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Hands and arms seemed to be everywhere at once as Erin and Leigh settled back against the couch. The only sound of the steady plane engine had been replaced by ragged sighs and moans as Erin moved her body completely over Leigh’s. Well at least over as much as she could over the tall lanky frame. For a moment Leigh wondered what to do with her hands and felt like a teenager making out for the first time. Erin’s had placed hers palms down on each side of Leigh’s head to rest against the cool leather surface of the sofa as their kissing deepened. The blonde’s back arched slightly as her hips ground into Leigh’s. And then Leigh’s hands found their place  …in the back pockets of Erin’s jeans, to feel the nice round curves that were underneath. Erin gasped into the other woman’s mouth when she felt the new placement of Leigh’s hands.

Engulfed in their own sexual paradise, their kisses went from being fast and crushing to pain-stakingly slow and wet. Leigh clung and pressed tightly to the shapely body above her, as Erin’s mouth continued to claim hers demandingly and courted her senses with commanding persuasion. And Leigh responded completely, unable to believe that Erin and she were finally giving in to what had been building for two weeks.

Erin couldn’t believe how forward she was being as her hands moved to intertwine in silky dark hair. One minute, they had been talking and the next, they were kissing like there was no tomorrow. Not that she was complaining…

Two weeks ago, being with a woman like this wouldn’t have even crossed her mind. But that was before she had met Leigh Sinclaire and definitely before she had realized what a good kisser the other woman was. Erin thought they should give the woman a reward. And it that wasn’t enough the woman had a way with words. Leigh’s metaphor about them dancing around how they really felt had hit home. So much that they had decided to the leave the dance floor  …straight to the leather couch with their hands and mouths exploring each other with stimulating gestures and heat-stopping kisses.

Then all of a sudden, it somehow all became too much for Erin. Reluctantly she snatched her lips away form Leigh’s soft ones. Instantly she missed the feeling soon has she took one breath and her mouth was no longer touching Leigh’s. "We have to stop." She murmured as she still hovered over Leigh with her breathing having gone absolutely ragged.

"My goodness Kansas, you are such a tease." Leigh said with a grin and lifted her head to catch Erin’s mouth in a searing kiss.

Erin indulged in the kiss for several seconds when she pulled back again. She looked down into desired-filled blues eyes and wondered if she really meant the words that she had just uttered. But again she said, "We have to stop."

"Are you serious?" Leigh asked with half a smile.

"Yes I am."

It was just to too damn good to be true…  I should have seen this coming…  The smile vanished and was replaced by a playful bored expression. "Ok." Leigh removed her hands from the back of Erin’s jeans and placed them behind her head. "What’s the reason this time? By all means be creative and shock me…."

Leigh’s sarcasm wasn’t lost on Erin. "Shit Leigh, I haven’t even told my minister about this!" Erin groaned as she ran her fingers through her own hair. Immediately Leigh started to laugh. Irritably Erin looked down at the CEO. "What are you laughing at?"

"You do realize that you just used profanity and mentioned your minister in the same sentence." Leigh said with her laughter slowly starting to subside.

Realizing what she had just said, Erin rolled her eyes and frowned. "See that’s what I’m talking about…  I don’t know what the hell I’m doing." Erin held up her hand when she saw that the CEO was about to make a smart comment. "And please don’t tell me that it seemed like I was doing just fine a minute ago."

Leigh hunched innocently and smiled. "Well you were."

"For once please be serious."

"I’m listening."

Erin began and took a deep breath. "Ok, Leigh I’m not going to deny that I’m attracted you…  I mean at this point that would be pretty silly to try."

Erin watched Leigh’s most familiar expression take place…one perfectly arched dark brow was raised. "Not that I’m not happy to hear that…" Leigh reached up and ran long fingers up and down Erin’s arm. And Erin closed her eyes at the pleasure it caused. "But this is a reason to stop because?"

"Its too much Leigh. " Gently she removed Leigh’s hand from her arm. "Not to sound like a broken record but  …here I am investigating a very high profile theft where the prime suspect is a billionaire. On top of that I seem to be attracted to this prime suspect. And if that’s not enough, the that same prime suspect happens to be a woman…" And I don’t know whether I want to kiss you or send you to jail…  hell maybe I want to do a little of both.

"I suppose when you put it that way…  it does seem a little overwhelming…" Leigh conceded with a nod. Here I was a billionaire stealing a fifty million dollar ruby for the hell of it. Then just when I think I’ve gotten away with it some insurance investigator figures out that it was me. On top of that I seem to be attracted to that insurance investigator. And if that’s not enough that same insurance investigator happens to be a woman. Leigh laughed inwardly. Yeap, pretty much is overwhelming not matter who’s side you look at it.

"This was supposed to be a simple case Leigh. I was just supposed to find that damn stone and collect my check. I wasn’t suppose to fall for you…"

"I know Kansas …but"

Erin placed two fingers against the other woman’s lips. "So something has to give. The case or whatever the hell it is that is going on between us. One of them has to be resolved."

"And just how do you suppose we handle that?"

"We put this" Erin ran a finger down the tan skin of Leigh’s collarbone, " on hold until the case is over."

Leigh rolled her eyes and frowned. "Do I even need to say that that option doesn’t appeal to me?"

"Oh I pretty much knew you would feel that way" Erin shrugged. "Well it’s the only offer on the table."

"Really? I don’t think so. There are other options. Why don’t you just turn the case over to someone else."? Leigh countered.

"No way." Erin said quickly. Even though she has considered the option. "No one else will know you like I know you and they won’t be able to catch you like I will."

You would think when she says things like that I would run for the hills, but no instead… I’m getting turned on…  "And I’m sure they won’t be this much fun, when I’m running away from them." Leigh added with a sly grin. "But what if this case is resolved with me going to jail…"  From my lips to no one’s ears I hope.

"Haven’t thought that far…" Though she had asked herself that question many times since she’d grown to know Leigh, as of yet Erin still didn’t have an answer. What if Leigh did go to jail? What then? Erin didn’t have a chance to think about before Leigh was seductively rubbing her arms again.

"I mean if I go to jail, you may spend months competing for my affection from some woman named Big Bertha." The CEO joked.

Despite herself, Erin giggled at the comment. "Or maybe I’ll just let her have you…  I think you’ve proven to be more trouble than you’re worth…"

"With the case? Or with this…" Leigh placed her hands on Erin’s thighs and drew small circles….

Erin bit her lip with the sensation it caused. "Why don’t you just confess?"

"Even if I was guilty  …not an option  …confessions are like waving a white flag  …throwing in the towel…  surrendering…"

"And that’s beneath you I suppose…" Erin said dryly.

"Beneath me…" Leigh drawled. "See there you go putting me on that pedestal again. Let’s just say that it’s not me…" Leigh lazily grinned at Erin. "I’m a fighter  …a warrior of sorts."

"You go down fighting  …or not at all."

"Exactly."

"Well then just give back the ruby  …and then they’ll be no case for me to investigate."

Tempting…  "Again if I was guilty  …not an option either  …besides that would make for a hollow victory  …and you wouldn’t get that check." This time it was Leigh who raised her hand when she saw that Erin was about to speak. "And don’t try to take the high road and tell me that the check doesn’t matter to you."

Erin closed her mouth and smiled. "Leigh work with me here…" Erin groaned with frustration. "I mean doesn’t this scare you at all?"

"Of course it does…  I would be lying if I said it didn’t. But I go with how I feel. Granted that’s landed me in some hot water from time to time. " Leigh added quickly. "But right now  …with how I’m feeling about…" Blue eyes did a slow sweep of the woman before her. "I’m willing to take my chances…"

"How can you be so casual about this?" Erin asked, because the feelings she had for Leigh was new, different, and frightening as hell. "We’ve both never been with another woman… So how can you accept us having these feelings about each other so easily?" Though Erin had had a close encounter with her ex-roommate in college  …that paled in comparison to how she felt when Leigh looked at her.

"Honestly, I don’t know…" Leigh answered honestly and nodded thoughtfully. "I’ve always been open to new things and experiences…  I guess this situation is no different in that respect."

"We’re not talking about bungee jumping or sky diving here Leigh…"

"Nope…" The CEO conceded. "But I’m still game anyway."

Erin just stared at Leigh for second and then shook her head. "How do you think all of this is going to end?"

"Simple Kansas…  with us both getting what we want…  I mean you want to find the ruby, I don’t want to go to jail  …and"

"And?"

"Well I think you know the rest…."

Yeah, I know the rest… It took no time at all for Erin’s thoughts to finish Leigh’s sentence for her. The blonde could already feel the heat rushing to her burning cheeks…  not to mention the rest of her body. "Fine then…let’s do it in that order. I find the damn ruby somehow in the mist of the game of cat and mouse that you’ve pulled me into. Then you find someway to keep your ass out of jail when I do. And then we’ll give this thing between us some thought…"

I can’t believe we’re negotiating possible sex. And I think I’m losing…  "Damn it Kansas, I swear if you were a dance you’d something as complicated as the tango!"

Erin smiled. "What is it about you and dance metaphors?"

"I don’t know  …they seem to be for all occasions." Leigh chuckled. "But if there is one thing that I know about the tango is that it may be a pain in the ass to learn… but when you finally get it…" Her voice dropped an octave and her eyes did nothing to hide her desire when she looked Erin over. Erin couldn’t fathom how ice blue eyes could cause such a heat wave to take over her body. "Oh how you get it. So I’m going to let you lead Kansas. If you want to put this on hold until our little game has ended  …then fine. I probably need time to do research anyway. You think if I called Ellen that she’d call me back?" Leigh laughed.

Erin wrinkled her nose with a smirk. "Are you kidding, she’d probably ask you out."

"You think?" Leigh couldn’t believe she was agreeing to this, but for now it was her only option. If she said "No", then Erin would be running away from her at every opportunity. However, even though the blonde seemed to have a plan, Leigh knew that plans changed …and things got done out of order. Leigh was counting on that. "All right since we can’t make out anymore…  I don’t think its such a good idea for you to be playing the role of the sexy lioness straddling me  …now does it?"

Erin finally took note of their compromising position and blushed slightly. "Ah yeah  …good point." Quickly Erin jumped to her feet and looked back at the Leigh who had remained lying on the couch with her hands behind her head and her jean clad legs crossed at the ankles. "Lioness? Please…"

"Who pushed whom down on the couch?" Leigh patted the cushion under her head and watched Erin avert eye contact. "Exactly…."

"Yeah yeah…  no hanky panky…  but I want it noted that I made this deal under severe duress."

"It's been noted."

Erin’s knees went weak and she collapsed onto the couch. "Yeap  …if the woman ran a kissing booth instead of a fortune 500 company…  she’d still be a billionaire." Then she began to laugh. "I need to find that damn ruby  …and fast!"  

"Who I screw, how I screw them, and what happens to them once I’ve screwed them has nothing to do with SSC!" Leigh barked into her phone. It was yet another reporter calling about Brent Landers. She hated when her personal life leaked into her business affairs, and the situation with Brent Landers was doing just that. "Can you quote me on that?"  Leigh laughed humorously into the receiver. "Write it down, take a picture, …I don’t give a damn …just make sure you spell my name right. But if I see this number show up calling this line again …there will be hell to pay …and I seriously doubt your ass can cover that balance. Consider yourself warned." Leigh growled before slamming down the receiver so hard that the three men standing before her thought her glass desk was going to miraculously crack in half.

Blue eyes focused in on her 12:00 pm appointment and rolled. And for a moment she wished they hadn’t witnessed her little phone tantrum. "That wasn’t very lady like I suppose." She said with an evil grin before searching the paperwork on her desk for a folder. The men said nothing to confirm or deny the statement that Leigh had just made. And Leigh hadn’t expected them to. They had been summons to the CEO’s office for their own set of issues. She seriously doubted they wanted to upset her by commenting on her phone etiquette.

"Will someone please tell me why during the last week of regression that we have seven severity one defects being opened."  Leigh said irritably as she tossed the latest defect report across her desk. "I mean I could be wrong but aren’t we suppose to announce in one week the new release of the Webmaster Widget Toolkit 2.3. So how the hell are we going to do that with seven …count 'em… seven stop ship issues?" She placed both hands down flat the on the clear glass surface and waited for an answer from the project’s release manager, chief programmer, and test lead standing before her.

The three men squirmed under the CEO’s icy blue gaze and looked to each other for answers. Leigh had been only been at SSC for four hours and she had already had a marketing meeting, a finance meeting, and a demo from a virtual reality company that the SSC might purchase. Not to mention the phone call that would no doubt land her in tomorrow’s gossip headlines. And now this …one of the company’s biggest selling products was in the jeopardy of missing a major deliverable date. Leigh didn’t like missing target dates because it tarnished the company’s reputation, it angered the customers, and it meant less profit in the long run.

"Please don’t you all speak at once." Leigh said sarcastically before sitting back comfortably in her leather chair. "Surely one of you guys have an answer for this."

"Well…" Simon Chadway, the test lead, started as he scratched his head. "Development was doing feature creeps."

"We were not!" Ryan Pitts shot back.

Leigh folded her arms. "Feature creeps huh?" Inwardly Leigh moaned. She hated when this happened. This ill-timed act was when the development team on a project would continue to sneak in new functionality even after entering into an intense testing cycle. The result being they would have untested functionality in their product because the test group wasn’t notified of the changes. And also the new changes usually somehow busted up the stable functionality that was tested. Which resulted in last minute severe defects… "Carson…  do you know anything about this."

"Leigh, to my knowledge all new development was suppose to cease as soon as our testing cycle began." The release manager responded.

"I hope so, because I haven’t seen a Functionality Change Request come across my radar in the last month for this group…  so no functionality should have been integrated."

"It hasn’t." Ryan said. "Unfortunately these latest defects are the results of fixes for other defects that were opened earlier."

Leigh looked at the list and grimaced. "Well these problems look like they should have been caught during unit test. I mean the color chooser doesn’t even work anymore for client side actions and a Null Pointer exception on task switching…  come on, that’s totally unacceptable."

"We have fixes for at least five of those defects…"

"What about the other two?"

"Still working on it."

Leigh sighed and tapped her pencil against the desk. "And that work better fix those problems. A lot is riding on this project." She turned to the test lead. "Well Simon, it looks like your team will be putting in some extra hours to meet the deadline and to get all these changes retested. So I guess that I will be buying dinner for the next couple of days. And also I guess I will also be getting hate email and nasty phone calls from disgruntled spouses." She smiled slightly. "But hey bring it on." Leigh tried to respect the fact that he employees had lives outside of SSC, but sometimes-extra hours were unavoidable.

She turned to the chief programmer and release manager with her smile fading. "And I want you to pick a couple of guys from development to be on call for the next couple of days as well. I mean if they keep breaking shit, the least they could do is hang around for the test team to fix it. And I want all integrated fixes code reviewed beforehand and daily defect reports in my inbox each morning until we ship. Are we all clear?"

"Yes." All three men said in unison.

"Good  …now go make sure we make that release date. Because if we don’t I won’t be a very happy girl and believe me that’s not in anyone’s best interest."

Without another word the men left their office and she reached over to hit her intercom.

"Yeah Boss." Helen answered.

"How long do I have until my next appointment?"

"Fifteen minutes."

"Is this the meeting with Legal?"

"Yeap. Also Ty Wilksons called to confirm your dinner meeting this evening."

"Sure as long as he’s still paying." Leigh joked. "Ok, could you print me up a copy of the latest patents that I’m suppose to discuss with legal. Also buzz me when my only fifteen minutes of solitude are up."

"Sure thing boss." Helen said.

Leigh was about to cut off the intercom when she had a thought. "Oh, Helen  …are there any phone calls for me that aren’t from crazed gossip columnists?"

"Nope…  Erin Bradshaw hasn’t called boss."

Leigh frowned. "How did you know?"

"You’ve asked me each time between your meetings if she’s called. I have her number in the Rolodex  …would you like me to call her…" Helen asked.

"Ah No…" Leigh said slowly and with a bit of embarrassment rubbed her temples. Had she really asked about the blonde that many times? "Its just that she was suppose to get back to me with some very important information. But never mind…  thanks…" Leigh cut off the intercom.

She glanced at her calendar on her computer screen and saw that ever minute of her day had been scheduled. And for once she was thankful. A day filled with meetings could possibly help her take her mind off of a certain blonde that had been dominating her thoughts. Though she could have done without the meeting with Michael and his oh so tired advances. It had only been a day since Leigh had seen Erin…  since they returned from their trip to Puerto Rico…  since they had kissed…  And oh how we kissed…

"Leigh what are you doing to do?" She asked aloud. And before she could answer the question, she began to think about what she had been doing…  the day before…  on the plane…  with Erin Bradshaw  …laying on top of her  …and kissing her. It had taken very bit of restraint in Leigh to honor Erin’s untimely wishes and keep her hands to herself.

"It was just too good to be true." Leigh said aloud and snapped the pencil in half she was holding. It had been so frustrating that Leigh couldn’t help but laugh and place the broken pencil on her desk. "This must be what a horny sixteen year old boy feels like…" She twirled her chair around and looked out the window. She looked down at the city before her and wondered for the umpteenth time where Erin Bradshaw was and if she felt half of the yearning that she was. With this thought, Leigh involuntarily crossed her legs as a familiar feeling started to creep through her body. "What has the woman done to me?"  

Leigh closed her eyes and leaned her head back. She could still feel her, taste her, and for now the memory of it all would have to be enough. She had made a deal with the insurance investigator, and if it was one thing that Leigh Sinclaire prided herself  …it was never breaking a deal. "Someone once said that my pride would kill me one day…  they must have been talking about this." Again Leigh laughed before getting up to attend her next meeting. "I might not have time for a cold shower  …but meeting with Legal ought to do the same job just fine…" She hoped out loud.  

She had come to the conclusion, for the last block that she was being followed. Even over the loud blaring of Creed from her Discman, Erin could hear her instincts sounding off like a fire alarm. But still she continued to jog; she looked down at her watch and realized that she was doing her normal 5 miles in almost record time. So whoever was tailing her in the blue sedan would just have to watch. If they hadn’t decided to run her off the road by now or shoot her, then they probably weren’t trying to.

Erin had been in this situation before when she’d been doing an investigation. Usually it was the guilty party’s way of keeping an eye on her. Not once had any violence ever come her way. So if this was like all those other situations, then the car following her was to due to Leigh’s doing. Which didn’t make sense, because up to this point, Erin had never been followed.  And Erin had figured that if Leigh wanted to see what Erin was up to, she would simply call or miraculously show up. After all that had been her game plan so far.

Which brought up another issue, she hadn’t heard from Leigh since they had arrived back from Puerto Rico. Granted that had only been the day before, Erin had been checking her voice mail constantly and monitoring her phone waiting for the CEO to make contact.

Talking to Leigh right now…isn’t going to help you know. She tried to rationalize …but she couldn’t get the woman out of her head. On the plane ride home, Erin had come so close to giving in to her new and frightening feelings for the woman. But even after tumbling around on the sofa with Leigh, Erin had done what she always had when it came to this situation  …chickened out. Instead of continuing to kiss the dark-haired beauty …she had struck a strange yet interesting deal. The case first and then the relationship. Leigh had agreed that Erin would have to make the next move  …if she wanted to take things further.

And that move she had been itching to make since Leigh had last kissed her. But if there was one thing that Erin prided herself one …it was her resolve and determination…  And this situation will definitely put it to the test. Again an image of she and Leigh on the beach, at the beach house, on the plane  …played before her eyes in slow motion. Then insurance investigator started to feel an aching that had nothing to do with the rigorous run she was putting her body through.

She didn’t even feel the cold morning air around her. Sweat poured down her face and her feet continued to move smoothly through her run. Then over her music she heard the loud bonking of a car horn. Quickly she glanced beside her to see a gray sedan moving slowly beside her. Erin stopped and removed her ear phones  …to see Detective McNeil smiling at her from the driver’s seat.

"I always knew you had stalker mentality, McNeil." She said with a smirk as she walked up to the car that had now stopped.

"And I always knew you had a great body under those suits of yours." He wiggled his eyebrows and eyed Erin’s running ensemble which consisted of blue jogging pants and a form fitting white tank top.

"Is that sexual harassment I hear …detective?" Erin leaned into the open window.

"Nope ...merely a compliment. Get in will ya …I have some information for ya."

She obliged his request and got in with her breath still slightly shallow from her run, and McNeil couldn’t help but notice.

"What are you training for the marathon or something? I would have pulled up to you earlier but I wanted to see how far you were going to make it before you passed out."

"No I just have a little energy to burn off that’s all." Who’s source is about 5’10, dark hair, blue eyes, dynamite smile, and voice like southern whisky… totally intoxicating… She finished in her thoughts.

McNeil smiled. "Can’t stop thinking about Ms. Texas, huh?"

It took all the effort in the world, not to let her bottom half of her mouth drop open at McNeil’s question. "The case… yeah, it’s totally taking up my time these days." And the winner is Ms. Texas!!!!!

"Mine too." McNeil grumbled. "But at least you got a trip to Puerto Rico out of  …which by the way I have yet to hear any details on. Or were you and your buddy too business playing it up in the sun?"

"It was pretty much an uneventful trip McNeil." Erin tried to say with a straight face, knowing the trip was anything but. However technically, she wasn’t lying. She had in fact not learned anything new pertaining to the case. Yes, she had threatened to call the police on a man whom she had falsely accused of being Leigh’s Latin American fence …but other than that nothing. Now what she had learned about herself and how well Leigh Sinclaire could… well… that was an entirely different matter.

"Nothing?" He asked with disbelief.

"Nope." But Erin knew her words thoroughly betrayed her thoughts. Something had happened on that trip…  a continuation of what had been brewing since the day she had laid eyes on Leigh Sinclaire, Erin could now admit to herself. What she had thought was purely intrigue and curiosity towards the other woman… had in fact been a strange yet familiar attraction that had now turned into a growing yearning… that in a simple word …now made Erin Bradshaw horny whenever she thought about Leigh…

"Earth to Erin..." McNeil said and snapped his fingers in front of Erin’s newly flushed face.

"Huh?" Erin said a bit confused and looked at McNeil.

"You faded out on me for a second. Are you sure you didn’t overwork yourself with that run?"

"No…  I’m fine…  sorry about that."

"Bad case of jet lag?"

"Yeah…  something like that." Erin muttered. Nothing a cold shower won’t fix  …at least that’s a short-term solution. "You said you had some information for me."

"I do." He reached up and pulled a folder from the sun visor and dropped it ungraciously in Erin’s lap

Erin opened it to find photographs. "Mug shots of the robbers. Ok is this a refresher course McNeil I haven’t forgotten what they look like."

"We finally have more information on our German robbers. Which wasn’t easy since they refused to give their real names, and they’d used acid to burn off their fingerprints. "What we have here, art bounty-hunter, are five photos."

Erin looked at him curiously. "Five? But we only caught four robbers."

"Exactly?"

"I don’t get it." Erin flipped to the last photo. "We know who the fifth thief was that night McNeil. And you can call me blind  …but this doesn’t look a thing like Leigh Sinclaire."

"Nope not a damn thing like our Glamour Girl. And I didn’t say that he was there that night. But until a couple of months ago this guy." McNeil took the photo from her hands. "Victor Kimburgh was a member of their elite robbery for hire team."

"Ok." Erin said waiting for McNeil to continue, she was anxious to see where this was going. "And he isn’t anymore because…"

McNeil nodded towards the folder again and brought the car to an abrupt stop at a red light. "Because he’s in jail."

"In jail?"

"Yeap…  Last year he was arrested in the robbery of a the Palms Martin Casino in Las Vegas. The high rolling casino was got for 20 million dollars and poor Victor was the only one caught."

"And then there were four. I take it Victor didn’t rat on his buddies…  since they were still out on the streets to commit the museum heist."

"Not a word about them or where the 20 million disappeared to." The light turned green and then the car was moving again.

"Not to sound ungrateful, because this has all be been very informative  …but what does all this have to do with this case and Leigh Sinclaire."

"Take a look at the copy of the police report for the Palms Martin Casino…  see anything interesting."

Erin dived back in the folder and read silently for several seconds. "Well I’ll be damned…  the owner of the casino is Tony Morolta."

"Yeap…  Miami’s most notable ganster, good friend to our prime suspect, and cousin to the guy that’s suspected to have made the fake ruby even though he’s in prison. Either all that is a big ass coincidence or…"

"Another piece to the right puzzle that we’ve been piecing together." Erin said and then she grinned. "Good work McNeil. And who said all cops do nothing but eat donuts…"  

"You’re late." Dr. Duncan said as Leigh walked into her office dressed elegantly in a gray pantsuit. The CEO removed her jacket to reveal a pink silk blouse and casually draped if over the back of the sofa before she sat down. Her meeting with SSC’s lawyers had taken longer than she had hoped.

"I know  …I’ve had the day from hell." She grumbled. "You know if I smoked, I would have been through about 5 packs by now."

Dr. Duncan smiled at her favorite client. "Why do you think I quit in medical school?" She revealed before nodding at the stack of papers on the end table beside the couch. "Seems you’ve been busy while I was on vacation."

Leigh picked up one of the papers to see herself on the cover of The National Inquirer next to a photo of the police escorting Brent of the infamous hotel. "At least it’s a good shot of me." She commented. "I was having a really good hair day." She tossed it back on the table.

"Is the board at SSC giving you a hard time about it?"

"Of course. They wouldn’t be themselves if they didn’t have something to bitch about  …so you know they are having a field day with it." As a matter of fact, Leigh had been surprised to see several of the board members show up at the meeting with Legal. Once the patents for SSC were discussed, they wanted to ask the lawyers about what they could do to stop the bad publicity Leigh’s social life had caused. From that point on, the meeting had turned into a screaming match between themselves and Leigh.

"Wanna talk about it?" Dr. Duncan inquired.

"Why bother…" Leigh hunched. "I mean it’s just a different spin on an old situation."

"Your men and your company and how they don’t mix."

"Something like that." Leigh said with a smile. "When will I ever learn…"

"Well what do you want to talk about? After all you did call my service several times while I was away."

"Ah yeah I did." Leigh said with a bit of embarrassment. So much had happened she had seen the psychiatrist. "I don’t know where to start…" Leigh sat down.

"Well the beginning is always nice." Dr. Duncan said, noting how nervous Leigh seemed…  because Leigh was never nervous.

"How about the middle?" Leigh said with a smile. "I think the rest would just bore you…" Not mention land me in jail...  Nope can’t tell her about the ruby…

"Alright  …from anywhere I suppose is OK." She watched the dark-haired woman start and stop several times before uttering a word…  that could only mean one thing to Dr. Duncan. A smirk fell upon the doctor’s face. "You’ve met someone?" She asked, already knowing the answer to her own question.

"Yeah, I have." Leigh admitted sheepishly.

"Does this guy know that every other man that’s tried to win your heart has ended up with a broken one?"

"My social life is practically chronicled by every paper in town, so I suppose she does…" Leigh said slowly and then watched the slow morphing of emotions across the doctor’s face as her own words sunk in.

"She…"

"Well I kissed a girl…" Leigh said and chuckled slightly.

"Come again…" Dr. Duncan stammered with blinking eyes. She must have heard the CEO wrong.

"I kissed a girl  ...you know like the song." Leigh started humming the familiar tune.

"I see." Was all the doctor could manage to say as she leaned back and crossed her legs. "And how do you feel about that?"

"How do I feel about that?" Leigh stood up and laughed. "Come on Doc, you can do better than that. I tell you that I may possibly need to get in line to buy a rainbow bumper sticker and that’s all you have to say."

"A bumper sticker huh? Is it that serious?"

"What?"

"Are you gay?"

"I don’t know." Leigh hunched. "I mean I know that I’m attracted to her…" She smiled. "I mean really attracted to her…  but that’s all I know. I mean I’m not sneaking peeks at women in the locker room or anything like that…  at least not yet." She wiggled her eyebrows.

"I see." Again the doctor said and tapped her pen on the desk. Next she buzzed her secretary. "Could you tell me next appointment to reschedule…  seems like I’m going to be a while here."

"How about these eyes…  do they look familiar?" Erin asked as she pushed the button to make the projector cut to the next slide. She and McNeil sat in the dark interrogation room with Lenny Goldstein sitting across from them. They had decided to have somewhat of a line up… but not with people but rather with snap shots of eyes from different people related to the investigation and not related to somewhat keep it fair. She glanced beside her at McNeil who was yawning and looking very bored. So far none of the eyes seemed familiar to the security guard.

"No…  those eyes are squinty…  the eyes I saw were..." Lenny said and paused. "Beautiful…"

McNeil rolled his eyes. "You would think we were casting for a damn contact commercial." He snorted with a gruff laugh.

Lenny heard him and frowned. "Well you asked me to describe those eyes I saw that night…and dog on it…that’s it. They were blue and beautiful. But not just blue…  they looked almost like ice…  so clear…  small puddles of water."

Erin smirked. Lenny almost sounded like a person describing having seen a UFO… the man was in awe. But Erin had no doubt that he was describing eyes that she had come to know so personally. I bet he doesn’t know that when she’s upset  …they turn almost gray… but when she laughs… they get darker…  not to mention when she’s turned on …I can’t even describe the color  …Earth to Bradshaw  …Earth to Bradshaw.

"Well well  …I think we have a poet on our hands…" McNeil joked.

Erin smacked him on the arm. "McNeil… come on." She flicked to the next picture. "Mr. Goldstein how about this one…" Two of the robbers had blue eyes and this snapshot was one of them.

"Nope…  not them."

"How about this one?" Another picture appeared on the screen… and it was again of one of the captured robbers.

"Nope." Lenny shook his head. "Not even close…"

McNeil sighed. "This isn’t getting us anywhere…  Erin can we come to the grand finale some time soon…  we know what you’re after."

"In time McNeil…  I want it to be fair." Erin said and was about to flip to the next slide when she noticed McNeil staring at her with a smirk. "Yes?" She asked.

"Oh Nothing…" McNeil said with a knowing look before turning his attention back to the screen.

The next few slides were like the others…  they got no response from Lenny what so ever. Erin had taken several snapshots from random people in the police station. And even for fun, she had thrown in several pictures of famous blue-eyed celebrities …Paul Newman, Frank Sanatra, Brad Pitt, Linda Blair…  Erin thought how odd it was when Lenny took longer to say "No" to the snapshot of Xena’s Lucy Lawless than any other. Erin even found herself squinting at the image on the wall to make sure she hadn’t gotten them mixed up with the snap shot of Leigh’s eyes. Well I guess there is a resemblance…  Erin hunched and went through several more snap shots before finally coming to Leigh’s eyes.

"How about these?" Erin tried to ask as nonchalantly as she could, knowing this was the moment they had been waiting for.

Lenny leaned forward and his own eyes narrowed. "Well…  I think…" He scratched his head. "They do look awfully familiar…"   McNeil and Erin exchanged a knowing look before looking back at the security guard. "But..."

"But what?" Erin and McNeil said in unison as they both leaned forward.

"I don’t know…  Just doesn’t seem right somehow…"

"But they do look familiar?" Erin asked a bit anxiously, knowing it was a leading question.

"Yeah, more than any of those other pictures you showed me…  I wanna say those are the same eyes that were staring at me that night …but"

"But what!" McNeil boomed as he stood up. "Damn it Lenny are those the robber’s eyes or what…  make a decision."

Lenny glared at the detective and rose out of his seat as well. "Now wait just a minute…  you don’t have to yell!"

Erin rolled her eyes and stood up to stand between the two angry men. "Come on you two!" She said looking between them, before turning all her attention to Lenny. "Now, Lenny …yes or no …are those the eyes of the thief you saw that night?"

Lenny looked back at the wall and squinted. After a long moment he finally answered. "Yeah …those are the eyes".

"Thank you!" Erin said and sat back down.  

"Well Bradshaw it looks like you’re batting a thousand today." McNeil commented with a pat on Erin’s back.

"Almost anyway…" Erin said with a smile. "Lenny said that the perfume was similar… he couldn’t say conclusively it was the same fragrance." The insurance investigator had let Lenny smell the perfume Leigh had given her, and the intoxicating scent definitely was familiar to him. But any doubt he had could probably be attributed to the fact that perfume reacts different to one’s body temperament. So the perfume probably smelled different when the CEO was wearing it. Erin could account for that herself… given all the close contact she’s had with Leigh. Erin was greeted with more visuals of she and Leigh’s Puerto Rican adventure, when she herself has sniffed the perfume.

"But all these similarities point to your little glamour girl. Granted none of this would hold up in court …but still it’s a lead."

"McNeil, my job isn’t putting anyone in jail and making charges stick…  I leave that to you guys." Erin said with a smirk. They are certainly going to have a hell of time getting their handcuffs on Leigh. "I’m simply here to find the ruby."

"Well it’ll be arresting whomever is holding that ruby when you find it." McNeil added.

"So you admit it then…"

"Admit what?"

"You need me to find the ruby so you can make an arrest."

"Don’t twist my words Bradshaw…"

"Nope…  simply rearranging them to my liking is all." Erin said with a thoughtful smile. Her words had just sounded like something Leigh would have said. Yeap…  the woman is rubbing off on me… literally and figuratively…

"Whatever!" McNeil barked and then grinned. "Well anyway… I have to go. But ask Lenny for me…  How was Vegas?" And then he walked off to talk to a fellow officer.

Erin looked across the room and saw Lenny standing by the exit. She walked over and extended her hand. "Lenny I want to thank you for coming down here to day."

"No problem." He said with a broad grin and shook her hand vigorously.

"So Lenny, how was Las Vegas?" Erin asked as she walked him toward the front of the station.

"Great…  I won ten grand." He said with a huge grin before placing his hat on his head.

"Well good for you..."

"Yeah… first I win a trip to Vegas... and then I win ten grand while I’m there…"

"You won the trip?"

"Yeap… a couple days after I got knocked on my ass by the damn shadow thief of yours, I get a phone call saying I’ve won an all expense trip to Vegas. You know as long as you’re gambling …drinks are on the house. And then I met this swell dame who’s a show girl…"

"Ok ...Lenny" Erin had no interested in hearing about the showgirl named Lolita.

"By the way…  what casino was it?

"Palms Martin Casino," he called over this shoulder as he walked out of the station. 

"You’re full of energy today." Harry grunted as he tried his best to block another of Leigh’s punches. He and Leigh had been at for at least twenty minutes. And he had noticed that the CEO was little more into her kickboxing workout than normal. More than once Harry had almost earned a shiner that wouldn’t look too hot for his next court appearance later on that afternoon.

"You think?" Leigh asked before swinging another right that barely missed Harry’s nose.

"Yeah …if you keep up with this rampage… I’m going to need to have a plastic surgeon on stand by." Harry managed to say before Leigh launched into a combo that ended with a kick.

"Come on Harry …I’m just getting started." She smiled viciously and bounced around on the balls of her feet. Leigh smacked her gloves together. "Stop being such a pretty boy"

"Fine Ms. Jackie Chan… but who’s going to defend you from my big ass lawsuit, if I’m laid up in the hospital." He retorted along with a few punches himself.

Leigh dropped her gloves and laughed. "Good point."

"So what’s going on?"

"I don’t know…  let’s just say I’m bursting with tons of energy these days." She picked up her water bottle and took a sip.

"Not getting any huh?" Harry said while wiggling his eyebrows.

Leigh choked on the water she was drinking. "Excuse me?"

"Well you just seem frustrated."

"And you automatically assume that its because I’m not having sex. I mean damn Harry I do run a fortune 500 company…  why can’t that be the reason?"

"I suppose it could… but you know it’s been a couple weeks since you broke up with Brent."

"Harry! Does your wife know that you take this much interest in my sex life?"

"Are you kidding? " He chuckled. "You’re a regular topic of conversation for us. I mean she’s still wondering if that thing about you and Ben Affleck was true."

Leigh laughed as well. "Tell your wife not to believe everything she reads in the paper… because if she does… she may want to find another godmother for the bambino that you two insist on the bringing in the world."

"Consider someone else? I don’t think so… and deny my child the honor of having a billionaire modern day female Peter Pan with a black belt as his godmother  …not a chance."

Leigh had been honored when her lawyer as well as good friend had asked her to be the godmother to his firstborn that was due in two months. "There’s a compliment in that description somewhere..."

"However Leigh, it would be nice if you weren’t behind bars by the time Cindy has the baby and then the christening."

"Me, behind bars? Isn’t that what I pay you for… to make sure that never happens."

"Well Leigh, there is only so much I can do." Harry sat down and reached for a bottle of water as well.

Leigh raised a brow and frowned slightly. "Why do I get the feeling that a lecture is coming my way?"

"Perhaps because it is, Leigh Antoinette Sinclaire."

"Oh… my whole name… this must be good." She sat down as well and waited for her impending scolding.

"Well my first concern can be summed up in two words..."

"Let me guess…" Leigh interrupted recognizing Harry’s familiar tone. "Tony Morolto".

"Bingo."

"Harry we’ve been over this. Tony is a good friend of mine."

"With very illegal activities…"

"What Tony does or does not do for a living has nothing to do with me OK."

"You may think so …but there are many who think you guys are deep in business together if you know what I mean."

"Well too bad for them …because that sounds a like a personal issue that I can’t help them with."

"The FBI is investigating Tony."

"Really?" Leigh said sarcastically. "Harry, when isn’t the FBI investigating him? I mean they are like his own personal Paparazzi."

Harry looked at his client and friend sternly. "Please take this seriously. Leigh your name appears too many times for my comfort in those files, not to mention how many times you show up in surveillance tapes. And I’m not going to even mention your love affair with the dark prince himself ...Tony’s son."

Leigh rolled her eyes at the mention of another of her past romances. "Harry don’t even go there OK. Besides Tony and I are friends."

"Well is there any way you could be a little less friendly."

"I’m not doing anything wrong…  why should I change my life style?"

"I’m not asking you to change yourself lifestyle… that would like asking Leona Hensley to not buy shoes…  I’m simply asking that maybe just change the amount of time you spend with certain individuals that’s all." Leigh’s blue eyes narrowed and Harry could tell he wasn’t doing anything but upsetting her. No one told the CEO what to do… so why should this situation be any different. "Ok  …I know when I’m fighting an uphill battle. So I’ll say this and then I’ll let the subject drop. Other than your casual non-business related meetings with the guy, you’ve kept your nose pretty clean. All I ask is that you continue that. Just try to keep you and Tony’s life as separate as possible. "

Too late for that… Though Leigh fudged this fact to many people, Leigh knew more about Tony’s illegal activities than she was willing to admit.  

Tony had tried to shield Leigh from this lifestyle and respect the fact that if questioned the CEO would be responsible for what she knew. However on occasion, the notorious gangster had casually mentioned his dealings around Leigh, knowing that he and Leigh had a certain trust between them. One of such conservations pertained to a robbery at one of his casinos. The cops had found one of the thieves, but not the others. Tony had found out who the other robbers were, but couldn’t touch them because it would be too obvious that he would be responsible for their unfortunate and sudden disappearance. Once Leigh had concocted the idea of robbing the museum, it seemed only fitting that the robbers to take the fall would be the very ones who had stolen money from her friend. Though she was setting these men up, in the end it somewhat seemed fair since they were responsible for numerous thefts in the last decade. Leigh knew it seemed a bit self-righteous of her for this greater good rationalization, since she herself was using them to pull off a jewelry heist. But now was definitely not the time to have a crisis about the difference between right wrong…  she had more important things to think about… like the difference between being locked up and free.

Other than Aidan, Tony was the only other person she had told about the Rhine Ruby. She still remembered the sly grin on his handsome face when she had explained her plan. "I knew it was only a matter or time. Legit activities get boring after a while you know. Are you sure I can’t persuade you to come over to the dark side full time? I could use a girl like you in my organization." He joked as he smoothed down the expensive silk tie that complimented his Brooks Brothers suit.

But there was no reason to tell Harry about how she had somewhat muddled the waters about keeping her life separate from Tony’s. "Harry… I have it all under control. Please don’t worry about it."

Harry eyed the dark haired woman for a second and wondered if anything he had just said has sunk in. "I’m always worrying about you… which leads me to the second topic of discussion."

"The Rhine Ruby…" She finished for him.

"Leigh you seem to be batting a thousand today." Her lawyer said sarcastically. "Tomorrow you’re going to voluntarily go down to the station and answer any questions, within reason, that they have for you."

"Really?"

"Yes, it would look good for you to cooperate with them."

"You mean it looks less guilty of me."

"That too." Harry said still wondering what Leigh had to do with the whole heist.

"Fine… I’ll tell Helen to clear my schedule tomorrow morning and I will appear at the Miami Police Department bright eyed and bushy tailed…  anything else?" Leigh figured she could handle the cops, but Erin Bradshaw was another matter. If the inquisitive blonde was there, which she is sure she would be…. oh she hoped she would be…  after all she had been thinking about her all day…  Wait Leigh you’re off the subject…  stop thinking blonde, adorable, sexy  …start thinking jail, jail, jail...

"Are you still playing Friends with the insurance investigator?" Harry asked.

Among other things…  Leigh joked to herself. "No more lectures Harry." Leigh got up and started stretching…  she had really put in a good work out today. Poor Harry  …she had really played Fist of Fury on him today.

Harry watched as Leigh stretched and for the millionth time since meeting her, he closed his eyes and told himself that he was a happily married man, who loved his wife more than anything, and he had a baby on the way. After all he was a man, and so how could he not notice the tall dark-haired beauty doing stretching exercises right in front of him in the sports bra and shorts. "I take that as a yes." He said to help clear mind.

"Yes, Harry I am still spending time with her."

"Leigh…."

"Harry…  it's totally cool OK. I know what I am doing."

"Which is what exactly… playing behind enemy lines. How’s the saying go Leigh? Keep your friends close and your enemies even closer?"

Leigh looked at him and smiled slowly. "Keeping her close." She said thoughtfully as she stood up and grabbed her towel. "Yeah Harry that’s exactly what I’m doing."  

It never ceased to amaze Erin how out of two hundred available cable channels, still it seemed like there was never anything on. "It’s a conspiracy I tell you…" She said to the flashing television screen as she continued to search through the channels for perhaps the third time in the last five minutes. The idea of going over her case notes was always an option instead of her futile quest to find something on the tube… but Erin knew what that would mean. There she would be going over pages of information about nothing but Leigh Sinclaire and how she’d pulled off the heist of the decade …or so it seemed.

"Nope …tonight will be Leigh free…  something that the last few days surely wasn’t." Erin had every intention of figuring out how Leigh had tracked down the elite team of robbers. There was no doubt in the blonde’s head that Leigh had chosen them because they had stole millions from her buddy Tony Morolta. And it certainly didn’t sit well with Erin that Lenny had won a trip to Las Vegas and won tons of money at the Palms Martin Casino either.

But these new connections were still a weak link… and like everything in this case an over exaggerated idea to make things fall into place. Though, the right places…  Minton and her supervisors weren’t convinced. But Prenhall and Wineman were willing to indulge Erin’s theories as long as they didn’t have to write out a $50 million check. Minton, on the other hand was too busy worried about Leigh’s impending wrath… that he didn’t want Erin anywhere near the case. If it wasn’t for McNeil’s input… she probably wouldn’t be allowed ten miles within the place. She had thought Minton and McNeil were going to have a heart attack, when they had all heard about how Leigh was coming to the station tomorrow to answer questions about the robbery voluntarily. Even Erin had been surprised by the gesture…"  Another trick I bet…" Erin rationalized.

Though the new information in the case had been enlightening and welcomed, Erin kept finding herself distracted by other things. Other things being Leigh Sinclaire, the woman… not the thief. Even though both aspects of the CEO were interesting, it was images of Leigh’s smile, eyes, and body frequenting her thoughts through out her day. Remembering how it felt to kiss her and be touched by her, was what had been causing her to blush at random and daydream. She had gotten more than her share of curious looks from McNeil earlier.

More than once she had called Vanessa to talk about her situation. But each and every time she was greeted with an answering machine with Vanessa’s theatrical voice announcing how she would be out of the town for the next couple of days on location. She was sure her friend would have a field day with what she was going through. Erin half smiled. "Well if that woman doesn’t check her messages soon  …I may have to call my minister." Erin laughed.

"I have to focus… that’s all. Focus on this damn case and find the ruby. And then I can..." Can what Erin? …rush to the woman and fall into her arms. "Something like that I suppose…" Erin said aloud with a smirk. She sat back on the couch and propped up her feet. The sheer anticipation of it all had Erin so wired, that several times that day she had almost called the CEO to simply shoot the breeze  …in other words to simply hear her voice. Erin looked over at the phone and again toyed with the idea of calling Leigh… then as if by magic the phone rang…

It couldn’t be… that would be too freaky…   Erin thought as she reached for the receiver and picked up the phone.

"Hello?"

"May I speak to Sally?" A man’s burly voice boomed.

A wave of disappointed washed over Erin when she realized it wasn’t whom she had been expecting. "Sorry you have the wrong number…"

"Oh sorry" The man said before hanging up abruptly.

Erin put the receiver back down and sighed. "I have to get a grip." She heard her stomach growl and wondered how long it would be before the delivery man would be arriving with the pizza she had ordered earlier. Then the phone rung again. She snatched up the receiver expecting that it was the same man who had called mistakenly just seconds before. "Hello?"

"Have you talked to that minister of yours yet?" A voice said smoothly on the other end…

Erin recognized the voice immediately and closed her eyes. What a voice…. and the trouble begins…

"Nope  …though his number is in my speed dial…" Erin retorted with a smile. "So Carmen San Diego  …to what do I owe the honor?"

"I just wanted to say Congratulations…" Leigh cooed.

"For what?"

"I talked to my attorney..."

"Before or after he finished coaching you with your kickboxing?" Erin asked with a smile.

"During actually…  Due to his advisement, seems tomorrow I will be making an encore special appearance at the Miami Police Department. I hear ticket scalpers are going to make a killing on this one. I’ll literally be walking into the lion’s den. So that’s another point for you… I suppose."

"Compared to what… your million…  I’ve lost count."

Leigh chuckled. "Don’t worry I’m sure you’ll catch up…"

"You can count on it, but I wouldn’t go awarding points just yet. This so called appearance is totally voluntary on your part, I hear." She and McNeil thought the CEO was playing another trick when they had received word from Leigh’s attorney. "So I’m seeing this as a another strategic move on your part."

"Everything is strategic to some degree I suppose. "

"Yeah …in this case you’ll strategically come off as the good Samaritan helping the Miami PD solve this case. I mean if the word suspect is even alluded to…" Erin paused. "Well let’s just say we’ve been warned…"

"Come on Kansas… tomorrow I’m going into enemy territory… granted I’ll be heavily armed… but surely you’ll find some way to use that to your advantage. Tell me I won’t be disappointed…" The CEO challenged.

"Hardly…" Erin responded confidently for she had ever intention of using this opportunity to turn the tables on Leigh. Which was hard when dealing with the clever CEO. "By the way, does your attorney even know you’re guilty?"

"My attorney knows that I’m not supposed to go to jail."

"You didn’t answer my question Leigh."

"Sure I did. Whether it was an answer that you liked is another issue…"

"Smart ass…"

"So you keep telling me…" Both women laughed. "I’ve waited all day for this you know."

"For what?"

"To talk with you, trade smart remarks with you, to laugh with you…"

It amazed Erin that it only took a few choice words from Leigh to bring down her defenses. "Me too I suppose…" Erin admitted.

"Then why didn’t you call?"

"Leigh you know why…"

"I don’t remember our little deal having anything to do with not talking to each other…"

"If its about the case, Leigh then I’ll talk to you… but other topics of conversation… seem to well get us in trouble. "

"But we’re buddies right?"

Erin sighed and looked up at the ceiling. "Even still there is a line Leigh… remember we agreed…"

"Would I be crossing the line if I said I’ve been thinking about you?" Leigh asked.

"No…  I’ve been kind of thinking about you as well." Erin admitted.

"Oh really…  With or without my clothes…." Leigh chuckled.

"I think you just crossed the line there friend".

"What if I told you that I’ve been having a few fantasies about you that don’t involve anything to do with that damn ruby?"

"I would say that you might want to keep little tidbits like that to yourself…"

"Well aren’t friends supposed to listen to their friends problems?"

"Fantasies about me are a problem?"

"What do you think? I mean here I am in the middle of a finance meeting and I all I can think about is you and me on that couch yesterday. You know the sneaky bastards almost slipped $50,000 worth of unnecessary shit by me."  Leigh laughed.

Should I even mention that when I flipped through my notebook today, I had more sketches of her than notes about the damn case …maybe later…  "So are you saying that I’m making you lose your edge?"

"What you’re doing Kansas… is driving me crazy."

"Leigh…" Erin pleaded. "You’re not playing fair… remember the deal."

"Fair is relative…"

"Come one now Leigh…  we’re adults …it shouldn’t be too hard to resist these umm..."

"Carnal urges?" Leigh finished for her with a slight chuckle and she could instantly pictured Erin blushing on the other end of the phone.

"Something like that…"

"I suppose you would be right about that… if it wasn’t so damn easy to give into them.  I know I agreed to put this thing on hold… but I never promised not to gripe about it. Are you telling me that you’re not thinking about it too? You’re not being plagued with thoughts about what it would be like to explore these feelings...  what it would be like to…"

"Leigh…" She only had so many reserves left; this conversation with Leigh was slowly starting to deplete them. Erin had to think quick and come up with an excuse probably just short of hanging up in the CEO’s ear to get off the phone. "Listen I…" There was a knock at the door. "That must be the pizza guy now… hold on." Erin walked towards the door and opened it. And there was Leigh Sinclaire standing on the other side holding her cell phone to her ear and looking quite sheepish.

She casually leaned against the doorframe. "Kansas, I haven’t taken a breath all day without thinking about you… are you really sure about holding off on this thing?" Leigh asked still holding the cell phone up to the ear, even though Erin was standing right in front of her.

"Absolutely…" Erin said as she let the phone in her hand drop to the carpet. She reached for Leigh and pulled the other woman in her apartment by the lapels of her jacket. "Not", she murmured against Leigh’s lips before kissing her.  

The next sound heard was Leigh’s foot kicking the door shut behind them…