The bet
Brennan and Booth had worked hard at closing their latest case and were now sipping coffee on the steps of the Lincoln memorial, the sun setting in a glory of orange tones. They had been silent for some time and Booth stirred, restless.
"Hey, Bones…"
"Hum?..."
"Did you ever kiss someone without touching their lips?"
"What? That's physically impossible, Booth"
"No, it's not."
"Well, can't be much of a kiss, then!"
"Why not?"
"Well, for starters, because the definition of a kiss is two people putting their lips together."
"Well, I can tell you it's possible"
"Don't believe you."
"Well,
I've…" he hesitated.
"You've done it?", her eyes were
open wide in surprise.
"Well, I
was going to say that I've seen it done."
"Hum… I believe
you…" Brennan replied with a shrug after a pause.
"No you
don't. I've seen you lying. This is you lying."
"Ok, I'm
lying."
"See, I knew it.
After a pause, Booth tried again.
"Well, I
bet you five bucks it's possible."
"You're wasting your
money. It's not feasible."
Booth took five one dollar bills out of his pocket and placed them on the space between them.
"Well, put your money where your convictions are, Dr Brennan"
"You're making this into a bet, I see." She reached for her pocket, took five dollars and placed the bills neatly on top of his.
"Ok, five dollars saying it's not possible." And she crossed her arms defensively across her chest. She had the sneaking suspicion she was being played, but couldn't quite put her finger on it. Had she been honest with herself, she would have had to admit that she did want to be played. She wanted to go wherever Booth was going with that ridiculous bet.
"Ready?" Booth asked, his breathing slightly altered.
"Ready," She was nervous now as his face was three little inches away from hers. She could have backed down. She could have done something. But she found that she didn't want to.
"Get ready to lose your money, Bones" He was delaying the moment, savouring her perfume and her fidgeting. He could see a vein pulsing in her neck.
"I'm not going to lose it, Booth." He moved one inch closer. She could feel his breath on her face, the smell of his perfume, of his clothes was invading her senses.
"Ok, here goes…" and he closed the space between them. His hands were still on his knees, her arms still across her chest. He touched his lips to hers slowly and stayed there for a fraction of a second, as if asking permission to go on. She didn't move. She couldn't even if she had tried, immobilized by the sensations radiating from her lips and spreading rapidly to the rest of her body. His lips moved over hers, parting slightly. His tongue moved forward and slowly invited her to participate in the kiss. She responded by mirroring his movement. Suddenly, years of promised kisses poured from her in a heat she found difficult to understand, to rationalize, impossible to control.
Booth was lost in that kiss. He knew he was crossing a line. His line. But, at that particular moment, he could not fathom one single good reason for it. All he knew was that, had he died at that very moment, he would have been ok with it. He felt as if the world had condensed itself in that single moment and there was nothing before or beyond it. It was, he thought, more than he had bargained for.
He broke the kiss. He needed to breathe. He closed his eyes in a bid to compose himself. He would have been lost if he had seen on hers even a pale reflection of what he was feeling. Brennan cleared her throat and sighed. Her heart was beating loudly, ringing in her ears, She felt what she thought was a rush of adrenaline and endorphins and hormones she couldn't even remember the name. She took stock of herself and affecting a composure she was far from possessing, she took the bills from the step.
"Well, I think your hypothesis has been proven incorrect. It cannot be done. You lost you bet and your money."
Booth smiled, mischief ill disguised in his eyes.
"Bones, that was money well spent."
She was speechless. Things were starting to make sense in her head.
"Oh… You knew… You knew it wasn't possible"
"Course I did Bones. Old middle school trick"
"I didn't know that"
"Well, I'm happy I could teach you something", he said, trying to appease her with a companionable bump on her shoulder. He could see she was miffed but looking closer, it seemed, to him, there was also something else. She couldn't hold on to her mad for long. Not when he was looking at her like that.
"That was underhanded" she said with a smile creeping behind her eyes, despite her best efforts.
"Bones?"
"Yeah?"
"I've got another fiver in my pocket… Do you wanna bet again?"
The End.