Alec collected her within fifteen minutes, after Max had already added layers of clothing back to her body. Dorokov told 'Nikolas' in Russian that though she was an amazing offering, he actually thought Nikolas should be the one to take young Jessica's virginity. Of course he used much more vulgar terms: 'breaking her in.'

The blond X5 smiled at the business associate, knowing full well that Max understood and spoke Russian, too. He held Max's stare, looking like a parched man, and said back to the older man that he intended to.

Max blushed, continuing to finish out the role. He knew she understood (and spoke) Russian - did he truly intend to rectify the situation of her cover's virginity? God, she hoped so.

As her pimp collected the money, she pulled on her trench coat, and overheard the Dorokovs asking when Jessica might be available again. Alec told them he'd let them know when they were back in town.

On the ride home, Max fell silent as she thought about what had just happened. She didn't have to fuck that old man, or his wife, and she got off to her handler's voice giving her permission to come, demanding that she come, for him.

It was dark out, a fact for which she was thankful because otherwise he might see her furious blushing. She turned her head and smiled, remembering the raw control in his demand. She knew she could be somewhat controlling with her sexuality, but she didn't really know until today that she enjoyed someone else taking control. It made her wet again to think about what he would be like in bed.

A few minutes passed before he broke the silence. "You were really great in there."

When she was busy fingering herself to his instruction? What could she possibly say back to him? A grin snuck onto her face. "So were you." She watched for his reaction, but he was driving and kept his eyes on the road.

She wouldn't be against him pulling over and yanking her into his lap, though. Hell, she'd even fish his dick out right now and wrap her lips around him the way she'd just described to two strangers.

Trying to peek at his lap proved moot in the dark van. She just couldn't read him. Did the man ever blush? Did she have any affect on him whatsoever? Or was he a true blue soldier who would never compromise his reputation by breaking a rule or two?

"Especially since we were ready to abort," he continued, as if she hadn't just complimented him on his verbal technique bringing her to the finish line. "Normally would've, but you improvised well."

"Thanks." What was she supposed to say to that? Just doing my job didn't seem right for the scenario, Nor did it seem appropriate to state that she'd never had to abort a mission.

Alec drew in a short breath as if deciding on something, turned right into their hotel parking lot and parked. She held her breath for a second, and he finally looked at her. "I want you to know I wouldn't normally let a new agent call the mission."

Oh, fuck no. Was he really pulling rank on her right now? Her eyes narrowed and she sat up straighter, ready to defend herself. "And I want you to know that I'm not some baby agent that requires your express say-so to do what's necessary for mission success." Except for that whole needing-his-command-to-make-me-come part.

He laughed, which infuriated her more.

"Hold on there, Tiny Tank, I wasn't done." He turned more toward her in his seat. "I don't normally let anyone else call the missions, but I have faith in you. I've read your file and I'd heard you were a good improviser. Finally got to see it myself."

So he was... complimenting her? Okay, nice. She could get on board with that. Wait a second. "Tell me you didn't actually see me in there," she pleaded. She wasn't sure if it made the whole thing more embarrassing or even more arousing.

"I meant 'experience it firsthand,'" he amended, but then stuttered out again when her brows rose playfully. He reconsidered his word choice against what she had been doing in that room with the Dorokovs. "No, not firsthand... you know what I mean."

Instinctively, she reached a hand across the center console and placed it reassuringly on his forearm.

His attention was drawn to her hand on him. He didn't snatch his arm back, or really make any sort of movement or expression indicating he did or did not want her hand there. But his nostrils flared as he took a deep breath and gradually shifted his eyes to hers.

For longer than she planned, she stared into him. And for longer than she thought he would, he stared back, lips parted slightly, pupils dilating.

She liked him flustered. It was some kind of proof that she did have an effect on him, that maybe he was interested; maybe he would break the rules for her.

"We should probably get some shuteye," he forced out, looking like he hated himself for suggesting it.

Yeah right, like she was going to get any sleep. "I really need to wash up, too," she said. "Didn't get a chance to run to the restroom in there with those two weird lovebirds watching my every move."

His mouth dropped open again as she slid her hand off his arm and opened her door, a sly quirk of her lips playing at the corners. He'd likely just put it together that she touched him with... that hand. "You coming?"

"Not yet," he ground out tightly. Again, he considered his word choice and made a face suggesting he had inadvertently made an innuendo. "I, uh, need to make a call. To Base. I'll be up in twenty."

Max made a face about that accidental innuendo, but didn't say anything.

Last time he made a call right after the mission was to berate wardrobe for making her so beautiful no one could keep their eyes off of her, including him. What would he be calling about this time? He hadn't seen her lingerie before she was sent in, so he couldn't call wardrobe again to cuss them out for making her too hot. Unless there really were cameras... He had expertly avoided answering that particular question, and she wasn't going to ask again. She squared her shoulders and said,"See you inside then."

She felt watched as she headed inside, but when she turned back at the entrance to make sure he was okay (alright, to confirm he had been looking), she saw him sitting there, eyes closed, chin pointed upward as if asking the divine for a little help. She went over the chain of events and second guessed her actions tonight. He said she'd been a good improviser, but maybe he had expected a better outcome. Or maybe, her mind supplied unhelpfully, he needed a few minutes to get himself together after a mission gone so right and one that was so hot he needed to cool himself down before getting out of the car.

In the bathroom of their room, she prepared a bath and put her hair up in a bun. As she stripped off her pants, she pulled the comms device from her pocket and set it on the counter.

This time when she looked in the mirror, she blushed at how she looked: sated in a way she hadn't been in a long time. Rosy cheeks, bright eyes, supple lips. She wondered what he saw when he looked at her tonight, what he thought about how the evening went - not on a professional level, but on a personal one. Had he really put his faith in her tonight? She had saved the mission, right?

She watched her own reflection as she slowly pulled the strings on the chemise and opened it up to reveal her breasts, nipples hardening as if Alec was already there, his warm mouth already around them. When her hands skirted down to her sex for the second time tonight, she gasped a bit at the wetness already there. Jesus, was there no end to her horniness for her handler?

She pulled the g-string off and tossed the lingerie set on top of the closed toilet lid. Lowering herself completely into the bath, Max reviewed the mission again and found it impossible to keep from touching herself. She remembered his voice in her ear and fantasized that he was talking about himself when he told her how he'd kiss her, how he'd test to see if she was at wet as she smelled by swiping his long fingers into her, how he'd push his tongue up into her. She arched her back as she stroked her clit, and used her other fingers to pinch her nipple hard.

It didn't take long to bring herself to (another) orgasm. Alec was still making his call or whatever, so when one powerful wave hit her, she cried out and thrashed in the water to keep it pulsing.

She quieted down just as quickly when she heard the electronic mechanism of the hotel door unlocking, and light footsteps walk down the short hall.

"You okay in there?"

Had he heard her? Again, her face burned with embarrassment. "Yeah."

"Did you call me," he asked from right outside the bathroom door.

Had she called out his name when she came? She didn't know, and that in itself was worrying. "I, uh, forgot my bag in the van," she said, though she wished she had the gall to ask him to get in the tub with her.

He was quiet for a moment. "I got it. I'll leave it by the door for you."

"Thanks." She laid there another few minutes, listening to the sounds of him winding down and setting up the laptop.

When she got out of the bath, she wrapped a towel around her torso and opened the door to find her bag exactly where he said he'd leave it, and Alec facing the window, shirtless, with his back to her and a drink in his hand. On the corner table sat the laptop, the decryption program already running on the copy of Dorokov's drive.

She scanned him from his sandy blonde hair, over his barcode, down the slight slope of his back, and wished she was closer so she could run her hands over the muscles of his backside. More accurately, she wished he had removed his pants, too, and was laying naked between her legs, and then she could pull him closer by his ass. God, this man was gorgeous and just exuded power and passion.

He could see her in the reflection of the glass, she could tell. His back muscles moved as he took a few deep breaths, but otherwise he was as still as a statue, still facing the window. Maybe he thought he was giving her some privacy, but not full privacy, because he still watched the shimmering surface of the glass as she bent to get her bag.

"Can I make you a drink?"

When she looked up, she found he had turned around, and she saw his chest and arm muscles contract as he took a big gulp of whatever it was he'd made. The look in his eyes was... unreadable.

Was this it? Was he making a move? Max could practically taste him, imagining dripping that drink down the center of his chest and following the stream with her tongue until it disappeared into his waistband. Her mouth watered and she had to swallow to keep from slurring.

She rooted around in her bag but didn't bring a nightgown or pajamas. She kind of thought it would be a quick in and out mission (so to speak). She really wasn't prepared to stay the night. "Um, sure. I'll have whatever you're having." Poured on my clit and then you can lick it up.

"Whiskey straight," he informed, padding barefoot to the mini fridge to pour whiskey into a glass for her.

"Do you have something I can wear to bed?" Please say no. Say you don't want me to wear anything.

He glanced around the room, set her drink down by the nightstand, and rummaged through his bag. He produced the shirt he'd just taken off and took the remaining few steps to hand it to her. "This work?"

His scent, mixed with the whiskey, washed over her and she grazed his hand, accepting the garment. "Thanks."

Back in the bathroom, she hung the towel, slid on her underwear, and pulled his button up shirt over her body. Fastening the buttons to just above her breasts, she let down her hair and intentionally left the lingerie on the toilet. If he went in there, he'd see it, and hopefully it would spark his libidinous imagination.

"All yours," she said, walking to the nightstand and grabbing the whiskey. She meant the bathroom was all his, but it would have been true otherwise, too.

Alec grabbed some clothes, closed the door behind him, and started the shower. Max futzed around the room a bit, sipping gingerly from the tumbler. Everything outside seemed still, but it was early morning, so she wouldn't expect to see people bustling about for a few more hours.

She stopped by the open laptop and saw the decryption was already about fifteen percent through. At least her actual mission tonight was not in vain, unlike her unsaid mission to garner the romantic attention of her handler. He wasn't picking up on any of her cues. Or if he was, he seemed to have no intention of doing anything about it.

She thought about stopping this... whatever it was she was doing by trying to attract him while subsequently falling all over herself. He was almost nothing but professional with her, and she was acting like each mission they had was an opportunity for them to hook up. It wasn't very professional of her, she knew. She could stop her actions, but she knew she wouldn't be able to stop how she felt. It was a hard crush, but she vowed to keep it to herself.

It was with this thought that she climbed into one of the two beds and waited.

He didn't take long - maybe twelve minutes total - and came out of the bathroom in boxer briefs and a white v-neck undershirt, smelling soapy clean. Crossing the room to the other bed, he fumbled around putting his pants away while Max did her damnedest not to stare at his package.

She'd seen men in underwear before. It was no big deal. She cleared her throat and tried to guide the conversation to a different topic than the one on which her dirty mind seemed to be stuck. "So if you don't mind my asking, where did you go on your last mission - your long, away mission?"

Even though it was classified to some degree, he could still give certain vague details, like what region it was in, or what kind of mission it was. His brow furrowed and he checked the status on the decryption, gathering his thoughts. "I was in Africa, doing some clean up after a mission gone wrong," he started. He grabbed the whiskey and took another large swig before continuing. "The mission a year before was a success, but we lost our asset, so I had to return and do some takeover and some damage control."

Lost an asset? "An agent died?"

His lips pushed into a thin line and he nodded solemnly. He wouldn't look at her; instead he just cast his stare downward as if pulled down by guilt.

He thinks it was his fault. With the realization, Max let the topic drop. She searched for another topic and settled on one of the only other things she knew they had in common: being a 'Nova. "I'm really kinda glad I didn't have to have sex with the Dorokovs."

Thankful for the reprieve, Alec finally opened up a little. "Yeah, I wasn't sure what was going to happen when Yelena suddenly showed up."

"I heard what he was saying in Russian. Am I really going to have to go back? They only wanted to watch me this time, but what will happen next time?"

"Just something about this guy rubs you the wrong way," he stated. "Is that why you had such a hard time coming up with a fake fantasy?"

Her immediate knee-jerk reaction was to defend herself, but she reigned it in to keep from blurting our that all she could think about was Alec. She went with an alternate truth. "You asked about my last decent fuck, which I guess happened while I was on the Cale solo with a guy named Justin."

"What happened there?"

She shyly answered, "went into heat and dragged Justin to the supply closet at my cover job."

His eyes widened in surprise. "Your first instinct was to jump someone else? You didn't want to jump Cale?"

"Absolutely not," She deadpanned. "That man fucks on two speeds: the 'let's have a romantic dinner with wine and then make love celebration after I killed a bunch of people' turtle speed, and the 'I hate X5s in general, and am going to hate fuck it out of my system' speed, which, thankfully, is much faster. I found myself going through the most practical ways to kill him from each position."

Laughing in some kind of solidarity, Alec looked at her in awe. The new infirmation left him with a severe distaste in his mouth. "Hates X5s? Did he ever hurt you?"

"He has a massive hate-on for Manticore and all of its operatives, and even though to him, I was one before I broke out, he takes that hate out on me in bed. The man has no game, no real sense of foreplay. I have to think about someone else to even achieve minimum mission parameters..."

It did not get past him that she hadn't answered his question. His jaw ticked as he considered this new info.

Max took his silence as a bad sign and scrambled to backpedal. "Don't worry, I'll do whatever it takes when we go back under."

He frowned at that. "The sex is really that bad, huh?"

Max scoffed and gave him an 'Are you fucking kidding?' look.

"Why didn't your previous handler do anything?"

"I did what I had to do," she answered vaguely. She was sure most of the Novas had experiences that were far worse than hers were with Cale.

Staring out into the distance beyond the window, Alec promised, "I'll think of something. You'll never have to be with him again."