Notes: So, here is another one. But I want to read some too. :( Thanks to everyone that responded with their wonderful reviews.
He watched Alex from his post the entire time. Their eyes never met, but he suspected she knew. It was his mission, to watch her, play bodyguard and backup. Alex's job was to seduce the target, drug him, and plant a tracking device within his body. The idea that he would have a problem with the mission had never occurred to him.
It was a simple enough mission. In fact, he suspected Alex could have handled it on her own, but she was still new to active missions. Also, he suspected something had concerned Michael, about Alex having to play the role of seductress.
She seemed to be doing a decent enough job, attracting attention from almost everyone in the room, especially the target's. It started with a drink, then talking and dancing. She laughed and smiled, accepted his small touches and returned some of her own. Alex was doing exactly as she was told, as she had been trained. Thom shouldn't have had a problem with it...but he did.
When she took her leave of the target, her eyes met Thom's, but she passed him without much acknowledgement, and he followed. Reaching the coat check he retrieved her wrap and stepped behind her, placing it over her shoulders. They stepped into the cool air and he noted the was she rubbed her arms, but he didn't acknowledge it. The limo came around seconds later. He held out his arm for her and assisted her down the steps, coming to a stop in front of the limo and opening the door. She slid in and with one more glance around he slid in after her. They sat opposite from one another, her looking out the window, his eyes on her. "Everything went okay?"
Alex turned at the sound of his voice, startled to hear it after so long. Smiling she nodded. "Everything went great." He nodded in return, face and eyes empty of any emotion. "Everything okay?"
"Fine."
They wouldn't talk, not until they were safely behind closed doors, but she could tell he was closed off. With a sigh she turned her head against, looking out the window.
His eyes flickered over her form, taking in the red satiny material that clung to her curves, dipped between her breasts. There was a reason agents didn't become involved. It made them emotional, reckless, unable to work. That was where Thom found himself, unable to focus. Instead of doing his job, focusing on the mission and the target, the majority of the time his mind wandered to her. And it wasn't her safety he'd had in mind. It was the looks, the touches, the smiling. His blood boiled, and all he could do was stand and watch.
After a thorough sweep Thom pulled off his jacket and sighed, throwing it onto the back of the sofa and taking a seat.
"I checked in."
Thom turned at the sound of her voice and watched her enter the living room. The dress brushed the floor as she walked, her steps silent. The heels were gone and the dress remained...he wished she would have changed. "How did it go?"
"Wants to take me to dinner tomorrow night," she said as she sat, "thinks I'm only in town for a week. I think he wanted to try and take me home tonight, but without the proper equipment..."
She trailed off, but he caught the meaning. He wished he could drink.
"Thom." Alex reached out, resting her hand over his.
At her touch he turned, looking into her face. If they knew what effect she had on him there would be trouble. If they thought they couldn't trust him on a mission because of her, knew that he couldn't handle seeing another man touching her...In Division, woman like Alex, they had particular uses. Her looks, it made her useful for certain types of missions. Alex was a danger to him. When her hand reached up, palm against his cheek, and she leaned forward he leaned back, grabbing her hand and pulling it away. Stolen kisses here and there had slowly turned into more
Her mouth opened slightly, shocked by his rebuff. If she was honest it was more then shock, like a slap in the face. Pulling her hand from his she nodded and stood, turning away form him quickly and making her way to the bedroom. She waited as she walked to hear the sound of the door, signaling his exit, but it never came. Assuming he snuck out she reached for the zipper of her dress and pulled.
"I'm sorry."
At his voice she spun, dropping her hands, leaving the dress slightly open in the back. "It's fine," Alex lied, shaking her head slightly.
"No," Thom closed the distance and looked down at her, "it's not." He didn't want the feelings of jealousy, but he didn't want to hurt her feelings either. It wasn't her fault he felt the way he did. The last thing he wanted was another man touching her, in ways that even he couldn't, wasn't allowed to. Bringing his hand up he cradled her cheek and leaned down to claim her lips.
Alex whimpered at the onslaught of his lips. His kiss was hard and demanding. She arched into him, sliding a hand up his chest and grasping his neck.
Thom threaded his fingers into her hair, wrapped an arm around her back and hauled her against his body. Being outside of Division's walls made it to easy to do the things that he wanted. Her hands were at his neck, loosening his tie. "Alex..." h=He whispered against her lips, warning her.
"I don't care about rules, we're not in Division right now." His hand tightened in her hair, pulled her head back slightly so that she was looking up at him. There was a hardness in his eyes that she wasn't accustomed to.
"But we will be again and then what? Just one night and then it's over?" Because that wouldn't enough for him. It was hard enough the way things were already.
"I'm tired of being Division's toy, letting some man grope me like some common whore just because they say to."
"Don't say that," he whispered harshly, because that wasn't her, and the last thing he wanted her to think was that it was. With a sigh he dropped his forehead again her own. "If I had some control over it I would stop it. I don't like it being you either. I don't like seeing it."
Slowly she softened at his words, losing some of her anger. "I'm sorry." Even though he wouldn't have wanted her apology, because he knew she had no control over her missions and what Division asked, she felt the need to offer one anyway. When they had been given their mission she had felt awkward at the thought of seducing another man in front of him, but he had remained calm and nonchalant about it all, a professional always. Alex just hadn't realized how good he was at hiding his feelings. He shook his head at her apology brushing it off. "Is that why...out there...?"
"Feeling like this is dangerous Alex, to both our lives. If I can't focus, we're both in trouble."
Thom wasn't strait with his meaning, which was unlike him. Which led her to believe he was more uncomfortable with what was going on then he let on. Feelings were clouding their judgement. It wasn't just a case of she liked him and he liked her. There was fear for safety, and if she had construed his meaning correctly, jealousy. Regardless of the end she had in mind for Division, sacrificing her life and Thom's wasn't among that, not over recklessness. But it was hard, so hard. "You're right," Alex nodded and stepped back, watching his eyes on her, "I shouldn't have pushed the issue."
He watched her turn away. It was different out of Division, with her, it made him feel different. Not reckless, just braver. He didn't want one night, but he didn't want none at all. "Alex..." He started, grabbing her arm and pulling her back around.
The distance between them was closed against, his chest brushing her breasts. "You can't have it both ways," she said, voice shaking with the realization as to what the intense look in his eyes meant.
"I know," he whispered before his lips touched hers again. Something about it felt final, like there was no turning back. His hand found her hip, pulling it against him and closing the distance between heir bodies. When her hands slid up his chest, smoothing over his shoulders and down again, finding his tie he didn't stop her. Instead he threaded his fingers into her hair, holding her lips against his own. As his tie came free and she worked his buttons his hands moved to her back, one falling from her hair and the other moving up from her hip. Thom wrapped his hands around her ribs, contemplating the next step, but she was making quick work of his buttons, and unzipping her dress was just to easy.
"You were jealous," Alex said against his lips, but there was also a question in her words.
His hands stopped descending with her zipper, lids parting so that he stared down at her. "If the mission was to kill him I wouldn't have thought twice."
That was as much as an affirmative as she would get. Thom didn't take killing lightly, at least not yet. For him to admit it would have come so easily meant something. Unable to resist herself she threw herself into the kiss again, pushing his shirt off his shoulders and grabbing his undershirt at his waist band, yanking it up roughly. His arms raised with it, grabbing ahold and tossing it to the side. From there she was useless, wrapping her arms around his neck, bare skin sliding beneath her hands. He took control, gripping her hair, tilting her head back and guiding her backwards. The hand at her back moved and cool air caressed her back. When the mattress bumped her legs they stopped and she felt his hands at her shoulders, pushing the satin cloth down. With a shaky breath she released his neck, pulling away, and watching as he stripped her bare, exposing her. She waited for the panic, the urge to turn and run, but it never came. Instead all she could do was watch him as his eyes slid over her body trailing the descent of her dress. Kicking away the material she came closer to him, feeling more comfortable with his body against hers then apart. When she though he might push her to the bed he turned her away.
Grasping one thigh Thom lowered, pulling her with him with his hand on her back. Her knee settled against his thigh and he reached for the other, pulling it onto the bed until she was straddling him. Pulling away slightly he looking into her face. "Are you okay with this?"
Drawing her brow together she looked at him in confusion. Sure there were risks, but they were the same for him also. "What do you mean?"
"I don't know what it is, and you don't have to tell me, but we're trained as spies. Something happened before, to you, I can tell." He watched for any sign that he was right, and it didn't take him long to find it. It wasn't his intention to cause her pain, but it was much better bringing it up then as oppose to after.
"Yes," she admitted, forcing the word out. It was the last thing she wanted to do. "But I'm fine." He stared at her, eyes calculating. "I swear. There's a difference between you and them."
Them. She had always been skittish of his physical advances in the beginning and he resolved in that moment at some point to find out what exactly caused her to be so physically wary. As friends she had been fine with physical contact, but when things changed, he noted the difference. She seemed innocent all of a sudden, stripped away of the woman that had been trained to kill, deceive. There were things that could hurt her, and they had. "Tell me if you aren't sure."
Nodding, feeling her heart clench at the kindness of his words and guilt of the lies she constantly told him. But his lips where on her again, and he pulled her hips closer, and worries about her past, present and future fled from her mind.