Third date.
The door, quietly, clicked shut behind Lucy as she finally made it home.
It must be at least 1am, she hadn’t been keeping track, the apartment was dark and still. Tamara hopefully tucked up peacefully in bed, none the wiser and Lucy’s secret in tact.
A shiver of excitement ran down her spine as she thought back over the last few hours, without thinking her fingers traces over her lips. Feeling the, still slightly swollen, skin all traces of lipstick long since gone.
Her night had started hours before.
She had changed out after her shift was done, she had brought a simple T-shirt and a well worn pair of jeans. Showered, put them on and pulled a drag of lipstick across her lips.
“Any plans tonight, Lucy?” Angela had asked as Lucy had walked out of the locker room, casually swinging her bag over her shoulder.
“Probably just laundry and an early night” she had effortlessly lied and her friend had no reason not to believe her. She had smiled and told Angela to kiss Jack goodnight for her and carried on her way. Out the door and to the parking garage.
She wound her way through the structure, nodding greetings to familiar faces as she made her way to a dark corner. Her heart rate soared as she spotted the truck she was looking for and as she locked eyes with the driver a grin split across her face, she stopped in her tracks before taking a deep breath and carrying on.
Lucy opened the passenger side door and climbed in, immediately turning to face the driver.
“Hi” he reached over and took the bag from her arm. His fingers burned as they trailed down her skin, he leant over and carefully put it on a back seat.
“Hi” she breathed.
Tim was still for a moment as they just smiled at each other “Good day at work?” He asked and she laughed.
“Hmmm I guess, this guy I work with can be a bit of a jerk sometimes though”
“Oh really? How so?”
“He has all these tests for me, he’s not even my training officer any more”
“Well he sound great” Tim puffs out his chest “and very handsome”
Lucy makes an unconvinced sound and Tim pretends to be offended
“He’s alright, I guess” the truck is so large that when she reaches across to kiss him quickly she needs to place her hand on his thigh for balance and it’s not lost on her when a murmur escapes his lips before she closes the gap and lays her gently on his.
But the parking garage at their shared place of work is not the place for this, so she pulls back, sits down and puts her seat belt on.
“So, what are you making me for dinner?”
The journey to Tim’s house isn’t long and they chat easily about their day, funny things Angela has said about her mother in law and how Nolan’s rookie is doing. Being driven around by Tim feels so comfortable and familiar that she forgets that they are actually on their way to their third date until he is pulling up outside his house.
She has been to his house before, of course. As a colleague, as a friend even but never as… as…
Could she think of herself as his girlfriend? He hadn’t called her that yet so maybe she shouldn’t either.
They weren’t friends with benefits, they hadn’t slept together yet.
But you don’t make out with friends for hours and talk about having grandkids together.
Tim opening the car door for her brought her back to the present
“Everything ok?” Tim’s piercing eyes locked with hers as she lowered herself out of the truck
“Yep” she smiled brightly “just thinking about something, ill get your thoughts after dinner though. I’m starving”
Tim led the way into the house and through to the kitchen, stopping to make a quick fuss of the dog before getting two wine glasses out of the cupboard and placing them on the counter.
“Reds in the rack” he says gesturing to his left “whites in the fridge, you choose” as he gets to work readying their meal.
Lucy pours them both a large glass of red wine, she doesn’t ask what they’re eating and instead goes with Tim’s favourite as he is driving her home later and will only get the one glass.
She sits on the sofa, Kojo’s head on her lap, she could fall asleep listening to Tim’s busy sounds from the kitchen and for a moment she lets her eyes close. She lets her imagination wonder, picturing this very scene. Picturing it as her reality everyday, coming home together, taking it in turns to cook. But in her imagination Tim can have a second glass of wine, there’s no need to drive her home, she is home.
She’s lost in her thoughts until Tim plants a gentle kiss on her forehead
“Are you that tired? I can just take you home if you need to get to sleep” she opens her eyes into his concerned face.
“Not at all!” She insists, then blushes slightly “I was actually just imagining what it would be like to do this more often”
“Sleep on the sofa?” He teases
“No” she rolls her eyes “come home with you, cook together, curl up on the sofa and watch a film with a bottle of wine”
“That does sound nice” he comes round to sit next to her, gently pulling her up against him “maybe staying the night”
“Definitely staying the night”
All thoughts of dinner are forgotten until Lucy finally notices a timer going off in the kitchen. She slides both her hands up to his shoulders and pushes as firmly as she can, from underneath him. She may have suggested they wait a while for ‘naked time’ but in the meantime they are finding plenty of ways to occupy their time. And their hands.
Tim groans as he peals himself off of Lucy and sits back up, her t shirt is rucked up and his large hands had covered the warm skin. Lucy pulls it back down as she sits up.
“Dinner ready?” She asks, a blush spreads rapidly over her face as she realises Tim is still sitting, near motionless, on the sofa. He’s clearly taking a moment to compose himself before going to deal with the timer and she relishes the effect she has had on him.
Dinner is delicious. The meal Tim has produced is quite simple but it’s just what she needs. They talk about their plans for the week, a case that has Tim stumped and a new sushi restaurant that Lucy is dying to try. She finishes off a second glass of wine and watches as Tim pours her another. She thinks about teasing him that he’s trying to get her drunk but he’s so respectful of her choice to wait that she doesn’t want to seem mean.
Together, they clean away the dishes and once again Lucy gets caught up in the effortless domesticity of the moment. As they move easily around each other she can’t help but watch his body, how tall he is, how strong his arms are. Ok maybe she is feeling a little tipsy.
“So what we’re you thinking about in the car earlier?” He breaks her reverie
“The car?”
“You said you’d tell me after you’d eaten” he pressed
“Oh yes!” Trills Lucy, emboldened by the wine “I was thinking about what I am”
Tim raised an eyebrow are her, tilting his head “a police officer?” He asked clearly confused.
“No!” She laughed “ to you”
“To me?” No idea what she was talking about
“What I should call myself”
“Other than Lucy?…” his eyes widen, just barely “what you should call yourself”
“I know we aren’t going public yet” Tim opens his mouth to interject but Lucy carries on “which is absolutely what we both want” then quickly “right?”
Tim nods, knowing she hasn’t finished yet “but I was thinking”
“Lucy” Tim, interrupting firmly this time with a hand placed on her shoulder “you’re my girlfriend. Unless you don’t want to be?” The grin on her face tells him everything he needs to know “Drunk girlfriend Lucy is hard work” a devilish smile spread across his face as his girlfriend hits him on the shoulder.
“I can leave you know”
“But I don’t think you want to” which earns him a second punch to the shoulder.
They curl up together on the sofa, they tease each other and they kiss. They talk work and family and even a little about past relationships.
Until Tim finally notices the time 11:30pm, time to get Lucy home.
“Lucy” he brushes a stead of hair from her face and behind her ear and she sighs happily “it’s time I drove you home”
She begins to protest but Tim simply points to the clock and the words die in her mouth. They quietly gather up her things, so as not to wake the sleeping canine, Tim slips on a hoodie and grabs his keys.
The journey back to Lucy’s apartment is mostly quiet, a full day at work and the late hour seemingly catching up with them both. Tim pulls up out side and turns off the engine, neither make a move to leave the car. Wanting to eek out as much time alone, together, as possible.
Tim watches as she leans across the centre console, placing a small hand on either side of his face and kissing him deeply, she pulls back a little and her eyes bore into his soul
“Thank you for tonight, it’s been…” she searches for words for a brief moment “perfect” she leans in once again to place a gentle kiss to his lips but his hand rises and winds through her hair and it’s like that they are lost.
It’s at least 20 minutes before Lucy breaks the kiss and they surface, properly, for air. Both taking shuddering breaths, Lucy rubbing her leg. It had not been the most comfortable position but they both seemed to think it was worth it.
“I should go”
“Yes” Tim agrees resolutely, pushing the truck door open and meeting Lucy at her side of the truck “do you want me to walk you up to your door?”
“No, I’m fine. Anyway, I’d probably end up inviting you in and then we’d be having a really awkward conversation with Tamara in the morning!” Tim couldn’t help the groan that escaped his lips “and you didn’t have to deal with her after she walked in on our ‘practice’ kiss so I’d leave you to do all the talking”
“Ok,ok!” And he smiled as Lucy laughed, this may only be date three but they both new Lucy was going to win all their fights “I’ll say good night to you here then” with a wicked smile on his face he crowds her against the truck door and it’s another 20 minutes before they once again finally emerge from the kiss.
As Lucy lies in her bed, oblivious to the eyes that saw just enough of her goodbye with Tim to put everything together, she thinks about the next date and the one after that. The 100th date and 1,000th.
She finally falls asleep with a contented smile on her face.
116 notes
·
View notes