Wounded And Scarred by Saraluvzbonz - Romance rated K+

Rating: K+
Pairing: B&B
Genre: Romance (just a hint)
Summary: Booth gets nicked by a bullet.

"Bones, get the cuffs out of my back right pocket, please," Booth ordered.

She gave him a funny look, but moved to do as he requested. Standing behind him, she bent over and reached into his pocket for them. Using his right knee, Booth was pinning down a suspect who had taken a shot at them. He held both the man's hands firmly in his own. She could see the suspect's handgun on the grass a few feet away.

'Putting your hand in someone else's pocket is oddly…intimate,' she thought, as she retrieved and handed the cuffs to him.

As Booth moved the suspect to his vehicle, Brennan noticed he was favoring his right side. 'He must have been grazed.'

At a stoplight on the ride to the Hoover Building to book the suspect, Brennan offered Booth some tissues to pad his wound with. He accepted it, leaned forward, slipped his left hand underneath his shirt and jacket, and positioned the tissue, wincing as he did. She debated suggesting that he get it looked at, but decided she shouldn't say anything until they'd dealt with their passenger.

After they booked the suspect for resisting arrest and assaulting a federal agent, Booth took Brennan back to the Jeffersonian. On the way there, she broached the subject of his injury.

"Booth, maybe we should take to you the hospital to get your graze looked at," she said.

"I've been shot enough times to know when it's serious or not," he replied.

"It's not a good idea to let something like that go. You need to have it properly cleaned and bandaged," she responded.

"And I don't like hospitals. I've spent too much time in them already. I don't want to go when I don't need to," he retorted.

She sighed. His tone of voice told her that she wouldn't be winning the argument.

"At least let me look at it then," she demanded.

He threw a smile her direction and said, "Aw, Bones. It's nice to know you care."

"Of course I care. Besides, I wouldn't want to have to break in a new agent," she said.

Booth trailed her through the Jeffersonian into her office. She retrieved a first aid kit from somewhere in the recesses of her desk and pulled out antibacterial ointment and bandages of various sizes.

As she walked toward him with the medical supplies, he shrugged out of his leather jacket.

When that wasn't followed by an immediate removal of his shirt, she said, "Take off your shirt, Booth."

He looked at her askance, and then joked, "If you wanted to see, all you had to do was ask, Bones." He winked at her.

She rolled her eyes at him. "I can tell by the way you're moving that I won't be able to bandage it properly with the shirt on," she replied.

He winced as he pulled the black T-shirt over his head. He tossed it onto the couch and then looked at his partner.

Brennan couldn't take her eyes off of his chest. She had known he was well-muscled from their occasional hugs, but knowing it and seeing it were two different things. He obviously worked out. She had always thought he was an attractive man and her current view reinforced that opinion. Booth was amused by her appreciative stare.

A few seconds or minutes later, Brennan couldn't be quite sure which, something moving at the edge of her peripheral vision distracted her. She turned her head and noticed that a woman walking by her office had stopped and was starting at her partner. She stepped around him and closed the blinds.

"That woman was looking at you as if you were some kind of… object… to be possessed," Brennan fumed.

Booth, used to the attention his good looks attracted, replied, "And just what did you think Angela meant when she called me F-B-eye candy?"

"I don't know. It just sounded odd to me when she said it, but we were working and so I ignored it," she answered. "Wait? You overheard that?"

"I hear lots of things, Bones," he said with a sly smile, distracting her from the comment she had been planning to make about his ego.

Suddenly she became overwhelmingly aware that her partner was standing half-naked in her office and her mind returned to the reason for his state of partial undress.

Pointing to the couch, she ordered, "Sit."

He complied. She sat next to him and gently pushed his shoulder back so she could see the wound, a shallow angry red gash several inches long on his right side near rib number five. He was right; it was just a graze. She dabbed the antibacterial ointment into it.

"It's a good thing your arm wasn't at your side when he shot at you," she commented, reaching for her largest bandage.

"The fact that he's a terrible shot helped too," Booth replied wryly.

The bandage was the right length, but much too wide. She folded it in half, increasing the padding and then taped it to his side.

Every time her fingers gently touched his skin in the process of treating his wound, little sparks radiated from the point of contact down his nerves. A wave of desire flooded him. Bones was his partner, but she was also a beautiful woman. Although he touched her regularly for a variety of reasons, she didn't initiate contact all that often.

When she finished, she placed a hand on his shoulder and said softly, "Booth, I'm sorry this happened." She felt scar tissue underneath her fingers and shifted to get a better look at his back. She gasped at the network of thin, white, almost invisible scars covering most of it.

"Booth?" she asked.

"You didn't think my feet were the only part of me damaged during my time as a POW, did you?" he queried.

"I guess I never really thought about it. You clearly didn't want to talk about it," she answered. "I mean, I occasionally wonder what happened, but I never thought there might be more injuries."

"Well, one guy was more 'creative' than the rest. He thought that carving my back with a sharp blade was an excellent way to convince me to talk," Booth explained. "And you're right, I don't want to talk about it."

She traced one of the lines toward his lower back absently as she processed this revelation. A pleasant shiver shook his body in response and she jerked her hand away.

A long look passed between them, and just as he was wondering if she would hit him if he kissed her, her clinical mind took over and she returned to business.

"The bandage needs to be changed a couple of times a day. I bet it hurts," she said.

As though her words summoned it, the pain came rushing to the fore and he nodded in agreement. She got up and returned a moment later with two Advil and bottled water. He swallowed them with a gulp of water.

"Uh, Bones?" he began. "I don't think I'll be able to change the bandage myself."

She evaluated his statement and then took it at face value. "All you have to do is ask," she replied with a smile, offering him his T-shirt.

He pulled it on carefully. "Ready to work?" he asked, returning her smile.

AN: At the moment I don't have any ideas for turning this into a story, but I'm not against the idea...

Posted 27/09/2007 05:15:02 PM by semperance1

omg that was soooo cute luvvvvvvvvvvvves it

Posted 28/09/2007 04:58:00 AM by saraluvzbonz

Thanks. :-)

Posted 28/09/2007 07:46:19 PM by miller0259

hehehe, I love using people's words against them in a teasing way...You should definitely continue this, even though I have no suggestions.....I guess just more fluff - you can't go wrong with that!
-bmiller

Posted 12/10/2007 12:15:36 AM by ToZiKa

I liked it too.
Maybe you could write about the time, when the bandage has to be changed?
But not in her office. A little more privacy would be better, like in her appartment or at least in the office later in the evening.
I don't think it could turn into a long story.
But maybe a few more fluffy chapters??
I would like to read more.
ToZiKa

Posted 12/10/2007 01:22:59 PM by BGWGscienceteacher

I'm in favor of a few more fluffy chapters. Loved the story. I know I would be more than willing to help him change the bandage, and a few other things

Posted 14/10/2007 11:44:40 AM by bones206

I'm with BG. execpt for the few other things. I'm a little too young for that.

Posted 16/10/2007 02:32:33 PM by otismotis

I reread this story and it was cut, fluffy....liked it. It can be a stand alone...so why now turn the tables, Bones is hurt and Booth patches her up.

Posted 27/10/2007 05:23:22 PM by saraluvzbonz

AN: Thanks to otismotis for the idea for this chapter. Enjoy.

Booth and Brennan sat across from each other at the diner sharing a piece of pie.

"I can't believe we caught two cases in a row where the perps were willing to shoot," Booth commented. "At least nobody got hurt this time."

When she didn't immediately agree, he scrutinized her face.

"Bones?"

Her silence was answer enough.

"You should have said something," he said disapprovingly.

"No, it's not that," she objected hastily. "It's just that my back and neck have been bothering me a lot the past few days. I think I spent too much time bent over the exam table."

'That's not exactly a lie, is it?' she thought, suppressing a grimace at the pain radiating from her shoulder.

"Well, then, after you redo my bandage, I'll give you a massage," he said.

"I think I'll just take a nice long bath," she replied.

"A massage will be more effective," he pointed out, using his charm smile on her.

'I can't believe that still works on me! Why couldn't he just drop it? Once he knows for sure I got hit, he'll feel guilty and go all alpha male.'

When they arrived at her apartment, he headed to the kitchen asking, "You want something to drink, Bones?"

"Water, please," she answered, as she hung her coat on the rack.

While he poured her water and grabbed himself a beer from the refrigerator, she headed to the bathroom for bandages and hydrogen peroxide.

She returned to find him sitting on her couch with his feet up on her coffee table. 'He looks comfortable,' she thought with a smile.

She put the medical supplies down on the coffee table. She swallowed a couple of Aleve with some water and then motioned for him to sit up.

He was tired, her couch was comfortable, and he really didn't feel like sitting up, so he quirked an eyebrow at her and tossed her one of his charm smiles.

"Booth…" she said in a warning tone.

"Yes, Bones?" he replied, innocently, tilting the beer to his lips.

She rolled her eyes at him. "Come on, you know that I want."

He practically choked on his swig of beer.

"That's a pretty loaded statement, Bones," he replied with a wink.

"What?" she asked with a blank look, and then a second later as comprehension dawned, "Oh, but that's not… nevermind. Just sit up and take off your shirt."

"Since you asked so nicely," he said, but he didn't move right away.

"Look, it's been a long week, I've been in pain off and on yesterday and today, I didn't sleep well last night. Let's just get on with this," she snapped.

"Whoa, take a chill pill, Bones," he said, sitting up and unbuttoning his shirt. He eased it off his right arm and then pulled off his undershirt.

Like the first time she'd bandaged his wound and every time since, she was distracted by the hard, muscular planes of his chest. She'd thought he was attractive the first time they'd met, even though she couldn't stand him then. Since then, she'd become comfortable with him. Their relationship had changed from almost outright hostility to grudging respect to friendship, and when Brennan was honest with herself, maybe something more. But now wasn't the time to explore her feelings.

Forcing her attention back to the task at hand, she removed the bandage carefully and examined the graze.

"It's healing well," she said as she dabbed on some hydrogen peroxide. She folded a bandage, placed it carefully over the wound and taped it in place. As before, she slowly traced the fine lines of the scars on his back, but this time she used both hands and the trail of fire that followed her fingers was twice as strong. A shudder shook his frame as her delicate touch neared the waistband of his pants.

He loved her and he had wanted to be with her for so long. When she touched him like this – like a lover – restraint was hard to come by. But he wasn't sure of her, so he enjoyed the moment and hoped there would be more.

To his surprise, she didn't jerk her hands away. Her hands rested where they were and for a moment he thought she might slip them around his waist and hug him from behind.

In her tiredness, it took Brennan's brain a minute to catch up to her body. For a moment, she let herself enjoy the way he felt, then she slowly retracted her hands. She grabbed the used bandage off the coffee table and headed toward the kitchen trash.

Booth sat back to watch her graceful movements as he had done many times before. But a red stain on the back of her shirt caught his attention. 'She lied to me! She did get hit!' he thought, annoyed that she'd managed to convince him otherwise. He waited until she returned from the kitchen.

"Ready for your massage?" he asked.

She opened her mouth to object, but he shook his head at her.

"Did you really think you could hide that wound from me?" he asked.

She looked at him and shrugged.

"Turn around," he ordered gently.

She complied. He looked more closely at the stain. It was in the middle of her left shoulder blade. 'Scapula,' he mentally corrected himself. There was a two-inch tear in the back of her shirt and the skin underneath was an angry red.

"The shirt is ruined," he said. "I'm just going to tear it…"

"No," she objected, beginning to unbutton it. "This is my favorite shirt. Maybe the tailor can save it."

He was doubtful, but held his tongue. She winced as she took her blouse off, but his breath hitched as he caught a glimpse of her breast as it swelled into a royal blue lace bra. 'Down boy,' he told himself firmly.

"Lie down," he said. "I'll bandage the graze and then try to work the kinks out of your neck and back."

She positioned herself on the couch, and he sat next to her. He gently dabbed hydrogen peroxide onto the shallow gash.

"How did you think you were going to treat this yourself?" he asked.

"Using a mirror," she replied.

He taped the gauze bandage into place.

"You got a pen, Bones?" he queried.

"There's several on my desk," she answered.

He stood up, went to the desk, found a pen, and returned to sit beside her. A moment later she felt the pen moving gently against her back.

"Booth, what are you doing?" she inquired.

"Your band-aid needed a smiley face," he replied.

There were so many things wrong with that statement her tired brain didn't even know where to begin. By the time she'd settled on one, his hands started gently massaging her shoulders. He quickly found the knots and one by one began working on them, working around the elastic of her bra. His hands moved slowly up her neck her hairline and the base of her occipital bone. Her muscles relaxed slowly, but her nerves were humming from his touch. Her eyes fluttered closed and she gave herself over to the sensations he was creating in her body.

For his part, Booth couldn't believe she hadn't laid him flat on his back when he'd suggested the massage or when he'd started touching her. 'She must really have been in pain,' he thought. He began to work his way down her back, fingers probing gently for the knots.

A small round scar about an inch above the bandage broke the soft smoothness of her skin.

He ran his fingers over the spot.

"Where'd you get this scar, Bones?" he asked softly.

He could feel her sigh underneath his hands.

"One of my foster fathers was having a bad day and he hit me with a board. Unfortunately there was a nail in it," she answered matter-of-factly.

He waited a moment to see if she would continue. When she didn't, he said, "Things like that should never happen to children."

"After me, they never had foster kids again," she said. "Other kids complained, but I was the proof."

He continued his massage, moving extra carefully around the bandage. Near the base of her rib cage on the right, he came across another scar.

This time she answered without him having to ask. "El Salvador."

When he reached her pants, he stopped his massage.

"Don't stop. I still feel tight in my lower back," she said.

He tried to continue, but the wide waistband of her pants made it difficult.

"Just a sec," she said, undoing the button and unzipping the zipper part way. She winced as she reached back to fold the top of her pants down.

"Okay," she said, indicating he should continue. However, watching her undress just that little bit more sent his pulse racing and he had to fight hard to keep from saying or doing something he'd regret.

When he didn't resume, she pushed herself up on one elbow and twisted slightly to look at him.

"Booth?" she asked.

Her new position exposed some of her cleavage and his throat went dry. He forced his eyes away from her breasts to her eyes. They were shining beneath her long eyelashes. Their gaze held and he felt exposed, as though she could see everything about him.

"Is something wrong?" she asked curiously, breaking the spell.

"Um… no," he replied, amazed that his vocal chords worked.

"Good," she responded, flattening herself against the couch.

He continued his massage of her lower back. She was right, there was a particularly large knot at the bottom of the small of her back. Usually she was so prickly about being touched and was quick to threaten anyone who did. It had taken a while, but she was finally comfortable with the small touches he gave her – a tap on the shoulder, his hand on the small of her back, the occasional hug. At the moment she was accepting, and maybe even welcoming, his touch.

He decided to take a risk. He kneaded from the bottom of the small of her back down to the upper part of her buttocks, stopping at the lace of her panties. He edged his hands out and began slowly massaging up her sides. When his hand brushed the side of her breast, she moved and he pulled his hands away quickly.

She turned until she was lying on her back and he could see her bare stomach, lace-covered breasts, and the tops of the matching panties. He'd always thought she was a beautiful woman, but this… seeing the reality of it, took his breath away.

She saw the look on his face and laughed. "You like what you see?" she teased. Secretly, she was elated. 'Maybe something more between us could work,' she thought.

"A little too much," he admitted, tossing his dress shirt at her. "If you don't want me to turn into that alpha male you always accuse me of being, you'd better cover up."

She saw the intensity in his eyes and suddenly felt unable to deal with what she read there. She pulled the shirt on and folded it closed over her. She rezipped her pants and stood.

"I'll just get a shirt," she started.

"Never mind," he said, pulling on his undershirt and reaching for his jacket. "I'll be here in the morning for you to change my bandage. I can get it then."

As he headed for the door, she said, "Um… Booth, tomorrow morning, would you mind…?"

He turned back with a smile, "Sure, Temperance. I won't even make you ask." Then he closed the door quietly behind him. He wondered how in the world he was going to sleep after that. And he'd be coming back the next morning for more of the most pleasant torture he could imagine.

Brennan headed for bed, but she was unwilling to take off his shirt. She might not be ready to deal with his feelings, but she couldn't deny hers any longer. She expected to have a hard time sleeping, but his scent surrounded her and she slept deeply, feeling safe as though he held her in his arms.

Posted 27/10/2007 08:55:32 PM by BGWGscienceteacher


That was really good. I love the "Do you like what you see?" and "A little too much." Would love to see them act on it soon. *hint* Great chapter as always.

Posted 28/10/2007 01:05:33 AM by saraluvzbonz

I'm glad you like it. I have another idea for more B&B hotness for another chapter.

I really don't know if this story is going anywhere or anything. I usually like to write the whole story before posting, but it was supposed to be a oneshot and I guess now it's growing.

I will work on the chapter for this, but I've got another one/two shot in the works, one completed story currently undergoing revision and another that I'm partway through (none of the last three mentioned have been posted anywhere yet, but I'm working on it).

Posted 28/10/2007 05:34:39 AM by ToZiKa

That was sooo good!
I really liked the way they both are dealing with their situation.
They know what they feel, but they take it slow.
Like BGWG I love the "A little too much."

I'm ready for another chapter...so please hurry a little...can't wat anymore.

Posted 09/11/2007 02:58:47 AM by saraluvzbonz

AN: Well, the computer is now resurrected and the update is here.

Brennan stood in the bathroom, looking at herself in the full length mirror.

'This is what I get for shopping with my best friend and letting her pick most of my clothes,' she thought with a sigh, removing the one piece suit and pulling on the bikini.

Hodgins had invited the team to his house for an end-of-summer pool party and barbeque, probably at Angela's urging. Cam had a friend from out of state visiting and wasn't coming, but the rest of the team would be there.

She looked at herself again. She had brought a perfectly good bathing suit with her, one that had traveled the world with her. But Angela had taken one look at it, and thrust a bikini, sarong, and high heels into her hands and shooed her into the bathroom to change.

When she objected, Angela surprised her by saying, "Just try on the one I bought. You don't have to wear it if you don't want to, but there's something about knowing you look good that makes you feel stronger and more in control. Besides, it will catch the eye of a certain FBI agent we all know and love."

Then the artist had skipped out of the room before Brennan could reply. She would never admit it to Angela, but over the past few weeks catching Booth's eye had gone from a thought she'd never had to one she'd pushed out of her mind to something she thought she might want to do.

The suit did look good on her. It was much more revealing than what she would normally choose to wear, but it wasn't like she was wearing it in public. Really, the only problem was that it showed the scar from where she'd been grazed, but both suits had that problem. The wound had healed, but the redness of scar had yet to fade.

She looked at herself again, turning this way and that. Angela was right. Knowing that she looked good made her feel more confident. She wrapped the matching sarong around herself, stepped into the shoes, and walked out the door.

Angela was waiting outside. Her eyes lit up when she saw what her best friend was wearing.

"Come on sweetie, the boys are waiting for us at the pool. I'm so glad you chose the bikini. Booth's eyes are going to pop out of his head," the artist chattered.

"That's not anatomically possible," Brennan objected.

"It's an expression," she said, dragging the anthropologist through some glass doors onto the deck at the back of Hodgins' mansion.

The guys were standing in the shallow end of the large pool tossing a ball back and forth. It took a minute for them to notice the ladies' arrival.

When they did, Angela asked Brennan, "Tanning lotion or sun block?"

"Sun block," she replied.

The artist passed her a bottle and turned to look at the guys, who had stopped tossing the ball about and were now looking at the women. She was particularly interested in Booth's reaction to Brennan's attire.

The anthropologist removed her sarong, spread it out on a nearby chaise, and sat down to put on the sun block.

Booth had been mentally preparing himself for her appearance, and to Angela's disappointment, he simply greeted the two of them and then dunked Zach. Booth watched his partner out of the corner of his eye.

Jack got out of the pool and started walking towards his fiancée. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her passionately. He whispered something in her ear and she giggled and kissed him back.

With Angela distracted, Booth gave up his pretense and started watching Brennan in earnest. Although he knew she wasn't trying to be alluring, the way she applied sunscreen to her legs showed more than a little cleavage and drew attention to her long legs.

Brennan felt his eyes on her. She wondered how it was possible to "feel" someone's eyes. The expression contained a categorical fallacy – seeing and feeling were two different senses – yet somehow the phrase perfectly described the moment.

Zach knew he ought to take the opportunity to observe different aspects of romantic relationships, but somehow he couldn't find the anthropological detachment to view his friends as subjects. After a few uncomfortable moments, he muttered, "I think I'll get a noodle from the pool house," and retreated toward the small structure.

Brennan looked up at her partner and was again struck by how well-structured he was. As she watched, he deliberately scanned her from head to toe and back again. When their eyes met, he quirked an eyebrow and nodded appreciatively. At that moment, a loud laugh from Jack and Angela drew their attention and they watched as the two disappeared around the side of the house.

Hoisting himself out of the pool, Booth said, "Hey Bones, need help getting your back?"

She nodded, handed him the bottle, gathered her hair in one hand and pulled it over her shoulder. He squeezed some lotion into his hand and began to rub it on her back. Immediately, her memory flew to the massage he'd given her. Now as then, his touch was both relaxing and exciting, a combination she'd thought impossible. She turned her head toward him and found his face barely an inch from hers. Her eyes widened when his dropped to her lips.

For a moment, she thought he might kiss her. Instead, he snapped the bottle closed, dropped it onto the chaise and stood. Brennan barely had time to register that his waist was at about her eye level before he swept her into his arms. He took a few steps toward the pool, tossed her in, and jumped in after her.

As if the water had drowned it, the tension between them melted away and suddenly they were the comfortable friends they'd always been. Brennan came up spluttering and lit into him.

"You're such an alpha male. I can't believe you did that. Just because you're bigger than I am doesn't mean you have the right to manhandle me," she said, frustrated.

Booth protested, "I would never manhandle a lady, Bones."

“Oh, so I'm not a lady?" she said hotly.

"What?!? I didn't say that," he objected.

"Well you implied it!" she replied. "You might never manhandle a lady, but you manhandled me, therefore I must not be a lady."

"That's not what I meant. I meant that I wasn't manhandling you!" he shot back.

"I just tossed you in gently," he finished with a smile.

Zach, noting that things had reverted to normal, emerged from the pool house with a noodle and a variety of other water toys. The special agent challenging him to a contest to see who could hold their breath the longest began the afternoon's water fun. After a while, Angela and Jack returned and the games got a bit wilder.

When Jack suggested they play Marco Polo, Brennan paled and announced that she was ready to collapse into a chaise, which is exactly what she did. Angela suggested a different activity and then announced that she too was ready to catch some rays. Soon everyone was relaxing, lulled by the warmth of the afternoon sun.

A pleasant feeling of lassitude stole over Brennan. Just as she was about to fall asleep, a hand tapped her shoulder. She slowly opened her eyes to see Booth smiling at her, a finger in front of his lips in a shushing motion. With a flourish and a small bow, he offered her his hand. She looked at him quizzically and he gestured toward the front of the house and mouthed, "A walk?"

She stood, tied the sarong around her waist like a skirt, and slipped on her shoes. When she was finished, he reached for her hand and led her silently away from the others. They slipped around the corner of the house and meandered hand in hand. He savored the feel of her smaller hand in his, expecting her to pull away any moment.

Eventually, Brennan stopped on a small rise and dropped his hand. She slowly turned in a circle, taking in the view. They stood on a low hill with the pond below them. On the far side a garden stood between the pond and the stone façade of the mansion.

"This reminds me of a scene from Pride and Prejudice. A large house with a garden and a reflecting pond," she mused.

Booth grinned and said, "I suppose I could swim the pond, if you like."

At Brennan's confused look, he responded, "Never mind. I should have known you'd read the book but hadn't seen the movie."

Ignoring Booth, she continued to admire the view and quoted the first line of the book softly. "It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife."

"Thinking of Angela and Hodgins?" he asked.

"Not exactly," she answered.

A humorous thought struck Booth and he verbalized it. "A single anthropologist in possession of ample book royalties must be in want of…" Booth paused a moment, trying to figure out how to end it, and then finished lamely, "well… something."

She gave him a look that indicated she thought his mangled quote was odd and tossed out, "A single FBI agent in possession of a gun must be in want of a date?"

"Funny, Bones. I don't need any help getting dates," he responded.

"Neither did Darcy," Brennan replied, "but he didn't seem to want most of them, only the woman who wouldn't give him the time of day."

"Yet the pair ended up together," he reminded her. "I didn't know you liked Jane Austen."

"You don't know everything about me, Booth," she said. "Jane Austen observed her society, not unlike an anthropologist, and then she wrote about it, although her work was fiction and somewhat satirical. I've always liked Pride and Prejudice because Elizabeth Bennett is a strong, intelligent woman who successfully navigated the pitfalls of her social class."

Booth thought that there were a number of similarities between the book's protagonist and his partner, but he wasn't sure she'd appreciate the comparison, so he kept his mouth closed. He reached for her hand and tugged her gently down the hill away from the house. When they came to a path, they followed it for a ways.

Brennan walked silently, savoring the quiet beauty of the trees around her. Booth, meanwhile, focused on the woman walking next to him. Seeing his partner's enjoyment of nature, he stayed quiet. She was by far the most beautiful and intelligent woman he'd ever known. He couldn't think of a single thing about her that he didn't love. He had been waiting patiently, slowly breaking down her walls and building a friendship in their place. His heart swelled with hope for the relationship burgeoning between them.

Finally, desire overtook restraint. He backed her up against a tree and invaded her personal space, intending to kiss her. She stared at him in surprise for a moment and then she became lost in his eyes. Slowly his gaze grew more intimate and intense. Her pulse raced. When she could handle it no longer, her eyes skittered to his mouth. She wondered what it would feel like to kiss him and then quickly brushed the thought aside. 'He's my partner,' she thought, lowering her eyes. His unbuttoned Hawaiian shirt exposed a fair amount of his chest and stomach.

Booth watched as her eyes stopped on his lips momentarily and then dropped to his chest. He couldn't quite figure out exactly why it fascinated her so much, but he was okay with that. She couldn't seem to resist touching him when she saw it. As if on cue, he felt her hand softly stroke his stomach. He suppressed an urge to reciprocate the gesture. His eyes slid shut. The feelings she evoked in his body were like nothing he'd ever felt. No woman he'd ever been with affected him this strongly and they'd barely touched one another.

Suddenly realizing what she was doing, Brennan jerked her hand back. Booth's eyes flew open and took in her startled expression. Not wanting her to either think too much or to bolt, he leaned down and kissed her gently on the forehead. As he pulled back his hand brushed the knot of her sarong.

She stilled when she felt his lips on her forehead. 'What is it about this man that short-circuits my brain?' she wondered idly. When he pulled back, the spot where his lips had been burned scintillatingly.

He stepped back, pleased to see her dazed expression. It was good to know he had the same effect on her that she did on him. Taking advantage of the moment, he undid the knot of the sarong and pulled it away from her body.

"Hey!" she called after him, as he walked around the tree and into the center of a copse of trees. By the time she followed him he was spreading the fabric out like a picnic blanket. He plopped down on it.

"There's a place reserved here just for you," he said in his deep voice, patting the ground next to him.

He drank in her appearance and her graceful movements as she moved toward him slowly and then sat down next to him. When he lay back, she followed suit.

"When you were a kid, did you ever see shapes in the clouds, Bones?" he asked.

She looked at him and then up at the sky. The trees limited her field of vision, but there was one cloud directly overhead.

"That one looks like a bent femur," she said, pointing.

Booth looked at it, turned his head sideways and said, "If you look at it like this, it looks more like a camel."

She pushed herself up on one elbow to see how he'd moved his head and then tilted her head the same direction.

"No, it doesn't," she disagreed in a half-hearted tone before flattening herself back to the ground.

They lay in silence for a few minutes. He turned on his side to watch her. He had never seen so much of her skin. It was smooth and looked soft. His hand automatically moved to find out, but he caught himself. A cool breeze blew through their glade, causing her to shiver.

"Feeling a little chilly?" he asked, intending to offer her his shirt.

When she nodded, he changed his mind and moved closer to her instead. Taking a risk, he placed his hand on her flat stomach. He heard her suck in a small breath at his touch. Her skin was as soft as it looked.

Booth's proximity and the hand on her stomach chased away the slight chill of the late afternoon. Wave after wave of sensation danced along her nerves. She knew he was crossing the line from professional to personal, but they'd been doing that slowly for months and she just couldn't bring herself to move.

He began to softly explore her stomach with his fingers, playing her nerves like a classical guitarist. She moaned quietly at the desire he evoked in her body. He leaned over and placed a single delicate kiss above her belly button and drove all thought from her head. He shifted until his head was above hers. Her lips parted slightly in anticipation of his kiss.

"Bren, Booth? Where are you?" Angela's voice came floating to them. "Jack's got the grill fired up."

Immediately they jumped apart like guilty school children. They stood and Brennan grabbed the sarong and rapidly tied it around her waist. A look of disappointment passed between them. Each scrambled to return to normalcy before Angela found them, and Brennan focused on slowing her breathing.

A moment later, the artist found them.

"Oh there you are! You wandered kind of far," she said.

"We were talking about Jane Austen and cloud shapes," Brennan replied, attempting to sound causal. However, her words came out a bit more quickly than normal.

Angela looked at the pair carefully. 'Something happened. I'll have to drag it out of Brennan tomorrow,' she thought.

"It's almost time for dinner. I hope you're hungry," Angela said. "Jack's got steak and chicken on the grill, and his cook makes this cake that's to-die-for."

The partners followed Angela obediently toward the house, relieved that she didn't seem to have noticed anything.

Posted 09/11/2007 04:10:06 AM by CheeseBK

oh, that is sweet.... more soon please

Posted 09/11/2007 05:22:43 PM by ToZiKa

That was too good for words...
I want more please!