Wasted Time Or Time Well Spent

Just A Taste

Brett's P.O.V.

I'm trying to figure out how to get rid of Greg, or keep him around and see if Naomi wants to end the night. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't getting a little tired. My phone said 3:04 and after the night we've been having it made sense that exhaustion would start to creep in. But I wasn't ready to say goodnight until she was.

The cab pulls up to the curb in front of the hotel and Greg turns around, his grin flashes white and even though his eyes are in shadow I swear they are dancing. "So, I got you out... You pay." Without another word he nods to the both of us and gets out of the car, laughing himself into the hotel.

I reach into my pocket and pull out my wallet, now fat from the papers it contains, I'm not getting taken in again when I'm not prepared. My passport presses against my side in my jacket pocket. The driver accepts my payment and I move to get out the door Naomi just exited out of. I smile at her and close the door, the smile quickly turns into a grin which she returns and then we both start laughing again. It's the hysterical laughter that means we both have been awake for far too long. "Thanks for not leaving me in jail." I manage to gasp the words out between our bouts of laughter and suddenly she shoves me and runs for the lobby.

"That must mean I can leave you now!" Her blond hair flies out behind her and I chase right after her. Giggling she runs to the elevator and pushes the button to call it. The man behind the desk must have dozed off because he's on his feet, running his fingers through his hair and looking around in a disturbed manner as he tries to figure out where the crazy high pitched laughter is reverberating from.

"Oh no you don't!" Laughing I scoop her up and she lets out a squeal.

"Brett! Put me down!"

I would have listened to her if she sounded at all like she meant it. "I'm not finished with you yet." I start spinning her around and she giggles louder and clings to my neck. Finally I set her down and she stumbles on her heels, collapsing into my arms as our worlds spin together. Slowly I bring my hand up to the back of her neck and she tilts her head up to look up at me. I swallow reflexively and see a range of emotions flickering across her face. In the over tired state it's harder to hide who we are and she's showing herself as clear as day in the dead of night. God, I want to stay like this forever.

Even though the world is operating in slow motion she seems to still move too fast, a split second before I press my lips to hers she breaks away. Something held her back and it's driving me insane. I step after her and she seems to hesitate before bolting to the far side of the lobby and through the door to the pool. My shock takes a second to recover from and then I'm chasing after her again. "Naomi?" I call out as I step into the pool room, looking around for her. I follow the giggle which comes from the far side and then I see her, waving as she goes into the exercise room, closing the door behind her.

Rushing over I try the knob and find it doesn't give as easy as it should, I look through the window and she stares back at me, grinning wide. She's teasing me and I both laugh and feel myself getting aggravated as I push again on the door that she holds firmly closed. "Come on Brett, you aren't that weak are you?" She taunts from the other side and I laugh. I don't know what her game is but she's doing something right.

"I'm trying not to end up taking you to the hospital when I break this door down!" I laugh and manage to get an inch on the door, she's weakening. All of a sudden she takes off and I stumble through the door, my breath catching in my throat as I try to keep my balance. "Alright Naomi, enough messing around." I look over and find her hiding behind one of the seat machines, crouching down and trying not to laugh. My strides put me in front of her in just a few short seconds and she dodges out, running around the room as I follow, half of me wants to just catch her it the other part of me is enjoying this immensely. The way she's just letting loose and acting wild is what I've been trying to bring out all night.

Cornering her is almost a shame. By this point she's lost both shoes and her jacket, her hair is messy again in its confines and I can see it in her sea green eyes that she is going to try to get past me. It's not happening. When she rushes me I grab her up in my arms.

"No!" She squeals, struggling against me before giving up and breathing heavy as she laughs and gasps for breath.

"Gotcha!" All I can do is grin down at her and hold my fingers back from pulling down her hair and letting the corn silk strands run through my grasp.

"Gosh it's warm in here." She whispers and seems to be calming down, reeling herself back in. Her body tensing up as she grows aware of her situation and she refuses to look up at me.

"It is, isn't it?" As the wall goes up I frown, trying to think of just one more thing to get her to let go. Just one more taste of a laughing girl that seems to still beg to be released. "I know!" An idea enters my mind and I shrug my jacket off, holding onto her.

"What?" She peeks at me, curiosity getting the better of her. "What do you know?"

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Naomi's P.O.V.

He's grinning mischievously  and I feel the blush rising in my cheeks. Gosh this man does things to me. When he hefts me into his arms and off of the ground I shriek, "Brett! No! Put me down!"

"Hang on, this should cool you down." He runs out of the room and leaves my shoes and coat behind, before I can think twice he shouts, "Cannonball!" And I barely have time to process and pull in a breath before we plunge into the water. It closes over my head and goosebumps prickle my skin as my body becomes instantly soaked. We come up sputtering and somehow I broke free of his grip. My hair is unrepairable and I just leave it in the mess of a ponytail as I strike out for the edge to cling to as my soggy clothes weigh me down more than I'm used to.

When arms wrap around my wrist and pull me back I strike out at it before looking over at him. His hair is messed up and dripping into his eyes from where he pushed it back. His eyes reflect the blue of the water and slowly he draws me close, I stop fighting and just stare. For the first time he looks dead serious about something and I can't figure out why. I should ask but my throat seems to close up around the words.

"Naomi," he speaks my name as a whisper that echoes around the room and off of the water as he keeps staring into my eyes, slowly moving a hand up to push a strand of hair away from my face, it must have escaped from my updo. His body feels impossibly warm and seems to magnetically pull me in as we bob in the water, disturbed from our jump. I swallow and slowly we come together. My eyes drifting closed as an eternity seems to end. Finally his lips land on mine.