Oooh another writing exercise got away...I hope you enjoy it and thanks for reading!

She woke up the next morning and for a minute, didn't know where she was, except that she felt wonderful. The comforter felt warm and snug around her and the sunlight shown through the windows casting a soft glow in the room.

She felt some weight on her stomach which turned out to be an arm that belonged to the man sleeping beside her, his breath exhaling slowly. As for her, she felt the silkiness of the sheets against her soft skin which still tingled from the night's events.

They had come to the hotel room after riding the elevator up 15 floors to the penthouse suite and then as soon as the electronic key turned the lock with a click, he pushed the door open and they were alone inside their own world.

And they realized they wanted to share it together as long as the night lasted. She kicked off her heels and stood before him like a regal princess albeit one with a spirited eye and slow smile. He drew her close and swirled her around the floor drawing her closer into his embrace.

"You're an amazing dance partner," he said.

She stroked his hair.

"Let's forget about the rules tonight."

And as he lifted her into his arms, they did just that taking their two-step elsewhere.

She sighed remembering the night in clarity and how it had felt to forget about everything around them including their decision to keep their friendship platonic. His warm skin against hers and his mouth…she felt someone stirring next to her and his arm tighten around her. His eyes fluttered open and he looked up at her for a long moment.

"So I didn't just dream it…"

She shook her head, her hair tousled and haloing around her face.

"Not unless I did too."

He looked over at the clock. It read 7a.m.

"Our plane leaves in three hours," he said, "I can't believe we're finally be home."

She smiled as she extricated herself from his arm and sat up.

"We'll have time for Murray's afternoon meeting at the office," she said, "Do you want to shower first?"

She got out of bed, reaching for her robe putting it on. Matt watched as he saw a glimpse of skin as her shapely figure slipped into silk. She tied the sash around her and headed towards her suitcase.

"Where are our clothes?"

He hid a smile as he still lay in bed watching her.

"In the other room," he said, "They didn't make it this far."

Oh yeah, C.J. thought back, because someone…who would be nameless… had the brilliant idea of trying to do a strip tease. Until that moment, she had no idea how well she had channeled those lessons she had learned at Elizabeth's bachorlette party. Which she had been the life at because she had hit the daiquiris pretty hard because face it, she hadn't wanted Matt to walk down the aisle with a woman he knew all of two months.

Of course it hadn't worked out for Matt and his latest fiancée but at least she had walked away from him and their engagement and not been murdered by a serial killer. His lifestyle of being a detective who often handled dangerous and unpredictable assignments had driven her away. After all, it hadn't been like he had needed to charge his clients with his millions, Elizabeth cried, it had to be all about caving into the adrenalin rush.

That had been six months ago and Matt had thrown himself into his work and his social life dating and mating with a variety of socialites. Or so she had thought about the last part until after a couple of scotches, he had admitted last night at the corporate party that his heart just hadn't been in the social scene as of late.

She just chuckled, thinking that a leopard couldn't just change his spots, could he? But then again, last night she couldn't remember who had made the moves on who first. The dance music had drawn them both to the dance floor, first for the livelier numbers and then for the slower, more intimate ones. She had felt his hands press against her back and smelled his cologne as she rested her head against his shoulder as everyone else faded around them.

"Hey you better hurry up with that shower," she said, after stepping out from underneath the jet sprays.

She wrapped her hair in a towel and after drying her body off, she slipped her robe back on and went to watch Matt still deciding whether he wanted to get up.

"C.J. why are you in such a rush anyway," he said, "By my estimations, we could have spent another 30 minutes in bed."

She bit her lip, trying not to let the images from last night return. As pleasurable as it had been, last night belonged in the past because now in the glare of the morning after, they had to figure a few things out.

"Houston, we have to get packed and ready to head to the airport," she said, "and you have to at least start getting dressed."

He looked down at himself and yes, he did need to get some clothes on if he were going to leave the hotel room. So he finally got up and when she saw him, she sucked in his breath because damn, he really was a sight to behold. Leanly built and muscled in all the right places, his skin a mixture of different textures which she learned by feeling every inch of it last night one way or the other. She had just had no idea what had been beneath his clothes all these years.

But what would happen now, she wondered. She had spent most of the time she had been awake wondering if what they shared would change their lifelong friendship and if so, in what way? After all, it hadn't been as if they woke up and declared eternal love with each other or picked up where they had left off last night. They had woken up and essentially at least to each other, pretended nothing had happened.

Not that she felt that way at all. But what about him, did he look at her any differently? Was he comparing C.J. the best friend to C.J. the latest lover on his list? She definitely didn't want to find herself serving as the latter. And how had it been for him to be with her? As far as she had been concerned, it had been the best sex…well more than that she had ever experienced but how did he feel about it?

He certainly didn't have much to say about it. She heard him in the shower and her brow furrowed, was that singing emerging from beneath the spray? Her mouth broke out into a slow smile, thinking the guy had a great baritone. She felt amazed that she had never known what a good singing voice he had in all the years she had known him.

Starting out with country-western and wait, he had shifted into something that sounded more like rock and roll. Had this been a secret side of him that he had shared only with the women who shared his bed?

Though he hadn't been alone if he felt a particular musical bent. There had been a few moments last night when she had wanted to sing Ava Maria herself, she thought with a smile. Because Matt as it turned out was better at hitting the right notes with his body than with his voice.

She heard the singing stop and the water turned off which meant that Matt must be done with his shower. Sure enough, he strolled out with his hair damp and tousled and a towel wrapped around his waist. She loved his chest, so studly and strong, with small springs of dark hair but she didn't look at it now. She focused on trying to find a pair of nylons to wear without a run in them.

"Ready for some breakfast," he said.

She finally found a pair of her nylons.

"Mmm, maybe some cereal and toast…"

"Oh C.J….don't tell me that's all you want to eat," he said, "After all with an appetite like yours…for eggs and bacon, you should eat a real breakfast."

She rolled on her nylons slowly over her well toned legs beginning at her feet and continuing upward. Matt felt his mouth go dry and his repertoire of words fade away so he picked up the phone and called room service.

"Where are my shoes," she asked while he waited on hold.

"The other room," he said, "with your clothes."

"I don't mean the heels," she said, "My traveling shoes…for the airplane."

She found them before Matt answered and he ordered breakfast for them on the phone. Enough food to feed an army naturally but she did feel quite hungry.

"We've got two hours now," she said, as she pulled on her more comfortable shoes.

"The pilot's doing the pre-flight," Matt said, "That will give us a little more time."

She sighed.

"We really should leave earlier in case we hit traffic."

He looked at her sideways.

"Why the rush C.J.", he said, "We'll make it on time. We always do."

She looked at him.

"It's just that we've got that meeting with Murray at the office and the specs on the new case."

He looked at her carefully, noting that she wore her hair down this morning, letting it dry naturally. She would style it on the plane in the last 15 minutes of the flying time to be her professional best by the time they reached the penthouse suite. But he enjoyed looking at it now just as he had enjoyed running his fingers through it last night.

"C.J….last night wasn't enough for me…"

She looked at him startled.

"Is this what you say to your other women?"

He saw a look of expectation in her eyes of something from him but he didn't know what. So different than what he had seen last night when she had really let herself go, shown him a part of herself he had never seen before. And he had been enraptured by it and by her in a way he had never experienced before with anyone.

Never for a moment had he ever anticipated it would be her who would enliven him in that way. Yet looking back, he should have known that it could be only her. But he looked at her now and saw different emotions, doubt and wariness being two of them. He knew that his reputation as one of L.A.'s most notorious playboys had made its impression on her.

"Maybe I have," he admitted, "but not for the same reason."

She looked at him strangely and he thought that could have come out better. Words weren't his strong suit; they were hers because she was the Harvard trained lawyer after all. Instead he had always been a man of action, a man who delivered and didn't just promise. See Houston was definitely a show not tell kind of guy and she could live with that. Especially after going out with a guy like Robert, a silver tongued career-climbing sociopath who had tried to kill Matt for trying to expose his evil plot.

"Houston, I don't think that we should jump into anything rash," she said, "Last night was…wonderful but we've been friends for a long time."

"I'd say we're better friends now."

She sighed; oh he would say that after they slept together. What a typical man in that regard not that she could be too harsh with him because…they had slept together last night.

"Maybe…but I don't know if I'm ready for more than that," she said, "I didn't walk in the suite last night with plans to seduce you. I think I just had one too many drinks."

Matt couldn't have said exactly the same thing because he did have some idea. She had felt so good dancing with him at the party and it certainly wasn't from the alcohol. But just when he had been about to make the first move, she beat him to it.

"I don't think it was the alcohol C.J.," he said, "It was something between us."

She got up and paced a bit, waving her hands.

"Yeah, jet lag and all this traveling we'd been doing," she said, then sighed, "No…those are just excuses. I was having a lot of fun last night with you even before we got to the suite."

"And I had my hands all over you," he said, "Just what I'd like to do right now…"

She gave him a sharp look.

"Houston, we need to think about this some more before we decide anything," She said, "I don't think we should jump into an affair."

"Who said anything about an affair," he said.

"I'm not interested in being another notch on your bedpost."

He struggled to keep up.

"C.J. you would never be that to me," he said, "You mean a whole lot more."

She sat on the bed, looking at her hands.

"You mean a lot to me Houston," she said, "But I've been down this road before with you. I even told you that I loved you…twice. You just patted me on the head and then forgot all about it."

Matt felt guilty when he heard that because he remembered the time they had been trapped inside the building believing they were going to die in a hail of gunfire. But he had believed that had been something that had just slipped out under duress and a moment later, they had fled the building safely only to discover that she had been shot.

"I never meant to make you feel that it meant nothing to me," he said, "I just didn't want to hold you to it given the circumstances."

"Okay…fair enough," she said, "You did sacrifice your freedom to save my life."

"Well you nearly sacrificed your life to help secure my freedom so that makes us even," he said.

She sighed.

"So now that we're even, what do we do," she said, "We moved on from that point. I fell in love…with a killer and you fell in love with…a woman who wanted you to change…and both of us got our hearts broken."

"We both recovered just fine."

She nodded.

"I think we helped each other with that…and we moved on...and now I don't know what to do next…especially now after I've spent the most wonderful night of my life."

He smiled at the memory and when he saw the expression on her face, he knew how much it had taken to tell him that.

"I had a few ideas," he said, "but if you're not yet convinced of my intentions, that's fine too."

She nodded.

"I'm just not so sure right now," she said, "A part of me really wants to see where we can go with this. The other part…"

"Is more cautious like the attorney you are," he said, "Okay we'll just have to work on that part because I'm really wanting to get to know that more passionate side."

She shook her head, but she smiled as she did it and his words worked their magic as they usually did. Still, she hesitated.

"No, actually I think we have to work on heading to the airport."

Okay, she clearly wasn't going to make this easy for him, he thought, but that would be just fine. He knew at this point what he needed to do.

But first he reached for her hand.

"Come on… "

She just looked at him.

"You're really ready to go now?"

He nodded and she took his hand in her own as she stood up beside him.

"We just need to get some breakfast and then we'll be ready to go" he said.

"No wait…"

He turned around to look at her and she pulled him closer to her.

"I want to do this first."

She pulled him into a kiss, not that he was complaining because he was exactly where he wanted to be and with time and some effort on his part, she would see that too. Until then, he would enjoy moments like this one where he could find them.

But for now, after she released him, he placed his arm around her shoulders as they went to the other room. Ready to begin the next chapter of their lifelong friendship.