PART 3

"What do you mean I'll be leaving in three days?"

"Not just you. Mr. Hottie will be going with you."

"Nice try Smackle, I happen to know that Mr. Friar has left for the Philippines so it'll be impossible for the two of us to travel together."

"Honey, you're wrong. Mr. Hottie has extended his stay and will be leaving in the same flight as you are."

"Smackle, I already have a bad headache as it is so please..."

"It's true. Ask Maya. Maya, Riles here doesn't believe me that she's going to be travelling with Mr. Hottie."

Riley took a quick glance at Agent Maya Hart, peaches for short. Maya is the liaison for the local enforcement and the designated spokes- person of the BAU but most importantly, Maya Hart is her dearest and oldest friend in the world and right now she has the same rueful smile as Smackle, which means Smackle is not lying to her.

"Fine, if I am sitting beside the guy so be it. And I am going to enjoy sitting beside Mr. He's so Hot Friar!"

"I'm glad."

Oh, for the love of... with her back facing the door she didn't notice him coming in. Riley wondered when will the floor open up and swallow her whole. Maybe she can run. Or hide in the locker room.

"Agent Matthews."

"Mr. Friar?"

"You guys better learn to call each other by your given name or you'll be the only couple who is so formal with each other." Farkle and his observations. The guy does have a point. The thing is, calling Lucas by his name will seem so personal. And Riley is not sure if she's ready for that.

"He's right you know. If you prefer you can call me Lucas, Honey, Babe or better yet Mr. He's so Hot. And I can call you..."

"Riley! You can call me Riley and I'll call you Lucas!" Of all the nerve...

"I prefer Luke. It seems that my new girlfriend has a temper."

Everyone at the office laughed. Isadora Smackle, their resident Computer Analyst aka Computer Goddess was beside herself. She is definitely enjoying this. Fine. She had to admit that she likes the fact that the guy has sense of humor, but she'll be damned before she admits that out loud.

"Is there a reason why you are here Mr... Luke?"

"Well of course Ms. Riley. I came to pick you up so we can go on a date."

For a brief moment everyone stopped laughing and doing whatever it is they were doing. The room became very quiet. Smackle edge closer to her, she probably thought Riley might shoot the guy. Right now she is contemplating about it.

Calling on all her self-control, she said lightly, "Lucas, that's very... thoughtful of you, unfortunately I am very busy and I have an appointment in (glancing at her watch)... what do you know? I actually have to leave now or I'll be late for my meeting. Why don't I just call you and tell you when I'm free."

"Lucas, why don't you come back at 6:00pm? She'll be done by then." Riley shot Maya a dirty look which just earned her a smile. She is going to strangle Maya later. The BAU will just have to find a new liaison and herself a new peaches.

"Sure, I can do that. We'll just go for dinner. See you later Riley." He gave Maya a dimpled smile and left.

"I am going to kill you."

"You'll have to do that later Riles, you wouldn't want to make Heddy wait."

"Fine. I'll kill you later."

Riley is going to be in prison for a very-very long time. So far she has 5 people in her hit list. She needs to decide which one she should take out first. For an Agency that prides itself for security and for being discrete, Lucas' visit earlier has travelled like wild fire. Heddy insisted on Riley to wear a plum colored mandarin collared shirt partnered with a black A-line pencil skirt and high heel shoes for her dinner date with Lucas that evening. The meeting with Heddy turned out to be a mini make over consisting of a haircut and a quick lesson on how to apply make-up. All these unnecessary expenses just so she can look the part.

"Whoa... Matthews? You clean up good."

Okay, that'll be 6 people in her hit list. She just needs to remember the guy's name. She had to admit that the shoes aren't that bad. They are actually pretty comfortable considering they have these ridiculously skinny straps all over.

5:50pm. She still has ten minutes to spare, probably more, she doubt that Mr. Friar is the on-time kind of guy. Or maybe he is. The man in question is standing by her desk talking to Farkle and Joaquin. The look on Farkle's face is priceless once he saw her, she would have loved to hear his comment but not tonight.

"Not a word Farkle."

"Look at you girl. I always knew you are a cat's meow." She should have warned Maya and not Farkle.

Before anyone else can make a comment about her new appearance, Riley grabbed Lucas by his elbow and pulled him towards the elevator. "Let's go."

Once they were inside the elevator Lucas looked her up and down, taking his time, his gaze scorching her flesh almost as though she was naked.

Two can play that game, Riley thought in a flare of temper. She glanced downward. Her eyes travel upward, past his elegant white shirt and wide shoulders to his face. He truly is handsome. With tousled ash blonde hair, piercing sensuous eyes, chiseled cheekbone, well defined jaw and a nice jutting chin, this man was classically handsome the way a glossy highly polished statue was handsome.

Riley had met a lot of handsome men over the years but something about Lucas Friar that sets him apart from the other men. His presence has a quiet strength that seems to be emulating attention, it appears that this man is declaring that he is a man to be reckoned with.

She let out her pent-up breath in a tiny sigh. With the faintest of smiles she asked, "Where did you park?"

For a moment Lucas was silent, his eyes trained on her face. "Huh?"

"Where did you park your car?"

"Actually I don't have a car. My car was rental and I returned it yesterday. I took a cab coming here." Right, he was scheduled to leave Washington today before he changed his plans. It seems that they'll be taking her car.

"We'll take my car. Where are we going anyways?"

"What do you feel like eating?"

"I'm good with anything." He raised his eyebrow. Nice eyebrows, not too thick nor too thin. Just perfect. Did she just complimented the man's eyebrows? Suddenly she felt a chill tracing the length of her spine.

Riley shook off her sudden unease, making her way to her parked car. "There's a nice Japanese restaurant that's close by, is that okay with you?" He nodded. Once they reached her car Riley offered him the keys in case he wanted to drive but he shook his head and walked towards the passenger side.

"How long have you been here?"

"Here in DC or here with the FBI?" She decided to just tell him. " I moved here in DC about 3 years ago and I've been with the FBI for almost two years."

The drive from the Agency to the restaurant was less than 10 minutes. Because it was work week the place wasn't pack and they were able to get a table right away.

Lucas waited until the waiter had taken their order and left before starting the conversation. "Is your family here with you?"

"No. My family is based in New York."

"So you're alone here in DC?"

Riley decided to wait for the waiter to serve their food before she replied. "Yes. I'm here in DC on my own. Actually that's not accurate. I'm here with my best friend."

"I'm surprised that your parents let you move to a different state."

She gave a sudden rich chuckle. It only took her five months to convince her parents to let her move to DC. "Not really, my dad pretended to have a heart attack hundred times. Fortunately for me, they are also the most understanding parents. They gave me their blessing to move here on a condition that I call them at least once a day and I come for a visit as often as I could."

He must have liked her response because he gave her a smile that crackled with pure male energy. "Aren't you going to ask me questions? If I live alone?"

Riley doesn't need to ask questions. She already knows the answers. She read his profile. She knew that Lucas was born in London, England and moved to his father's hometown in Texas after his parents divorced. His father remarried to a Filipina who later legally adopted Lucas when his biological mother died of a car crash and up until four years ago, he had been living in Austin, Texas with his Mom. Things changed dramatically for Lucas when he visited the Philippines with his mom and a talent scout spotted him, with his good looks and obvious talents it didn't take long for the country to fall inlove with the foreigner and adopt him as their own. Lucas had since used Manila as his home base. She also knows that he had lost his father when he was just fourteen years old.

What Riley wants to know is why he agreed to this? To get involved? So she asked. "Why did you say yes?"

For a moment Lucas wasn't sure what she was asking. He folded his arms across his chest and replied, "Because Jack asked me and I owe him."

She shook her head. A wave of annoyance surged through her. The man sitting across from her is telling her that he got involved in a Government operation because he owes something to another guy. Hell.

She said sarcastically, "That's very commendable of you Mr. Friar." She muttered something under her breath, then said, "I suggest you back-out on this Mr. Friar."

"Why?" he asked bluntly.

Riley would have given him an answer if the waiter hadn't appeared with their bill. Lucas insisted that he pays for their dinner. Once their tab had been taken care of, Riley walked ahead of Lucas to her car. Once inside the car, she gave him her answer.

"Why?" She repeated his question in a clipped voice. "Maybe because nobody goes on what could be a dangerous and deadly mission because they owe someone something. In case it skipped your mind, this mission is very important. Life is at stake here. Mainly mine!"

Lucas was nothing if not a realist. His childhood and his father's death had ensured that. He knows how serious this is. How a mission can suddenly go wrong and a life can be taken away. He knows.

"I'm not an idiot Agent Matthews. I know the seriousness of this operation and I'm sure as hell not going to do anything to jeopardize your life." His voice had gone deadly quiet, a warning sign if she'd ever heard one. Not that she'd allow it to intimidate her. "One thing you need to learn about me is that... I don't back-out nor back-down on anything. Especially if I gave my word."

Riley started the car. He told her the name of the hotel where he was staying and she knew where it was so she didn't bother asking for directions. Nerves prevented her from attempting idle chatter, not that she's up to it. They reached the hotel in less than half an hour. He leaned towards her and said, "For the next month or so I'm supposedly your boyfriend, during that duration try to act like a loving girlfriend," and with that he opened the door and walked away.