Mint On The Pillow
Part Two - Surrender
A gun pressed into his back, Jarod swiped the card-key through the pad and opened the door. He stopped on the threshold and gestured to the gold room number: one-hundred and one.
"I couldn't have picked better myself," he smiled back at her. She nudged him in the back with her gun. "Inside, now."
"Room 101 is supposed to contain your worst fears."
"Then it must be broken. As of right now it contains my greatest success."
"Capturing me is the greatest thing you've ever done? I feel sorry for you."
"Shut up, Jarod. There really is nothing you can say to spoil this."
She pushed him over to the armchair by the window and shoved him down into it, taking both his wrists and swiftly handcuffing him to the radiator. She put her gun back in her holster and perched on the edge of the bed, grinning in delight.
He looked past her to the head of the bed. "Is that for me?"
Miss Parker looked back and saw the second little foil-wrapped chocolate mint she hadn't eaten. She reached over and picked it up, unwrapped it and held it out to Jarod with a challenging little smile. He returned the look evenly, and with an impish grin, she ate it.
"Mmm... I still can't believe it - I outsmarted the great Pretender. I've--GOT--you! This is like Thanksgiving, Christmas and birthday all rolled into one! I'm going to be lavished with praise," she leaned forward, bringing her gloating face closer to his, "And best of all, I can finally tell that bitch Brigitte where to stick it, and my snivelling brother, too, that is, if they aren't fired on the spot."
Jarod watched the play of triumph on her face. She could, and probably would, continue to gloat like this all the way back to the Centre. But he could also see past the arrogance, to the genuine happiness beneath, the simple joy of achievement... she was like a kid who'd finally completed the world's hardest jigsaw. He couldn't help smiling at the light in her eyes, the beauty of her smile.
"What are you grinning about?" she asked.
"I can't remember when I've seen you this happy, and all it took was a little thing like you capturing me. If I'd known I would've let you catch me ages ago."
Her first thought was to quickly refute the obvious implication that he had let her catch him tonight, but the warmth of his smile stopped her. She looked at him, at the man she'd chased up and down the country, who had dominated her thoughts one way or another for years. Now here he was, her prisoner, and yet strangely unconcerned, his deep chocolate eyes holding her gaze, the relaxed smile of a person completely in control.
"So, what is it?" he asked casually.
"What?"
"Your worst fear."
"Now you really sound like Sydney."
"Of course I already know, I just want to hear you say it."
She knew she shouldn't take his bait. She'd gotten into too many conversations like this late at night, which always ended the same way: with her flatly denying any of the distressing truths he pointed out, brushing off his advice and putting the phone down, then lying awake all night haunted by his words, able to admit to herself in the darkness that he really did have her figured out. Now he was right in front of her, hanging up was impossible... she should not get into this.
"Spiders," she retorted icily.
"Come on, you can do better than that."
"You seem to know everything, why don't you enlighten me?" She regretted that the moment the words passed her lips. The grin on his face told her he was just waiting for the opportunity to get under her skin.
"Your fear," his voice was low and smooth, "Is of people seeing past your Ice-Queen façade to the human, the woman beneath." As hard as she was concentrating on not listening, she couldn't fail to notice the minute raise of his eyebrow at that.
As much as possible given his restraint, he sat back in the chair and adopted a slightly smug expression; he was reading her like a book. "You work hard to maintain your public persona, so you're afraid of things which shake it... which make you feel. Your Room 101 is being out of control. That's why I annoy you so much. You can't control me..." he looked briefly at his handcuffs, "Not even now."
That was enough, Miss Parker decided. Now she could read him! He was backed into a corner and trying to bluff his way out.
"I'd reconsider that evaluation, doctor," she countered, her voice laced with sarcasm, "In light of the fact that our little chase is over."
Honestly, the great psycho-analyst, telling her she was afraid to feel? She'd had enough heartbreak in her life to fuel a daytime soap opera! He was right about being annoying, though. Every word he said, every suggestive smile could reach right through her prickly defences. She blinked away the sudden inexplicable anxiety. No matter... soon he would be back where he belonged and leave her insecurities alone.
Jarod watched the interplay of self-doubt and reassurance on her face. He knew his words had hit home as always, but tonight perhaps, she would be able to ignore the voice of truth and listen only to her inflated ego.
He leaned forward, his eyes never leaving hers. "If I were you, Miss Parker, I wouldn't crack out the champagne prematurely. I'm not back in the Centre yet."
The confidence in his tone worried her just a bit. But that was just what he wanted, wasn't it? When you don't have the upper hand, make them think you do.
"Don't worry, you soon will be," she tried to match him in certainty.
"Not tonight in any case. I happen to know the Centre's airborne resources are fully booked at the moment. They're all in Africa for a triumvirate meeting."
"How do you--?"
"So you can't just call in a helicopter or the private jet till, oh, tomorrow afternoon at the earliest."
He grinned widely at her now. "Or did you expect to drive a thousand miles with me at gunpoint?"
Her look hardened. He was going to be difficult, was he? "Lucky for me you're not going anywhere."
"Miss Parker," Jarod chided in that infuriatingly amused tone of his, "You know escapology is a hobby of mine... I can get out of these in a heartbeat," he rattled the handcuffs briefly, "You really think you're gonna keep that gun trained on me for, oh, about twelve hours? It's two in the morning already..." he let out an exaggerated yawn, completely contagious, and smiled as Miss Parker tried to stifle an answering yawn, "...And no bathroom breaks?"
She stared him down cold. "Well maybe I'll just shoot you."
"I'm pretty sure your orders are to take me alive."
"Doesn't have to be fatal, just incapacitating. You won't get very far with a bullet in your leg."
He shook his head. "I don't think you want to bring me back damaged either. Might make you look a little... sloppy. It would certainly give Brigitte some ammo."
She thought about that for a moment, but snapped out of the distraction as he started to wriggle his hands out of the cuffs with Houdini-like expertise.
"Stop that!" She yelled, swiftly drawing her gun. He continued to smile at her, but now there was no trace of teasing.
"Calm down. Whatever you might think, I'm really not asking to be shot."
Miss Parker stood and stepped closer, keeping the gun raised as he let the cuffs fall with a clang against the radiator. "You're going to regret that."
He stood up slowly, holding his hands out slightly before him, and instead of trying to move away from her, he came closer. His eyes flickered briefly to the gun, and then back to her face, undaunted.
"Not another step. I'm warning you Jarod." She cocked the gun purposefully. Gently he reached out and put his hand over the gun barrel. "What the hell--" she gasped, incredulous.
"Are you really going to kill me?" His voice was deep and velvety, his eyes mirroring the question as he continued forwards. His palm was against the gun muzzle, not attempting to take it away from her, not challenging her to act, but closing the distance between them until the revolver was pressed against his abdomen and his hand fell loosely by his side.
Miss Parker's eyes darted between her gun, digging into him, and his calm face. Incredibly, given her years of experience in such tense situations, she was starting to feel flustered, taken off-guard by this approach. She'd expected defiance from him, cunning, perhaps even pleading, but never this gentle indifference to her threats, this softness. She tried to force her erratic thoughts into coherence enough to form some threat...
"Stop it," she hissed distractedly.
He reached out to caress her cheek, a whisper of a touch. She looked straight into his rich dark eyes.
"I mean it, Jarod, stop it."
She backed away from him, but he followed, maintaining the close quarters until she felt the wall at her back. She caught her breath... how did she feel so trapped when she was the one with the gun! She could pull the trigger right now, blow a hole right through him...
He stepped closer, ignoring the discomfort of the gun still digging into his gut.
"Listen, as much as I would love to see you showered with praise, not to mention finally getting some time off, you need to understand that I will never go back to the Centre. Not unless it's in a body bag." His eyes were suddenly intense; Miss Parker was in no doubt that he meant every word. "And if you don't want to be the one who murders me, then you might as well accept that tonight is not going to be your night..." He paused for effect, and the gravity of the moment was broken as his lips curled into a little suggestive smile, and one eyebrow went up, "...At least as far as recapturing me goes." His eyes held that same cheeky glint again, but there was something more...
As much as she wanted to slap him for the presumption that she... that they would... she couldn't deny she was acutely aware of his closeness, the smell of him, the look in his eyes... silently she cursed him and her own weakness. This was Jarod! He was positively the last person she should ever--
He leant forward and caught her lips in a light kiss, lingering, his hands moving to her hair. For a minute she acquiesced, lost in sensation. Then her rational mind clawed back control and she pushed him back, forcing herself to stand straight and strong.
"This is crazy! You're absolutely out of your mind--"
"Shhh, don't think so much. That was always my mistake."
"I have to think Jarod, I have to stay alive."
"There's more to life than just surviving. You know, today is Valentine's Day. It's supposed to be the one night when nobody has to be alone, when people who are looking for..." he catches his breath, "...for love, find it."
She started to protest, but her silenced her with another kiss. He deftly removed the gun from her hand, putting it on a little side table beside them, still in reach. Immediately she tried to reach for it, but he took her hand, interlacing his fingers with his own.
"You don't need that... I surrender."
"You're going to use this against me--" she accused.
"You know me better than that."
"It's one thing to say that here and now, but what about tomorrow?"
"The games continue, and you and I will always have this to remember."
"Or regret."
"There's been too much to regret in our lives already, let's leave tonight out of it. Tonight is just about... about not being alone."
Miss Parker decided she could surrender to that.
End of Part Two