riah fic - chap 11

The conference at which Jack and Mariah were set to attend for the sole purpose of gaining intel on their, now common, enemy. Entral Sool. He was egotistic as well as eccentric and so obviously not a nice man. The pattern of deaths grew steadily larger, with a empty space at the heart of it. The deaths were limited to young mothers, usually pregnant, with death caused by the violent removal of the unborn foetus.

The Police had started to notice. They needed to mobilize… and soon.

Six months past, all the while they worked very closely, and Mariah's and Jack's attraction to each other grew stronger until it hurt for them to be apart, and then it was time for the two of them to go undercover… together.

They booked into the Hotel, unpacked, and changed into more suitable attire for the function below. Jack wore his full military uniform, and Mariah wore a faded blue, ankle length, satin dress. She wore her hair down and let her natural curls go their way. When Jack walked around the corner into the bedroom, she heard his breath catch in his throat as he looked her up and down.

"You look beautiful." Jack whispered and Mariah smiled sweetly at him.

"Thank you." Mariah whispered back. She turned away when she felt her cheeks burn with some unknown feeling. For six months, Mariah had dreamt of Jack saying those words. Dreamt of seeing him look at her the way he did now, even though he had done that from day one of their meeting, it was nice to know that he truly thought that. Ok, so she had cheated and read his mind but still it made her feel, well, wanted.

The air grew heavy with the sexual tension radiating from the two of them. Jack felt an overpowering urge to sweep Mariah off her feet there and then, but he resisted. He was going to seduce her tonight, and he would do it right.

"We'd better head down soon Jack." Mariah's voice was soft and her eyes sparkled in anticipation of what the future might hold for her and the man she loved with every fiber of her being. She could only hope that Jack felt the same and, little known to Mariah, he did.

Entral Sool was droning on about his company, trying to sell his ideas to the real representatives present at the table, the clock ticked quietly in the background, Mariah was seated across from Jack, a mere eighteen inches across from him, and all he could do was study the delicate chain that hung about her neck. Why did she have to be so attractive? He swallowed, looked at the handouts and then returned his attention to what Entral Sool was saying. He was about to speak up when Mariah cleared her throat. All heads turned in her direction; she was looking with great interest at Entral.

"I caught a glimpse of your book in the store, read some, and when I was reading, all thoughts worth anything flew out of my head. National debt? Trade deficit? Failure of the educational system? Within two chapters, my brain was pretty much smashed." Mariah said.

Entral's lips curved into a warm, yet sinister smile. "I think that's the point Miss Cheasley. We have so many problems within the business world now; we can't allow ourselves to get too carried away with a moment when we have such problems as you yourself have listed for us."

"It's nice to get carried away sometimes though, isn't it Mr. Sool? How else would we invent the new or create better transnational companies such as yours?" Mariah had rendered Entral silent for a moment, but then his smile widened.

"When done correctly, getting carried away can result in the creating of the new. But leaving those great new technological advances up to those who use the new for bad ends that, Miss Cheasley, simply will not do at all."

"But when you get carried away, when your brain gets smashed, how do you remember this?" Mariah gestured around the room. "If you forget, that wouldn't be good and that's something all of us don't want to represent. This has consequences. Good and bad, and you have to prepare for those consequences, and if you're not prepared, then you shouldn't be here." She had made the last sentence rather pointed and Entral hadn't liked it. The other representatives on the other hand agreed with Mariah.

"Well, I think that's enough from me. It's been a pleasure and I suppose, Miss Cheasley, that we'll agree to disagree." Entral sat and waited for her to respond.

"I don't think we disagree on everything," Mariah said smoothly. Her voice was polite, almost superficial, but Jack knew. She turned to Jack, a triumphant smile spread across her face. He smiled back, a little too confident, a little too male, little too sexually charged, but he couldn't help it. Something had happened when they had first met, a flash of lightening, a magnetic pull. For months he had tried to keep it hidden, but no more. And tonight he would show her he loved her.

Mariah got up on wobbly legs and she gave Jack a warm smile.

"You did well." Jack whispered into her ear when she reached him.

"It was fun. I thought I was going to be nervous. I was nervous. Hell, I was terrified, but then it got fun." Mariah whispered back.

"I'm glad." He answered softly. She loved his voice, the smoothness, the power, the comfort. She wanted to say something witty and seductive, but her synapses were overloaded as it was. She needed to leave, run away, and turn back into the confident professional person she was supposed to be. She started to go.

"Mariah?"

She turned, looked at him and saw the heat in his eyes. "Yeah?" she squeaked.

"You free for dinner? It's just there was nothing appetizing and I thought you might be hungry."

Oh, that was a nice touch. Make it look like it was merely business. Nothing more than a polite gesture.

"I'd love to. All that talking and I'm suddenly hungry." Mariah answered. Jack took her arm and escorted her outside where they then walked along the harbour.

They had dinner at Fisherman's Wharf, at a seafood restaurant perched on a dock that reached out far into the bay. It was dark, warm, and intimate, much nicer than the conference room back at Entralscorpio's business firm. This was a place a man took a date for privacy and romance. Across the way, the moon lit up a small island, giving it a ghostly glow. This was a place that Mariah would always remember.

Jack was a wonderful companion, telling her stories about his travels, making her laugh all the way through dinner. His eyes lit up as he talked, and she could see how much he loved what he did, how passionate he was about his work.

She liked that about him, his passion. So many people punched a clock and didn't care, but Jack cared. It was there in his words, in his face, in the intensity that radiated from him.

It was that intensity that drew her like a magnet.

"So what have you been doing with your band these past few months?" Jack asked playfully.

"Not much. This. That." He knew full well what she'd been doing these past few months…especially the bits he was concerned with.

"Nothing else to keep you busy? No personal obligations, huh?"

"Are you asking me if I'm involved with someone other than you?" she said, meeting his eyes squarely. Mariah had never been one to tip-toe around something; she wanted people to know she was coming.

One side of his mouth curved up, a rueful look that shouldn't have touched her like it did. She didn't trust men as a rule, but that small hitch in his mouth tempted her to bend her rules. Just a little.

"Yeah, that's what I'm asking," he said, surprising her with his honesty.

"Free as a bird." She answered easily, her tone light. The one reason she stayed with the Agency and Torchwood was because she loved him, she wanted him. Even after several months that ache hadn't eased. It ate away at her, pouring into her fantasies, her dreams, becoming something living and breathing deep within her. She pushed the thought away, needing to regain her footing. "Thank you for asking me to dinner."

He leaned in closer, the candlelight seeming to make him glow slightly. "Don't thank me Riah. I really don't deserve it."

"This bothers you doesn't it?"

He laughed, a rusty sound without humour. "You have no idea how much."

She flashed him her best smile. "Yeah, I think I do."

Mariah watched as he deftly made patterns with the last of the silverware, and was pleased to see him uncomfortable, pleased to know that she wasn't the only one whose nerves were shot to hell. Finally, he raised his head.

"I didn't plan to have this conversation over dinner."

"Is there a right time and a right place Jack?"

His eyes glittered, more caramel than chocolate in the dim light, his desire apparent. Mariah shifted in her seat, trapping the pulse points between her thighs. "Yes," he said harshly, his carefully modulated voice vanishing abruptly.

Mariah smiled. "In bed?"

"Preferably before then."

"Maybe I like to know what I'm getting into."

"Mariah," he started, and then stopped. "No. Would you like some dessert?"

"What's on the menu?" she asked.

He closed his eyes. "Are you going to behave yourself?"

"Dinner was your idea, not mine."

He pulled some cash from his pocket and laid it on the table. "Can we go?"

"Now we're in a hurry?" she asked.

He lifted their jackets from the coat hook at the table. "Dinner was a stupid idea. In a long line of stupid ideas. But I've waited so long to be able to do this right, and right now, every minute counts."

Mariah felt a sharp pull of excitement in her stomach. He held out her jacket, and she brushed against him. Closer than she should. Close enough to hear his indrawn breath.

"I guess you're ready?" she asked.

He swore softly, took her by the arm, and hurried her out of the diner.

He drove her back to the hotel in silence. What did you say to a man you were about to step off the cliff with? They walked through the lobby, and he was careful not to touch her, but she could feel him, feel the invisible band of awareness between them, arching like an electrical shock. A few people recognised her in the lobby, and stopped to talk about her band and when their next show was, and Jack stood discretely off to the side, not really knowing what else to do. The etiquette books didn't cover this situation.

After she finished talking, he put a hand in the small of her back and guided her to the bank of elevators. "Do you get accosted by fans very often?" Jack asked.

"No, not often." She answered, but he suspected that was wrong.

"I bet when you go around Britain, you're mobbed by screaming males."

"I have female fans too." She replied. Ah, he'd struck a nerve.

"Do they scream and throw underwear at you?"

"No-one has ever thrown underwear at me."

"Got them in the mail, huh?"

Her face flushed. "A couple of times."

"I'll remember that," he said, smirking slightly. "It's your green eyes. Very sexy."

"Yeah, right." Mariah mumbled, blushing again. She could read his mind and knew he wasn't lying.

They were quiet on the ride to the ninth floor. He was so controlled, so careful as they walked down the hallway, but the heat was coming off him in waves. His strides got a little longer, and she noticed that his breathing wasn't completely even. Somebody was completely turned on.

Somebody besides her.

He took out the key to their room, glanced down the hallway, and then escorted her inside the suit. And that was the end of his control.