Disclaimer: i own nothing and no-one...but 1 week to go! eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep!


"I want to know whose name to whisper in the dark when I make love to you."

He didn't give her a chance to respond, to tell him her name or question his statement. They were past all that, in the short space of time in which they had been thrown together, they were past it all, and destined for so much more.

He had to kiss her, no thought no waiting, just a leap into something amazing, something thrilling and worthwhile. He tilted his head as he moved in, angling his hat away from her face until he found the perfect position to swoop in on her heavenly face.

She felt the soft brush of his lips against her own become eager and demanding as they pressed together, the sweep of his tongue breaking the dividing line of her mouth as he sought entry. He pulled gently on her bottom lip, tugging it free with his own before he moved in to devastate her senses.

His mouth colliding with hers as another indecent sob was dragged from her lips.

This man was going to be the death of her.

Everything around them shrunk into insignificance as she kissed him, or rather he kissed her. His mouth working tirelessly in unison with his hands and every single touch was on the verge of bringing her to her knees.

A hand moved to press at the small of her back, tugging her closer, the other held fast to her face, cupping it in an overload of sensation, as his thumb dragged across her cheek leaving a trail of heat in its wake.

Her hands hung limply between them as he battered down her defences and poured molten lava into the kiss, letting it trickle through her veins to pool in the pit of her stomach.

He kissed her, with slow melting swirls of his tongue, against her lips, in heated rhythm and with tenderness she had never known before.

A first kiss beyond anything she could ever understand.

Her heart was racing, the pounding of her blood echoing in her ears and her lungs were burning with a sudden desperate need for air. Stupid life giving oxygen that she didn't want, she ignored the burning, her lips straining as they continued to seek his.

He drew back slowly, smiling as she groaned and tipped forwards following his kiss. Both of them panting heavily, watching the gusts of hot air turn to mist and float off into the cold New York night.

She clung to his shoulders then, hands finally responding to her lust addled brain and moving to grip tight to his arms.

She didn't want to look up at him, knowing exactly what she would find waiting for her, she knew him, somehow, so well already, but she had to, had to look up and test her theory. Sure enough that cocky look of superiority was burning across his face again, so pleased with himself and the effect of his kiss.

He wasn't getting away with it.

She waited, watching him until she had his full attention, then she let her eyes close, one beat of her eyelashes as they slid shut and another as they opened, slowly, so slowly, drawing him in, the soft smile of determination, of evil glee spread across her face.

Oh it was her turn.

She fell on him.

Her mouth opened wide as she drew him in, taught him a lesson he would never forget, if his kiss could melt her bones then her kiss would set him on fire.

She seemed to turn him on the spot, sent him spinning as her hands left his shoulders and slid into the hair at the nape of his neck, she moaned softly deliberately into his mouth, letting the gentle noise reverberate over his tongue as her foot snaked around his calf and pulled his body flush with hers.

She wrapped herself in him as best she could whilst being upright, but the positioning and the rocking motion of her body left very little to the imagination.

He couldn't get enough of her, with her hair tumbling across her shoulder, catching in the breeze, the soft smell of her perfume as it lingered just out of reach, her arms around his neck as he pulled her close. He wanted more, he wanted it all, he wanted her for all eternity and…

There were sirens off in the distance, voices near by, and he suddenly realised how thoughtless they were being, how stupid.

As much as it pained him to separate, he allowed one last burning sweep of her tongue against his before he pushed her away.

He couldn't let her go far though, his dread of her walking into the night and out of his life reared its ugly head even then.

His hand squeezed hard at her waist, clinging to her as the other stayed wrapped in her hair, his eyes begging her to understand.

It wasn't a rejection, it was a plea.

She nodded slowly, her head tipping into the warmth of his hand as she looked away to gather her breath back "I know, we are complete fools."

"Fools in love." He stated lifting her chin.

Their eyes held, open wide and acknowledging the complete craziness of the situation.

"Yes," she agreed quietly before she laughed "Love at first sight." She flashed him a quirky smile, showing she was teasing.

"Damn straight Doll face." He grinned at her widely, lacing their fingers together as he tugged her hand in agreement, no teasing needed, just truth.

She laughed as he pulled her, with sudden unexpected humour, out of the darkness of the night and into the happiness of being in the arms of the one you loved.

It didn't last long, not nearly long enough as reality started to set in.

He watched her, saw something come to life behind her eyes and a decision get made in the blink of an eye that he didn't like, her face changed, her smile fell away and was replaced with a look of steely determination.

"Come with me." He said suddenly, something primal and entirely too needy for his liking broke through the words, he was desperate to get her away from here.

She shook her head. "I have to go home."

He gripped her tight "Are you insane they know where you live."

She nodded "And if I go home alone I can pass this off as a female fit of temper," she said the words with hatred "Mack is rather fond of those."

She watched his eyes fall, his shoulders slump and she squeezed his hand again stepping forward to lay her open hand over his heart as she drew his eyes to hers.

"If I go home with you, they will come looking, they'll know we are together and then I wont ever be able to come back."

She stepped away from him then, needing to break the contact if she was going to be strong and walk away.

"This is my home," she gestured to her club, the neon lights of The Blue Butterfly flashing behind her. "This is my job and my life, I don't know who I am without it."

He stepped back into her line of sight, reaching for her as she continued to back away.

"You'd be the person I…the person I love."

She shook her head "You don't even know me. You think you do, but you don't." She stepped back again. "Love or not you know nothing about me or my life."

"I know you are the type of person to stand and fight." He grabbed her arm and spun her back towards him. "I know you are the type of person who will walk back into danger for the sake of pride, that you will put your life in the hands of men who want to kill you for no other reason than that they can, or because you stand in their way."

"And if I don't they come after you." She smiled sadly "Where is the justice?"

"Who needs justice?" he asked pulling her tight to him "I have you?" he kissed her again softly, lip to lip light and tender before pulling back. "I have this." He said running his hand along her bare shoulder and down her arm until he found her hand.

He laced their fingers together, lifting her hand and resting it over his heart, he lay his own over her chest, his thumb tracing the line of her collar bone.

They stood in the alleyway, connected by the thudding beat of two hearts, joined by a new love that was given life on the darkest of nights.

Two racing, shifting hearts that seemed to call out for the eager embrace of their other half…

"We have this," he said with fierce determination and conviction "we have each other."

They stood connected, eyes holding, hands touching as everything around them fell away.

"They will hurt you if they find us together." She whispered her voice breaking through the eerie quiet that had surrounded them.

There was less anger in her now, less concern. She was petrified yes, but she loved him, honestly she did, and if love wasn't worth a little sacrifice and a lot of danger then what was?

"It's a good thing I'm sneaky then isn't it?" He smiled at her pulling her hand from his chest to lips, placing a warm kiss to the fleshy centre of her palm, feeling her tense and her eyes dart to his as he lathed it with his tongue.

Refusing to let her pull it away, keeping her there until she shuddered, gave in with a sigh and leant into the wall of his chest, her head resting in the exact spot her hand had been in only seconds before.

"I'm still not telling you my name" she said as she pulled free of his arms smiling again, some of the tension easing.

"That's ok. I'm a private investigator it's my job to track you down."

"A P.I really?" She looked at him with admiration "I figured you for a cop."

He smiled widely tipping his hat "I'll be whoever you want me to be doll."

She smirked, rolling her eyes at him before she turned and walked away, more assured now he would let her go, for tonight at least.

As she reached the end of the alley she heard the call of his voice echo along its narrow walls.

"I will be back for you tomorrow."

She turned again, smiling over her shoulder as she called back "You'd better be."


He watched her go, against every instinct he had, he watched her walk the length of the alleyway, turn with a flick of her hair and look at him over her shoulder. She smiled softly, before turning again and striding out of sight.

He wasn't aware of the passage of time as he stood in the alley watching her leave. He had no concept of exactly how long after she left he was still standing there, staring at the space she had inhabited as if he could make her reappear just by wishing it.

When the darkness of night was taken over by the oddly eerie half light of dawn he forced his feet to move.

He found his car, drove himself home, unlocked his door and settled himself, all in an expanse of time that meant nothing because his head was filled with her.

He paced, wearying the floorboards with his incessant and repeated footsteps.

The most glorious, angel of a woman had entered his life less than 3 hours ago and he was head over heels in love with her.

The dark silken mass of her hair contrasting with the creamy beauty of her skin.

Her expressive and mesmerising eyes, green and brown mixing in some exotic combination he had never seen before, he could stare into her eyes for the rest of his life. He planned to.

She was feisty and uninhibited, a force to be reckoned with and he couldn't wait to get to know more about her, learn every minute detail he could get his hands on. Peel away the layers and find out what lay beneath.

If he ever saw her again.

Because right now she was out in the night alone, and he had stood stupidly mute in the middle of the street and watched her go.

There was no logic in this plan, no semblance of sense. He had let her sweet talk him into madness and wander off into danger by herself, like some damned martyr, all to protect him.

He paced the floor throwing his hat onto a nearby table, he dropped down heavily into the chair by his desk and poured himself a stiff drink.

He had hours until he could see her again, until he could steal past the bouncer on the door of her club and chance a few stolen moments with her.

He refused to believe she wouldn't be there, he had to hold on to hope, had to keep faith in her and her ability to calm the raging beast that was Mack Malone.

He pulled out note pads and journals, deciding that work was the best way to distract himself, he had cases in progress and notes to write up, and tonight's surveillance mission needed to be documented.

But as he sat down and pulled a fresh pad from the drawer of his large wooden desk, all he could see was her, her with no name and the teasing smile.

He opened the pad, pressed the pen to the page and sat staring at it, the case would have to wait.

He cast aside the cheap notebook and instead rummaged through his drawer for his leather bound journal, folding the pages back until he came to a blank one.

The most important elements of his life entered this book, the things that changed him, things he wanted to remember forever.

He put pen to paper, writing fast, his investigators mind detailing everything in quick scrabbles. He knew his writing was atrocious but if he could read it that was all that mattered, well that and documenting everything about her, all that had happened tonight, every single feeling she evoked was going to be written down.

This would keep her close in his mind and his heart and, like an invocation as he wrote, his words of love would keep her safe.

He started at the beginning, his pen moving quickly across the blank white page.

Our eyes met across the crowded bar and I wondered where she had been all my life