Part 39 (1/2)

”You don't think I know when I'm being humored? Do you really think I have some kind of a problem?”

”It's not that big a deal to me,” Joan said. ”I mean, in this day and age, with a little v.i.a.g.r.a...”

Sam nearly choked on his beer. Oh, this was just too good.

Muldoon stood up.

”Where are you going?” Joan asked, but he wasn't going anywhere. He took her hand and pulled her out of her seat, too.

And then, right there, at the bar in the Ladybug Lounge, Muldoon put his arms around Joan DaCosta and kissed the living s.h.i.+t out of her.

It was like something out of a movie. Sweeping music with lots of violins should have swelled. Instead Travis Tritt wailed on the jukebox. h.e.l.lo, T-R-O-U-B-L-E...

On the other hand, maybe old Travis was the perfect sound track to this moment.

That was no ”I'm kissing you because it seems like a nice way to pa.s.s the time” kind of kiss. Instead it was a ”If I don't kiss you right f.u.c.king now, I just might die” kind of kiss.

And Jesus, if that wasn't trouble ... Sam could remember kissing Alyssa like that, and look where it got him.

He scanned the room for any senior officers, watching Muldoon's six. An officer in dress uniform wasn't supposed to suck face like this in public, and Jesus Lord, Mikey still had the woman in a lip lock.

And as for Joan, well, she was very definitely kissing him back.

Unless Sam was very much mistaken, someone in this room was going to get some tonight.

Finally Muldoon lifted his head. But the way he was looking down at the woman in his arms, he might as well still have been kissing her. It was a look that sizzled, a look that was more palpable and possibly even more intimate than a touch.

Joan was definitely hypnotized, staring back up at him.

Muldoon tugged her even closer, his hands on her backside, her hips tight against his, and she laughed breathlessly.

”Okay,” she said. ”Point taken. I think we're both in agreement that you don't have any kind of a problem.”

”d.a.m.n right I don't.”

”I knew you didn't,” she said. ”I was really just jerking your chain. It was too good an opportunity to pa.s.s up.”

”The big irony is that I've been walking around like this all week,” he told her. ”I think you're s.e.xy as h.e.l.l, Joan. I don't need v.i.a.g.r.a. I just need to think about you.”

This time, she kissed him.

And oh, yeah. Muldoon was definitely on his way to GetltOnVille.

Kiss number two lasted even longer than kiss number one.

And when they finally came up for air, Joan managed to ask, ”Do youa””

”Yes,” Muldoon said.

He threw a twenty on the bar, took her by the hand and they were gone.

Sam, on the other hand, didn't have such a good reason to leave.

He watched Cosmo line up another perfect shot, hoping to h.e.l.l that Muldoon and Joan had better luck with their birth control than he and Mary Lou had had.

”Okay,” Joan said to Muldoon via their cell phones, as she peered out from her hotel room doorway. ”There's no one in the hall. Get your b.u.t.t down here, fast.”

And then there he was, coming out of the stairwell and moving swiftly down the corridor. She opened the door a little bit farther, and he was inside without anyone seeing him.

”That fast enough for you?” he said, still talking to her on his phone.

”Good-bye,” she said into her phone, loving the way he was looking at her, remembering those incredible kisses back in the bar. ”I can't talk right now.”

Muldoon hung up his phone, too, his eyes never leaving hers.

But he didn't move. He just stood there, watching her. What was he waiting for?

”Kiss me,” she finally had to say.

But he shook his head. ”Nah,” he said.

She laughed. What?

”I'm going to,” he said. ”But I want to look at you first and... think about you some more. I do want to talk. Do you mind?” he added.

”No,” Joan said. ”Of course I don't.” He'd told her how he'd always watched for cues when he was with a woman, how he'd learned to pick up subtle hints as to what that woman wanted him to do to fulfill her fantasies.

But tonight was different, she realized with something of a jolt. She was his fantasy.

It was a rather large turn-on knowing that. But, G.o.d, the pressure was suddenly a bit intense.

”Come on in,” she said, leading the way into the hotel room. ”Can I get you something to drink? Are you hungry? We could order room service if you want. This hotel has a really terrific fish chowder that I for one would love to lick off your body.”

Muldoon laughed as he sat down on the sofa.

”I'm not entirely kidding,” she told him.

”Yeah, I know,” he countered, smiling at her. ”That's what makes it so nice to hear.”

”I'm not sure what you want,” she admitted. ”I want to do this right, but you're going to have to give me a little direction.”

”Just talk to me,” he said. ”I just... I love to talk to you, Joan, and I just want to do it knowing that in a little while I'm going to get a chance to kiss you again.”

Oh, honey, that's not all you're going to do...

He was adorable. He honestly didn't realize that saying / love to talk to you made her heart pound even harder.

”It sounds kind of dumb, doesn't it?” he added sheepishly.

”No,” she said quite firmly. ”It doesn't.”