D E R E K ' S   P O V

"Anything?"

Penelope sighs over call and the sound of her fingers tapping against her computer travels through the intercom. "Nothing," She says, disappointed. "No results for the perimeters you gave me."

I look around the table at the team and the local authorities to see them all matching my defeated look. Earlier today we got called away to Louisville to investigate a string of murders in the area. After flying here, visiting the crime scenes and looking at the bodies, we've been at the police station for hours working on theories and suspects with no luck.

Across the table I catch Hotch checking his watch and I know he's about to call it a day.

"Alright, baby girl," I say, reaching over to place my finger on the end call button. "Thanks. We'll talk to you tomorrow."

Hotch's eyes float around the room while he gathers up his piles of files. "Let's all go get some rest," He says. "We'll start fresh in the morning."

Everyone begins to disperse from the table and the murmurs of everyone talking starts to crowd the room. I start to gather up all my things from the desk in front of me when there's a soft tap on my shoulder.

I turn to find Anna, the deputy chief of police, leaning into me slightly when she drops her voice and asks, "You down to hang out later?"

I'll try to make me in this situation sound the least douchey way I can. This job has us travelling a lot and once we wrap up our cases for the night, the rest of the day is ours so, dotted around the country in places we frequently end up on cases, I may have a few special friends I 'hang out' with in my spare hours. Anna being one of them.

My eyes float across the room to the team huddled up talking, before settling back on her. Usually, I'm all up for hanging with Anna, but I'm not feeling it tonight. "Nah, not this time," I say, giving her a small smile to let her down. "I'm really tired."

Anna's eyes travel to where I was just looking and she immediately takes a step back. "Oh," She says, wincing slightly. "I'm really sorry. I didn't realise."

She's looking at me like she just tried to seduce a married man so I laugh and catch her arm when she tries to turn. "Wait..realise what?"

For some reason Anna's eyes land on Layla, who's across the room smiling and laughing while engrossed in conversation with JJ. "You've never once looked at me like you just looked at her," Anna says, laughing quietly. "Not even when I was on my knees for you."

"It's not like that," I say, dismissing whatever look Anna thinks she saw. Yes, I may have caught myself staring at Layla a few times today myself, but that's only because she's a new face on the team. And that new face happens to be really beautiful. That's all it is. "We're friends."

"If you say so," Anna says, folding her lips into a thin line to keep herself from smiling. "Goodnight, Derek."

Women confuse me a lot. I know from Anna's expression that she thinks she's seeing something I'm not, but she slips out the door and is gone before I can question her further.

Shrugging the situation off, I saunter over to the team. "What are you talk about?" I ask as I approach.

"Where to go to dinner," Emily says, turning to face me. "Any suggestions?"

I purse my lips in thought. "That Asian place down the street was good the last time we were here."

"Yes," JJ says, smiling. "I loved their Pho."

As we all begin to walk out of the police station, I swing my arm over Layla's shoulder, looking down at her. "You like Asian food?"

"Let's get one thing straight," She says, falling in step with me. "I love food. All types."

I've never seen the mention of food make someone so happy. We can agree on that.

-

All full up on some amazing Asian food and drained from our exhausting day, we all finally make it to the hotel.

Hotch is checking us into our rooms while we wait in the lobby and when he turns from the front desk and only has three key cards, we're all confused.

"They double booked half our rooms," Hotch says, sighing. "Looks like we're going to have to share tonight."

Emily immediately swipes one of the key cards, trying to mask her excited smile. "JJ and I will share."

It's already a given that Rossi and Hotch are sharing, so that leaves me and Layla rooming together. When this has happened before, I was always usually stuck sharing with Reid. I'm getting a much better deal now.

"What a shame," I say quietly to Layla, fighting back the devilish grin that threatens to spread across my lips when I take the last key card from Hotch's hands.

We all step onto the elevator and I wouldn't say there's tension, but something feels weird. Layla keeps shooting me quick glances, looking like she's about to burst to get something off her chest. Hotch and Rossi get off the elevator on their floor, followed by Emily and JJ at the next, and when the elevator door closes and Layla and I are alone, she finally gets out what she's been holding back.

"There's only going to be one bed in the room."

Example number two of women confusing me today. Sometimes they just blurt out things without any explanation. I blink at her. "What?"

Layla sighs, looking at me like I'm stupid. "I've read enough smutty romance novels to know what's coming. There's only going to be one bed in that hotel room."

I snicker at her connection. "What do you think our lives are? A smutty romance novel?"

My sarcasm is not appreciated and Layla narrows her eyes at me as the elevator dings. We both step off and follow the room numbers down to our door.

"Just you wait," Layla says, a smug smile on her lips while she slides the key card into the slot. "I'm going to be right."

"You're going to be wrong," I laugh because I've shared hotel rooms with probably everyone on the team and not once have I walked into the situation she's swearing is about to happen. "Layla, there's going to be—one bed."

The room is rather nice. Big windows, clean carpeting, a sofa and a television mounted on a neutral colored wall.. but yeah, Layla is right. There's only one bed in the centre of the room.

I sigh and I contemplate for a moment on offering to take the sofa for the night, like a gentleman, but that also means I miss out on an opportunity to share a bed with Layla. Not gonna happen.

So I shrug, step into the room and drop my go bag onto the bed.

"You're not going to offer to sleep on the sofa?" Layla says, mouth slightly hanging ajar as she bores at me in disbelief.

"The sofa?" I practically gasp. "Are you out of your mind?"

Layla's eyes dart between the sofa and the bed while she bites the inside of her cheek. "Fine," She says, walking over to the couch and dropping her bag onto it. "I'll sleep here."

It's kind of amusing that she doesn't trust herself to even sleep next to me, so much so that she would rather take the shitty sofa over the huge comfortable bed. But if she's willing to do that, I'm not a complete asshole so there's no way I'm letting her sleep on the couch.

"You take the bed," I say with a teasing roll of my eyes when I pick up and place her bag down on the mattress. "Dramatic ass."

Layla smacks my shoulder when she passes me. "I heard that."

I smirk. "You were supposed to."

"For that, I'm taking the shower first," Layla grins, heading towards the bathroom with her bag in hand.

I drop myself down onto the sofa, leaning back on my palms when I pump my eyebrows in her direction. "Put that shower head to good use and think of me while you're in there?"

Layla laughs, shooting me a middle finger before the bathroom door closes behind her. I hear the water turn on and pick up my phone to reply to some emails to distract myself from the thought of her in there.

I'm lounging on the couch when the water turns off and throw my phone down when the bathroom door opens. Layla steps out, wrapped up in just a white towel, water droplets coating her collar bone, damp hair brushed out of her clean face. She looks hot all the time, but something about this look really has me staring. So naturally, I give her a low whistle while my eyes drag up her frame.

"Shut up," She laughs, rolling her eyes at me. "I need your shirt."

I'm all for her just dropping the towel. "Why?"

She shifts on her feet, shrugging. "I usually sleep naked so I didn't bring any pyjamas."

I groan at the mental imagine that's now clouding my mind, digging my palms into my eyes. I am now going to be thinking about that indefinitely. "You can't tell me these things."

"Get your mind out of the gutter," She snickers, placing her hands on her full, graspable hips. "Shirt, please."

With a sigh, I pull open my go bag and take out a fresh white T-shirt, placing it in her hands. She returns to the bathroom to change and steps out a few seconds later, swallowed by my shirt. It only falls to her mid thigh and my tongue sweeps across my bottom lip, wondering if she's even wearing anything underneath.

Layla flings her wet towel at me, laughing. "Stop staring at me."

I smirk as I pass her on my way to the bathroom to take a quick shower. "Then don't look so good in my clothes."

When the bathroom door falls closed behind me, I strip off and step into the shower. Turning the faucet, I jump back when the water hits my skin.

"Ow! What the fuck?"

"Are you okay?" Layla yells from the bedroom, concerned. "What happened?"

I'm sure I might have third degree burns on my skin from how hot she left the water in the shower.

I pull open the bathroom door, peaking my head out. "There is no way you enjoy showering in that temperature."

"I do," Layla shrugs, laughing. "It's a girl thing."

Example number three of women confusing me today. There is no way a shower that hot can be comfortable.

So I turn it down to a much more normal temperature before stepping back underneath the water.

When I step back into the bedroom, Layla is in the bed, glasses perched on the bridge of her nose while she scrolls on her phone. I like seeing her when she wears her glasses.

She looks up at the sound of my footsteps, eyes falling to the towel wrapped around my waist. While she's still checking me out, I attempt to be nonchalant, but the smirk slowly creeping across my face gives away my true intentions.

Layla sits up straight, narrowing her eyes at me. "Don't do it."

My hand lets the towel fall loose and it hits the ground. "Oops," I say innocently, exposing every inch of me to her greedy stare.

Layla eyes are still narrowed slightly when she trails them down the tight ridges of my stomach before they zero in on what's between my legs. I watch her lips part and just when I'm about to make another teasing pass at her, she squeezes her eyes shut when a desperate, frustrated sigh falls from her lips, reaching over to turn off the bedside lamp. "Goodnight," She mumbles from where she's buried beneath the comforter.

I slip on a fresh pair of boxers before I prop the pillows up and settle onto the sofa. Even in the darkness, I'm sure Layla can still sense the satisfied smirk on my lips from knowing she wants me as much as I want her.

"Wake me up if you get too cold?" I say, tucking my hands beneath my head. "I know the perfect way to keep you warm."

-

A/N: don't hate me, I know I promised a little slip up, but the chapter got way too long so I'll be getting the next chapter up very soon ( probably tomorrow) , but I hope you enjoyed this chapter! :)