Chapter 4

Lisbon's POV

She walked towards her desk, feeling exhausted. She hadn't slept last night, tossing and turning thinking about Jane and what happened between them. The rational part of her was convinced that she was right; Jane was playing her. But another very small part of her wondered if she was wrong. Could Jane be in love with her as he claimed and if he was... did she even want that?

She simply wanted to call his bluff yesterday when she challenged him. She expected an awkward kiss that would show him that he couldn't fool her with his games. Instead, her reaction to his seduction did nothing but prove that she wanted what he was selling. She felt her cheeks get hot again as she remembered his kiss.

She let him seduce her... she fell for it... hook, line, and sinker. She had actually decided to give herself over to him... to trust him at that moment because their connection had been so strong. But then he put on the brakes and she felt like such a fool for falling for it. Embarrassment flooded through her again and she looked around to see if anyone was observing her.

She sat at her desk, trying to focus on something to do... but her brain just wouldn't let it go. She chastised herself again. She knew who he was, how he operated; she even knew what he was doing at that moment, and still, she fell for it... she was so mad at herself.

"Uh... Lisbon? Are you okay?" Wiley asked.

She hadn't noticed him come up to her desk.

"Yes. All good. What's up?" she said in as normal a voice as she could muster.

He didn't look convinced. He was frowning at her and she realized that she'd been aggressively stapling her reports that were already stapled. It was happening again; Jane was getting inside her head.

"Abbott's looking for you. Office," he said meekly with a stiff smile.

"Thanks."

She entered Abbott's office with dread; he wasn't alone. Jane was seated in one of the leather chairs, his back to her; he greeted her as she entered with a huge smile. Marcus was also there, standing near Abbott's desk with a woman she didn't recognize; he looked mad. She knew Marcus well enough now to know that he was seething underneath. Jane must have been setting him off.

"Agent Lisbon, thanks for joining us. Have a seat," Abbott said indicating the chair next to Jane.

Abbott was smiling; he did that to put people at ease, but she knew something was up. She felt like she was at the principal's office the way everyone was staring at her. She squared her shoulders and forced herself to appear calm.

"Agent Lisbon, this is Special Agent Melissa Simms, with the Counterterrorism Unit. She's here with Agent Pike this morning because you and Jane have somehow inserted yourselves in their investigation. Jane gave me his version of events, but I'd like to hear from you how this happened."

Her heart picked up speed. She greeted the new agent and turned her attention back to Abbott.

"What do you mean, sir?"

To her horror, Abbott pulled up images of her and Jane at yesterday's wedding... dancing... laughing... and eating with Mikhail Lipovsky, the man on the FBI's watch list.

"I was hoping you could explain this."

She glanced at Marcus her stomach souring; his jaw was set very tight. The photos were quite damning.

Jane was sitting with his legs crossed, smiling and completely at ease. He just loved this kind of situation. Their eyes connected and she tried to gauge what he'd said, needed him to provide a clue but he gave nothing away. She just had to hope that he stuck to some semblance of truth and that their stories matched.

She glanced at Agent Simms briefly again; she was a stunning redhead and it was clear she had no idea what dynamics were at play right now. She refocused her attention on Abbott.

"Well, sir, as you know, I went to Carden last night to collect Jane. I found him at a private card game with the person of interest and recognized him from the weekly watch list update meeting. Jane had an in; when he invited us to his daughter's wedding, we decided to explore the opportunity and see what intel we could gather."

Abbott was staring at her, a small smile on his lips.

"Hum... well, that clears things up," he said to Agent Simms and Marcus.

He returned his attention to her and continued.

"Agent Simms and Agent Pike have been collaborating on this case for five days now. Lipovsky has started using art shipments to traffic his wares recently. Pike is helping Simms with the smuggling channels. Agent Simms, please debrief Agent Lisbon and Jane on your plan."

"Thank you, Senior Agent," she said with a nod to Abbott. "Lisbon, you are the first agent to get this close to Lipovsky. Jane says that he's been invited to another game tonight. We need you to go in with Jane and run a scan for us. By the looks of the photos, you both got close enough last night that the scanner would work. You just need to do it one more time."

"Scanner?"

"It's new tech. If we can get close enough to his cell, we can rip all his data and contacts. It takes about 2 minutes. He's always surrounded by his bodyguards. We can never get close enough to run the scan."

"I read about those... but he would have a signal blocker, surely?"

"Yes... it's possible. Jane said he could lift the cell if necessary and remove the signal blocker which is usually in the outer case."

She darted her eyes to Jane. He lifted his eyebrows at her and shrugged. The situation was too dangerous, she was mad at him, but she didn't want him dead.

"Jane's not an agent. He can't incur that kind of risk," she said pointedly to Abbott.

"He said he was willing to do it."

She looked at Jane again, trying to quell her anger at the situation he was putting them in. He didn't even check with her... he highjacked her, again. He was supposed to be gone, not dragging her into an operation! But there was nothing to be done for it; she was stuck.

"Okay… what's the plan?" she asked with chagrin.

What followed was a two-hour prep and planning meeting with Agent Simms in the conference room. She was quite sure that Simms was interested in Jane the way she was flirting and flattering him. The whole thing was making her nauseous and annoyed. It didn't help that Marcus looked like he wanted to rip Jane's head off at any moment. And Jane… he was lapping it up.

When it was finally over, Marcus walked out with her and requested a chat in one of the private offices. She wasn't in the mood, but she felt some damage control was required since they had to work together tonight.

She entered behind him and closed the door.

"What the hell, Teresa. What's really going on between you and Jane?"

"Not that it's any of your business, since you broke up with me... nothing. Nothing is going on."

"I saw the photos..."

"And? What of it?"

"You look like you liked it; being with him like that."

"That's your perception."

"You're all over each other. I'm surprised there's not a photo with his tongue down your throat! Do you know how that makes me look, we're engaged for god's sakes!" He said angrily.

"We were playing a part," she said through clenched teeth. "Not that it's any of your business who sticks their tongue down my throat anymore!"

"I deserve that I guess," he said apologetically. "I just need to know... are you with him? Are we over?"

"YOU ended it with me last night."

"Come on; you know I didn't mean that. I was just mad," he said taking her hand, looking at the area where the engagement ring used to be. "I know I haven't said it directly to you, but I hope you know that my feelings for you are very strong. I love you."

He tried to kiss her and she backed away.

"Marcus... you broke up with me. You ditched me. Drove away... didn't even call to check on me. I need time to think."

He dropped her hand and took a step back.

"I'm sorry. I regret it. I shouldn't have acted that way."

Jane's POV

Lisbon was in the private office for a long time with Pike. If his eyes were lasers, he'd have burned a hole in the door by now. Pike was for sure trying to win her back and after his debacle last night, his chances with her were good, he estimated. Especially since they'd been in there for quite a while... too long for his comfort. He checked his watch again... they'd been in there eleven minutes.

The door finally opened and he averted his eyes back to the file in his hands. Lisbon walked over to her desk alone while Pike headed for the elevators. Relief washed over him... Pike failed. He couldn't help the tiny smile on his lips as Lisbon finished her approach.

She sat down without acknowledging him.

"You should probably go shopping for a dress to wear tonight... pink is a great color on you."

Her typing got louder on her keyboard. She didn't respond.

"Lisbon, we need to talk."

She didn't respond once again.

"This will not work tonight if you don't talk to me."

"I'll talk to you when required."

A few minutes passed when she spoke again. She swiveled her chair around, her lips pressed together, her eyes narrowed on him. She was pissed.

"You went back to the game last night, didn't you?"

"Yes."

"Snagged yourself another invite... dragged us into this case."

"It's a good thing I did. You saw the photos."

"You were supposed to be gone!"

He shrugged, not wanting to bring up last night when she was in this mood and the fact that he wasn't going anywhere. He was going to fight for her. She rolled her eyes in frustration.

"You could have just said that we didn't get any intel."

"It's for the greater good. We get to nail a terrorist. This is good, Lisbon."

She swiveled her chair back and ignored him once again.

Agent Simms showed up an hour later to finish prepping Lisbon.

A few hours later…

Jane's POV

He entered the safe house location where they were being prepped for the operation. An FBI Agent opened the door for him and a flurry of activity greeted him. Lisbon was standing in the middle of the room in a modest formfitting black dress with capped sleeves and a hem that reached below her knees. He frowned.

"We're not going to a funeral, Lisbon."

"There's nothing wrong with this dress."

"Everything is wrong with this dress. You may need to distract the mark. How are you going to do that with this?"

"The dress is fine," said Pike from behind him.

He rolled his eyes, keeping his back to the man. An agent came with some equipment and started working on fitting him with a wire.

"Woah, woah, woah, what are you doing?"

"He's installing your wire," Agent Simms said as she entered the room.

"No, he's not. That wasn't part of the plan," he said firmly, pinning Simms with his eyes.

"Jane... we have to wire up in case he says something."

He walked up to Lisbon so he could speak to her more directly.

"It's too risky. You know it and I know it. The scanner is undetectable, but not a wire."

He held her gaze, knowing she could read his meaning. He could see that she wanted to fight him on it; not because he was wrong, but because she was mad. But he knew she would do the right thing, she always did, so he waited in silence.

She took a deep breath, placing her hands on her hips, dropping her head forward to stare at the floor. Her hair fell and framed her shoulders. Then she fixed her eyes on Agent Simms.

"Agent Simms, we'll skip the wires," she said with authority.

"Agent Lisbon... you agreed that we could get more intel and-"

"It's too risky and not necessary. Have them remove it."

Pike walked up to them and took her by the elbow.

"Teresa, it's better if we can hear you and know if you're in danger. Please, for your safety, wear the wire."

"I'll be fine."

She covertly removed her arm from his hold as the tech began removing the wire.

"We need to cut the hem on this dress and remove these weird sleeves," he said breaking the tension.

"You'll ruin the dress!"

"This dress is already an assault on the eyes... it will be improved by being altered," he said unable to hide his disgust for the ugly dress.

"It will look horrible and we have to leave in 20 minutes."

He grabbed the scissors from the tech and cut one of the sleeves to Lisbon's horrified eyes. Satisfied that it would work, he continued cutting the offensive dress that he knew she bought to spite him.

Pike stayed in the background working with the team on the tech set-up, but he could feel the man staring at him and Lisbon.

"There... that's better," he said, admiring his handy work.

"Fine... let's just go. We'll be late."

"One more thing before we go..." he said, pulling out a diamond ring set. "Your rings my dear."

She looked stunned and he took advantage of her confusion to place the rings on her left hand.

"Now you're a proper rich man's wife," he said with his brightest smile, admiring the rings on her finger.

"Okay," she said awkwardly. "Did you get them from inventory? They look real."

"Nope… they didn't have anything suitable for you."

"What do you mean? Where do these come from?"

"I bought them."

The FBI inventory had the fake stuff that looked real from a distance, but not for an operation where the mark's entourage could spot a fake, like the wives and girlfriends. She'd been wearing a small engagement ring last night, but these were more appropriate for her.

"Jane… that was not necessary," she said looking at the rings, then back at him.

She looked like she was about to argue and then thought better of it.

"Let's just go so we can get this over with."

4:30 a.m.

Lisbon's POV

She sat on the edge of the twin bed, the only place to sit in the tiny room, all her senses on high alert. Jane laid beside her in a semi-sitting position, his body too big to properly fit.

"That went exceptionally well," he whispered with a smile.

She turned incredulous eyes on him.

"We almost got caught… and now we are stuck in this, this, room until morning. So I don't agree with your assessment."

"Meh. It's all good. We'll be back before you know it."

He patted a pillow beside him.

"C'mon. Put your feet up. Relax."

"I can't relax until we're out of here."

They were whispering to each other because they didn't know how thin the walls were between them and the other rooms.

"I don't understand why the pilot can't just get through the storm and bring us back," she complained again.

He didn't respond and she didn't expect him to. A private helicopter had brought them and the other guests to an island owned by a friend of Lipovsky's. But a storm rolled in and now the helicopter was grounded until it passed.

The card game was finally called at 4 a.m. but there weren't enough spare bedrooms for all the guests. They were currently in what appeared to be a little boy's room. It looked like no one had been here in years; a layer of dust covered everything.

"It will all be over soon. C'mon, lay down, close your eyes. I'll keep a vigil watch," he said with a wink.

"I'm fine here."

She moved further to the end of the bed, keeping her back to him. There was no way she getting that close to him again. He'd been touching her all night; holding her hand, putting his hand on her thigh, stroking her bare arms, kissing her.

At one point, while the men were taking a break from the game, he pulled her onto his lap. He had kissed her thoroughly and she hadn't fought him in front of the other guests, but it had gotten her hot and bothered.

Turns out, he only did it to distract the mark to get his phone. She realized that he was making his move when she felt something cold between her thighs, under her dress… it was the mark's phone. She could still remember the feel of Jane's nimble fingers brushing against her sensitized flesh as he worked to pop off the phone case discreetly.

Suddenly, he had stopped kissing her, making her feel bereaved, and had resumed his conversation with the mark. She felt him activate the scanner hidden in his belt buckle, then his hand had slid back up her thigh, resting it partially over the phone, his thumb rubbing her thigh under her dress. To distract herself from the intimacy of Jane's hand, she had started to mentally count down the time for the scan to complete.

That's when things almost went wrong; the mark had frowned and started looking for his phone, triggered by a question a guest asked him. She had panicked, moving suddenly. Jane had squeezed her hip to keep her steady on his lap but instead, it caused the phone and case to slip from his grip. She squeezed her thighs together catching the phone just in time before it clattered to the floor. Jane had to retrieve it slowly from the junction of her thighs and the motion of his warm fingers had seared her skin.

When the phone was safely back in his hand, he had kissed her chastely on the mouth, his eyes reflecting the relief she had felt. He then returned his attention to the mark which he had been distracting by asking him questions about his wild animal hunting experience last month. It worked because the mark had abandoned his search for his phone just long enough for the scan to finish and for Jane to reattach the case.

When a cocktail waitress came by to get their order, he had decided to leverage the mark's distraction. He nipped her neck, making her lose her balance on his lap. He had used her momentum to then pull her close to him, jostling the mark in the process, and kissed her again. When his hand reappeared on top of her thigh, she knew it was done. He'd replaced the phone in the mark's pocket.

"We make a great team don't we?" he said, pulling her from her thoughts.

"Sometimes."

"I enjoyed holding you tonight."

She froze. Her back going ramrod straight.

"I want to hold you again. Would you like that?"

"It was for the operation."

"It's not just your face that shows your deception, Teresa… it's your voice too. You don't have to be looking at me for me to know that you're lying," he said casually.

She kept her back to him, keeping her body as motionless as possible. She refused to engage with him further.

He expelled a short breath.

"I couldn't sleep last night. Couldn't stop thinking about you… wondering where I went wrong."

Her ears perked up at his words. He sat up on the bed and swung his legs over the side sitting beside her. She couldn't respond; it was best to just ignore him.

"I shouldn't have stopped us last night. I thought it was the right thing to do but it wasn't, was it?"

He was waiting for her to say something but she just wasn't sure where he was going with all of it.

"I didn't reject you," he said softly. "I'm sorry that I made you feel that way."

Her anger sparked!

"What the hell, Jane," the words spilling out of her mouth as she sprang off the bed to face him squarely. "I'm not upset that you stopped us, I'm upset that you're playing this game!"

"It's not a game. I love you," he emphasized, getting up from the bed quickly and invading her space. "I want to be with you. Spend time with you. Take you out on dates and hold your hand. I want to be able to look at you for as long as I want without having to be discreet about it. I want to bury my face in your neck because it's the most intoxicating smell to me. I want you to smile at me. I just want to be with you."

His eyes were pleading with her, his words swaying her. He took her hand in his, dwarfing hers with its sheer size. She had to keep some space from him to think clearly. She pulled her hand out his grasp, breaking eye contact. Then, for good measure, she turned her back on him.

"I don't want to talk about this anymore. I mean it. Let's just get through the rest of this operation in silence."

She felt him come closer to her and turned to confront him.

"Jane," she said with a warning tone. "Back off."

He hesitated, then his eyes narrowed on hers and he continued his approach, coming so close she could feel his body heat radiating off him on her cool bare skin. He was calling her bluff and she hated him for it.

His eyes hooded and she followed the motion of his hand, watching as his fingertips reached for her and skimmed across the bare skin of her forearm. Goosebumps broke across her skin and her eyes closed involuntarily.

"I love the way you taste. I can't seem to get enough. I didn't want to stop kissing you tonight… it took everything I had," he whispered, his voice sounding husky to her ears. His other hand rested on her hip and pulled her flush against him. "I can't stop thinking about the softness of your thighs."

Her core throbbed at his words. She couldn't break eye contact, the timber of his voice weaving a spell over her and creating a need to be touched.

He kissed her softly and her body released its pent-up tension, relieved to taste him again. She had been craving him. Her brain was screaming to stop but it felt too good. His firm lips were tasting her, his tongue invading her mouth, she wanted more. He tasted so good, all her senses coming to life at the same time.

She pushed her hands under his shirt to feel the warm skin of his flanks and lower back. She pressed him against her, her body flooding with desire at the feel of his erection against her belly. They devoured each other's mouths unable to satisfy their need. His hands hiked up the hem of her dress and roamed up and down her backside while he moaned appreciatively in her mouth.

He squeezed her bottom, pressing her more firmly against his erection. His mouth detached from hers and hungrily attacked her neck, pushing all rational thoughts from her brain and replacing it with only one need; to have him inside her.

She pulled at his shirt, releasing it completely from his waistband, and undid his belt and pant's button and fly. His cock was hard and pushed at the confines of his form-fitting boxers, foreshadowing its large size. She rubbed it eagerly and inserted her hand to make contact with the silky soft skin along his hard shaft. A guttural moan escaped him, its sound vibrating against the thin skin of her throat.

He bit her gently, then sucked the area soothingly, sending jolts of pleasure to her core, flooding her panties with wetness.

He lifted her up suddenly and lowered her to the tiny bed. He fell on top of her but quickly adjusted them so they could continue their onslaught on each other's senses.

He started grinding his hard cock against her core, his mouth and tongue fanning the flames. She needed relief… now.

She flipped him on his back and started her own exploration, roaming her hands on his chest under his shirt, too rushed to be bothered to undo the buttons. She kissed his neck, working her way down quickly to his cock wanting to take him into her mouth. He halted her progress pushing her back on her back and pinning her with his body.

He gently stroked her cheek with the back of his fingers, his eyes holding hers hostage. They were questioning her… the emotions she saw there made her uncomfortable. He kissed her softly and lightly, then feathered his fingertips across her lips. The franticness of before was gone from his gestures.

"I love you."

His eyes searched hers, and the hope followed by the disappointment in his eyes when she didn't respond was too much to bear.

She pushed at him to get him off her before he saw her cry.

"Teresa…"

She suppressed her tears, feeling confused, turning her back to him.

"What's wrong?" he asked getting up to go to her.

She shook her head unable to control her hurt feelings.

"You think I don't know what you're doing?"

"I was trying to make love to you. I thought that's what you wanted."

"Yeah, right! Number one… it's sex, Jane! We're not in a, a… romance novel. And you set this up… purposely putting pressure on me… because you knew I would stop it. You didn't have any intention of following through. As soon as things got heated, you torpedoed it."

He bit his bottom lip on the side, shaking his head. A few long seconds passed… she held her breath. She wanted him to say something, anything to prove her wrong and she hated her weak heart for hoping he would sway her. But she knew the truth; he had no intention of having sex with her, ever. The more she thought of it, she realized that he had managed to completely avoid touching her sexually. He was stringing her along again. He just picked a different strategy this time; he got her to put on the brakes.

She watched as he sat down on the edge of the bed looking at his hands. Her heart was beating fast, as he twirled his wedding ring, the very source of his inability to ever give her what she wanted or needed and the last reminder that she needed that he wasn't capable of any kind of real relationship with her. It was all a game.

"Do you love me?" he asked quietly.

"What does that have to do with anything?" she asked him pointedly in frustration.

That question triggered her because he knew about her feelings. It's the very reason that he was able to get through her defenses because there was a tiny part of her that wanted what he was promising. A part that wanted it to be true. A small part of her that she'd been hiding in a dark corner of her heart. The part of her that nursed a crush that grew into love. The part that she didn't deny when that psychic outed her years ago so that Jane would know that the door was open. And she waited… day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year and he never walked through that door, and slowly that part of her shrunk. And Jane knew. He knew and he was exploiting that part of her after all this time to get what he wanted.

She finally had to admit the truth to herself. A truth she'd been unwilling to give light to because she knew it would only lead to heartbreak. The truth was that she loved him more than she'd ever loved any other man in her life. She sacrificed over and over because of her love for him.

Whatever this was, it wasn't about her, but about him and his needs.

Jane's POV

Everything was going sideways again with Lisbon. He couldn't reach her and he couldn't figure out what was wrong.

"Talk to me, Teresa. Please. Why are you pushing me away?"

"This is not real."

"It is to me. I love you."

She threw her arms up in frustration.

"Fine… fine. Let's say I believe you, and I'm not saying I do… they're just words. Words! People do horrible things in the name of love. It means nothing and even less coming from you."

He could see that her words had surprised her as much as him. He saw tears leak on her cheeks and she wiped at them furiously, desperately trying to stop them.

"I don't want to hurt you. Just talk to me. Help me understand so I can make it better."

Lisbon hated emotions and trying to get her to open up to him was like peeling a frozen onion.

She shook her head, avoiding eye contact.

"No! I don't want this, okay. I don't want this!"

"What don't you want?"

"You, okay. Everything is just a game to you. All you do is play games-"

"I'm not playing you, Teresa. Why would I want to hurt you? You mean everything to me."

"All you've done these past weeks is play games! Dammit Jane, don't you see… I can't trust you. You lie, you sneak, you manipulate. You know… if it wasn't for the fact that you were so hard to find at the casino, I would have thought that you set it all up… that you planned the whole thing to break up me and Marcus. But it's clear now that my breakup was a happy happenstance for you, but you didn't expect me to still go to D.C., did you? So you came up with this."

She walked over to the furthest point in the room from him, anger radiating off of her.

He got up and approached her, desperately needing to be close to her. She took a step back. He took another step and she backed away again. He kept advancing until her back reached the wall. Her chin tilted up, her lips pressed together.

"The last thing I want is to hurt you," he said, stroking her cheek gently with his fingertips, bringing his face close to hers to ensure she made eye contact.

"Then stop this. We can just pretend it never happened."

He believed her at that moment that this was truly her wish. But he couldn't go back… maybe if he'd never touched her, kissed her, tasted her, he could walk away, maybe… but not now. His whole being craved her… her touch, her smile, her attention; he couldn't go back – he'd fight dirty if he had to, so long as in the end, she was his. And as convinced as she was right now that she wanted him to back off, he couldn't stop thinking about how she kept responding to his touch. She loved him a long time ago… those feelings still had to be there.

He took another step, bridging the gap between them, and pulled her tightly to his body. Her arms were crossed and she refused to budge them. He imagined this was what it was like to hug a prickly porcupine.

"You don't need to fight this so hard. You know it's real and you're scared. I was scared too."

"Don't psychoanalyze me," she said pushing out of his arms. "You don't know what's good for me… or anything about what I need. All you think about is you."

Her words hurt, but he couldn't deny her feelings. She was convinced he was playing a game with her… but he couldn't understand why she'd start to make love with him if she truly believed that. He needed more time to think, but he didn't have it.

A knock came at the door startling both of them.

"Ride's leaving in twenty. Weather's cleared up," the man said on the other side of the door.

They waited as the man's footsteps receded down the hall.

"Please… just stop all this, okay. I don't want this."

She moved past him, heading for the door. He grabbed her hand in passing, not ready to give up. Her eyes shot to their joined hands, then to his face.

"What if you're wrong?" he challenged.

Immediately he saw the doubt play in her eyes, her brain analyzing the facts. He may not know why she was pushing him away, but he knew how to get what he wanted from her. Lisbon didn't like grey areas… she thrived in absolutes. The introduction that her unverified facts could be wrong would buy him some time.

He saw the moment she capitulated. She clenched her jaw, her eyes questioning his in silence. All he had to do now was reel her in and appeal to her sense of fairness.

"I know you feel this thing between us as much as I do. This is not a game. The way I feel is real. And you deserve so much better than me and I would step aside if I thought for one second that you had feelings for Pike… but you don't love him… you love me."

She didn't deny his statement and he felt emboldened. He brought their bodies closer and framed her face with his hands. She didn't pull away. He gazed into her eyes to make sure she heard his next words and so he could get the best read from her.

"You love me and I love you. Give me a chance to show you I'm deserving of your trust."

Her eyes bore into his and he could see her struggle with her decision. Then she frowned, appearing unsure of herself. She stared at him for a few more heartbeats, then her features relaxed, her eyes filling with sadness. Her hands came up to his and disengaged them from her face gently.

He was sure he'd failed to sway her but then she moved into his space, pulling him down for a kiss. It was hesitant at first and he let her take the lead. Her tongue darted out to touch his lips, igniting his passion. Suddenly, their mouths devoured each other's again.

He was losing himself in her taste… he broke the kiss, leaning his forehead against hers, panting to regain his regular breathing. His body was fully aroused again and he closed his eyes trying to suppress it so he could think clearly. But she gave him no relief; she kissed him again. She tasted so sweet, it took everything he had to pull away.

"Is that a yes?" he asked, holding his breath.

She kissed him again without responding pressing herself against him, her tiny warm body stimulating him. A niggling thought returned… their ride!

"We're going to miss our ride," he said against her lips.

She frowned and let him go slowly.

"Okay, Jane. You get one shot to prove to me that this isn't a game."

Her eyes searched his pleadingly. She didn't look very hopeful that he would succeed.

"One shot," she said again, seeming to need to emphasize it to herself as much as for him.

He couldn't help but smile. He kissed her sweetly but chastely on the lips to seal the deal, not wanting to reignite their passion.

"Do you think you could start calling me Patrick?" he asked cheekily.

She opened the door and waited for him to walk out with her.

"I'll think about it," she said with a suppressed smile.

A/N: Merry Christmas everyone! Just wanted to say thank you to all my faithful readers who enjoy my stories. I also want to thank all of you who send me reviews, I appreciate every single one of them (and look forward to them) and the time you take to write them. Knowing that readers enjoy my stories makes me very happy and reading your comments brings me great joy and keeps me motivated to keep writing my best for you. Your comments do have an impact on the story and sometimes I find myself completely rewriting whole scenes because of it. I find it makes the stories better! So thank you again Jisbon fans... it's great to be a part of this fan group!

Next chapter should be up in 2 weeks...maybe sooner since I'm off for the holidays and will have time to write more. I look forward to your comments on this chapter! :-)