Joke's on You (SWAT Generation 2.0 6)

But I did spill it when Booth sat down, rather roughly.

Luckily it didn’t get on me. Thankfully when I saw how hard he was coming down, I held the coffee cup over the side, allowing it to spill on the concrete.

“Sorry, hurts,” he muttered, gritting his teeth. “Felt like I was kicked by a fuckin’ mule.”

I could imagine.

“I’ve never been shot before,” I admitted. “Or kicked by a mule, but I imagine that it doesn’t feel too great.”

He chuckled, then righted himself in the chair. “I’m gonna be doing absolutely nothing tomorrow after what happened today. Jesus Christ.” He hissed through clenched teeth when he sat up. “It hurts for my shirt to touch it.”

I leaned over and sucked down some of my coffee so it wouldn’t be too full, then let my mouth run wild.

“Then take it back off,” I suggested.

He hesitated for a few seconds, then said, “I honestly don’t think I can. It hurts to raise my arms over my head.”

I licked my lips. Then again, let my mouth have free rein.

“I can help,” I told him, leaning forward and setting my coffee on the small table in front of us.

He held out his coffee, too. Then I stood up and maneuvered myself between the table and Booth’s legs.

He breathed through clenched teeth as I helped him lift one arm and bunched the shirt up underneath of it.

He pulled his arm through, took a deep breath, and then ducked his head so that I could pull it over his head.

I rolled my eyes.

So that was where Asa got it!

“You know,” I said with amusement. “You’re supposed to take off the shirt from both arms before you take your head out. It’s ten times easier. Which I explain to Asa on an almost daily basis,” I teased.

He chuckled weakly. “Guilty.”

He was guilty.

But I also found it endearing.

I loved that Asa looked up to his dad.

I was especially happy that Asa loved him as much as he did, even though Booth hadn’t been a constant part of his life up until the last ten months or so since he’d gotten out of the military.

At first, it’d been rocky. Asa wasn’t too sure about him, and it broke my heart.

He’d be willing to spend all day long with me, Bourne, or Delanie. Hell, even Booth’s parents. But Asa was wary of Booth. For good reason. Booth was an intimidating guy and had to work at toning down his scariness.

Though, I didn’t think that Booth could help it, per se.

That was just the nature of the beast when you spent that much time in a war zone.

I licked my lips, not wanting to think about those days where Booth’s eyes would look so hurt.

“So what happened?” I asked.

He sighed.

“Long story short, some chick and her husband were having a marital spat. He said she could sleep with other men. She didn’t want to. He thought since he said she could, that it meant that he could. So he sexes up some random chick in the lingerie department while the wife is trying on some bras. Fast forward to her walking in on hearing him have sex, and she just goes fuckin’ nuts.”

I stared at him in shock, dumbfounded by some people’s stupidity.

“And when we tried to arrest her after that, he opens fire on us, pissed that we’re taking away his wife.”

“That’s when you took the bullets to the chest,” I said softly.

He nodded. “That’s when.”

“Did the man die?” I asked curiously.

Was it bad that I wanted him to?

I mean, the man nearly killed Booth!

“No.” Booth leaned forward for his drink, and that was when I realized that I was still practically standing between his legs.

Before I plopped down next to him, I carefully gave him his drink.

Then I took my spot beside him before leaning forward and sucking some coffee from the coolest straw ever.

“Thank you,” he rumbled, taking small sips.

I leaned back and stared at him.

“I just…” I licked my dry lips. “I had to know, I guess. I feel stupid for not noticing before.”

He chuckled. “I think that mostly it was me not wanting to tell you. I knew that you looked. That was why I put Asa completely in front of me.”

I scratched my head, then leaned forward to drink the rest of my coffee.

The straw made amusing sucking sounds as I hit the bottom.

“Want some more?” he asked.

That I shouldn’t do.

Taking his shirt off had been the highlight of my day, though.

I really, really wanted to go to bed so I could dream about taking it off all over again.

That was about as close as I could ever come to having Booth Pena—in my dreams.

“Sadly,” I said as I picked up my cup, “I really have to go. I have to be up early in the morning. Even earlier than usual because I have to get the dogs into the kennels and get them fed and watered. Luckily, there’s one less that I’d have to take care of today because Delanie sold one to an ex-cop in Toronto. He came down early, and I had to do the whole spiel with him. I’m not sure how Delanie does it. I feel like a complete moron every time I try to make them sit or do something and they don’t pay attention.”