I woke up with a throat that could beat the Sahara dessert for the title of being the driest. My eyelids felt heavy and my body felt beaten black and blue. Everything hurt.

Surprisingly though, I felt comfortable. I was lying on a giant marshmallow of a bed, nestled between a million pillows. Where was I?

Tryingly, I pulled my eyelids apart which felt sticky and crackly. I looked at my surroundings and found myself in a luxurious place. A suite. Beige colors, white sheets, a couch and a mahogany table. Soft lights in the ceiling and carpeted floors. No windows.

I turned my head, the slight movement making me grimace, and licked my lips when I caught sight of a person in the corner of my eye. He was standing with his back to me, messing with something. From the sound of it, his guns. Nobody was allowed to look that good, even from the back. I could see his deltoids through the jacket of his suit, and in case you were wondering, yes, he lifted.

Licking my lips again, I hoarsely spoke, "Where am I?"

My voice was a mess, but it caught Vincenzo's ear and he turned around. The deep, brown eyes flashed with relief for a moment before they settled back to the constantly amused expression he always wore. "If I told you, I'd have to kill you."

"So a secure Italian safe-place? That figures. What continent am I on then?"

"Europe."

Omitting a nod, I groaned and tried to sit up. Fuck, my body felt beat.

"Are you sure you're up for that?" Vincenzo asked, a smile twitching on his lips when he saw my stubborn resolve to sit up. I actually managed to do so, even if my muscles protested.

"How long was I out?"

"Just a day. The doc said you would be out for at least three."

"My apologizes to the doc, but the only reason to stay in bed for that long is if you have a marvelous lover in between your legs."

"That could be arranged."

I fought the urge to roll my eyes when his devilish smirk grew. Instead I looked down at my chest which was clothed in a plain white top, just like I could feel my legs were pushed into a pair of loose, silk jammies. I didn't even want to think about who dressed me. "Why am I here?"

Vincenzo leaned back against the mahogany table and crossed his legs and arms. "When I found you, you were close to dying. Would you have preferred if I'd left you there?"

"Why would you even care? I'm an enemy to your government."

"True, but a life is a life, Rya, and even though we might not play on the same team, you're an agent like me. You were fighting for your nation, and I respect that. So we rescued you."

I pursed my lips and tried not to let his act of compassion hit me where it shouldn't. He was still a target on my government's radar, and if the chance was given, I had orders to capture him or kill him. Whichever one was available, but for now, I was still too weak to do so. And the human part of me also acknowledged that I now owed him one, despite the fact I didn't ask to be saved. I didn't like owing people.

Slowly swinging my legs over the edge of the plush bed, I winced as I supported my body into a seated position. Everything inside me screamed and begged me to lay back down, but I couldn't. I needed to get back to the States to give my report. "What were you doing there? In Russia."

"I could ask you the same thing, dolcezza. I wasn't expecting to run into you there."

I saw no point in hiding the truth. There was no secret in it. "A few days after you stole whatever it is you stole, the collateral damage followed. Someone hacked into our system from abroad. We actually thought it was you coming back for more." I said, wincing again as I tried rolling my shoulders. That hurt. "But it wasn't. The new hacker wasn't as... skilled as you guys, so they left a trace. Our guy was able to track it to Russia and connect it to the Russian Bratva. We didn't know what they wanted, but my supervisor thought it best to eliminate the threat." I growled, thinking back to when Monroe had dealt out the order. "It was suppose to be an easy, clean operation; Take out the Bratva's hideout, gun them down, arrest a few for interrogation. But it was a setup."

"How so?"

I blew out a breath. "The mob was expecting us. It turned out they only hacked into our system to draw out us to them. When my unit arrived to take them down, they were waiting with an ambush. They were too many. When we realized it was a setup, it was too late. We ended up being gunned down, except for a few like myself who were captured for interrogation. They tried extorting us for information. When nobody spoke, they killed us off, one by one. I think they only kept me alive as the last one because... because I am a woman."

I noticed Vincenzo's knuckles go white when he gripped onto the table. "What did they want to know?"

"Everything." I replied, closing my eyes tiredly for a moment. "About the governments plans, their security protocols, the computer you hacked, what you took. They were afraid it could harm their business, seen as your two nations have have an ongoing competition for the drug market," I remarked, noticing spite flash through his eyes. "They never said so out loud, but it was obvious."

"Well, it's good to know they're feeling threatened," He spoke up, puckering his lips. "They have the right to be, considering what we got."

"And what is that?"

He smirked silently at me. "Still can't tell you that, mia cara."

"Fine, then tell me what you were doing in that hold-up," I said, clenching my jaw. I was getting tired of his BS.

Sighing, he stood up and ran a hand through his black hair. It looked way to thick and sexy for my taste. And yet...

"We got word of how a bunch of American agents very suddenly set off to take out some of our enemies. We didn't know the reason, but we heard some of the agents from four weeks ago were involved," He said, tilting his head to the side while watching me. "I didn't think you would be a part of the team, though."

I pursed my lips. "So why'd you go?"

"We were just going to scope it out, check to see what you guys were up to – keep your enemies close and all that..." He shrugged. "But when we got there, shit hit the fan. We heard that the American unit got gunned down and some got taken hostage. Suddenly it became a matter of national safety. You know secrets about our country, and if it got into the hands of our enemies... well, more of our enemies, that could prove to have colossal repercussions. So we managed to track you down—"

"How?"

"Scusa?"

I stared up at him. "How did you manage to track us down? The place we went to gun them down wasn't the place I was kept hostage. They moved us after it went down, to some place off the grid. My department must have tried finding m—us, they must've tried tracking us down, but I was there for two weeks and you were the one who saved me, so obviously they couldn't. So my question is; How did you manage to find me?"

To my surprise, Vincenzo chuckled silently and looked down. "You think we can't track down a simple location on some of our biggest enemies when we can break into the United States' most secure computer?"

The man had a point, but I wasn't going to point that out. "So you tracked us down and then what?"

"And then I recognized your thong," He finished, leaning back against the table again.

"Right," I snorted sarcastically. "I'm impressed. A guy like you must see a lot of thongs in just one week. I'm surprised you remembered mine."

"Well, it came with a phenomenal ass."

I pressed my lips tightly together. Just shut up before you say something he's going to make dirty, too.

I did just that and then decided to get up, grabbing on to the wall for support. Vincenzo immediately moved forward, coming to assist me, but I held up a hand. "I don't need your help, thank you very much. I've been tortured before."

"I don't doubt it," He said, nevertheless slinking his arm around my waist. "You're a strong woman."

"I don't need you to tell me that. I already know."

His mouth twitched in what could've been a genuine smile, but it disappeared too quickly. "I'm going to enjoy getting you into my bed some day, mia cara. I know you'll be fierce and wild."

Aaaand there he was. I bit the inside of my cheeks to prevent from saying what I really wanted to say; you've never known wild before you've been with me. But obviously that would only boost his persistence, and I was done letting him try shit with me. Even if my body was yelling 'objection, your honor!'

"Remove your hands, Vincenzo," I said, hissing out his name like I had the first time. Who the hell named their child Vincenzo? It sounded like a style of pizza. "If you think you're ever getting me into your bed, you're delusional. We're enemies."

"We could easily become more than that," He smirked, leaning further down to me until I could feel his minty breath on my lips. "It wouldn't take me long to convince you. Would you like me to try?"

"Enemies with benefits? That's a new one," I breathed out, my eyes falling his mouth. His Cupid's bow was perfectly symmetrical and his bottom lip ridiculously round. So inviting. "I'm not falling for it. Let go."

Trying to push myself away from him, his grip tightened around my waist and he pulled me flush against him. The air left my lungs when he cupped the back of my head. "No one said anything about falling, mia cara. I just want to have you."

And like the last two times, which I now counted in my head, he crashed his lips against mine and it only took my body two seconds (funnily enough) to react. My core throbbed like the rest of my aching body and my stomach blossomed with need. His lips worked themselves deeper against mine and I responded, kissing him back. My hands grasped the collar of his jacket and my body arched against his. I felt like I was on fire.

Vincenzo growled from his throat and pried my lips open, tasting my probably horrible breath. I had just spent the last 24 hours in a sickbed, but he didn't seem to care. His fingers even gripped tighter onto the roots of my hair and tangled themselves in my blonde locks. That made me want to touch his, and so my own fingers found the nape of his neck and begun combing through his soft, thick hair. God, Head n' Shoulders should get an award for these nourished threads.

I moaned softly when his other hand gripped onto the fabric of my jammies by my hips, digging his fingers into my hipbone. That's when my senses shot through me like a lightening bolt; He had killed good men, men I worked with. He stole from our nation. He was a national enemy, and this was how it happened last time.

Ripping away from his mouth, I heaved in a loud breath and ignored the blazing look in his eyes as our eyes met. Dark arousal roamed through them.

I reached for the gun in his belt, but Vincenzo saw it coming. He grabbed my wrist and twisted my hand back with a strong grip before I managed to get a hold of it. "I expected you to try something, dolcezza. I would've been offended if you didn't."

"I have to kill you," I said through gritted teeth, trying to work through the pain in my wrist. One more inch and he would dislocate it or even break it. I hated this grip.

"There'll be plenty of time for that later," He said, his lips turning upwards in a lazy smirk. "For now, let's focus on what's important; you."

"We're not going to have sex," I said, narrowing my eyes hostilely at him. "Ever, so you can forget about it."

"Don't worry, mia cara, I have no intentions of sleeping with you today," He said, releasing my wrist. I retrieved it with a grimace. "Especially when..." He took a step back and suddenly lifted a see-through, white plastic bag where through the thin material, I could just make out the word Tampax. "A woman is closing in on her cycle."

My cheeks flamed up, not that I was embarrassed. It was just the fact that he assumed I was on my period and had gone to the lengths of buying tampons. "How the fuck would you know when my cycle is, you goddamn shitpiece?"

"When our physician checked you for injuries, he also checked you for... forced intercourse," He curtly said. I saw a muscle in his jaw tighten at the words. "He didn't find any signs of rape, but he concluded that you were about to start your menstrual cycle. So we took the liberty to get you these."

Ah, great. Now I felt like shit. They really had taken care of me, and here I was, trying to kill him.

Give it a rest, Rya.

Shutting my eyes for one moment, I then opened them again and yanked the plastic bag from him. "Don't think this changes anything. I'm still going to kill you, but I'm granting you quarter today for what you did. That doesn't mean I've grown soft, though," I growled when he slowly smirked. "I'm going to whip your ass if I ever see you on American soil again."

"In that case, I'll look forward to my next trip to the States," He smirked, brushing his thumb over my cheek. I jerked away from him. "Bathroom's through that door." He nodded at a door behind me.

Giving him a last stern glare, I turned on my heel and slowly limped my way to the bathroom. This wasn't over, we weren't over.

Next time I saw him, it would be the last time. Next time... I was going to kill him.

• • •

I got nothing today. I'm shit tired.