TITLE:  Nothing Expected

DISCLAIMER: The Pretender, Jarod, Miss Parker and everyone else you recognize do not belong to me.  I’m not making money doing this (surprise!), in fact, I think I should admit to losing money spending my time doing this.  Ah, well.

RATING: NC18

“How were the LVPD, Miss Parker?”

Regardless of the solitude of her office, she could feel the flush hitting her cheeks.  Even before she could answer, he continued.

“I’m just sorry that I wasn’t there to see it.”

“I’m sure you are.” She seethed.

A few seconds passed in silence as she privately relived the moments where she had argued with the officers that there was nothing for them to find with such a manoeuvre.  They’d eyed her with some trepidation, but had decided to let it fly, much to her relief.

“It’s a good thing my powers of persuasion are much stronger than yours.”

Jarod chuckled.  “Everyone’s just afraid of your knees.”

Her eyes narrowed and she grimaced.  “Trust me, Jarod.  The next time I’m in visual range, my knees aren’t something that you should be worried about.”

“You’d never shoot me, Miss Parker.”

“Don’t count on that, boy wonder.  There’s nothing I’d like better than to see you back here.”  She collapsed into her chair and turned to look out the window.  The grey coastal sky didn’t offer much of a view, but it was more relaxing than the pristine structure of the Centre that was behind her.

“Oh, I believe that,” he said with a note of laughter in his tone.  “But you’re not going to shoot me to get me there.”

And the confidence in his voice made her think about it.  She had believed that really thinking about catching Jarod would involve some sort of bloodshed, but the more she thought on it, the more she felt that if she could avoid it, no shot would be fired.  She didn’t like the thought of *shooting* him.  Everything that resulted in pain for him was suddenly a bad idea.

She bit her lower lip.

“You know, I’ve always wondered that, Miss Parker.”

A short bloom of annoyance disappeared as she listened to him.  “Wondered what, Jarod?”

“How is it really that you plan to bring me in?”

Miss Parker sighed.  “I’ll do it any way that I can.”

“Oh, I have no doubt about that.  You’re nothing if not stubborn.”

*** **** ***

The moments played by in his head and it seemed weird that his whole world would flutter on the wind like a leaf instead of falling like the ton of bricks that it felt like.  Some of the information that he had spent all his free time trying to find going up in smoke… literally.

Hatred had burned in his throat like acid as he had watched Miss Parker light the paper on fire.  But it wasn’t for her…

Never for her.

It was for everything that had made her believe that burning that information was the only way to go.  The institution and family that had hardened her curious nature, dulled the fire in her eyes into a cold steel and left her a bitter shell of the vibrant girl that he had known her to be was the real target of his hatred.

The pit of despair. The dungeon.  It was interesting to think that he knew the difference in the life of Miss Parker.

*** **** ***

He’d been so close.

Physically and emotionally, she thought that she’d never had him hit as close to the mark as he had while they were standing side by side.

*”How can you still trust him?*

It echoed in her head like an unending litany of pressure and, she hated to admit it, truth.  She didn’t know why.  At times like this, where idealists thought she should have done better than she had and realists thought that she never had a chance in hell, she wanted nothing more than to disappear into thin air.

Much like Jarod did with his life.

Good news traveled fast and Jarod’s deeds landed on her desk with alarming regularity before she even had a chance to figure out his city.  He popped up and then vanished with smoke his only evidence of existence.

Her head dropped backward on her couch and the soft rustle of her curtain registered only seconds before she understood the tickle of recognition slipping down her spine.

“I’m surprised you’re here.” She sighed, the tumbler of vodka and lime slipping slightly in her fingers as she brought it to her lips.

“I would hope so,” his voice was soft, and laced with not very much surprise.  “I hope that I’m not getting predictable.”

Her lips twitched and she sighed.  “Anything but, boy wonder.”

Lethargy wasn’t too big of a surprise, but the lack of a desire to point a gun at his head was.  She cracked an eyebrow to see his shadow looming over her from behind, the silver light of the moon casting an ethereal halo about him.

“Hi.”

Her eyes rolled in her head and she sighed again.

“So, seeing as I’m not gunning to shoot a hole in your head or lock you to a post, what can I do for you?”

He was silent for far too long and she found herself looking up at him.  He was watching her with such intensity that she almost felt exposed.  Her heart skittered and fell into the pit of her stomach for a short moment before she mentally kicked herself.

This is Jarod.

None of that, she chastised herself.

“I was just lonely.”

The irony of the statement made her laugh.

“So you came to see me?”

“Broots has Debbie and Sydney was still at the Centre; besides, they don’t hold quite the same allure, shall we say.”

She cocked her head to the side to gather a better look at him and cracked one eye to see his gaze.

“I’m sorry, did you say ‘allure’?”

Softly, he moved around the end of the couch and settled just a few inches from her.

“Ok, yes.  But let’s just say that I had a purpose?”

“What would that purpose be?”

He leaned in to her personal space and cocked an eyebrow.  “Do you remember when we were little and I had just met you?”

Her eyes slipped shut and she took in a deep breath.  “What about it?”

“Did you know who I was?”

Thick silence descended and in the darkness of her living room, he watched her heart beat against her throat. 

She hadn’t even turned on lights when she had come in the door from the Centre; he’d watched her as she’d moved to the cabinet.  Ice had rattled against the crystal and vodka had slipped over the cubes with the softness of rustling silk.  His nerves had already been frayed when he’d had to stand in the shadows waiting for her, but to hear those sounds, feel the gentle rush of wind from the door, his senses were on high alert.

And not just for things around himself. 

Mostly for anything involving her.

He watched her bite her lip.

“Daddy said that he wanted me to meet someone… special.”  She took another sip of her drink and sighed, allowing the glass to rest on her thigh.  He watched her, absorbed her and took in all the movements about her.  “School was boring.  None of the other girls understood me when I talked about Daddy and Mom and spending time at the Centre.”  Her head rolled to the side and she looked at him through barely open eyes.  “So meeting someone who was already in the Center…  I didn’t care who it was.”

She sighed and stood, slowly moving towards the cabinet where she began to fill her glass again.  Jarod held his breath as the glint from her weapon caught his eye, but she moved back to the couch and settled in the bend between the arm and the back, her feet tucked in front of her.  Childishly, she pulled her knees to her chest and laid her chin on top.  Her right hand held her drink and her left arm wrapped almost fully around her legs.  In the darkness, her light blue eyes were shades darker, but burned with just the same intensity as always.

“You were different.  Nothing like I expected.”

“I always surpass expectations.”  He smirked.

Lazily, she blinked and slowly smiled.  “You could say that.”

He was surprised by her willingness to tease him.  It was the alcohol, he supposed, watching her take another sip.

“I’d never seen a girl before.”

Miss Parker’s lips twitched.

“Really.”

“Oh, I believe you.” She said, keeping her eyes squarely on him.

Suddenly they were both back in that room; Jarod on one side of the glass and her on another.  Jarod couldn’t seem to take his eyes off of her, impulsively reaching across the space between them to touch her; gently, calmly on the wrist.  Her eyes fluttered closed and she sighed heavily.  His touch was fleeting, slight and his breathing was so shallow that she couldn’t keep track of it.

When she opened her eyes, he was gone.

*** **** ***

“Don’t be so cocky as to think that next time I won’t shoot out your kneecap.”

“Oh, Miss Parker.  Where’s the love?”

It took all of her will not to say something on this line and she swallowed thickly.

“Where’s the Pretender?” she tried instead.

“Now, now Miss Parker, you don’t think I’ll fall for something so… simple, do you?”

“You make mistakes too, Jarod.”

“You will have to work a little bit harder to get me to slip up on something like that, Miss Parker.  Really, I’m sure you could come up with something a little more convincing.”  Jarod’s voice dipped a little and she tried to ignore the tremble of *something* that landed in the pit of her stomach.

“I think your mind has gone off on a little journey, Jarod.”

“Ah, a journey.  Hmmm.”  Something clicked in the background and Miss Parker picked up on the sounds

“Where are you?”  she asked in all seriousness.

“I’m at O’Hare.” He admitted, his voice quieting a little before continuing to taunt her.  “But really, I’ll be gone before you can get anyone here.”

“Oh, I believe you.  You’re not stupid like that.”

“Why, thank you, Miss Parker.”  He seemed almost pleased with her compliment.  “I’m thinking that a little sunshine will do me some good.”

“Mmm, I can see that.”

“And when was the last time that you had a vacation, Miss Parker?”

“I’m sorry, a vacation?”

“Yeah, you know.  Sun, sand, water and nothing to do but sleep and dream.”

She breathed so deeply that he paused, and waited for her to continue.

“Check the mail alone today, Miss Parker.”

*** **** ***

The risk was something that he had wagered on.  He was betting on the battle within herself taking her to the resort by herself while she figured out if she was going to capture him or let her feelings take over her.

She knew, as well as he did, that the danger of trying to pull this off could kill them both.  But she was ignorant enough to think that maybe there wouldn’t be any repercussions for succumbing to his little ploy.

And still she found herself stepping out of the airport in her suit, her hair reacting almost immediately to the humidity of the warm ocean air.  Glancing down at the rumpled and well-eared brochure that had sat in her hand for the 15 hour flight from San Francisco, she took in a very deep breath.  She knew now, that if Jarod had wanted to disappear from the face of the earth, it was big enough to swallow him whole.

Question was, what was stopping him?

*** **** ***

She caught sight of him from nearly a mile down the beach.  Three years of catching sight of him running in the distance had imprinted his figure on her brain.  Allowing herself a short indulgent second, his form jogged steadily along the breakwater towards her.

He was only a hundred feet away when he saw her and stopped, a particularly vibrant wave crashing around his ankles.  He froze there, his head cocked to the side as he watched her inch along the burning sand towards him.  She’d taken a moment to stop in her pre-registered room and change into something more fitting the beach.

He seemed intrigued.

“Hi.”

“Jarod.”

He paused for a moment and cocked an eyebrow.  “You don’t seem to be hiding a gun anywhere.”  She almost felt alive when his eyes fell along her body, nerves tingling with suppressed excitement.  She could feel everything about herself drifting off into the salt air, clinging to her like the last vestiges of control before evaporating into nothingness.  Her eyes slipped shut in the brightness of the sun before he stepped up to her and cast her into shadow.  He fidgeted within inches of her, before awkwardly continuing, “How was your flight?”

She ignored his attempt at niceties and slipped right into what it was that she was thinking when she stepped off of the plane.  “Why haven’t you disappeared yet, Jarod?”

His eyes dropped to the sand between them and she had a good moment to examine his profile before he cleared his throat.  “I would have thought that that was obvious, Miss Parker.”

“Not so much, no.”

A flush ran up his chest, though from the sun or not she couldn’t tell.  The light fabric of her sarong tickled her calves as she stepped out from his shadow and absorbed the rays of sunshine that were baking the nerves on her feet.  She could feel him standing behind her, could almost taste the tension that he was emitting and then, feeling her ties to the real world dissolving with the heat of the sun, she reached blindly behind herself and took his hand on the first try.

*** **** ***

His arms were braced behind him, the heat of the sand beneath him sucking the tension from his muscles.  Beside him, Miss Parker lay on her back, her head even with his hip.  There were no sunglasses, no heavy suits.  He was seeing more of her skin in this moment than anything that he had dared himself to think of.  He wasn’t doing anything more complicated than trying to understand the freedom that being in sunlight gave him.  Spending thirty some-odd years in the dark, damp underbelly of the Centre had given him no understanding of the slight sting a bright day could render to ones nerves; and how alive that could make one feel. 

It was particularly sharp today and he revelled in it.

“Did you hear of my pretend in Clear Bay?”  He asked out of the blue.

Her fingers traced the outline of his, the complete and utter relaxation that was melting her bones caused little pellets of sweat to pop on her skin.  Determined to allow her mind to think on anything other than the cold, sterile building half a world away, she looked up at him through her eyelashes.

“Mmm?”

“It was just last month.”

“Mmm.” She encouraged him.

He watched the engaging play of shadows from the trees behind them dance over her face for a long moment before continuing.  “I always wondered what it was that made people like that tick.  What is it that spins their lives from something carefree and beautiful into a hurtful, spiteful, vindictively fuelled day-to-day existence?”

She was silent for a long moment, her breathing thick in the humid air.  Pursing her lips, she tipped her head so that he forehead was resting against his thigh.  “After living in the Centre, you still have to ask that question?”

“Mmm.”  He waited for a moment, “You seemed to turn out fairly well.”

She gasped and perched herself on an elbow to allow herself to look up at him.  “Excuse me?  Did you say ‘fairly well’?”

He leaned forward into her space, his dark eyes lighting on hers with a playful glint.  “There’s always room for improvement.  For example,” he leaned back onto the sand, his hands going behind his head, “In the last four hours I’ve seen you smile more than in the last three years.”  He turned his head slightly to catch hers again and smiled at her.  “I’d say that that’s a definite improvement.”

Slowly, with understated thought, she turned onto her stomach and moved her way up closer to him.  His eyes never left hers but he could feel his heart rate skip a little closer to his ribs.  “And you?  What’s your improvement?”

Thick air slipped out of his lips as he thought of the heat that was radiating from the woman beside him.  Nothing was quite so attracting as feeling the natural heat of an internal supernova sliding along his side, he decided, allowing one hand to threaten touching her.  He held it still, an inch from the straggling locks of dark hair that whispered with the breeze.  A little tip of her head, the temptation was given in to and the hair was spiralling through his fingers with a soft slip of his stomach, lower in his torso.

“You are.”

*** **** ***

The food was settling nicely in his stomach and there was nothing he would like more at the moment than to slip between the cool sheets of his bed and collapse.  Clinically, he was sure he had some heat stroke, physically he was wonderfully lax.

Steel-strong fingers curled around his biceps and suddenly, miraculously, the desire for bed was altered.

Though the bed was still prominent in his mental meanderings.

His inexperience with women reared up and struck him with insecurity and panic.  He felt himself mentally slipping into an unbalanced free-fall for a split second until the pull of her lips, the wine and the press of her body hauled him back.  Shock and desire cracked his instability and he crashed into her.

He knew that she could feel his hesitation, though all he could suddenly feel was the intense ignition of all of his nerves at once. 

So he focused himself, slipped into a space in his head that allowed him to rid himself of his insecurities and become something that he wasn’t.

Suddenly, she was gone and he opened his eyes to find her staring at him with a new glare; a new fire that sparked in her eyes and did more to his heart rate than anything he had ever seen from her before.  Her fingers slipped down his chest and opened the door behind him, pushing him inside.  It automatically closed, leaving both of them in the dark.

He liked the dark.

Until he realized that when he couldn’t see, everything else about him was amplified a hundred times.  He could smell the alcohol on her breath and feel the whispering trails of her hair on the backs of his hands.  The lingering taste of her kiss on his lips echoed around the hollow of his mouth while he listened to the ragged intake of her breath when his fingers danced accidentally across her breast.

It seemed to snap something almost audible and she yanked him towards her, fingers curling into the soft fabric lining his chest.  Still, the heat of her fingers burned him, lit him afire and he tried to swallow the involuntary moan that was sparked by her aggression.  He couldn’t help his physical or vocal response to her and it seemed, judging by her own swallowed moan, that she didn’t seem to mind.  Everything crumbled at his feet and then coalesced in perfect clarity.

He wanted her with a passion that left him breathless.

Hesitancy evaporated and he kissed her ferociously, tasting everything about her that he had wondered on the last ten years.  She answered, met and raised his attentions, her fingers divesting him of his shirt easily.

Amazingly, so did hers; even with trembling fingers.

Darkness clouded his sight of her figure, shrouded what he wanted to know, wanted to see.  Everything wanted to meld into one experience and he wanted to know everything.  Still he waited, feeling the fabric around his waist loosen and slip down his thighs, landing on his feet.

He couldn’t stop himself from kissing her, devouring her with a hunger that had manifested suddenly after lying dormant for a decade.  Fingers curled into his scalp, sharp enough to shatter the surreal aspect of the moment and bringing him back to a reality that consisted of him, her and a bed.  Shedding her of her skirt, hungry hands cupped her breasts until she groaned with the pressure.  He savoured the texture of the bra before getting annoyed and roughly searching for the clasp behind her.

She chuckled, something deep and throaty and ultimately a bedroom laugh that made him lick his lips.  It dropped useless to the floor between them and he ushered her backwards to the bed, feeling – more than seeing – her fall to the mattress before following her.  She pushed herself up to the headboard and reached over to turn on the lamp, startling him with the sudden vision of her naked torso.

She looked at him from between the peaks of her breasts, watching him take her in with a childish curiosity.  She knew that he had been with other women, had spent time as a man romancing the other sex in one of his pretends, but this was something she had never seen in anyone’s eyes before.  Like the discovery of ice cream, chocolate or donuts, Jarod’s senses took in every aspect of her that he could possibly absorb.

Kissing her stomach, he journeyed over her skin, higher still till the flavour of her breasts intoxicated him and he stayed to savour the taste.  Her fingers laced through his short hair, nails imprinting half-moons into his scalp and urging a strangled groan into her skin and out of her chest.

His fingers trailed down her sides and caught her underwear, pulling them passed her hips, her thighs and takings his lips from her skin as he withdrew the clothing from her.

Again he found himself looking up her body, along her legs, along her chest and licking his lips, he began his tasting again.  Her neck craned as his teeth nipped and suddenly, her ankles hooked up under his arms, tugging his awkwardly upwards.  She lost her grip and he fell clumsily on her lower body, his arms barely catching himself over her hips.

His bit his lower lip and looked up at her uncertainly.

“Do you…” he stopped, feeling at a loss for words.

He watched as she watched him, and smirked.  “Do you need me to teach you?”

If he hated that he was so hesitant, he deplored that she was so sure of herself.  Looking at her, there was nothing he wanted more than to wipe that smirk from her face.

His dipped his head, and immersed his sense in everything surrounding him; musk, salt, breath, silky skin and radiant pulses all along and just under her skin.  His tongue kissed her deeply and he smiled as her legs melted against him, her muscles relaxing as he tasted and kissed her.  The experience left him breathless; the tumult in his heart rivalling his first ride on a roller-coaster.

Yet so much better.

Suddenly, her hips flexed against his chin, her thighs tightening around his head and there, under his tongue he felt her fall apart in an infinitesimal explosion.  There was no sound, in fact, he found that she wasn’t even breathing and then, after long, shuddering seconds, her breath escaped and hissed out between her clenched teeth.

He rest his chin on her thigh and looked at her, eyes closed in relaxed bliss.  She was gathering herself piece by piece and he watched in guarded fascination as the hardness that used to be Miss Parker from Blue Cove, Delaware melted into the picture of beauty lying in satiated repose.  It didn’t take very long for her to realize that he wasn’t doing anything else, and she slowly turned her hooded eyes to look at him.

He smiled at her.

“I’ve been told I’m a quick learner.”

She growled and levered herself into a sitting position so that she could pull him up to her.  Before he could lay down again, her fingers were purposefully hooking into the waistband of his boxers and lowering them over his hips.

He’d come across his own arousal too often for him to count, but in the presence of a woman?  That was another thing entirely.  He didn’t have enough brain cells free to try and work his embarrassment away before she was ushering him onto his back, her hands hot and steady on his hips.

“Sit.”  She said without room for argument.

Caught between shielding his body’s response to her presence and obeying the no-nonsense order in her voice, Jarod found himself sitting against the headboard staring down at a vision of erotic intensity that left him without defence.  Her lips were burning him, searing his senses blinding him with a sureness that had always emanated from her pores.

Now it was on him and he could stop himself from responding in the most natural way possible.  Her fingers gripped his painfully, holding him blissful prisoner to her tongue’s manipulation as she kissed his erection.  He may have thought that any fight went out of his lax vocal cords, but he was mumbling and moaning and she was twisting his fingers with hers in sensitive response.  Everything gathered, coiled, tightened and then hit a merciful plateau under her lips.

“Parker,” he growled.

She paused and then glanced up at him innocently.

“I’m not eighteen, but I’ve only done this a few times; so if you’re expecting anything from me, you’re going to have to stop that right now.”

If he hadn’t been so embarrassed, he might have thought that she was humbled by his words.

Abandoning his arousal, she crawled up his body, her forearms pressing intimately against his sides as she held herself steady over top of him.  He took a hold of her jaw and kissed her hungrily, trying to suffuse the immense build-up of arousal in the satisfaction of other yearnings.  He tasted her like he’d studied nothing else, cataloguing her movements with certain touches, moans with specific caresses and how she was shaking with minute trembles from head to toe.

Having her there, poised above him with the same expectations as him, he took a hold on her hips and guided her down to him, allowing her to hold him against her.

As he was guided into her depths, he could feel her trembling continue, though much more intimately and with a greater impact on his own self-control.  Her head rolled back on her shoulders a nearly inaudible moan of contentment echoing through her chest until she was seated in his lap.

The sat still for long seconds and he hoped that his mouth wasn’t hanging open.

Slowly, nearly imperceptibly her hips began a shifting rock back and forth.  There was no encouragement for his own movements and in all honesty, he didn’t know if he would ever be able to make his lower legs function again.

He didn’t know if he cared in that moment.

With her hands on his chest, he could feel her rhythm in every plane of his body.  The chilled air of the room disappeared as he watched her sway above him.  As it had been for months, everything he did was focused on garnering a reaction from her; but here, he wasn’t doing anything and getting satisfactory results.  He decided that he might be able to sit here and watch her for a very long time.

He almost disassociated himself with his body when there was a change in pressure, a shift in motion and she was eyeing him sceptically.

“One might think that you weren’t enjoying this, Jarod.”

He cocked an eyebrow at her and smiled boyishly.  “On the contrary, if I allowed myself to enjoy this anymore, Parker, neither of us would be having much fun right now.”

She smiled in triumph and offered him a conciliatory kiss that quickly devolved into a messy duel for control.  He dodged and parried and leaned into her with precision that left her breathless and both of them lacking any form of control.

Slow and leisurely disappeared with amazing quickness.

Suddenly completion was right on the doorstep and their rhythm deteriorated into a push and pull of bodies knowing that ultimate contentment was just a few rough collisions away.

He lost his voice in the last few seconds; the white-wash of pleasure stealing control of his vocal cords and autonomic functions as he drifted away from her in his release.

The cool inhale of fresh air snapped him back into his body and he shuddered against her collapsed body; holding her possessively, intently, trying to grasp the enormous intimacy of their actions.

*** **** ***

The knock on her door snapped her eyes open from dreamless slumber.  Jarod was wide awake already, sitting beside her with his knees up to his chest, looking down on her.  She furrowed her brow and blinked before there was another knock.

“Parker?”

Even through the heavy door, she could tell that the person on the other side wasn’t good news.  Jarod recognized the voice too and was immediately grabbing his clothes, silently moving away from the door and into the bathroom.

Angrily, she grabbed a robe from her bag and stalked to the door.  She yanked it open and stared at the man on the other side.

“What the hell are you doing here?”  She growled, not giving an inch when his form tried to breach the threshold.

“Dad’s been running rampant trying to find you.  Why the hell are you here?”

“It’s called a vacation, Lyle.  Try it.” She hissed, tingles of fear slipping along her spine of the repercussion of Lyle finding Jarod in her bathroom.  He was not going to get into the room.  “How did you find me?”

“You bought dinner last night in San Francisco.”

She sighed.  “Of course, I did.”

Miss Parker watched him watch her with speculation and not a little bit of disturbing interest.  She was curious to figure out how they didn’t know that Jarod was in the hotel if they had found her so fast.

“Go away.”

“Dad’s going to be right pissed if I don’t come back with some kind of answer, Parker.”

“I don’t care.”

“I do.”

Her eyes narrowed and she pursed her lips in agitation.  Blindly, she lifted her cell phone from the table next to the door and she flipped it open.  Pressing one button, she waited.

“Hi, Daddy.” She purred, watching Lyle as he stood in her doorway.

“Angel, where have you been?”

“I needed a vacation, Daddy.”

“I know that, Angel, but you didn’t tell anyone.  We were worried.”  His voice was mockingly sweet and she frowned in suddenly new distaste.  It was shockingly false.

“I’m all right, Daddy.  I’d just like a few more days.”

There was silence on the other end and then he sighed.  “Ok.  Ok, angel.  Will I see you on Friday then?”

“Of course, Daddy.  This sun is wonderful.  I’ll come back ready and eager, Daddy.”  She added, lowering her voice to run thickly with enthusiasm.  Her eyes were glued to Lyle standing still in front of her.  “And what about Lyle, Daddy?  Can he go home… now?”

“Yes yes, send him home, angel.  I’ll see you soon.”

Clicking the phone shut, she cocked her head triumphantly at him and smiled.  “Daddy wants you to go home.”

He stared at her for another moment and then, indignant, turned and disappeared down the hallway.

Miss Parker slipped the door shut and turned to see Jarod standing in the bathroom shadow, wearing only a pair of pants.  She smiled at him. 

Sighing, he crossed his arms over his chest and grimaced.

“You know I’m stuck in here with you until you leave, don’t you?”

She smiled wickedly and stepped up to him, fingers lightly tugging on the undone waist of his pants.  She watched the shiver skitter up over his chest, his breathing expand his chest and his eyes dilate even in the darkness.  Licking her lips and turning her eyes from him to the rumpled bed across the room, she grinned.

“Perfect.”

*** **** ***

“Tomorrow, huh?”  he asked, his voice more felt than heard.

She buried her fingers into his hair where his head rest on her stomach.  His calloused fingers were tracing intricate patterns on her skin and sparking sensations that had been flitting along her nerves since well before she’d landed in Australia.

Miss Parker kept her thoughts to herself and just allowed her fingers to touch his hair.

“Back to normal?”  he asked softly.

“You and me, one side of the country to another?”  She smiled, locking her fingers around a tuft of hair and pulling his face towards her.  She waited for a moment, tracing the lines from his eyes to his mouth with intense eyes and memorizing the rhythm of his breathing.  Succumbing to the urge, she kissed him deeply, melting against him with the pleasure.  “I don’t know.  We’ll work it out; but you know as well as I do, that there is nothing simple about the Centre.  My life has never been simple; Jarod, it could never be normal.”

She could feel him smile against her lips before he softly kissed her again.

“This could never be normal.” He responded before delving into her heat again.

*** **** ***

She lost track of him in her dreams and when she woke up, he was gone.

[end]