Within a few minutes, they made it back downstairs and passed the gathering room into the kitchen and dining room. It was shaping up to be a clear, cold night, but the temperature inside was comfortable, which is why Max furrowed her brow when she caught sight of the married couple. Their faces were flushed, as if they'd just come in from the cold.
Or just watched another couple dry humping on their live feed.
Alec smiled at Max proudly, knowingly, like Eddie would have if he'd just had some secret mild foreplay, and pulled her chair out for her.
"Thanks for holding dinner for us," she said, pulling her napkin into her lap while Alec seated himself beside her.
"Yes, thank you, everything looks delicious, Libby," Alec added.
There were six T-bone steaks on a serving plate in the center of the table, as well as four large potatoes wrapped in tin foil, a stack of grilled corn on the cob, and of course the homemade iced tea.
"Go on, help yourself," Harry instructed.
As the couples plated their meals and began eating, Harry and Libby opened up a little more about their business and the auction.
"You've probably guessed by now that we need some protection around here. We've been doin' alright with our crew, but we've been hearing rumors of another farm cropping up near us," the older man said. "And just last week we had a whole batch ruined."
Libby picked up where he left off. "We heard just one of them weapons'd take care of all our problems. We're sitting on just under 100 acres of land, and besides coyotes and other wildlife on and nearby, we gotta watch out for our product."
Which is what? Max didn't ask. No one was expressly stating what exactly they were growing, which lent further to the idea that it was likely something illegal.
Harold squeezed his wife's hand. "That's why we're investing in this bio-weapon."
Shifting slightly in her seat, Max cut a piece of medium-well steak and feigned innocence. She considered, again, what kind of biological weapons they would use against cartels. It was not outside the realm of possibility that there could be a virus targeted to a specific group of people, but from the sounds of it, that might wipe out the cartels too, not just their soldiers or competition. Judging by his sharpening irises, though, Alec seemed to have an idea what kind of weapon it could be.
"Harry, how much was Teddy going to charge for just one?" Alec scooped a fork into his baked potato and took a bite.
Harry and Libby looked to one another and nodded gently.
"Ten mil." Harry took a drink of his tea.
Alec feigned understanding, or maybe it wasn't pretend - Max couldn't tell.
Libby's eyes widened. "It'd be worth it to protect everything we have. We just have to let it eat and shower everyday."
Eat and shower?
Leaning in as if gossiping, Libby continued, "Plus, I heard they could look just like you or me. Isn't that crazy?"
And that's when it clicked in Max's mind: these weapons are human hybrid soldiers. She tried to catch Alec's attention, equal parts worried about someone out there making designer human hybrids to be used as weapons, pissed off that they'd become a commodity, and curious what Manticore was doing with the intercepted shipping container full of them.
Alec found her hand under the table and gave it a gentle squeeze meant to remind her that he understood. They'd talk about it the soonest chance they got, but right now, she's Eva. He knew Manticore hadn't tried to breed out free will, but some other player had. Because no Manticore soldier would ever allow themselves to be auctioned off to the highest bidder. To him, that fact meant there was a possibility that these other hybrids would actually be doing someone else's bidding. A spy going undercover as a weapon, but actually assassinating someoneor gathering intel for another group. Until he could verify it with his own eyes, the possibilities seemed endless. Meta, he thought with a purse of his lips.
Calculating the math in his head, Alec realized that the discount Eilers planned to give was a fraction of a percent, and would likely not have made that big a difference in the final price. Didn't seem worth it. Were they in some kind of financial trouble? If they could afford one or two hybrid soldiers as weapons to defend their farm, then it seemed unlikely that they needed money.
Chewing on her steak, Max worked over a few more scenarios. Maybe there was another threat which required more protection - a rival cartel, a political problem, an environmental change.
"So why do y'all need one?" asked Harry, shifting the discussion to focus on the engaged couple.
Alec had just taken a bite, which gave him a few seconds to think of a reason.
"We need a little protection on our travels," Max chimed in. "With the risqué and rare items my clients request, it can get a little dangerous, outbidding our competition."
Alec sat statue still, in awe of her quick compartmentalization. Her anger at the situation flashed only to him and only for a moment, then she slipped back into her cover seamlessly. He was certain his poker face had cracked at the information, and that had Harry or a Libby been watching close enough, they would have seen that furious micro expression.
"Plus, when we have children, we'll want them protected." Alec cupped his hand over Max's.
Max leaned to her blond handler to kiss him chastely on the cheek. "Oh, Eddie, I can't wait to spend my life with you."
Returning to his meal, Alec lowered his voice. "Think we could get a tour of the farm, Harry?"
The older man's cheeks were still rosy. "Of course," he said. "Tomorrow?"
The rest of the meal was spent with comfortable conversation about home life and Libby asking if the newly engaged couple had picked a date or started planning for their wedding, which was how Max found out that 'Edward' wanted a wedding pie instead of a wedding cake. Lemon meringue, if he could choose.
Max played his doting fiancée perfectly, promising she'd make his favorite pie when they got to the summer house, after they stopped by the lingerie boutique.
In response to that, Alec stared lustfully into her eyes and spoke to Harry and Libby, "have you ever met anyone so goddamn beautiful?"
After dinner, Libby demanded their guests head on up to bed, that she and Harry would take care of the dishes. She lent Max a thin, yellow, spaghetti strap nightgown with little navy flowers all over it and white lace stitching above the bust line. Max thanked her and took Alec by the hand up to their room.
"Evie?" asked Alec once they had closed their door.
"Yeah?" Max walked toward the en suite and peered over her shoulder.
He looked like he had a serious question perched right on the top of his tongue, but he was transfixed, rooted to the spot. "Remember that deal in South Africa?
"The diamond one?" Max asked, continuing into the en suite to slip off her sheath dress and kick off her heels. She tried to suss out where Alec might be going with his questions.
"No, the uh, the other one," he informed, trying to lead the vague discussion.
Max pushed her pumps to the side of the bathroom so they'd be out of the walkway. She heard a few pocket items as they fell onto the nightstand, then Alec clicked off the light and sat down on the bed. "The gun one," she replied, sliding the yellow nightgown over her body. It went to just below her knees and flowed out a bit.
"Yeah," he confirmed. "Remember the seller, Rodney something, he said he had heard about some top of the line tech coming down the pipeline in a year or two."
Max took off her bra and folded it. She checked herself out in the mirror. "Come to think of it, wasn't that about a year ago?"
"Just about," he agreed.
Padding softly back into the room, she saw her CO peeling the shirt off his body. Bare-chested Alec was just as distracting now as he'd been dancing around the sparring circle with West. Her mouth watered and she closed it to swallow. Was she genetically engineered to perpetually want this man?
As soon as his eyes were visible again, they seemed stuck to her. His posture was rigid, the moonlight filtering through the sheer curtains clinging to the lines of his body, silhouetting him in shades of grays and blues. She'd never wanted to be a shadow more than she did right then.
"Christ," came his deep voice. His pupils expanded, and she wondered if that was something he'd done in the past to fool a mark. He wouldn't need to fool her, though. She was already in on the mission, which in this case was to support Edward as Eva, and help him gather intel to confirm the Walkers were growers, and then hopefully purchase that bio-weapon to keep it out of the wrong hands.
So maybe this was part of some play to that end? Make it look like they were about to make love, and then one or both of them would 'fall asleep,' giving the Walkers some sort of peace of mind. Once Harry and Libby went to bed, they might have a chance at giving themselves the tour. But for now, the transgenic pair couldn't strategize out loud, so Max decided to play this scenario out with him; he would find a way to let her know the plan. She trusted him implicitly.
She let her bra fall to the bed and did a little twirl. "You like?"
He caught her hand at the end of the twirl and pulled her toward him. "I love."
He loves Eva. Edward loves Eva. You're Eva, her mind chanted. He's Eddie, and you're Eva, and the Walkers are fucking watching.
"So we don't need to stop by the lingerie store?"
He flashed a sexy grin. "Well, we don't need to..." He held his other hand out to her, and she took it. Alec tugged her toward him until she straddled him on the bed. Their smiles fell away to more serious countenances. "You are the smartest, most beautiful woman I have ever met."
She could drown in the green of his eyes and die happy. He threaded his fingers through her hair and kissed a line up her neck to her ear. Max cradled his head against her, and when he rocked backward, his stare was bottomless. Forget the green, she would much rather seep into his darkness. She cupped his face and he rubbed his cheeks into her palms, which she discovered a mere moment later, removed a light layer of makeup. His freckles were surfacing.
A rush of arousal coursed through her body at the realization. He had been wearing some kind of makeup for his policeman uniform, which meant that he very well could have been as affected as she was before dinner. Did he know what his freckles did when he was truly blushing, flirting, turned on? Is that why he covered them?
Belatedly, she realized it also meant that... he was sincerely complimenting her right now.
And it made her speechless. Her cheeks tinged rosy and her skin felt hot, constricting.
He swept one strap over her bare shoulder and nipped lightly. She heard a needful whimper escape her own mouth when his lips danced featherlight over her collarbone, and the vee of her legs opened wider to him, grinding down onto his lengthening erection.
Max scraped her fingertips through his hair and he let out a hot pant before his open mouth met hers. Christ is right, thought Max, her logic at war with her feelings. Their kiss consumed every part of her cover, until it was just Max tasting Alec's tongue, biting his lower lip languidly, sensually writhing in his lap, undulating against him.
Just when she thought he might have been about to break it off, his hands searched up her thighs and hauled her tighter against him. Oh god, yes. He scooped under her thighs, stood, and carried her to the door.
He barked out a groan when their combined weight hit the door and caused Max to bite down harder on his lip. He pulsed under her and she wrapped her legs tighter around him. A pinprick of coppery saliva passed between them from the accidental bite, and he disengaged from her lips to tongue down her throat toward her breasts. "I need you," he said against her skin, "to push me away."
What?
Did she hear him right? He wanted to stop? She tried to convince herself that she'd heard him incorrectly. Why would he ask her to stop? Or was it more of a 'push me away if you don't want this to happen' kind of order? Or maybe he was trying to set up a fight for their aliases. But why?
While she tried to reason why he'd ask her to stop and how best to make that happen, Alec busied his mouth tasting back up the column of her neck and kissing under her chin. She couldn't help that she'd fisted her hand tightly in his hair, and when she pulled, was rewarded immediately with an impatient growl.
Setting her on her feet, Alec tried to meet her hazed eyes, but her hands rubbed down the slope of his back and pulled him toward her again. She stood on her tiptoes and kissed him, parting her lips to surge deeper. He melted into it and everything slowed.
Heady with desire, Alec nuzzled his lips against hers, pulling her bottom lip between his to suck sensually before releasing it, then diving right back to gently brush and smear them again as if his lips were paintbrushes, and hers, a delicate canvas.
Max whimpered at the sensation, heart hammered up into her throat, every extremity eager for his touch, his taste, his smoldering, raging fire.
This felt different. It wasn't the feverish, haywired-hormone, lustful petting like in the Eilers' study. It was heavy, reverent. She felt like a goddess while he worshipped her skin, her lips. He was so careful she found herself slipping into bliss.
He indulged them both for a moment, sinking toward her, achingly hard and barely able to restrain himself. Her carnal sigh absorbed into him, and suddenly, he stilled their ministrations altogether. "We can't," he pushed out. He caressed her elbows, her hands still at the small of his back, urging him forward.
Her eyes slid open like slow honey, and found agony reflected back at her. She reached one hand up to caress his cheek. He was just as breathless, and those goddamn delicious freckles begged for mercy.
"We can't, Max," he breathed, barely audible. His warm hands guided hers between them as he backed up with a pleading resignation, and let her hands slip out of his on his way to the bathroom.
Warm tears sprang to her eyes. What the fuck just happened? She desperately wanted to tamp down on whatever emotion was trying so desperately to make itself known. She took a couple of deep breaths after Alec shut the door to the en suite and sat down on the bed.
Panic set in once she realized she was so far gone that he'd needed to stop her by calling out to her by her real name. Did the cameras pick up on that? Was this impromptu mission royally screwed now?
Oh, fuck. I'm so fucking fucked. I'm so out of control that I couldn't do my fucking job.
Max stood and paced to the door. She was furious with herself for letting things get that far out of hand. She bet he'd never worked with anyone so naive and unprofessional his whole career. She considered apologizing, but Alec didn't need her sorries, he needed her actions.
Which was how she'd decided to take her new stolen phone out of her new stolen purse and go out to steal the proof they needed.
She'd have to go barefoot since that gave her the best chance at sneaking out unheard. She didn't have any other clothes, either, which she could play to her advantage if the Walkers caught her. She could just tell them that she and Eddie had a fight and she needed some air, and to call her friend.
Sort of the truth.
Glancing back toward the bathroom door, she listened for anything at all from the other side of that door, but was met with silence. Quietly, she turned the lever and let herself into the dark hallway.