Chapter Text
Teresa didn’t see Patrick for the rest of the week, and she mentally complimented herself. She thought that, if she wasn’t looking for him, she could deny any kind of attraction; of course, she forgot to mention to her subconscious that she wasn’t supposed to think about it the whole time, if she wasn’t interested. Besides, there had been a small incident, when she had called Patrick (with glee in her voice) the guy from the second floor... and yet, she was firmly believing that no, she didn’t like him.
And then… Friday came.
Friday evening, Teresa returned from work early soon; usually, she liked to stay at the office until the middle of the night, but that afternoon she had the brilliant idea of tackling a suspect twice her size, who was not exactly cooperative. Her back was killing her, and almost all her muscles were sore, so she decided to indulge herself for once, and get back home at a decent hour. If she was lucky, Jane wouldn’t make too much noise, and she could get a few hours’ sleep.
And yet, as soon as she arrived in front of her building, sleep was the furthest thing from her mind. The object standing there on the pavement, a huge claw-foot tube in white porcelain, and the man who was skimming over the surface with reverence and sensuality, suddenly filled her thoughts. Lisbon started to get closer and closer, not fully acknowledging it, and she thanked God that Jane wasn’t looking at her, wasn’t seeing what she was sure was attraction in her irises- she swore, he probably produced pheromones with his sweat.. As soon as she was at his immediately back, she took a big breath to regain control of her body and her mind, and then, she cleared her voice.
“Nice. Are you planning on installing it here?” she asked, trying to sound a bit irritated.
He made an uhm? Sound, and then he turned, and his eyes shone like jewels hit by sunlight. Again, Teresa felt herself tremble, but she had already prepared herself a bit for her body’s reactions, and she was quick to regain complete composure.
“Oh, ehy.” he said, seeming a bit embarrassed, but happy as well, like an excited kid. “Danny and Pete went to park the truck, then they’ll help me to bring it inside.”
Teresa smiled, and then, once again, her eyes fell on the porcelain. The tub was white, huge –seriously huge – and had four claw feet in what looked like pure gold. The breath died in her throat as she suddenly saw herself and Jane taking a very long, very relaxing, sensual and exhausting bath together.
She shook her head, sure that, by now, she was already phosphorescent. She couldn’t think about that sort of things. Once again, she had to repeat, again and again, the mantra of Ray, Ray, Ray…
“So… wonna give us a hand?” Jane questioned her, sitting on the edge of the tub- an edge where scented candles would have been perfect.
“Uhm?” she said, coming back to reality just in that moment. At least she was good at her job, and had listened to what he had told her, despite having been in a X-rated fantasy. “Oh, no, thanks, but no thanks. For today, my purse is everything I’ll carry.”
“Lazybones.” He accused, again with the smirk. She didn’t know if she was supposed to hate that expression or love it, slap it or kiss it away.
“Ugh, please. Tomorrow I’ll already have back pain because of an idiot I tackled today. I really don’t feel like adding injury to the injured.”
Jane chuckled, crossing his arms. Today he was wearing a close-fitting shirt, that accentuated his muscles, and again Teresa couldn’t help but wonder what had been his so-called “previous line of work”. Had it been physical? Mental? His body seemed to indicate physical activity, and yet he seemed much more intellectual than he claimed to be.
“Meh, I know the risks. But at least, tomorrow I’ll have this marvel to lay in.” Again, he skimmed over the stark white porcelain, and again Teresa thought inappropriate thoughts about Jane, the tub, herself and/or self-satisfaction. She decided to rely on her favorite form of wit, sarcasm, to break the moment and whatever was going on with them.
“You sure do like old things…” she mumbled. She wasn’t talking just about his love for old buildings and for classic tubes, but also his choice of wardrobe. Yes, during the day he wore jeans and plaid shirts, but she had seen him in casual attire- and his idea of casual was three pieces suites. “Aren’t you too romantic to be a man?”
Jan looked at her, and shook his head, fake wounded by her statement. “And you, my dear Miss Lisbon, aren’t romantic enough to be a woman…”
She smiled, and couldn’t resist getting closer and closer. But when she was at his side, she touched the tub, pretending that it had been her plan all along. The only thing on her mind. “It looks like it’s comfortable…” She sighed with a bit of longing. It wasn’t just because the M-Rat ed fantasy. She really liked that tub. And yes, she had one too, but it small and uncomfortable, and she didn’t have time to have more than a shower, and even when, and if, she did, she was just too tired.
“Wonna try it?” he asked. Teresa could see he was laughing; he had that glint of malice in his eyes. She wondered what he was thinking about, if, maybe, he was having the same fantasies as she did. Yes, he had seemed to be interested so far, but how could she tell it wasn’t all a game for him? She couldn’t. Because he wasn’t serious, reliable Ray, and that was it.
She rolled her eyes, snorting. It was very un-lady like, but she didn’t care. After all, hadn’t she just decided that Patrick Jane wasn’t her type?
“I’m serious!” he swore, getting closer and closer. Again, she was thrilled and moved by his scent, and again she wondered what it was. A product he used, something that his own made? God. She would have been millionaire if she could just bottle up his essence, pure and unaltered sex appeal (and plain sex too). “C’mon, Teresa, live a little!”
He took her hand, and without waiting for her to reply, he guided her into the tub. She felt electricity running through her whole being, he set first one, and then the other foot into the tub, right in the street, while people was passing by and stared at them like they were maniacs.
And yet, for some unknown reason, she couldn’t care any less. Because her eyes, her mind, her whole being was focused and lost in Patrick Jane’s amused eyes. Eyes that had something different…like for once, he really, really was happy, like he was there, in that moment, and didn’t want to let it go.
“Now, sit…” he instructed, and lost in the sensation and the moment, Teresa just nodded, her mouth slightly open. “I need…” He said, and he gulped down, like he was having trouble talking. Teresa looked at him, and saw that he was sweating, and held the hand forcefully, desperately. Yet, when he spoke, his voice was sensual and low. “I need to check the… the length.”
She did as she was told, unable to resist temptation, and then closed her eyes; she felt Jane moving at her side, felt his voice right at her hear, his breath hot and humid and uncontrolled. Yes, she was moved, bothered by this situation, but so was he. “Can you see yourself, getting back home in the evening, after a long, hard day at work? Relaxing in this big tube… a candle, scented salts, your favorite bubbles and a cup of tea. Chamomile, maybe? Yes. Yes, I can see you drinking it…”
She smiled. Even if she didn’t want to. “It seems more like your cup of tea, Mr. Jane.” she said, and the humor wasn’t lost on her. She laughed, and he smiled, because he hadn’t heard a sound so beautiful in such a long time. She should have done it a lot more, he decided.
“Not really.” He said, with a bit of a fuss in his voice. “Well, of course, if the company called for it…” he ended the sentence on a sigh, with a lot of longing in his voice. And again, Teresa wondered how much of it was an act. Suddenly, it was all too intimate, he was too close, with his breath on her neck, it was like he was in the tub with her, it made it all much more sensual. And, she wasn’t supposed to think sensual thoughts about men who weren’t her “boyfriend”.
“Your friends will be there soon, and I don’t think they would be happy of adding weight and…”
“It wouldn’t be a big weight.” Jane said, but then he stood, and offered her his hand. Teresa made the mistake of looking into his eyes, and found sadness in there, and a bit of regret. She stepped out, but maybe because of his closeness, or maybe because she wasn’t so good at leaving huge tubs, her feet slipped. He grabbed her before she could fall, his hands on her hips, hers on his chest, his skin hot, his touch like fire despite the clothes dividing them.
“I’ve got you.” He simply said, looking at her. His eyes were big and deep, dark. There was no denying the desire there, even Teresa couldn’t say otherwise. She had never been such an expert, and yet, she knew this: he wanted her.
“You shouldn’t do this…” She said, almost crying. She didn’t know what to do. Jane went against everything she believed. He wasn’t part of her plan. But she wanted him- and he wanted her. Didn’t she deserve to at least see where it could lead? “You shouldn’t… talk like that. Like you… want to seduce me.”
He snorted, his voice still low, hot on her neck. “Why Teresa?” He asked. His lips were so close to her skin that she could almost feel them. “Why shouldn’t I want a beautiful woman?”
“I’m... a client, right? You want… to remodel my kitchen.” She tried to say. it was an excuse and they both knew that, but he had just said that he found her beautiful, and she needed to get back her control, and this was the only way she knew- be professional.
“I didn’t know my voice could have such an effect.” He said. He was still looking into her eyes, but he had moved one hand. His right thumb was caressing her plump lips, making her sigh. He could probably feel her heartbeat, her warmth, but she didn’t care. She couldn’t. “It’s been so long since… since I’ve had a beautiful woman in my arms…”
That sentence was like a bucket of cold water on her. Suddenly she remembered that he was a widower, that he had lost his wife. His sentence also said that he hadn’t been with anyone yet… what did it mean? That she was just a plaything to get back in the game? What did he expect, a pity fuck? No. She wasn’t going to be that woman. Yes, she didn’t look for enormous passion, but she couldn’t accept this. She had to be one and only, not a rebound.
She forced her way out of his embrace, and regained her balance. She crossed her arms, and even did she knew that it was a defense mechanism. “People will get strange ideas.” She said.
“Is it really that important?” he asked. His voice was still low, but Teresa could hear, feel that it was for a completely different reason. Not desire, nor lust- but pain.
“Yes!” she almost screamed, standing proud. Yes, it was important, because she remembered the looks she had received as a kid. She had always been the “poor child”… because of her mother’s death, because of her father’s abuses, of his addictions, because of his death and because she was a child herself and was too busy looking after her own family to properly think about herself or getting a life. Then, it had been too late, or so she had thought, so she had decided to put all her energies in her work, her career.
She didn’t want to be the poor child any longer.
“Will you ever tell me why?” he asked. She simply snorted. No, she would have never told him- because she would have been back to Chicago, to those nights and days, and she wasn’t that person any longer- and she didn’t want to feel like her ever again. Not even for just an instant.
“Teresa?”
It was Ray, and his presence immediately awoke Teresa, made her come back in her skin fully. He was dressed in one of his finest suites, his hair, getting silver, were shining in the sun.
“Were you waiting for me here?” he asked. He got closer, a hand on her hip, and kissed her on the cheek; Teresa sighed, closed her eyes and fought the instinct of retreating. She hated herself- she had never been ashamed of being kissed in public by Ray; she tried to tell herself that Jane wasn’t the reason she felt so embarrassed, and yet, she knew it a was a lie. Everything she felt nowadays was because of the man with the sea-green eyes.
“What is a tub doing on the pavement?” he asked, lifting his eyebrows.
“It has just been delivered.” Teresa explained, feeling the need to fill the silence. “Mr. Jane is waiting for a couple of friends to move it into his apartment.”
“I see” Ray said, reaming proud and nice and unflappable, Teresa’s favorite quality. The two men shook hands and introduced themselves, and time froze for Teresa as she studied them, their differences and the contrast between them, Ray with his fair skin and his dark colors, Jane, tanned but with blonde hair and light green eyes, one a patrician and the other a God. One a perfect lawyer, the other… she didn’t know how to describe Jane. She didn’t know who or what he was.
But he was dangerous for her. Of that much she was sure.
“Teresa?” Ray called, and she turned to look at him. Jane, under his teeth, grinned amused, as he understood she hadn’t been listening to her so-called boyfriend. “Bertram called a last-minute press-conference. I asked you if you want to go now or leave your purse here and get a drink before joining the others.”
“Oh, yes, Teresa. I think you need a drink after such a long day. I bet her bar is perfectly equipped for any kind of emergency.” Jane snorted. He didn’t like Ray, and he had to admit that, were they to fight for Teresa’s attentions, he would have won with flying colors. God. The lawyer didn’t even know that Teresa didn’t drink. And they were dating, for God’ sake.
Teresa didn’t like his last statement. Instead of seeing it as it was- Jane’s particular way of defending, or something like that – she grabbed Ray’s wrist and forced him inside. She didn’t want for them to talk, for Jane to say that he had been in her apartment and she had talked about her father’s addiction. “I need to put on some make-up” she simply said, and didn’t wait for Jane to say goodbye, or even just wave.
“Is that the same neighbor who had shout his door in your face?” Ray asked, confused, as soon as they were inside her apartment. Teresa felt like rolling her eyes: he was good at his job, but sometimes he was a bit oblivious when it came to real, outside-of-the-job life in general. She guessed it was because he had, since his early childhood, been in one of that New Age sects, Visualize, or something like that. It was his only negative side so far, and frankly, until he didn’t ask her to abandon her Faith, she was kind of cool with the kind of man Ray was.
“Let’s say we made pace” she simply told him. “ He checked my plumbing, I offered him dinner.” She paused, feeling herself getting redder and redder. She couldn’t keep having this kind of reaction whenever the man was involved, she wasn’t a kid. “Here. Pizza.” She felt the need to explain.
“Ah! That’s why the bar comment!” Ray said, clearly happy. Poor man, he probably thought it was all innocent and platonic. He didn’t know what kind of thoughts crossed his girlfriend’s mind when she was with him, nor what she did at night alone in her bed, when the thought of Jane, naked on the other side of the wall, was too strong, too much to handle.
“Yeah.” She paused, feeling guilty, wondering if next Sunday Father Michael was going to be available for a confession. “Did I tell you he renovates apartments? I was thinking about asking him to do some work in my kitchen.”
“Teresa, how can you think it’s a good idea?” he said, sighing, like he was a parent who had just been disappointed by his own kin. “That man had a bath tub on the pavement.”
Teresa lifted her eyebrows and didn’t bother to answer. It wasn’t like Jane had installed the bath tub there; he and his friends had unload it there and he was waiting for his friends, family or whatever, to move it. It sounded so much more reasonable than park far away and then unload the tub and move it. Besides, how did he dare to criticize her choices? Apparently, her silence spoke volumes, for Ray sobered up, and went to her side, patting (patting!) her head.
“I’m sorry, Teresa, you are right, you can make your own decisions.” He paused, and then laughed. “in another situation, I could have been jealous, thinking that maybe he could have made out with you…” then he made an expression that irritated Teresa to no limits, like the mere thought of a man like Jane flirting with a woman like her could be impossible.
She felt like hitting Ray. But then decided against it. He was still her boyfriend, after all.
Even if she was starting to forget why she had always found him oh so charming.