KONO

"Play along."

"What?"

"Play along!" he said again, giving her one of his Steve glares, bordering on aneurysm face.

That was when she heard the voices she'd been too preoccupied with her smartphone to notice.

"Okay."

He pushed her back against the wall and leaned over her, one hand braced above her shoulder, the other sweeping a strand of hair behind her ear. Oh. That kind of playing along. She slid the phone into her pocket, trusting the details she'd already sent to Chin would at least be a start, then took a deep breath, forcing herself to keep calm.

"Try to look less scared," Steve murmured with a grin.

"Scared? Of you?" She narrowed her eyes and punched him lightly in the shoulder, but managed a smile and a coy giggle as if they were just some couple looking for privacy.

A couple of men appeared at the end of the corridor. Out of the corner of her eye Kono could see them talking quietly to each other and shooting dirty looks at the intruders.

Steve curled his free hand possessively around her waist, and she let her head roll a little to one side as he bent to whisper in her ear. "Keep an eye on them."

"Uh huh."

She slipped an arm around his neck and half closed her eyes as if she was swooning in pleasure. His breath was tickling her neck and it was seriously distracting, but she tried to concentrate on the men watching them. Neither of them were familiar from the photos of suspects, she could see that much through lowered lashes, but they could easily be part of the same family crime ring.

"No one I recognise." She felt his nod of acknowledgement.

"What are they doing now?"

One of them took out a cellphone, both of them still staring at Steve and Kono.

"Calling someone... Steve. They look really suspicious. We should leave."

He hmmm'd in her ear and she tried to ignore the way it made her stomach flip flop. Most of the time Steve was just... Steve. He was just there, familiar, everyday. She was used to him. Occasionally, though, she'd notice that he was really good looking, that he smelled, oh, delicious. And it was always at the least appropriate times. "We can't, Kono. We need that information today. We can't break cover."

"Well I don't think our 'cover' has them convinced." She really hoped it looked like she was whispering sweet nothings in her boyfriend's ear, not having an argument with her boss.

He thought for a moment, idly stroking her cheek with his thumb. "Would you, um, totally freak out if I... kissed you, Kono?"

Uh, yeah. His tone was so serious and formal she felt a sudden urge to laugh hysterically. You could take the man out of the military, but apparently you couldn't take the military out of the man.

"Nah." She was actually pretty impressed with herself how casual that came out, even if it was just the one syllable.

At least he'd asked rather than ordered. He pulled back a little, looked at her intently. "You sure?"

She rolled her eyes. "If you want them to be convinced by it, you should stop arguing and start kissing, boss."

For a moment he looked surprised and then recovered himself. "Yeah. Yeah, good point."

As he bent down towards her she linked her hands behind his neck in what she hoped would seem like a casual, comfortable gesture. She'd kissed Danny too, months ago now, in a similar situation, but she couldn't approach this one with quite the same peace of mind.

He leaned into her as their lips connected, and a really unhelpful part of her mind observed that being crushed between a wall and Steve McGarrett's muscular form would not be a bad way to check out. He was kissing her softly, not pushing his luck, being gentle and not at all Steve-like, and she hadn't been kissed this well in much too long.

Without really thinking about it, she slid a hand up into his hair and pulled him a little closer, tilted her head to deepen the kiss. Just to make it convincing, she assured herself. So yes, maybe her own preference was for being kissed so she felt it down to her feet, and maybe in this situation she wasn't necessarily thinking entirely about the case, but hey, she was only human.

Steve made a sound equal parts shock and pleasure, and she smiled against his mouth. He always came off so unflappable it was nice to know he could still be taken unawares.

His hand slipped from her waist to her backside as he pressed her harder into the wall. He really was good at this. When his other hand came up to cradle her head she let out a whimper, and the unhelpful part of her mind piped up again to tell her that she was never going to live this down if she wasn't careful.

These kinds of things were always gonna be a little awkward, but that was usually because it felt like you were kissing your brother (yeuch) and right now Kono would almost've welcomed that kind of awkward. She was trying really hard to keep a grip on reality, but this was the kind of awkward that led to really bad decision making and possible disciplinary action at work.

He pulled his mouth away just a little and trailed down her jaw. "They buying it?" he asked, his lips grazing her ear.

She tilted her head to peer at their audience. "Not sure."

"Guess we'll have to keep going then."

She could almost hear the smile in his voice. What was he up to? He took just a second to look at her and grin, his expression wicked, one eyebrow raised, before he was kissing her again.

Kono couldn't tell if he was trying to be more convincing, if he'd just gotten carried away, or, or... well, she couldn't think of a third explanation when he was doing that with his tongue... but for some reason the kiss had turned from play acting into something that felt a lot more real. Not to mention significantly hotter. He had her pinned deliciously, it seemed like she could feel him all over, and he was giving her just enough that she wanted... more.

One of his hands slipped under the edge of her top, his work roughened fingers tracing circles on her skin. She moaned, arched her back and pressed herself closer still.

Damn the man, why did he have to be so good at this? And couldn't he have demonstrated this particular skill set to her at a more convenient time and place? Say, her bedroom, 9pm, be there or miss out on some top quality sex?

The hand on her back tightened, and Steve was now making noises that suggested that, yes, she wasn't the only one having fun here. She felt a lot better about the whimper now, although if he continued doing what he was doing, she felt she couldn't rule out the possibility she'd do something else that might be hard to live down. Like moaning his name or humping his leg or slipping her hand down the front of his pants just to see what she might find.

He broke the kiss again and leaned over her, his mouth letting out puffs of air against her neck. She expected him to say something, to tell her to check on their bad guys, but he just stood there panting slightly.

Kono glanced over to where their company had been, 'had' being the operative word. She'd been way too busy to notice when or where they'd gone, but they'd gone, so she supposed she and Steve should probably get on with what they'd been doing before. Assuming that she could actually remember what they'd been doing, which she wasn't at all sure about.

Steve still had one hand on the skin of her back and one on her butt, and she wondered if there was a way to mention that without it being really awkward. Doubt it. She found herself staring at the way his Adam's apple bobbed when he swallowed, and tried to pretend it wasn't because she felt like looking up at him would also fall into the 'really awkward' category.

"Kono," he murmured. His voice was all deep and husky and the man should clear his damn throat more often because that shit was not okay.

She opened her mouth but nothing came out. Being pressed up against a wall really needed to become a regular occurrence in her life. She wondered just how much grief she'd get from Chin if she started making out with the boss on a regular basis. And how difficult it might or might not be to convince Steve that was a reasonable idea. Maybe she could claim it was necessary for morale.

On an impulse, she leaned in close and licked the hollow at the base of his throat. He tasted salty and masculine, and she couldn't figure out whether she was more appalled at what she'd just done or at the realisation she wanted very much to do it again.

Steve produced a noise that was higher pitched than she knew he was capable of making, and his entire body stilled. She was weirdly reminded of how sharks would react when turned on their backs. Except apparently for McGarrett it was being licked that suddenly turned him into a statue. Best make sure that doesn't get out, she thought fuzzily. Don't want the bad guys to start licking him. That could be really unhelpful in a tight situation.

After a very long moment he started breathing again, and she gave herself a stern talking to about not being a coward and took a tentative glance upwards, mentally preparing herself for the incoming dose of awkward.

She was prepared to feel a bit humiliated by how caught up she'd got in it - prepared for a smirk or a smug look or just a knowing smile. She hadn't been prepared for Steve to look embarrassed, decidedly... discombobulated. He wouldn't meet her eyes, though at least that meant it didn't matter her cheeks were likely tinged with more than a little pink.

"Ah. Well, looks like they left."

The fact that Steve seemed to be more thrown even than she was gave her a shot of cocky confidence back. "You don't say?"

He looked sideways at her and cleared his throat (about damn time). "Uh, I guess we should go and, uh... go..."

She smirked, slipping her cell from out of her pocket, and feeling a whole lot better than she had thirty seconds ago. There was a reply from Chin, and another message from Danny asking why the hell Steve wasn't answering his texts, and she shook her head. "Back to work?"

He nodded gratefully, still not quite looking at her, and Kono allowed herself to feel pretty smug about that. She'd known for a while now that the big bad SEAL wasn't as big and bad as he liked people to think, but still, reducing him to flustered silence felt like a minor achievement.

"Danno thinks you're ignoring him, brah."

He blinked, dug his phone out of his cargo pants, and rolled his eyes at the list of missed calls and messages that had accrued during their little subterfuge. "Okay. So we get in there, get the intel, and get out, okay?"

She nodded, suppressing a grin. Badly. "Okay, boss." She would definitely be getting some mileage out of this one way or another, but they did, after all, have a job to do. "Lead the way."

~ fin ~