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“Yes, have you ever fantasized about lying in bed, holding me?”
“Let’s just say you feel a whole lot better than the pillow I’ve pretended was you.”
Laura Lee smiled into the darkness. “I wish I wasn’t flying back out again tomorrow.”
“Me too. But this case shouldn’t take that much longer with all the resources Shepherd is throwing at it.”
“I don’t even want to think about it. I’m not thrilled about going on the offensive.”
“You sounded confident on that call with West.”
“I faked it. And it helped that Garcia sat beside me during the call.”
Dupont chuckled. “So, does that mean Garcia has grown on you?”
“Let’s just say as long as he’s on my side, I feel safe.”
“He knows his shit,” Dupont agreed. “And if I had to go out in the field with anyone, it’d be him.”
Laura Lee thought about that for a second as she lay there, enjoying the sensation of his body against hers, his arm wrapped around her. “Yeah, he’s a lot different from the image I had of him in my mind. He can still be scarier than fuck, but he has this really normal side, almost caring.”
Dupont laughed. “You have to know that he has your back. The entire team does.”
“Yeah, I do know it and I appreciate it.”
“It’s late. Try to get some sleep,” Dupont said. He pressed a kiss to her forehead.
Laura Lee woke to the sound of an alarm that she didn’t recognize, and she knew she hadn’t set. The bed shifted and the warmth that surrounded her was suddenly gone. Brad. Now she remembered. She heard the sound of the bathroom door closing. She opened her eyes to discover the room was still pitch black. She looked at her own watch. Zero six hundred. She had an hour before she had to meet Garcia in the Team Room.
The toilet flushed, and the door opened, bathing the room in a blinding light. Laura Lee covered her eyes with her arm and groaned. The bed shifted again, and she felt herself being straddled, knees beside her hips and hands pressing into the mattress beside her shoulders.
“Rise and shine,” Dupont said playfully, and then he trailed kisses along the underside of her arm, which faced up, covering her eyes. When his lips reached her palm, he pressed a wet kiss to it. How he wished they were waking after a night spent naked.
“Okay, when you do that, I’m a little less mad you woke me up,” she moaned. She heard his chuckle and felt her arm being removed from over her face. The bed shifted again, and she felt his soft lips brush hers. She cracked her eyes open to see his face hovering over hers.
“Good morning,” he said.
“Good morning,” she repeated, her lips pulling into a smile. “I do like waking up this way.”
“I could get used to it,” Dupont said. “At least when you’re in town. By the looks of it, Echo Team will get rotated back for a few days every few weeks. You can thank BT and Michael for that.”
“More like I can thank Evie and Dahlia.”
“If you don’t mind, I was thinking I would talk to Garcia when this case is over and try to align my days off with your schedule when you’re home.”
“You’re asking me if I mind that Garcia knows we’re involved?” she asked.
“And I’m asking if you want to spend your time with me when your team is in the area.”
She leaned her head up and kissed his lips with her affirmative answer.
At two minutes till seven, Laura Lee exited the elevator and walked towards the voices coming from the Team Room. Her three Echo Team members and Garcia were inside packing their bags. They were talking about football games and Laura Lee was reminded that it was football season. She’d never really watched any games since her father died. When not on duty, Charles Saxton would watch and root for the Carolina Panthers. She greeted them with a, “hey, how is everyone this morning?”
“Looks like someone had her coffee,” Michael teased. He knew she was usually uncommunicative until she’d ingested a cup or two.
“I did, thank you,” she said with a smile. And she and Brad had enjoyed a breakfast of frozen burritos, microwaved, in the apartment together as well. It had been a nice morning waking beside him and enjoying coffee and breakfast while chatting.
“We’ll bring Echo up to speed when we’re en route,” Garcia said.