summary: while things are getting heated between the couple, lassiter finds out that marley has a certain appreciation for an aspect of his uniform
warnings: implied smut
a/n: i’m sure I’m not the only one who froths at Lassiter when he has his jacket off and sleeves rolled up (especially when he’s wearing his holster and sunglasses 🥵) so this is for those who feel the same way <3
The bedroom door was pushed open by Carlton’s shoulder, his hands busy supporting Marley as she held herself to him with her arms over his shoulders and her legs around his waist. What had begun as a simple after-work greeting in the living room had quickly escalated to a heated make-out session on the couch.
After the removal of her shirt and his tie and jacket, Marley had suggested they move to the bedroom between kisses. Not wanting to part with her, Carlton had tightened his grip on her rear and stood up with her in his arms, forcing her to wrap herself around him in surprise at the sudden movement.
He made his way across the room and lowered them down onto the bed, only parting his lips from hers as he leaned back on his knees above her to remove his holster.
'Wait,' came Marley's breathless command as she reached to stop his hands with her own.
'What's the matter, is something wrong?' came Lassiter's equally breathless question, afraid he'd done something to ruin the moment.
'No! Nothing’s wrong, I just...' her words trailed off as she broke eye contact, biting her lip as she turned her head to the side.
'Hey,' he reached out and cupped her cheek in the palm of his hand, turning her head back towards him to meet his eye as his thumb gently stroked her cheek, 'talk to me.'
She bit her lip, and he could see the apprehension in her eyes as she tried to work up the courage to say what she was thinking.
'Do you promise not to laugh at me?'
'Baby of course I won't laugh at you, you can tell me anything,’ he was almost offended by the idea that he would laugh at her during such an intimate moment. Sure, she had gotten a laugh or two out of him before in the bedroom, but that was when she was actively trying to mess with him, not when she was having a moment of vulnerability.
'Okay, well, I just-' she pursed her lips, glancing away for a second before returning to meet his worried gaze, 'would you mind if, I mean would it be okay if you... left the holster on?'
It took Lassiter a moment to process her words, he didn’t know what he was expecting her to say but it wasn’t that. She wanted him to leave his clothes, namely his holster, on while they had sex?
His lack of response starting to make her fear the worst, Marley started trying to backtrack.
'It was just an idea! I completely understand you not wanting to bring work into the bedroom, I've just always thought you looked so hot in it so I thought- it's fine, just forget I said anything!'
Lassiter remained kneeling over her, his knees on either side of her thighs as he took in this new information. It was a bit hard to think with a good percentage of his blood having already made its way south, but as he took a moment to jumpstart his brain, he was able to think back to the times in the past he had forgone a jacket around her, his holster out in the open. Now that he knew what to look for, he realised that on those occasions she had acted a bit strange around him, though the reason had eluded him at the time.
'You think it's hot?'
His question made her pause. Her plan for how she was going to escape from under him, pack her bags, and get the hell out of dodge after embarrassing herself like that was put aside so she could answer him.
'Well, yeah. I mean, I don't know what it is but whenever I see you in it my brain stops working. I don't know how many times Juliet's had to nudge me to get me to focus when you're like that, especially when you have your sleeves rolled up as well, like, wow.'
It was his turn to feel a bit bashful, not used to receiving such open praise. His cheeks gaining a red hue from their rising temperature.
'I didn't realise it had such an effect on you,' he coughed out, trying to hide his embarrassment.
She scoffed at his comment, 'you'd be the only one. The guys love to tease me about it, the bastards. Funniest thing in the world to them.' Her own embarrassment faded in favour of her annoyance at the thought of the two jackasses she called friends.
Still mulling it over, Carlton came to the conclusion that he liked the idea. He would never admit it out loud, but the holster did make him feel good about himself. Something about it making him feel manly, like he was in one of those old-school noir detective movies, that he was untouchable. It was certainly flattering to hear that she had been thinking about this for a while, something he had never really given a second thought to before this moment.
'It's alright with me, if you're sure.'
His comment brought her back from her stewing over the boys teasing. Her eyes lit up, though she kept her tone level, 'I am. But don't feel like you have to do this, I did kind of just spring it on you.'
He was becoming more eager the more he thought about it, ‘trust me. It's more than okay with me.'
'Alright then,' feeling her confidence coming back and excited for what was to come, she reached up to thread her fingers through the hair on the back of his head, leading his lips back down to hers, purring out before they connected ‘what you say goes, detective.’
Fuck. There goes the rest of his blood. For all her talk of not wanting to bring work into the bedroom, the minx had no problem using his title to stir him up.
~}i{~
They lay in bed afterwards, Marley lying on his bare chest. His shirt and holster gone to make their reclining more comfortable.
'Any other little fantasies I should know about?'
‘Wouldn't you like to know.'
'I would, actually. Considering they concern me.'
'Hmm, is that what you think?'
Though he knew she was teasing, the idea that she even entertained thoughts about other people bothered him. The possessiveness he felt over her rearing its ugly head.
'Well I should hope so.'
Noticing the slight edge to his voice, but knowing he wasn't truly upset, she decided to try another method of teasing. One that had a track record of turning him into a pile of mush.
'Oh baby, of course they involve you,' she peppered kisses along the underside of his jaw, 'there's no one else I'd rather be with! Besides, part of me is worried that if you knew how much I truly liked you I'd scare you off.'
Her teasing had it’s intended result, the man practically melting under her attention, but her words about scaring him off kept him present, ‘impossible. Do you know how long it took for me to find you? For us to finally get together? I hate to be the one to tell you this, but you're stuck with me.'
'Hmm I don't know, I think it's the other way 'round. If I had to go back out there and find someone new, I think I'd just throw in the towel and join a nunnery.'
Though the idea of her in a habit was amusing, it just didn’t seem right to him, 'I don't see that happening. You'd be a horrible nun.'
'I beg your pardon? I'd be a great nun!'
'Oh really? You curse like a sailor, love sleeping in, and despise strict rules and routines,’ he couldn’t hold back the teasing smirk and coy look that appeared on his face for his next argument, ‘plus you always take the Lord’s name in vain, five minutes ago being the perfect example.'
She couldn't argue with his first three points, but the last one made her slap his chest. The cheek of this man!
'Oh be quiet! It’s not like I heard you complaining. Besides, I think I’d join one of those monasteries out in the countryside, where I can tend to the farm animals and spend time in the garden alone and at peace with no one to offended with my un-Christlike behaviour.’
‘I hate to break it to you, but you don’t exactly have a green thumb either. You’d be locked inside where you couldn’t kill any of the plants.’
‘For Christ’s sake, can you not just let me dream?’ she rolled away from him, landing back on her pillow with a huff.
‘And there we go again with the Lord’s name in vain.’
Done with his teasing and lack of support for her dreams of what could be, as unrealistic as they might be, she sat up and smacked him with her pillow.
‘Alright alright, I’m sorry! You’d be a fantastic nun, they would be lucky to have you tending to their fields,’ he placated her with a laugh.
‘Thank you. That’s all I wanted to hear.’
‘I can’t support the idea though. It would be a great loss to society to have you hidden away on some farm.’
‘Hmm, you’re right. I’d miss Juliet too much. And who would stop the boys from killing themselves in some kind of freak accident?’
He took a moment to consider her words, finding the picture she painted quite appealing, ‘you know what, maybe it wouldn’t be such a loss to society after all.’
I finally managed to put in a lifeguard chair at the beach, yay! Also...I've finally made it to the end of round one in St. Bernie! Here we are with our last household, the Williams and I am DREADING it! I had no idea what my SP would get me into when I added this nice little bin family to my playable population, but as you may recall, in the Snooty rotation Aimee gave birth to triplets!!! And that's on top of Malika, who is a toddler when they are first loaded and son Myles. So...They have two toddlers and three infants and I am certain I'm going to lose my mind keeping them all happy this round!
Right outta the gate! Yes! Does this mean you've been earning lots of money writing, Marley? Please let this mean you have lots of money stashed away! Your family lives in a pretty small two bedroom with only one crib for all those kids!
No such luck...How about inventory...anyone got anything of worth??
Of course not...facepalm! Ugh, what am I going to do!!??
Just look at little Malika! She is BEGGING you guys to get a bigger house!
Aimee looks a little over this cute cottage too...
Yeah, I might have to actually intervene in this situation. Don't worry, I'm not letting you off that easy though! I'll float you a loan, but you'll have to pay it back every tax season to keep gameplay as realistic as possible!
Poor little Martina, just laying in the middle of the kitchen waiting to get tripped over!
Okay, I'll take a hint. While you divy up time in the crib and take shifts sleeping and apply for that loan while you watch Freddie next door try to rescue Nickolas from the hail (geeze, Martina doesn't have it so bad by the looks of this!) I'll do some searching around for a good-sized family home!
Huzzah! Success! Now get those kids inside before the social worker gets called or something!
The poor babysitter is completely overwhelmed! I don't blame you, but...
Myles is starved for food and sleep!
Hey! Kizzy has earned a promotion! And Billy Bob is now a toddler!
Marley and Aimee split childcare responsibilities when they got home from work and crawled into bed completely exhausted after that eventful day, but I have a feeling they'll be getting a lot more rest now that all the children have a proper place to sleep and there's room for them to grow!
All is quiet here at the end of our first night with the Williams's.
