Random and OOC, but I don't care. It solves a lot of problems, and I could actually end it here. Let me know if you want more. I might attach a lemon chapter at the end if the reviews are plentiful. *wink*

Chapter Six

One year later

Artemis woke up alone in a large bed covered in egyptian cotton cream sheets. He wasn't wearing anything else. He heard the shower running and soft, innane humming coming from the same direction. And he didn't have a clue where he was and who he was with. He could feel the exhaustion in his limbs and cock that told him he had had sex that night, and a lot of it. Which confused him even more.

When Rowan Smoke came out of the bathroom squeezing the water out of her hair with a white hotel towel, memories starting coming back. For example, that they were in Rome together, and had fucked all night. The soft bruises on her collar bone was evidence of their loveplay, as were the whisker burns on her jaw. She looked at him and stopped. Their gazes connected and a blush rose in her pretty cheeks.

"Good morning," she whispered with a small smile.

"Yes, it is," he mused.

"What are you still doing here?" she asked, slightly confused.

"Huh?"

She shook her head. "Nevermind."

"No, you said it for a reason," he pointed out as he stood up and walked over to her. She seemed to back off a little as he neared, but caught herself.

"I thought that- well, I always presumed-"

"That men left after having sex?" he finished for her.

She nodded and looked down at her feet. Realizing what she would be looking at on the way down, she looked back up. "Always."

Artemis was mildly insulted, and was about to tell her so when another memory came to mind. She had no other reason to think that, did she?

"I'm different than he is, Rowan. I'm not going to leave any time soon." Because if memory served, they needed each other. That, and she really was a good fuck.

*

They met in Rome under the same pretenses, that the company she had worked for wouldn't be able to find them. Rome was neutral territory, no assassinations could be done there due to the fact it belonged coincidence or by fate that they met in the lobby of the same hotel.

"Miss Smoke, we meet again," he said stiffly as he walked up to the check out desk, alone. Butler had traveled to the orient to plant a trail there. Artemis did not want to be stuck in Rome for the rest of his life, so he had Butler plant trails all over the world.

Rowan glanced in his direction and he saw her swallow. "I'm not here on business, Fowl, I'm sure we're here for the same reason."

"To escape your friends?" he asked bemusedly.

"Yep," she answered curtly. There was a southern drawl to her words now that he hadn't noticed their first meeting. It was oddly beguiling.

He turned fully toward her and she mirrored him as the concierge looked for empty rooms for them. He smiled at her, and she frowned. "I thought that you were going to kill me if you ever saw me again."

"I never said that. We both have a few weeks at most to lay low and you're a beautiful woman, I'm an attractive man. Logically, there are a few possibilities of a good time," Artemis said, his brain wrring to life at the thought of precisely what those possibilities were. He had felt it when she had been staring up at him in his home, and he felt the same knawing hunger that had plagued him that morning.

"If you mean getting a room together, I'd say you're a pig," she said brightly with a false smile.

Before she continued to blow him off, he put a hand up to stop her. "Not so drastic, Miss Smoke. I was thinking museums, sight seeing, dinner, and a drink. That's all. It's just for a few weeks, and I'll be gone. What do you say?"

"You have an angle, Fowl," she snapped and the concierge handed her a key.

"Salone Cinquecento y sessanta, signora," he said with a bright smile.

"Grazi, Signor," Rowan answered and she nodded at Artemis. "Goodbye, Fowl, enjoy your stay."

"Rowan," he called after her. "Hold on."

Beyond her comphrehension, she held the elevator for him. She hit the button for her floor, and he stood there.

"Same floor?" she asked.

"No, I'm following you to yours so I know where it is," he replied honestly.

"Great," she laughed. "Now who's being an assassin?"

"Not here to kill you, Rowan."

"It's Miss Smoke to you, Fowl," she growled.

"All right, calm down," he laughed.

"What do I have to do in order to get you to leave me alone?" she asked bluntly.

"Just spend tomorrow with me," he persuaded. "If you still hate me, I will never talk to you again and bygones will be bygones. Deal?" He offered his hand.

She looked at it, then at him. "Just one day?" she asked.

"Yes, just one day is all I ask," he told her.

"Fine," she said, and she grabbed his hand in a quick hand shake. She pulled back before he could even get a firm grip.

"I'll see you tomorrow say, seven?" he asked as she exited. She stopped the door from closing and turned to look at him.

"Ah, hell no. How about nine?"

"Eight then," he compromised.

"You better have coffee," she muttered in surrender, then turned around. Artemis admired the sway in her hips as she walked, and the fine ass the woman had. His little exile had just gotten a little more interesting.

And that's how this week had begun. By the next day, they were old pals. In two more, he had kissed her. The next, she actually kissed him back. The sixth day, he had gotten under her shirt. And yesterday, they didn't even leave the hotel. He had pulled her into his room for lunch, and they kissed their way to the bed, where he proceeded to undress her and she him. He knew that she wasn't a virgin, preferred it that way, but she had been too tight to have done it regularly. It made him wonder who was the guy who had gotten close enough to get her pregnant.

Late in the night, in between sessions while they lounged against each other and gently played with each other's body. He asked and he slowly massaged her breast.

Her hands were gently stroking his chest when she told him. "It was my last partner," she told him. "Before David. He was older than me, a lot older. He was nice, sweet, and funny," she said with a sad smile. "They called me one time when we were on a mission in Prague. Told me to pull out, that Gavin had to handle it on his own. I hung up and started packing. What the superiors say, goes. Immediately. He asked what was going on, and I told him about the phone call. He explained to me what that meant, and I felt so bad for him," her voice was starting to break.

"So you slept with him," Artemis assumed.

"Yeah. He didn't even get undressed," she recalled. "And when it was over, he walked out the door. The last thing he said to me was, 'Be gone when I get back.' And I was. Three weeks later, I was sick. Went to the doctor, and he told me the news. Then I went on the mission for you."

"And the rest is history," Artemis finished as he rolled over to lay between her thighs.

"Again, Fowl?" she asked.

"Again, and again," he laughed. "Until you forget him, and all you remember is me."