Sands smiled to himself. His plan was working. Since she wouldn't voluntarily leave, he would drive this woman crazy and she would be begging to get back to CIA headquarters before too long. He didn't need a partner or someone to watch his back. She might find out everything he had planned and he couldn't afford that to happen. If she did find out about the 20 million pesos, he would have to kill her and that would get messy. It was never good to have to take out another CIA agent. There were always far too many questions involved and he really didn't feel like being on the hot seat, yet again.

No, it would be better to just keep the heat on her until it got too hot for her and she made the decision herself that she couldn't handle it anymore. He was sure it wouldn't take long. By the look of her she was a naive and innocent girl. She would break at the first sign of any trouble, he was sure of it.

They arrived at the restaurant he had picked out. He hadn't tried their Puerco Pibil yet so he ordered it as he always did, hoping it would be good.

"Do you always order that? She asked, "I mean most people don't eat the same thing for lunch and dinner."

Nosy little brat, he thought. "No, I don't always order it, but if I haven't tried it at a certain restaurant it is usually the first thing I like to try."

"Why?" She asked genuinely curious.

"I consider it a gauge to the quality of the restaurant. You see if they can make this dish good, well then, they can make anything good." He replied with a smile.

He decided not to tell her that if it was indeed good enough, he would shoot the cook, to keep the balance. The CIA generally frowned upon such things but he did it anyway. They just didn't need to know about it and he was sure she would tell them, little rookie canary that she was.

"Oh, OK," she said still looking confused. "Well about the intelligence I have…," she began.

Their food arrived as she was talking and he began eating. He listened half heartedly as she rambled on about the supposed new intelligence that she was aware of, nodding every now and then. There was nothing he didn't already know. Some of it he had set up himself. He watched her, and was amused at the self-assured way she spoke about it like it was so very important that he know this.

"Well, that's very interesting, indeed," he remarked at the conclusion of her little speech. Having finished eating, he lit up a cigarette blowing smoke in her direction.

She fanned the smoke out of her face and coughed. "Do you have to smoke?" she said. "I hate those things."

"Yes, I have to smoke, " he responded. "You see it's a little thing I like to call a habit." He smirked. "Gotta have it." He shrugged. Good, he thought, smiling to himself, yet another thing I can irritate her with.

"Well, I'd prefer it if you'd do it when I'm not right beside you, or in a more open area if that's alright with you. It bothers my allergies," she said, smiling to try to lighten up the mood.

"No," came his short reply.

"No? What do you mean, no?" she asked looking at him pointedly. "It's a simple request. I have allergies."

"No, I won't smoke in your so-called designated areas. I will smoke when and where I please, savvy?" he grinned menacingly at her.

"Fine!" she retorted. "Inconsiderate…b.."

He couldn't make out the last word that she said under her breath but he was sure he had irritated her. He sat back and blew more smoke in her direction and smiled at her across the table.

He waited for her to finish eating then paid the check and they left the restaurant to return her to her hotel. He would drop her off and then hopefully get rid of her soon or at the very least keep her out of his way for the next few days until his plan could come together.

They arrived back at her hotel and he walked her up to her room. She opened the door and went in and began to close the door but he pushed it back open and walked in.

"Sands, I thought we were done talking. I was going to call it a day. I'm very tired," she said as she threw her bag down on the small table and turned to him.

He kicked the door shut and walked toward her. "Oh, we are done talking, Sugarbutt," he said advancing on her.

She backed up into a wall as he closed the gap and grabbed her around the waist and kissed her hard, crushing her lips and pinning her against the wall pressing his body against hers.

She gasped, completely taken by surprise, which was his plan, he mused. Turn up the heat and she'll buckle. He was surprised when her lips softened slightly and she relaxed just for a second.

"Sands….I….no…get away from me!" She seemed to recover some of her spunk and pushed him firmly away from her causing him to stumble backwards. "If you do that again, I swear I'll kill you," she yelled at him wiping his kiss from her lips with the back of her hand. "You are such a pig."

He smirked at her. "Baby, you know you loved it. I could tell." His cell phone rang in his pocket and he answered it annoyed at the interruption.

"You get the heck out of that girl's room!" Ajedrez yelled into the phone. "Don't think I don't know what's going on. I've suspected for a long time that you've been cheating on me and I had you followed. Now my man better see you walking out that door right now or we are so over." She slammed the phone down.

Oh dear God, she's been having me followed, he thought to himself. Why didn't I know this. He silently cursed himself. I have to go talk to her. This could ruin my plans.

"Sorry, gotta run." He smiled at Samantha. "Call me." He left the room quickly and headed straight to Ajedrez's apartment to see her and explain. But what was he going to say? He didn't want to tell her that this girl was sent from the CIA to watch his back. No, he'd have to think of something else.

Samantha walked into the bathroom and looked at herself in the mirror. Her lipstick was smudged and she could still feel his kiss on her lips. It had felt good. It had been a long time since she'd been kissed like that.

Oh, no, I can't think about that she thought to herself. This is definitely NOT the guy I want to be kissing. She quickly scrubbed her lips with a wet facecloth to get rid of the sensation of his lips on hers.

She brushed her hair and got ready to go to bed. Tomorrow would be the first real day of her assignment. She hoped she had made it clear to Sands that she meant all business, but based on his response, she was sure he would continue to annoy her. She was going to have to be firm with him. Normally she would just deck the guy but this was her superior officer and she needed to try to be diplomatic about it even though she knew he was just trying to get under her skin.

Or was he really interested in her, she thought? No, she wasn't going to think about that and it didn't really matter anyway. She wasn't interested in him, she told herself firmly, not one bit. He was an arrogant jerk, not her type at all. She lay down on the hotel bed thinking about the day ahead and drifted off to sleep.