Miami-Dade PD Crime Lab

Miami, FL

"Hey there, sexy!" Calleigh Duquesne drawled in her southern belle voice to her boyfriend, Eric Delko, as she came out of her ballistics lab.

"Calleigh," he scolded her.

She scoffed, "Everyone knows, babe. And no one cares. They suspected it for so long. Besides, we're professional at work."

"Yeah, like screaming 'Hey there, sexy' is professional?"

"I didn't scream it…" she trailed off at his cocked eyebrow. "Okay, maybe I spoke too loud, but I didn't scream it."

"Whatever, babe." He gave her a soft smile—only reserved for her—before walking towards the elevator.

"Oh, by the way, I loved the message you sent me earlier."

His interest piqued, he turned around to face her. "What message?"

"Don't play dumb with me, Eric. Even though it was a bit racy for you, I loved it."

"Calleigh, I didn't send any messages today." He walked back to her, thinking about earlier today when his phone vibrated with a new message. "Now that you mentioned it, I do remember a heated message today. Thought it was from you. And then you came out of your lab, calling me sexy."

Her eyebrows drew together. "If you didn't sent it and I didn't…" she trailed off, wondering what the hell was going on.

Just then Walter stepped off the elevator. "Hey, guys! You two wouldn't know who the sexter is, would you?"

"You got that, too?" Eric shot back.

"Yeah! About drove myself off the road when I glanced at it."

Calleigh jumped in, scolding them like two little kids, "Shush, you two! I have an inkling of what might be going on." And she pointed to the DNA Lab.

Ryan Wolfe sighed deeply. Women! "Natalia, I sent you a message today."

"You might've sent me a message, but you couldn't tell me those words yourself. You had to type them," she scoffed as she moved around him to the printer to retrieve the print-out. "I've been stuck in this lab all day—not that I'm complaining—and you never once picked up your phone to talk. I wanted to talk to you. Tell you how much I enjoyed breaking in your new telescope and making love under the stars on your deck. Did our weekend together mean so little to you?"

He opened his mouth to reply, but she was far from finished.

"I mean, it meant something to me. I finally found a wonderful guy who challenges me—not to mention makes me feel sexy and wanton—I just…I'm sorry that I'm not as young as your busty reporter ex-girlfriend…"

He grabbed her by the shoulders, turned her around to face him, and hauled her against his athletic frame. His lips met hers in a heated kiss. She gasped in shock and he took the opportunity to slip his tongue past her lips.

She reached up and clasped his muscular forearms as he sensually kissed her. Sweeping his tongue fluidly around her mouth, gently nipping her lower lip and the corners of her mouth.

Before she knew it, it was over.

"Did that feel like I didn't enjoy our weekend?"

Unconsciously, she wet her lips with her tongue and she heard Ryan growl. "Felt pretty good on my end. How about yours?"

"Now that's the Natalia I know."

"Ryan…"

"Hey, hey," he whispered. He cupped her face in his hands and swept his thumbs over her cheeks. "I don't care how old you are. It's just a number."

She chuckled, "Not to a woman." She rubbed her cheek against his rough palm and remembered when that roughness felt heavenly caressing her breasts, stomach, legs, and every other part of her body.

"Whatcha thinking?"

"About how it felt when you touched me."

"Where," he whispered.

"Ryan!" She protested.

"Where," he repeated his acquiesce.

She closed her eyes, wet her lips and thought back to the weekend. "Everywhere. The roughness of your palms. The way they felt caressing my breasts, gliding over my nipples. How you kneading my thighs when…" she trailed off.

Ryan didn't need her to go any further. The image had been imbedded in his brain since he first tasted Natalia. How she gasped at the first touches; the hitching of her breathes as he brought her closer; her fingers raking through his hair and her lower body arching towards his mouth as she moaned his name while she exploded.

He saw the blush begin beneath her v-neck blouse, creep across the tops of her breasts, and up her slender throat to her cheeks.

"You're the most beautiful woman.

She laughed softly.

"You doubt that?"

"I haven't heard that many times from the men in my life."

He thought briefly of her bastard ex-husband and wanted to kill him all over again for hurting Natalia's self esteem. "I'll tell you that every day until you believe me." He leaned in and nipped her nose that brought a giggle from her.

"I have to get back to work."

"Okay," he murmured, but made no attempt to exit the lab. He didn't want to leave her.

Natalia scolded, "Ryan!"

"Going, going, gone." He stopped at the door. "Would you like to have dinner tonight?"

She smiled. "Sure. Restaurant or your place?"

He thought of all the ways he could take her in his kitchen without thinking of food whatsoever. Restaurant meant behaving and they would have energy for later. "Restaurant okay?"

"It's a date."

Ryan was prancing when he exited the DNA Lab.

"No need to strut your stuff, Mr. Peacock. We know you won her."

Eric shook his head. Gotta love, Calleigh and her direct approach, though it was picture perfect catching Wolfe's expression.

"How long—exactly—have you guys been standing out here? Watching?"

"Long enough, Wolfie."

"That tells me nothing, Walter."

"Wolfe, don't let her go. She's a remarkable woman," Eric stated.

Ryan smiled. "Yeah, she is. And you have yourself one, too." He turned and glanced at Natalia once more.

"Mr. Wolfe," Horatio Caine came over, "next time you want to send a message, don't hit all contacts. Better yet, call the person you want to talk to."

Ryan gaped like a fish as Horatio walked away. He turned towards the laughter and saw Calleigh, Eric, and Walter holding up their phones.

THE END