Caught Between [LeatrixSage x Mr Quixotic]

[LeatrixSage]

Valentina sucked in a sharp breath of air past gritted teeth. The sharp edge of the table had bit into the soft flesh at the backs of her knees. Unless she was greatly mistaken, that was warm, sticky blood she felt trickling down the back of her left calf.

Great, on top of everything else, I might need a tetanus shot.

“You think you’ve got it all figured out, don’t you?” Val groused in annoyance, undisturbed by Cole’s nearness leaving her unable to see anything other than his eyes while he hissed and spit his questions into her face. “Weren’t you listing? Viktor never…” her voice trailed off as she hesitated. Why should she tell him anything? If he wanted to believe she had been Curic’s personal whore, why should she care? So, what? He thought she was worse than dog shit on the bottom of his shoe no matter what she said or did. She’ just put her entire future in his hands, given him everything he demanded… fuck, she had trusted him!

Such a fool…

What was one more idiotic assumption?

Cole’s face drained of color as she dug furrows down his back and around his side, across that scar she had been so curious about before. A deep, feminine kind of vindictive fulfilment made her tremble at the sight of his pain, and yet it was a distinct counterpoint against the displaced arousal that was still pulsing so damned relentlessly in time with her wild heartbeat. Even the stinging blow across her cheek did little to diminish the aching want that beset her senses. It did, however, make her wonder again about the man that gathered her up like she weight little more than a child and tossed her onto the bed.

In a different situation, she might have found his show of strength exciting, maybe even amusing. As it was now, part of her mind was starting to question her own sanity in pushing the man to the edge of his tolerance. Before Valentia could crawl off the other side of the bed, Cole’s hands where one her. Those lean, long fingers bit into her skin and made her yelp in surprise as caught her when she bounced. One of those hands slid into her hair and held her head down, her cheek pressed into the bed. She pushed against the bed to sit up, but he kept her pinned down. There was little she could do beyond catch her breath until he was done getting his pants down and decided to yank her head back by her hair.

Her scalp stung and burned from her hair being yanked on repeatedly. She barely noticed it as her eyes settled on the reflections of a man and woman she didn’t completely recognize in the mirrored closet doors. The woman was flushed and breathing in shallow pants, one cheek a touch reader than the other, the shape of a hand slowly appearing. Her dark brown hair was wild and unbrushed, and her eyes were absolutely glowing. The man stood at the edge of the bed with his pants around his ankles, the taunt muscles in his legs bunched up with all his masculine fury, and a hard-on from hell that he made sure she saw. Her eyes continued up, noticing the blood that splattered his shirt from where she’d marked his skin, before she met his gaze in the mirror.

“If you won’t beg me to screw you, then beg me to stop.”

A smirk split across the features of the woman behind the glass, and Val laughed with her. How many men had demanded she beg? For sex, money, power, favors. God damn them, every one of them, Cole included. If he wanted his ego stroked, he was going to have to do it himself. Despite all the man’s bluster and rage, the very idea that honorable Cole Whittaker would force himself on a woman was ludicrous.

Bowed back as she was, most of Val’s weight rested on her elbows and her knees. With her ass in the air it was all too easy for Cole to reach between her legs and get rid of the flimsy protection that had been the one piece from Victoria’s Secret. The fabric slid aside and left her vulnerable so easily. A shiver crawled up her spine as the slick lips of her cunt were exposed to the cool air. Even if she started screaming the word no at the top of her lungs, there was no hiding the fact that she was as eager for this to happen as he was.

“What’s it to be? Do I stop, or do I fuck you like I own you?”

Val practically purred at the sound of his voice, and her mind jumped right back to talented fingers driving her mad while that same voice tauntingly asked if she was going to cum for him. She’d wanted more then, and he was offering it now, and that alone made it more tempting than ever to give him exactly what he wanted. The woman in the mirror arched her back to lift her ass higher, offering herself to the glowering man behind her, and Val swallowed to keep herself from mewling like a cat in heat.

I don’t want him to stop, the realization wasn’t a surprise. How could it be? How long had it been? Three years, maybe four? She wasn’t sure anymore. In all that time, she’d never wanted a man as badly as she wanted Cole Whittaker. She was slipping, her resolve to laugh at him, to deny him, to make it all a game… it was slipping away, and the woman in the mirror suddenly looked frightened.

Valentina clenched her jaw tightly shut, she was not going to beg Cole for anything!

“I’ve never been an obedient whore,” damn, but her voice was just as husky and raw as his had been. There was nothing she could do for it, and Val was left to smile at his reflection to hide the very real fear that she felt more for than man than she ever wanted to admit. “Don’t you remember what I told you in the shower? I won’t give up, and you can’t break me.”

Leverage was not on her side, and Cole was far from being careless, but he’d allowed her a little wiggle room in his effort to intimidate her with the sight of his cock eager and ready to invade her slick fold. It gave her just enough space to roll over, at the cost of her scalp aching viciously and Cole being pulled down over her. Grinning up at him, Val locked her legs around his hips before snaking her arms around his shoulders to drag him close enough that she could nip viciously at his bottom lip, and then lick the tiny bite mark she’d made.

“You’re all bark and no bite,” she insisted, her lips moving against his while she watched the man’s eyes for signs of his emotional reactions; for warnings of what he might do next. The hot length of his cock was resting against her flat stomach, absolutely searing her flesh with awareness of him; right through her shirt and lingerie. Val writhed beneath him to use the smooth fabric to stimulate him a little more, rubbing her body against his in a wanton entreaty. “Threat after threat, but I don’t see any follow through. Do those damned rules chain you so completely that all you can do is run to the edge of the yard and bark? If you want me, take me, I’m not going to give you a God damned thing.”

 

[Mr Quixotic]

Valentina’s rake of the nails only exacerbated Cole’s physicality with her, and the incomplete response to his taunt didn’t soothe matters.

“Weren’t you listening? Viktor never."

It left Cole deeper in the dark.

Viktor never what?

Touched her?

Fucked her?

Forced her, because she’d screwed him willingly?

Shaking with fury, Whittaker wanted to throttle the truth out of Valentina.

Why did he care?

How many times had he contemplated that question and failed to find an answer?

Driven by instinct and primal urges, Cole’s muscles quivered, and the pain of his torn skin subsided into a pleasurable twinge. Already possessing the strength advantage over Valentina, the adrenaline flooding his veins made him feel invincible, and as if he could lift a truck single-handed. Tossing her across the room required little effort; his only response to her a grunt before she landed on the mattress.

Despite the anger that led to his rough treatment, Cole held back, as he had with the slap which had been heavy enough to sting and jolt her head side to side, but not with the impact to truly hurt more than the woman’s dignity. Cole’s consciousness might not have been in command of his faculties, but his subliminal mind realised the distinction between asserting dominance and excessive force. A line that if crossed, he’d never be able to live with himself for, and that would risk losing the last vestige of Valentina’s respect. If any remained.

With his hand buried in her hair, Cole took care not to tear the roots from Valentina’s scalp, or to shove her mouth and nose down into the sheets and restrict her breathing. The tradeoff was that his hold allowed Valentina’s limbs free reign while he unbuckled his jeans.

Time slowed after his erection, thick and pulsing with need, sprung clear of his trousers and they stared at each other in the mirror. Valentina’s eyes gleamed brightly, and she reminded Cole of a caged animal; muscles coiled and prepared to attack, wearing an expression he couldn’t define. Fear or excitement, it could have been either. Then Cole ripped her undergarments down and exposed Valentina’s pink slit. Her pussy glistened with undoubted evidence of arousal.

Cole lifted his gaze to grace her reflection with a smirk, and that distraction was his undoing. Like she’d done that morning, Valentina moved quicker than he could react to, twisting and tearing his fingers from her hair and wrapping her lithe legs around him. Her mockery rang in his ears as she pulled him on top of her. “And I told you, a broken woman is no fun. Nor is obedience, Valentina. You think I’d be so hard if you’d simply agreed to spread your legs with a smile? Who’s playing whose game?” Cole hissed after he jerked away from Valentina’s kiss, his lip stinging from where she’d bitten him while he shuddered at the feel of his cock resting on the flat of her stomach. Even through fabric that heated contact threatened to ignite flesh.

His arm had tumbled to her waist when he’d fallen to brace himself and there it remained while he held her gaze and she rubbed up against him like an affectionate cat. The sensation of her clothing brushing his hard-on brought a moan and the warmth emanating from the apex of her thighs beckoned his cock. ‘’You don’t need to beg," Cole shook his head and laughed as he plunged a hand between her legs to cup Valentina’s soaked folds, “This dripping pussy says it all, and there’s no way in hell you’d ask me to stop. You’re aching to be fucked.”

“So, why, for once in your life,” he continued, finding her wrists and wrapping his strong fingers around them. Cole pushed her arms over her head, pried her legs apart with a knee and positioned his cock at her slick entrance. “Don’t you shut your goddamn mouth and let me break the rules in peace.” Cole’s words morphed into a pleasured cry as he drove his length into Valentina’s cunt, shoving every inch in on the first thrust. The impetus lifted her off the mattress before she fell and he slammed her again; plaster dust rising in the air when the bedhead smashed the wall.

Panting and quivering, Cole stilled with his cock buried balls-deep in her pussy. She clenched him like a vice and it took all of his willpower to remain controlled while his blue eyes, darkened with lust, bore into her. Cole's voice was a hoarse croak as he leaned down to return her lip bite and shook Valentina’s wrists, subtly loosening his grip so that she'd easier be able to escape it. “If I let go, do you promise to scratch and claw? Behave, and you can have a turn on top.”

One last motivational jab before he pounded her into oblivion. If she drew more blood, he’d welcome the pain.

 

[LeatrixSage]

He could have stubbornly held on to her hair, ripped it out in chucks by the roots, or even used that grip to drag her off the bed and to the floor… but Cole did none of those things. If anything, he allowed her to get away with upending his place of power and masculine dominance and with little resistance. He didn’t froth at her taunting or rise to her relentless prodding. In his lust-darkened eyes, all she could see was a greedy hunger that was leashed by threads so fragile she was surprised they existed at all. She wondered what it was that tethered him, but her meandering thoughts were brought back to focus on his voice.

“You think I’d be so hard if you’d simply agreed to spread your legs with a smile?”

Now, that was an interesting question. She hadn’t thought about it. Of course, coming on to the man like drunken call-girl had never seemed the right approach. Her perspective of the man was forced to shift again, and Val found herself smirking up at the man when he asked her who was playing whose game.

“Who’s in fucking charge now?”

It was the same question from that morning, and Val still didn’t have an answer for it. And yet, the idea that Cole was playing her was as frightening as it was thrilling. Some twisted part of her soul was eager to find out just who was playing whom. He hissed at her when he jerked his head away, and Valentina laughed as she licked her lips to ease the tingling sensation left behind from kissing him. Cole Whittaker was a drug, she realized while he stared down at her. He was utterly unflappable, and utterly unrepentant for the desire that stole a moan from his lips while she writhed beneath him. Eyes that saw everything refused to close or look away even when he laughed at her and told her that she didn’t need to beg. That intensity in him kept her own eyes open when a warm hand slid between her legs to cover the proof of how badly she wanted this.

Why?

The question floated through the back of her mind, but Val didn’t want to evaluate it too closely. Instead, she welcomed memories of skilled fingers and the way the warmth of his hand made her clit pulse with sensation. There was no denying his claims. Val was eager to be fucked, hard and thorough, but as soon as the words came out of his mouth she wanted to tell him that he was wrong. A catty remark was on her tongue – something about his inability to provide the kind of fucking she was looking for – when his tone changed, and his hands wrapped around her wrists to force her arms up over her head. While she struggled to resist his greater strength, one of his knees pressed between her legs and forced them apart.

“So, why, for once in your life, don’t you shut your goddamn mouth and let me break the rules in peace.”

Val could have laughed, even might have, had Cole not so easily forced her open to him, and then just as easily sank every inch of himself deep inside her with enough force to lift her off the bed. She bit her bottom lip to keep herself quiet, but as she landed, he did it again, and this time Val came off the bed because her body arched up in eager acceptance of his assault. The entire world shank down to the lean, muscular body stretched out over her and how good his weight felt above her.

And then, Cole stopped.

He was buried so completely within her it was almost uncomfortable, but that didn’t stop her greedy cunt from twitch with delight or the way her body betrayed her by shuddering visibly with the anticipation of more to come. He was still staring at her. Something she only just noticed despite the fact that she’d been staring back at him. He was panting above her, his breath hot where it touched her skin. She was, too, like they’d both just conquered something. Her heart was thudding painfully in her chest, but she vividly understood that this little interlude was just the beginning of something else. If Cole was the man he seemed to be, then the sex marathon they were about to run together promised to be damned satisfying.

He bent down to bite at her lower lip, returning the nip she’d given him, and Val growled at him as she ran her tongue across the tiny cut that had been made by sharp teeth. He shook her wrists, his grip eased, and she watched him with a new sense of understanding as he asked her if she promised to scratch and claw if he let go.

“No,” she answered immediately, grinning up at the man again, “not if you make it easy on me, Cole. Don’t let go.”

She’d barely gotten the words out before the man began an assault that seemed hell bent on breaking the damn bed. As it turned out, Cole Whittaker was a vicious kind of lover, but he would find no complaints from the creature that moaned appreciatively beneath him. True to her word, so long as he didn’t make it easy, Val’s struggles weren’t to get away, but to enhance the violent game they played. When she worked one of her hands free from his grip, it was to wrap her fingers around his throat. He couldn’t choke him; her hand was too small, and his neck was too thick. She could, however, dig her fingers into his neck and hold onto his throat.

It was counter to reason to struggle against him when lying beneath him felt so damn good, but Valentina still worked her legs up to dig her heels into the bed. She hesitated and ground her teeth when the change in angle made it feel for all the world that he drove himself somehow deeper inside her. If she stayed that way too long she wouldn’t have the will to move, and she yanked at the one arm he still held captured desperately to get it free. As soon as she was loose, she reached up for a handle of his hair to yank his head to the side as she threw her hips. Tossing Cole took considerable effort, but she followed with him.

“You don’t get to decide,” Val panted past the friendly smile she wore, “when I get to be on top.” She relinquished neither her grip on his neck, nor her hold on his hair as the woman picked up where he had left off. Valentina Ricci was riding Cole Whittaker’s cock as if they’d been fucking for years, and the thought amused her so much that she risked glancing up at the mirrored closet doors to watch.

It was a bad idea for two reasons. First, she lost track of what Cole was doing. Second, she didn’t know the woman looking back at her, and that woman was enjoying what she was doing so much more than she should have been.

 

[Mr Quixotic]

The last time Cole had sex was six months ago on a rare occasion that he’d let his hair down and gone home with a woman he’d met in a bar. With no intention of seeing each other again, he’d thought it’d help him move on from Jenny, but it had the opposite effect. Cole had fallen into a pit of remorse, as if he’d cheated on his ex, although it was over and naught remained of their relationship except the remnants of a bruised ego.

How would he feel after he’d fucked Valentina?

That concern passed through his mind as he buried his shaft in her eager pussy, but there was no taking it back now. Cole also wouldn’t have changed things for a second, as there was no place he’d rather be than on top of Valentina, staring into her eyes, with her skin searing his and about to about to screw her into oblivion. The dichotomy of wanting what was happening, but hating himself for it messed with his head and Cole tried to offset that by claiming she’d played his game all along.

Had she?

Did it matter as long as Valentina believed it?

Or at least couldn’t prove it a lie.

He’d also punish her.

“Good. Give me an excuse to leave marks” Cole hissed when she told him not to let go before he slammed her again. A groan; pleasure mixed with fury, escaped his lips as he dipped his head and bit her neck. With her wrists pinned and his teeth gripping her flesh, Cole didn’t look at the women he fucked. Vaguely he heard Valentina's sounds of pleasure and her words, but they were irrelevant. Her hands clawed at his to get free and whenever she got close to escaping his grip, he threw her back down on the mattress and jack-hammered her dripping pussy from different angles.

After she tugged a limb loose and grabbed his throat, he met her eyes, growled like a rabid beast and rammed his cock even deeper. Grunts and groans of exertion escaped Cole’s lips and his assault on Valentina’s pussy caused the bedhead smashing against the wall to leave a hole in the plaster. His violent thrashing made it difficult to maintain leverage on Valentina. When she dug her heels dug into his back, Cole tried to stop her from tilting him over. However, as she twisted and turned, she left him with no choice but to follow her momentum or pull out completely.

“Go on then, have your turn,” he hissed after she‘d rolled him onto his back and goaded. As if it’d been his decision. Cole hooked his fingers into her hair and jerked her head back while she rode him as violently, and he returned her actions in kind. As she came down, he met her with an upward thrust, impaling Valentina on his shaft before she rose again. “That all you got,” Cole mocked, heat spreading from the pit of his stomach as she engulfed his cock and he took in the erotic visage.

She looked like a wild animal with her hair flying, mouth open and staring at her reflection, lost in the heat of lust. She looked even better a second later after Cole ripped her top open. Shredded fabric hung off her body and Valentina’s tits jiggled unencumbered in the night air. Cole’s gripped a nipple between his knuckles, keeping it trapped there and forcing the erect bud to stretch and pull in his grip as she moved. He clamped Valentina’s ass with his other hand, helping to lift her while his nails imparted rake marks on her flesh.

“Enough.”‘ How long that position lasted, Cole had no awareness. It could have been seconds, or it could have been an hour. Every interaction was frenzied. Bending his legs, he gripped Valentina by the shoulder and ripped her off his cock. Bed springs broke when he lifted her in the air and threw her face-down as he had earlier. A lamp flew from the bedside table that he’d knocked over and shattered on the floor. On his feet now, Cole jerked her arms behind her back and dragged her across the mattress; hips perched on the edge, butt in the air and legs dangling over the side.

“Is this what you wanted, Valentina,” Cole restrained her with one arm and raised the other. A loud crack reverberated around the room when he spanked her derriere twice in quick succession, leaving a bright red palm print on her ass cheeks. “Next time, I’ll use my fucking belt,” he hissed, releasing his hold and kneeing her thighs apart. With the speed of a mongoose, he fell on top of her, wrapped strong fingers around her neck and mounted Valentina.

“This how you like it?” Chest pressed to her back, Cole dropped his free hand under her body. Not quite cutting off her air, but threatening that he could at any moment, he squeezed her throat and forced Valentina's clit to grind into his palm while pounded her tight clenching cunt from behind. “Are you are going to come for me again; are going to scream for Cole?” Ensuring she could watch every second of her fucking in the mirror, Cole's ragged pants and moans interspersed between merciless thrusts spoke of the fact that even if she didn’t, he would.

 

[LeatrixSage]

“Good. Give me an excuse to leave marks”

And leave marks he most certainly had. His teeth had left a red ring on her neck. He’d bitten down on her flesh so hard that she was certain he’d broken her skin in a couple of places, even if she didn’t seem to be bleeding. The mark stung viciously in little pin-points, but it was the burning sensation that radiated down her shoulder that battled the heat of ecstasy spreading out from her loins. It hadn’t hurt nearly as bad while he had been biting her, and Val almost wanted his teeth back on her skin to ease the pain away. Somewhere along the way his fingers had found their way into her hair, and when he jerked her head backward and forced her back to bow, she had to let go of her hold on his neck to keep her balance. One of her hands braced against his chest, her fingers burrowing into his chest hair, and the other found its way down his abs to settle low on his stomach where his skin was slick from the mixture of her arousal and his sweat.

Even while she rode him for her own greedy pleasure, Cole seemed to keep her trapped – bodily as much as anything else. The hand in her hair made sure she wasn’t vacating her position any time soon, and the sharp impetus of his hips pumping beneath her kept her bouncing at a demanding pace. Every time they came together his cock jammed painfully against her cervix, but it was exactly the thoroughly-and-properly-fucked kind of pain she needed to feel. Even so, she resented him for how effortlessly he could maintain his position as the one in control of what happened and how it happened. Despite it all, Val laughed at him when he asked her if that was all she had.

“This is only round one,” she gasped out between pants, “we’ll see how much steam you still have when we get to round two.” Her mocking grin turned into slack-jawed awe when the man reached up to shred the shirt he’d just paid for a few hours ago. The fabric tore right down to her waist, but the collar had bit painfully into her skin and aggravated the bite-mark he’d left on her neck. She cursed him for an ass, but neither one of them were slowed or deterred from their ravenous pace. If anything at all, the primal and vicious mating only seemed to become more urgent and forceful with every grunt, pant, and moan the pair made. He released his grip on her hair to instead catch a taunt and tender nipple, eliciting conflicting sounds of pleasure and pain from her lips, sensations she enjoyed in equal measure.

Val’s skin was as sweat slick as Cole’s when his hand sought purchase by digging his fingers into the flesh of her ass. She yelped and squirmed, which only made his hand slip more while he tried to help her bounce over him. His nails raked her skin in his effort to hold on, and Val dug her nails into his chest in response, clawing at him viciously until he resolutely shouted at her.

“Enough.”

Before she had time to ponder what he meant, Valentina again found herself being thrown around so effortlessly that a fresh thread of fear pulled through her lust-clouded brain long enough to make her second guess her own sanity. There was a crash somewhere as something hit the floor, and then Cole was on her before she could get off the bed. When he flipped her over, she was sure she felt springs pop and break within the mattress beneath her. He had her laid out on her stomach again, but this time he found her arms and forced them behind her back. Valentina kicked and cussed and thrashed, but it meant nothing. None of it slowed him or impeded him and he trapped her flailing limbs before he dragged her across the mattress. He propped her hips right on the edge, her butt high in the air. With his weight bent over her back, she couldn’t get her legs under her. Her feet just slid against the carpet when she tried.

“Is this what you wanted, Valentina?” the question made her pause long enough to listen. She was panting as much from the sex as her attempts to get away from him. Even that came to a stop when a loud crack echoed around the little hotel room at the same time as a deep, stinging pain flashed to life. Somehow the fact that he had just spanked her felt uncomfortable intimate, a sensation that deepened with the second sharp slap of his hand. The pain was bracing, but each slap didn’t just redden her cheeks. The shockwave of each impact stimulated her clit as much as it stung her ass. “Next time, I’ll use my fucking belt.”

“Like hell you will,” she began to protest at the same time that Cole forced her legs apart. It seemed as if his cock found its way back to the warmth of her pussy at the same time that he parted her legs enough to let cold air kiss her engorged clit. He arms were caught between her back and his chest, pinned by his weight. She tried to wiggle them free, and then one of his powerful arms curled around her like a python wrapping around its next meal – the mouth of which was long, lean fingers that wrapped tightly around her neck. Those fingers squeezed, and Valentina trembled beneath him. She might not be able to choke him, but he could snuff out her life with one hand if he really wanted to.

While the wild and frenzied fucking continued, his other hand slipped beneath her. Valentina’s legs worked to find purchase, leverage, anything - but there was no escaping the warm palm that cupped her mound or the insistent cock that seemed to know exactly what she needed and how she needed it. If he ever said a word about how well he’d fucked her that night, she’d lie until she was blue in the face. He played her body like a well-tuned fiddle, and even as he taunted her, she knew damn well he’d get what he was after.

She could easily just close her eyes - bury her face in the bed, hide from him - but what did that really gain her?

If anything, it felt like surrender.

“Do you want to hear me scream for you, Cole?” Valentina asked his reflection between desperate pants, “All you had to do was ask.”

Watching him viciously driving into her was somehow even more erotic than watching herself riding him. He looked as much wild animal as he did man, and somehow that made the fingers around her neck seem less dangerous than the gnashing teeth inches away from her shoulder. Whatever will she had to struggle against him shifted into something else, some primal need that demanded satisfaction, and Valentina’s hips shifted to welcome Cole while she tightened the muscles low in her stomach to make her pussy squeeze down around his cock. The increased friction made her entire body shiver just before the delicious tension within her finally snapped. Her sharp cry was an unnecessary announcement when measured against the twitching spams inside her cunt and the rush of warm liquid that coated his cock and his palm as she came for him, but Val saw no reason to muffle herself. Where being forced to cum on his fingers had strangely felt like a defeat, writhing for Cole while he pounded her into the tattered mattress was so deeply satisfying that she simply couldn’t see it that way.

He wasn’t far behind her, his own orgasm following close behind her own. His fingers twitched around her neck, but there was little Val could do but let him finish however he pleased. With her arms pinned between them and her legs dangling uselessly, there was no choice but to enjoy the final throws of passion that took him, and then left him panting and resting heavily atop her back. It was only while they were both catching their breath that she finally noticed the holes in wall from the headboard smacking into the plaster and drywall, the shattered lamp that had somehow been knocked over, and the dip in the mattress where several more springs must have broken. She studied the room from what she could see in the mirror, and it looked for all the world like they had been fighting, not fucking.

As it was, she was surprised to find a small little cut in her lip that only seemed to start stinging once she had noticed it. She suspected it’d happened when he’d slapped her, but she hadn’t even noticed it. The hand-print he’d left on her cheek wasn’t even visible beneath her vivid, post-orgasmic blush. Her wrists ached and were very likely scratched and bruised from their struggles. As she slowly relaxed beneath him, other little aches and pains made themselves known, but she couldn’t bring herself to feel badly about any of them. They were as sweet as the lingering pulses of sweet sensation that radiated out from her still twitching pussy.

“I think we might need a new bed,” was the first thing she could think to say that didn’t seem antagonistic enough to ruin the comfortable after-glow she was reveling in. “And I’m finally ready to eat, too.”

Second thoughts, she was trying to keep them at bay be refusing to think about anything past the moment they were in. She didn’t want to think about what happened tomorrow when they woke up next to each other or what might exist between them then. Or not exist. Something wasn’t the same, and for the first time, she was afraid of not knowing. An even more frightening ache settled into her chest, one that made her want to run from the comfortable warmth of his body just as fast as she could.

“Can I have my arms back, now?” she asked, wiggling her fingers and enjoying the feel of his chest against her skin as she did. “You keep pinning them down in ways that make them ache.”

One little orgasm and your docile as a kitten, she chided herself. Not that she really had the energy to be anything else. No matter what she might say later, he’d given her everything she’d needed. Their aggressive games had bled all the pent-up emotions and nonsense right out of her. She was numb to it all now, because he’d exhausted her, and if she was completely honest, she should probably be thanking him.

 

[Mr Quixotic]

After he'd ripped her top to shreds, Cole almost laughed with the thought he might have to take Valentina shopping on the Government's dime again. Funny what ran through your mind at the most inopportune of times. That was forgotten when he gripped one of her marble-hard nipple between his knuckles. Cole squeezed and twisted the erect bud as he slammed back up and into her.

"We'll see how much steam you have when we get to round two."

Her retort rang in his ears before he grabbed hold of her hips. Growling in frustration when his cock slipped out of Valentina's pussy, he threw her onto her stomach. The way things were going, both would be too exhausted for a second round. Cole didn't give the lamp a glance when it shattered on the floor, "We're not done with this one yet," he hissed as his palm struck her ass, savouring the sight of her flattened out on the mattress, tight butt up in the air. Valentina's glistening pink slit twitched for his cock, and she was at his mercy.

Cole was quite the visage too, with his heaving chest, sweat-beaded brow, and lust-darkened eyes locked on her reflection. His shirt had lost buttons somewhere along the way. "Like if I used the belt, you could stop me," he grunted. The mental image of Valentina bent over and whimpering in that unique mixture of arousal and pain as the leather cracked against her flesh sent a jolt of excitement through Cole.

Peering down at Valentina, vulnerable in a way he'd never witnessed her before, Cole realised his feelings had shifted. In the shower that morning, he hadn't brought Valentina to orgasm for her gratification, but as a way to exert his control. Somehow, from the time minutes earlier when he'd slammed his cock into her with that same intent, through her riding him like a crazy woman, to now, that had turned into a desire to bring her pleasure.

Masculine pride played a part, but it was more than that. When he grabbed her by the throat and entered her from behind, he wanted to evoke screams from Valentina. To have her thrash and squirm in the throes of an orgasm beneath him and leave the woman sated. A fuck she'd remember fondly. What that meant, he didn't have time to contemplate while he pounded her cunt and forced her clit to grind his palm. Meeting her gaze in the glass as he screwed her, Cole saw the fear flare in Valentina's expression when he tightened his grip on her neck, but it faded and he took that as a sign of trust he wouldn't choke the life out of her.

"Asking you to scream would have been too easy," he groaned as her muscles clenched his cock, drawing him deeper and evidencing how she relished the rough treatment. "I'd rather make you." Lewd sounds echoed around the room as Cole nailed her without mercy. When her pussy quivered and pulsed around his thrusting shaft and Valentina cried out, signalling the onset of her orgasm, Cole couldn't hold on any longer.

As she came, he came with her, moaning in ecstasy and spurting his seed into her depths in a violent, shuddering climax. When it subsided and the last drop of cum had seeped from his tip, he collapsed on top of Valentina. After his release, Cole's strength felt as drained as his balls. His groans morphed into breathless pants while his cock softened inside her spasming cunt.

If not for her words, a spent Cole would have fallen asleep right there and then. When she spoke, he mustered the energy to lift his head and find her eyes in the mirror; realising he still had her arms trapped. "I'd apologise, but something tells me you don't mind the ache too much." A contented smile on his face, he rolled off of her onto his back and surveyed the havoc their sex had wreaked. "We might need another room," he responded, resisting the urge to plant a kiss on Valentina's lips and pull her into his embrace. Instead, he dragged himself up the bed, hearing another weakened spring give way, to sit against the headboard and appraise the bruises, scratches and marks on her flesh.

In the afterglow of an orgasm and with the dopamine flooding his system, Cole didn't regret what they'd done. That scared him and left Whittaker with no idea of what to do or say. Thankfully, she mentioned being hungry, which gave him an excuse to glance away toward the table. "I guess we both needed that to ease some tension. While you're up, do you mind grabbing a fresh towel from the bathroom and passing me a Corona? The laptop, too. I want to get a start on tomorrow." Faux nonchalance was an avoidance tactic he'd mastered long ago, and pretending to busy himself with work would help Cole evade a heart-to-heart with Valentina. "We'll deal with the mess in the morning," he shrugged when he returned his gaze to her.

It wasn't clear if he meant just the one they'd made of the hotel room.

 

[LeatrixSage]

As soon as she’d opened her mouth, Val wished she’d just kept it shut. Sure, her arms did ache, and they would have hurt much worse later, but he was right… she didn’t mind it. At least not as much as she missed the weight of him, or the pleasantly full feeling of having him tucked up inside her. The man that looked back at her from the mirror wasn’t the same man that had thrown her onto the bed, but he was the one that had given her exactly what she’d needed from him. The smile that settled into his features was honest and open. It made a vice clamp down around her heart, and yet that battered organ still fluttered shamelessly when his gaze dropped to her lips. For a moment, Val thought Cole might kiss her… and then he dragged himself up the bed away from her.

“I think your right about that, but I don’t think management will be pleased.” That vice tightened even further, and Valentina turned her attention to her wrists in her efforts to ignore it. The scratches in her skin were red and angry and started to sting now that she was paying attention to them and her heart rate was slowing down. Despite herself, she smirked at the sight of them, and then pushed herself up off the bed and onto wobbly legs. Her knees were still weak, and her head was still a little cloudy, but everything shifted as her attention sharpened on something. First, the feel of Cole’s cum leaking down the inside of her leg, and then the scent of it. The sudden and sharp realization startled her. Valentina’s eyes darted over to him just to jump quickly away again. She’d been so caught up in her own head and her pleasure she hadn’t even realized.

The first troubling thought was that she didn’t at all mind what he’d done. The second was wondering why he had done it. Cole Whittaker was not a careless man. So, why would he take such a risk with a woman he openly admitted to hating so thoroughly? The cognitive dissonance it brought to her understanding of reality was too much for her to handle in her current post-orgasmic haze.

She found a distraction in her tattered shirt, which she laughed at as she pulled it off and then tossed into a chair to be dealt with later. It might have been from the GAP, but she’d kinda liked it. It was shame it hadn’t lasted longer. Her torn and tattered under things went with it. With all her clothes out of the way, she could get a better look at the aftermath of their romp. Valentina twisted one way and then the other, looking herself over in the mirrored closet doors until she felt Cole’s eyes on her.

He’d been talking to her. What had he wanted? A fresh towel, another beer, and…

“I think the only dealing we’ll be doing with this mess is leaving it behind,” she motioned to the room at large as she spoke, but she wasn’t entirely sure they were just talking about the damage they had caused to the seedy hotel room. Not that either one was going to clarify. They were both avoiding it, and Valentina smirked at him before she wandered into the bathroom for that fresh towel he wanted.

At least in one way, they seemed to be alike.

Neither one wanted to talk about what had just happened beyond the fact that it had happened, and it was over now.

Valentina tossed him the towel before she snagged the laptop and a fresh Corona for him. It was only after she had delivered them that her nakedness felt uncomfortable. It was a spark of self-conscious vulnerability she refused to acknowledge. Val had taken the time to clean herself up while she’d been in the bathroom, so she turned her attention to the Chinese food. It was cold now, but it smelled and tasted so much better than it had before. Her stomach ached for a moment, complaining, but as she ate it settled back down. It was more comfortable to curl up in one of the arm chairs by the table than to join Cole on the bed, and that was where she settled for the time being.

So, what now?

Val wrinkled her nose while her mind tries to turn right back to analyzing recent events much too closely for her liking. Rewinding time a bit more brought her back to the conversation about Danko, and Viktor, and the quagmire of shit she’d dragged Cole into. There was a twinge of guilt that came with it. She buried it just as fast as everything else.

“So,” she began carefully, with absolutely no idea what the hell she should say, “I’m sorry for what I said about your partner.” The words came out before she realized what she was doing, and then her cheeks warmed with color. Her gaze resolutely stayed on her Chinese food and away from direct sight of Cole. “I know the situation I’ve put you in, and I know you want Curic bad enough to be too stubborn to leave it, but you really should leave me here and go back while you have the chance.”

What the Fuck am I doing?

Some stupid little voice in her head almost responded with a phrase she was damn well not going to think. It was reverse psychology. Just another tactic to rope Cole in and make sure he stayed. Because that was the con. You always died with the con. She was not soft on him, and she was absolutely not thinking about letting her free bodyguard service walk away. She stabbed a bit of chicken with more force than was necessary, and the color in her cheeks brighten right back to post-orgasm levels of redness.

“Look,” she snipped, feeling his gaze on her with an intensity that made her want to squirm, “I’m trying to say my mess is not your problem and I get it if you aren’t still here in the morning.” A new thought occurred to her, and Val smiled ruefully. “Or if I’m in cuffs and being turned in to your boss. I get that, too.”

 

[Mr Quixotic]

After he rolled off Valentina, Cole resisted the urge to pull her into his arms for a post-coital cuddle and kiss. That would have been a cardinal sin. Their violent fuck, he could write off as a product of primal urges, but a display of tenderness, different in context from earlier when the loss of Ash had seen Valentina wracked by grief, was a whole other story. He averted his gaze, hoping she hadn't noticed.

Sweat beaded his forehead and chest, and the jangling of his nerves clashed discordantly with the pleasurable remnants of his orgasm. His breath hitched when she spoke, before Cole’s heart fluttered in relief. It seemed Valentina was as eager to avoid a deep conversation as he was; the damage caused to the hotel room of greater import to both than the ramifications of their sex. "Management's seen worse. At least we're not leaving dead bodies behind or pools of blood on the floor."

When she shifted to her feet, Cole sat up, placed a pillow at the small of his back and lifted his crumpled shirt over his head. It landed on the floor, next to his discarded jeans, as he requested the towel and laptop. He couldn't keep from meeting her eyes forever and when that distraction was out of the way, he glanced up and their gazes locked. Only for a second. If she hadn't looked away first, he would have.

With her face turned, Cole couldn't read or expression and attempt to gauge her inner thoughts. Instead, he appraised the naked Valentina from the angle she'd provided and the scars on her flesh that his touch had encountered as they'd fucked. When she deigned to look back at him and spoke, he nodded. "I'll be glad to leave it behind." An unspoken agreement passed between them. They didn't mean just the hotel room. A master of avoidance, he'd met his match in Valentina Rossi.

What he found hard to push from the recess of his mind as she'd retreated to the bathroom was how they'd pressed each other's sexual buttons without trying. Banging his head against the damaged plaster to chase away the intruding thoughts helped, and he'd fallen into a half-doze by the time she exited.

Eyes fluttering open when the towel landed in his lap, he muttered thanks and wiped the perspiration from his brow and torso. That done, he draped the towel on the bedside dresser, sipped at the corona and pulled up the web on the laptop. Biting his lip while he tapped at the keyboard, Valentina's words didn't register until he'd finished typing and looked across.

When what she'd said penetrated his consciousness, his eyes widened.

Was that an apology?

The shocks kept coming as she continued, leaving Cole's mouth agape and his brain whirring.

Why did Valentina care about Cole now, when she'd intentionally used the lure of Viktor to drag him into this situation? It was unlike Valentina to exhibit a conscience. Had their romp shifted something within her? Or was she, ever the opportunist, playing him?

Though not putting the latter past her, Whittaker gave Valentina the benefit of the doubt. His muscles ached, a reminder of the energy he'd spent screwing Valentina, as he stretched and stepped out of bed. Naked, he kicked his boxers up off the floor and caught them in one hand, and wrapped the towel around his waist. "You hit a nerve talking about my partner."

Cole approached and plucked the last spring roll from the cardboard container. He chewed, contemplating what to say, waiting until he'd swallowed it down before he continued. "The only person I need to worry about is me, but Murphy has a wife and two kids who rely on him to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table. He's the one colleague I'd trust with my life. And he trusts me." Cole stared into her eyes, "But should he? If push came to shove, would I sacrifice him for Curic? The truth is Valentina, I would."

Not wanting to dwell on the revelation, Cole took a deep breath and changed tack."Which is why I'll decline your offer. You set this up and had it all planned out from the second you called me. I don't know what's led to your change of heart, but it's my mess now as much as it is yours. Like it or not. For what Ronnie and Reggie did to Ash, I'm partly responsible, and if we stop, Viktor will think it's because he scared us off. He'll sit on his throne, mocking the two of us and believing he's invincible. How many others will die?"

Cole shook his head, "As for taking you in, chances are if I did without having a solid case against Viktor, I'd end up in the cell next door. At best, chained to a desk, stripped of my weapon and absent of any authority to do my job until Internal Affairs decided if I had a case to answer." Holding his fingers up, he formed quotation marks and smiled bitterly, "Consorting with a known felon and fraudulent use of Departmental funds." Even if he hadn't screwed Valentina, after buying the woman lingerie on the Government's dime and spending a night with her in a seedy hotel room, Cole's superiors would have assumed he'd done so anyway.

The bitterness faded, and he placed a hand on her shoulder. "If you're sincere about doing right by me, then all I need is for you to get us in and of Danko's house without him being any the wiser. I emailed Murphy and asked him to use his credentials to obtain the security system schematics. He won't like it, but he'll do it and we'll have them tomorrow. Trigger the alarm or tip the authorities off to a break-in, then a red flag will pop up on his request and my partner and his pension will go down in flames. I'd rather not put Rod’s wife and kids out on the street unless I absolutely have to." Cole left Valentina to contemplate that, shutting the door behind him when he entered the bathroom.

Minutes later, he exited, freshened up and in his boxers. "I want to be on the way to Danko's before checkout time and they discover this mess. So I'm going to get some shut-eye." Walking past her, Cole ambled to over the bed. Broken springs creaked under his weight when he slipped between the sheets. "You can sleep where you are or join me."

 

[LeatrixSage]

It was the sound of movement that made her look up. Of course, as soon as she did, she wished she hadn’t. Cole was made for stalking through a woman’s most intimate nightmares. Even in their drab surroundings, he carried the look of some deadly predator that could snuff out her life as easily as he could provoke her to sin with him. Val told herself it was because her body was still humming subtly with the after effects of being thoroughly fucked, not because watching him move was an aphrodisiac in and of itself. He kicked his boxers up from the floor and caught them, it was so domestic and normal that it made her lips twitch. But, then he wrapped the towel around his waist, denying her the opportunity to watch his long, lean legs and tight ass flex and ripple as he walked. Not, however, that it did anything to dim the sense of unease that built as he came closer.

Whatever she thought she had expected from him, it was not the calm and collected declaration that he would burn his partner – knowing full well everything it would cost the man that trusted him – if it meant getting Curic. The admission startled her. It wasn’t something that meshed with the man as she understood him, and she frowned at him when he switched gears on her. She was angry at him, she realized as he made his excuses and laid out his reasons for why he wouldn’t walk away from his retribution. Ash wasn’t his fault, not even in part. That was on her head, and she resented him for trying to shoulder any of the weight of it. His rational against taking her in was somewhat comforting, at least. He dug a whole too deep to climb out that way, so at least she wasn’t facing life in prison.

Yet.

Her heart and throat constricted at the same time.

Valentina smiled sadly at her half eaten Chinese food, and then one of his warm hand’s settled on her shoulder to bring her attention back up to him. This was what she had wanted from him, a powerful man hell bent on doing whatever it took to bring down another powerful man. Why, then, did she feel so fucking guilty? Here he was, her vengeance obsessed pawn ready to burn everyone and everything in the world to catch his man. She’d even learned something about how to make him dance to her tune. She knew what touch would make him recoil away from her, and how to touch him to make him want her. With Cole, it was almost intuitive. She didn’t have to think, she just had to act. And yet, the more she learned, the less she liked seeing what was behind the unbuyable U.S. Marshall with the spotless reputation. Still, as she watched him walk away, she knew that if he was just the cookie-cutter cop he’d appeared to be, not only would he have never taken her bait in the first place, she never would have found climbing into bed with him to be so fulfilling.

When the bathroom door shut, and she felt somewhat safe, Val pulled a face and stuck her tongue out at him. Show the tiniest hint of a sense of right and wrong and they go and trot out wives and children. Not that she thought for a second that Danko would have anything she couldn’t make short work out of. Still, wives and kids.

You’re still just a woman, Valentina.

She sighed, and her breath kicked up a few strands of her long hair. It was going to be hell to brush in the morning, but she didn’t feel like bothering with it. Nothing would happen to them, because she’d never failed a job that she hadn’t meant to screw up, and she sure as hell wasn’t about to start. Of course, that required a clear head, something that was proving surprisingly difficult with Cole Whittaker within easy reach. The woman smiled ruefully, and then got up to pack away the remnants of their late dinner. With each item she picked up and threw away, Val was compartmentalizing another aspect of her entirely fucked up existence. When it was all done, then she could have a break down and wallow in grief and misery. Cole would likely provide her a very nice cell to do it in, too, once he didn’t need her anymore. Maybe an exist strategy would need to be solidified after all. If he’d burn his partner, then he’d hand feed her to the sharks, piece by delectable piece. She’d have to work on it when he wasn’t looking too closely. Which, thankfully, might be more often now that he’d given himself permission to cross that last little line and have her. He’d become complacent eventually, and that would give her room to plan.

By the time he came back into the room, she’d finished cleaning up, and her head was somewhat back in order. He was the mark, she was the con, all she had to do was let it all play itself out. He basically told her she could be a chicken shit and sleep in the chair, or she could sleep next to him, and while she rolled her eyes, Val couldn’t deny that she wasn’t exactly feeling comfortable about sleeping next to him. Not that she could allow him to see it, which meant she turn out the light, and then followed him to curl up naked under the sheets.

“Good night, Cole,” she murmured while she got comfortable. She almost wished him sweet dreams, but the words never made it past her lips. Almost as soon as her head hit the pillow, exhaustion took her. Sleep came almost as soon as her eyes closed, but who could blame her. The past twenty-four hours weren’t exactly normal, not even in her line of work. The greatest blessing she’d received in that time, was that she didn’t remember the horrors she dreamed that night.

 

[Mr Quixotic]

Bone-weary as Cole was, he struggled to drift off. Unlike Valentina, who'd fallen asleep seconds after she'd slipped under the sheets next to him, and was the reason he remained awake. Each time she shifted and her skin brushed his, it reignited memories of how she'd felt under his touch as he'd screwed her. Cole lay on his back, hands behind his head and stared at the ceiling, contemplating the past twenty-four hours.

Damn, had it really been only twenty-four hours since he'd entered the holding cells and sealed a deal with the devil?

Much had transpired since.

Soon his thoughts turned to Valentina's offer to end their partnership and what had provoked the change of attitude. She'd sounded genuine, but the timing, directly following the high of an orgasm, was curious. Had she meant it and had her mood softened towards Cole or would she return to her normal self in the morning?

And had his feelings changed for her? Undoubtedly, but in what way?

Cole flicked his eyes at Valentina. The woman who'd been so cold and vicious two hours ago was now cozily tucked up in bed beside him, and that was a mind-fuck. He didn't know what was real with her and what wasn't, or what anything meant. Anger and spite had evoked their sex, not desire, yet scorched into his memory was the way she'd writhed, bucked and moaned in arousal on the end of his cock. And was of Cole's intent had morphed from an urge to teach her a lesson to wanting to leave Valentina satiated and with fond remembrance of his prowess.

Masculine ego or something deeper?

Cole eventually dozed off, getting two hours of sleep before he awoke at the break of dawn. Mind fogged, he stretched, and yawned and opened his eyes. Valentina lay next to him, playing little spoon to Cole's big spoon with his arm splayed across her torso and his lips pressed to her neck. Cursing under his breath and hoping she'd remained oblivious to the night-time snuggling, Whittaker untangled his limbs, slipped out of bed and padded to the bathroom.

On exiting, washed and scrubbed, he poured coffee, not bothering to fix one for Valentina, recalling how that had gone last time, and sat at the kitchen table with the laptop.

Where the fuck are you, Whittaker? Chief's on the warpath and trying to get in contact. Turn your damn phone back on.

That was the opening to Parker's 3am reply, and the diatribe continued for a further three lines before Cole arrived at the important part, I don't know what the hell you're doing, but this is the first and last favour until I find out. I'll have the schematics later this morning. Don't ask for anything else.

Cole sighed and tapped out a reply, Sorry, buddy had to drop out and go undercover to protect a witness. I'll explain it all when I'm done. No can do with the phone, sorry. Tell Chief not to worry.

No way in hell he'd switch on his cell when the Agency could ping his location. The email, he'd sent from an untraceable webmail address to one of the same on his colleague's end.

"Come on, Sleeping Beauty." Brusque, Cole jumped to his feet and walked over to shake Valentina, "You've thirty minutes to freshen up and get dressed before we leave."

Hadn't they been here before?

Right before the shower incident.

That recollection and the sight of Valentina in her naked glory when he yanked the sheets back halted Cole's words in their tracks. Regardless of how hard he tried, he couldn't deny that given the chance, he'd ravish her again. Nor that he'd enjoy having more time to explore Valentina Rossi's nubile body from head to toe utilising every tool at his disposal.

Deciding discretion was the better part of valour, Cole turned away from the visage and wandered over to the window. He parted the curtains and peeked out at the deserted lot, then swung back to her. Sunlight streaming through the blinds and falling onto the bed obscured Valentina's nudity, "I'll buy you coffee and breakfast down the road. Least a gentleman can do to thank you for an unforgettable evening."

 

[LeatrixSage]

Val woke by degrees. Her awareness began with a pleasant soreness that had developed over the night. The lingering reminder of the previous night’s activities made her want to stretch, but that would risk the loss of the warm body curled snuggly against her back. The sun wasn’t quite up yet, it felt too early for that, but Val didn’t open her eyes to check. She was far too comfortable to risk it. Comfortable and safe. Two things she could ill afford to attribute to the man. But, this his arm locked securely about her waist, it was difficult not to feel somehow protected. The sensation alerted her to other little details. Like he fact that he had put himself between the door and her, by making her sleep on the far side of the bed. If anyone had come through that barrier in the night, they would have met him first. One little push and she’d fall to the floor between the bed and a wall, as protected as she could be.

Had he done it subconsciously? Just some masculine thing that men did because it was part of their nature. Or a product of years of training and protecting people. Even the bad ones, like Val. Or, better yet, a result of a sense of attachment. There was no telling, really, not this early on. For all she knew, it was purposeful, and meant to make her do exactly what she was doing. Overthinking, analyzing, planning. She couldn’t help the habit of planning for her next more anymore than she could prevent the warm tingling that settled into her skin when he stirred behind her.

He must have woken up, because she was fairly certain she’d heard him cuss before he withdrew, taking his warmth with him as he left the bed. Valentina snuggled into the pillow but stayed otherwise quietly where she had been. He didn’t need to know that she was aware of their snuggling, or that she had enjoyed it enough that she hadn’t been willing to end it herself. It was better to simply doze quietly. She was distantly aware of the sound of running water when he started the shower, and then later, the smell of hot coffee on the air. The sun must have climbed over the horizon, because the world seemed brighter, even with her eyes still closed. There was something about the chill in the air and the steam from his shower that made her feel nostalgic for memories that she couldn’t quite place.

Come on Sleeping Beauty.

She heard him distantly but didn’t really wake up until he gave her a shake. She grumbled something at him, not ready to let go of the wistful lassitude she was resting in. Not one to be denied, he yanked her warm cocoon of sheets away from her. Bereft of that last little defense against the morning’s chill, she had no choice but to wake up and face the world. Greif came first, the visage of her tormented friend the first thing to leap to mind, and she finally opened her eyes to escape it. What she found was Cole looking down at her, his eyes cutting a path that had become familiar despite their short time together.

For a moment, she wasn’t sure if she’d actually be getting out of the bed any time soon, and then he turned away from her and withdrew to a safe distance. It seemed strangely cute to her, how he bottled up that ravenous creature within so completely. It made her smirk, but she was thankful for it. Still drowsy with sleep, she felt far too vulnerable for any physical intimacy between them to be safe for her own wellbeing.

“Unforgettable,” she murmured, her smirk getting worse as she realized that he’d carefully chosen a word that didn’t suggest the night had been bad, or good, just memorable. Val stretched out those lingering aches that had first woken her, and then nodded with agreement as she stood out of bed and made her own way into the bathroom. “Good choice of words.”

Her hair was a rat’s nest of tangles. The hotel shampoo and conditioner helped somewhat, but she spent most of her time in the shower combing her fingers through her hair to work the worst of the knots out. It left a few stray tangles behind, but once it dried, she could give it a good brushing. Washed, and then patted dry, she felt refreshed, and a little more human again. It was as she dried however that she really noticed the effects of the rough play they had indulged in the night before. She was peppered with bruises and scratches that all seemed to proudly display the wanton depravity that had produced them.

Cole didn’t offer much in the way of conversation while she got dressed, or remark upon the clear evidence he’d left on her skin. But then, neither did she. No one said a word about the torn and tattered bits of clothing either. Val didn’t even spare them a sideways glance while she picked out the sensible and functional bra and boy shorts, and then wiggled into a pair of black yoga pants and a light blouse. It was certainly nothing like her usual leather and lace style, or remotely fashionable, but she secretly enjoyed the near silent and unlimited movement it afforded.

Maybe there was something to this modest-mouse style of clothing. It was at least a damn sight less expensive, even if it did irk her inner snob to be wearing something that didn’t carry a hefty tag attached to it. A twenty-dollar shirt was a rag. Valentina Ricci was wearing rags. Oh, she’d never live it down if she even whispered the sentiment, but it amused her all the same.

Coffee and breakfast turned out to be the most wonderful things in the world just an hour or so later. Val had woken up absolutely famished, with her stomach empty and clawing, and by the time the food had arrived she’d felt ravenous. Not feeling an ounce modest about it, Valentina happily devoured pancakes, sausage, eggs, hash browns, and biscuits with gusto. She didn’t relent until the clawing emptiness had vanished, and then she sat back to savor her coffee one sip at a time.

There had been some minor chatter throughout the meal concerning their next move. However, Val’s heart hadn’t really been in it. Full and content, she turned her mind to the task at hand.

Danko.

He was an annoying step backward from Curic, but they didn’t have a choice, or any other move to make. No matter how sure she was that Ash had made a copy – he always backed up everything – she was no closer to learning how or where he had hidden it. Given what had happened, he might not have ever even known he was in danger. If he hadn’t known, then there was no reason to have left her a trail of crumbs to follow to find it. Which means she may have been looking for something that didn’t even exist in the first place.

Cole had gotten in touch with his partner, but from the little he’d said about it, she had a feeling there was already some backlash from that direction. It made sense, she certainly had the man acting out of character. Someone as dependable and predictable as the Marshall acting out of character did tend to put people off. Particularly people that were generally just as dependable and predictable. He cared about his partner, and she could only assume a mutual respect meant his partner cared about him, too. That meant he was likely even more wary than the average co-worker would be. Val found herself wondering if the other man knew what Cole was capable of, or if they were at all similar. She decided she would ask at some point.

Yeah, like when it’s all over and he’s got you back in the stupid orange jumpsuit and shackles.

Val chided herself for being stupidly sentimental, and then turned her wayward thoughts back to the task at hand.

“Thankfully we won’t be going after Danko directly,” she mused thoughtfully to end the silence that had stretched out between them. “It’s his building, more or less, but he shouldn’t actually be there, so security shouldn’t be all that tight. And, in the middle of the day, a corporate office space like this will have plenty of foot traffic. Lots of people coming and going all day long, meaning it should be easy to be lost amongst the crowd, because they won’t be looking for us right under their noses. Or, well, me.” She smirked, and then set her coffee on the table, but kept both hands wrapped around the warm cup.

“The contact that’s been doing digging and recruiting for Danko, the one I was supposed to deliver to, is a woman that I know as Miller. I assume she’s a secretary, the info from your partner should show us if she has her own office or not. If she does or not, catching her on her lunch break is our best bet. Any word yet on the kind of security I’ll be dealing with?”

Yeah, they were talking about this all over breakfast in the middle of a busy restaurant.

And it felt… normal.

Val grinned at her coffee. Oh, this had to be the funniest bit yet. Which should have been the first thing on her mind, but it wasn’t. Oh no, instead, she was sitting there imagining having her way with Cole mid-job, sitting on Danko’s desk.

Now, wouldn’t that be fun.

 

[Mr Quixotic]

Distanced from Valentina, Cole relaxed. In the brief glimpse of her naked, he’d noticed the bruises and scratch marks he’d left, mingled between the scars already present and it had ignited thoughts of having his way with her again. And that wouldn’t do. Feigning nonchalance, a smile curled up the corner of his lips when the woman crawled out of bed and glanced at him. She’d caught his deliberate phrasing, and when she responded, he shrugged, “I wasn’t sure how else to put it. That seemed the most appropriate.”

He peered through the blinds and tried to ignore the rustle of clothes behind him as she dressed. When Valentina was ready and packed, he turned and ran his gaze over the woman’s attire. Casual and modest; and not Val’s usual style, he wouldn’t give provide her the satisfaction of telling her she still looked a treat for the eyes.

As for Cole, not a fashion icon, he’d chosen a pair of Levi’s and a snug white T-shirt that formed to his muscled physique and tossed a jacket, unbuttoned, on over the top. If Valentina peeked into his bag, she’d discover a plethora of the same items; only the colours changed. Appraising the room one last time, he tossed $100 onto the mattress for damage reparation, then ushered her to the car.

An hour later, they were seated in plastic chairs at a Formica table in a nondescript diner with sunlight streaming through a dust-grimed window. Bacon, eggs, sausages, hash browns, tomato and toast in portions large enough to sustain an army lay in front of each, accompanied by coffee and orange juice. He refrained from asking what had gotten her so famished. On the drive, Cole had kept his eyes on the road and conversation to a minimum with no mention of their hotel shenanigans.

Disappointed when he pushed his empty plate to the side to see Valentina had finished the entirety of her meal and left none for Cole, he wiped runny egg yolks from his lips with a napkin, and collected the laptop at his feet. Guilt slid through him when he saw an email from Parker and he read it as Valentina spoke.

Twitching at the concept of a daylight robbery, “Are you sure the witching hours wouldn’t work better?” Cole looked up at her with his lips pursed before he nodded, “I suppose your way makes sense.” Disagree with her plan and he risked the woman telling Cole to go fuck himself. “I’ll bow to your superior criminal expertise.” Unable to resist a dig, he smiled and returned to Parker’s email.

“Here, have a look yourself, and keep that damn grin off your face. This isn’t a joke.” A minute later Cole pushed the laptop over, his mood dampened by the message Parker had included with the email and moved into the next to her. With the restaurant filled with early morning customers, from businessman to truckers, to street-whores who’d just finished their shirts, it was a hubbub of noise and no-one took any notice of the couple discussing burglary over their morning caffeine fix. All in a day's work for Cole Whittaker and Valentina Rossi.

“His offices are on the twenty-third floor. Danko Security and another firm share it and the bank of elevators that’ll take us to the lobby.” Cole pointed that out on the plans and then slid his finger East, to their destination. “During office hours, we don’t have to worry about infrared and motion sensors. We just have to find a way past his secretary, Miller you said her name was?” Cole arched a brow, making a note to look her up, and tapped the reception desk on the map, then continued on, pointing out the rooms behind it. “Danko’s office, kitchen conference room, toilets, and more offices. This is the server room.”

Whittaker rested his finger on it and met Valentina’s eyes, “We’ll download the information from there. Entry is secured by a six-digit passcode. Three failed attempts, and it sets off a silent alarm unless we re-wire the circuit at the utility box.” Which Cole also pointed out to her, hoping the alarm schematics included would allow Valentina to figure out how to trip it and gain access. “Or from Danko’s office. If I could I’d like to get in there. I’ll call and ask if he’s available tomorrow; gauge whether he’ll be in residence. That’s the deciding factor. We’re going in tomorrow, Valentina.” Cole pulled back, “We can scout today, but can’t delay any longer than that,” and drew her attention to the text of Parker’s email.

Heads up, Cole. Chiefs asked me to track your credit card expenditure and pin down your location. You’re fucking lucky he hasn’t put an ABP out on your vehicle, but he soon will. So drag your ass in here before he has you brought back in cuffs and do not contact me again. I’m probably next on their surveillance list.

Cole gave Val time to read it before he closed the laptop, “I’ll withdraw what cash I have from the bank and destroy the card, and once we’re done with Danko, we’ll find new transport.” He squeezed Valentina’s shoulder, trying to make light of the predicament, “I don’t imagine being on the run from the law will be as fun as the movies make it seem, but at least we can create more memories of nights spent in sleazy hotel rooms together before they toss us in separate cells.”