Extreme Sensitivity… as a little unexpected. – A Women’s Murder Club Series, part 27

TITLE: Extreme Sensitivity… as a little unexpected. (27/?)
PAIRING: Lindsay/Cindy
DISCLAIMER: Women’s Murder Club does not belong to me. The characters do not belong to me. They are the property of James Patterson, 20th Century Fox Television and ABC. (Well, not anymore. Jackasses.) I have no problems with that as long as I can borrow them for short bursts and use them in pursuit of my own enjoyment. I am not trying to infringe. Though, I don’t know why anyone has a problem with fan fic. After all, it really is a compliment. If anyone wants to write fan fiction about my book, feel free.

(Lindsay’s POV)

Lindsay flipped the channel for possibly the hundredth time in as many seconds, glancing toward the clock again and wondering exactly how many employees could possibly be on the third-shift in this place and how long it might take Cindy and Ryan to get through interviewing each of them. Because there was really no other explanation for the fact that it was almost midnight and she was sitting on the couch alone learning about the miraculous powers of some acne treatment and all of the amazing features of a five-hundred dollar power-suck vacuum cleaner.

Though this wasn’t the type of thing she needed Cindy watching anyway. With all of this nonsense stuck in her brain, the next time Cindy got nervous, Lindsay could end up having all of this useless information recited right back at her. But then maybe they were past that point of nervous chatter. Cindy had seemed rather – maybe not at ease – but definitely in control recently. And Lindsay was more than willing to heed all directives given her… if only Cindy were around to give them.

Cindy spending her midnights with some other woman wasn’t exactly how things were supposed to go. And it certainly wasn’t how she’d wanted things to be going. While there was a time when waiting may have honestly been the right thing to do, that time had come and gone. Waiting this long had never been part of the plan. In fact, waiting this long after their series of stops and starts could prove dangerous to humankind.

Kind of like Yellowstone. Magma bubbled beneath the surface, constantly releasing pressure through geysers. But without release, the contents of the hidden super volcano underneath would just keep bubbling away, building pressure little-by-little, and when it finally erupted it could take out half the continent. In much the same way, Lindsay was pretty sure if Cindy didn’t help her release some pressure soon, one of these days Cindy would just walk into the room, wink at her and Lindsay would take out the entire bay area.

Maybe she should have just let Cindy kill Ryan. Problem solved. She could have probably even made it look like the perp who committed the first murders had come back for seconds. Damn her vow to protect the innocent! Though how much of Ryan’s was real innocence and how much was an act Lindsay really wasn’t certain. That’s what had her glancing at the clock every two minutes and wondering when the hell they’d come walking back through the door.

When she finally heard Ryan’s incessant chatter before she heard the door click unlocked, Lindsay turned off the TV and turned her eyes to the door in time to see Cindy coming through first with her sidekick right on her heels.

“You do realize there are people in this place trying to sleep, right?” Cindy reminded the excitedly talking girl.

“Gee, you think?” Ryan returned, glancing over at Lindsay, her smile fading instantly. “I’m going to wash my face and get into bed. We’ve got a full day tomorrow.”

Lindsay somehow felt that was a dig at her, but when Ryan shut the bathroom door and Cindy dropped everything in her hands to walk over and straddle her lap, she lost all momentary interest in Ryan and her intentions. Her hands fisting in Lindsay’s hair, Cindy gave a small, delightful tug and bestowed her with a kiss. It was the slow and deep act of someone who had plenty of time, but Cindy’s eagerness was evident in the way that she pinned Lindsay against the back of the couch, her tongue sweeping in to consume everything it could reach. And Lindsay felt completely KO’d. Somewhere in the back of her mind, there was a man in a black and white shirt announcing Cindy Thomas the ‘Winner’.

When Cindy finally pulled away, it was only to rest her forehead against Lindsay’s. Panting hard, her breaths teased Lindsay’s lower lip. If it weren’t for Cindy’s career, she would have totally stacked all of the room’s furniture in front of the bathroom door and caged Ryan for the night.

“Did you stay in here all night?” Cindy asked.

“Yeah, you know…” Lindsay shrugged.

“You shouldn’t have done that. You should have gone downstairs at least, had a drink or something.”

“I didn’t come here to get hit on in a bar,” Lindsay reminded Cindy.

“I know,” Cindy gave a small pout. “I’m sorry that I brought you here for this.”

Annoyed as she was at Ryan’s continuing existence, Lindsay couldn’t let Cindy think that she wished she hadn’t come.

“There have been hours here and there that have made it well worth my while,” she swore.

“Oh yeah?” Cindy’s sudden, broad grin lit up all of the dark corners of Lindsay’s thoughts.

“Yeah,” she husked, thumbs dipping brazenly inward on Cindy’s hips.

“So, I think that in the morning we should…” Ryan emerged from the bathroom already talking and came to a dead stop. She looked at Cindy sitting in Lindsay’s lap, with no sign that she planned to relocate, and rolled her eyes.

“We’ll talk about it in the morning,” Cindy stated with finality before Ryan had a chance to finish her thought, causing Ryan to huff.

“Fine,” she stated. “Don’t keep me up. I get cranky when I’m tired.”

“When she’s tired?” Lindsay mouthed after Ryan disappeared into the bedroom and closed the door.

Cindy giggled ultra-softly, gave Lindsay one more lingering kiss and dismounted. Gingerly, Lindsay got to her feet and helped Cindy pull out their bed. Soft surface spread out between them, they stared at each other for a moment as if in tribute to all of the things they should have been doing atop it.

“I’ll be right back,” Cindy finally broke their commiserating and went into the bathroom. She was gone for only a minute, but it was long enough for Lindsay to strip down to her t-shirt and slide beneath the covers. When Cindy came back, she shucked her pants and crawled into bed in her button-up. How optimistic they had both been by not packing proper sleepwear for surprise guests.

Cindy settled against Lindsay’s side, and Lindsay harshly exhaled in simultaneous pleasure and agony as Cindy’s thigh slid over the top of hers and came to rest in precarious territory.

“No sudden moves,” Lindsay murmured, even as her arm tightened around Cindy’s waist, pulling her in closer.

“I know,” Cindy assured her, but whispered as it was against the hypersensitive skin of Lindsay’s throat, it felt more like defiance.

Running her fingers up Cindy’s back, Lindsay struggled against the temptation to let her fingers wander more liberally.

“I think Ryan has little crush on you,” she declared.

“What?” Cindy replied instantly. “No. She has a little crush on my career.”

“I don’t think so. I really think it’s more about you,” Lindsay asserted. “Like if you’d volunteered to spend the night in there with her instead of out here with me, she’d praise Jesus and give all of her hair products away to the needy in gratitude.”

Cindy’s head lifted off of her shoulder and Lindsay found herself in the crosshairs of an intense, quizzical gaze. “You’re crazy, but, if by chance that were true, you know I’m not interested, right?”

“Yeah,” Lindsay nodded and looked away, pulling her bottom lip between her teeth.

“Why would you think that I could be interested in Ryan, or anyone else for that matter, when I’ve been comparing everyone to you for months?”

Lindsay fought the smile, but felt it spring up anyway and turned back to Cindy’s rather pleased expression.

“That was good,” Lindsay acknowledged.

“I know,” Cindy’s grin widened. “It’s also true.”

“You just…” Lindsay felt her throat tighten and cleared it more loudly than she’d intended. “You have things in common, you know, with the paper, and she’s… you know… closer to your age.”

Feeling suddenly like she’d said far too much, Lindsay looked toward the window, studying the way that the light moved through the blinds, not so much out of interest, but for the sole purpose of not having to look at Cindy.

“Is that really the best you’ve got?”

“To some people, it’s a lot.”

“Alright,” Cindy conceded in a gentle murmur. “But the only person who seems to think that I am too young for you is you. I know that I’m a big girl. And I know what I want.”

It wasn’t so much what Cindy was saying as the way that she was saying it that snapped Lindsay’s eyes back to her. She half expected to find Cindy surrounded by a flaming aura of lust with liquid sex dripping off her lips.

“I also know how much I want it,” Cindy continued in the same shiver-inducing tone. “And if we ever escape this cycle of sexual hell, I promise you’ll know how much too.”

Lindsay gulped so hard, she wasn’t surprised in the least that Cindy was able to follow the path all the way down her throat. When exactly Cindy went from the nervous, babbling girl to this fully-charged vixen before her, Lindsay couldn’t precisely pinpoint. She knew only that it was a recent development and she wasn’t about to complain.

“So, what’s going on, Boxer?” Cindy softly asked in a voice considerably more familiar to Lindsay, which in the moment was a welcome comfort. “This is so un-Boxer.”

Lindsay wanted to look away again, remove herself from the scrutiny, but couldn’t quite pull her eyes from Cindy’s.

“Yeah, well,” she started roughly, “things change.”

“What’s changed?” Cindy prodded, still holding Lindsay captive with her gaze.

What hadn’t changed was a better question. Who would have thought, when Cindy popped up over her cubicle wall at the Register, that the two of them would end up where they were now, lying in bed together… in wine country… with Cindy on top. A small smirk pulled at Lindsay’s lips as she realized that, even if she could have foreseen most of this, she never would have anticipated that last part.

Though the fact that Cindy’s question was still lingering out there kept her amusement subdued. What had changed? All sorts of things that Lindsay really wasn’t ready to admit to out loud yet. And they were still changing. Every time she stared into Cindy’s eyes for any length of time, Lindsay’s universe altered just a little bit more. But Cindy didn’t need to know that. Feeling cowardly, yet prudent, Lindsay wet her lips and hedged. “You know… things.”

“Oh,” Cindy smiled gently, as if she understood it all anyway.

Head dipping down, her lips barely brushed Lindsay’s before her head settled back into the hollow between Lindsay’s neck and shoulder. Trembling just enough for detection, Lindsay was incredibly grateful when Cindy didn’t mention it. Instead, her arm tightened around Lindsay’s waist and her soft sigh warmed Lindsay’s throat.

Despite spending a good portion of her night making a mental list of places to drop the body, lying there Lindsay couldn’t maintain her grudge Ryan. As Cindy grew increasingly heavy against her, Lindsay kissed the head just beneath her chin, almost grateful that they had been interrupted.