"Maybe what you need," Marisol continued, her breath warm and wanting against his lips, "is a little distraction."
Yes, he thought to himself. A distraction. Something to take his mind away from everything else, something to stop him thinking about the blue eyes of a very different person and the idiotic smile that both drove him mad and made his heart come alive all at once. A distraction…
"Oh, yeah?" he asked, adding a teasing tone in an attempt to play the part.
She slid onto his lap and pulled the bottle free from his grasp before placing it down on the table. From there, she sat up and looked down at him, biting her lower lip as her eyes drank him in. Her fingers played across his chest, light and taunting as they moved lower and lower until they were gripping the bottom of his shirt and encouraging him to pull it off. He obeyed and allowed himself to relax further into the couch as she caressed his skin with kisses. Closing his eyes, he spread his arms out over the top of the couch and let her take the lead.
When her mouth finally claimed his, he pushed forward and kissed her back, his fingers moving up into her hair. He tried to ignore the tightening of his chest, and the way his mind kept bringing up flashes of images behind his closed eyes, instead trying to focus on the moment, on Marisol and those hands of hers that now found his belt. He tried to swallow the name that wanted to claw its way from his throat, forcing it into a ragged breath that was starved and wanting. And as he finally opened his eyes to see Marisol smile before moving to lay more kisses on his neck, he couldn't go on.
He stiffened, withdrawing from her spell, and pulled himself away. It wasn't until he was standing and on the opposite side of the couch, refastening his belt, that he found he had the strength to speak again.
"I can't," he breathed out, unable to look at her.
"I don't understand," she answered, pushing up from where he had abandoned her. "You can't, as in right now? Or you can't ever?"
He couldn't speak, couldn't bring himself to offer her up an answer, but truthfully, his silence was all the answer she needed.
"Right," she continued, letting go of a snort and snatching her bag up from the table beside the couch.
He went to grab her wrist, raising his gaze to meet hers, pleading settling in his eyes and voice. "Marisol…"
She pulled away easily from his loose grip and shook her head. "You know, I thought if I had you alone, I would be able to convince myself that I was the one you wanted. I really thought… But I see now that you were trying to convince yourself of the same thing."
"It's not…" he tried to say, but she cut him off by stepping closer and placing her hands on his chest.
She placed a kiss on his cheek and met his eyes. "Goodbye, Eddie."

.-.-.-.-.

Buck woke to the sounds of Chris calling to him from the kitchen of his small apartment and stretched out. He pried open his eyes and took in the rays of light streaming in from the windows, announcing a new day, and yawned through his lazy smile. He had set Chris up downstairs on the sofa bed – his newest piece of furniture since he had parted ways with Natalia.