Romeo

Instant Allure

“Oh, the joys of visiting you here in Santa Barbara, Great-Aunt Kimmi,” muttered a very bored Randy Disher to the dashboard of his Crown Victoria.

Randy thinks of how he could be doing more important things, like going out with the Captain to a crime scene, or taking notes for the Captain, or making calls for the Captain, or ogling the Captain. But he can't, and it's because of his mother. Well, his mother and his guilty conscience working in tandem really, but when he thinks back on this day years later, he'll tell himself that it was all his mom, and not his own desire to see one of their few surviving relatives.

The desire, small as it was when he started driving, died an utterly silent death when his Aunt had greeted Randy with the hated cheek-pinching of his youth and wet kisses to the face, along with an exclamation of surprise at the absence of acne marking that very face.

It's been a while since he's visited.

While Randy had re-arranged Aunt Kimmi's furniture to her liking, he had also filled her in on his career. When he had finished telling her about the Captain, Monk, Natalie, and Little Natalie, she had asked him about his personal life, to which Randy had ceased shoving the heavy couch and stared at her blankly.

A moment had passed, then another, then another..., until finally, Randy was going to tell her that that was his life, professional, personal, or otherwise, when Aunt Kimmi informed Randy that there's this friend that she hasn't seen in ages since the other woman moved across town, and would her sweet great-nephew mind driving her over if she gives him the address?

With a smile, Randy had agreed, and here he sits now, with a slight frown, wondering what's taking Aunt Kimmi so long. The address ended up being the friends' work address, since that was the only one his Aunt had had in her purse when they were already four miles from her condo.

It's a balmy day, and the windows rolled down all the way aren't as cooling as the nice air-conditioner, but Randy has a thing about leaving that on while the car isn't in motion, so to remove himself from temptation he decides to go into the building and make sure his Aunt didn't get lost at some point.

Strolling in past the entrance, Randy sighs in relief as cool air washes over him, then shivers a bit as he spots the most beautiful man he has ever seen talking to the lady at the front desk, whom, Randy guesses by the dreamy look in her eyes, must share his opinion of the man.

So focused on the broad shoulders leading to narrowed hips, Randy doesn't even think of what a betrayal this is to his Captain, or would be if the Captain was even aware of Randy's feelings. The Lieutenants' eyes go down further and the words 'cute ass' are noted in huge block letters on the mental list Randy is making of everything he finds attractive about this stranger, following sinewy arms and before muscled thighs.

Moving forward and slightly to his left, Randy doesn't even bother on aiming for discreet while he tries to get a better view of the man's face. Finally he has the angle just right, and Randy's heart races upon getting a wonderful view of luscious lips that he imagines must be softer than the finest silk and richly dark eyes, the whites of which are set off by milk chocolaty skin.

Randy's tongue is poking out from between his lips and wishing it could trace the outline of that ear when, with a light laugh, the man finishes his conversation, of which Randy had heard not a word, what with being a whole eight feet away. That's okay though, it's happened a couple of times with the Captain too, when Randy had fallen too deep in admiring mode.

But the Captain is far from his Randy's thoughts now, and it's in a trance that Randy follows the stranger down the hall, much like a love-stricken puppy would after a cherished master.

The Lieutenant's mind races so fast he doesn't catch a single thought to hold onto, but he follows as his body commands him to, making sure he never loses sight of his wet-dream come true. After a few twists and turns that the man navigates with an easy familiarity, he walks into a cozy sized office, not even realizing that he's been followed.

Randy's braincells, the ones not already melted into a growing puddle of lovey-dovey goo, take control of the legs, stopping Randy an instant before he would have turned into the office. Instead, he hesitates a beat before walking to stand by a corner at the juncture of another hallway. From there Randy has a good view of the room, especially since the door is left open, and he can even see the name plate that reads 'Burton Guster'.

Randy's first thought is: “What a name...”

His second thought is: “Who cares, he's hot enough to pull it off.”

Gazing about the neatly ordered desk and bookshelves, both clutter-free, Randy passes right over the man sitting in the seat behind the desk three times before his eyes finally settle on him. He's a good looking guy, but his outfit screams that he can't possibly work here.

A flash of hope hits Randy; maybe this is an intruder in Burton's office and he can rescue the man. Edging closer to the entrance of the office, he really listens to the man's voice for the first time- the smooth baritone sends a thrill down his spine, but Burton drowns Randy's bit of hope as he says, “Shawn, get out of my seat.”

The tone of the words is very telling, and the the first thing they tell Randy is that these two men have to be friends. Those are the only people who can hear that much exasperation in someone's voice and move onto a different subject, as the new man does. Burton leaning down to plant a kiss on the moving lips of the other man also says something to Randy.

Shawn speaks excitedly, but Randy pays no attention as he walks aimlessly away, shoulders slumped. Somehow he ends up back in the reception area, and right there is his Aunt, bidding farewell to a grinning lady that insists Kimmi call her more often.

The lady walks back in what Randy assumes is the direction of her office as Aunt Kimmi grabs his arm and walks him out of the building, apologizing all the way to the car for making him wait over an hour.

Randy tells her it's okay, and pulling on his seatbelt, he tells himself that Burton probably wouldn't have liked him anyways.