Fic: Take Your Best Shot 1/3 [NCIS]
Title: Take Your Best Shot
Fandom: NCIS
Chapter: 1/3
WCount: 3,367
Pairing: Jenny/Gibbs
Rating: MA
Summary: Set after 306, Jenny walks Jethro to his car where they have one more argument about Paris. Later that evening, Jethro is called to a bar where Jenny is challenging men to pool. And so begins a game where the prize could either be a future together, or a lifetime apart.
Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS or any of its characters, or its settings - all belongs to the lovely folks at CBS.
I wrote this before I went off to Uni, and after some long edits it is finally ready to be posted! Part Two will be up tomorrow, where the rating really comes into play!
Enjoy x
"I'll walk you to your car."
Leroy Jethro Gibbs nodded and packed up the last few of his belongings before following Jenny Shepard to the elevator. It had been a tense couple of days, but it was only the beginning of their long and difficult journey together. Their working relationship had always been sparky, but usually a healthy dose of teasing, flirting and trying to push each other up against the lift had accompanied it. Now it seemed like Jenny was so afraid of touching him, of brushing up against the relationship she had left behind that it was like he didn't even know her.
"So…" Jethro began as they stood in the elevator.
Jenny bowed her head. "So." She licked her lips. "Good work today, Jethro."
It was rare that she called him 'Jethro' now and she was becoming more and more 'The Director' to him. He hated the professional labels she had attached to their relationship. Even when he had been her boss, the title had always been said with affection. Now…now they were just picking at each other.
"You got big plans tonight?" he asked as they reached his car, quicker than expected.
He looked her over; examined the pea green coat, the cream turtleneck that covered the neck he wanted to mark. The skirt was knee length, the leather of her boots seemed moulded to her calves. He couldn't keep his eyes away from her, and as he finally made his way to meet Jenny's eyes he could see that she knew it too.
"Be careful, Jethro."
"What, Jen?" He stepped forward from the driver's side door and pinned her against the car next to his. They hadn't been this close since Paris, and even now they weren't touching. He could see her lips quivering as his eyes burnt holes into hers. "You going to write me up for sexual harassment or something?"
She pushed away from the car and pressed her hands against his chest. "Don't try me, Jethro. I've grown up a lot since we parted ways."
"'Parted ways'?" He snorted. "That’s a damn fancy way of saying you left me, Jen. You left me with a damn letter, asleep in the bed we had made love in the night before." His tone was softer, his words breaking at the end. He could see that the walls she had built around herself when she had returned to him were crumbling. He wanted to break them down with a damn hammer.
"We were never going to work, not in the real world. I guess I was the only one who could see that we couldn't be a couple in DC," Jenny admitted, wetting her lips as she felt her mouth go dry.
Jethro pushed into her face, his hand lifting her chin up to meet his. He wanted to kiss her, but he knew that she'd have her knife or gun on him as soon as his lips touched hers. "I guess I was the only one willing to try to be happy. I hope you are now, Jen. I really hope breaking my heart was worth it."
He ripped open the car door and slammed himself inside it. Without a second glance at Jenny, he drove away from NCIS and decided to spend the rest of the evening drunk as a skunk. He needed to forget about her.
X
Jethro was working on his boat when his phone started to ring. He didn't want to answer it, just wanted to keep on sanding the frame of his boat. But his argument with Jenny still weighed heavily in his mind, and he wondered for a few seconds whether it was her calling him, wanting to talk. They had never had a proper discussion about their relationship, never sat down and discussed how it all ended since she had returned. He wanted that closure.
He wanted her.
"Gibbs," he announced, still working the sander against the wood.
"Hey Gibbs. It's Jack from McNeil's?"
Jethro remembered Jack. Tall guy, former marine who ran a bar off the Navy Yard that the agents used to go to after work. Or at least they used to back in the day. Now the agents preferred a place a few blocks from the Navy Yard. It was younger, trendier. McNeil's was a proper bar with a couple of pool tables and a decent stock of bourbon - the perfect place for him.
"Hey Jack. Everything okay?"
He heard him sigh over the line. "Not exactly. Do you mind picking someone up?"
"Who?" Jethro couldn't think of any of his agents who didn't go to the new place now. The only people who went to McNeil's were ones who had worked at NCIS for years, or had retired.
"Jenny. She's a mess, Gibbs, more of a mess than that time Robbie got her wasted. I don't know what's rattled her this time, but she's challenging guys to pool in exchange for drinks."
"Come on, her game must go as she drinks more!" Jethro suggested, putting the phone between his ear and neck as he started gathering his belongings to go pick up Jenny. She must have taken their conversation more seriously than he had expected. He knew they should have acted like mature adults instead of, well, them.
Jack coughed. "Nope. She just gets better. It's like the whiskey helps improve her aim or something. She just beat one guy six balls to zero."
"I'll be there as soon as I can."
Jethro got to McNeil's as quickly as the law would allow. When he got there, Jack was waiting outside the bar for him. The brown hair had turned grey over the years, and Jethro realised he hadn't visited the place since Jenny had left him. He hadn't felt like going back and seeing the ghosts of them playing pool, of them drinking, or them stealing a kiss in the alleyway next to the bar.
"She's inside. Just completed her eleventh game, gone through five guys."
Jethro nodded and moved inside; worried about his boss and the woman he loved. Looking up to the elevated floor at the back, he could see Jenny drinking her eleventh bourbon of the evening. Her new outfit suggested she had gone home, which was a good sign. But she'd ditched her security detail, which wasn't so good.
The knee high boots were gone, replaced by a pair of fuck me shoes with at least a three inch heel. He'd always been amazed at how his former lover could walk in those heels, let alone run. The black jeans she wore were skin tight, shaping her ass in a way that Jethro didn't appreciate - it gave all the other bastards in the bar an eyeful. When Jenny turned around, he saw her hair was up in a ponytail and the blouse she wore needed a mere few closed buttons.
"Come to take me home, Jethro?" Jenny asked, raising her glass to him.
He walked through the men who were watching the sultry redhead beat everyone at pool. Jethro stopped in front of her face, and had to physically stop himself from pushing her onto the pool table and having her for himself. She was stunning - the intervening six years only making her more beautiful. More aware of her body and how it could be used, as if that was even possible. She had always known the effect she had on him.
"Jen, this isn't appropriate."
She giggled, gripping onto the pool cue. She rubbed the tip of it, before sliding her hand down the shaft, and then back up. He was watching her hand with a lump in his throat, memories of what she could do to him playing like a film in his head.
"You want to talk about not appropriate?" She bit her bottom lip, the pads of her fingers trailing down the brown pole in a gentle caress. She got the chalk and moved in a circular motion over the top of the cue. She slowly blew the chalk away, all the while keeping her eyes on him. "Not appropriate is you bringing up the past every five minutes. I thought we'd be adults about this, Jethro. And not take a few months undercover to heart."
"You're drunk," Jethro stated, putting one hand on the cue.
Jenny stepped forward, the cue ending up between her ankles. Jethro's mind was in overdrive. "I'm enjoying myself for the first time since coming back to DC." She smiled. "Tell you what - I'll play you for it. If I win, you buy me another drink. If you win, you can drag me back home."
Jethro grabbed the cue from her, upsetting her equilibrium. She slammed into him, and he had to slide an arm around her waist to steady herself. They were pressed together, eyes burning into each other with every repressed conversation they had avoided in the weeks since she had returned. He leaned into her, his breath tickling the hairs on the back of her neck.
"You're on, Director." He pushed the cue back, pushing her back and away from him. "You break."
"Second shots if you pot or miss?"
Jethro snorted and shook his head. "Considering how you wasted the last few guys, no way. Single shots only."
Jack passed him a beer as he grabbed his own cue, ignoring the worried look on the bartenders face. He replied with a thank you and a shrug, focussing on the game in front of him. He and Jenny needed to hash this out; there wasn't any room for anyone else to get involved. Jethro took a gulp of his beer as he watched Jenny break. He had a great look down her shirt as she hit the balls straight on, knocking a red ball into a pocket.
"Guess I'm red."
Jethro smiled. "Danger, danger. Appropriate for you."
She smirked, running a hand over his chin. "Your colour is yellow. What does that say about you?"
He rolled his eyes and pocketed a yellow ball straight away. Jenny's face fell. "It says that I'm going to kick your ass, Shepard, and drag you back to your fancy Georgetown place where you belong."
They continued to play, pocketing a ball on every turn until Jenny leaned down to pick up an earring she had lost. He missed his ball and ended up pocketing one of hers instead. Jethro cursed, and Jenny chuckled against the table, eyeing up the black ball - the last step before earning herself a drink on Jethro's money.
"Well what do you think my odds are of making this shot, Jethro?" Jenny asked, moving over to his side of the table. She lined up her cue, her body straightening with the shot. Jethro couldn’t keep his eyes from her. She made the shot, pocketing the black ball easily. "That'll be one bourbon, just a little ice please, Special Agent Gibbs."
Jethro slammed the cue down on the floor and went over to get the drink from Jack. He handed it to Jenny without a word. She lifted the glass to her lips and took a long drag of the alcohol. She closed her eyes and licked the stray alcohol with her tongue.
"Perfect. The door is that way, Jethro. I'll see you at work tomorrow."
Jenny turned around when Jethro caught her on her side. He pulled her back into his front, pressing against her. He didn't even care that he was half hard; he wanted her to feel how he reacted to her. It was his male ego getting in the way, but he hoped that the lust would help her remember the good times they had shared, the love and the sex that had intoxicated them both. But it just strengthened her resolve, and the ice came down into those green eyes.
"Jethro…"
"Rematch. I'll get you a double if you beat me. If I beat you, I'll take you home and I get that conversation we've been avoiding."
Jenny shook her head, the fear in her eyes highlighted by the bright lights over the table. "No deal. How about you take me home and I'll back your next case, however you fuck up?"
Jethro thought it over. He smiled and shook Jenny's offered hand. "Even if I cause an international incident?"
He watched her swallow. "Even if I am fielding calls from Agency Directors for the next six years."
Jethro watched as Jenny set up the balls. She really wanted to avoid that conversation. She finished with the white ball on the designated spot and presented the table with a flourish.
"Your break, Gibbs."
He made the shot with precision, breaking the balls evenly and putting a red ball straight in one of the end pockets. Jethro stood up, his grin wide and bright. "Looks like I'm red this round, boss."
Jenny chuckled at the use of the nickname, and remembered when she had rolled that title over her own lips. "You got a thing for red, don't you Jethro?" She had slid underneath his arms, looking at the balls on the table. She turned around, turning her lips up to him. "Red lipstick. Red lingerie. Redheads."
She leaned over the table, pushing her ass against his crotch deliberately. He retaliated by gripping onto her hips, making the sight even more sexual. Jenny's cue scraped the white ball, pushing it only a few centimetres. She cursed in French as she stood up and nearly pushed her cue up his nose.
"Be sport-man like, Jethro."
He chuckled, and managed to pot another red ball right by Jenny's hip. She cursed again. "Don't be like that, Jen. It's only a game." He leaned in close to her, his mouth resting on her earlobe. His stomach tightened as he felt Jenny gasp. "Wishing I'd bet something a touch more…dirty for this game. As it looks like I'm going to win."
Jenny leaned in closer, resting her hand on his arm. Their eyes met, and Jethro shivered. The look in her eyes was making him harder. When he'd seen it before, they hadn't left their room for days. She wanted him, and he didn't know why she was trying to deny herself when he would so easily get on his knees in front of her. Of course he'd make her beg for his mouth, his fingers, but she was used to him by now.
"Don't plan your victory lap before the black ball is sunk, Jethro," She flicked his chin, smirking.
"I'm not the one who can't pace herself."
Jenny turned around and lined up her shot. The angle was perfect, and she potted two yellow balls in a single thrust. Jethro cursed. She turned around, grinning that monkey grin that meant trouble. But usually trouble they were in together rather than trouble she was bringing down upon him.
"It's been six years, Jethro. I've been taught to pace myself."
He smacked his hand on the side of the pool table, pushing into her face. He wanted to kiss her, wanted to stick his tongue in her mouth until she conceded that she wanted him just as much as he wanted her. He wanted her to tell him he wasn't wasting his time still being in love with her.
"Any of these so called marathon runners better than me?"
Jenny chuckled, and looked up at him with a sparkle in her eye. "I'm not drunk enough yet, Jethro. Maybe you should let me win and I'll tell you who's been my best."
Jethro smirked and leaned down, lining up his shot where the white had stopped. Jenny ran a finger down the centre of his back and he shivered. Thank goodness his jeans were loose. He managed to hit another red ball into its hole, and he stood up, grinning at Jenny.
"Be a waste of good bourbon, Jen, as I already know the answer."
Jenny grinned and lined up her shot. She couldn't get the right angle, so she leant backwards over the board, pushing her breasts and hips up as she tilted to get the right angle on the ball.
"You planning on asking that table to dinner, Jen?"
She stuck her tongue out at him. "You upset it's not you I'm straddling?"
Jenny managed to pot her yellow ball from her angle, making the score even again. As she righted herself, she found herself nose to nose with Jethro. She licked her lips, the bourbon working on her senses. This was foreplay, and they both knew it.
"Give it time, and four balls."
He potted his next shot without any interruption from Jenny. He was grateful; he didn't think he could stand her slightly touching him anymore. He needed her hands places they weren't currently. And her giving the pool cue a hand job was not helping him either.
"Jack, 'nother beer?" Jethro asked in a strained voice. Jack tossed him one and he necked it, needing the alcohol in his blood to stem certain body parts.
Jenny smirked as she watched him. "Getting hot, Jethro?" Jenny asked as she lined up her next shot. She watched with a grin as Jethro harshly swallowed more of his beer. She took her go and landed the ball in the right pocket. "Feel free to back out anytime."
His next shot landed easily, and Jenny's looked promising. She leaned over the table, Jethro squatting beside her. She tried to push him out of her mind, but then he started blowing on the back of her neck. Jenny missed the white ball on her first attempt, but hit it the second and managed to pot a yellow too. She looked at Jethro, smirking devilishly.
"Childish." But she grinned nevertheless. "Payback is a bitch, Jethro."
He shook her remarks off and lined up his next shot. It was an easy one, and he could then take the black on his next go. He'd win, and then take Jenny home and hopefully to bed. The way she was getting worked up, he could see her pushing him up against her front door.
"Just try me, Shepard."
He was ready to take the shot that would begin the motions of his triumph over Jenny. And then his redheaded former lover stuck her tongue in his ear.
"Jen!"
Jethro stood back from the table, turned on and angry as hell. Jenny was grinning, and not just in a lustful way. As he turned back to the table he saw that his reaction to her actions had made him pot the black. "That’s not fair, you cheated."
She just smiled. "Dirty tricks, Jethro. You're just upset that you didn't think of it first." She was beaming, pushed right up against him as he leaned against the table.
"I'd rather stick my tongue somewhere else."
Jenny hit him on the chest but leaned into him despite his remark. He expected a lecture on feminism, a quote from the NCIS rule book but she was gripping onto his shirt like a vice. His arms snaked round her waist, holding her close to him. This wasn't a moment of flirtatious need; this wasn’t a moment where Jenny tried to kid herself that what she had with Jethro was just sex. As her grip loosened on his shirt, Jethro could tell that the walls were down and she was open to him. It was like the last six years hadn't happened, and he had his Jenny back.
"You win the next game, and you get to buy me a drink."
Jethro shook his head. "That’s not fair."
The alcohol seemed to have thinned in her system as she stroked his cheek. "If I win, and I will, we have that conversation that I've been putting off and you deserve. The conversation which had Agent Todd not have been murdered, we would have had that day."
Jethro shook his head. "Nope. If Kate hadn't been murdered, and you had shown up as my new boss?" He grinned. "We would have been on your desk within minutes."
Jenny laughed and looked up at him. "That’s probably true. My break."
Fandom: NCIS
Chapter: 1/3
WCount: 3,367
Pairing: Jenny/Gibbs
Rating: MA
Summary: Set after 306, Jenny walks Jethro to his car where they have one more argument about Paris. Later that evening, Jethro is called to a bar where Jenny is challenging men to pool. And so begins a game where the prize could either be a future together, or a lifetime apart.
Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS or any of its characters, or its settings - all belongs to the lovely folks at CBS.
I wrote this before I went off to Uni, and after some long edits it is finally ready to be posted! Part Two will be up tomorrow, where the rating really comes into play!
Enjoy x
"I'll walk you to your car."
Leroy Jethro Gibbs nodded and packed up the last few of his belongings before following Jenny Shepard to the elevator. It had been a tense couple of days, but it was only the beginning of their long and difficult journey together. Their working relationship had always been sparky, but usually a healthy dose of teasing, flirting and trying to push each other up against the lift had accompanied it. Now it seemed like Jenny was so afraid of touching him, of brushing up against the relationship she had left behind that it was like he didn't even know her.
"So…" Jethro began as they stood in the elevator.
Jenny bowed her head. "So." She licked her lips. "Good work today, Jethro."
It was rare that she called him 'Jethro' now and she was becoming more and more 'The Director' to him. He hated the professional labels she had attached to their relationship. Even when he had been her boss, the title had always been said with affection. Now…now they were just picking at each other.
"You got big plans tonight?" he asked as they reached his car, quicker than expected.
He looked her over; examined the pea green coat, the cream turtleneck that covered the neck he wanted to mark. The skirt was knee length, the leather of her boots seemed moulded to her calves. He couldn't keep his eyes away from her, and as he finally made his way to meet Jenny's eyes he could see that she knew it too.
"Be careful, Jethro."
"What, Jen?" He stepped forward from the driver's side door and pinned her against the car next to his. They hadn't been this close since Paris, and even now they weren't touching. He could see her lips quivering as his eyes burnt holes into hers. "You going to write me up for sexual harassment or something?"
She pushed away from the car and pressed her hands against his chest. "Don't try me, Jethro. I've grown up a lot since we parted ways."
"'Parted ways'?" He snorted. "That’s a damn fancy way of saying you left me, Jen. You left me with a damn letter, asleep in the bed we had made love in the night before." His tone was softer, his words breaking at the end. He could see that the walls she had built around herself when she had returned to him were crumbling. He wanted to break them down with a damn hammer.
"We were never going to work, not in the real world. I guess I was the only one who could see that we couldn't be a couple in DC," Jenny admitted, wetting her lips as she felt her mouth go dry.
Jethro pushed into her face, his hand lifting her chin up to meet his. He wanted to kiss her, but he knew that she'd have her knife or gun on him as soon as his lips touched hers. "I guess I was the only one willing to try to be happy. I hope you are now, Jen. I really hope breaking my heart was worth it."
He ripped open the car door and slammed himself inside it. Without a second glance at Jenny, he drove away from NCIS and decided to spend the rest of the evening drunk as a skunk. He needed to forget about her.
X
Jethro was working on his boat when his phone started to ring. He didn't want to answer it, just wanted to keep on sanding the frame of his boat. But his argument with Jenny still weighed heavily in his mind, and he wondered for a few seconds whether it was her calling him, wanting to talk. They had never had a proper discussion about their relationship, never sat down and discussed how it all ended since she had returned. He wanted that closure.
He wanted her.
"Gibbs," he announced, still working the sander against the wood.
"Hey Gibbs. It's Jack from McNeil's?"
Jethro remembered Jack. Tall guy, former marine who ran a bar off the Navy Yard that the agents used to go to after work. Or at least they used to back in the day. Now the agents preferred a place a few blocks from the Navy Yard. It was younger, trendier. McNeil's was a proper bar with a couple of pool tables and a decent stock of bourbon - the perfect place for him.
"Hey Jack. Everything okay?"
He heard him sigh over the line. "Not exactly. Do you mind picking someone up?"
"Who?" Jethro couldn't think of any of his agents who didn't go to the new place now. The only people who went to McNeil's were ones who had worked at NCIS for years, or had retired.
"Jenny. She's a mess, Gibbs, more of a mess than that time Robbie got her wasted. I don't know what's rattled her this time, but she's challenging guys to pool in exchange for drinks."
"Come on, her game must go as she drinks more!" Jethro suggested, putting the phone between his ear and neck as he started gathering his belongings to go pick up Jenny. She must have taken their conversation more seriously than he had expected. He knew they should have acted like mature adults instead of, well, them.
Jack coughed. "Nope. She just gets better. It's like the whiskey helps improve her aim or something. She just beat one guy six balls to zero."
"I'll be there as soon as I can."
Jethro got to McNeil's as quickly as the law would allow. When he got there, Jack was waiting outside the bar for him. The brown hair had turned grey over the years, and Jethro realised he hadn't visited the place since Jenny had left him. He hadn't felt like going back and seeing the ghosts of them playing pool, of them drinking, or them stealing a kiss in the alleyway next to the bar.
"She's inside. Just completed her eleventh game, gone through five guys."
Jethro nodded and moved inside; worried about his boss and the woman he loved. Looking up to the elevated floor at the back, he could see Jenny drinking her eleventh bourbon of the evening. Her new outfit suggested she had gone home, which was a good sign. But she'd ditched her security detail, which wasn't so good.
The knee high boots were gone, replaced by a pair of fuck me shoes with at least a three inch heel. He'd always been amazed at how his former lover could walk in those heels, let alone run. The black jeans she wore were skin tight, shaping her ass in a way that Jethro didn't appreciate - it gave all the other bastards in the bar an eyeful. When Jenny turned around, he saw her hair was up in a ponytail and the blouse she wore needed a mere few closed buttons.
"Come to take me home, Jethro?" Jenny asked, raising her glass to him.
He walked through the men who were watching the sultry redhead beat everyone at pool. Jethro stopped in front of her face, and had to physically stop himself from pushing her onto the pool table and having her for himself. She was stunning - the intervening six years only making her more beautiful. More aware of her body and how it could be used, as if that was even possible. She had always known the effect she had on him.
"Jen, this isn't appropriate."
She giggled, gripping onto the pool cue. She rubbed the tip of it, before sliding her hand down the shaft, and then back up. He was watching her hand with a lump in his throat, memories of what she could do to him playing like a film in his head.
"You want to talk about not appropriate?" She bit her bottom lip, the pads of her fingers trailing down the brown pole in a gentle caress. She got the chalk and moved in a circular motion over the top of the cue. She slowly blew the chalk away, all the while keeping her eyes on him. "Not appropriate is you bringing up the past every five minutes. I thought we'd be adults about this, Jethro. And not take a few months undercover to heart."
"You're drunk," Jethro stated, putting one hand on the cue.
Jenny stepped forward, the cue ending up between her ankles. Jethro's mind was in overdrive. "I'm enjoying myself for the first time since coming back to DC." She smiled. "Tell you what - I'll play you for it. If I win, you buy me another drink. If you win, you can drag me back home."
Jethro grabbed the cue from her, upsetting her equilibrium. She slammed into him, and he had to slide an arm around her waist to steady herself. They were pressed together, eyes burning into each other with every repressed conversation they had avoided in the weeks since she had returned. He leaned into her, his breath tickling the hairs on the back of her neck.
"You're on, Director." He pushed the cue back, pushing her back and away from him. "You break."
"Second shots if you pot or miss?"
Jethro snorted and shook his head. "Considering how you wasted the last few guys, no way. Single shots only."
Jack passed him a beer as he grabbed his own cue, ignoring the worried look on the bartenders face. He replied with a thank you and a shrug, focussing on the game in front of him. He and Jenny needed to hash this out; there wasn't any room for anyone else to get involved. Jethro took a gulp of his beer as he watched Jenny break. He had a great look down her shirt as she hit the balls straight on, knocking a red ball into a pocket.
"Guess I'm red."
Jethro smiled. "Danger, danger. Appropriate for you."
She smirked, running a hand over his chin. "Your colour is yellow. What does that say about you?"
He rolled his eyes and pocketed a yellow ball straight away. Jenny's face fell. "It says that I'm going to kick your ass, Shepard, and drag you back to your fancy Georgetown place where you belong."
They continued to play, pocketing a ball on every turn until Jenny leaned down to pick up an earring she had lost. He missed his ball and ended up pocketing one of hers instead. Jethro cursed, and Jenny chuckled against the table, eyeing up the black ball - the last step before earning herself a drink on Jethro's money.
"Well what do you think my odds are of making this shot, Jethro?" Jenny asked, moving over to his side of the table. She lined up her cue, her body straightening with the shot. Jethro couldn’t keep his eyes from her. She made the shot, pocketing the black ball easily. "That'll be one bourbon, just a little ice please, Special Agent Gibbs."
Jethro slammed the cue down on the floor and went over to get the drink from Jack. He handed it to Jenny without a word. She lifted the glass to her lips and took a long drag of the alcohol. She closed her eyes and licked the stray alcohol with her tongue.
"Perfect. The door is that way, Jethro. I'll see you at work tomorrow."
Jenny turned around when Jethro caught her on her side. He pulled her back into his front, pressing against her. He didn't even care that he was half hard; he wanted her to feel how he reacted to her. It was his male ego getting in the way, but he hoped that the lust would help her remember the good times they had shared, the love and the sex that had intoxicated them both. But it just strengthened her resolve, and the ice came down into those green eyes.
"Jethro…"
"Rematch. I'll get you a double if you beat me. If I beat you, I'll take you home and I get that conversation we've been avoiding."
Jenny shook her head, the fear in her eyes highlighted by the bright lights over the table. "No deal. How about you take me home and I'll back your next case, however you fuck up?"
Jethro thought it over. He smiled and shook Jenny's offered hand. "Even if I cause an international incident?"
He watched her swallow. "Even if I am fielding calls from Agency Directors for the next six years."
Jethro watched as Jenny set up the balls. She really wanted to avoid that conversation. She finished with the white ball on the designated spot and presented the table with a flourish.
"Your break, Gibbs."
He made the shot with precision, breaking the balls evenly and putting a red ball straight in one of the end pockets. Jethro stood up, his grin wide and bright. "Looks like I'm red this round, boss."
Jenny chuckled at the use of the nickname, and remembered when she had rolled that title over her own lips. "You got a thing for red, don't you Jethro?" She had slid underneath his arms, looking at the balls on the table. She turned around, turning her lips up to him. "Red lipstick. Red lingerie. Redheads."
She leaned over the table, pushing her ass against his crotch deliberately. He retaliated by gripping onto her hips, making the sight even more sexual. Jenny's cue scraped the white ball, pushing it only a few centimetres. She cursed in French as she stood up and nearly pushed her cue up his nose.
"Be sport-man like, Jethro."
He chuckled, and managed to pot another red ball right by Jenny's hip. She cursed again. "Don't be like that, Jen. It's only a game." He leaned in close to her, his mouth resting on her earlobe. His stomach tightened as he felt Jenny gasp. "Wishing I'd bet something a touch more…dirty for this game. As it looks like I'm going to win."
Jenny leaned in closer, resting her hand on his arm. Their eyes met, and Jethro shivered. The look in her eyes was making him harder. When he'd seen it before, they hadn't left their room for days. She wanted him, and he didn't know why she was trying to deny herself when he would so easily get on his knees in front of her. Of course he'd make her beg for his mouth, his fingers, but she was used to him by now.
"Don't plan your victory lap before the black ball is sunk, Jethro," She flicked his chin, smirking.
"I'm not the one who can't pace herself."
Jenny turned around and lined up her shot. The angle was perfect, and she potted two yellow balls in a single thrust. Jethro cursed. She turned around, grinning that monkey grin that meant trouble. But usually trouble they were in together rather than trouble she was bringing down upon him.
"It's been six years, Jethro. I've been taught to pace myself."
He smacked his hand on the side of the pool table, pushing into her face. He wanted to kiss her, wanted to stick his tongue in her mouth until she conceded that she wanted him just as much as he wanted her. He wanted her to tell him he wasn't wasting his time still being in love with her.
"Any of these so called marathon runners better than me?"
Jenny chuckled, and looked up at him with a sparkle in her eye. "I'm not drunk enough yet, Jethro. Maybe you should let me win and I'll tell you who's been my best."
Jethro smirked and leaned down, lining up his shot where the white had stopped. Jenny ran a finger down the centre of his back and he shivered. Thank goodness his jeans were loose. He managed to hit another red ball into its hole, and he stood up, grinning at Jenny.
"Be a waste of good bourbon, Jen, as I already know the answer."
Jenny grinned and lined up her shot. She couldn't get the right angle, so she leant backwards over the board, pushing her breasts and hips up as she tilted to get the right angle on the ball.
"You planning on asking that table to dinner, Jen?"
She stuck her tongue out at him. "You upset it's not you I'm straddling?"
Jenny managed to pot her yellow ball from her angle, making the score even again. As she righted herself, she found herself nose to nose with Jethro. She licked her lips, the bourbon working on her senses. This was foreplay, and they both knew it.
"Give it time, and four balls."
He potted his next shot without any interruption from Jenny. He was grateful; he didn't think he could stand her slightly touching him anymore. He needed her hands places they weren't currently. And her giving the pool cue a hand job was not helping him either.
"Jack, 'nother beer?" Jethro asked in a strained voice. Jack tossed him one and he necked it, needing the alcohol in his blood to stem certain body parts.
Jenny smirked as she watched him. "Getting hot, Jethro?" Jenny asked as she lined up her next shot. She watched with a grin as Jethro harshly swallowed more of his beer. She took her go and landed the ball in the right pocket. "Feel free to back out anytime."
His next shot landed easily, and Jenny's looked promising. She leaned over the table, Jethro squatting beside her. She tried to push him out of her mind, but then he started blowing on the back of her neck. Jenny missed the white ball on her first attempt, but hit it the second and managed to pot a yellow too. She looked at Jethro, smirking devilishly.
"Childish." But she grinned nevertheless. "Payback is a bitch, Jethro."
He shook her remarks off and lined up his next shot. It was an easy one, and he could then take the black on his next go. He'd win, and then take Jenny home and hopefully to bed. The way she was getting worked up, he could see her pushing him up against her front door.
"Just try me, Shepard."
He was ready to take the shot that would begin the motions of his triumph over Jenny. And then his redheaded former lover stuck her tongue in his ear.
"Jen!"
Jethro stood back from the table, turned on and angry as hell. Jenny was grinning, and not just in a lustful way. As he turned back to the table he saw that his reaction to her actions had made him pot the black. "That’s not fair, you cheated."
She just smiled. "Dirty tricks, Jethro. You're just upset that you didn't think of it first." She was beaming, pushed right up against him as he leaned against the table.
"I'd rather stick my tongue somewhere else."
Jenny hit him on the chest but leaned into him despite his remark. He expected a lecture on feminism, a quote from the NCIS rule book but she was gripping onto his shirt like a vice. His arms snaked round her waist, holding her close to him. This wasn't a moment of flirtatious need; this wasn’t a moment where Jenny tried to kid herself that what she had with Jethro was just sex. As her grip loosened on his shirt, Jethro could tell that the walls were down and she was open to him. It was like the last six years hadn't happened, and he had his Jenny back.
"You win the next game, and you get to buy me a drink."
Jethro shook his head. "That’s not fair."
The alcohol seemed to have thinned in her system as she stroked his cheek. "If I win, and I will, we have that conversation that I've been putting off and you deserve. The conversation which had Agent Todd not have been murdered, we would have had that day."
Jethro shook his head. "Nope. If Kate hadn't been murdered, and you had shown up as my new boss?" He grinned. "We would have been on your desk within minutes."
Jenny laughed and looked up at him. "That’s probably true. My break."