DISCLAIMER: Not mine, no money, just some fluffy fun.....
ARCHIVING: Only with the permission of the author.
SEQUEL: To Colonels at 7...
Lobster and Chocolate
By ncruuk
"Has anyone ever told you you eat a lot?" asked Mac conversationally, as they strolled away from the bar, stomachs pleasantly full of surprisingly good steaks.
"This from the Marine who ate the 12 ounce steak AND the half lobster?" clarified Sam, unable to stop her amusement showing. Admittedly, she'd eaten every scrap of her steak and fries, including the extra onion rings she'd stolen from Mac's plate when she wasn't looking like eating them, but at least the Air Force Colonel had only ordered 'turf', unlike her companion...
"So I'm a Marine now?" teased Mac, their pace slowing as they reached the kerb. It was still early in the evening and the weather was lovely.
"You are always a Marine..." observed Sam politely, not seeing the problem with either her statement or her companion's observation.
"Forget it..." dismissed Mac abruptly, crossing her arms against her chest in a gesture that, if it weren't for the 80 degree heat, could have been dismissed as an attempt to get warm.
"Ah..." Flustered, Sam didn't quite know what to do...or what the problem was, but she was smart enough to recognise that she'd screwed up... "I'm a science geek who wears military fatigues most of the time..." she began, rubbing her fingers through her already spiky short hair, making her look even more like an electrocuted porcupine than Mac's initial impression had been.
"What's that got to do with anything?" asked Mac, surprised by the topic change, but also by something she hadn't previously seen in the tall Air Force Colonel - awkwardness.
"Neither social group is well known for its social skills..." began Sam nervously, biting her bottom lip in a gesture that suddenly struck Mac as being completely adorable.
"And I went all JAG bitch on you..." admitted Mac, understanding why Sam was beginning to start apologising for something her face clearly said she had no clue about, other than she'd apparently screwed up.
"You did?"
"Yeah..." As the silence stretched between them, Sam suddenly noticed where they were for the first time.
"This is probably a really bad place to discover we suck at this..." she observed wryly, scanning the area for some hint or clue about what she could do to fix it. Heading to a bar did not seem like a sensible plan, although seeing if she could teach Mac to play pool could be fun....
"....ice-cream?"
"What?" Startled, Sam realised she'd got lost in her thoughts as her brain had run seriously ahead of the rest of the universe and started revelling in the thoughts of teaching her brunette companion how to hustle a table...for all Sam knew, Mac could probably hustle Sam out of the hall....
Deciding, from the rather attractive blush that was now staining Sam's cheeks, that calling her on her inattention probably wasn't sensible to do right now, Mac merely repeated her question.
"How about we head to the beach, maybe get some ice-cream?"
"Where's the beach?" asked Sam, not really knowing this town at all well.
"End of that bus route..." explained Mac, gesturing to a bus that had just pulled out of the nearby bus stop.
"Just missed one..." Disappointed, Sam headed to the stand to see if there was a timetable or something.
"Was that the last bus?" asked Mac, coming and standing next to her, close enough that Sam thought she felt the words in her ear, rather than heard them.
"Nope...seems they run til Midnight, but the next one's not for 10 minutes..."
"Guess we wait then..." observed Mac practically, sitting down on the bench, glad that Sam seemed keen to keep their evening going off base.
"Or we could go and buy ice-cream..." suggested Sam, spotting what looked like an ice-cream parlour a couple of shops up on the other side of the road.
"We've got 7 minutes until the bus is due..." declared Mac, setting off at speed, forcing Sam to sprint to catch up with her, all the while making mental notes - never, ever, come between this devastingly sexy Marine and a potential food source!
"I thought you were keeping track of time?" asked Sam, slightly out of breath due to running and laughing at the same time.
"The bus isn't due for another 2 minutes..." defended Mac, taking a seductive lick of her chocolate ice-cream cone.
"Evidence suggests otherwise..." teased Sam, taking a more restrained lick of her own mint cone. They didn't seem to have made a blue jello flavour ice cream yet.
"Wasn't my fault it was early..." teased Mac, holding onto the roof rail tighter as their bus swung around the corner into the road down to the beach. Unfortunately, whilst she navigated the corner successfully, she didn't get the pot holes right.
"You've got ice-cream on your nose..." observed Sam, amused. As they'd hit the pot hole, Mac had been ready to take another long, languid lick of her cone. Instead, the bus had jostled her and she'd ended up with a blob of creamy chocolate coldness coating the tip of her nose.
"Never been able to lick the tip of my own nose..." whispered Mac sexily, wondering how far she could dare the Air Force Colonel. The ribbons on the dress uniform had indicated guts, but this was potentially playing with a whole new kind of fire...for both of them.
"END OF THE LINE, ALL CHANGE" The Driver's yell broke the mood, diffusing the rising heat between them as they both were caught up in the massed exodus from the bus that put them almost on the sands of the beach, Mac's ice-cream covered nose forgotten.
"Wow...." declared Mac, taking in the long curving beach that disappeared into the distance, meeting the horizon that was beginning to be stained by sunset.
"Yeah...fancy walking?" asked Sam, gesturing to the sand with her ice-cream cone, feeling glad that whatever had gone wrong between them seemed to have passed.
"Sure..." agreed Mac, taking another lick of her cone, glad that Sam seemed as keen as she was not to end their evening just yet.
Suddenly, without Mac really noticing or realising, Sam's face was millimetres from her own. Grinning wolfishly, Sam pressed a brief kiss to Mac's nose and then, as rapidly as she'd appeared, she retreated.
"What was that for?"
"You said you couldn't lick your own nose..." observed Sam, amused that Mac had forgotten about the ice-cream.
"That wasn't a lick..."
"You did say I could kiss you if I drank tonic..."
"Wrong sort of kiss..."
"Ah..." Bemused, Sam stood and watched the setting sun reflected in Mac's eyes, reading the emotions she was seeing there. Feeling full of a confidence she'd never thought she'd feel again, she once more inched her head forwards, before pressing a tender kiss on Mac's lips which, unsurprisingly, tasted of chocolate and lobster. Sensing the blonde had her reasons for her sudden uncertainty, Mac resisted the urge to pull Sam's head down for another, more passionate and consuming kiss, recognising that patience was perhaps the way to reap reward.
"Lobster...doesn't really go with chocolate..." declared Sam finally, noting that, at some point during her tentative kiss, her hand had found Mac's. To her amazement and delight, it didn't feel 'wrong' there either.
"I should have asked if you ate seafood..." realised Mac belatedly, also discovering their joined hands and deciding it felt 'right'.
"I do....but not with chocolate..." clarifed Sam, grinning shyly, glad her kiss seemed to have gone down well.
"Ah..." At an unusual loss for words, Mac found herself suddenly craving a long walk along the beach, holding Sam's hand.
"Walk with me?" she finally asked, pointing towards the sandy horizon with their joined hands.
"Love to..."
The End