They landed at a small airport at the base of the Swiss Alps, and Lorna leaned back from looking out the windows to raise her eyebrows at Sebastian. "You didn't say we were going skiing."

He gave her a sidelong glance. "Lorna, we are going to Switzerland. Do you honestly think I was just going to have us holed up in some village next to a cow plot?"

"Kinda, yeah," she laughed. "Not that I'm complaining - never been to a ski resort before. Oh my god, we can be in a hot tub with snow around us!"

"Precisely," he said with a smirk, standing up and offering her a hand. "Who says we can't hide out in style?"

"Not you, apparently," she grinned, taking his hand and getting up to follow him. Jim was already ahead of them, at the doorway off the plane.

"Nope," he said with a grin, handing her a coat provided by the pilot, and pulling one on himself. He slipped an arm around her shoulders as they disembarked behind Jim, the frost on the runway crunching underfoot.

She was glad for the coat and the arm around her shoulders - getting off the plane from more temperate New York and into mountain air was slightly jarring. She could see a jeep parked on the side of the small runway, idling, and behind it, in the distance, what looked to be a ski resort. "God, you take me on the best vacations."

He smiled, squeezing her shoulders a bit. "You ever been skiing, boss?" he asked as they got into the jeep.

"That's a mystery, isn't it?" Jim said tonelessly, and Lorna snickered.

He elbowed Lorna gently in the arm as they got to the car to shut her up, reminding himself to avoid her ribs- which were still tender if you hit them the right way. He climbed in after Jim and gave Lorna a hand up, sitting between the two in the welcome heat as the door closed and they headed off towards the resort.

"So I hope that they have some decent clothes here, because I brought neither warm nor sultry clothes, and if I'm going to be at a ski resort I need both. Because I need to be warmed up either way," she smirked, leaning against his shoulder.

Jim made something that sounded suspiciously like a gagging noise, and Moran smirked. "There are plenty of shops here. We can all get some warmer gear."

"Good," she said, ignoring Jim. It was far easier these days. "All I brought with me are blackouts."

He scoffed at that. "'Nothing sultry,'" he muttered. "Have you seen yourself in blackouts?"

"Will the two of you kindly shut up?" Jim asked, an edge to his voice. Moran shut up.

Lorna pressed her lips together to keep herself from snickering, leaning back a little so Jim couldn't see her smirk behind Sebastian. It really was quite useful that he was so much bigger than her.

He slid his arm around Lorna again, tucking her into his side to hide her struggling expression, his own stone blank as they approached the lodge.

Lorna finally managed to get herself under control as they pulled up in front of the lodge, slipping out from under Sebastian's arm as she opened the door and stepping out into the freezing air. "So we have about the best rooms here, right?"

"You keep asking these incredibly insulting questions," he said, rolling his eyes. "Yes. We have their largest suite. The same, suite, sir, for security reasons, but you have your own room, bathroom, and heated balcony." He glanced at Jim.

Jim didn't exactly look thrilled. "Fine. Keep it down," he said, with a pointed glance at Lorna. She didn't bother being offended. She knew she could get loud.

He nodded just slightly. They entered the wall of heat that was the lodge, and Moran walked over to get them checked in.

The place screamed wealthy eccentrics, but it was a lodge in the Swiss alps, so it was almost required to. They were in one of the main lounges of the lodge. It was mostly log-cabin style architecture, with large beams the size of trees spanning open space. Floor-to-ceiling windows on looked out onto the landscape, and doors led deeper into the lodge itself. There were serving staff walking around with hors d'oeuvres and taking drink orders, and a live band somewhere out of sight.

The people in the lodge screamed wealthy eccentrics, too, and Sebastian kept careful eyes out for anyone they had reason to be wary of.

To Lorna, the people walking around screamed easy marks, so she gave up on watching them after giving each of the ones in sight a three-second scan. Jim looked bored out of his gourd, but because that was his default expression, she couldn't tell what he was really thinking. The lady at the front desk handed Moran a set of keys with a smile. "You'll find your rooms on the other side of the lodge."

He just nodded his thanks, already walking away, motioning for Jim and Lorna to follow. He already knew where their room was, along with every entrance or exit - public or otherwise - and the security layout of the entire complex. It was about a five minute walk and an elevator ride to their suite, and he keyed them in, handing Jim and Lorna each a key-card as he did so.

The rooms beyond lived up to what they had seen so far. It had a high, rough-timbered ceiling, and floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking a private deck and jacuzzi, and beyond that, a gorgeous view down the mountain. The room was warm, heated in part by the centerpiece of the room, which was a large stone fireplace, and a gas fire with logs that for a moment he thought were real.

The decor was tasteful, but simple, something the interior designer in him appreciated, and he nodded to a door to the left which led to Jim's rooms. "That's your side there, sir. We're to the right."

"Excellent," he said, and peeled off from their three-person formation to open up the door to his side of the apartment and disappeared, leaving the engaged couple to themselves. Lorna had already moved forward to stand in front of the windows, feeling a very strong urge to whistle.

"God damn, this place is beautiful. Why aren't our headquarters here, again?" She chuckled, looking over at Sebastian with a grin.

He laughed. "Tell you what; if we have to move, I'll make the pitch to Jim," he said, walking up behind her and wrapping his arms around her, pulling her back against his chest.

"The heating bill would go up, but we could add hypothermia and frostbite to our intimidation list," she hummed thoughtfully, leaning back comfortably against him. Then she sighed. "I guess we can't fuck in the jacuzzi, can we?"

"I mean, we could," he said, grinning. "What's the worst that could happen?"

"Jim shoots both us in pure annoyance," she laughed. "Come on, us fucking in communal space? That's bound to go wrong."

He thought about that for a moment. "We could invite him."

She raised her eyebrows, surprised. "I don't know how just... Inviting him would go. He seems to decide for himself when to fuck us."

He considered that for a bit. "He told me he missed it," he admitted quietly. "I'm not sure what to do about that."

She almost sputtered. "Wow, I knew I was a good fuck, but I didn't think I was that good of a fuck," she joked weakly, feeling pretty shocked. "Jesus... I don't know either. Maybe we do fuck in a communal place?"

"That's sort of what I was thinking, yeah," he sighed, bending to press his face against the top of her head.

"Well that's going to be interesting," she muttered, looking with furrowed brows at the jacuzzi. At this point, she might have fucked Jim more times than Sebastian had.

He snorted in agreement, then nodded toward their side of the suite. "Let's go see our accommodations, shall we?"

She nodded, smiling again, and slipped her hand into his. "Sounds like fun."

He gripped her hand, stepping back and heading for the right-hand door. It led to an airy hall- all windows on one side, and doors on the other. One led to a kitchenette and dining area, another to a large, ornate bathroom. The door at the end of the hall opened onto a sizable bedroom, with windows on two sides, a balcony overlooking a western ridge, and a cozy looking reading loft on the northern wall. The bed was large and circular, piled high with warm throws and pillows. A gas fire crackled in a fireplace. He grinned. "Forget the network. Let's live here."

"Don't you tempt me," she warned, though her voice was awed. This place rivaled Sebastian's, it was so beautifully done. Everything looked like it was in the exact spot it had been made for. Some part of her agreed wholeheartedly with him - why go back to the network, when they could live off their vast sums of wealth in a place like this until one of them died of old age? "God, I'm going to cry when we have to leave."

He grinned, taking a step closer and hoisting her up into his arms with a laugh. "Well, then, let's come back! Buy a place- hell, buy this place- honeymoon here, come back whenever we want. We have vacation days we never use..." He kissed her neck, feeling oddly boisterous.

She squeaked as she was picked up, laughing as he kissed her, squirming a little in his arms, though her chest warmed up at talk of honeymoon. "God, let's totally buy this fucking lodge," she giggled, "What would even do with all the space? Keep running the place?"

"Fuck, who knows?" he asked, grinning. "Sure, why not, might as well generate a little revenue!" He walked over to flop onto the bed with her still in his arms. He sank almost a foot into the mattress, and laughed in surprise. "Jesus."

She chuckled, curling up on him. "We should totally honeymoon here. Maybe other places too, but totally here."

He grinned, stroking his fingers through her hair. "Alright. Well, for the moment we have probably about a day here, so there's not much time to waste. Start making your to-do list."

"Ugh, only a day? Starting now?" She groaned, tilting to look at him mournfully. "We can't delay a little?"

He smirked, flicking the back of her head. "That's up to Jim. I wouldn't say no."

"We'll lure him in with fucking, he won't know what hit him," she teased, grinning up at him.

He laughed. "You're so much trouble," he muttered, shoving her off of him playfully onto the mattress. She almost disappeared in the fluff.

"Aah!" She exclaimed, spreading out her arms to try and stop her descent. "Jesus! How are we going to sleep in this?"

"Like this," he said, shifting over to create a valley that she was sucked into by the forces of gravity, deposited haphazardly against his side.

She squeaked again, bracing her elbow against his side. "Oh my god I'm going to die help me."

He grinned, hoisting her up onto his chest, effectively insulating her from the peril of the mattress again. "Alright. Fine. Be a wimp."

"Fine, as long as I'm not smothered in feathers," she retorted with a laugh, relieved to be on firm ground again.

"Mm... Alright, well. I for one want to go try the jacuzzi. What do you think, should we bother going out to buy bathing suits?"

She scoffed. "What? Why would we ever? Even in public, it's not exactly like we're an assault to the eyes," she pointed out.

He grinned. "Gonna be a cold walk out there."

"No, it's going to be cold stripping in freezing air," she retorted, sitting up off him and using him as a brace to push herself off the treacherous bed. "C'mon, if we end up only staying a day I want to make the most of it!"

He sat up, grinning. "You can strip out there all you want. I'm stripping in here, in the nice heat, and then spending approximately point-three seconds on the dash to the hot water. Enjoy your frostbite." He stood up, pushed her playfully back onto the mattress, and pulled his shirt over his head.

"Ugh, fuck, you have a point," she groaned, then struggled off the bed and started stripping down as well, though her eyes were on him. The better she got, the more voracious her sexual appetite became. She wanted to be on him all the damn time, or the other way around, and it was almost a distraction. It didn't help that their recent fucks had been quick interludes between sleep and business, when they both had a spare moment of energy.

He noticed her eyes on him, and gave her a smug grin as he stepped out of his trousers. "What?"

"Just admiring the view," she hummed, grinning at him as she pushed her pants over her hips. "What, I can't look?"

"Nah, I just find it more fun if I point it out first," he shot back with another grin, tossing his trousers at her head and shucking his boxers before heading for the main room. "Here's to Jim not being there already."

"Knowing our luck, he is in there already," she rolled her eyes, following behind him and trotting forward a few steps to pinch his arse, smirking.

He caught her hand on the retreat on instinct, grabbing it with his bad hand without thinking. He released her a half second later when his brain informed him she wasn't a threat, and he swore quietly, shaking the ache out of his jarred finger and sending her a playful glare. They entered the common area with no sign of Jim, and he nodded to the slider door that opened to the snow-covered jacuzzi deck. "Three, two, one.."

As he said "Go!" and threw open the sliding glass door, all she really processed from there to the jacuzzi was biting pain on her skin, and then she submerged into the hot water.

He entered a second later with a splash, having slammed the door shut and followed after her, letting out a laugh as he did so. He had laughed more in the last few hours than he had in years. He felt good. Happy. They were going to get the network back. They were done with Armetti, at least for now. He was on good terms with Jim. And Lorna... Lorna...

The water was hot against his already frigid skin, and he sank into it gratefully, turning on the jets after a moment of fumbling with the controls.

"Ugh, that's the stuff, right there," she hummed, although she was all curled up into a little ball, still cold. "Can you make it hotter?"

He rolled his eyes, but upped the temperature a few degrees. "Come here," he snorted, reaching out to take her arm and tug her closer. "I just realized we forgot towels, so we're never leaving."

"Oh god, call Jim, maybe we can convince him to bail us out. We'll make a deal or something," she said, pressing up tight against his chest, stealing his warmth, although the water was slowly starting to warm her up.

"Yes, because yelling for Jim will end so well," he snorted. "Even if he heard us and, by some miracle, came, he'd just laugh and leave again," he pointed out. He glanced over the switches and dials on the controls, flicking a few experimentally. He hit a button, and suddenly five large lamps came on over the deck, glowing with the warm red of heat lamps, and the snow started melting in the air. "Right. Never mind. We're fine." He turned the lamps off again. "Guess they don't want guests dying of exposure."

"God, this place is so luxurious," she said, in awe. "What kind of food services do they have, I wonder?"

"There's a couple restaurants here, no idea how good they are, but I can imagine, and room service. We'll have to experiment." He wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Mm, I'm looking forward to owning this as our fucking personal vacation spot," she hummed, settling back against his chest. "I mean, the network can survive without us for a week at a time, every once in awhile."

He grinned, a hand sliding down between her thighs. "So am I. Though I think Jim might be a bit ruffled at the sudden interest in vacation days."

She shifted a little at his hand, feeling goosebumps rise up on the back of her neck. "Jim has had us at his beck and call without vacation days for years. I plan on enjoying some of my thirties not at work."

He grinned, hand sliding slowly down her leg. "I agree. I'm just saying it ought to be entertaining."

"We're both very distracting people," she smirked, though a little bit.. distracted. "I'm sure we can weasel our way into it."

His hand slid back up just as slowly, the water barely rippling around his shoulder. "Oh, I don't doubt that," he said with a grin, bending to press his lips to the back of her neck. The steam from the hot tub cooled on his face in the frigid air.

Even though she'd known before even stripping out of her clothes that this was going to happen, the tease was still horribly effective, and she could feel herself melting under his touch. She couldn't tell whether they were a perfect match for each other or both just incredible learners, but fuck he touched her just right.

He grinned she fell silent, her breath occasionally hitching when his fingers found a particularly sensitive spot along the inside of her thigh. His hand continued upward this time, slipping into her. She wasn't as hot against his fingers compared to the temperature of the tub, but he still smiled, fingers rolling slowly.

She let out a soft sound, eyes falling shut, fingers tightening on the side of his thigh under the water. "How are you so... Good at this?"

"Coming from the grifter... That's doing wonders for my ego," he said with a smirk. His movements felt clumsy to him, if he was honest. His left hand was not his usual choice. But he still knew her body, and he'd gotten better over the last few weeks. "You're so fucking hot... I get motivated to do well." He nipped her ear.

She shivered, shifting back against him with a rock of her hips. "I could say the same about you, you fucking Adonis," she murmured, biting her lip.

He smiled, the heel of his palm rocking against her clit. His bad hand lifted up to rest around her throat, not gripping, just present.

She groaned, turning her head on his shoulder to nip at his neck, eyes cracked a little. She caught something in the corner of her eye, and shifted, looking further back. "Seb... Jim is watching us through the window with a glass of what I presume is scotch."

He paused for just a moment, then grinned. "Well, you noticed him," he said, not looking over, his fingers moving again, curling inside of her, palm rubbing lightly over her clit. "Look inviting..."

She let out a mix of a laugh and a moan, hips rolling against his hand, and she couldn't manage to make a purposeful face at Jim except one of impatience and pleasure, and had to hope that as a reader, he would get the drift.

Jim watched them for a while, finishing his scotch. Harrison had caught his gaze, had smiled before Moran had gotten her attention again. He considered the situation. It had been easy enough to see the invitation in Lorna's gaze, but he wasn't certain if he wanted to take this step. He hadn't fucked either of them since Moran's return. He'd been... clean, as it were. But now... there were feelings, disturbing as they were, drawing him toward the hot tub.

He set the glass aside and removed his tie.

Ben Schuller - Cool For The Summer (Acoustic Cover)