Chapter One
When Detective Jennifer Davis first met ADA Rafael Barba, she hated him. From the moment she had laid eyes on him in the court room along side Detective Olivia Benson and Captain Steven Harris she had known that he was going to be a gigantic pain in the ass.
Her suspicions were confirmed during the interview he had conducted in his office later on that day with their victim erotica author Jocelyn Paley. To his credit Barba had warned Jocelyn that by the time the trial was over she would not like him. Jen had had to bite her lower lip to keep a small smile from creeping across her features, when Jocelyn had responded with how much she already disliked him.
The interview itself had been brutal. Barba was brash and unrelenting. Despite Liv's tactile warnings he had continued to spear Jocelyn, every time he sensed a weak point. It had been clear to Jen that Barba received no enjoyment in the dance that he had led, his questions were methodical, his words snagging on the details that he knew the defense would try to trip them up on.
Even then, Jen acknowledged that he was a clever man, one that clearly functioned on an alarming amount of caffeine. The cogs were always turning inside of his head and she had to admit most days he seemed to be two steps ahead of everybody else.
At the time she had considered him egotistical. Now however she understood that he wore his intellect like shield, the same way those stylish, expensive suits were part of his armor. It was in the courtroom where Barba really shined.
Watching him stalk in front of the jury laying out their case piece by piece was captivating. He was the ringmaster of a circus that he had managed to construct, seemingly always in control of his environment. It was when Barba had allowed Adam Cain to loop the belt around his throat that Jen had felt her pulse quicken. The moment that Cain had lost control and choked Barba with the offending item almost had Jen vaulting across the court room. It was only Olivia's calming hand on her arm that stopped her from raising to her feet.
It had been over in matter of seconds. Cain had released the belt, leaving Barba momentarily gasping for air. The ADA didn't miss a beat, he had torn the belt from his throat before hammering home the final nail in Cain's coffin. Getting Cain to show his violent side had been a clever move, a risky one but neither-less very clever.
It was only afterwards when she bumped into Barba at Carlito's, a quiet little bar she attended a couple of blocks away from the precinct, that she got the true measure of the man. When she entered the place he'd been perched on a bar stool, sipping what she now knew to be top shelf scotch. A book had been resting on the shiny, dark wood bar in front of him, the remains of one of the specials on a square plate beside it.
His colorful tie was gone, leaving the first two buttons of his tailored white shirt undone. The sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, revealing tanned muscular forearms. Surprisingly the watch on his wrist did not look expensive, to Jen that was perhaps the first sign that there was more to Rafael Barba than she had originally thought.
"I see you found my hideaway." he had greeted her, removing his suit jacket from the stool alongside of him and indicating for her to sit.
"Actually Counselor, you appear to have found mine." she informed him, dropping into the offered seat despite there being plenty of empty stools lining the bar. She paused for a moment to motion to Anthony, the bartender that she'd have her usual.
"Ah, so you're a regular here." Barba had uttered, tilting the glass tumbler towards her.
His evergreen eyes had fixated upon her ivory features and for the first time the two of them actually looked at one another. Jen had never asked him what he saw in her that night but there had been a spark there, a glint of something in those astute eyes of his.
"You're crazy." the words had slipped out of her mouth before she could stop them and to her surprise Barba had laughed. It was a genuine sound that vibrated through the air and left Jen with a feeling of warmth somewhere deep down inside of her.
"There's a fine line between insanity and genius." he returned before taking a sip from his scotch glass.
"Putting that belt in his hands was a stroke of genius." Jen agreed before tilting her head to one side as if reconsidering. "Goading him into choking you with it, not so much."
"But I had you there to protect me though, right Detective?" he pointed out, tipping his glass to her once more. There was a teasing gleam in his eye, one that still surprised Jen even after after all the time they had spent together.
"Always Councillor." she had replied, reaching for the glass of Merlot that Anthony had placed upon the bar alongside her, her eyes still firmly fixed on Rafael Barba. "Always."
—-
The sun was starting to raise, Jen could see the grey light flickering between the shades in the dark bedroom as she slipped away from the comforting warmth of the man sleeping beside of her. The air was chilly as she reached for her discarded charcoal grey shirt and pulled it on over the top of her tangled, dark curls. The shirt fell just past her thighs, covering the slender cursive tattoo that decorated her left thigh.
"Sneaking out?"
Rafael's voice was gruff with sleep as he propped his head up on one hand, his evergreen eyes fixated on her as she glanced back at him over her shoulder. His usually neat dark hair was tousled from where she had run her fingers through it earlier that night. His cool white sheet were pooled around his waist, his fingertips dragging the fabric even lower down along his dark treasure trail. The motion was alluring, Jen felt a flush of heat rushing through her synapses as she remembered the blazing hot trail his hands left when he caressed her skin.
"Leaving you to sleep in." she murmured, her unruly waves falling over her pretty features hiding her expression from his view.
"Come back to bed." he urged, that rough voice of his turning sultry, his dark eyebrows raised and full of intention. "I promise I'll make it worth your while."
He would make good on that promise. She knew that from the way he'd touched her last night, with roving hands and his exploring mouth. The things he had whispered in her ear...
Jesus, it made her wet just thinking about them...
Before she knew it, she was already back in his bed. Her thighs straddled his hips as Rafael's hands trailed up underneath the material of the shirt. His evergreen eyes fixated on her face as his agile fingertips brushed a loose curl back behind her ear, his thumb stroking the blush of her cheek.
"You really are deplorable." Jen whispering against his lips. His left palm splaying across her lower back as his fingertips traced a fiery path up along the curve of her spine.
"If you really thought that you wouldn't be here in my bed..." he murmured before letting out a low, throaty moan, his head tipping back into the pillow as Jen's hot flesh melded with his. "...doing that."
"That's the first time I've had you rendered speechless Counselor." Jen murmured, that wicked smile of hers crossing those pretty pert lips.
For the first time in his life Rafael Barba said nothing, he simply lay back and enjoyed the ride.