Chapter 4

I arrived at the garden in an outfit similar to the one I wore the previous night. It was a short, spaghetti-strapped, dark maroon dress with a deep sweetheart neckline. I accented it with strappy black high heels and a black beaded rosary.

Sark saw me arrive and promptly stood to help me find him in the crowd of people. The Garden Of The Angels was a popular place this time of year, so it would have been difficult to find him otherwise.

"Remind me to thank your stylist." He greeted.

"Okay, thank me. I don't need a stylist." I replied before kissing him.

"You look lovely."

"Thank you."

"So I take it you spoke with Cole?"

"Yes."

"And?"

"He said Sydney Bristow was a CIA agent The Covenant 'took care of' about 9 months ago."

"Which proves me right."

"I suppose it does. Want a cookie?" I replied sarcastically.

"No. I was thinking of something better." He sat, pulling me onto his lap and kissing me passionately.

"I missed you on the plane ride back. I had no one to talk to."

"It's a shame. My flight here had me sitting next to some smelly businessman from India."

"That's why I made McKenas fly me out privately. I always end up sitting next to the smelly ones."

"I'll have to remember that sometime."

"Anyway, I told McKenas we were meeting next week, so everything's all set."

"Did he say anything about Walker?"

"Not even when I mentioned him."

"I'm sorry you had to find out from me."

"Better you than him. I would've choked the life out of him on the spot."

"And that wouldn't put you in very high standing with The Covenant."

"Exactly. But I did slam his office door when I left, for good measure."

"Well then, maybe I should start taking tips from you." He said sarcastically.

"That was so funny I forgot to laugh."

"Clearly, a comedy career isn't in my immediate future."

"Clearly." I replied, "So what's on the agenda this evening?"

"I thought we'd have a nice dinner nearby and then work out the rest of the details as we went."

"That sounds like a good idea, but I think I'd like to take in some more of the atmosphere here first."

"Yes, the garden is quite lovely this time of year, isn't it?"

"It is, but I was thinking about a different kind of atmosphere." I replied before capturing his lips in mine.

He moaned into my mouth as I repositioned myself. I straddled his lap and wrapped my arms around his neck, playing with the soft hairs in back of it. I felt his arms slide around my waist as I felt the heat rise. As much as I wanted him, a public garden in Rome wasn't the optimal place to have him.

"We should take this to my penthouse." He said breathlessly as we broke for air.

"Lead the way." I replied.

He walked me through the garden with an arm around my waist. We went out into the brisk evening air and he led me to a limo that was waiting at the entranceway. He helped me in before climbing in himself, and we were off to his hotel.

We looked like the perfect couple as we walked into the lobby of the hotel, hand in hand. I saw a few women eye Sark, so I merely paused for a moment to kiss him passionately. They gave a scoff before quickly walking away.

"Is someone showing off?" he asked with a giggle.

"Absolutely. It's not every day I get to saunter into one of the fanciest hotels in Rome with a sexy blonde on my arm." I replied.

"I suppose I could say the same."

"But you forgot the part about my killer fashion sense."

"So did you." I kissed him again as we both chuckled.

"Enough. Let's get to the elevator before we can't take it anymore and I have to have you right here."

"I wouldn't mind that one bit."

"You wouldn't, but I think the hotel clerks and the other people just might."

"And?"

"Come on." I said, taking his arm and dragging him toward the elevators. He kept his arm around my waist as we rode up to the 14th floor. We walked quickly to his suite, stopping to open the door.

Once inside, I pulled him toward me, kissing him passionately. He wrapped his arms tightly around my waist, holding my body firmly against his own. We stayed locked in our kiss for what seemed like an eternity before we had to come up for air.

"I couldn't wait an entire week." I said.

"Neither could I." He replied.

We were attached to each other's lips once again, our tongues battling for supremacy. I could feel the heat radiating through my body as Sark's hands roamed up my back to unzip my dress. We broke apart once again and he gently pulled each strap off my shoulders before letting my dress fall onto the floor. He leaned to kiss me again, but I stopped him.

"No fair. You've got more clothes on than I do." I said.

"Maybe we can fix that." He replied with a smirk.

I slipped his suit jacket off his shoulders before I went to work on the many shirt buttons. After a few moments of fumbling with them, they were finally undone. I grabbed him by the waist of his pants and pulled him to me, crashing my lips into his. I worked my way across his cheek, down his chin, and began kissing & licking at his neck. I felt a moan work its way out and started incorporating nips and bites here and there. He was nearly putty in my hands, so I moved down to his chest, leaving little love bites as I went.

After what seemed like hours, he pulled me up and pushed me onto the bed. He finally undid his pants and threw them across the room, returning my torture. It didn't take him long before he couldn't take it anymore. We went for hours, only deciding to rest when neither of us could lift our bodies.

I awoke a few hours later in Sark's arms with a huge smile on my face. I wiggled around on the bed a bit before I found myself in a comfortable position – his arm around my shoulder and my head resting on his chest. My movements gently roused him from his sleep, so he sat up against the headboard, pulling me against his chest.

"Morning." I said with a smile.

"Morning." He replied.

"You know, you never told me your firstname. I feel kind of silly just calling you Sark."

"It's Julian." He replied, "Is there anything else you'd like to know now that you have the opportunity to ask?"

"Tell me about Sydney." I said, "What was she like? What kind of person was she? What were things like between the two of you?"

"Sydney Bristow was an amazing woman. She was one of the best agents the CIA had, which automatically made us mortal enemies." He explained.

"She was beautiful. There were times that we were in the field and I just wanted to say to hell with whatever I was doing just so I could kiss her. I always wanted to tell her how much I desired her, but I knew she wanted no part of it."

"You don't know that for sure." I interjected.

"Sadly, I don't because I never took the chance. But she was a top agent. She always did her operations to the letter. We saw each other as a challenge and that's the way we preferred it. To tell you the truth, I liked having her as an adversary because she could match me so well."

"She sounds like one hell of a woman."

"She still is." He replied, kissing the top of my head.