Last night had been difficult Riley acknowledged as she showered in her own apartment. Gabriel once he'd admitted to himself that he wanted her had changed from being a friend and partner who flirted with her to being… she struggled over the description of how he was being but she supposed it was more like a prospective lover. Gabriel as a prospective lover was a hard man to resist.

In the end she'd decided not to sleep with him because she didn't think for one moment they could do it without going the whole way. Her partner had been somewhat annoyed by her decision and had definitely made it hard for her to leave and the drugging kisses and seductive, southern tones caressing her senses had shown her quite clearly the artillery he had in his arsenal. They'd have to come to some decision whilst they were here and she couldn't let her turbulent emotions allow her guard to slip in terms of Gabriel's protection.

Wrapping a towel around her hair and her body in a bath sheet she called his number and waited patiently. A low growl answered her call and she smiled as he complained that he was on holiday so he didn't need to rise at dawn. Since it was 8 a.m. she didn't think it qualified as daybreak.

'You could find a nicer way of waking me up,' he suggested putting his arm behind his head a small smile playing around his mouth. 'The phone calls intrusive a kiss would be nice,' he lowered his tone deliberately and exaggerated his southern accent.

'I'll mention that to Agent Jameson next time he's babysitting,' Riley responded in a mocking tone. 'He's always complaining you're a grouch in the morning. I thought we'd get breakfast at the restaurant and check it out. I only bought enough food for one meal or do you want to go for a run first?'

'If you want exercise just pop over here I have an excellent aerobic routine I'd like to share with you,' he grinned as he said it knowing she'd shoot him down in flames. 'Guaranteed to accelerate you're heart rate,' he added in a chirpy tone.

'As attractive as that sounds I think I'll stick to my normal program,' Riley responded sounding unimpressed. 'Go for a run or breakfast it's up to you?' She waited hoping he wasn't going to offer another alternative.

'Run and then coffee, and now I can admit to enjoying your womanly charms you can take the lead,' he gave a low laugh as she gave him an earful about being a jerk. 'Or vice versa,' he added on as she had admitted to checking out his ass. 'See you in twenty,' he finished the call. He then checked her phone for Griffin's number and made sure it was diverted to his number should that opportunistic slime ball call his partner. He wasn't jealous of course he was just protecting Riley from a dangerous liaison.

Twenty minutes later Riley was outside his door with her sports gear on; the bare midriff between her top and Lycra leggings showed the white scarring of her knife wounds. Riley had had to work hard to resist covering up all the time because that helped the wounds to slowly fade and not look so dramatic.

Gabriel came out and his gaze swept over her his warm touch immediately caressing the scarred area. 'Kiss you all over and make you feel better,' he teased her. 'You look very pretty this morning Agent Neal did you sleep well.'

'Okay I suppose,' she acknowledged her troubled thoughts. 'I had a lot to think about,' she stretched out one calf and then the other. 'Follow me I've mapped out the route,' she set off and Gabriel followed taking it slow as he could easily overtake if he wanted to and Riley knew it.

Gabriel was enjoying the view and watched her pony tail bob about in front of him and her nicely toned ass, Riley was hot and he'd always tried to ignore that whereas now he just enjoyed the fact that his partner was extremely attractive.

Riley on the other hand felt as if her ass was tingling because she was pretty sure he was watching it and she wished he'd take the lead. He was deliberately running at her pace and not his normal speed. She stopped to drink some water and he nearly cannoned into her. 'Your turn to lead,' she drank some of the water and offered it to him. 'You should pay attention you could trip over a tree root.'

'Well you could have signalled you were going to stop,' he accepted the water and drank it back his throat working as he swallowed it. He could see she was a little fascinated by that. 'And anyway I don't know which route you're taking.'

'Liar you'd have background analysed that if you have the routes around here mapped,' she took the water back and raised her face to the warm sun. It was early morning but the sun had some heat in it as it dappled through the leaves.

'Okay then, try and keep up,' he set off at a faster pace and enjoyed the speed and the fact his body was returning to full fitness. He didn't stop until they're reached the restaurant area.

Riley being a sports enthusiast was suitably impressed by the display and not at all put off by the sweat stains on Gabriel's tank or the warm musky smell of his cologne. She was panting as they sat down on one of the benches outside the restaurant her head bent to drag in oxygen.

'I'm Candy and I'll be your waitress this morning,' a pretty blonde in a cute uniform arrived at the table. Her gaze ran over Gabriel totally ignoring his female partner who was recovering from the run.

'Double espresso, soy latte and pancakes bacon and syrup for two,' he gave her a charming smile and watched her blush. Still got it, he thought smugly. He watched her depart from the table with a jaunty rear action and wondered if Riley had woken up his carefully controlled libido.

'You ordered for me,' Riley gasped as she raised her head feeling sweaty and red faced after the run.

'I was going to add oxygen on the side,' Gabriel laughed at her physical distress. 'You could have taken it at your pace I'd have waited for you to catch up,' he saw her roll her eyes. 'Oh I see the protection thing, I've been thinking about that and I think I've saved your ass as many times as you've saved mine.'

'Not true,' she ran her hands over her hair and tightened her pony tail. 'I stop you doing things that would expose you to danger you're reckless because you don't care about your own neck and I do.' She ended their verbal exchange as Candy sashayed up with the coffee and put it down on the stripped, wooden bench.

Double espresso and soy latte, the pancakes, syrup and bacon will be here shortly,' her white smile almost blinded Gabriel. 'Are you here for a week or longer,' she asked sweetly. Candy obviously was hopeful the answer was the latter.

'Not sure yet we're playing it by ear,' Gabriel answered non-commitally. 'Enjoying it so far but then we've only just arrived,' he smiled at her pleasantly.

'Well I hope you stay for a while,' she walked off to attend to another guest.

'You can't help it can you?' Riley looked at him critically. 'You're a natural born flirt,' she added snippily. 'You'd think I didn't exist as far as Candy's concerned.' She recalled Lillian's PA calling Gabriel 'his hotness' and wondered what it would be like to be in a relationship with someone who was constantly hit on.

'It's the accent,' he drawled. 'We may be dirt poor in some parts of the South but the accents a gift,' he smiled at her his dimples on full wattage. 'So what's the agenda after breakfast I suggest we go up that,' he pointed to one of the mountain areas with a huge waterfall which was less accessible than the tourist tracks. 'If you've recovered that is?'

'If you can do it I'm sure I can,' she answered drily. The effort involved made her concerned about his wound and she decided to encourage him to sunbathe and relax a little if they got the chance. She looked at the peak he'd pointed out and decided that looked at least six hours' worth of exercise.

Two and a half hours later they were sat on top of the mountain looking down at the magnificent view. 'It's beautiful up here,' Riley said softly as she drank some water and passed it to him.

'Very beautiful,' he murmured but he was looking at her his gaze on her soft mouth. He leaned over and teased her lips with his until she parted them and let him in. He felt a shiver of need go through Riley and he pressed her back against the grass and moved over her his mouth working over hers and his tongue searching out the soft recesses of her mouth.

Riley was struggling with her emotions, she should be alert looking out for possible danger but instead she was drowning in need as she focussed on Gabriel's mouth and his hands running over her body. He moved to tease the join of her neck and shoulder and she gave a soft moan as a wave of delight flooded her lithe frame.

'You're very responsive,' Gabriel stroked her hair back from her face and monitored the slumberous passion in her green eyes. The thought that Griffin had seen that expression irritated him.

'You know me I'm an over achiever,' she responded huskily. Normally she wasn't that stimulated by her partner but Gabriel just did it for her she guessed. She gave a gasp as his hand ran over her thigh and moved between them. 'I don't think…

'You're fully clothed what's the harm,' Gabriel growled as he nuzzled Riley's neck and his hand caressed her outside the Lycra covering her modesty. He knew he was teasing her but he enjoyed her response to him. He accepted it when she pushed him off and rolled off her so she could sit up.

'We're acting like teenagers making out,' Riley protested. 'I thought we were going to talk not get into a necking session, we know we're attracted that's not the problem.' She drank some more water to cool herself down and monitored their position for anyone getting close to them.

'Okay,' he sat up and rested his arms on his bent knees. 'Okay, I guess if you wanted to stay partners at work and have no other relationship with each other I could do that as long as you didn't date,' he acknowledged that was unreasonable but he was trying to be honest. 'If you dated it would make me want to claim you,' he shrugged. 'It's a guy thing not necessarily politically correct.'

'I see,' Riley wrinkled her nose. 'That really isn't politically correct,' she bit her lip to stop herself from smiling.

'I punched Griffin,' he glanced at her sideways. 'And he went to punch me; the rest of the team had to separate us and if Jameson's got that on the cam I'm in for a hard time when we get back.'

'That was bad,' Riley agreed. 'Okay well I could do that not date. I don't get much opportunity anyway and I don't want to date anyone else,' she felt a bit dismal at the thought of not being held in Gabriel's arms as that had been so-o good.

'I had thought I might branch out a bit after a decent period of mourning, I'm not naturally celibate,' he ran both hands through his hair. 'So if I dated how would you feel?' It was a reasonable question if she was off the agenda then he'd like to engage elsewhere.

'Erm… well the claiming thing might work both ways,' she offered awkwardly. 'I don't think I'd like that much but maybe I could get used to it,' she sighed. 'Or I could tell Lillian we have feelings for each other and then she would probably re-assign me,' she could see Gabriel didn't like that idea much and neither did she. She loved her job; she was in love with her job.

'If we got it together and I was your boyfriend what about having a family and the chip thing? I'm government property and I don't think there's a retirement plan in there,' Gabriel looked pained at the fact he couldn't give Riley the guarantee that they would grow old together. 'I'm a super weapon so I don't suppose they'd just let me go off the grid until I've been replaced by the next generation of intelligence.'

Riley acknowledged that. 'I'm not government property I just work for them so if I moved on or took a desk job I could cover the family thing,' she offered knowing she always wanted him by her side.

Gabriel nodded and took her hand and squeezed it comfortingly. 'You'd have to make a lot of compromises Riley and I feel bad for you; it's not fair on you after all you didn't volunteer for any of this; you didn't even apply for the job as my protector.' He got up and offered her his hand and pulled her up. 'I got the chip to save Amelia and I failed and if I had a relationship with you then you'd be making all the sacrifices and I find it difficult to ask you to do that. It's not fair on you sweetheart,' he started off down the path with Riley following.

Riley acknowledged his point, it wasn't fair but they were where they were. The only way it would work is if they worked round the issues and today's discussion hadn't really got them anywhere. She decided that she liked Gabriel calling her sweetheart and wondered what baby or honey would sound like.