Chapter Eleven

Dee froze on the sofa, her giggles dying in her throat as she got up slowly and made her way to the front door.

Willing her hands not to shake to much she opened the door. A small white and tabby cat streaked passed her legs and shot into the kitchen meowing pitifully.

"I take it she's yours? and that I haven't just let some strange cat into your house?" Richie smiled as he looked at Dee. He was pleasantly surprised. She was about 5ft 5ins, with long wavy honey brown hair, a nice figure and a great smile.

"Dee, I take it?" he said standing on the doorstep, sunglasses hiding his brown eyes.

"Yes, and you must be Richie." she smiled, all sense of nerves forgotten and she welcomed him into the bright orange lounge.

"Nice colour scheme you've got going on here." he commented as he sat down on the lime green sofa, "but then I'm colour blind and it could be hideous." he said with a laugh.

"It is hideous, trust me. My flat mate Simon says it was here when he moved in but personally i think it's all him. He's got a shirt that matches the sofa you're on. Truly hideous." she grimaced at the thought of Simon's shirt.

"Looks kinda brownish to me." he said, looking at the worn fabric.

"it's lime green and nothing goes with it, except maybe a blow torch and some petrol...I mean gas."

Dee was stood in the middle of the lounge, torn between wanting to hug Richie and feed her cat.

"I won't be a minute, just gotta feed Stella before she goes nuclear." Dee smiled, walking into the small kitchen.

She reached up into the top cupboard to get a tin of cat food, swearing under her breath, cursing Simon for putting them out of her reach. Being over six foot he could reach them with no problems. Dee stood on her tiptoes and was just fumbling with the can when a large tanned hand reached over hers and handed the tin to her.

"Here, you looked like you needed a hand, so to speak." He spoke, his smooth yet smoky voice right behind her. She could feel the heat from his body and had to close her eyes to steady herself.

"Th..thank you" she stammered, taking the tin from him and popping the lid. The rich smell of cat food rose up and assaulted her nose and she moved back a pace automatically, right slap bang into his arms almost.

"Oh god, i'm sorry" she muttered as his arms came round her waist to steady her.

"You ok darlin?" he said, feeling her hair tickle his face.He caught a faint smell of roses and smiled.

Stella meowed louder at their feet, bumping into both of them impatiently.

"Oh Stellacat, just shut up will you. Honestly you'd think you'd never been fed. Ever. And I know Simon fed you this morning cause he told me so." Dee brushed past Richie to place a dollop of food in the cat dish where Stella fell on it greedily.

Her long hair covered her face which she was grateful for; as soon as his arms had come round her waist, she'd been totally lost and could still feel the burn of his arms around her waist.

Richie looked at the woman who had helped him through one of the worst nights of his life and smiled. He liked her. He liked the fact that she'd listened without judging him and had offered him a place to get away from it all without asking for anything in return. The fact that she was a cutie and nice to look at was a bonus. And if she turns out not to be a psycho then this could be a good night he thought as she stood up from feeding the cat.

"Tea or coffee?" she asked brightly, switching the kettle on.

Before she could reach for the mugs, Richie walked forward and hugged her tightly to him, burying his face in her hair.

"Thank you." he said, softly, as he felt her softness against him.

Dee was taken completely by surprise by the hug but wrapped her arms around his neck as he bent over to lay his head on her shoulder. He was thanking her?

"For what?" she whispered, feeling the warmth and strength in the man.

"For being there for me even though you don't know me. There aren't many people out there that would've bothered to call me to find out how i was doing, let alone let me rant in their ear for an hour or so. You're a kind person."

She smiled into his shoulder, loving the deep, rich, musky smell of him.

"You're so welcome. You sounded so much in pain on the phone I had to do whatever I could to help you." she said

They drew back from each other and smiled, both feeling a little embarrassed at having shown so much emotion to a stranger, but both feeling comforted by each other.

"I have to say I did know who you were when I called you." she said, feeling that the truth would be better, "My flat mate Simon works for the CSI Team and was there when she was brought in and I just put two and two together but please don't think I did this just because of who are you. I meant it when I said I just wanted to help you."

Richie looked at her, wondering whether she was going to turn out to be a psycho, but she looked so earnest and truthful that he let it go.

"Would you have called if I was just an ordinary Joe?" he asked, wondering why the hell he wanted her answer to be yes.

"Yes i think i would have. Not to sound to girlie but my heart went out to you and i wanted to make sure you were ok. You were my first 'Forever' call." she said, smiling up at him. Dee felt so at home with him, as if she'd known him personally all her life.

"Forever call?" he queried as she finally switched the kettle on.

"Yeah, there are some calls you remember forever; they'll never leave you. You were my first and i guess i got a bit carried away and..." she trailed off as she reached for the coffee.

"I'm glad you did. You got me through this morning and i don't think i'd've been able to if you hadn't been on the phone for me." he said, full of emotion as she carried their cups into the lounge.

Stella was asleep on the green sofa so Richie sat next to Dee on the other one. She looked at him with a query on her face.

"Hey I've learned you never get in the way of an animal and its sleeping place. Did that once before and I've still got the scars to prove it." he laughed as he put his coffee cup down on a side table and stretched out.

Dee was fascinated with his legs, they were so long.

"You've got great legs." she said, again not thinking, then blushed as he raised his eyebrows at her, a smile smile playing on his full lips.

"Oh I mean, being short like me, erm I really envy tall people." she blushed even more as she tried to climb out of the hole she'd opened up.

"Oh i don't know, you've certainly got other assets going for you." he replied, his eyes roving her body, causing her to blush even more. God she was really pretty when she blushed.

Dee reached for her cigarettes and lit one, feeling more nervous now that he was here in the flesh. She stared down at her bare legs as she sat cross legged on the sofa willing her heart to slow down. She could feel it thumping in her chest.

She'd changed from her sleep set after Simon had left the first time and had put on some tight cut off jeans and a vest top with the words "Grumpy but Gorgeous" printed across the front.

"So are you?" he asked, breaking her from her reverie.

"Am i what? she answered, wondering what he meant.

"Your top. Grumpy but Gorgeous. I can see the latter, so are you grumpy?"

"Oh this, it's part of a sleep set i had ages ago but i like it so much i wear it as a vest top, and yes i'm extremely grumpy first thing after being woken up." she smiled, brushing her hair over her shoulder.

"Ya know, Jon's exactly the same first thing. He's bitten my head off so many times in the past now I just don't bother to go and wake him up, I let David do it. He still hasn't cottoned onto that." he laughed, exposing perfect white teeth and a pink tongue.

Dee shivered slightly thinking naughty thoughts about his tongue. She mentally berated herself for doing so.

There was an awkward pause as both tried to think of something neutral to say to each other.

"Well this is a bit awkward isn't it?" Dee said and Richie drank his coffee.

"A little, yeah." he smiled, over the rim of the mug, causing her heart to flutter slightly.

"So what do you want to talk about?" she asked, smiling, flicking her hair over her shoulder.

"Ya know, i'm totally fed up with talking about me. Been doing that for the past four or so hours. I've never been one for interviews. I hate them, i get so nervous and uncomfortable doing them i just usually let Jon go for it and i'm quite happy to sit next to him and look pretty!!" he laughed, "And can that man talk. Give him the subject of himself and he's off for hours. Verbal diarrhoea the whole way." he looked deep into her eyes.

"Tell me about yourself."