Author: Liza C. E-mail address: liza_cameron@yahoo.com Title: Being Mr. Moss Category: sequel to A Chivalrous Outlaw and Introductions in Iowa Disclaimer:  This is just some not-for-profit fun done out of love and respect for the characters. Beta'ed: By Kim Summary: A Sequel to A Chivalrous Outlaw.  Josh and Donna have even MORE fun on the campaign trail.   As soon as Josh exited the pool area, he stopped, leaned back against the wall and softly, yet determinedly, banged the back of his head against it… repeatedly.  How was it possible that what had almost just happened… hadn't happened?  He'd been so close to kissing her.  So freaking close.  And he couldn't remember ever in his life desiring something so much. They had come so far in the space of one night.  They'd played, they'd laughed, they'd had fun and then… they'd been interrupted right before they'd almost gotten to the really good stuff.   Was this a capital punishment state?  He had no idea… mostly because at the moment he couldn’t remember what state he was in.  Best he didn't know, because if it wasn't, he might be tempted to go kill Will Bailey and his merry band of fun-interrupters.  Damn them!   Josh pushed himself off the wall and stood in the hall, his hands resting rebelliously on his hips.  He didn't want to leave. He didn't want the night to end.  However, he had no way to prolong it and nowhere to go. Donna was in some hot tub meeting that Will would probably make sure lasted hours, and he was wearing sopping wet underwear that were becoming supremely irritating.   Grudgingly, he started making his way down the hall. He had to go back to his own hotel and call it a night. The upside was that they'd both be in town for the next couple of days; maybe tomorrow night they could pick up where they left off tonight.  In the meantime, he'd do something grand, something romantic… a gesture to let her know he was thinking about her.  He briefly considered skywriting.  After a few seconds of deliberation he dismissed the notion as a tad over the top; apparently wet britches and almost kissing Donna could indeed do strange things to his brain. Instead he thought back to a different time and a different place and it occurred to him that flowers might do the trick.  So he settled on good old, boring, yet tried and true, flowers.  That seemed appropriate for an almost-kiss, didn't it?  If he sent her flowers, then hopefully she would get the message that the next time they met up, as far as he was concerned, there would be no almost about the kiss. *** Donna fidgeted in the elevator.  Under her sweats, the spandex of her wet, one-piece swimming suit was clinging to her stomach and was now quite cold and quite uncomfortable.  She was made no more comfortable by the truth that she and Josh had been very close to changing their relationship for good before they were unceremoniously interrupted.   Even though his lips had barely brushed across hers in the briefest of moments, she could still feel their warm caress and the way it had made her tingle all the way down to her toes.  Yup, the almost-kiss was still fresh in her mind and foremost in her thoughts.  And probably would be all night long and well into tomorrow.   That buildup of unreleased passion accounted for some of her discomfort, but she was also feeling unnerved about Will.  The look he'd given her once Josh had left the pool area had been hard and not a little probing.   While he didn't verbalize it, Donna was perceptive enough to realize that he wasn't thrilled to find Donna cavorting with the campaign manager of another campaign in the hot tub of a Holidome hotel. And the result had been that Donna had been reassigned.  She wasn't actually sure why it had happened, perhaps it really was just a coincidence, but Will had decided that she would be best utilized on a site survey of the southern part of the state instead of with the main campaign.  She would leave tomorrow around 8am and with her departure went any opportunity to see Josh for probably the next week, possibly even longer. There was just no telling when their campaign paths would next cross.  The frustration was enough to make her want to scream at the top of her lungs.  But she refrained, not wanting to disturb the other denizens of the Holidome that had already called it a night.  Maybe they could set up a special meeting somewhere? But that would mean making actual plans for a specific purpose, and she wasn't sure they were at that stage yet.  Had what just almost happened been a fluke of circumstance?  Hot water and near-nudity combined to make them behave in ways they would have otherwise regretted?  Boy, did she wish she'd done something worthy of regret.  However, she knew she wouldn’t have regretted anything, and she hoped that the same was true for Josh. Thankfully, the impromptu Russell meeting in and around the hot tub had come to a swift conclusion not long after it began.  By some accident of good fortune, one of the hotel employees had happened upon the after- hours gathering and asked that they obey the posted hours for the pool and scat.  She had actually used the word 'scat.'  Donna could have kissed the woman.  And apparently the woman had sensed this because she'd winked at Donna.  So either she'd intuited Donna's relief, or the woman played for the other team and Donna's contemplated gesture-of-gratitude kiss wouldn't have been entirely unwelcome.    Either way, Donna didn't care. She was just grateful for the reprieve from spending any more time with her campaign cohorts.  Knowing that she was headed back to the shelter of her own room, she sighed with relief.   Maybe she'd call Josh when she got there.  Knowing him like she did, she knew that he'd still be up, probably for several hours yet.   Finding the entrance to her room in the middle of the endless hall of matching doors, she flipped her keycard into the slot, only to have it rejected by a quiet buzz and a red light.  A small smile spread across her face as she was immediately reminded of Josh.  Yeah, she would definitely call him.  She needed to tell him that she was leaving tomorrow, anyway.  The second time she tried her key card, the light switched to green and she heard the inviting click.  As she opened the door, her heart hit her chest as panic overwhelmed her.  She screamed bloody murder. *** Admittedly, Donna was startled easily.  As a young teen she had been absolutely traumatized by movies like Halloween and Friday the 13th.  She couldn't sit through them without jumping out of her skin.  So in this instance, it wasn't really surprising that it took several seconds for her to catch her breath and shake the scare.  Still standing in her open hotel room door with her hand pressed flat against her chest, she screeched, "What are you doing?" "I was coming to let you in.  I heard you fiddle with the door."  His eyebrows were raised halfway up his forehead and his eyes were wide and had competing glints of concern and guilt in them. "Yes, I got that by the way you were standing full in my door when I opened it!  But why?  Why are you able to come let me in the door?  The door of my own private hotel room?  A room which nobody has a key to, but me?" "To surprise you?"  Uncertainty rang clear in his voice. "I was surprised…"  She nodded slowly.   "Anything wrong?"  Startled once again, Donna looked to her right only to see her next door neighbor, a man who looked to be in his late 50's and wearing only a wife beater and boxers, poking his head out of his door.   Donna flashed him her most contrite smile. "Sorry to disturb you, thought I saw a mouse. I was mistaken."   He grunted and closed his door. Quickly she stepped into her own room and shut the door behind her, lest any of her other neighbors became suddenly curious. "I thought you liked surprises?   Although, it appears I overachieved, once again, since you screamed like I was wearing a mask from… well… Scream.  Am I that scary looking?"  The uncertainty from a moment earlier was gone and replaced by an easy confidence. "Don't say Scream, you know what scary movies do to me."    Finally letting her eyes roam over him, she realized something was missing and, despite the cold wet swimsuit that still clung to her skin, felt a familiar flush of desire heat her throughout.  Still a little breathless-- whether from the fright or from something else altogether-- she charged, "And you're not scary looking – you're naked looking.  Why are you naked in my hotel room?" "I'm not naked."  He rested his hands on his hips with aplomb. "I'm afraid you are." "Afraid… are you afraid of my nakedness?"  As he cocked an eyebrow at her, she felt herself flutter in remote, but delightful, regions of her body. "No… I … uh…" She stuttered and then what he'd said registered and her eyes shot up to meet his gaze. "A-ha!" "A-ha what?"  He furrowed his brow inquisitively at her. "A-ha you just said 'your nakedness.'  You admitted you're naked!"  She exclaimed triumphantly as if she'd just been proven right on a disputed Trivial Pursuit question. "That isn't sufficient proof that I'm naked, especially when there is visual evidence that I'm not naked." "All you're wearing is a towel…"   "Yes." He nodded once, a slight flush of his cheeks the only indication that he wasn't quite as comfortable and confident as he was acting.  "A towel.  A towel is not naked." A broad smile worked itself all the way across Donna's face.  "Are you naked under the towel?"  She glanced down at the fluffy white piece of cloth that circled his waist and felt her breath catch as her eyes lingered on the smooth lines of his stomach.  She flashed back to the hot tub, to when her hands had freely roamed almost anywhere they pleased; the memory caused her to tremble slightly.  As her gaze continued to drift downward, what she saw next almost caused her to come apart. She stared at the indentation of his hip flexor right above the hem of the towel; she'd never had such a strong desire to run her tongue down anything in her entire life.  Would he protest if she just did it? "Donna… Donna, earth to Donna…" Her eyes snapped back up to his, where she was greeted by a bemused expression.  Immediately flushing red, she swallowed hard and fought to regain her composure. He must know exactly where she was looking and exactly what she was thinking.   "How…"  Her voice was froggy, so she cleared it quickly before attempting to continue in a composed and business-like manner.   "How did you get into my room so that you could be standing here naked, save for a towel." "The gal at the front desk gave me a key," he stated matter-of-factly. It took a second for that to register, before Donna fairly shrieked, "What!?" "She gave me a key."  He wandered over to the dresser and picked up the key card.  Pleased with himself, he handed it to her. "See." "Why… why would she do that?"  She demanded incredulously as she grabbed the key from him and examined it. His face clouded slightly. "Are you mad that I'm here?" "No," Donna replied quickly, her face softening as she sat down on the bed.  She only allowed herself to look at his face, lest she reach over and yank off his towel and pull him down on her.  "I'm not mad you're here, but I’m mad that the desk clerk will apparently give a room key to any random guy off the street who wanders into the hotel.  What if you were an axe murderer or… say… a spy, from a rival campaign?" "Oh… well, she didn't think I was a random, an axe murderer or a spy…"  He smiled at her roguishly. "She thought I was Mr. Moss."   "She thought you were my father!"  Donna shrieked again, leaping up from the bed. "No!" He squeaked indignantly, his eyes bugging out of his head.  "Why would she think I was your father!? I don't look old enough to be your father!"  He shook his head and put his hand on his chest, as his voice took on a hurt quality. "You think I look old enough to be your father?" Donna bit her lip, before breaking down into giggles.  He was positively adorable in a towel, taking umbrage at the thought of being called her father.    "Now it's funny that I look old enough, in your mind, to be your father!?" "I didn't say you look old enough to be my father.  You look…"  Her eyes started wandering down his chest once again and she quickly realized that if she continued down that path she was going to jump him before she got an explanation for his presence in her room. "I look…" He prodded with a worried look etched across his face. "Very unlike my father."   Donna smiled and bit her lip shyly, but when she saw his grin get too large, she added, "My dad has more hair." When his eyes narrowed at her, she just shrugged and quickly continued. "But don’t forget, I'm not the one who thought you looked like my dad, the hotel clerk was." "Conchita." "Huh." "The hotel clerk.  Her name is Conchita." "Fine.  So Conchita is the one who though you looked like my dad." "What are you talking about?" "You said the clerk, Conchita, thought you were Mr. Moss." "Yes, she did think I was Mr. Moss!  But not Mr. Moss your father, Mr. Moss your husband!" "My hus…"  Donna's eyes went wide and her voice trailed to nothing.  Clearing her throat, she tried again.  "Oh… where would she get a crazy idea like that?" With a smirk, he asked, "It's a crazy idea?" "I… uh… well…" She sputtered before stopping and admonishing him exasperatedly, "Joshua…" "I mean, I am in your hotel room in a towel, so maybe it's not entirely a crazy assumption for Conchita to make, is all I’m saying…" "You weren't naked in my hotel room before she gave you the key!  At least I hope you weren't!"  With a thread of terror in her voice she pleaded, "Please tell me you weren't naked-" "Save for a towel," Josh interjected matter-of-factly. "Okay, please tell me you weren't naked—save for a towel-- in the lobby when she gave you the key?" "I wasn't naked in the lobby save for a towel.  I saved that for the privacy of your hotel room."  Donna rolled her eyes, but sighed with relief as he continued with his explanation.  "As I was leaving the hotel, to go back to my own hotel, I stopped at the front desk and asked the clerk if she knew of a florist in town." "A florist… why?"  Donna's forehead crinkled in an adorable manner that caused a stirring in Josh's soul this time, not his groin.   Even more than wanting this woman, he had missed this woman, missed everything about her. Laughing not at her, but with the joy of just being in her presence, he tightened his towel and leaned against the dresser.  "Because, Donnatella, I met this hot blonde from the Russell campaign and I wanted to send her flowers – try out my woo, see if I've still got it." "You never had it."  She shook her head but was completely betrayed by a brilliant smile that absolutely lit up her blue eyes.  It only took a couple seconds for her curiosity to get the better of her. "You were gonna send me flowers?" With pure mischief in his heart, he shook his head. "No, not you… the other blonde on the Russell campaign… the young one with the short spiky hair… she's hot!  What's her name? I'll need that for the card," Josh queried with deadpan delivery. Donna froze for a second before she saw him smirk.  She tried swatting at his shoulder in retaliation, but Josh caught her arm before she made contact.  Slowly, he let his fingers trace down her forearm until he reached her wrist and eventually linked his fingers with hers.   Donna's eyes found his and her heart lurched. "Yes, I was going to send you flowers." "Jooooosh," she drawled as she squeezed their linked fingers.  "That is so sweet." He beamed back at her.  "I know." Pressing her lips together to suppress a grin, and shaking her head slightly at his ego, she attempted to get back to the heart of the matter.  His presence in her room. "But that still doesn't explain when we got married and you became Mr. Moss." "She knew you.  Hotel clerk Conchita knew you." "Apparently not very well if she thought I had a Mr. Moss…"  Donna replied haughtily, but Josh ignored her tone while he lazily traced circles with his thumb across the back of her hand.  That distracted her for several lengthy moments, before she finally remembered that she wanted answers and admitted, "I arranged for all the rooms and the conference space so I dealt with her earlier, but I didn't tell her there was a Mr. Moss.  When did she marry me off and turn you into the bridegroom?" "Apparently, there are security cameras in the pool area." "So?"  Donna shrugged, before dawning hit and her eyes went wide. "Oh!" "Yes… she saw us… in her words 'dandling' in the hot tub." Blushing furiously, Donna bit her lip. "She saw us… almost…" "Yup." "I see." "And she also saw me come in earlier and go directly up to your-- I mean our-- room and she assumed we were married." Josh shrugged with put-on innocence.  "And I didn't disabuse her of the notion." "That's it?" "Hmm… I also might have told her your ogre boss was making you work late." "I've had many an ogre boss that have made me work late," Donna interjected dryly. "Yes, but you enjoyed working late for that ogre, this ogre was coming between some very important… dandling."  Josh enjoyed that Donna blushed once again.   "Anyway, she kindly offered to take care of it for me.  She told me to go on up to the room and you'd be up in a jiffy." "A jiffy, huh?"  Thoughtfully, Donna nodded with new understanding. "I guess that explains the wink." "What wink?"  Josh asked suspiciously. "Nothing."  Donna shook her head to clear it. "That still doesn't explain-" "That's when I pretended that I'd left both keys with you back at the pool. She obliged with a new key and I decided to follow her orders and come up here and wait for you."  He moved even closer to her and didn't stop until they were separated by only a few inches.  Letting go of her hand, he brought both hands up to her shoulders. "Just following orders, huh?"  Donna asked huskily as her stomach muscle clenched and a thousand butterflies flitted across her abdomen at the intensity of the way he looked at her.  Not to mention the proximity of his nearly naked presence. "Did she also order you to get naked?" "No…"  Josh's voice was barely above a whisper.  "That was my brilliant idea." "Because you figured I wouldn’t be mad that you broke in… if you were naked?" "Because I was wearing dripping wet boxers and that doesn't exactly make for a comfy outfit. And once they were off…  I didn't have anything else to put on.  My pants were pretty wet, too.  And I left the plaid boxers with you." "Pretty convenient scenario, Lyman." Donna raised a cool eyebrow at him playfully. "It was your idea that I swim in my boxers to begin with, thus creating the necessity for near-nakedness now!"   There was a slight huff to his defense and Donna couldn't hide her amusement.  "Now you're laughing at me?" "Yes, I am."  She brought her hands to rest on his waist, just above where the towel hit, caressing small circles on his warm skin with her palms as she admitted, "But I guess that's a good reason for you to be nearly naked." Training his gaze on her, Josh slowly ran his hands from her shoulders, up her neck and finally came to rest on her cheeks.  When he saw her eyes go dark with desire, he ventured, "We almost kissed tonight." Her breath caught in her throat, but she commanded herself to stay calm.  "I know… I was…uh… there."   When he didn't say anything she continued, "So are you here to kiss me?" He took a half-step closer to her and looked intently into her eyes.  "I'm here, Donnatella Moss, because after I left you earlier, I couldn't imagine going to bed another night still never having kissed you." Donna's heart flipped completely over and did a spin in her chest.  "That is the sweetest, sexiest thing anyone's ever said to me, Joshua… Moss."  A low chuckle escaped his throat at that before he turned completely serious. "So, you'll let me kiss you?"  Josh's hands were still cupping her face and he slowly caressed her cheeks with his thumbs. She nodded, breathless with anticipation for an experience that she had wanted for so very long and until five days ago had given up hope on completely.   Josh gently pulled her forward. Donna closed her eyes and parted her lips slightly.  Wasting not another second, he closed the distance between them. Once again his lips had exerted only the barest pressure on hers when he felt them move against his… but not in a good way.  Instead of participating in the kiss, they formed the word, "Wait!" Josh froze, fought for control and then leaned back slightly so that he could see her. "What's wrong now?" "This is our first kiss." "Yes, it would be if we ever got around to having it." "Our first kiss should be special," Donna stated concisely. "This isn't special?"  Josh questioned. "Because it feels pretty special from over here." "No… I mean, yes, it's inherently special… but it could be more special." "How?"  Josh sighed as he reached up to trace her hairline with his index finger and flip a still damp strand behind her ear. "How could anything be more special than this?" "I could not be in a cold, wet swimsuit that's about to start chafing." "Oh…"  He crinkled his forehead, before a grin broke clean across his face.  "Don't let me stop you from taking it off…. I would hate for you to be uncomfortable. Or for there to be… chafing." "Good, I'm glad you understand… I'll be right back."   Donna started for the bathroom. "Hey, where are you going?  I thought you could take it <