Disclaimer: This series is not mine to own.

Dance Of The Dead

Chapter Seven

"What put that idea into your head?" Lina said as she recovered from being caught off guard.

Zel shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe it was Filia. Or it could just be that I've been fighting an attraction for you since we first met."

"Really?" Lina looked at him disbelievingly. "I think Filia must have scrambled your brains with her mace when I wasn't looking."

Zel trapped her up against a wall. "No, my brain is still intact."

"I don't believe you." Lina planted her hands against his chest and tried to push him away.

Zel was unmoveable. "How about I show you then."

He had some slick moves, Lina would give him that. Before she could do anything more than open her mouth to give him a verbal lashing, Zel struck. His mouth swooped down and landed on hers.

Lina was prepared for brute force and a bruising kiss, not tenderness. Internally, she reeled as he caressed her mouth with his.He teased her, keeping the kiss light and seductive. Her hands relaxed and gripped the front of his shirt as she surrendered.

She sighed and opened her mouth to him. He took her invitation and deepened his kiss. Lina was too lost in the erotic illusion he was building for her to protest. She only surfaced to reality as he ended the kiss. He bit gently at her lower lip then kissed the side of her mouth. He raised his head and looked at Lina's face, still soft from passion.

Too bad it didn't last long. "I didn't say you could do that." Lina hissed at him, angry that she had let him have the advantage.

"Goodnight, Lina." Zel smiled and stepped away. "I'll see you soon."

Lina smoothed her shirt. "Wait! How will I get ahold of you?"

"I'll find you." He stepped towards his car and disappeared into its depths.

She watched it roar away before she began looking for her key. "Dammit, Zel. You think you're so smart. Just wait until I see you again."

Lina inserted her key into the lock and fiddled with the lock until it opened grudgingly for her. Still grumbling, she stepped inside then locked the door behind her. She flipped on the lights as she made her way to the office. She read the note Amelia had left for her then rifled through the paperwork had left for her to go over. Satisfied, she stacked the paperwork into a pile and left it on the desk for Amelia to file tomorrow.

She shut the lights off and exited the office. She went up the stairs to the second floor where she was staying. The loft took up the entire second floor of the moderate sized gallery. The loft had an open studio style floor plan with the small kitchen tucked into a corner on the left hand side. The 'living room' was laid out near the doorway and painted japanese screens sectioned off a section of space that hid Lina's bed.

Lina sighed and began picking up clothes and other items that had been tossed about. She tossed the clothes in a basket to be washed and stacked items haphazardly on shelves. She'd vacuum later when she felt like it.

Ever since she was a child, Lina would clean when she felt unsettled or scared. That hardly ever happened but when it did it was usually her sister Luna's doing. Luna's scare tactics resulted in Lina having a room that just sparkled.

Lina humphed to herself as she undressed and changed into pajamas. She hadn't felt so unsettled around a man since before she'd married Gourry. Part of the reason she felt unsettled was the fact that she was attracted to Zel, Lina admitted to herself. She hadn't met anyone who managed to tug at her senses like that since she had filed for divorce.

Lina got into bed and made herself comfortable. She genuinely had loved Gourry. She would never have married him otherwise. But it had taken her years to see why she had married him. He was comfortable to be around like a child treasured a security blanket. She had never bothered to stretch herself or had to grow as a person when she was with him. She hadn't needed to.

She grew angry and frustrated when he wasn't able to fulfill her needs. They began fighting and screaming at each other. After one such fight, Lina had stormed to the bathroom and locked the door. Still fuming, she stared at herself in the mirror.

Was that hateful person in the mirror really her? Lina thought to herself as her anger fell away. She didn't like this person that she had become. She sat on the bathroom floor and cried. She didn't come out for a very long time.

When they had calmed, Lina and Gourry sat down to talk. Lina didn't like to think of it as the only serious talk that they ever had, but it was. They talked for over an hour and used enough kleenex to kill an entire tree. Lina packed her things and left that night. Lina had sent him the divorce papers two months later.

Zel was a different story. Zel was an FBI agent that was used to facing dangerous situations. He wasn't comfortable, he would keep you guessing until he decided to clue you into whatever he was planning. And he would do that only when he felt like doing so.

Lina grinned as she thought about the FBI agent. Zel was good looking and he made her hormones sizzle with a fiery intensity. It couldn't hurt to flirt with him a little since he was interested in her. Maybe she'd even take him out for a test drive if he continued to kiss her brainless. That first one had nearly melted her legs into jelly.

But she wouldn't fall in love with him. That was definitely not in her day planner and it didn't seem to be in his either. Lina had been hurt by love enough in this lifetime and she wasn't going out of her way to look for it again. She especially wasn't going to be looking for it in a serious (if hot) FBI agent who would leave and not look back once he finished his job.

Lina turned off her lamp and went to sleep.