really, thoroughly, seduced?”
xxx
2 hours earlier
xxx
Jane was still dripping slightly when the team made its way back to the FBI building after his necessary escape into the harbour. He was grumbling off and on under his breath (mostly for effect, he had to admit). He didn’t really mind the wet clothes. He’d certainly been in more uncomfortable situations, and this one was just temporary. Although he wouldn’t have minded a little bit of sympathy from his colleagues, something that seemed to be in short supply.
“I can only assume that your evening didn’t quite go as you planned, Mr. Jane,” Abbot said meeting the team in the hallway. “Date not impressed?”
Jane ignored Fischer and Lisbon’s smothered snickers. He shrugged. “Not my type after all, Dennis. A little too murderous, in the end.”
“Yes,” Abbott agreed dryly. “I guess we should be relieved that you didn’t end up another casualty. Fischer, Lisbon, Cho, good work. We’ll debrief in fifteen minutes.”
Abbot turned and walked towards his office to a chorus of “Thank you, sir’s” and a sputtering Jane.
“Fischer, Lisbon and Cho,” Jane muttered. “Oh and thanks for getting that confession, Jane.”
“Just before jumping overboard,” Cho added.
“It’s not like we hadn’t already figured it out by that point,” Lisbon pointed out indignantly.
“Plus, if you’d bothered to tell us what you’re planning, you might not have had to dive off a yacht,” Fischer put in.
Jane stared at them. “You know what you are? You’re just mean.”
Cho shrugged. “And you’re just disappointed because your date turned out to be a murdering sociopath.”
Lisbon and Fischer were smirking again.
“She didn’t turn out to be a murdering sociopath,” Jane insisted. “I knew she was a murdering sociopath going in.”
The ladies had apparently decided to ignore him. “I told you something else was going on,” Lisbon said to Fischer as they walked into the bullpen side by side. Jane followed with Cho.
“You called it,” Fischer agreed. “Though, I suppose we shouldn’t tease him too hard. He wasn’t the only one who had a romantic disappointment over the course of this case.”
Lisbon looked confused for a moment before chuckling under her breath. “Oh yeah, Dale.”
Jane perked up immediately, his eyes sparkling with curiosity
“Yeah, Dale,” Fischer agreed with a laugh. “What was the other one’s name again?”
Lisbon paused. “Matt. No... Mike.”
Cho walked over to his desk. “And who are Dale and Mike?”
Jane was silently thankful the other man had asked the question so he hadn’t had to. Less chance of Lisbon refusing to answer, just on principle.
“Two guys who wanted to buy us drinks at the bar,” Fischer explained. “Thought Lisbon had a beautiful name.”
“Lisbon does have a beautiful name,” Jane mused, watching her reaction carefully out of the corner of his eye.
“Yeah, and that lasted right up until they found out what we did for a living,” Lisbon shot back, forgetting she was ignoring Jane.
“Gets ‘em every time,” Fischer added with something between a smirk and a sigh.
“Hm?” Jane asked, fishing for more information. This was far more interesting than being teased for dripping all over the floor.
“Oh come on,” Lisbon said, looking at him incredulously. He really couldn’t not know what they were talking about, could he?
Jane played innocent.
Cho decided to explain. “Most men are scared of female FBI Agents.”
Jane raised his eyebrows. He understood that most men were idiots when it came to appreciating deserving women; what always irritated him was why those women gave them a second thought. Lisbon had never seemed to pay them any mind in the past. “But why would you want fools like that anyway?” he asked.
Lisbon and Fischer stared at him incredulously. “We don’t,” Fischer said slowly, as if speaking to a child.
“It’s just a pattern you get used to,” Lisbon agreed. “And this time we lost out on a wild night with a pair of orthodontists in town for a conference.”
“Dale,” Fischer repeated with a sideways smile.
Lisbon was chuckling again as the four filed towards the conference room for the debrief.
Jane followed behind, pensive, his eyes flicking between the two women in front of him (and ignoring Cho).
Far more interesting to focus on what was already in his line of sight.
She did have a prettier name.
Not to mention better legs.
xxx
1 hour earlier
xxx
One tedious meeting later, Jane was back in the bullpen, this time with two steaming cups of tea. He’d used the time in the meeting profitably. Not paying attention to the meeting itself of course, but mulling over an unrelated, but crucial issue in his brain. And now he needed more data.
He walked over and placed one of the cups at Lisbon’s elbow. The other agents were long gone, either home, or to the gym, or to shoot things, or wherever else FBI Agents went when they weren’t in the office. But she was still around. Jane wasn’t sure why. After all, she didn’t have near the paperwork she used to anymore. Not that he was disappointed she was still here. He’d rather been counting on it.
Lisbon looked up at him in surprise. “You’re still here,” she said in an odd parody of his thoughts.
Jane shrugged. It wasn’t like he had a lot of options. He hadn’t gotten his trailer yet, and he didn’t feel like going back to his motel. “I could say the same thing about you.”
She acknowledged the comment with a slight shrug, willingly turning her attention from her work, leaning back in her chair and taking a sip of the offered tea.
Jane pulled up a nearby chair, somewhat intrigued. It seemed she was in the mood for company. “So, are you going to tell me why you’re still here?”
He watched her play with her cup, her fingers running around the rim. “I was just familiarizing myself with some of the new systems,” she told him with an easy shrug. “I’m getting used to most of them, but the FBI has cooler toys than what I’m used to.”
“You’re spending your evening exploring the FBI’s computer system,” Jane said slowly, affection welling up. Of course that was what she was doing.
“Yup,” Lisbon agreed cheerfully, setting her cup down and crossing her arms, waiting for him to tell her that what she was doing was ridiculous and she needed to get out more.
Jane smiled at the defensive posture, among other things. “You really do love this job.”
Lisbon watched him suspiciously for a moment, before deciding to take his words at face value. “I really do.”
“I’m glad,” Jane said simply.
She frowned. That wasn’t Jane’s usual response. “Oh.”
“You expected me not to be glad?” he asked.
She squirmed a little in her seat. The she decided to hit him with the truth. She’d promised herself she’d call him on his nonsense this time. He didn’t have Red John to hide behind anymore. “I expected a veiled reference of some kind, maybe one comparing this to a job in the Washington Sheriff’s office.”
“You think I’m going to hold your job over your head indefinitely?” Jane asked incredulously, and slightly hurt.
“I think you can be very smug sometimes,” Lisbon said cagily. She wasn’t quite ready to let him off the hook completely for the last two years, but maybe she’d been a little harsh.
“If we’re adding up debts from the last twelve years, I think you’re the one with a positive bank balance,” Jane replied glibly. “Besides, as I recall, we’re partners.”
Lisbon felt slightly chastened. Only slightly, because partners didn’t tend to flee the country when things got tough. But she was too tired to get into all that right now. Not when he was here and bringing her late night tea and it felt so much like it used to, it almost hurt. And maybe she’d even been feeling a little lonely, and... She sipped her tea, letting the slight burn soothe the sudden lump in her throat. “Right. Sorry.”
Jane waved off the apology. He probably didn’t deserve it, and it wasn’t what he wanted to talk about. Still, he couldn’t completely let this conversation rest. “The FBI isn’t a thing that you need to feel you owe me for, Lisbon,” he told her. “I made your employment a condition because I wanted to work with you. And because I know you loved your job at the CBI. I was partly responsible for your losing it, and I’m sorry. I wanted to give you something you wanted.”
She stared at him, stunned. “Oh.”
Jane tried a charming smile. “I’m glad you love your job.”
Lisbon felt herself softening and, smiling back, giving in to the warmth in her chest. “Thanks.”
“Even if it apparently puts a cramp in your personal life,” Jane added, circling back around to what he really wanted to talk about.
Lisbon sighed, any budding warmth chilling quickly. She should have known this was where they were heading. “Jane...”
“All men can’t be that cowardly,” Jane pressed.
Lisbon played with the handle of her teacup. “I carry a badge and a gun. It’s intimidating. Whatever. It’s not like I’m big on the personal stuff anyway.”
“Probably doesn’t help that you’re here late at night going through FBI databases,” Jane pointed out.
“What do you want, Jane?” she asked, her earlier good feeling all but gone.
He paused. Because that was the question, wasn’t it? And he wasn’t sure he was quite ready to answer it, though part of him wanted to. “I just think it’s a shame,” he said, sidestepping neatly. “You’re a lovely woman. You shouldn’t be spending all your evenings, alone.”
“I don’t spend them all alone,” Lisbon said defensively. “I was out last night with Fischer.”
“That’s true,” Jane agreed.
“She gave me my badge,” Lisbon added as an afterthought, with a sweet smile she wasn’t even aware of.
Jane’s face lit up. “You didn’t tell me,” he said softly, his fingers inching along the desk slightly towards her. Not touching, but...
Lisbon shrugged, trying to brush it off. “You were too busy worrying about your wardrobe and making dinner plans at crime scenes.” And much as she hated to admit it, that had irritated her more than a little.
Jane’s fingers halted in their tracks. “Oh, hey now!”
“I’m just saying,” Lisbon interrupted. “It’s not like you tell me everything either.”
Jane found he couldn’t argue that. “Touché.”
She nodded, staring at her tea.
But Jane didn’t like the way she’d suddenly deflated back into her chair. This was exactly what he didn’t want. He’d seen shades of this when she’d explained that most men ran for the hills when they heard about her job. He... it didn’t feel good. So he surprised both of them by sharing something he hadn’t meant to. “It’s just odd,” he said suddenly. “Having you back all of a sudden.”
Lisbon looked up from the depths of her teacup. “Odd?”
“You’re not the only person who worries about things disappearing on them again, Teresa,” he told her.
She stared. When the shock wore off she was leaning forward in her chair again, face alive with righteous indignation.
He liked it.
“Now just a minute,” Lisbon said, setting her teacup down with an audible clack. “I never disappeared on...”
“But you could,” Jane pointed out softly. As she’d told him a few weeks ago, he hadn’t been a part of her life for two years now. He had no right to take her for granted. “You could leave.”
“Jane...” she whispered.
Then he smiled, fast and bright. “Anyway, we should celebrate!”
Lisbon was confused by his sudden mood shift. “Celebrate?”
“Your new badge of course,” Jane told her.
“You don’t have to do this,” she said. “Anyway, I’m not sure I’m up for much of a celebration right now.”
“Not even a drink?” Jane pressed. He suddenly wanted her out of the office. With him. Not Fischer. Him. He was her friend too. They could... do something. “You shouldn’t be spending your evenings here.”
She sighed. “Jane.”
“Maybe you’ll even meet someone,” Jane teased. Though he wasn’t sure he wanted that either.
“I doubt it,” Lisbon replied with an attempt at a laugh.
This time the resignation in her voice went straight through him. He was unsurprised. He’d known that she wasn’t as unaffected by the apparently predictable rejection she continuously received because of her job.
“They were fools and idiots,” Jane assured her. “Not worth a moment of your time.”
“Hmm?” she wondered, reaching for her mouse and pretending to notice something on her computer screen. “Oh. No, I know.”
“Still, it bothers you?” he asked.
“The foregone conclusion thing gets a little tedious, I guess,” Lisbon said after a moment, focusing very intently on her monitor.
“Not everything’s a foregone conclusion,” Jane told her gently.
She smiled, though it didn’t reach her eyes. “I guess we don’t all have your apparently foolproof powers of seduction.”
“Not quite foolproof,” he said with a smirk.
She smiled back, thinking of more than one past case over the years. “No, I guess not.”
“You’re a beautiful woman, Teresa Lisbon,” Jane said softly.
That caused surprise to flash through her eyes. “Thank you.”
“Come for a drink with me,” he pressed, reaching for her wrist on the computer mouse.
She smiled sadly, glancing down at his fingers braceleting her wrist. “This is really very sweet of you,” she said eventually.
Jane frowned. He wasn’t doing it to be sweet. He certainly wasn’t doing it out of charity. He was doing this because he wanted... “Lisbon, I...”
She shook her head. Then standing up, she removed her hand from his and placed it briefly on his shoulder. “Thanks for the offer Jane, really. But I think I’m just going to head home.”
He looked up at her suddenly sad eyes. He nodded once, sensing it might be better not to push. Besides, at least she was going home as opposed to reading about FBI cold cases, or evidence databases, or whatever she’d been skimming through, alone in the dark. “See you tomorrow Teresa.”
“Thanks for the tea,” she said as she gathered up her coat, leaving Jane sitting alone in the bullpen, elbows on his knees, hands clasped under his chin, and wondering why her resignation bothered him so much.
The more he thought about it, the less acceptable it became.
It just wasn’t right.
xxx
Right. Damn. Now.
xxx
“Seduction, Lisbon,” Jane repeated, when she didn’t answer. He slowed his voice, drawing out every word. “I wondered if you’d ever been seduced.” He thought it a valid question, given that she apparently expected most men to run for the hills when they found out what she did for a living.
Lisbon just stared at him for a moment across her coffee table, just blinking. Then after a second she remembered herself and found a laugh (albeit a slightly breathless one). “Jane.”
He smirked, continuing to advance on her. He had to give her full marks for poise. Good. He’d been hoping for that. It would make things more fun. He deepened his voice, roughened the edges and drew out the syllables. “Seduction. Slow. Deliberate. Thorough.”
Lisbon watched him in mild alarm. What in the hell was he up to? And what kind of a question was that to ask a colleague anyway? “I’m a grown woman,” she said eventually.
“I’d noticed,” Jane assured her, forcing himself to keep his eyes on her face, for the moment at least. He’d definitely noticed she was a woman. Of course he had. Which was one of the many reasons he couldn’t understand why most of the men she apparently met gave even a second thought to her job. And also the reason why he’d felt the need to drop by her apartment well after hours.
“A grown woman,” Lisbon repeated, emphasizing the point. She’d been feeling a little bit discouraged with the male species over the past twenty-four hours, but that didn’t make her a nun. She’d had sex before. Many times. Good sex. Sometimes even great sex.
Jane dropped his eyes down to her bare feet peeking out from underneath sensible trousers (they certainly weren’t intimidating, and they provoked a few interesting images). With half a smile, he let his eyes travel up her legs, lingering over the curve of her hips, her trim little waist, which seemed like it would be a perfect place to rest his hands (while he letting his fingers brush against her lower back). He shifted his attention even farther up, skimming over her breasts, emphasized by the (now un-tucked) tailored blouse and half-open collar, before finally finding her face again.
Lisbon had obviously noticed his less-than-subtle appraisal, if her faintly flushed cheeks were anything to go by.
Lisbon refused to blink. She refused. She didn’t know exactly what Jane’s game was, but until she did... She squared her shoulders. He wanted to play games? Fine. Patrick Jane was about to find out she wasn’t the same woman he’d abandoned two years ago. She had her own life. If he thought he could just waltz into her home and play with her... She smiled slowly, “Yes, a grown woman,” she said again. “With an active sex life.” She wasn’t some innocent he could toy with. She could more than handle him. And he was going to be reminded of that. Tonight, if he continued down the path he was on.
Jane had been about to take another step towards her when her words stopped him. He hadn’t been expecting... Interesting. “Who said anything about sex?” he asked, his tone innocent.
Lisbon crossed her arms across her chest and raised an eyebrow at him. “Jane.”
He decided to risk another step towards her. Only a quarter of a way around the coffee table to go. “I said seduction.”
Lisbon shook her head slightly and shifted backwards slightly, unsure of exactly what her best move was. Probably smartest not to get too close until she knew more, “You said thorough,” she reminded him again.
“Oh, Lisbon, I can assure you, all good seductions are thorough,” Jane replied with a charming smile.
As he’d hoped, she laughed again. “And how do most good seductions end?”
His eyes lit up. She was in top form tonight. His eyes drifted back downwards towards the un-tucked blouse and bare feet. Was she ever. “Well, it depends...”
“On how thorough they are?” she asked, unable to risk the tease.
Jane practically beamed. He couldn’t argue with that. And he was known for being very thorough.
Lisbon shook her head, deciding that now that they’d both had a bit of fun it was probably best to back down now. “Come off it Jane,” she told him lightly. “Tell me why you’re really here.”
He frowned. Sure, he’d wanted to keep things light; he liked hearing her laugh, liked it when she smiled. He was so sick of everything feeling like a yoke around his neck, weighing him down. He’d cut the weights two years ago (well some of them), and he’d cut more since coming back to the U.S. But this wasn’t a joke. He didn’t want her to dismiss this (him) entirely. Sometimes even he got sick of games.
Jane bridged the distance between them in three steps until he was standing right in front of her, close enough that she could feel his body heat. He could certainly feel hers. “I told you why I was here.”
He watched the smile slide off her face. “What?”
He slid his fingers around her wrist, pleased when he felt her pulse pick up speed. “I wanted to buy you a drink tonight.”
It was all Lisbon could do not to snatch her hand away. So much for maintaining a little distance. She didn’t understand why... Why wasn’t Jane backing down? “You brought me tea.”
Jane shook his head. For once he wasn’t talking about tea. “I wanted to take you to a bar, sit next to you in the low light, and make you laugh while you sipped good Irish whiskey. I wanted, want the slow burn.”
Lisbon brought a hand up to her throat, before letting it run down her chest. What in the hell was Jane doing? If he’d been anyone else... Trying to beat him at his own game was one thing, but this was starting to feel like something else entirely, something far more frightening. “I don’t know what you expect me to do with that.”
“What do you want to do with it?” Jane asked, letting his fingers trail up her arm to finger the collar of her blouse.
Lisbon glanced down at the hand inches from her face. She swallowed, before steeling her spine. “I’ve often found that what I want doesn’t always enter into things.”
Jane paused, acknowledging the hit. He dropped his hand, but refused to be side-tracked. “You’re trying to change that though, aren’t you?”
Lisbon didn’t answer. She hadn’t expected him to notice (though part of her had wanted him to). She was, she was restless, itchy. And she just, she wanted. The new job was part of it, but it wasn’t all...
Jane smiled slowly. He’d always told her she’d regret spending all her time in the office one day. He’d always wanted her to have more than her job. She deserved it. And now that he was no longer bound to a serial killer... “Maybe I want to change that too,” he said softly.
Lisbon frowned, his agreement irritating her for some reason. It was so very Jane, thinking he could just waltz into her apartment with talk of change and wants and, and seductions... “Oh, so now you’re...”
Jane interrupted her before she could really get started on her rant. “I’m hopeful.”
The sincerity in his voice stopped her. “What?”
Sensing a chink in her armour, Jane pressed his advantage, shifting infinitesimally closer. “I’ve missed you, Teresa. I’d say you have no idea what that feels like, but I admit, I rather hope that you do.”
Lisbon stared at him, her eyes wide. He couldn’t really be saying what she thought he was... Her eyes narrowed. “You arrogant...”
Jane smirked. “Yes.”
The self-satisfied smile on his face just fueled her fire. Lisbon felt her hands ball into fists at her side. “Presumptuous.”
“Yes.”
“Irritating, smart-assed, selfish...”
“Yes, yes, and no, at least I hope not.” Jane’s smile turned sinful. “Not tonight.”
Lisbon opened her mouth before closing it again, no sound coming out.
He reached a hand up to toy with her hair. She was so close. “You’re really extremely beautiful, Teresa.”
Lisbon wasn’t sure if he’d finally pushed her to a nervous breakdown, but his comment made her laugh again. “Seriously?”
Jane raised his eyebrows. He wasn’t sure why she found that funny. He didn’t like it. “What?”
“That’s your line?” she asked incredulously. “That’s the great Patrick Jane’s line?”
He shook his head. “No line. No game. Just fact.”
She stared at him a moment. “Pull the other one,” she said eventually. Because it had to be a con. It had to be.
Jane smiled slowly. He reminded himself of how fun this could be. “Have I told you how glad I am that your desk is the one closest to my couch now?” he asked lightly, still playing with the ends of her hair. “It was the one problem with the layout at the CBI. I couldn’t see you from my couch. Not when you were in your office at least, which you often were. It was one of my few pleasures, Lisbon, looking at you. One of the few things I really couldn’t help myself from doing, try as I might to deny it. Of course, I solved the problem eventually, when I simply started napping in your office. Or pretending to nap. Sometimes I’d just lie there watching you as you worked.”
Lisbon forced herself to breathe. In. Out. In. Out. It wasn’t difficult. She searched for levity again. “That’s a little creepy, Jane.”
“Most women would be pleased to hear a man was pining for them,” Jane pointed out, his eyes never leaving her face.
“One, you were hardly pining,” Lisbon told him, ignoring her slightly trembling fingers (even if he wouldn’t). “You were ogling at best. And two, why would I be pleased to hear that I was causing someone I care about pain?”
“I never said it was painful,” Jane murmured. “And if it was, it was the sweetest kind of pain, Teresa. The best part of my day,” he assured her, running a finger along her arm and up across her shoulder to her neck. He liked this, liked touching her. “And I was pining, at least a little.”
Unexpectedly, she felt tears prick in her eyes. “Jane...”
Jane smiled softly when he saw her eyes glistening. His tender-hearted Teresa. He reached his hand up and brushed away a tear that was threatening to overflow with his thumb. “Of course, I wasn’t planning on telling you so soon. Thought I’d wait a while, try and let you get comfortable with me again.”
“Why did you,” she wondered. “Tell me so soon, I mean.”
“Those two idiots at the bar,” he said bluntly, letting his thumb linger against her cheek.
Lisbon watched him, trying to put the pieces together (trying to ignore his hand on her face). “You were jealous of Dale and Mike? Jane, I...” she smiled, foolishly flattered.
“Not jealous,” Jane corrected, finally letting his hand drop. She’d laughed them off far too quickly for jealousy. No, their offence was far worse. “Angry. Angry that they made you feel somehow undesirable because of your job, that they hurt you.”
Lisbon started to roll her eyes. “They didn’t...”
Jane growled low in his throat, cutting her off. Maybe they hadn’t hurt her. Maybe their dismissal did really roll off her like water off a duck’s back, but it shouldn’t have to. She shouldn’t have to assume that most men would run for the hills because she happened to carry an FBI badge. That badge was part of her. It was part of who she was. And those idiots hadn’t seen that, hadn’t taken the time to look. She didn’t deserve to be rejected for it, not even by fools. “They’re idiots.”
This time it was Lisbon’s turn to tentatively reach out, stretching a hand up to rest on his elbow, trying to... she wasn’t sure what. “Jane, they’re just two average guys.”
“And you’re not average,” he assured her. “Not you, Teresa Lisbon, FBI.”
She found a smile for him then, understanding in part. “Jane I see what you’re trying to do and it’s not that I don’t...”
He interrupted her. Because she obviously didn’t see. “I’m not intimidated by your badge.”
She paused, dropping her hand and remembering who they were. “You’re not intimidated by me at all.”
“You could destroy me,” he assured her. A few words from her, and he’d be done. In a way it had almost been easier when she was in another country. He couldn’t see her disappointment (or worse her rejection). But he also couldn’t see her at all, couldn’t even look at her anymore. Now there was a lot more to lose (and no more excuses). He was hopeful that there might also be a lot more to gain.
“Jane...” Not letting him get away with his games was one thing, but this was feeling less and less like a game with every second.
“It’s sexy as hell when you get all authoritarian on me,” he assured her quietly. “I guess I could maybe do without the half a dozen guns, but in the end they’re incidental.”
Lisbon couldn’t make up her mind about whether or not he was joking anymore. By rights, he should have been joking. He shouldn’t have been standing in her apartment telling her any of this. Sure, they teased each other sometimes, maybe even flirted a little, but never anything like... “I...”
“You’re a gorgeous, passionate woman,” Jane assured her, his voice still low and convincing. “Who deserves to be seduced, every day.”
Lisbon wasn’t sure she could think. Not when he talked like that. “God Jane.”
“I want you,” he murmured, tangling his fingers back in the ends of her hair. She had such pretty hair. He’d always liked it. “You know what it’s like to want, don’t you Lisbon?”
God did she. She tried to swallow. “I...”
“You want more of a life, more connection, more relationships,” he pressed, enjoying the emotions playing across her eyes. He shifted closer until their clothes were practically brushing and she had to tilt her head to look up at him.
“What’s wrong with that?” she whispered.
He shook his head, trying not to get distracted by the eyes staring up at him. “Nothing. Absolutely nothing.”
“Good,” she murmured, biting her lip. She knew she shouldn’t stare at his mouth, but staring at his eyes wasn’t much better. And god, he had the stubble now. Which really wasn’t fair. Especially when they were talking about things she wanted...
She wanted to touch it. Run her hand along his cheek and... She balled her hands into fists.
“What about our relationship?” Jane asked. “What about making our connection... deeper”
Panic (or something else) flared inside of her. “Jane, you can’t just drop by one night and expect...”
He shook his head slowly. Even she had to know this wasn’t new. “Oh come now, Lisbon. This is hardly completely out of the blue. We both know I’ve been in love with you for years.”
That shocked her into silence as something clenched painfully inside her chest.
“We both know I’m in love with you,” he repeated softly, reaching up to touch her again. To brush some non-existent hair out of her face, behind her ear, to caress her cheek on the way back.
Her breath was coming far too quickly, her heart crashing at the same pace. She’d thought they’d had an agreement to never say it, to never... it wouldn’t... Knowing and acknowledging were two different... “Jane...”
He let his other hand drift to her waist as he angled himself closer, his fingers dipping beneath her un-tucked shirt until they were barely skimming the waistband of her slacks. He suddenly needed to touch her in a way that couldn’t be that of a colleague, not even a close one. “Yes, Lisbon?”
Her hands shook, so she rested them on his chest. Tried to figure out what she wanted to say. Told herself she wasn’t frightened of Jane. “You can’t...”
He smirked. “Can’t I?”
She shook her head and tried again. Closed her eyes, because that seemed easier. “I mean, you don’t...”
“Oh, but I do,” he assured her, bending to place a kiss just above the end of her jaw line. If she wouldn’t look at him, he had to get her attention another way.
“What are you doing?” she whispered, her voice shaking slightly.
“Kissing you a little,” he muttered against her skin as his lips found her cheek and his hand slid along her waist, stroking her lower back as he’d wanted to earlier (promised himself he would). She was so petite. He forgot sometimes, but here, in her apartment, in her bare feet... Her pulse was beating so quickly, he could practically feel it through her skin. Could feel the way her breath brushed warm against his cheek, and he let it fray the edges of his control. He shifted his lips to kiss her other cheek before pressing a kiss to the corner of her mouth.
Lisbon arched towards him before she knew what was happening, gasping slightly when she felt his fingers touch bare skin along her spine.
Jane took advantage of that little exhale to slide his lips against hers.
And then everything else stopped.
How had he not kissed this woman before now? She was all breathy little moans and lips that were anything but tentative. His hand tightened on her waist.
Lisbon’s head was spinning. Jane’s mouth was teasing hers and his hands were on her and he was saying things like he loved... She gasped against him. She couldn’t deal with that. Couldn’t deal with that at all. But maybe she could deal with... Just until... until her brain caught up. Sliding her hands up his chest, Lisbon tangled he hands in his hair and pulled him closer. In bare feet the height difference seemed bigger than usual. Or maybe it was that he was nearer.
So near.
And he was warm and surprisingly solid.
The next thing she knew, he was kissing her everywhere, everywhere his lips could touch. Cheeks, lips, eyelids, hair, neck... god... neck, and neck again.
“This you seducing me?” she gasped.
She felt him smile against her collar bone. “Hmmm.”
She slid a hand down to play with the buttons on his shirt.
To her surprise, that earned her something that sounded like a warning. “Lisbon...”
She smiled, the hesitation in his voice helping her feel a little bit steadier. She had said she wasn’t going to put up with any of his games, but maybe this was a whole other kind of playing. Whatever Jane thought, sometimes she liked to play. “Who said you got to be in charge?”
Jane frowned slightly. “No one. Don’t be ridiculous.”
“Excellent,” she whispered, as she flicked open two of the buttons of his shirt.
To her surprise he stopped her hand with his own before she could reach the third.
She frowned. “Jane...”
He shifted back slightly. “I want...”
“Me? Yes, you mentioned that,” she said coyly, pushing his jacket off his shoulders.
“Seduction,” he whispered.
She tilted her head to the side and sent him a smile. “And what do you call this?”
Jane didn’t answer the question. “I want to take this slowly. I want to touch every part of you. I want you to feel so good you can’t think.”
Something painful exploded in her chest, left an almost terrible yearning. Damn him. Damn him. Why couldn’t anything with him ever just be simple? She needed this to be light, to be... She didn’t even know. “So you do want to be in charge?”
He shook his head slowly. “I want seduction. And I want you right there with me.”
She narrowed her eyes, trying to... trying to...
He laughed lightly, reaching for her hand and kissing her palm. Lingered because he could. “Relax. Just feel.”
“Jane...” Part of her knew what he was asking. Part of her had always known. And she didn’t... She was fine with sex. Absolutely fine with it. She wasn’t great with relationships, but she liked sex. She liked it hot and desperate, hard and deep. She knew what she liked, and she had no trouble taking the lead. But when too many feelings were involved, when people asked too much of her, knew her like he did...
God she hated him. She hated him.
His voice cut through her thoughts, gravelly and aroused. “Trust me.”
And just like that, Lisbon’s pulse was back to racing.
Jane kissed her palm again. “You have beautiful hands.”
Her heart gave an unexpected thud. She wanted to believe him. She wanted him to be sincere. She wanted...
She wanted to let herself want.
But she wasn’t sure she could handle it, wasn’t sure she could handle him.
He made her feel vulnerable.
He always had. He was one of the few.
The bastard.
“I mean every word, Teresa,” Jane murmured, trying to reassure, knowing she was at war with herself. He knew he’d sprung this on her, but all of a sudden he’d lost patience..
Lisbon shook her head, mostly to herself. Because hell if she didn’t want him. Wanted him so much she could feel it under her skin, radiating out from the hand he still held, the palm he’d kissed. It pulsed through her. Want and want and want. She’d wanted him for two years, when she’d had nothing but his letters. And she’d wanted him for years before that when he’d been hovering around her cases, around her life (thought she’d lied to herself the entire time). And now he was standing in front of her offering and she... She wasn’t sure she could deal with the terms.
And he’d never let her write new ones.
Jane seemed to sense her conflict. “My FBI Agent, my Lisbon. I hate that you’ve ever felt like that wasn’t enough, even for a minute.”
“How do you want me to feel?” she asked, her voice low and breathless. Maybe he would have the answer. He always seemed to know everything else.
And he was smiling slowly at her. “Very hard for a man not to take that as an invitation.”
She found a smile of her own then, and an instantaneous decision. “I know.”
She was so goddamn sick of spending her evenings alone with nothing but a box of letters for company.
And then Jane was kissing her again, and her arms were around his neck and she was pressing up against him. She was going to get in the game. She was going to make him want her so much he couldn’t think. She was going to make him forget his little plan, whatever it was. She was going to make him desperate. She pressed closer, pleased when he was the one to groan.
He tried to talk. “Lisbon, Teresa...”
She ignored him, holding his mouth captive with her own. His objections stopped.
She smiled against him. Before biting down on his lower lip.
Barely breaking the skin.
And his control snapped. Jane felt it like an explosion in his brain, but he didn’t care.
He’d buried this attraction for over a decade.
Lisbon felt herself being propelled backwards. Her back slammed against the wall. A surge of triumph.
Then he was thrusting up against her without any conscious notion of how it had happened.
And she was the one moaning. She wrapped a leg around his calf, needed to keep him there. Needed, needed, needed.
Jane was practically panting. Pressed up against her, hot and female and his, damn it. His. He forgot to tease, wanted to claim, sucked her lower lip into his mouth and gloried in the fingers clenching in his hair, in her cries of arousal. More and more and more and more. He ground down against her, stifling her groans with another desperate kiss.
So goddamn good, even through at least four layers of fabric. All heat and friction and need.
His hands were skimming up and down her sides. From her thigh against his hip to her breasts and back, sliding under her blouse and finding skin, familiar skin. Familiar now. Would become even more familiar later. His Lisbon.
She had a hand around his shoulder and one in his hair. She’d always wanted to do that, to feel his curls. And now they were hers to touch as she wanted, to hold his mouth against hers. Stubble against her cheek, then her neck, then... “Jane...”
And then his brain caught up. Remembered what had led him here.
“Wait,” he whispered, pulling back, though almost every inch of him protested.
Lisbon was also displeased. Growling at him, she tried to regain his lips. Jane lifted his chin so her mouth fell against his throat, which didn’t particularly help matters, though he couldn’t bring himself to object as she pressed hot open-mouthed kisses along the muscles there.
Jane searched for control. “This isn’t slow,” he muttered against her ear.
“I never agreed to slow,” Lisbon bit back, rolling her hips against his.
Jane shut his eyes. Needed to block out the temptress in front of him, the woman with disheveled hair and flushed skin and a stubborn will that was used to ordering people around. His hands tightened against the soft skin at her waist.
Then she was stretching up until her lips were pulling against his pulse and closing his eyes wasn’t good enough anymore.
He reached a hand down, grabbing one of hers, and pulled it up, preventing it from reaching its intended destination.
Lisbon groaned her frustration against his skin.
“Slow,” he whispered against her ear. Held her hand against his heart. So slow she’d lose herself in the feeling and never question how much he wanted her. So slow she couldn’t write it off as a spur of the moment something else.
Lisbon shook her head, her other hand tangling in his shirt to hold him in place.
Jane kissed her temple, brushed his lips against her cheekbone. He wasn’t going anywhere; he just wanted to change the tempo.
She froze beneath him. So he brushed his nose against hers, barely let his breath ghost over her lips before pausing to place a lingering kiss against her chin.
“Jane...” she whispered, her body tense and taut, and maybe two seconds away from kneeing him in the groin so she could flee.
He was willing to take the risk. “Slow,” he repeated, briefly wondering at the waver in his own voice.
He decided to ignore it, focusing instead on her, on eyes wide and vulnerable.
He let his body relax back against hers, let her feel how much he wanted her, even if he had no intention of doing anything about it for a little while yet. He reached a hand up to caress her neck, stroking his thumb slowly along her jaw line. Then he kissed her again, this time not to devour.
Before her mouth could get other ideas, he pulled back, whispering against her lips. “Let me.”
She whimpered. Wasn’t sure if she could stand this... sweetness. “Jane...”
He dropped another sweet kiss against her lips before kissing his way along her jaw line to just below her ear. “Let me,” he whispered again, before nipping her earlobe.
He rather enjoyed when she jerked against him. “Jane....”
This time he trailed his lips along her jugular, pausing in the hollow of her throat, his breath catching when he realized how fast her pulse was beating against her neck, how much she was straining, fighting against herself. He placed a gentle kiss to the centre of her collar bone. “Let me,” he whispered, straining for control.
When he pulled back he was surprised to see her eyes were closed. Then he noticed that the hand he wasn’t holding had his shirt in a grip so tight her knuckles were white.
He drew the hand he still held between them up, kissing the back of her palm before moving on to each knuckle, each finger, each fingertip, before letting her index finger slide into his mouth and sucking, sliding his tongue from joint to tip.
Her eyes flew open. “Jane.”
He held her gaze. “Let me.”
Her breath caught.
His lips lingered against her palm on their way to the underside of her wrist. “So delicate. So strong.”
She bit her lip, her eyes locked on his.
He didn’t look away. “My FBI Agent.”
She gasped.
His control slipped and he pressed closer. “Your pulse is racing,” he murmured.
“Shut up,” she whispered. “So’s yours.”
“Of course it is,” Jane agreed. “I’m seducing a beautiful woman.”
“Jane,” she practically sobbed. Why wouldn’t he just... Why couldn’t they... She rocked her hips against his. She hated him. Oh, she hated him.
“Or trying to,” he admitted, reaching his hand down to find her hipbone, stroking his thumb along it.
She stared at him, so aroused she could barely think. “Trying to?”
He chuckled, the laugh breathless to his own ears, and dropped a kiss on her lips. Then his eyes turned serious. “Let me.”
“Jane...” She tried to voice another objection. Did he know what he was asking her?
“Let me, Lisbon. Let me make you feel good. Let me make you feel like you could forget your own name if I wasn’t already saying it. Over and over and over.”
“I don’t know if I...” But she wanted to. She wanted to trust him. (So much want.)
“I can’t unless you let me,” he explained. He wanted slow. She was the first woman in a long time who’d mean anything, everything. He wanted to map every inch of her. But if she had other ideas, well, he only had so much control.
He waited.
She didn’t speak. She couldn’t. Her brain felt like molasses. And then it finally hit her. What he was trying to say. This wasn’t a game. And she wasn’t the only one who would be exposed.
Let...
“Let me,” he whispered, staring into her eyes, her pupils dilated with desire, her hair mussed, her face flushed, her breath coming in too quickly. The surge of desire cut through him like a knife. He’d done that. He’d done that, and he wanted to do more. He wanted to give this to her. Wanted this for both of them. Wanted all of her really. He shifted infinitesimally closer, his lips less than an inch away. “Please, Teresa.”
Let him.
Heart thundering in her ears, Lisbon stretched up to kiss him again. At the touch of his lips she let her eyes flutter shut.
Maybe it was time to trust her partner again.
Maybe it was time to let...
Jane kissed her until he felt her relax against him. Then he shifted, kissing his way along the collar of her shirt. Her skin there had been fascinating him for years. He flipped open a button her shirt and followed the opening.
She tangled her hands back in his hair. Let herself feel every curl between her fingers. She was going to feel it all.
“Have I ever told you, that I like these blouses of yours,” Jane murmured, flipping open another button.
She raked a hand down his back, using her nails a little. Found she could still tease. “You like quite a bit of me, apparently.”
“Want to find out how much?” he whispered, stifling a groan as her hand slid back up his spine.
“That was what you promised,” she reminded him, dropping a hand down his chest, and tugging his shirt out of his pants before searching for skin.
“Mmhm,” he agreed, his lips pausing over her heart as she traced her hands along his chest. “Oh, Teresa, love...”
She bit her lip, trying to stifle a cry. “Jane...”
“Shhh,” he murmured, his fingers searching for more buttons. She didn’t need to say it back, but she needed to know.
She wanted to touch him; she unbuttoned his shirt as quickly as she could, pushing it off his shoulders.
“Bedroom?” she asked.
He smirked. “You were the one who wanted things up against the wall.”
“Actually, I believe that was you,” she muttered. She may have encouraged the idea, but she hadn’t thrust herself up against her living room wall.
“You gave me no choice,” he whispered, as he tugged her gently down the hallway.
She laughed lightly. “I told you, I’m a grown woman...”
“Who likes things active,” Jane finished. “I think we’ll be able to find a compromise.”
She pulled him back to her to kiss him. She was going to kiss him so many times tonight, even he’d lose track. “I don’t know, I was promised a seduction the likes of which I’ve never seen.”
“I don’t think I ever actually said that,” he whispered against her lips.
He drove her crazy. So she kissed him again. “Implied,” she gasped out, before pressing her lips back against his. If the rest of what he had planned was anything like his kisses, she wasn’t going to regret going along with his plan.
And then he was pushing her blouse off her shoulder with his lips. “Missed you.”
“Yeah,” she gasped as his hand skimmed her breast, pressed closer so he’d do it again. “Second door on the right.”
“I knew that,” he assured her, as her blouse fluttered to the floor.
Lisbon realized she had one last thing to say as his shirt joined it. “And Patrick?”
Jane genuinely froze. “Did you just call me...?”
She smirked and nuzzled his neck. “Next time we’re doing this my way.” She whispered.
Next time caused his entire body to stutter against hers. “Temptress,” he whispered back.
“Just making sure you understand what you’re up against,” she murmured, letting her eyes fall shut.
He smiled against her skin. “Whatever you want, love.”
xxx
Several hours later
xxx
“Jane?” Lisbon asked, trailing a hand up and down his chest.
“Hmmm?” he murmured sleepily, her tone told him he should probably be at least slightly wary, but pressed up against her in her bed, he was too content to care right now.
Lisbon decided to take advantage of his distraction. A minor scuffle found her straddling his waist with his hands pinned above his head.
Jane probably could have escaped if he’d wanted, but her eyes stopped him. “Someone’s pleased with herself,” he said, taking in the self-satisfied woman above him.
Her slow smile told him self-satisfied may have been an understatement.
It was sexy as hell.
She leaned forward until her face as just above his, her hair brushing his shoulders.
“Let me.”
His eyes flashed hot. And he decided that sometimes, he had absolutely no problem being held captive.
He relaxed beneath her. “Yes.”
“Damn right, yes,” she agreed.
She shifted her hips lower and he groaned. “I’m at your mercy, Agent Lisbon.”
Her delighted laughter was only cut off by her lips on his.
Jane willingly let his FBI Agent order all thought from his brain.
Her way indeed.
xxx
The end
I hope you enjoyed it. (I’m feeling the urge to hide under a rock, to be honest.)
Title: Consumate
Rating: T
Word Count: Insane (8 598 words)
Genre/Pairing: Romance, Jane/Lisbon, The Mentalist
Summary: Even if most things about his return to the U.S. are better than he deserves, at least one thing is unacceptable. He's determined to fix it though. He hopes he can. He certainly wants to. Jane drops by Lisbon's apartment, long after the case is closed, with an unexpected question. And she isn't sure how to react. For Chibs, set immediately after 6.11.
A/N: Hello Readers. Before you get to the fic, I feel a need to tell you a story. A story of chizuru_chibi and her crazy prompting powers (at least where I am concerned; see: Stolen Kiss, Secret Drawer, Working Out, etc.). She asked me how I would write and I quote, “A steamy TM fic.” Because she was curious as to how I would do it (the answer is probably Restraints, P.S.). I don’t know if this even qualifies. But this is the best I can do, at this point. I’ve been picking at it for a month. It needs to be posted. A thousand thank you’s to spyglass_, for reading it over and telling me it wasn’t terrible.
xxx
“What are you doing here?” Lisbon asked as she let Jane into her apartment.
He followed her into her living room. “I needed to see you.”
“Okay,” she said, wondering what was going on him with him. He didn’t usually visit her at home.
When she reached the centre of the room she turned and stopped walking.
He didn’t.
Jane advanced gradually, smiling slowly in a way that Lisbon knew promised nothing but trouble.
She had an inexplicable urge to shift slightly backwards and to the right, putting her coffee table between them, but she resisted it. After all, there was no need to step away from Jane.
Besides, something told her he’d have just walked around the obstacle anyway, the way he was prowling.
He seemed to sense her attempts to squash an instinctive flight response. “I just want to ask you a question,” he assured her, coaxing and cajoling and not fooling her for a second. She knew him too well. And he was up to something.
“So ask,” she all but ordered, well aware that most times the best move was to confront a circling predator head on. If they couldn’t hide in the grass and take you by surprise, they often turned tail and ran.
Jane’s smile widened, as if he’d been expecting confrontation, as if she’d walked right into...
A quick intake of breath stilled in her throat.
And Lisbon suddenly knew she was in very, very big trouble.
“I just wanted to ask you,” Jane promised again, his voice warm and smooth and treacherous. “Lisbon, darling, have you ever been really, thoroughly, seduced?”
xxx
2 hours earlier
xxx
Jane was still dripping slightly when the team made its way back to the FBI building after his necessary escape into the harbour. He was grumbling off and on under his breath (mostly for effect, he had to admit). He didn’t really mind the wet clothes. He’d certainly been in more uncomfortable situations, and this one was just temporary. Although he wouldn’t have minded a little bit of sympathy from his colleagues, something that seemed to be in short supply.
“I can only assume that your evening didn’t quite go as you planned, Mr. Jane,” Abbot said meeting the team in the hallway. “Date not impressed?”
Jane ignored Fischer and Lisbon’s smothered snickers. He shrugged. “Not my type after all, Dennis. A little too murderous, in the end.”
“Yes,” Abbott agreed dryly. “I guess we should be relieved that you didn’t end up another casualty. Fischer, Lisbon, Cho, good work. We’ll debrief in fifteen minutes.”
Abbot turned and walked towards his office to a chorus of “Thank you, sir’s” and a sputtering Jane.
“Fischer, Lisbon and Cho,” Jane muttered. “Oh and thanks for getting that confession, Jane.”
“Just before jumping overboard,” Cho added.
“It’s not like we hadn’t already figured it out by that point,” Lisbon pointed out indignantly.
“Plus, if you’d bothered to tell us what you’re planning, you might not have had to dive off a yacht,” Fischer put in.
Jane stared at them. “You know what you are? You’re just mean.”
Cho shrugged. “And you’re just disappointed because your date turned out to be a murdering sociopath.”
Lisbon and Fischer were smirking again.
“She didn’t turn out to be a murdering sociopath,” Jane insisted. “I knew she was a murdering sociopath going in.”
The ladies had apparently decided to ignore him. “I told you something else was going on,” Lisbon said to Fischer as they walked into the bullpen side by side. Jane followed with Cho.
“You called it,” Fischer agreed. “Though, I suppose we shouldn’t tease him too hard. He wasn’t the only one who had a romantic disappointment over the course of this case.”
Lisbon looked confused for a moment before chuckling under her breath. “Oh yeah, Dale.”
Jane perked up immediately, his eyes sparkling with curiosity
“Yeah, Dale,” Fischer agreed with a laugh. “What was the other one’s name again?”
Lisbon paused. “Matt. No... Mike.”
Cho walked over to his desk. “And who are Dale and Mike?”
Jane was silently thankful the other man had asked the question so he hadn’t had to. Less chance of Lisbon refusing to answer, just on principle.
“Two guys who wanted to buy us drinks at the bar,” Fischer explained. “Thought Lisbon had a beautiful name.”
“Lisbon does have a beautiful name,” Jane mused, watching her reaction carefully out of the corner of his eye.
“Yeah, and that lasted right up until they found out what we did for a living,” Lisbon shot back, forgetting she was ignoring Jane.
“Gets ‘em every time,” Fischer added with something between a smirk and a sigh.
“Hm?” Jane asked, fishing for more information. This was far more interesting than being teased for dripping all over the floor.
“Oh come on,” Lisbon said, looking at him incredulously. He really couldn’t not know what they were talking about, could he?
Jane played innocent.
Cho decided to explain. “Most men are scared of female FBI Agents.”
Jane raised his eyebrows. He understood that most men were idiots when it came to appreciating deserving women; what always irritated him was why those women gave them a second thought. Lisbon had never seemed to pay them any mind in the past. “But why would you want fools like that anyway?” he asked.
Lisbon and Fischer stared at him incredulously. “We don’t,” Fischer said slowly, as if speaking to a child.
“It’s just a pattern you get used to,” Lisbon agreed. “And this time we lost out on a wild night with a pair of orthodontists in town for a conference.”
“Dale,” Fischer repeated with a sideways smile.
Lisbon was chuckling again as the four filed towards the conference room for the debrief.
Jane followed behind, pensive, his eyes flicking between the two women in front of him (and ignoring Cho).
Far more interesting to focus on what was already in his line of sight.
She did have a prettier name.
Not to mention better legs.
xxx
1 hour earlier
xxx
One tedious meeting later, Jane was back in the bullpen, this time with two steaming cups of tea. He’d used the time in the meeting profitably. Not paying attention to the meeting itself of course, but mulling over an unrelated, but crucial issue in his brain. And now he needed more data.
He walked over and placed one of the cups at Lisbon’s elbow. The other agents were long gone, either home, or to the gym, or to shoot things, or wherever else FBI Agents went when they weren’t in the office. But she was still around. Jane wasn’t sure why. After all, she didn’t have near the paperwork she used to anymore. Not that he was disappointed she was still here. He’d rather been counting on it.
Lisbon looked up at him in surprise. “You’re still here,” she said in an odd parody of his thoughts.
Jane shrugged. It wasn’t like he had a lot of options. He hadn’t gotten his trailer yet, and he didn’t feel like going back to his motel. “I could say the same thing about you.”
She acknowledged the comment with a slight shrug, willingly turning her attention from her work, leaning back in her chair and taking a sip of the offered tea.
Jane pulled up a nearby chair, somewhat intrigued. It seemed she was in the mood for company. “So, are you going to tell me why you’re still here?”
He watched her play with her cup, her fingers running around the rim. “I was just familiarizing myself with some of the new systems,” she told him with an easy shrug. “I’m getting used to most of them, but the FBI has cooler toys than what I’m used to.”
“You’re spending your evening exploring the FBI’s computer system,” Jane said slowly, affection welling up. Of course that was what she was doing.
“Yup,” Lisbon agreed cheerfully, setting her cup down and crossing her arms, waiting for him to tell her that what she was doing was ridiculous and she needed to get out more.
Jane smiled at the defensive posture, among other things. “You really do love this job.”
Lisbon watched him suspiciously for a moment, before deciding to take his words at face value. “I really do.”
“I’m glad,” Jane said simply.
She frowned. That wasn’t Jane’s usual response. “Oh.”
“You expected me not to be glad?” he asked.
She squirmed a little in her seat. The she decided to hit him with the truth. She’d promised herself she’d call him on his nonsense this time. He didn’t have Red John to hide behind anymore. “I expected a veiled reference of some kind, maybe one comparing this to a job in the Washington Sheriff’s office.”
“You think I’m going to hold your job over your head indefinitely?” Jane asked incredulously, and slightly hurt.
“I think you can be very smug sometimes,” Lisbon said cagily. She wasn’t quite ready to let him off the hook completely for the last two years, but maybe she’d been a little harsh.
“If we’re adding up debts from the last twelve years, I think you’re the one with a positive bank balance,” Jane replied glibly. “Besides, as I recall, we’re partners.”
Lisbon felt slightly chastened. Only slightly, because partners didn’t tend to flee the country when things got tough. But she was too tired to get into all that right now. Not when he was here and bringing her late night tea and it felt so much like it used to, it almost hurt. And maybe she’d even been feeling a little lonely, and... She sipped her tea, letting the slight burn soothe the sudden lump in her throat. “Right. Sorry.”
Jane waved off the apology. He probably didn’t deserve it, and it wasn’t what he wanted to talk about. Still, he couldn’t completely let this conversation rest. “The FBI isn’t a thing that you need to feel you owe me for, Lisbon,” he told her. “I made your employment a condition because I wanted to work with you. And because I know you loved your job at the CBI. I was partly responsible for your losing it, and I’m sorry. I wanted to give you something you wanted.”
She stared at him, stunned. “Oh.”
Jane tried a charming smile. “I’m glad you love your job.”
Lisbon felt herself softening and, smiling back, giving in to the warmth in her chest. “Thanks.”
“Even if it apparently puts a cramp in your personal life,” Jane added, circling back around to what he really wanted to talk about.
Lisbon sighed, any budding warmth chilling quickly. She should have known this was where they were heading. “Jane...”
“All men can’t be that cowardly,” Jane pressed.
Lisbon played with the handle of her teacup. “I carry a badge and a gun. It’s intimidating. Whatever. It’s not like I’m big on the personal stuff anyway.”
“Probably doesn’t help that you’re here late at night going through FBI databases,” Jane pointed out.
“What do you want, Jane?” she asked, her earlier good feeling all but gone.
He paused. Because that was the question, wasn’t it? And he wasn’t sure he was quite ready to answer it, though part of him wanted to. “I just think it’s a shame,” he said, sidestepping neatly. “You’re a lovely woman. You shouldn’t be spending all your evenings, alone.”
“I don’t spend them all alone,” Lisbon said defensively. “I was out last night with Fischer.”
“That’s true,” Jane agreed.
“She gave me my badge,” Lisbon added as an afterthought, with a sweet smile she wasn’t even aware of.
Jane’s face lit up. “You didn’t tell me,” he said softly, his fingers inching along the desk slightly towards her. Not touching, but...
Lisbon shrugged, trying to brush it off. “You were too busy worrying about your wardrobe and making dinner plans at crime scenes.” And much as she hated to admit it, that had irritated her more than a little.
Jane’s fingers halted in their tracks. “Oh, hey now!”
“I’m just saying,” Lisbon interrupted. “It’s not like you tell me everything either.”
Jane found he couldn’t argue that. “Touché.”
She nodded, staring at her tea.
But Jane didn’t like the way she’d suddenly deflated back into her chair. This was exactly what he didn’t want. He’d seen shades of this when she’d explained that most men ran for the hills when they heard about her job. He... it didn’t feel good. So he surprised both of them by sharing something he hadn’t meant to. “It’s just odd,” he said suddenly. “Having you back all of a sudden.”
Lisbon looked up from the depths of her teacup. “Odd?”
“You’re not the only person who worries about things disappearing on them again, Teresa,” he told her.
She stared. When the shock wore off she was leaning forward in her chair again, face alive with righteous indignation.
He liked it.
“Now just a minute,” Lisbon said, setting her teacup down with an audible clack. “I never disappeared on...”
“But you could,” Jane pointed out softly. As she’d told him a few weeks ago, he hadn’t been a part of her life for two years now. He had no right to take her for granted. “You could leave.”
“Jane...” she whispered.
Then he smiled, fast and bright. “Anyway, we should celebrate!”
Lisbon was confused by his sudden mood shift. “Celebrate?”
“Your new badge of course,” Jane told her.
“You don’t have to do this,” she said. “Anyway, I’m not sure I’m up for much of a celebration right now.”
“Not even a drink?” Jane pressed. He suddenly wanted her out of the office. With him. Not Fischer. Him. He was her friend too. They could... do something. “You shouldn’t be spending your evenings here.”
She sighed. “Jane.”
“Maybe you’ll even meet someone,” Jane teased. Though he wasn’t sure he wanted that either.
“I doubt it,” Lisbon replied with an attempt at a laugh.
This time the resignation in her voice went straight through him. He was unsurprised. He’d known that she wasn’t as unaffected by the apparently predictable rejection she continuously received because of her job.
“They were fools and idiots,” Jane assured her. “Not worth a moment of your time.”
“Hmm?” she wondered, reaching for her mouse and pretending to notice something on her computer screen. “Oh. No, I know.”
“Still, it bothers you?” he asked.
“The foregone conclusion thing gets a little tedious, I guess,” Lisbon said after a moment, focusing very intently on her monitor.
“Not everything’s a foregone conclusion,” Jane told her gently.
She smiled, though it didn’t reach her eyes. “I guess we don’t all have your apparently foolproof powers of seduction.”
“Not quite foolproof,” he said with a smirk.
She smiled back, thinking of more than one past case over the years. “No, I guess not.”
“You’re a beautiful woman, Teresa Lisbon,” Jane said softly.
That caused surprise to flash through her eyes. “Thank you.”
“Come for a drink with me,” he pressed, reaching for her wrist on the computer mouse.
She smiled sadly, glancing down at his fingers braceleting her wrist. “This is really very sweet of you,” she said eventually.
Jane frowned. He wasn’t doing it to be sweet. He certainly wasn’t doing it out of charity. He was doing this because he wanted... “Lisbon, I...”
She shook her head. Then standing up, she removed her hand from his and placed it briefly on his shoulder. “Thanks for the offer Jane, really. But I think I’m just going to head home.”
He looked up at her suddenly sad eyes. He nodded once, sensing it might be better not to push. Besides, at least she was going home as opposed to reading about FBI cold cases, or evidence databases, or whatever she’d been skimming through, alone in the dark. “See you tomorrow Teresa.”
“Thanks for the tea,” she said as she gathered up her coat, leaving Jane sitting alone in the bullpen, elbows on his knees, hands clasped under his chin, and wondering why her resignation bothered him so much.
The more he thought about it, the less acceptable it became.
It just wasn’t right.
xxx
Right. Damn. Now.
xxx
“Seduction, Lisbon,” Jane repeated, when she didn’t answer. He slowed his voice, drawing out every word. “I wondered if you’d ever been seduced.” He thought it a valid question, given that she apparently expected most men to run for the hills when they found out what she did for a living.
Lisbon just stared at him for a moment across her coffee table, just blinking. Then after a second she remembered herself and found a laugh (albeit a slightly breathless one). “Jane.”
He smirked, continuing to advance on her. He had to give her full marks for poise. Good. He’d been hoping for that. It would make things more fun. He deepened his voice, roughened the edges and drew out the syllables. “Seduction. Slow. Deliberate. Thorough.”
Lisbon watched him in mild alarm. What in the hell was he up to? And what kind of a question was that to ask a colleague anyway? “I’m a grown woman,” she said eventually.
“I’d noticed,” Jane assured her, forcing himself to keep his eyes on her face, for the moment at least. He’d definitely noticed she was a woman. Of course he had. Which was one of the many reasons he couldn’t understand why most of the men she apparently met gave even a second thought to her job. And also the reason why he’d felt the need to drop by her apartment well after hours.
“A grown woman,” Lisbon repeated, emphasizing the point. She’d been feeling a little bit discouraged with the male species over the past twenty-four hours, but that didn’t make her a nun. She’d had sex before. Many times. Good sex. Sometimes even great sex.
Jane dropped his eyes down to her bare feet peeking out from underneath sensible trousers (they certainly weren’t intimidating, and they provoked a few interesting images). With half a smile, he let his eyes travel up her legs, lingering over the curve of her hips, her trim little waist, which seemed like it would be a perfect place to rest his hands (while he letting his fingers brush against her lower back). He shifted his attention even farther up, skimming over her breasts, emphasized by the (now un-tucked) tailored blouse and half-open collar, before finally finding her face again.
Lisbon had obviously noticed his less-than-subtle appraisal, if her faintly flushed cheeks were anything to go by.
Lisbon refused to blink. She refused. She didn’t know exactly what Jane’s game was, but until she did... She squared her shoulders. He wanted to play games? Fine. Patrick Jane was about to find out she wasn’t the same woman he’d abandoned two years ago. She had her own life. If he thought he could just waltz into her home and play with her... She smiled slowly, “Yes, a grown woman,” she said again. “With an active sex life.” She wasn’t some innocent he could toy with. She could more than handle him. And he was going to be reminded of that. Tonight, if he continued down the path he was on.
Jane had been about to take another step towards her when her words stopped him. He hadn’t been expecting... Interesting. “Who said anything about sex?” he asked, his tone innocent.
Lisbon crossed her arms across her chest and raised an eyebrow at him. “Jane.”
He decided to risk another step towards her. Only a quarter of a way around the coffee table to go. “I said seduction.”
Lisbon shook her head slightly and shifted backwards slightly, unsure of exactly what her best move was. Probably smartest not to get too close until she knew more, “You said thorough,” she reminded him again.
“Oh, Lisbon, I can assure you, all good seductions are thorough,” Jane replied with a charming smile.
As he’d hoped, she laughed again. “And how do most good seductions end?”
His eyes lit up. She was in top form tonight. His eyes drifted back downwards towards the un-tucked blouse and bare feet. Was she ever. “Well, it depends...”
“On how thorough they are?” she asked, unable to risk the tease.
Jane practically beamed. He couldn’t argue with that. And he was known for being very thorough.
Lisbon shook her head, deciding that now that they’d both had a bit of fun it was probably best to back down now. “Come off it Jane,” she told him lightly. “Tell me why you’re really here.”
He frowned. Sure, he’d wanted to keep things light; he liked hearing her laugh, liked it when she smiled. He was so sick of everything feeling like a yoke around his neck, weighing him down. He’d cut the weights two years ago (well some of them), and he’d cut more since coming back to the U.S. But this wasn’t a joke. He didn’t want her to dismiss this (him) entirely. Sometimes even he got sick of games.
Jane bridged the distance between them in three steps until he was standing right in front of her, close enough that she could feel his body heat. He could certainly feel hers. “I told you why I was here.”
He watched the smile slide off her face. “What?”
He slid his fingers around her wrist, pleased when he felt her pulse pick up speed. “I wanted to buy you a drink tonight.”
It was all Lisbon could do not to snatch her hand away. So much for maintaining a little distance. She didn’t understand why... Why wasn’t Jane backing down? “You brought me tea.”
Jane shook his head. For once he wasn’t talking about tea. “I wanted to take you to a bar, sit next to you in the low light, and make you laugh while you sipped good Irish whiskey. I wanted, want the slow burn.”
Lisbon brought a hand up to her throat, before letting it run down her chest. What in the hell was Jane doing? If he’d been anyone else... Trying to beat him at his own game was one thing, but this was starting to feel like something else entirely, something far more frightening. “I don’t know what you expect me to do with that.”
“What do you want to do with it?” Jane asked, letting his fingers trail up her arm to finger the collar of her blouse.
Lisbon glanced down at the hand inches from her face. She swallowed, before steeling her spine. “I’ve often found that what I want doesn’t always enter into things.”
Jane paused, acknowledging the hit. He dropped his hand, but refused to be side-tracked. “You’re trying to change that though, aren’t you?”
Lisbon didn’t answer. She hadn’t expected him to notice (though part of her had wanted him to). She was, she was restless, itchy. And she just, she wanted. The new job was part of it, but it wasn’t all...
Jane smiled slowly. He’d always told her she’d regret spending all her time in the office one day. He’d always wanted her to have more than her job. She deserved it. And now that he was no longer bound to a serial killer... “Maybe I want to change that too,” he said softly.
Lisbon frowned, his agreement irritating her for some reason. It was so very Jane, thinking he could just waltz into her apartment with talk of change and wants and, and seductions... “Oh, so now you’re...”
Jane interrupted her before she could really get started on her rant. “I’m hopeful.”
The sincerity in his voice stopped her. “What?”
Sensing a chink in her armour, Jane pressed his advantage, shifting infinitesimally closer. “I’ve missed you, Teresa. I’d say you have no idea what that feels like, but I admit, I rather hope that you do.”
Lisbon stared at him, her eyes wide. He couldn’t really be saying what she thought he was... Her eyes narrowed. “You arrogant...”
Jane smirked. “Yes.”
The self-satisfied smile on his face just fueled her fire. Lisbon felt her hands ball into fists at her side. “Presumptuous.”
“Yes.”
“Irritating, smart-assed, selfish...”
“Yes, yes, and no, at least I hope not.” Jane’s smile turned sinful. “Not tonight.”
Lisbon opened her mouth before closing it again, no sound coming out.
He reached a hand up to toy with her hair. She was so close. “You’re really extremely beautiful, Teresa.”
Lisbon wasn’t sure if he’d finally pushed her to a nervous breakdown, but his comment made her laugh again. “Seriously?”
Jane raised his eyebrows. He wasn’t sure why she found that funny. He didn’t like it. “What?”
“That’s your line?” she asked incredulously. “That’s the great Patrick Jane’s line?”
He shook his head. “No line. No game. Just fact.”
She stared at him a moment. “Pull the other one,” she said eventually. Because it had to be a con. It had to be.
Jane smiled slowly. He reminded himself of how fun this could be. “Have I told you how glad I am that your desk is the one closest to my couch now?” he asked lightly, still playing with the ends of her hair. “It was the one problem with the layout at the CBI. I couldn’t see you from my couch. Not when you were in your office at least, which you often were. It was one of my few pleasures, Lisbon, looking at you. One of the few things I really couldn’t help myself from doing, try as I might to deny it. Of course, I solved the problem eventually, when I simply started napping in your office. Or pretending to nap. Sometimes I’d just lie there watching you as you worked.”
Lisbon forced herself to breathe. In. Out. In. Out. It wasn’t difficult. She searched for levity again. “That’s a little creepy, Jane.”
“Most women would be pleased to hear a man was pining for them,” Jane pointed out, his eyes never leaving her face.
“One, you were hardly pining,” Lisbon told him, ignoring her slightly trembling fingers (even if he wouldn’t). “You were ogling at best. And two, why would I be pleased to hear that I was causing someone I care about pain?”
“I never said it was painful,” Jane murmured. “And if it was, it was the sweetest kind of pain, Teresa. The best part of my day,” he assured her, running a finger along her arm and up across her shoulder to her neck. He liked this, liked touching her. “And I was pining, at least a little.”
Unexpectedly, she felt tears prick in her eyes. “Jane...”
Jane smiled softly when he saw her eyes glistening. His tender-hearted Teresa. He reached his hand up and brushed away a tear that was threatening to overflow with his thumb. “Of course, I wasn’t planning on telling you so soon. Thought I’d wait a while, try and let you get comfortable with me again.”
“Why did you,” she wondered. “Tell me so soon, I mean.”
“Those two idiots at the bar,” he said bluntly, letting his thumb linger against her cheek.
Lisbon watched him, trying to put the pieces together (trying to ignore his hand on her face). “You were jealous of Dale and Mike? Jane, I...” she smiled, foolishly flattered.
“Not jealous,” Jane corrected, finally letting his hand drop. She’d laughed them off far too quickly for jealousy. No, their offence was far worse. “Angry. Angry that they made you feel somehow undesirable because of your job, that they hurt you.”
Lisbon started to roll her eyes. “They didn’t...”
Jane growled low in his throat, cutting her off. Maybe they hadn’t hurt her. Maybe their dismissal did really roll off her like water off a duck’s back, but it shouldn’t have to. She shouldn’t have to assume that most men would run for the hills because she happened to carry an FBI badge. That badge was part of her. It was part of who she was. And those idiots hadn’t seen that, hadn’t taken the time to look. She didn’t deserve to be rejected for it, not even by fools. “They’re idiots.”
This time it was Lisbon’s turn to tentatively reach out, stretching a hand up to rest on his elbow, trying to... she wasn’t sure what. “Jane, they’re just two average guys.”
“And you’re not average,” he assured her. “Not you, Teresa Lisbon, FBI.”
She found a smile for him then, understanding in part. “Jane I see what you’re trying to do and it’s not that I don’t...”
He interrupted her. Because she obviously didn’t see. “I’m not intimidated by your badge.”
She paused, dropping her hand and remembering who they were. “You’re not intimidated by me at all.”
“You could destroy me,” he assured her. A few words from her, and he’d be done. In a way it had almost been easier when she was in another country. He couldn’t see her disappointment (or worse her rejection). But he also couldn’t see her at all, couldn’t even look at her anymore. Now there was a lot more to lose (and no more excuses). He was hopeful that there might also be a lot more to gain.
“Jane...” Not letting him get away with his games was one thing, but this was feeling less and less like a game with every second.
“It’s sexy as hell when you get all authoritarian on me,” he assured her quietly. “I guess I could maybe do without the half a dozen guns, but in the end they’re incidental.”
Lisbon couldn’t make up her mind about whether or not he was joking anymore. By rights, he should have been joking. He shouldn’t have been standing in her apartment telling her any of this. Sure, they teased each other sometimes, maybe even flirted a little, but never anything like... “I...”
“You’re a gorgeous, passionate woman,” Jane assured her, his voice still low and convincing. “Who deserves to be seduced, every day.”
Lisbon wasn’t sure she could think. Not when he talked like that. “God Jane.”
“I want you,” he murmured, tangling his fingers back in the ends of her hair. She had such pretty hair. He’d always liked it. “You know what it’s like to want, don’t you Lisbon?”
God did she. She tried to swallow. “I...”
“You want more of a life, more connection, more relationships,” he pressed, enjoying the emotions playing across her eyes. He shifted closer until their clothes were practically brushing and she had to tilt her head to look up at him.
“What’s wrong with that?” she whispered.
He shook his head, trying not to get distracted by the eyes staring up at him. “Nothing. Absolutely nothing.”
“Good,” she murmured, biting her lip. She knew she shouldn’t stare at his mouth, but staring at his eyes wasn’t much better. And god, he had the stubble now. Which really wasn’t fair. Especially when they were talking about things she wanted...
She wanted to touch it. Run her hand along his cheek and... She balled her hands into fists.
“What about our relationship?” Jane asked. “What about making our connection... deeper”
Panic (or something else) flared inside of her. “Jane, you can’t just drop by one night and expect...”
He shook his head slowly. Even she had to know this wasn’t new. “Oh come now, Lisbon. This is hardly completely out of the blue. We both know I’ve been in love with you for years.”
That shocked her into silence as something clenched painfully inside her chest.
“We both know I’m in love with you,” he repeated softly, reaching up to touch her again. To brush some non-existent hair out of her face, behind her ear, to caress her cheek on the way back.
Her breath was coming far too quickly, her heart crashing at the same pace. She’d thought they’d had an agreement to never say it, to never... it wouldn’t... Knowing and acknowledging were two different... “Jane...”
He let his other hand drift to her waist as he angled himself closer, his fingers dipping beneath her un-tucked shirt until they were barely skimming the waistband of her slacks. He suddenly needed to touch her in a way that couldn’t be that of a colleague, not even a close one. “Yes, Lisbon?”
Her hands shook, so she rested them on his chest. Tried to figure out what she wanted to say. Told herself she wasn’t frightened of Jane. “You can’t...”
He smirked. “Can’t I?”
She shook her head and tried again. Closed her eyes, because that seemed easier. “I mean, you don’t...”
“Oh, but I do,” he assured her, bending to place a kiss just above the end of her jaw line. If she wouldn’t look at him, he had to get her attention another way.
“What are you doing?” she whispered, her voice shaking slightly.
“Kissing you a little,” he muttered against her skin as his lips found her cheek and his hand slid along her waist, stroking her lower back as he’d wanted to earlier (promised himself he would). She was so petite. He forgot sometimes, but here, in her apartment, in her bare feet... Her pulse was beating so quickly, he could practically feel it through her skin. Could feel the way her breath brushed warm against his cheek, and he let it fray the edges of his control. He shifted his lips to kiss her other cheek before pressing a kiss to the corner of her mouth.
Lisbon arched towards him before she knew what was happening, gasping slightly when she felt his fingers touch bare skin along her spine.
Jane took advantage of that little exhale to slide his lips against hers.
And then everything else stopped.
How had he not kissed this woman before now? She was all breathy little moans and lips that were anything but tentative. His hand tightened on her waist.
Lisbon’s head was spinning. Jane’s mouth was teasing hers and his hands were on her and he was saying things like he loved... She gasped against him. She couldn’t deal with that. Couldn’t deal with that at all. But maybe she could deal with... Just until... until her brain caught up. Sliding her hands up his chest, Lisbon tangled he hands in his hair and pulled him closer. In bare feet the height difference seemed bigger than usual. Or maybe it was that he was nearer.
So near.
And he was warm and surprisingly solid.
The next thing she knew, he was kissing her everywhere, everywhere his lips could touch. Cheeks, lips, eyelids, hair, neck... god... neck, and neck again.
“This you seducing me?” she gasped.
She felt him smile against her collar bone. “Hmmm.”
She slid a hand down to play with the buttons on his shirt.
To her surprise, that earned her something that sounded like a warning. “Lisbon...”
She smiled, the hesitation in his voice helping her feel a little bit steadier. She had said she wasn’t going to put up with any of his games, but maybe this was a whole other kind of playing. Whatever Jane thought, sometimes she liked to play. “Who said you got to be in charge?”
Jane frowned slightly. “No one. Don’t be ridiculous.”
“Excellent,” she whispered, as she flicked open two of the buttons of his shirt.
To her surprise he stopped her hand with his own before she could reach the third.
She frowned. “Jane...”
He shifted back slightly. “I want...”
“Me? Yes, you mentioned that,” she said coyly, pushing his jacket off his shoulders.
“Seduction,” he whispered.
She tilted her head to the side and sent him a smile. “And what do you call this?”
Jane didn’t answer the question. “I want to take this slowly. I want to touch every part of you. I want you to feel so good you can’t think.”
Something painful exploded in her chest, left an almost terrible yearning. Damn him. Damn him. Why couldn’t anything with him ever just be simple? She needed this to be light, to be... She didn’t even know. “So you do want to be in charge?”
He shook his head slowly. “I want seduction. And I want you right there with me.”
She narrowed her eyes, trying to... trying to...
He laughed lightly, reaching for her hand and kissing her palm. Lingered because he could. “Relax. Just feel.”
“Jane...” Part of her knew what he was asking. Part of her had always known. And she didn’t... She was fine with sex. Absolutely fine with it. She wasn’t great with relationships, but she liked sex. She liked it hot and desperate, hard and deep. She knew what she liked, and she had no trouble taking the lead. But when too many feelings were involved, when people asked too much of her, knew her like he did...
God she hated him. She hated him.
His voice cut through her thoughts, gravelly and aroused. “Trust me.”
And just like that, Lisbon’s pulse was back to racing.
Jane kissed her palm again. “You have beautiful hands.”
Her heart gave an unexpected thud. She wanted to believe him. She wanted him to be sincere. She wanted...
She wanted to let herself want.
But she wasn’t sure she could handle it, wasn’t sure she could handle him.
He made her feel vulnerable.
He always had. He was one of the few.
The bastard.
“I mean every word, Teresa,” Jane murmured, trying to reassure, knowing she was at war with herself. He knew he’d sprung this on her, but all of a sudden he’d lost patience..
Lisbon shook her head, mostly to herself. Because hell if she didn’t want him. Wanted him so much she could feel it under her skin, radiating out from the hand he still held, the palm he’d kissed. It pulsed through her. Want and want and want. She’d wanted him for two years, when she’d had nothing but his letters. And she’d wanted him for years before that when he’d been hovering around her cases, around her life (thought she’d lied to herself the entire time). And now he was standing in front of her offering and she... She wasn’t sure she could deal with the terms.
And he’d never let her write new ones.
Jane seemed to sense her conflict. “My FBI Agent, my Lisbon. I hate that you’ve ever felt like that wasn’t enough, even for a minute.”
“How do you want me to feel?” she asked, her voice low and breathless. Maybe he would have the answer. He always seemed to know everything else.
And he was smiling slowly at her. “Very hard for a man not to take that as an invitation.”
She found a smile of her own then, and an instantaneous decision. “I know.”
She was so goddamn sick of spending her evenings alone with nothing but a box of letters for company.
And then Jane was kissing her again, and her arms were around his neck and she was pressing up against him. She was going to get in the game. She was going to make him want her so much he couldn’t think. She was going to make him forget his little plan, whatever it was. She was going to make him desperate. She pressed closer, pleased when he was the one to groan.
He tried to talk. “Lisbon, Teresa...”
She ignored him, holding his mouth captive with her own. His objections stopped.
She smiled against him. Before biting down on his lower lip.
Barely breaking the skin.
And his control snapped. Jane felt it like an explosion in his brain, but he didn’t care.
He’d buried this attraction for over a decade.
Lisbon felt herself being propelled backwards. Her back slammed against the wall. A surge of triumph.
Then he was thrusting up against her without any conscious notion of how it had happened.
And she was the one moaning. She wrapped a leg around his calf, needed to keep him there. Needed, needed, needed.
Jane was practically panting. Pressed up against her, hot and female and his, damn it. His. He forgot to tease, wanted to claim, sucked her lower lip into his mouth and gloried in the fingers clenching in his hair, in her cries of arousal. More and more and more and more. He ground down against her, stifling her groans with another desperate kiss.
So goddamn good, even through at least four layers of fabric. All heat and friction and need.
His hands were skimming up and down her sides. From her thigh against his hip to her breasts and back, sliding under her blouse and finding skin, familiar skin. Familiar now. Would become even more familiar later. His Lisbon.
She had a hand around his shoulder and one in his hair. She’d always wanted to do that, to feel his curls. And now they were hers to touch as she wanted, to hold his mouth against hers. Stubble against her cheek, then her neck, then... “Jane...”
And then his brain caught up. Remembered what had led him here.
“Wait,” he whispered, pulling back, though almost every inch of him protested.
Lisbon was also displeased. Growling at him, she tried to regain his lips. Jane lifted his chin so her mouth fell against his throat, which didn’t particularly help matters, though he couldn’t bring himself to object as she pressed hot open-mouthed kisses along the muscles there.
Jane searched for control. “This isn’t slow,” he muttered against her ear.
“I never agreed to slow,” Lisbon bit back, rolling her hips against his.
Jane shut his eyes. Needed to block out the temptress in front of him, the woman with disheveled hair and flushed skin and a stubborn will that was used to ordering people around. His hands tightened against the soft skin at her waist.
Then she was stretching up until her lips were pulling against his pulse and closing his eyes wasn’t good enough anymore.
He reached a hand down, grabbing one of hers, and pulled it up, preventing it from reaching its intended destination.
Lisbon groaned her frustration against his skin.
“Slow,” he whispered against her ear. Held her hand against his heart. So slow she’d lose herself in the feeling and never question how much he wanted her. So slow she couldn’t write it off as a spur of the moment something else.
Lisbon shook her head, her other hand tangling in his shirt to hold him in place.
Jane kissed her temple, brushed his lips against her cheekbone. He wasn’t going anywhere; he just wanted to change the tempo.
She froze beneath him. So he brushed his nose against hers, barely let his breath ghost over her lips before pausing to place a lingering kiss against her chin.
“Jane...” she whispered, her body tense and taut, and maybe two seconds away from kneeing him in the groin so she could flee.
He was willing to take the risk. “Slow,” he repeated, briefly wondering at the waver in his own voice.
He decided to ignore it, focusing instead on her, on eyes wide and vulnerable.
He let his body relax back against hers, let her feel how much he wanted her, even if he had no intention of doing anything about it for a little while yet. He reached a hand up to caress her neck, stroking his thumb slowly along her jaw line. Then he kissed her again, this time not to devour.
Before her mouth could get other ideas, he pulled back, whispering against her lips. “Let me.”
She whimpered. Wasn’t sure if she could stand this... sweetness. “Jane...”
He dropped another sweet kiss against her lips before kissing his way along her jaw line to just below her ear. “Let me,” he whispered again, before nipping her earlobe.
He rather enjoyed when she jerked against him. “Jane....”
This time he trailed his lips along her jugular, pausing in the hollow of her throat, his breath catching when he realized how fast her pulse was beating against her neck, how much she was straining, fighting against herself. He placed a gentle kiss to the centre of her collar bone. “Let me,” he whispered, straining for control.
When he pulled back he was surprised to see her eyes were closed. Then he noticed that the hand he wasn’t holding had his shirt in a grip so tight her knuckles were white.
He drew the hand he still held between them up, kissing the back of her palm before moving on to each knuckle, each finger, each fingertip, before letting her index finger slide into his mouth and sucking, sliding his tongue from joint to tip.
Her eyes flew open. “Jane.”
He held her gaze. “Let me.”
Her breath caught.
His lips lingered against her palm on their way to the underside of her wrist. “So delicate. So strong.”
She bit her lip, her eyes locked on his.
He didn’t look away. “My FBI Agent.”
She gasped.
His control slipped and he pressed closer. “Your pulse is racing,” he murmured.
“Shut up,” she whispered. “So’s yours.”
“Of course it is,” Jane agreed. “I’m seducing a beautiful woman.”
“Jane,” she practically sobbed. Why wouldn’t he just... Why couldn’t they... She rocked her hips against his. She hated him. Oh, she hated him.
“Or trying to,” he admitted, reaching his hand down to find her hipbone, stroking his thumb along it.
She stared at him, so aroused she could barely think. “Trying to?”
He chuckled, the laugh breathless to his own ears, and dropped a kiss on her lips. Then his eyes turned serious. “Let me.”
“Jane...” She tried to voice another objection. Did he know what he was asking her?
“Let me, Lisbon. Let me make you feel good. Let me make you feel like you could forget your own name if I wasn’t already saying it. Over and over and over.”
“I don’t know if I...” But she wanted to. She wanted to trust him. (So much want.)
“I can’t unless you let me,” he explained. He wanted slow. She was the first woman in a long time who’d mean anything, everything. He wanted to map every inch of her. But if she had other ideas, well, he only had so much control.
He waited.
She didn’t speak. She couldn’t. Her brain felt like molasses. And then it finally hit her. What he was trying to say. This wasn’t a game. And she wasn’t the only one who would be exposed.
Let...
“Let me,” he whispered, staring into her eyes, her pupils dilated with desire, her hair mussed, her face flushed, her breath coming in too quickly. The surge of desire cut through him like a knife. He’d done that. He’d done that, and he wanted to do more. He wanted to give this to her. Wanted this for both of them. Wanted all of her really. He shifted infinitesimally closer, his lips less than an inch away. “Please, Teresa.”
Let him.
Heart thundering in her ears, Lisbon stretched up to kiss him again. At the touch of his lips she let her eyes flutter shut.
Maybe it was time to trust her partner again.
Maybe it was time to let...
Jane kissed her until he felt her relax against him. Then he shifted, kissing his way along the collar of her shirt. Her skin there had been fascinating him for years. He flipped open a button her shirt and followed the opening.
She tangled her hands back in his hair. Let herself feel every curl between her fingers. She was going to feel it all.
“Have I ever told you, that I like these blouses of yours,” Jane murmured, flipping open another button.
She raked a hand down his back, using her nails a little. Found she could still tease. “You like quite a bit of me, apparently.”
“Want to find out how much?” he whispered, stifling a groan as her hand slid back up his spine.
“That was what you promised,” she reminded him, dropping a hand down his chest, and tugging his shirt out of his pants before searching for skin.
“Mmhm,” he agreed, his lips pausing over her heart as she traced her hands along his chest. “Oh, Teresa, love...”
She bit her lip, trying to stifle a cry. “Jane...”
“Shhh,” he murmured, his fingers searching for more buttons. She didn’t need to say it back, but she needed to know.
She wanted to touch him; she unbuttoned his shirt as quickly as she could, pushing it off his shoulders.
“Bedroom?” she asked.
He smirked. “You were the one who wanted things up against the wall.”
“Actually, I believe that was you,” she muttered. She may have encouraged the idea, but she hadn’t thrust herself up against her living room wall.
“You gave me no choice,” he whispered, as he tugged her gently down the hallway.
She laughed lightly. “I told you, I’m a grown woman...”
“Who likes things active,” Jane finished. “I think we’ll be able to find a compromise.”
She pulled him back to her to kiss him. She was going to kiss him so many times tonight, even he’d lose track. “I don’t know, I was promised a seduction the likes of which I’ve never seen.”
“I don’t think I ever actually said that,” he whispered against her lips.
He drove her crazy. So she kissed him again. “Implied,” she gasped out, before pressing her lips back against his. If the rest of what he had planned was anything like his kisses, she wasn’t going to regret going along with his plan.
And then he was pushing her blouse off her shoulder with his lips. “Missed you.”
“Yeah,” she gasped as his hand skimmed her breast, pressed closer so he’d do it again. “Second door on the right.”
“I knew that,” he assured her, as her blouse fluttered to the floor.
Lisbon realized she had one last thing to say as his shirt joined it. “And Patrick?”
Jane genuinely froze. “Did you just call me...?”
She smirked and nuzzled his neck. “Next time we’re doing this my way.” She whispered.
Next time caused his entire body to stutter against hers. “Temptress,” he whispered back.
“Just making sure you understand what you’re up against,” she murmured, letting her eyes fall shut.
He smiled against her skin. “Whatever you want, love.”
xxx
Several hours later
xxx
“Jane?” Lisbon asked, trailing a hand up and down his chest.
“Hmmm?” he murmured sleepily, her tone told him he should probably be at least slightly wary, but pressed up against her in her bed, he was too content to care right now.
Lisbon decided to take advantage of his distraction. A minor scuffle found her straddling his waist with his hands pinned above his head.
Jane probably could have escaped if he’d wanted, but her eyes stopped him. “Someone’s pleased with herself,” he said, taking in the self-satisfied woman above him.
Her slow smile told him self-satisfied may have been an understatement.
It was sexy as hell.
She leaned forward until her face as just above his, her hair brushing his shoulders.
“Let me.”
His eyes flashed hot. And he decided that sometimes, he had absolutely no problem being held captive.
He relaxed beneath her. “Yes.”
“Damn right, yes,” she agreed.
She shifted her hips lower and he groaned. “I’m at your mercy, Agent Lisbon.”
Her delighted laughter was only cut off by her lips on his.
Jane willingly let his FBI Agent order all thought from his brain.
Her way indeed.
xxx
The end
I hope you enjoyed it. (I’m feeling the urge to hide under a rock, to be honest.)