A/N - thanks for the reviews. Things are going to get a little dark.

Part 7

She wished she'd let him kiss her.

Even now hours later, when it would be far safer not to be thinking about it, she could feel his fingertips grazing her skin. Her mind was stubbornly refusing to let her forget how his lips had felt when she'd pressed her hand to his mouth and was instead busily extrapolating how those same lips would feel against hers – in fact how they'd feel all over her body.

She hadn't lied when she told him that she didn't do this – didn't mix her personal and professional lives. Over the years there had been several advances from men she'd been working with, some of them almost embarrassingly clumsy. But she'd never been even remotely tempted to accept any of them. And now there was Gibbs.

She didn't want to be back here, in a house where she had to be careful all of the time, censor her every thought. The truth was, she wanted to be standing on a rooftop, gazing into the eyes of a man she strongly suspected could drive her crazy; given the opportunity.

It didn't help that the atmosphere in the house was terrible. When she had returned Said had barely spoken to her and now he was both studiously ignoring her and at the same time watching her every move. It wasn't exactly relaxing. Normally quiet and considerate she'd seen him in a mood like this once or twice before and on those occasions she had borne the brunt of his anger and his possessiveness. The three glasses of wine he drank with dinner only fuelled the anger that swirled around him; she sipped her own drink and tried to work how she was going to manage this situation. She didn't have high hopes for the rest of the evening, which only made her regret even more that she wasn't back on the roof watching another man's eyes darken as he looked at her.

"I think I'll have a bath and an early night," she said, pushing her plate away and topping up her wine glass. She was hoping to retreat to the privacy of the bathroom and then be asleep before he came to bed.But it wasn't that easy.

He followed her upstairs, drawing her to him before she reached the bathroom. "I hate it when we fight,"

"Then don't treat me like this; don't get angry because I have my own life, because I want my own space now and again. I'm not your possession Said, you don't own me. I hate feeling as though you don't trust me." The flicker in his expression was all the confirmation she needed. "You don't trust me," she said flatly.

"I want to," he replied, "but you disappeared today." She waited, watching him – clearly she couldn't tell him that she knew he'd been having her followed, or that months ago he'd bugged her hotel suite. She was trying to decide what this was all about, whether he suspected her of being the person who had betrayed him. "You could be seeing another man."

He'd been possessive before – noticing when other men paid her too much attention. She'd been careful to reassure him – because after all he was the only person she was interested in. But for some reason she couldn't muster the explanation he needed. "Is there someone else Jasmine?" He turned her to face him, gripping her shoulders – almost shaking her.

Unbidden the image of Gibbs flickered through her mind but defiantly she met Said's angry stare. "I've barely been out of your presence for the last week. How would I have the chance to meet someone?"

She'd never resisted him; wasn't intending to do so now. But when he moved to kiss her she flinched. "You're hurting me!" He didn't listen, pressing his lips to hers almost desperately.

"I can't let you go," he told her, moving from her mouth to suckle her neck, in all likelihood leaving marks on her skin. "I won't let you go, Jasmine."

The mix of emotions in his touch was dizzying. She could taste his fear, his anger, his desperation and it was impossible to disentangle the cause of it. Was it the threat that stalked him, or his desire to possess her? Had one been set alight by the other and was now engulfing him?

And she was the one he took it out on. His grasp was tighter than usual, his urgency palpable. He pushed her back onto the bed, his fingers fumbling to remove her clothing, ripping her blouse when he couldn't unfasten the buttons quickly enough.

She swallowed a cry as he bit the swell of her breast – knowing that in the dim recesses of his mind he wanted and needed to mark her.

She pushed back the instinct to fight him and let herself surrender instead. But she closed her eyes and as he moved inside her she wished herself back onto the rooftop, with Gibbs' touch igniting her senses and his respect for her decision blazing between them like a beacon.

It wasn't a gentle or particular pleasant encounter, but at least it didn't last for very long. Said rolled off her at as soon as it was over and was apparently unconscious seconds later. She curled onto her side, wondering when her head had started to feel so heavy. But she refused to let herself be upset by an encounter which, after all, went along with what she had signed up for when she'd taken on this assignment.

She was dizzy; her body didn't feel right and it was more than Said's rough treatment; something was wrong. She panicked, trying to reach the necklace to raise the alarm, but her limbs wouldn't move. She could feel her consciousness slipping away and no matter how she struggled she couldn't hold onto it, couldn't fight the darkness as it swept her away.

TBC