SVU Fic :Hunter & Prey, Chap. 3
Title: Hunter & Prey, Chapter 3 of ?. And, for those of you just joining us, Chapter One and Chapter Two.
Pairing: Alex/Olivia, slight Olivia/OC
Genre: SVU/Mr. & Mrs. Smith crossover
Rating: Mature, ie, the smutty chapter
Word Count: 3025
Summary: On forced leave, Olivia vacations in Paradise.
Chapter Three
**
“Don’t move.”
Olivia froze as Alex’s voice filled her ears. At the gun pressed to the back of her head.
“Alex?”
“I said, don’t move.” The barrel pressed harder, pushing Olivia’s head forward slightly. “Take it off.”
“What?”
“The dress, take it off.”
“Kinda hard with a gun pressed to my head, doncha think?”
Like that, the gun went away. Olivia reached back with her hands to work on the zipper.
“Wait,” she heard Alex call to her. “Turn around.”
Olivia did as instructed. The woman commanding her nothing more than a painted silhouette standing in the shadows, the only tangible piece of her visible, the barrel of the gun reflected with moonlight.
“What’s going on, Alex?”
“No questions. Now, strip.”
Olivia began peeling herself out of the dress. It wasn’t hard really. The dress was beautiful, black, silk with spaghetti straps that whispered off her shoulders. She’d gone commando to maintain the line. She had been expecting to meet Alex tonight, after all. Now, she stood in her hotel bedroom, the expensive silk dress dropped around her ankles, naked as the day she was born.
“Did you fuck him?” The gun bobbed slightly. “No one wears a dress like that if they aren’t planning to get laid.”
It was Alex, Olivia decided. But, her voice was different, hardened, bitter. It angered her, made her ache at the same time. “Did you fuck him?” She spat in return. “You are trying to kill him. Lover’s spat?”
“I asked you a question, Olivia. Did you fuck him?”
“And I’m tired of playing your games,” she raised her arms in mock surrender. “Why don’t you come over here and find out.”
She hadn’t seen Alex in three years. Now, she’d seen her twice in one day. Alex stepped out of the shadows, gun still raised. Dressed plainly, jeans, black turtleneck, hair pulled back in a ponytail. Her skin almost luminescent in the moonlight. Olivia couldn’t deny the skip in her heart at the sight of her, or the dull ache pulsing below her stomach. Even with a gun pointed at her, she wanted her. All those years of desires, wants, regrets washed away. Replaced with a casual arrogance.
Olivia smirked, “If I had known you were into the kinky stuff, I would have asked you out a long time ago.”
Alex said nothing, the slightest hint of a smile pulling at the corners of her lips. She switched the gun to her left hand, stepped towards Olivia until they were so close, Olivia could feel the heat from Alex’s body.
With her free hand, Alex trailed her fingers across Olivia’s collarbone. Down across Olivia’s chest, letting them linger, gliding over a breast. Examined the raspy texture of a nipple already erect with a slow circular glide around Olivia‘s areola. Then lower, felt the slight hitch in Olivia’s breath as she gently caressed her stomach. And lower still, her fingers crept. Until Olivia’s legs began to tremble as strong fingers parted heated flesh, dipping inside.
“Well?” Olivia swallowed hard. “What’s the verdict?”
“Hard to tell. Is he the one that made you so wet?”
“Do you really have to ask?”
“Yes.”
“Alex..”
“Get on the bed.”
There was no point in arguing, not that Olivia wanted to argue. Before her mouth could catch up, her body was already moving, crawling across the mattress and rolling onto her back.
Alex stood at the edge of the bed, gun hand still raised, still pointed at Olivia. Her hands were shaking. The last time she’d seen Olivia, had been alone with her, in a room, with a bed, she’d spent the night talking. Talking of all things. She’d swore to herself, if she’d ever have the opportunity, she’d do things much, much differently. Now, fantasy had become reality and Alex found she couldn’t move.
Couldn’t move because now that she had Olivia where she’d always wanted her, she didn’t know what to do. Her brain had clogged with indecision. A feast of flesh before her and she didn’t know where to begin, with lips, breasts, legs, the wet heat she’d been dying to taste the second she’d first laid eyes on the brunette.
“Fuck it,” Alex grumbled, tossing her gun onto a nearby chair. Hands reached for the hem of her shirt, yanking it over her head, while feet clumsily shook out of their shoes. Yanked her jeans and panties off in one fell swoop, tossing them to the side.
Olivia barely had time to gasp at the site before her when Alex began clambering over her body, straddling her legs. Pressing down on her to where Olivia could feel Alex’s heat against her stomach. Lips attacked Olivia’s, hungrily, hurriedly. Moaning as she tasted Olivia for the first time. A tongue jammed into her mouth. Teeth grating against hers. A hand groping a breast, while the other thread into Olivia’s hair.
Her own arms began taking a life of their own. Ran up Alex’s spine, pulling the woman closer. Until she felt Alex’s hands grasping around her wrists, pulling them over Olivia’s head until they were pinned to the mattress. Alex pulled from their kiss, rising slightly to stare down at Olivia.
“My game,” she stated sternly. “My rules.”
“Alex..” Olivia exhaled in a hushed whimper.
“Olivia, just,” she glared down at her, voice tinged with frustration. “Shut up.”
Then, she pounced onto Olivia’s mouth, returned to dominating her with lips, tongue and teeth. Suckled, bit, tormented Olivia’s lower lip before clamping her mouth onto the woman‘s. She wanted more hands, more lips, more skin. Wanted every bit of her, around, on, inside Olivia all at once. Began a journey across Olivia’s neck. Caressed the pulse point with her tongue, until she could feel Olivia squirming beneath her.
Olivia’s hands grasped the headboard, in a tight knuckle straining grip. All the things she wanted to say, to do, and still Olivia kept her mouth shut. Fear that one word, one sigh would stop Alex from doing that.
Alex raked her teeth down Olivia’s stomach. Growled low and throaty at the pained moan trembling under the taut muscles. At the rumbling vibrations against her mouth. Shouldered her way between the smooth, muscled thighs. Tormented the smooth skin with lips and teeth, fingers and scratching nails, until Olivia arched in desperation, hips trembling in need.
She moved closer, towards the wet, wanting heat between Olivia’s legs. Curled an arm around a leg, keeping the woman in place. Playfully teased the swollen lips with a finger. Opening them until her fingernail grazed across Olivia’s clit, eliciting another series of trembles. She let her eyes roam slowly back up Olivia’s body. Soaked in the sight of skin dotted with sweat, all lithe and lean, strained in anticipation.
“Did you fuck him?” Alex growled with a lascivious smile and predatory glint.
Olivia tilted up her head to make eye contact with the blonde, “Does it matter?”
Alex’s spread wider as she slowly slid her finger inside Olivia. Began a slow stroking motion that made Olivia practically purr. “Yes. So tell me,” she inserted a second finger, curled them just so until Olivia’s back arched to the point of bowing. “Did you fuck him?”
“Jesus Christ,” Olivia grunted. Where‘d she learn to do that? “No! no, I didn’t.”
Placated with the answer, Alex responded by leaning down, hungrily wrapping her lips around Olivia’s clit. Until she was nothing but lips, tongue and suction. Fingers hurriedly pumping in and out of Olivia, matching the frenzied rhythm of hips writhing onto her face and hand. Until Olivia’s voice was nothing but a series of pants and moans. She didn’t want to bring the woman to the edge so quickly, wanted to savor the time they had together. Just couldn’t quell the hunger inside her, the need to taste, touch and fuck. To make Olivia come because no one else could fuck her like Alex could.
Olivia could feel the wood from the headboard digging into her fingers as her death grip tightened. Her hips eagerly matched Alex’s rhythm. Her hips jutting forward in a hard, frenetic motion. Her eyes clamped shut even though she wanted nothing more than to watch the woman between her legs, doing those things, making her feel, making her want..
Making her come.
**
Olivia awoke to the sound of a phone ringing. Eyes snapping open, hand groggily flailing about searching for the phone in a room that wasn’t her own. Her body reacting as if she were still on the job, as if she weren’t on vacation.
“Mnnn, hello?”
“Were you asleep?” Elliot’s voice asked with a slightly aghast tone.
“Yea, what time is it?”
“Two o’clock in the afternoon.”
“What?” Olivia jerked up. Suddenly aware of her own nakedness and the images conjured of the night before. Her eyes scanned about the room. Any and all signs of Alex’s presence now gone. The blinds had been drawn tight, the barest hint of the afternoon sun peaking through the shades.
“That good, huh?” Elliot teased in her ear.
“Shut up,” she chuckled back. “You checkin’ up on me?”
“Yep, and judging by the police report sitting on my desk, you need checking up on. Now, before you get all pissed off, Munch found it.” Olivia had discovered that their partnership came with lots and lots of baggage. Elliot treated her more than as a partner, he treated her like family. And, like family, had a tendency to overstep boundaries in that way siblings do. Either he’d gotten better at it, or she’d accepted it. “Aren‘t you supposed to be on vacation?”
“Believe me, Elliot, I’m trying.” She rose to her feet, pulling the bed sheet with her, wrapping around her body. “Can you do me a favor?”
“Is this a ‘water your plant’ favor or a ‘don’t tell Cragen ‘cuz he’ll have both our asses in a sling’ favor?”
“It’s an ‘asking my partner of 10 years because I don’t trust anyone else and if you do this I won’t be pissed off at you for checking up on me’ favor,” she could hear the slight sigh of resignation on his lips, causing her own to smile in triumph. “I’m not in trouble, Elliot. I just need a background check on someone. Alexander Sharapov.”
“The guy who almost had his head ventilated?”
“Yeah, call it intellectual curiosity.”
“Like the one that killed the cat.”
“Elliot..”
“Okay, okay. Just, be careful.”
“I will.”
“Does this mean you’re gonna tell me why you were still sleeping at 2 o’clock in the afternoon?”
“Goodbye Elliot.”
She’d fallen into something. Something she’d just scratched the surface of. Not quite sure if she wanted to know what was underneath.
Olivia flopped back onto the mattress. Snaked an arm behind her head. Alex's scent still clung to the air, along with the faint musk of skin, sex, sweat. A scent that conjured images, sensations, tastes. Her mind knew Alex had left long ago. Her body, her senses, still felt the woman near. She closed to her eyes, allowed the sensations to take over. Replayed the night with fingers slowly drifting down her torso, to the still tingling flesh and warm heat building between her legs. Imagined pale skin, bright blue eyes, full lips and tongue, the sight of them disappearing between her thighs.
**
There were goats on the road.
Not a few, not a couple, not even a dozen. But, more than a hundred goats, of every color, size, breed, milled lazily in, around, and over the road. They surrounded her car. A sea of bleating, masticating, smelly goats.
Alex had spent months researching her target. Prepared, planned, calculated for every option, every contingency. Had spent the morning shoving her hair under a black wig. Applying latex onto her face that itched like crazy. Had used maps, GPS. Had hacked into a goddamn satellite, all to put her target in her sites. Only to be foiled -
By a herd of goats.
She blared the horn angrily. Rather than run, or even move, the herd turned their heads towards her and bleated in unison.
**
“This is unwise, Alexander,” he spoke in their native Hungarian tongue. Wore sunglasses inside the limo, even though the windows were tinted. He was a large man, compared to Alexander. All muscle and bulk, like a bull squeezed into a business suit, with a low, resonating voice.
“You worry too much, old friend.”
“I’m paid to worry too much. You die, it looks bad on my resume.”
Alexander chuckled at the rare show of humor from his friend.
“Can I ask you a question,” he barely turned his head towards the man sitting next to him. “What’s with you and this woman?”
“Why? Does she make you nervous?”
“All cops make me nervous,” he snorted. “Always sticking their noses where they don’t belong.”
“I offered her a job.”
“It’s a bad idea, mixing business with pleasure.”
“Who says this is pleasure?” He took a hard stare at his friend. “Okay, fine, she intrigues me. I‘m tired of evenings with vapid supermodels or conniving gold diggers. I want to sit across a table with a woman I can have an actual conversation with.”
“Christ, you sound like a woman.”
“She saved my life, Oscar.”
“Then thank her, bed her, get what ever this is out of your system. It can only lead to trouble.”
“Did I mention she’s Hungarian?”
“Well,” he crossed his arms. Sunglasses unable to hide the rolling of his eyes. “That changes everything.”
**
The air was comfortably warm with a slight breeze coming in from the Pacific. The streets were crowded with tourists from the cruise ships parked in the harbor. An organic chaos of noise, people, cars, music.
Olivia casually window shopped while walking down Main Street. She wore jeans, a tank top and sneakers. Mixed with all the tourists flowing like fish down the sidewalks.
She passed in front a perfume shop, the breeze from the air conditioning a welcome relief from the slight heat. The display window filled with designer perfumes in giant economy sized bottles that would probably take generations to consume.
Her eyes scanned about the shop, stopping in slight surprise at the tall dark man flirting with a cashier. She also noted the other men in the store. The ones wearing dark glasses, suits and curly wires hanging from their ears.
“Alexander?” Olivia walked into the shop.
“Olivia,” he walked towards her, flashing a dimpled smile.
“What are you doing here?”
“Perhaps you can help me. I’m searching for a gift for a,” he paused, “friend.”
“Ah, female I presume. Lucky girl.”
“Girls are for inexperienced boys who don‘t know what they want. She’s a woman. Very refined. Dignified. A bit too stubborn but willing to be coaxed. Except, I’m not sure of her tastes. I thought about jewelry.”
“Too forward.”
“Then chocolates.”
“Too clichéd.”
“Then, I thought about perfume.”
“Better, but could use some work.”
“What would you suggest?”
“Take it slow. Don’t try to impress her with your money because this woman’s probably seen it all. Dinner. Maybe some dancing. Show her you like to kick your heels up.”
“So, perfumes out of the question.”
“I didn’t say that. Give her something that will always remind her of you. Even when she’s with someone else.”
“Like perfume?”
“Like perfume.”
“And is there?”
“Is there what?”
“Someone else.”
Olivia’s cell rang before she had a chance to avoid answering the question. Before she had a chance to obfuscate the feelings she had towards the man standing before her.
“Excuse me,” she turned from him, from the slight heat flushing her cheeks. Choosing to walk towards a quite corner. “Benson.”
“How much do you love me?” Munch chirped happily in her ear.
“Just because I’m three thousand miles away doesn’t mean I can’t hurt you.”
“Oooh, you know I love it when you talk dirty. I have one file regarding one Alexander Sharapov before me.”
“You? Why’d..”
“Tall, dark, handsome Hungarians intrigue me. Here are the basics. Born in Debrecen, Hungary in 1961. Family moved to St. Petersburg in 1969. Join the Russian Army at age 18. Defected, along with four of his buddies two years later..”
“Munch,” she cut him off. “Cut to the chase.”
“That is the chase, Liv. He‘s a smart guy with an even smarter business sense and makes his money with his hands clean. If you don‘t wanna date him, I will.”
“I just..” she pressed a hand to her forehead. “Why would anyone want to kill him?”
“Are you asking moi for my opinion?”
“Yes, John. What do you think?”
“If you’d let me finish my story, I would have gotten to that part. The guy’s gone green, if you can believe it. He’s endorsed by Greenpeace to the Earth Liberation Front, environmentalist terrorists, if such an oxymoron can exist. One of his pet projects is a think tank in Hungary that specializes in alternative energy. Word on the street is these guys are on a break through, a huge one judging by how their stocks have gone up.”
“That’s it?”
“If you want me to say the guy eats babies and rapes nuns while bathing in virgin blood, I got nothing. But, I’ll keep checking.”
“Thanks, John.”
She tucked her phone in her pocket, feeling more confused than before. Gazed at Alexander through a rack of perfume, trying not to garner his attention before she figured SOMETHING out. If John couldn’t find a scrap of dirt on this guy, then he must be the real thing. Which brought her back to her current state of confusion and the never ending question of why Alex trying to kill him.
Hurriedly, she pulled the phone from her pocket redialing John’s number.
“I know I have an addictively pleasant phone voice but aren’t you supposed to be on vacation?”
“John,” she moved deeper into a corner. “I need a favor. And this one Elliot can’t know about.”
“Okay, I’m listening.”
“It’s about Alex. I need to find out what happened to her in Witness Protection.”
End Chapter Three
A/N: Hopefully, this time around it won't take me forty fucking forevers to post the next installment!
Pairing: Alex/Olivia, slight Olivia/OC
Genre: SVU/Mr. & Mrs. Smith crossover
Rating: Mature, ie, the smutty chapter
Word Count: 3025
Summary: On forced leave, Olivia vacations in Paradise.
Chapter Three
**
“Don’t move.”
Olivia froze as Alex’s voice filled her ears. At the gun pressed to the back of her head.
“Alex?”
“I said, don’t move.” The barrel pressed harder, pushing Olivia’s head forward slightly. “Take it off.”
“What?”
“The dress, take it off.”
“Kinda hard with a gun pressed to my head, doncha think?”
Like that, the gun went away. Olivia reached back with her hands to work on the zipper.
“Wait,” she heard Alex call to her. “Turn around.”
Olivia did as instructed. The woman commanding her nothing more than a painted silhouette standing in the shadows, the only tangible piece of her visible, the barrel of the gun reflected with moonlight.
“What’s going on, Alex?”
“No questions. Now, strip.”
Olivia began peeling herself out of the dress. It wasn’t hard really. The dress was beautiful, black, silk with spaghetti straps that whispered off her shoulders. She’d gone commando to maintain the line. She had been expecting to meet Alex tonight, after all. Now, she stood in her hotel bedroom, the expensive silk dress dropped around her ankles, naked as the day she was born.
“Did you fuck him?” The gun bobbed slightly. “No one wears a dress like that if they aren’t planning to get laid.”
It was Alex, Olivia decided. But, her voice was different, hardened, bitter. It angered her, made her ache at the same time. “Did you fuck him?” She spat in return. “You are trying to kill him. Lover’s spat?”
“I asked you a question, Olivia. Did you fuck him?”
“And I’m tired of playing your games,” she raised her arms in mock surrender. “Why don’t you come over here and find out.”
She hadn’t seen Alex in three years. Now, she’d seen her twice in one day. Alex stepped out of the shadows, gun still raised. Dressed plainly, jeans, black turtleneck, hair pulled back in a ponytail. Her skin almost luminescent in the moonlight. Olivia couldn’t deny the skip in her heart at the sight of her, or the dull ache pulsing below her stomach. Even with a gun pointed at her, she wanted her. All those years of desires, wants, regrets washed away. Replaced with a casual arrogance.
Olivia smirked, “If I had known you were into the kinky stuff, I would have asked you out a long time ago.”
Alex said nothing, the slightest hint of a smile pulling at the corners of her lips. She switched the gun to her left hand, stepped towards Olivia until they were so close, Olivia could feel the heat from Alex’s body.
With her free hand, Alex trailed her fingers across Olivia’s collarbone. Down across Olivia’s chest, letting them linger, gliding over a breast. Examined the raspy texture of a nipple already erect with a slow circular glide around Olivia‘s areola. Then lower, felt the slight hitch in Olivia’s breath as she gently caressed her stomach. And lower still, her fingers crept. Until Olivia’s legs began to tremble as strong fingers parted heated flesh, dipping inside.
“Well?” Olivia swallowed hard. “What’s the verdict?”
“Hard to tell. Is he the one that made you so wet?”
“Do you really have to ask?”
“Yes.”
“Alex..”
“Get on the bed.”
There was no point in arguing, not that Olivia wanted to argue. Before her mouth could catch up, her body was already moving, crawling across the mattress and rolling onto her back.
Alex stood at the edge of the bed, gun hand still raised, still pointed at Olivia. Her hands were shaking. The last time she’d seen Olivia, had been alone with her, in a room, with a bed, she’d spent the night talking. Talking of all things. She’d swore to herself, if she’d ever have the opportunity, she’d do things much, much differently. Now, fantasy had become reality and Alex found she couldn’t move.
Couldn’t move because now that she had Olivia where she’d always wanted her, she didn’t know what to do. Her brain had clogged with indecision. A feast of flesh before her and she didn’t know where to begin, with lips, breasts, legs, the wet heat she’d been dying to taste the second she’d first laid eyes on the brunette.
“Fuck it,” Alex grumbled, tossing her gun onto a nearby chair. Hands reached for the hem of her shirt, yanking it over her head, while feet clumsily shook out of their shoes. Yanked her jeans and panties off in one fell swoop, tossing them to the side.
Olivia barely had time to gasp at the site before her when Alex began clambering over her body, straddling her legs. Pressing down on her to where Olivia could feel Alex’s heat against her stomach. Lips attacked Olivia’s, hungrily, hurriedly. Moaning as she tasted Olivia for the first time. A tongue jammed into her mouth. Teeth grating against hers. A hand groping a breast, while the other thread into Olivia’s hair.
Her own arms began taking a life of their own. Ran up Alex’s spine, pulling the woman closer. Until she felt Alex’s hands grasping around her wrists, pulling them over Olivia’s head until they were pinned to the mattress. Alex pulled from their kiss, rising slightly to stare down at Olivia.
“My game,” she stated sternly. “My rules.”
“Alex..” Olivia exhaled in a hushed whimper.
“Olivia, just,” she glared down at her, voice tinged with frustration. “Shut up.”
Then, she pounced onto Olivia’s mouth, returned to dominating her with lips, tongue and teeth. Suckled, bit, tormented Olivia’s lower lip before clamping her mouth onto the woman‘s. She wanted more hands, more lips, more skin. Wanted every bit of her, around, on, inside Olivia all at once. Began a journey across Olivia’s neck. Caressed the pulse point with her tongue, until she could feel Olivia squirming beneath her.
Olivia’s hands grasped the headboard, in a tight knuckle straining grip. All the things she wanted to say, to do, and still Olivia kept her mouth shut. Fear that one word, one sigh would stop Alex from doing that.
Alex raked her teeth down Olivia’s stomach. Growled low and throaty at the pained moan trembling under the taut muscles. At the rumbling vibrations against her mouth. Shouldered her way between the smooth, muscled thighs. Tormented the smooth skin with lips and teeth, fingers and scratching nails, until Olivia arched in desperation, hips trembling in need.
She moved closer, towards the wet, wanting heat between Olivia’s legs. Curled an arm around a leg, keeping the woman in place. Playfully teased the swollen lips with a finger. Opening them until her fingernail grazed across Olivia’s clit, eliciting another series of trembles. She let her eyes roam slowly back up Olivia’s body. Soaked in the sight of skin dotted with sweat, all lithe and lean, strained in anticipation.
“Did you fuck him?” Alex growled with a lascivious smile and predatory glint.
Olivia tilted up her head to make eye contact with the blonde, “Does it matter?”
Alex’s spread wider as she slowly slid her finger inside Olivia. Began a slow stroking motion that made Olivia practically purr. “Yes. So tell me,” she inserted a second finger, curled them just so until Olivia’s back arched to the point of bowing. “Did you fuck him?”
“Jesus Christ,” Olivia grunted. Where‘d she learn to do that? “No! no, I didn’t.”
Placated with the answer, Alex responded by leaning down, hungrily wrapping her lips around Olivia’s clit. Until she was nothing but lips, tongue and suction. Fingers hurriedly pumping in and out of Olivia, matching the frenzied rhythm of hips writhing onto her face and hand. Until Olivia’s voice was nothing but a series of pants and moans. She didn’t want to bring the woman to the edge so quickly, wanted to savor the time they had together. Just couldn’t quell the hunger inside her, the need to taste, touch and fuck. To make Olivia come because no one else could fuck her like Alex could.
Olivia could feel the wood from the headboard digging into her fingers as her death grip tightened. Her hips eagerly matched Alex’s rhythm. Her hips jutting forward in a hard, frenetic motion. Her eyes clamped shut even though she wanted nothing more than to watch the woman between her legs, doing those things, making her feel, making her want..
Making her come.
**
Olivia awoke to the sound of a phone ringing. Eyes snapping open, hand groggily flailing about searching for the phone in a room that wasn’t her own. Her body reacting as if she were still on the job, as if she weren’t on vacation.
“Mnnn, hello?”
“Were you asleep?” Elliot’s voice asked with a slightly aghast tone.
“Yea, what time is it?”
“Two o’clock in the afternoon.”
“What?” Olivia jerked up. Suddenly aware of her own nakedness and the images conjured of the night before. Her eyes scanned about the room. Any and all signs of Alex’s presence now gone. The blinds had been drawn tight, the barest hint of the afternoon sun peaking through the shades.
“That good, huh?” Elliot teased in her ear.
“Shut up,” she chuckled back. “You checkin’ up on me?”
“Yep, and judging by the police report sitting on my desk, you need checking up on. Now, before you get all pissed off, Munch found it.” Olivia had discovered that their partnership came with lots and lots of baggage. Elliot treated her more than as a partner, he treated her like family. And, like family, had a tendency to overstep boundaries in that way siblings do. Either he’d gotten better at it, or she’d accepted it. “Aren‘t you supposed to be on vacation?”
“Believe me, Elliot, I’m trying.” She rose to her feet, pulling the bed sheet with her, wrapping around her body. “Can you do me a favor?”
“Is this a ‘water your plant’ favor or a ‘don’t tell Cragen ‘cuz he’ll have both our asses in a sling’ favor?”
“It’s an ‘asking my partner of 10 years because I don’t trust anyone else and if you do this I won’t be pissed off at you for checking up on me’ favor,” she could hear the slight sigh of resignation on his lips, causing her own to smile in triumph. “I’m not in trouble, Elliot. I just need a background check on someone. Alexander Sharapov.”
“The guy who almost had his head ventilated?”
“Yeah, call it intellectual curiosity.”
“Like the one that killed the cat.”
“Elliot..”
“Okay, okay. Just, be careful.”
“I will.”
“Does this mean you’re gonna tell me why you were still sleeping at 2 o’clock in the afternoon?”
“Goodbye Elliot.”
She’d fallen into something. Something she’d just scratched the surface of. Not quite sure if she wanted to know what was underneath.
Olivia flopped back onto the mattress. Snaked an arm behind her head. Alex's scent still clung to the air, along with the faint musk of skin, sex, sweat. A scent that conjured images, sensations, tastes. Her mind knew Alex had left long ago. Her body, her senses, still felt the woman near. She closed to her eyes, allowed the sensations to take over. Replayed the night with fingers slowly drifting down her torso, to the still tingling flesh and warm heat building between her legs. Imagined pale skin, bright blue eyes, full lips and tongue, the sight of them disappearing between her thighs.
**
There were goats on the road.
Not a few, not a couple, not even a dozen. But, more than a hundred goats, of every color, size, breed, milled lazily in, around, and over the road. They surrounded her car. A sea of bleating, masticating, smelly goats.
Alex had spent months researching her target. Prepared, planned, calculated for every option, every contingency. Had spent the morning shoving her hair under a black wig. Applying latex onto her face that itched like crazy. Had used maps, GPS. Had hacked into a goddamn satellite, all to put her target in her sites. Only to be foiled -
By a herd of goats.
She blared the horn angrily. Rather than run, or even move, the herd turned their heads towards her and bleated in unison.
**
“This is unwise, Alexander,” he spoke in their native Hungarian tongue. Wore sunglasses inside the limo, even though the windows were tinted. He was a large man, compared to Alexander. All muscle and bulk, like a bull squeezed into a business suit, with a low, resonating voice.
“You worry too much, old friend.”
“I’m paid to worry too much. You die, it looks bad on my resume.”
Alexander chuckled at the rare show of humor from his friend.
“Can I ask you a question,” he barely turned his head towards the man sitting next to him. “What’s with you and this woman?”
“Why? Does she make you nervous?”
“All cops make me nervous,” he snorted. “Always sticking their noses where they don’t belong.”
“I offered her a job.”
“It’s a bad idea, mixing business with pleasure.”
“Who says this is pleasure?” He took a hard stare at his friend. “Okay, fine, she intrigues me. I‘m tired of evenings with vapid supermodels or conniving gold diggers. I want to sit across a table with a woman I can have an actual conversation with.”
“Christ, you sound like a woman.”
“She saved my life, Oscar.”
“Then thank her, bed her, get what ever this is out of your system. It can only lead to trouble.”
“Did I mention she’s Hungarian?”
“Well,” he crossed his arms. Sunglasses unable to hide the rolling of his eyes. “That changes everything.”
**
The air was comfortably warm with a slight breeze coming in from the Pacific. The streets were crowded with tourists from the cruise ships parked in the harbor. An organic chaos of noise, people, cars, music.
Olivia casually window shopped while walking down Main Street. She wore jeans, a tank top and sneakers. Mixed with all the tourists flowing like fish down the sidewalks.
She passed in front a perfume shop, the breeze from the air conditioning a welcome relief from the slight heat. The display window filled with designer perfumes in giant economy sized bottles that would probably take generations to consume.
Her eyes scanned about the shop, stopping in slight surprise at the tall dark man flirting with a cashier. She also noted the other men in the store. The ones wearing dark glasses, suits and curly wires hanging from their ears.
“Alexander?” Olivia walked into the shop.
“Olivia,” he walked towards her, flashing a dimpled smile.
“What are you doing here?”
“Perhaps you can help me. I’m searching for a gift for a,” he paused, “friend.”
“Ah, female I presume. Lucky girl.”
“Girls are for inexperienced boys who don‘t know what they want. She’s a woman. Very refined. Dignified. A bit too stubborn but willing to be coaxed. Except, I’m not sure of her tastes. I thought about jewelry.”
“Too forward.”
“Then chocolates.”
“Too clichéd.”
“Then, I thought about perfume.”
“Better, but could use some work.”
“What would you suggest?”
“Take it slow. Don’t try to impress her with your money because this woman’s probably seen it all. Dinner. Maybe some dancing. Show her you like to kick your heels up.”
“So, perfumes out of the question.”
“I didn’t say that. Give her something that will always remind her of you. Even when she’s with someone else.”
“Like perfume?”
“Like perfume.”
“And is there?”
“Is there what?”
“Someone else.”
Olivia’s cell rang before she had a chance to avoid answering the question. Before she had a chance to obfuscate the feelings she had towards the man standing before her.
“Excuse me,” she turned from him, from the slight heat flushing her cheeks. Choosing to walk towards a quite corner. “Benson.”
“How much do you love me?” Munch chirped happily in her ear.
“Just because I’m three thousand miles away doesn’t mean I can’t hurt you.”
“Oooh, you know I love it when you talk dirty. I have one file regarding one Alexander Sharapov before me.”
“You? Why’d..”
“Tall, dark, handsome Hungarians intrigue me. Here are the basics. Born in Debrecen, Hungary in 1961. Family moved to St. Petersburg in 1969. Join the Russian Army at age 18. Defected, along with four of his buddies two years later..”
“Munch,” she cut him off. “Cut to the chase.”
“That is the chase, Liv. He‘s a smart guy with an even smarter business sense and makes his money with his hands clean. If you don‘t wanna date him, I will.”
“I just..” she pressed a hand to her forehead. “Why would anyone want to kill him?”
“Are you asking moi for my opinion?”
“Yes, John. What do you think?”
“If you’d let me finish my story, I would have gotten to that part. The guy’s gone green, if you can believe it. He’s endorsed by Greenpeace to the Earth Liberation Front, environmentalist terrorists, if such an oxymoron can exist. One of his pet projects is a think tank in Hungary that specializes in alternative energy. Word on the street is these guys are on a break through, a huge one judging by how their stocks have gone up.”
“That’s it?”
“If you want me to say the guy eats babies and rapes nuns while bathing in virgin blood, I got nothing. But, I’ll keep checking.”
“Thanks, John.”
She tucked her phone in her pocket, feeling more confused than before. Gazed at Alexander through a rack of perfume, trying not to garner his attention before she figured SOMETHING out. If John couldn’t find a scrap of dirt on this guy, then he must be the real thing. Which brought her back to her current state of confusion and the never ending question of why Alex trying to kill him.
Hurriedly, she pulled the phone from her pocket redialing John’s number.
“I know I have an addictively pleasant phone voice but aren’t you supposed to be on vacation?”
“John,” she moved deeper into a corner. “I need a favor. And this one Elliot can’t know about.”
“Okay, I’m listening.”
“It’s about Alex. I need to find out what happened to her in Witness Protection.”
End Chapter Three
A/N: Hopefully, this time around it won't take me forty fucking forevers to post the next installment!