Book Therapy
After they got off the boat, Reese carried Shaw back to the car while the rest of the team followed. All the guys were suspiciously quiet; Root had been so focused on Shaw that she hadn’t noticed too much. Root still felt a little wobbly in her head after having sirens blaring inside her cranium.
Root got into the car and positioned half of her back against the door and backseat to make a comfortable space for Shaw. Reese deposited Shaw’s upper half in Root’s lap, and the lower half, her legs, ended up in Fusco’s lap, who was sharing the backseat. Root cradled Shaw’s head in one arm while the other arm draped across Shaw’s torso and held onto her waist. She ran her hand over Shaw’s forehead, pushing her hair to the side. The petite primary asset looked even more beautiful and quite peaceful while she was asleep. They were both damp from being in the water, and the humidity was making both of them sweat heavily.
Shaw had decided on the car trip back that Root would be sitting in her lab. She hadn’t expected to be splayed out on Root’s lap, not to mention half on Fusco. Shaw wasn’t thinking of anything right now though; the massive amount of painkillers Finch had accidentally injected into her arm had rendered her unconscious.
Reese got in the driver’s seat, and Finch took the front passenger seat. Once they were all settled, Reese started heading back to the resort.
Root and Fusco watched Shaw sleep while Reese drove them down the bumpy road back to the resort.
“She’s really gone, like in another galaxy gone. She doesn’t know who or where she is,” Fusco waved his hand in front of sleeping Shaw’s face.
“She’s completely blitzed out on the painkillers.” He smiled, looking over at Shaw wrapped up in Cocoa Puff’s arms.
Root held on tight as the road hit a bumpy patch. Shaw turned her head and pressed her face into Root’s chest.
“I gotta get a photo of Grumpy Pants curled up in your lap like a kitten,” Fusco reached in his pocket to get his phone.
“Lionel, that is not a good idea, you know I will just have it erased from your phone,” Root said sternly to the detective with some deadly eye daggers shooting from her eyes.
“She looks like a baby kitten being cradled, this is priceless,” pleaded Fusco to Root.
“Lionel, she’s not a baby,” Root scolded Fusco for his teasing of her favorite asset. “Now, if John got knocked out, I could see Harry cradling him like a baby.”
Reese looked at the rearview mirror to stare at Root; he squinted his eyes at her. Finch turned his head to the backside. He thought wisely before saying a rebuttal to Root’s remark, though.
“How long do you think she will be out?” Root asked while looking down at Shaw with a little bit of worry on her face.
“Oh, Ms. Groves…it could be six hours or more. I’m afraid…” Finch was going to continue when Root cut him off.
“I wasn’t asking you,” Root said rather aggressively to Finch, she was a little peeved that Harry accidentally drugged her favorite primary asset. Especially since they didn’t know how much longer they would be on the island, hence how long their pragmatist island deal might last. Any recovery time was lost sexy romp time; plus, they had to work a mission now.
Root got that godlike mode in her eyes, and she tilted her head. Finch turned his head to say something but then thought better of it as he could tell the Machine was talking to her Analog Interface.
“She says four hours, so in Shaw time, that’s about an hour and a half. She’s got a very high tolerance for everything,” Root smiled a little and ran her fingers through Shaw’s wet hair.
“Yeah, including you,” joked Fusco, he smiled at his two Loony Toon love/lust struck teammates.
They were about halfway to the resort when Shaw stirred at bit; she squirmed in Root’s lap. Both Root and Fusco looked over to Shaw with raised eyebrows.
“Mmmm…Root…” Shaw turned over slightly in Root’s lap, her hand reached and grabbed the hacker’s arm on her stomach. “Do that thing again with your tongue…mmmm…”
Root’s eyes shot wide open. She wanted to smile, but she didn’t want to give the guys any ammo that would make Shaw kill her later.
Fusco turned his head to smirk at Root while Reese did the same thing through the rearview mirror. Finch decided to stay quiet and not ensure the upcoming wrath of Shaw.
There was a moment of awkward silence as everyone watched Shaw to see if she was going to speak again. Root kept her one arm firm on Shaw’s stomach. Shaw suddenly leaned up; one arm reached out to pull Root’s head down.
“Root…hey Root…” Shaw placed very sloppy, blitzed-out-of-her-mind kisses along Root’s chest where her shirt dipped in the middle.
Root discreetly cupped Shaw’s face to get her to stop; she knew the petite firecracker would not want to be seen this way in front of the rest of the team. Shaw had already made quite the show knocked out on jellyfish stung brain, what the odds she would have a repeat performance on the same trip.
Root gently pulled away from those delectable lips of Shaw’s, already feeling the loss. The brief kisses lingered on Root’s skin, causing goosebumps to pop up all over her arms and legs, which she was sure didn’t go unnoticed by the observant detective sitting next to her.
“I like seeing you naked…” mumbled out of Shaw’s mouth as she squirmed again in Root’s lap, and her hand latched onto the hacker’s arm again.
Now everyone’s eyes were wide open. Evidently, a high dosage of painkillers had the same effect on Shaw as a rare, dangerous jellyfish. Or maybe it was once again the close proximity of one Root.
“I like feeling you naked…”
Root put her fingers over Shaw’s mouth to get her to stop talking. She was unsuccessful because, despite a leg wound and massive painkillers, Shaw was still way stronger than her. Shaw’s strength was extremely impressive in any state. She grabbed Root’s wrist hard and held tight.
“Let’s get naked…” Shaw still had her eyes closed, so when she reached up to kiss Root, she was still quite far away from the hacker’s lips. So after an unsuccessful lip lock, Shaw fell back down in Root’s lap asleep again.
Root was finding Shaw even more adorable with her under the painkiller influence rambling. She couldn’t stop a huge wattage smile while looking down at Shaw. She thought, despite being drugged up on painkillers, she’s still thinking of her. Okay, so it’s a sex thought; still, she figured heavily into the equation Root thought.
“Hey, I’m not going to be in some threesome with you two,” Fusco squawked out, staring down at Shaw’s legs on his lap. “If I had known about the carpooling arrangements, I would have driven myself.”
The guys all raised their eyebrows, looking shocked and disgusted.
“No one repeats anything she says. Need I remind everyone that she’s under the influence because of Finch?” Root threatened the entire team.
Shaw might hit Fusco and Reese again like her jellyfish attack behavior if they tease her at all with a recap of this car ride. And she might hurt Finch for putting her under the influence where she practically tried to seduce Root in front of the team. Again, in a one-week time frame.
“She wants to be under something,” Fusco joked back to Root.
Shaw twisted around to pull Root’s arm and hold it tighter against her chest. She kicked up legs still outstretched partly on Fusco’s lap. The detective made another pained, disgusted face as she slammed them back down on his lap, hitting sensitive areas.
“I prefer stoic, non-verbal grumpy shortcakes…Horny Shaw is even scarier and more disturbing.” Fusco looked scared and mildly grossed out, his posture rigid. He was afraid any moment Shaw’s leg would kick him in the face. Yup, even if he never gets Crabby Cakes to confess, he knew his fake wife was bonkers over Cocoa Puffs.
Root reluctantly pulled away from Shaw and kept her hand on her chest to make sure she didn’t reach up again.
“Shaw, just sleep,” Root looked down into Shaw’s eyes. She rubbed her finger over Shaw’s cute, furrowed brow.
“Call me baby again,” Shaw demanded. She gripped Root’s wrist hard.
Root didn’t remember ever calling Shaw’ baby’ the first time; would she have let her live if she had used that corny endearment on her. She didn’t think so.
“Shaw…” Root looked around at the guys, who all diverted the eyes away from the two women. “Baby…please, stop talking and sleep,” Root said as Shaw stared at her through half-lidded eyes. “C’mon baby...get some rest.” As soon as Root said this, Shaw’s eyes closed completely.
The baby endearment seemed to work, and Shaw fell fast asleep in Root’s arms.
“Oh, I’m filing that away for payback,” Fusco said, rubbing his hands together.
Root shot Fusco a cold dead glare; the detective felt shivers go down his spine. He had second thoughts on teasing Shaw about her baby demands.
*****
When they parked at the resort, Reese got out and gently lifted Shaw off Root’s lap. He started walking to the lobby carrying Shaw in his arms.
“John, that’s not fair. I wanted to carry Sameen,” Root pouted, jumping out of the car and chasing after Reese. This might be her only shot; Sameen was rarely ever this incapacitated.
Reese stopped and turned around to stare into Root’s eyes and then pushed Shaw into her arms. Root did wobble slightly, realizing that Shaw was mostly muscle, which was heavier than fat. She carried Shaw like a sleeping child or a couple waiting to walk over a romantic threshold. As they approached the resort lobby, Root stopped in her tracks.
“Wait, I can’t carry Shaw through the lobby like this. What if Joan or Tinswell sees us,” Root asked herself. The guys all stopped and looked at her.
“I guess I’ll carry Short Stack,” Fusco reached out his arms to take sleeping beauty Shaw.
“No. This might never happen again.” Root wanted to be the one to get to carry Shaw. “I’m carrying her. I just need to reposition. If Shaw ever sees this, we got to give her some dignity.”
With the help of Reese, Root positioned Shaw over her shoulder like she was carrying a sack of potatoes.
“Yeah, that’s more dignified,” snarked an amused Fusco as he watched Cocoa Puffs carry his fake wife through the resort lobby.
*****
A few hours later, the late afternoon sun streamed through the half-closed blinds and cast a warm glow over Root’s resort room. Shaw’s eyes felt heavy; she tried to open them several times and struggled to pry them apart from each other. It almost felt like her eyelids were glued together. She finally managed to open them; everything felt fuzzy from her vision to her thinking. She felt like she was still underwater.
She felt something warm below her hand; she moved her hand and felt smooth, silky skin underneath. She turned her head to see Root sitting up next to her, working on her laptop. She wore a t-shirt, more stolen underwear, and her glasses as she stared intensely at her screen, working. Shaw’s stomach felt weird. She realized no one had ever been around when she woke up from an injury. Was Root just here watching over her? And why had her hand reached out for Root? Like her hand needed some lame-ass comfort or something? She slowly removed her hand from Root’s leg.
“Hey, baby. Are you feeling better?” Root looked over to Shaw, moving her laptop over to the other side of the bed.
“I’m not a baby,” Shaw didn’t mean for her voice to sound so stern. She didn’t like the silly endearment. She was a badass, not a baby. For some reason, Root looked amused.
“Of course, you’re not a baby.” A wide grin spread across Root’s face as she remembered Shaw’s earlier, drugged desires for ‘baby’ calling.
Root had been worried about Shaw. She did NOT like seeing Shaw unconscious on the floor of the boat. Since Finch was trying to administer her a painkiller and not Shaw, she wasn’t too upset with the admin. She did want to maim the Samaritan operative that shot Shaw in the leg, her gorgeous perfect leg. Thankfully, she had managed to patch it up with only a few stitches. All the boys had been very vague on exactly how Shaw got the leg wound; they just nodded when she asked them if it was a Samaritan agent.
She couldn’t remember clearly because her head felt like it was going to explode at some point underwater. It wasn’t the pressure; it was a signal interference of some sort as they started to repair the cable. It was a blur of images down below the ocean. She knew Shaw had come down to save them, and she saw Shaw fighting off the two Samaritan agents, so at some point, she must have gotten hit by one of them.
Root was happy to see Shaw was waking up, yet another dopey grin spread across her face. Once they finally got off the boat, back to the resort, and got Shaw patched up, Root got them both cleaned up and told the guys that the petite firecracker needed some rest. She didn’t care if they missed any of their undercover therapy sessions.
“Are you hungry?” Root hopped out of bed and left the room. “I ordered some food earlier.” She said as she left the room to go to the kitchen, where she grabbed the food and some water bottles.
Shaw pushed herself up in sitting position, wincing from her sore and injured body. There was a sharp pain in her leg; she looked down at her leg and the bandage. Shaw realized at some point; Root changed her clothes. She smelled herself, she smelled good. She also realized at some point; Root cleaned her up. Then she wondered what all happened after Finch had shot her up with painkillers. The last thing she remembered was being on the boat with a syringe full of painkillers.
“Our fake husbands are out gathering information and fending off questions from Tinswell and that nosy Joan,” Root walked back into the room carrying two plates of food and some water bottles; two sandwiches and some bags of chips. “Finch and Zoe have book therapy without us. The boys told Tinswell and Joan we went out shopping together and got food poisoning.”
Shaw shook her head at Root; she then grabbed one of the sandwiches and tore into it; she was starving. Getting shot and then tranquilized was extremely exhausting, and a huge appetite stimulate, well everything was a huge appetite stimulate for Shaw. She watched Root sit back down on the bed, all bare leg in the loose t-shirt, with her sexy nerd glasses. Root sat close enough; their knees were almost touching. Shaw shook her head again, this time to stop staring at the Root’s legs; she didn’t know if she was drooling over the sandwich or the long legs.
They ate in comfortable silence; both of them too busy eating to talk much. The two women did steal glances at each other in between hurried bites of sandwiches and chips. Shaw got some mustard smeared near her mouth; Root leaned over and, with her thumb, wiped it off. After the second sandwich, Shaw felt better, less fuzzy. Her leg was throbbing, but it also wasn’t the only area of her body throbbing. Waking up next to Root kind of made her stomach warm like drinking a good scotch sometimes did; the hacker’s images in that skin-tight scuba gear flooded her brain. She had to admit this loose t-shirt with glasses look was almost the hottest look she had seen yet. She was pissed at Finch for taking away any time on the island. She needed to stick to her plan of having as much sex with Root as part of their island deal to get it out of her system before heading back to New York.
“What are you working on?” asked Shaw finishing off a bag of chips.
“I hacked into the cable; it looks like everything is working again. And the press is playing it off as another shark caused the damage,” Root leaned over Shaw to grab her laptop, which got her an annoyed look as it made Shaw pause in stuffing food in her mouth. Root made sure to linger over Shaw, positioning her ass for a second longer than necessary in Shaw’s face acting as if the laptop was further out of reach than it was.
Shaw looked at her confused, once the annoyed look wore off and the words sunk in that Root had said before sticking her ass out on display. Shaw couldn’t think of anything else now. It took all her willpower not to throw the rest of her sandwich on the floor and grab the hacker’s displayed ass.
Root positioned herself back on the bed, sitting so close to Shaw nearly every inch of their bodies were touching.
“Sharks are easy scapegoats for underwater cable damage, there’s almost a story planted every year. Harry and I took the proper precautions, so the cable didn’t electrocute us,” Root typed away on her laptop while wearing the distracting glasses.
“That was one of the risks?” asked a surprised Shaw as she watched Root.
Shaw leaned over Root to put her sandwich plate on the nightstand. This time she positioned her ass right in Root’s face over the keyboard of the laptop. She stayed a few seconds longer than necessary despite the throbbing in her leg, Root’s hands trapped on the keyboard and under her torso. She then sat back up with a blank face that was hard to maintain, considering Root was smiling wide at her recent display.
“They do carry thousands of volts of power, so it’s harder for people to sabotage them. Still happens sometimes as it did yesterday. It’s funny to think a lot of our Internet swims deep in the ocean,” Root tilted the laptop screen to show a graph to Shaw.
Shaw leaned over to get a better look; she put her fingers over the touchpad to move the graph. Shaw’s fingers were brushing up against Root’s hand over the laptop. Root turned her head and ran her nose across Shaw’s neck, inhaling deeply. Shaw stared at the screen and then opened another screen; she pulled the laptop from Root’s lap onto her own.
Root got that Machine look in her eyes. “She’s telling me that the book therapy session is about to start, so we don’t have that much time before we have to leave,” Root said rather glumly. She knew she couldn’t spend the rest of the afternoon and night in bed with Shaw.
“Do I want to know what book therapy entails?” asked Shaw, and in return, she got a head tilt from Root.
“Here let me check your dressings before we have to get fully dressed,” Root got off the bed and headed towards the bathroom. “I left the first aid kit in the bathroom.” She washed her hands before heading back to the bedroom and Shaw.
When Root came back into the room, Shaw was stretched out on the bed completely naked, except the bandage on her leg. Root stood stunned for a moment; she took a nervous swallow as she approached the bed and Shaw in her birthday suit, waiting for her. She was being ridiculous; she had seen Shaw naked all night just hours ago, and her tongue had explored every inch of that skin on glorious display. However, she was rendered speechless and flustered by the same woman.
“I thought it might make it easier for you to check my wound,” Shaw spoke low and slow, she let her eyes run over up and down Root’s body, especially those long legs.
Shaw knew they had to work to do, yet she couldn’t help herself when she was left alone with Root in a hotel room.
Root knew the word ‘wound’ should not as sexy as it sounded coming out of Shaw’s mouth. Yet, it did. Root hesitated. She did not expect a naked Shaw. Was Shaw still under the influence of the painkillers? Her forever kryptonite would be naked Shaw. Or just Shaw period. Naked or fully clothed, no need in fooling herself, she thought.
“Root, I’m guessing we don’t have a lot of time before we have to run off somewhere for either another absurd fake therapy session or chasing after some bad guys.” Shaw leaned on her elbows; she then tilted her head to gaze intensely into Root’s eyes. “Right now, you get to play doctor.”
Shaw enjoyed seeing how utterly flummoxed Root was by her nudity. She could tell Root was exhibiting all the classic signs of unfiltered, unabashed attraction and arousal; her pupils were dilated, she had glean of sweat forming on her forehead and upper lip. Plus, Shaw was betting the hacker was already on a dopamine high. Shaw admitted herself; she had been on a dopamine high since the first day on the island, maybe longer if she was being completely scientifically accurate around one annoying hacker.
Root moved quickly to the bed; she placed the first aid kit on the bed and gently ran her hand up Shaw’s leg until it neared the bandaged area. She gently pulled the bandage away and looked at the stitches. She was consciously not letting her eyes roam all over Shaw’s body, or she wouldn’t finish cleaning and making sure the leg wound was healing properly.
“I guess Reese did a decent job of stitching me up,” Shaw was still propped up on her elbows watching Root check her stitches. She was impressed with Root’s professional focus; although, she could tell she was working quickly so she could get unprofessional.
“Actually, this is my handiwork,” Root looked over her work closely, making sure everything looked good before cleaning and patching Shaw back up with a fresh bandage.
“You stitched me up?” Asked a surprised Shaw.
“I’ve been practicing on grapes and oranges,” Root said, putting the supplies back in the first aid kit and set the stuff aside on the floor. She ran her eyes over Shaw’s body, completely and hungrily.
Now that Root was done with making sure Shaw was healing okay, she ran her hands all over her body under the guise of a ‘check up.’ Root lingered in certain areas more and then kissed other places in need of more special attention.
Shaw sat up and tugged Root’s shirt off, tossing it aside. She pulled off Root’s underwear, getting rid of that, too. She was almost tempted to say leave the glasses on, yet considering how many things they had destroyed in the past twenty-four hours, she slowly slid the glasses off Root’s face. She handed them to Root, who placed them on the nightstand.
When Root leaned back down, Shaw grabbed her hair and pulled her into a long, deep kiss. Root slid her tongue into Shaw’s mouth and was rolled over onto her back.
“I can’t believe Finch accidentally hit you with the syringe full of painkillers,” Root got out quickly in between kisses.
“I can’t believe the fool got me twice,” Shaw said from above her, starting to remember more details. It was Finch who shot her in the leg. She was getting pissed all over again.
Root turned her head, and Shaw kissed her way down to Root’s neck, instead of her lips.
“Twice?” Root turned to face Shaw. Their eyes met, and they stared at each other, then Shaw went in for a kiss, but Root dodged her. “He hit you twice with the syringe?”
“No, he’s the asshat who shot me in the leg,” Shaw went back to sucking on Root’s neck.
“I thought a Samaritan agent did that,” Root slightly pushed Shaw back to look at her face.
“No, it was our fearful leader,” Shaw went lower, she kissed and sucked all over Root’s chest. “I’m pissed at the bastard.” She said in between teasing each of Root’s nipples with her teeth.
Root pushed Shaw gently up off of her, minding her leg, to sit up. “I’m pissed at all of them. That is not what those three lead me to believe. All three of them have some payback coming their way.” Root’s eyes looked murderous as she tilted her head, obviously thinking of her fellow teammates.
“Some Rovenge?” Shaw almost snorted at her own lame joke.
Root smiled wickedly at Shaw to imply yes, absolutely. She leaned back over and captured Shaw’s lips in a fierce kiss, sucking hard on her lower lip, quickly biting and letting go.
“The only truthful male on the team is Bear,” Root said quickly and breathlessly.
“Of course Bear is the best,” Shaw pushed Root back down so she could start her kissing onslaught again. The hacker moaned as Shaw sucked her tongue, refusing to give it back.
Root pulled back again; she pushed Shaw off her with a look of determination on her face.
“What are you doing?” Shaw asked as a naked Root lunged for her laptop and started typing furiously on the keyboard.
“I had been saving some tricks, I’m just putting some into play right now for Harry,” Root kept typing quickly and intensely.
She could feel Shaw crawl up behind her, inching closer and closer until she was spooning her from behind in a sitting position. Their legs pressed together, every inch of skin touching. Shaw leaned on Root’s back, alternating, placing kisses along the hacker’s shoulder blades and all over her neck. She pushed up a few times, pushing her center into Root’s lower back, which stopped Root from typing every time.
“The next therapy session is just about to start. I just hacked Tinswell’s iPad and changed some information for the session.” Root had a slightly devious, yet smug look on her face when she turned her head to look at Shaw.
*****
Tinswell had everyone sitting in a circle on the floor on pillows. Sam and Sammy were sick with food poisoning, which also took out John and Lionel, much to their relief. So that left Betty and Fred (the older couple), Craig and Gina (the middle-aged couple) and the young couple, who nobody seemed to get to know at all and quite frankly everyone was confused on why such a young couple would be at a couple’s therapy retreat.
“This morning, even though we miss some special souls, we will be immersing ourselves in book therapy. The written word will help us express ourselves in ways we can’t express ourselves sometimes out loud.” Tinswell paused and smiled serenely; she nodded several times. “Using the words of someone you greatly admire might help you approach your partner in a new light, and it might benefit everyone.”
Finch looked uncomfortable, sitting on a pillow. He looked to be half in physical and emotional discomfort; this was clearly a man that belonged in a chair. Zoe could pull off the pillow better; she an amused look on her face. The fake married couple exchanged a quick glance at each other and then looked over to Tinswell. Finch looked extremely awkward on the pillow, no matter which position he tried to sit in.
Tinswell tapped on her iPad; she scrolled for a bit until she found what she was looking for; she then turned to Zoe.
“Zoe, here is one of your favorite books, ‘Eat, Pray, Love.’ Can you read this passage out loud for everyone and focus on your partner.” She handed Zoe the iPad. “Take five deep breathes before reading. Deep, long breathes. Feel the air entering and leaving your heart and lungs.”
Zoe turned to face Finch with a slight grin on her face. She liked ‘Eat, Play, Love’, it wasn’t her favorite book, but it could have been worse she supposed. She took a deep breath as instructed by Tinswell before reading the passage.
“You need to learn how to select your thoughts just the same way you select your clothes every day. This is a power you can cultivate. If you want to control things in your life so bad, work on the mind. That’s the only thing you should be trying to control.”
Zoe smiled at Finch, then handed the iPad back to Tinswell.
“Excellent work Zoe,” Tinswell smiled warmly to Zoe. “Now it’s your turn, Harold, I’m sorry, Mr. Bushtit.” She turned to Finch, and then discreetly, she shook her head. “Apologies, I forgot you prefer your full name.”
Finch squinted his eyes; he had no doubt he had Ms. Groves or Ms. Shaw to thank for that note in the good doctor’s paperwork.
“Mr. Bushtit, you will be reading a passage from your favorite book…” Tinswel put on her glasses to stare at her iPad more closely. “Which is…hmmm…uhhh… ’50 Shades of Grey’ …how…liberating?” She said, shocked.
A few other people in the room seemed surprised, too.
Tinswell handed over the iPad to Finch so she could begin reading. She looked quite skeptical and nervous at the highlighted passage to be read.
“Remember to focus on your partner…” Tinswell did not say this part as meaningful as she had said to Zoe. She forced a smile at Finch.
Finch took a deep breath; he felt like he could almost hear the Machine cackling somewhere in his earpiece faintly. Again, no doubt, Ms. Grove, Ms. Shaw, and possibly the Machine were behind this tacky selection of fiction. He cleared his throat, adjusted his glasses, took a deep breath, and paused for as long as he thought he could get away before reading.
’His breathing is ragged, matching mine.’
Finch paused and looked over to Tinswell; the look on his face was pleading to stop. Tinswell just urged him to continue reading.
Finch frowned. Zoe had a really hard time holding down a big smile and almost laughed out loud. She wanted to remember not to piss off Root. Or Shaw. Or the Machine. Mostly Root, though.
‘When did you start your period, Anastasia?’ he asks out of the blue, gazing down at me. ‘Err… yesterday,’ I mumble in my highly aroused state. ‘Good.’ He releases me and turns me around. ‘Hold on to the sink,’ he orders and pulls my hips back again, like he did in the playroom, so I’m bending down.’
Finch paused and adjusted his glasses again. He feared what horrible text was coming next. He prayed the Machine would get him out of reading and finishing the scene. He sat frozen, waiting for an intervention from the Machine. Or Reese. Or Bear. Anything so he wouldn’t have to read the next passage.
The room and his earpiece remained painfully silent with all eyes in the room watching him.
’ He reaches between my legs and pulls on the blue string… what!’
Finch stopped reading and looked at the text again. “That was actually written by the author. The ‘what’ part.”
He felt like he needed to clarify in case someone in the group thought he was adding nonsensical exclamation points. And ellipses. He had never seen so many ellipses in one piece of writing in his life.
Tinswell watched Finch; she nudged him to continue the reading. “Please, continue Mr. Bushtit.”
Finch raised his eyebrows, furrowed his brow, and started reading again from his extremely erotic text.
’And…he gently pulls my tampon out and tosses it into the nearby toilet. Holy fuck. Sweet mother of all…,’ Finch stopped reading; he looked over to Tinswell. He moved around on his uncomfortable pillow.
“There are more ellipses. Six more to be exact, I’m sure they must be added for…dramatic effect.” He shook his head and furrowed his brow.
“Thank you, Mr. Bushtit. Please, continue,” Tinswell spoke softly; she then leaned on her elbow as if studying Finch now.
’Jeez. And then he’s inside me…ah!’ Finch’s ‘ah’ was the stiffest performance of any school production of a terribly scripted play ever.’ Skin against skin…moving slowly at first…easily, testing me, pushing me…oh my. I grip on to the sink, panting, forcing myself back on him, feeling him inside me. Oh the sweet agony…’
“There are more ellipses.” Finch began to cringe when he saw an ellipse visibly. He did indeed look like he was in agony. The Machine made sure to snap some photos from Tinswell’s iPad to send to Root and Shaw.
’His hands clasp my hips. He sets a punishing rhythm – in, out, and he reaches around and finds my clitoris, massaging me… oh jeez.’
“Just wanted to clarify, the ‘jeez’ was written in the…prose,” Finch inwardly groaned, realizing he was now adding his own ellipses. His vision seemed blurry; he felt like he was getting tunnel vision. Sweat poured off his face.
“C’mon, sweetheart. Just finish the scene,” Zoe said in a rather amused tone.
’I can feel myself quicken. “That’s right, baby,” he rasps as he grinds into me, angling his hips, and it’s enough to send me flying, flying high.’
Finch said the word ‘high’ in a higher pitch tone taking everyone in the group off guard. Everyone in the group stared at Finch with bewildered faces.
“She has a way with…prose...” Finch gritted through his teeth. He was sorry he accidentally shot Shaw. Twice. Did Root and the Machine have to be tactless? They could have at least chosen a Jackie Collins novel.
*****
Shaw was on top of Root, alternating between sucking and biting her neck while her hands were busy multitasking central key areas. The hacker writhed below her; she wrapped her legs around Shaw’s waist tightly, then grabbed a handful of dark, silky hair and gently tugged on it.
“Bear!” Root suddenly said very loudly.
“I thought you might go with my name or a descriptive adjective, but uh…Bear?”
“No, sorry, Sweetie. I was just thinking…” Root looked into Shaw’s eyes; she stopped her ministrations and looked annoyed. “…what if we faked Bear’s death? That might be good revenge for Finch.” Root ran her fingers through Shaw’s sweaty, sexy hair.
“No, do not bring my dog into this Rovenge plan. Do you think faking someone’s death is going to teach that blowhard a lesson?” Root had a thoughtful look on her face as Shaw asked this question.
“Actually, that reminds me of another plan, I’ll have to tell you one day,” Root had a sly smile on her face.
“Plus, I don’t think Finch really cares about Bear.”
Shaw started kissing Root again. Then stopped kissing Root. This time it was Root’s turn to groan, Shaw had just started sucking on her tongue.
“What if we super glue all his laptops together?” Shaw asked out loud, not just to Root; she thought maybe the Machine was listening.
“Really, Sameen? That’s the best you got?” Root let out a giggle. Shaw scowled down at Root.
“Okay, it has promise. I haven’t figured out his real name yet, but I think I have his birthday narrowed down to a month’s radius. That will freak him out if we send him balloons and cookie bouquets every day that month. Maybe even a singing telegram or a stripper?” Root pushed her hips into Shaw’s hips, sweat, and other bodily fluids sliding against each other in a completely, pleasurable distracting way.
“Wow, your rovenge plots are so lame. When we get back to New York, I’m giving Bear all of Finch’s first editions to chew on,” Shaw pushed her hips back hard against Root.
Root let out a loud moan and closed her eyes. “I’ll make sure every beverage cart and bodega within a ten-mile radius of the subway has incorrect Sencha green tea.” She breathed out slowly.
“You know you could make things a lot easier and just burn him with an iron,” Shaw ran her hand down Root’s chest and then lower, and the lower she went, the more feverish the hacker got.
“Oh, Sweetie…” Root ran one hand down Shaw’s side going further down her leg, then circling back and tracing the inside of her thigh. “…the iron is only reserved for you…foreplay.” She has having a hard time getting words out now because of what Shaw was doing.
“Damn, better be,” Shaw leaned down and captured Root’s lower lip in between her lips and bit down.
Root moaned out, her hand reaching between Shaw’s legs.
“Jellyfish!” Shaw yelled out when Root slipped two fingers inside.
Root looked at Shaw, confused, and a bit offended.
“I’ve got it. We will find the jellyfish that stung me force Finch out into the ocean and get him stung. Perfect payback,” Shaw lunged for Root’s lips and placed a sloppy, open-mouthed kiss on her lips.
“Sweetie, what if it has the same side effects it had on you?” Root pulled away from the kiss and gave a scrunched, disgusted nose face.
“Good point. Plus, I don’t know how easy it would be to wrangle a jellyfish…might be worth a try though. Or dump a few on his lap.”
Shaw moved her hand back to Root; she could feel how aroused she was stroking through her overflowing vulva volcano. “Is this turning you on?”
“What revenge plans for Finch? I can’t believe he shot you,” Root stared up into Shaw’s eyes. She looked serious, almost scared.
“It was barely anything,” Shaw moved her hand from Root’s breast to poke the hacker in the side, almost tickling her.
Before Root could say another word, Shaw leaned down again and kissed her fiercely. Kissing her hard enough, they were both getting light-headed from the lack of oxygen and the heat of a tongue battle going on between them. Shaw’s fingers picked up their pace, and before long, Root was shouting out her name this time and not Bear’s thankfully. They stayed tangled up and twisted around each other for so long they didn’t hear the incessant knocking on the outer door for a few minutes.
Shaw moved to roll off Root, but Root stopped her. “Not yet,” she pulled her down into another searing kiss.
The knocking continued. Shaw sighed and reluctantly got up off Root, but not before bending back down and capturing Root’s lips in another kiss. The knocking got louder. Shaw looked around and grabbed some shorts and a tank top.
“Better get dressed too,” Shaw looked over her shoulder at Root, watching her from the bed; all splayed out like a sated supermodel. She didn’t want to leave the room, yet she did know they had work to do. She closed the bedroom door and headed to the living room.
Shaw opened the door and saw a smug Joan on the other side of the door. She thought, why in the hell was the nosy woman already smug? She hadn’t caught them with their shorts down, yet. Although Shaw did wonder how thin the walls were, they were kind of loud a few minutes ago. She blamed Root.
Joan looked at Shaw, the petite primary asset had messed up hair, flush cheeks, slightly dilated pupils and was very sweaty. She thought to herself, oh yeah, these two aren’t sick at all. These two cheaters have been in here banging all morning, and she was going to prove it at some point. If she couldn’t have either one of them, she called them out on their cheating.
“I thought this was Sam and John’s room?” Joan looked at Shaw closely.
“It is,” Shaw replied, blank-faced, not adding any more information.
“Ah, you poor thing. You look really sweaty,” Joan pushed her way into the room even though she wasn’t invited.
“My fever just broke,” Shaw said again blank-faced, hoping the nosy woman would get the hint and leave.
“You ran a fever?” Joan asked in a fake concerned voice.
“I did, so did Sam,” Shaw really couldn’t stand this smug nosy woman. “Hers just broke too.”
“I could give a rub down, might help you cool off,” Joan’s eyes ran up and down Shaw’s body.
“Already had some rubbing, thanks anyway,” Shaw stood still; she didn’t want Joan any further into the room.
Root walked out of the bedroom, looking a little flushed, not as much as Shaw thought, but just as physically guilty. Her hair was up in a ponytail; she was wearing cargo shorts with a loose-fitting V-neck flowing blouse type of shirt. The hacker had a very tropical, vacation look going on.
“Hi, Joan,” Root was already laying on the charm thick in her voice. “Did you come to check on us? That’s so kind of you. We thought we would hunker down here together. A lot of bodily fluids outpouring everywhere.” She pointed to the two bathrooms in the hotel suite.
“Oh, that sounds terrible,” Joan wasn’t buying this at all. “Lot of stomach cramping?”
“Not so much cramping as clenching,” Root returned smugly. “Lots of hard clenching, it was intense. I’m feeling much better now.” The red flush of an afterglow still glittered around Root’s face; she smiled over to Shaw, who, in return, rolled her eyes.
“I’m sure your husbands will be happy to hear you’re feeling better and ready to join in the next therapy session,” Joan said in a fake voice. “Shall we go?” She motioned to the door.
Shaw rolled her eyes as Root passed by her smiling; all three of them exited the room and headed towards the next therapy session. Shaw hoped the next one was Target Shooting Therapy, but she highly doubted it.