"I am going to kill you, Shawn."

"You always say that."

"No, I mean it this time. I am really going to kill you. At least, if these guys don't kill you first."

Juliet was watching a warehouse crawling with armed thugs supervising a weapons shipment. Well, she was trying to watch it. She only had two eyes, which made it very difficult to follow Shawn and keep an eye of the muscled, tattooed, very scary looking men.

This would have been so much easier if Shawn had steered clear of this case. But he had to stick his nose in and show off his theatrics. She'd banned him from the case file, but somehow he'd managed to sneak a look at it behind her back. She'd banned him from the various crime scenes, but whenever she showed up, the Blueberry was already there, Shawn leaning on the door and grinning. She'd banned him from coming to this bust, but he'd hidden inside her car (how he'd unlocked it, she had no idea) and popped up as soon as she'd rolled to a stop down the block, nearly scaring her to death.

He'd gotten even more annoying since when she'd first met him.

"What part of 'do not come with us' do you not understand?" she hissed at him as they stopped in an alley next to the adjacent building.

"The 'not' part," he said, craning his neck to peer around the corner.

She was so used to the reply that it didn't even faze her this time. "Shawn, you don't even have a weapon. What are you planning on doing?"

"I thought I'd break out a mixed jazz routine and stun them all with my considerable talent," he whispered back.

She didn't even dignify him with a response.

"I don't really know, Jules. That's why you're here, isn't it?"

"I'm here because this is my job. I should not have to look out for you."

"I didn't ask you to. I've got my own skills," he said, raising a finger to his temple and curling his lip in his strange side-smirk.

She started fuming as Shawn turned back to play lookout once more. When he gestured for her to move, she didn't. He looked around, an eyebrow raised. She glared at him.

"Aw, c'mon," he said, lowering his hand. "Why the long face?"

"I'm planning several methods of torture designed specifically for you," she said darkly.

"I didn't know you were into whips and chains. That's kinky," he said, eyeing her.

She snorted in disgust and pushed past him, peering around the building. She could see no thugs in the street, so she crept out, tugging Shawn behind her. They pressed themselves up against the building and snuck quietly into the alley next to the target warehouse.

"Now, all we have to do is stay by that door," she said into Shawn's ear. She pointed to a door right next to their alley. "Now, for God's sake, shut up and don't move."

Her voice must have sounded particularly venomous, for he swallowed hard, then nodded.

Juliet stood in front of Shawn, occasionally glancing around the corner to check the door. She would take her place outside the door once she heard Lassiter's voice through the bullhorn, warning the thugs that they were surrounded. For now, she just had to be quiet and go unnoticed.

She looked at Shawn. Keeping quiet? Easier said than done.

But for now, Shawn was leaning up against the brick wall of the alley, looking at…her actually. She felt her cheeks go red, but didn't break her gaze. They stood like that, each one merely looking at the other. Remarkably, it was Juliet who broke the silence first. "What are you looking at?"

"You," he said simply.

"I know that," she said, rolling her eyes. "What about me?"

"Your eyes."

"It's the middle of the night, Shawn. You can't see my eyes."

"I know. I'm remembering what they look like."

She sighed. Only Shawn Spencer would stare at her, and then tell her he was remembering what her eyes looked like. "And what do they look like, Shawn?"

"Hazel," he said thoughtfully.

"Congratulations. You've just identified my eye color."

"No," he said. "I mean, they are hazel. But that's not what I'm remembering." He didn't continue.

"Care to elaborate?" Juliet asked, exasperated.

"Well, when it's light, they're more of a mossy greenish. But when it's darker, they shift to this brownish color. Whenever I see you, I try to figure out what color your eyes are."

Juliet blinked. Whatever she'd been expecting, this hadn't been it. "That's slightly creepy, Shawn."

"It is, isn't it? Sorry about that. Your eyes merely presented a puzzle to me. What can I say? I'm a curious guy."

"Curiosity killed the cat."

"You know, I've really never understood that expression. Is it the actual curiosity that kills the cat, or is it what results from the curiosity. Cause if that's it, that changes the meaning entirely…"

Juliet tuned him out and just watched him talk. He was being quite animated, even with the whispered conversation. She'd said that he was creepy, always watching her eyes, but part of her (a really tiny part) was flattered. He was the first to talk about her eyes like that. He'd really been paying attention to her, not just randomly flirting.

Although, there was a lot of that too.

She suddenly became aware that something was very wrong. Shawn had fallen silent, and was looking past her with an alarmed look on his face. Shawn never looked alarmed.

She realized that she hadn't checked around the corner for a while the moment she heard the heavy footsteps approaching the door.

Someone was coming. If they peered around the corner (like any normal person would when checking around an area), they would find Shawn and Juliet.

They were so, so screwed.

Before she could think of something to explain away their presence, Shawn acted for her. Quick as a flash he grabbed the front of her jacket and pulled her around, slamming her against the brick alley wall. She was about to cry out when his lips pressed against hers and her brain shorted out.

Shawn was kissing her. They were about to be caught by an armed thug, and all he was doing was kissing her. They were both going to die.

But apparently, her body didn't really care. No, all she could really focus on now was how Shawn was pressed against her, his lips working against hers, his hands on her hips, and how good it felt. Her brain had been completely turned off, which was probably the reason why she hadn't pushed him off her. Or why she was winding her arms around his neck and trying to pull him closer, even though it was pretty much physically impossible.

Part of her wondered in horror at what she was doing, but the other part shoved it in a box and buried it deep in the recesses in her brain.

She was completely at his mercy.

She was vaguely aware of a banging sound, and a light shining in their faces.

That's it. We're screwed.

Shawn turned his head. "What the hell, man?" he asked, sounding not at all like his usual self. "You got something better to do than mess up my night?"

She heard a grunt, then the light disappeared and the door slammed shut again.

Shawn stepped back and straightened his shirt. "Well, that was close."

Juliet spluttered. "What the hell was that?"

"That was me saving our asses," Shawn replied coolly. "We're still alive, aren't we?"

"Out of the millions of options we had, you had to pick that?"

"You seemed to enjoy it," he pointed out.

Juliet blinked. She had no explanation for her actions.

Thankfully, she didn't have to. Lassiter's voice rang out from the bullhorn, and Juliet stepped past Shawn and took her place by the door. She trained her gun on the threshold and watched carefully, waiting for anyone to come out.

Lassiter's team must have been very thorough, for no one burst through her exit point. Lassiter called the all-clear, and Juliet lowered her weapon, re-holstering it before turning back to Shawn.

"Get out of here, Spencer," she said.

"You really want me to leave?" he said with raised eyebrows and a mock-hurt expression.

"Yes, I do."

"See, here's the thing," he said, stepping closer to her. "I don't think you do."

Juliet's heart rate spiked and her breathing grew erratic as he drew nearer. She'd been this close to him before in the alley, so why was she reacting like this now?

You didn't know what he tasted like then. You want more. She pushed this errant thought away.

"Oh?" she managed.

"Yeah, I think you want nothing more than to throw your arms around me and kiss me again," he said.

"Well, you'd be wrong there," she said, trying (and failing) to sound like she didn't care.

"You know what, Jules?" he asked, leaning ever closer.

She only managed a faint sound.

"I think I'm right," he whispered, now inches away from her. Her heart pounded in her chest and her palms started sweating.

"That's what I hate about you," she said. "You're so damn arrogant."

He raised an eyebrow. "You love it."

"I don't actually," she growled, before giving in. She leaned in and kissed him. This time, she was the one in control.

And she liked it, dammit.

She liked it a lot.

"I knew you couldn't resist me," crowed Shawn when she came up for air.

"Shut up,' she said, rolling her eyes.

"Gladly," he said, leaning down for another kiss.

If she'd have known a kiss would have shut him up, she'd have done it a long time ago.