Steele Cooperative
By Nancy Eddy nancye@flash.net
Rating: R

<See? I CAN write short stories!>

As he heard the door to his office close with a decisive click, the great detective Remington Steele looked up from the mountain of files piled on his desk to see his assistant, Laura Holt, standing there, leaning against the panel. "Miss Holt. Come to help out with the paperwork, have we?" he asked in a disapproving tone as he returned his attention to the stack of case reports before him.

"In a way, Mr. Steele," she told him, and something in her tone caused him to look at her again. She sounded- sultry. Sexy. Her eyes held an open invitation.

"Laura?" he questioned uncertain of what to make of her words. He heard the lock of the door click softly, and then watched as she went to the door of her office to repeat the action. "Uh, Miss Holt-"

"Paperwork can be *so* stressful, Mr. Steele," she told him, slowly unbuttoning her white blouse to reveal the silk teddy beneath it. "I though you might need a little- stress relief," she suggested in a suggestive voice, lowering the zipper of her skirt to let it fall to the floor around her feet.

She came over to him, sliding the straps of the teddy over her shoulders and pulling her arms free. A light tug would easily remove the garment, Remington realized as she came around the corner of the desk to sit in his lap. "You know what they say. All work and no play-"

Remington found himself smiling. No way would he look this gift horse in the mouth. At last, his dreams were going to come true. He and Laura were going to make love. Here. In this office where they'd first met all those years ago. Lowering his head, he captured her lips with his, tracing hers with his tongue as she opened to him. Smothering a groan, he rose with her still in his arms and swept the papers off of his desk to clear it before joining Laura on the wide surface---

"Mr. Steele!"

Remington jerked his head up from the desk to see Laura kneeling before it, picking up scattered papers and folders. "Laura?" he questioned, confused. She was fully dressed, and glaring at him. "What happened?" he asked. "I thought-"

"You fell asleep," she told him. "And knocked every file that I had stacked on your desk onto the floor!"

"Oh," was all Remington could say, still trying to regain his equilibrium.

"Sorry."

"I knew this was a bad idea," Laura muttered. "How I ever let you talk me into letting you help with this backlog of paperwork-"

"I thought it was so that we could catch that flight to Vail tomorrow night?" he reminded her. "The paperwork *was* your reason for trying to worm your way out of spending time alone with me, remember?"

"I wasn't trying to *worm* my way out of anything, Mr. Steele," Laura declared, dropping the straightened files back onto his desk.

"Then how come every time we schedule a little time off, something always comes up? And if a case doesn't interfere, you invent a reason- like bloody paperwork! Do you want to know why I offered to help with this, risking paper cuts and ink stains on my hands?"

"I *know* why you did it, Mr. Steele," Laura informed him darkly. "To get me alone in Vail."

"No. It was because I'm beginning to think that the only way to your heart is through paperwork. Even if it means I have to read every bloody file in this office, I'll do it."

Laura stood there, surveying him for a long moment. "You would, wouldn't you?" she asked. "Read every file, I mean?"

"If that's what it takes, yes."

She leaned across the desk toward him. "Mr. Steele-?"

Remington hesitated a moment before leaning closer. "Yes, Miss Holt?"

"Do you think we could reschedule our flight to Vail?"

"Reschedule?" he questioned, disappointed, thinking that she wanted to delay the trip even more.

But her lips touched his before she said, "To an earlier flight?"

Remington smiled, curving his hand around her neck to pull her closer still.

"How soon can you be packed?"

The End

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