Nikita knew that she shouldn't have accepted his invitation to dinner but Blackwood was not a man to be denied. Still, a girl's gotta eat and she is starving. Besides, she has to figure a way to sneak out some of his surveillance tapes.

"I gotta say," Nikita commented as she ate like a starving wolf, "you've got a really good kitchen. A lot of clubs, the food's mediocre at best. But yours, um..." She licked barbecue sauce from her thumb. "It's first class." Nikita thought fast and decided to break one of her long standing rules. "If you could spare a glass of wine, I noticed a nice sauvignon blanc in the panel."

Blackwood turned toward the panel, opened it, selected the bottle.

"Why don't you join me?"

"I'm still on duty, I don't drink during working hours," he replied with a grin.

"I noticed that. Don't drink, don't smoke, don't hit on the customers. During working hours," she added.

He turned back, the glass of pale gold wine in his hand. And watched her take off her jacket.

"I hope you don't mind," she said, then shrugged out of her jacket. "I find it awkward to seduce men when I'm fully clothed."

She laid it on his desk, then walked towards him.

* * * * * * *

She might have been taken off her jackets, Blackwood thought, but she wasn't unarmed. A woman with eyes as potent as whiskey and a voice like smoke would never be without a weapon.

Worse, she knew it. That longbow mouth was curved up, just a little, like a cat's when the canary cage was open. He didn't much care for games, but he played on. "Your wine." He held out the glass, a deliberate move to keep an arm-span of distance between them. "And though I appreciate the thought, I don't have the time for a seduction at the moment."

Nikita wasn't put off because this was the only way she could get him to trust her. "Oh, it shouldn't take very long." She took the wine, and moved right in, grabbing a fistful of his shirt to hold him in place. "I really like the look of you, Blackwood. Hot mouth, cool eyes." She took a sip of wine, watching him over the rim. "I want to see more."

His senses went blade sharp. The muscles of his belly tied themselves into a dozen hard and tangled knots. He tried hard to suppress his smile as he said, "You get right to it, don't you?"

"You said you were in a hurry." She rose on her toes to nip her teeth into his bottom lip, and sliced a jagged line of need straight through him. "So I'm picking up the pace."

"I don't like sexually aggressive women," Blackwood teased on and pondered the irony of it all.

Her laugh was low, knowing and mocking. "Then this is going to be very unpleasant for you. That's a shame." She leaned in, skimmed her tongue up the side of his neck. "I want you to touch me. I want you to put your hands on me."

He kept them to his sides, but in his mind they were already ripping at her shirt, already taking. "Like I said, it's a nice offer, but--"

"I can feel your heart pounding." She shook her hair back, and the scent of it slithered into his system. "I can feel the way you want me, the same way I want you." She saw the change in his eyes, the faintest deepening of shade. Dead giveaway, she thought. She took a sip of wine and then moved forward, walking him backward. Nikita noticed that he had trouble swallowing and slipped something into her drink without his knowledge, and placed it back on his desk.

"I guess I'm going to have to get rough." She grinned as he drained her glass so that the wine pumped in with the reckless power surging through him. Nikita tossed the glass aside and hooked a hand in the waistband of his trousers.

Aroused and furious that he lacked self control, he said, "Cut it out."

"Make me." She threw her head back, then leaped, arms wrapping around his neck, legs vised around his waist. "Come on and make me. You've got plenty of moves."

Her mouth swooped down to tease his, and she tasted a wild, wonderful mix of desire and temper. "Take me down," she whispered, raking her hands through his hair. "Finish it. Finish me."

His blood was raging. The taste of her, hot and female with the fiat zip of wine, was on his tongue. "You asking for trouble."

"So..." She rubbed her lips over his, as if imprinting her flavor on him. "Give it to me."

Control snapped. He could hear it echo in his head like the violent crack of hammer against stone. He gripped her hair, wrapping it around his hand, yanking it back so that she let out a little gasp as her head flew back.

"The line's crossed." His eyes weren't cool now. They simmered, as if a bolt of lightning had struck a pool. "You'll give me everything I want. What you don't give, I'll take. That's the deal."

Her breath was already quickened and as she pondered when the powder will take effect, she answered him, "Done."

His gaze lowered to the long, vulnerable curve of her throat. Then he set his teeth on her. Her body jerked against his as the shock of that threat of pain. Her mind reeled to a familiar image...Michael. And suddenly that threat of pain turned miraculously into a lance of pleasure. Then she was falling, clinging to him as she tumbled into the shadows, into the dark.

She lost her breath when she hit the bed, lost her grip when his body covered hers. Then, for a moment, he tore her shirt open, she lost her mind. Floundering for balance, she threw an arm up. Her knuckles thudded against the bedspread, then her fingers dug in. "Wait."

"No."

His mouth was on her breast, ravaging tender flesh with lips and teeth and tongue. She fought for air, fought to find the power that had been hers just moments before. Instead she found him spinning past control, past reason. His hands were on her, as she had demanded. And they were hard and fast, ruthlessly exploiting weakness, secrets she hadn't known she'd possessed. Then his mouth came back to hers, hot and greedy. He rolled with her over the wide pool of the bed, taking what and how he wanted. When he dragged her to her knees, she trembled. She could see his eyes, the predatory gleam of them, from the backwash of light from the office. She let out a ragged breath as she squeezed her eyes shut to blot out this terrifying nightmare.

Then, it was over. Everything stilled as Blackwood buried his face in the tumbled mass of her hair and fell to the bed. Offering a silent prayer above, Nikita let out a sigh of relief, quickly collected her clothes and left after gathering all the surveillance tapes required for the assignment.