Harper had told her about this particular rendezvous point when they had first started working together, but it had taken this long to get comfortable enough with each other to tackle such a task. Worse than drug dealers, pimps, or any criminal "mastermind" they had come up against, this particular move could be the last debt to society either of them ever paid again.

Shaking that thought from her mind, she waited for him to contact her. Once the call came in, he would tell her where to meet him, they would leave her car, and then go about their business in his car. If things went bad, his car would be recognized by his fellow officers and justice would be served one way or the other. Excitement and a little fear settled into her hands causing her to flex her fingers in anticipation.

It was run by high school students, or so that was the rumor; only after months of studying the patterns, and the death certificates, were they able to label that myth as just that. The entire operation was run by two twenty-something men who, for all intents and purposes, were ghosts…that is there was no way to determine who exactly they were because there had been no witnesses to identify them. Sam involuntarily gulped. Tonight was going to be the exception. She would make sure of it.

The trick of the game was to come out alive and too many lives had been lost already. Granted, they had been young, naïve, and incredibly foolish; neither she nor Harper were any of those things. If it was a game these sons of bitches wanted, it was a game they would get, only this time they were going to lose. She had never taken a life, not even after her son had been murdered, but if it came to that she doubted she would hesitate. If it meant keeping another child out of the clutches of madmen, she was willing to do whatever it took.

Her phone chirped and she took a deep breath before answering. "Yeah?" She made sure to keep her voice even.

"It's time." Harper's gruff, all business voice cut through the line.

"Alright." Sam hung up the phone when she noticed his silver Nissan Maxima pull up behind her white Buick LeSabre. She hurried over to the car, having to squint to see him in the sparse light. It was almost dark, only fragments of dusk holding strong. He was in a pair of dark sunglasses so she couldn't exactly make out his expression. Oh well. They were following a tip on the location of the other drivers and, with a little hair gel and tight clothing they had lost about fifteen years off their real ages making them the perfect "targets" for the race.

"You're awfully quiet. If you want me to drive, just let me know."

Harper glanced over her outfit and noticed her nerves immediately. "You sure you can do this?" He questioned, his tone coming out gruffer than he had intended it to. If she was too nervous, she should go back to the apartment right now, her insistence of being equal to him in every way be damned. Nerves were going to lead to someone, namely her, getting hurt. And that was one thing he wasn't going to chance if he could help it.

"I'm fine." Sam assured him. "I was thinking..."

"Yes?"

"It would make more sense, and probably be more effective, if we each took our cars—" Sam began carefully.

"No. Not happening."

"We're not back to this man-woman crap are we?"

Harper took his eyes off the road long enough to look over at her. "Actually it's the partner crap. It's smarter to stay together in situations like these."

"Don't you think that might clue them into the fact that we're working together? The last thing we need is to make these guys suspicious. There are two spots open a night. You really want some poor kid to be in it with us?"

"These guys see beautiful women like you as one thing: fresh meat. You want me to treat you like an equal? These guys won't even see you as the same species."

"Well there you go. I'm too much of a distraction. I could cost you the race."

Harper smiled. "No, no. You'll distract everyone else. You're my secret weapon."

Sam ignored the sudden butterflies in her stomach and turned her attention to the old garage where the race would be starting. They had spent the past week studying, practicing, and becoming intimately familiar with the route they were expected to take, as well as some they weren't in case something unexpected happened. Tricks like driving a car off the road were not uncommon in pastimes such as this and she was not going to be pushed around. "I'll introduce us." She offered, hopping out of the car without waiting for his response.

Harper watched unhappily as Sam crossed the parking lot and "introduced" herself to their competition. He shot her back a dirty look when he spotted her flirting with the Neanderthals. She was a secret weapon, as he had already told her, but that wasn't why he wanted her to stay in his car. The truth was he could control her actions if she was right next to him. She was more of a distraction alone than she would be in the passenger's seat. He felt the situation quickly slipping out of his grip.

Sam wandered back to the car and tapped lightly on his door. He lowered the window and she handed him a sticker and a receipt. "The name of the place won't even lead back to them." She said conversationally. "But, even if it did, I suppose it's hard to make out a charcoaled receipt."

When she didn't get back into the car immediately, he started to open his door. Her eyes said it all. "Get in the car Samantha." He gritted through his teeth.

"I have every intention." Sam promised with a smirk and turned in opposite direction. "I'll see you at the Finish Line." She called back over her shoulder.

"Samantha." Harper growled after her but it was too late. She had weaved her way through the crowd and out of his sight.

Sliding into her seat, Sam cranked the engine over and drove to the starting point, thankful her car was only a block away. She wouldn't it past these guys to leave her coughing up dust. Part of her wanted to be upset with Harper for questioning her ability, but there wasn't time. The racetrack wasn't much of one. The roads were very windy and unpredictable--thank God they had practiced. This area was infamous for potholes and missing sections of road. The sound of a gunshot screamed through the air and it was on.

As the seconds ticked by, she made herself focus on the road and not on anything Harper was doing beside her. She knew he wouldn't run her off the road meaning she only had to worry about Dumb & Dumber. They swerved in front of her in a practiced motion, trying to intimidate her, but she remained unfazed. She had started driving at eight years old. There were few places she felt more confident than behind the wheel of a fast car. The road broke off and the four of them took a particular direction, leaving her alone for a few minutes. She followed the loopy road for a total of forty seconds before the Burnt Sienna Firebird sprung into her so fast had she not been expecting it she would have tumbled right into a waterless pit. Perhaps it had been a lake at one time, but this stretch of land forty-five minutes out of Port Charles had been rain-free for almost eight months leading them into a horrific drought.

"Is that the best you can do?" She mouthed to the driver of the Firebird and slammed on her brakes forcing him to miss the tiny alley and smash into the building to their left. She glanced back and sure enough he was on her tail, but she wasn't worried. Jerking the steering wheel to the right once she had cleared the alley, she took one of the back roads she felt the most comfortable with and followed it until she was dropped onto a road where she found Harper. He might as well have been drinking a cup of coffee and reading the paper for the relaxed posture he had taken on. He wasn't dragging behind by any means, was several feet in front of her, and she felt another delicious rush of adrenaline as she caught up to him.

The Burnt Sienna Firebird and Baby Blue Viper must have picked up on what she and Harper were up to because they were trying their best to not only catch up but also to separate them. Harper looked almost bored at their attempt while Sam took a sharp turn to the left cutting them all off. She wasn't certain, but Harper didn't look too pleased with her from here. The Viper made a stupid move and it ended up costing him several seconds in which he was left, again, at the back of the line. Sam jerked the wheel to the left to avoid falling off the steep road and just in time too. If she had waited another second, she would have gone right over the bridge. Apparently the townspeople were too cheap to put up guardrails.

She could make out the Finish Line in the distance and told herself she had to get there, she had to survive, but first she really needed to disable these guys so that they would not only be out of commission, but easier to kick out of their cars and into Harper's. The car lurched without warning and she realized that the Viper was trying, and just about succeeding, to push her off the road. In order to do so, he was forced off of the main trail. Their cars jolted down the hill at an alarming rate and Sam apologized for every bad thing she had ever done. Her teeth chattered as the cars spun away from each other and threw one arm in front of her face to avoid the glass as the windshield shattered. Son of a bitch!

Forcing her car backwards, she slammed into the passenger side of the Viper and her car barely coughed in response. "Jerk." She flipped him the bird and hurried to get back on the road, wondering where Harper was.

A foghorn blasted and she realized that the race was over. Scrambling onto the road, her car made it to the Finish Line before it jolted to a stop. Putting it in park for safe measure, she put her hand to her forehead trying to spot either remaining car. Surely she hadn't won. Jerking her head from side to side, she clutched her hands into fists so that her nails bit into the skin. It was another minute before the Viper joined her. "Where'd your boyfriend go?" He asked as he dragged a sweaty hand through his blonde hair.

Sam didn't think; she acted. Stomping over to him, she punched him in the nose. "You are going to jail you bastard." She informed him as she kicked his feet out from under him.

"It was just a game." He argued with a smile.

"I was thinking more on the charge of murder." Sam explained in a shaky voice. It wasn't so much her present company that had her keyed up, but he didn't have to know that. From behind her, she heard one car pull to a stop, the gravel squealing in protest. Slowly, she turned.

"Hey Gorgeous." Harper drawled out as he exited the car and leaned against it, crossing his arms. "Who's your new friend?"

*****

She was going to strangle him, Sam mused to herself as the empty coffee cup shook in her hands. She understood that he had taken the boys to the station and fudged a few of the details so that they wouldn't run into jurisdiction problems across town lines and all that nonsense. It had been almost an hour and a half and that was more than enough time for worst-case scenarios to plague her mind. What if one of them had gotten control of the steering wheel and he was knocked out? What if he was handcuffed to the car and it was leaking gasoline and then, before saying something snide, one of the guys threw in a match like so many movies she had seen? She would have to wait for the story to be in the paper before she would know anything for sure. That's it. She was going after him.

Harper walked through the only door in the apartment, wiping the dirt and sweat off his brow as he kicked it shut with his foot. Of course the one time he needed to get in and out of the station quickly, there had to be three other major busts occur on the same night. In the long run he recognized it would help hide the peculiarities in his report, (he was already rehearsing his story about confusion with all the bookings going on) tonight it chapped his ass.

Seeing Sam standing there, her hand on her keys, he fought the urge to snatch that piece of metal and throw it in the trash. "Well at least you remembered this much of the plan."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Sam nearly shrieked.

"You were supposed to stay in the car. That was the plan."

"You needed me to distract the other driver. You said so yourself."

"Samantha. Your presence was distraction enough for those meatheads." He swiped his hand across his forearm, trying to get the dust from the race off of him.

"We got the job done, didn't we?"

"Yes." It galled him to admit it, but she was right. "But that doesn't mean you should have taken a risk like that."

"A risk like what? He's the one who drove me off the road."

He began to pace through the living room. "Don't you get it Samantha? He saw you as an easy mark. He wasn't looking at you as a driver or anything else. He saw you as one thing and one thing only."

"So what?" She challenged.

"Is that all you think you are?" he retorted, stepping closer to her.

"No. It just seems to be the opinion of everyone else."

"Everyone meaning me?"

"No. I don't know." Sam answered noncommittally.

"I think you do." Harper reached out a hand to keep her from darting away and into the safety of the bedroom. "Tell me. Is that what you think I see you as?"

Sam shied away from his touch. "No."

"No?"

"I'd like to think that's not how you see me, but I can't read your mind."

"Let me enlighten you. You're beautiful. And you know it. But you are also smart as hell and there is no one I want watching my back more. And if that means I worry when you don't follow the plan, then tough shit. I enjoy the hell out of you Gorgeous and I want you around for whatever fun we can have."

Sam moved forward with the intention of hugging him, but the wiring in her brain got switched and she ended up kissing him. Instead of wrapping her arms around his waist, she ran her hands up and down his shoulders, smiling when she felt him shudder in response. "I didn't know you cared so much."

Closing his arms around her waist, he winked at her. "I'll enlighten you any time." He whispered before pressing his lips against hers, pulling her close to him.

She found herself standing on tiptoe to deepen the kiss, but even that wasn't enough for him. His tongue darted between her lips and she moaned clutching his shoulders and letting her eyes slide shut as his arms moved under her and lifted her up. "Are you still mad at me?" She asked through half-closed eyelids.

"No. I'm sure you'll scare the hell out of me again."

His statement caught Sam by surprise. She had been almost certain that his anger had more to do with her deviating from the plan. He was all about precision and she was the wild card thrown in. She tilted her head to the side and met his impatient tongue with hers, almost losing herself completely in the sensation alone. "I need to tell you something."

Moving his hands down her hips, he teased her tongue with his. "What's that?"

She held his face in her hands so that he had no choice but to see the truth in her eyes. "I want you in my bed."

Reacting immediately to her declaration Harper pressed his lips against hers hard, lifting her up so she had to anchor her legs around his waist. "Good," he managed to growl. "Because that's the one place I want to be right now."

The trip up the stairs was a quick one. Jerking at the ends of his dirty grey t-shirt, she peeled it off his sweaty body and dropped it on the trail to the bedroom. His fingers traveled methodically across her jade blouse, but even the most patient man was no match for the mile of buttons. At his strangled moan, Sam reached down to help him, pressing her other hand to the wall to keep from losing her balance. They tackled the garment for another thirty seconds before he yanked it over her arms roughly. He grabbed at her hand, dragging her closer, and placed a few kisses across her knuckles.

Nudging the door to the bedroom open with his shoe, Harper took a moment to hold her against the door and let his mouth and hands familiarize themselves with her body. She draped her legs around his waist, her own impatience making itself known. When he continued to put off the inevitable for a second longer, she caught the fly of his pants and flicked the button open. He caught her hands and brought them to wind around his neck using his free hand to comb through her tangled hair.

When she thought she could take no more, she felt her body being lowered onto the mattress and sighed in satisfaction. His big body leaned into hers and she wiggled beneath him until she was sure she was touching him in all the right areas. She matted her fingers in his chest hair and grabbed the back of his neck to pull him in for a warm, wet kiss. He reached between them and finished her earlier endeavor of getting rid of the pants. Her hand followed his after the pants were removed and she tugged at the front band of his briefs, pausing only long enough to stroke him through the thin material.

"Samantha." He hissed.

"You've done so much for me." She whispered. "Let me do this for you." Flipping him onto his back, she touched her lips to his chest and dragged them quickly down, promising herself that she would savor every inch of him later. She shoved the briefs down and looked up when he lifted her chin with his hands. Licking her lips at the intense understanding that passed between them, she closed her hand around him and applied the tiniest bit of pressure. Her lips soon followed and it was all she could do to keep him still.

"My turn." Harper choked out weakly. He slid his hands under her arms and jerked her into his embrace, melding their mouths together. Her mouth was warm and mysterious beneath his. No doubt, she hid all of her secrets there. Greedily stealing her breath, he fumbled with the snap on her bra and groaned at the feel of her naked breast in his palm.

"This is k-kind of an awkward time to ask..." Sam whimpered. "But what is your first name?"

He might have chuckled if she didn't sound so serious. "David." He clarified as his thumb swept across the ruby-red tip of her breast.

"Oh God." Sam inhaled sharply, her eyes widening.

"What's the matter?"

"I don't—I mean do you have—?"

"Well it's a good thing one of us is prepared." He teased glibly. "Hold that thought Gorgeous." Harper didn't know how he made it downstairs, but motivation was a funny thing. When he returned to the bedroom, Sam was resting on top of the sheets completely naked. "You look like a woman who knows what she wants." He murmured crawling across the mattress.

"I knew you'd figure it out if you just kept trying." She taunted as he closed the space between them and caught her lips with his. She snatched the condom out of his hand, removed it from the wrapper, and rolled it on without having to look down. If she spent a few extra seconds touching him, he didn't complain.

Lying above her, Harper looked down. "I know it's been a long time since you've made love." He whispered. "But I promise I won't hurt you."

"I know you won't. I want this. I want you." She emphasized with a shaky smile.

He drew his hand between her legs before he ever settled his body against her. His thumb brushed softly above her center and she jerked off the bed. He pressed his middle finger there and slowly slid it inside of her, forcing his eyes to stay open as her body closed around the digit. She threw her head back and he bent down and kissed her, lightly caressing the sensitive skin. His thumbnail traced the inside of her thigh while he strummed his remaining fingers over her center. She bit down hard on his bottom lip and that was when his index finger plunged into her. For a second, neither of them moved. He didn't lift his mouth, letting his breath blow into her trembling mouth. Then her eyes closed and he let himself explore her more intimately.

Though her movements were sluggish, she took hold of his hand and kissed his fingertips, her eyes never leaving his. He drew his hand down her back and pulled her under him, carefully slipping between her thighs. Her breath caught and his eyes flashed. Again, they had one of those wonderful still movements where she felt every jerk of his body. He moved then, ever so slowly, and she let her arms flail aimlessly to the side. A moan escaped her as he ventured deeper and she curled her legs around him. The way her body instantly adjusted to his made her feel as if she had always known this man's touch and she let any anxiety she had been experiencing fall away.

Her body arched into him, throbbing in what almost felt like pain, and he finally shoved all the way inside of her. He had been holding back before, but she was glad he wasn't anymore. As the moments ticked by, she hoped he still thought she was worth it once this was over. Insecurities driven from her mind as her body started demanding things from his she lost herself in the physical for the first time in so long she couldn't even remember. He jerked above her and she saw the distance in his eyes. She told herself not to focus too much on that. Her body didn't let her consider what that look might mean as she was thrown into an earth-shattering climax.

"Alright." Harper rasped out as he collapsed onto her chest. "You can change the plan next time."

"Well if this is all it takes to win an argument with you..." Sam let her voice trail off.

Previews:

She rested her forehead against his. "I don't like being out of control."

Running his hands down her sides, he only stopped when they rested at her waist. "You could have fooled me Wild Card."