Posted by Rebecca on 4/21/2015, 7:35 am VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV
FF – Shot to the Heart - Chapter 3
Sorry it’s been so long, you may want to go back and read the earlier chapters again, but in quick summary, Bo has introduced Nora to shooting to let off some steam, but he learns her stress is a little more personal. Now, on with the story...
***
The wind carried a bracing chill, though as Nora walked through the park at a brisk pace, she seemed unbothered by it. The music pumping through her headphones streamed at full volume, but even that couldn’t distract her from her thoughts.
After all the history she and Bo had weathered together, she could not fathom that her assumptions had been so far off.
If you had asked her a week ago if there was any connection or spark, she would have said no way, no how with absolute certainty. But now, she felt like her whole world had shifted. The issue, she had decided, was what she should do about the sexual attraction they still had for one another, if anything. To be honest, she’d never not been attracted to Bo but with her recent lack of companionship, she was now apparently wearing that attraction on her sleeve for the entire world to see.
Nora stepped off the sidewalk so a pair of hounds and their owner could pass, and then kept walking, regaining speed, letting herself sink back into her own thoughts.
Bo had realized that she was aroused but he had not reacted with disgust, or pity, as she would have expected, but with undisguised interest. So what should she do about it?
All of a sudden, Nora felt a hand grab her upper arm, stopping her in her tracks. She stumbled, but the hands kept her from falling.
“Bo!” she scolded, relieved and annoyed all at the same time. “You scared me to death!”
“If you weren’t avoiding me, I wouldn’t have had to track you down.”
“You saw me just a few days ago, Bo.”
“Hmm, still, I’ve seen less of you than usual. I decided I needed to make sure you were doing okay.”
“I’m fine.”
“You seem kind of hot and bothered.”
Nora rolled her eyes, “I’ve been walking, you know, exercising?!”
Bo laughed, “Do you want to sit down, catch up for a few minutes?”
“I’d really rather not.”
“Because you’re not comfortable being around me? Or because you’re afraid you won’t be able to keep your hands off me?”
They both sat on a nearby bench and Nora paused her music. “You wish!”
“I do wish. I had a dream about you last night that I can’t shake. You came into my office in a long trench coat and—“
“Stop right there! Bo, let’s just get this out in the open. I have needs and I’m dealing with how I want to handle that situation.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to hear about my dream? You came in with a big smile and then you tugged on the belt of the coat. Just before you let it fall to the floor, my alarm went off.”
Nora struggled to hide any emotion, allowing Bo to continue.
“Do you know how appealing it is to a man to know that a woman wants him?”
Nora rolled her eyes, “Did it occur to you that any man would do, maybe you were just nearby which is why you saw my….you know?”
“Arousal? Attraction? So you’re saying if someone else was here and put his hand on your leg and let it travel up, that you’d have no problem with that?” Bo let his hand do exactly what he had just described, then stopped before it became inappropriate.
Her eyes were burning with anticipation, though she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of saying he was right.
“Very possibly, now if you’ll excuse me, I have another mile to go. Bye, Bo!”
******
Bo pushed the button to bring the paper target back toward him, and shook his head. He was off his game, and his target practice had proved it. Every time he pulled the trigger, he kept remembering his earlier conversation with Nora. Yes, he knew she was probably just fishing for a reaction, he hoped she was fishing for a reaction. He gathered up his gear, headed toward the range desk and left everything with the officer in charge.
By the time he’d made it back to his office, Bo’s frustration, or maybe jealousy he reasoned, had continued to climb. Maybe instead of teasing her so often he should try to romance her. He focused on that thought while he logged back in to his computer to get back to work.
About an hour later, he was interrupted by a knock at the door. “Come in,” he invited.
Bo’s mouth fell open as he watched his ex-wife saunter into his office, wearing a large trench coat, very similar to his dream he had mentioned to her when they’d been at the park earlier today. He watched as she closed the door and then twisted the blinds shut, first at his door, and then the set at his front window.
Bo rose to his feet, stepped over to close the blinds at his side door, and came to sit at the front edge of his desk. “Now you’re just being mean.”
“And feeling me up in the park wasn’t?”
“Please tell me you have something on under that.”
She sauntered up to where he was perched against his desk, “Maybe I do, maybe I don’t.”
“Nora, you’re killing me here.”
“I know. I think it’s time we came to an agreement.” She stepped even closer, with every intention of keeping this conversation intimate.
At her move forward, Bo spread his legs so there was room for her to come even closer, assuming she wanted to. “I’m listening.”
Their words were soft and they were only inches apart, close enough for him to catch the whiff of mint on her breath.
“You seem to be showing signs that you may be attracted to me,” she started, “and I find that I could fulfill a few of my own needs by pursuing that attraction.”
He noticed that though her words seemed very confident, much like the gutsy lawyer he knew, her body language softened when she talked about herself.
She continued, “So, Mr. Buchanan, the first question is to determine if you are actually attracted to me, and if so, the second is how to move forward.” She leaned in toward the end of her sentence, in a physical invitation, and waited for his response.
