“Don’t even bother,” Henry hissed at her ear, his body too close for her sanity.

She looked ahead and tried to make her smile remain on her face. John Stewart was walking at their direction. It was way past dinner and almost everyone was already leaving.

“We’re leaving now,” Henry said with warning in his voice. She couldn’t focus. She felt his warm breath against her ear and it was kind of intoxicating.

“Okay, okay,” she answered breathlessly. “Jealous…” she said with a tune under her breath that he could only hear.

“Not,” he snapped, and pulled at her waist. He motioned their bodies so that their back was at John Stewart. “Let’s go,” he ordered and she obliged.

“Jealous…” she sang once again.

“Stop that,” he muttered under his breath. He literally dragged her towards his car.

Whatever happened to John Stewart, she didn’t know. She soon found herself being pushed inside Henry’s car and then they drove off into the night.

“Jealous…” she sang louder this time.

“Ridiculous…” he answered differently.

“Definitely true…” she kept up with her tune.

“Impossible…” he retorted.

“So true…” she sang louder, giggling now.

“You’re crazy,” Henry was shaking his head.

“Crazy, crazy for being so lonely….” She sang out.

“Definitely crazy…” he uttered, nodding his head. A smile was already creeping up his face.

“Crazy little thing called love…” she continued on and she couldn’t hold out her laughter any longer. “God, I love that song,” she uttered.

“Pathetic,” he murmured.

The little joy she was feeling suddenly evaporated and she glared at him. “You’re such a spoiler, you know that?” she held up her palm when he opened his mouth. “Don’t bother,” she cut in and turned away.

  *****

Henry saw the hurt on her face and he immediately regretted his word.

They drove in silence and the only sound he could hear was the silent hum of the car.

And the moment he pulled into the parking area, she opened the door and jumped out, storming her way towards the building doors and then to the elevators.

“Don’t talk to me,” she said silently, her voice serious.

What the—she was actually seriously angry.

“Every freaking time…” he muttered bitterly as they entered the elevator.

“What did you say?” she snapped, her blue eyes burning fire.

“I say the wrong words and you get angry? I didn’t even mean it!” he almost shouted.

“Oh, you don’t mean it every time you throw snide comments my way? You don’t mean it every time you make me feel like I’m a stupid girl who knows nothing but to chase around men? You don’t mean it when you said I can’t go near John Stewart?”

As she stood there shouting those words at him, he was actually not hearing her. He was too busy getting lost in her eyes and her mouth and her beautiful face.

“Do you know he actually calls me Angel? Can you imagine that? I don’t really like hearing it but at least he shows me he likes me.”

He knew she was talking nonsense now because…well, she did that every time she started talking.

“So tell me, Henry, did you not mean it as well when you said you’re not jealous? Did you not mean it as well, when you said I can’t go near him? Did you not mean it as well when you said you’re not ever going to get to like me? Because what you said right there was really confusing so you better put coverage on those two words—”

He did not let her finish her stupid speech. Without thinking, he took one swift motion forward and captured her mouth in his, his hand at her nape, the other at her lower back. She was frozen for a moment and he was just about to back off when her hands slid up his chest and locked themselves around his neck. And she was answering his kiss.

The ‘no touching Angelica Dalton’ rule became a distant warning hum. He forgot about it. No, he chose to ignore it just for a few seconds. Nothing far from kissing could happen inside an elevator anyway.

He could feel their labored breathing, the heaving of her chest against his, her soft mouth that tasted wine as it danced with his own, and the smell of his shampoo in her hair. He wanted more and he knew that. Before he could stop himself, his hand pressed her head closer for one last shattering kiss.

And he stepped away with a groan.

He heard her gasp and then he saw her startled look. Hell she looked so damned beautiful with her smudged lipstick.

“I meant what I said when I said you can’t go near John Stewart,” were the only words that came to his mind.

The elevator doors opened and he got out.

“Jealous…” he heard her sing under her breath.

He turned his head towards her.

She raised her brows innocently and asked, “What?”

Henry shook his head. His lips twitched just a tiny inch as he worked with his keys.

  *****

She hummed a tune while Henry was working on the lock which was taking a bit longer than usual.

Angelica was, of course, quite taken aback by that unexpected kiss in the elevator. She must admit that she had never before experienced such intense response from any guy she had chased around. She had been after almost any kind of men. Some of them had given in to her charms willingly and the others, like Philip, had made it difficult for her. She had placed Henry in Philip’s category, thus the shock in his response. She had never really thought he would give in like that.

“Will you stop that?” he asked rather a little gently and he cursed down at his keys.

“What’s wrong with your key?” she asked playfully.

“Nothing,” he snapped and then the door flew open.

He stepped inside the dark apartment and waited until she entered.

She was kind of expecting what happened next because for one, she was hoping it would happen. He grabbed her by the arm in one swift motion that she landed against his oh-so-lean torso and her lips were once again captured by his hungry mouth.

“This is so wrong,” he rasped out between kisses, but his hand had already slammed the door close and she found herself trapped between its hard surface and him.

“No, no, this is not wrong,” she gasped, pulling at his tie.

“Yes it is,” he contradicted his statement by trailing his lips down her throat.

“No, it’s not,” she said stubbornly, letting go of his loosened tie. Her hands worked on his jacket next.

“Shut up, Dalton,” he said before claiming her mouth once again. “You’re not making this any easier,” he said breathlessly moments later as he leaned his forehead against hers.

“It doesn’t have to be difficult,” she pointed out, panting. Why the hell was he stopping now? The fire was already burning too high to be put out and he was wasting time.

Through the darkness, he looked at her straight in the eyes. The look she saw behind those eyelids was different, intense, and hungry.

“I can’t give you what you want,” he said with honesty.

“I’m not asking for anything else larger than this,” she answered half-truthfully.

“You can’t go chasing me around for more,” he said.

“Not going to happen,” she nodded, too eager to continue their previous activity. There would be more time for the ‘something more’ part.

“Good.” He then devoured her mouth once again and blindly led her to his room.

Their clothing traced their path as they tore them off each other. Mess as what he would call it hours later, but she just didn’t care.

That moment, neither of them did.

  *****

“No regrets,” she said aloud the following morning when they woke up.

“No chasing for more,” he retorted.

Her head was cradled at the crook of his arm, he staring straight up at the ceiling while she was absently looking out the window of his room. She was making tiny circles on his chest and his other hand was caressing her hips underneath the covers.

His hand froze when she did not answer. “Angelica, I’m serious. No chasing me around for more.”

“Yes, yes, I heard you. I won’t chase you around for something more than sex,” she said it with etch of bitterness.

“That’s not exactly what I’d call it…” he sighed.

“It’s exactly how it is,” she snapped. “But don’t worry. I’m perfectly fine with it. You’re an agent and you obviously have a lot going on and when all of this is over, you’ll probably be gone to another nerve-racking mission.”

He did not answer and she thought what she said was true. He’d be gone.

She’d be fine with it when the time came. She just had to get what she could for now.

The hand that had been roaming around her naked body came under her chin and tipped her head up. With a smile, she raked her fingers over his messed-up hair and leaned to meet his kiss.

And then she froze.

“What?” he asked, his face confused.

“Oh my God, I totally forgot to tell you something!” she shot upright on his bed.

“What? What is it?”

“Pamela!”

“Who?”

“Pamela! I think she’s in trouble!”

“What made you think that?”

“She told me last night. She said she knows who killed Kevin and my dad!”

“What?!” He sat up beside her. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

“You…you picked a fight with me and I forgot, okay?” she answered, brushing her red hair away from her face.

“I picked a—” he stopped and took a breath. “Forget it. I don’t want another argument. What else did she tell you?”

“Nothing much. Garrett came in and—” she looked at him. “Henry, I think Garrett’s the one who killed Kevin. Believe me, Pamela sure is afraid of him and the man gives me the creeps.”

He fell silent, his brows meeting halfway. “Okay, get dressed.”

“Where are we going?”

“We’re going to give the Baldwins a visit,” he replied.

  *****

Angelica called Pamela’s number inside the car.

“Hello, Pamela Baldwin,” the lady answered from the other end.

“Hey, Pam, it’s me, Angelica.”

“Angelica! What’s the matter? Is there a problem?”

“Uh, no, not really,” Angelica answered. “Henry and I are driving around town and we thought of visiting you. Is that okay?”

“Oh, dear, I’m afraid I’m busy.”

“It’s Sunday,” Angelica said, shooting a glance at Henry.

“Oh, I’m at the firm doing some work.”

“But are you fine? I mean, you didn’t look so good last night.”

“Yes, I’m fine, dear. Forget what I said last night, okay? I was just having one of those moments. Probably the late stage of menopause,” Pamela answered cheerily.

“Where Garrett? Is he with you?”

“No, I’m afraid not. He’s going to be out of town for a few days.”

It gave Angelica a little relief to know that. “You sure you’re okay?”

“Yes, of course. I’m sorry it’s not such a good time for us to meet. Why don’t you let me make it up to you? I’ll call you days from now so we can have a nice time together. You can bring Henry, of course.”

“That will be lovely,” she answered.

“I really have to go now, dear. I’ll call you when I can, okay?”

“Yes, of course. Bye,” she said and clicked off her phone with a frown.

“She’s busy?” Henry asked.

“Yes,” she nodded with disappointment. “It’s weird though. She sounded really distressed last night and now, Garrett’s out of town and she sounded so cheerful.”

“I don’t know, but I don’t think its Garrett. I still have my bet on Stewart.”

“You just don’t like the guy, admit it,” she taunted.

“That too,” he nodded.

  *****

They ended up having coffee at Starbucks.

Yeah, the most amazing place for a date that she could get. Not that she was asking for it though.

“Did she tell you anything about what she said last night?”

“What about?”

“When she told you she knows who killed Kevin and Patrick.”

For the first time ever, she felt a tinge of hurt upon her father’s name mentioned being murdered. Huh, kind of too late for that.

“No, she didn’t.”

“We should ask her.”

“I think I should ask her. She might not talk to you,” she pointed out.

“And why is that?”

“Because you’re a man and a woman usually choose to find comfort from another one of her kind in matters like this,” she stated.

“She could be playing us for all we know,” he uttered, leaning against his chair.

“Probably, but I highly doubt that. I know one distressed woman when I see one.”

“You do?”

“Yes, I’ve seen my mother look that way before—” she stopped and said, “never mind. What I’m saying is that maybe, Pamela wants to talk to me alone. Remember, last night she dragged me far away from you guys to tell me she’s afraid.”

“You have a point, but you can’t go talk to her without me.”

“We can work something out,” she retorted with a sigh.

  *****

Henry was in a lighter mood and he was beginning to wonder why. But before he could go on any further as to thinking it was because of his newfound intimacy with his ward, his phone rang.

“Bell,” he answered.

“Smooth,” Angelica commented beside him. He threw her a look and she shut her mouth.

“I have work for you,” Grissom’s monotonic voice said against his ear.

“I thought I’m not supposed to get assignments while I’m still on this one,” he said with a frown.

He looked at Angelica and he knew she was listening despite her head turned to the other side of the car. He could see her ear burning red when he mentioned the word assignments.

“This one’s an exception,” Grissom uttered. “And it’s not that big. It’s about—is the line secure?”

“Yes,” Henry said impatiently. He didn’t like driving while using the phone.

“As I’ve said, this concerns about the CIA.”

“What about them?”

“Seems like they have a mouse among their little group of shit,” Grissom’s voice answered bitterly.

Ever since, NSA and CIA were not in such good terms. “And they want us to clean up their mess,” he concluded.

“They want to catch an agent red-handed giving some top secret information to some Russian operatives.”

“Sir, that thing will take a lot of time. I don’t think I can manage—”

“Let me finish, Bell,” Grissom cut it. “As I’ve said, the CIA wants this agent caught on the act. They don’t trust their own kind as of the moment. Now, this case had already been investigated but they want us to be the ones to catch—”

“The Russians,” Henry finished.

“Exactly. And I’m giving you this assignment because the exchange will happen next week on a Friday. You are closest to the location of the exchange that’s why we chose you. I’ll send you the rest of the details later. Survey the area, get cover—”

“I know the works, sir,” Henry interjected.

“Then make sure to do it clean,” Grissom uttered then clicked off.

“What’s that about?”

“New assignment,” he retorted with a frown.

“What assignment?”

“Nothing for you to bother about,”

“Can I go?” she batted her eyes at him.

“No, and don’t even think about it,” he said sternly.

“I want to see you in real action! Does it include guns and all?”

“Probably, but no, you are not coming.”

“Whatever you say,” she sighed.

“I’m serious, Angelica, you can’t.”

“Fine, fine,” she said under her breath.

But Henry highly doubted her word.

  *****

Angelica was getting bored. It had been a week and Pamela hadn’t called her yet. She was getting anxious and scared for the lady. She thought of going to the firm and do some work like what a big shareholder should, but Henry said it would be too soon.

“We don’t want the partners to think that we’re too giddy,” he had said. “We have to take it slow. We’ll wait until they invite us in their own accord.”

“But I’m like the boss now, right?”

“But they’re the pro. And the organization trusts them. We have to play their game.”

“It’s not like we’re going into the organization. We’re trying to catch a killer here, right?”

“I understand your need to attack directly, but we need to take it slow. We’ll wait for the killer to make the wrong move. Right now, he’s still calm. Eventually, he’ll get anxious and sloppy, and then--just then--we’ll make our move. Right now, we just have to keep you safe.”

“You can use me as bait,” she had suggested.

His head had snapped towards her direction then and his eyes fired up and he said, “That’s not going to happen. And erase that thought,” he added, lifting one finger when she opened her mouth.

Right now, she was waiting outside for him, looking down at the ground, the hospital guard just meters away. It was one of Henry’s strict orders that she had to stay within close distance to the guy whenever she was outside to avoid another kidnapping incident.

Her head snapped up when she heard a zooming sound coming near. She was just about to take a step back and run when she recognized Henry’s car. In a matter of seconds, the car screeched to a stop just in front of her and Henry’s head leaned down to peek through the window of the passenger side which was already down.

“Get in! Quick!” he barked.

Angelica stayed rooted to the spot, startled.

“Angelica! Get in!” he was obviously running with adrenaline.

“Okay! Okay! Don’t scream! What’s wrong with you?” she blabbered on as she strutted her way towards the car and climbed in. “If it’s because I got off your bed too early this morning, I’m sorry, okay? I was getting late for work—”

“Shut up,” he said, hurriedly swerving the car back on the road. “And what made you think it’s about this morning?”

She did not answer.

“Angelica, I asked you a question.”

Can I speak now? She mouthed with a perfect look of sarcasm in her voice.

“What? Yes, yes,”

“I just thought you’re getting all angry right now because I left too early and—”

“I’m not angry! What made you think I’m angry?”

“The freaking volume of your voice that’s breaking my eardrums?”

“What? I’m not angry, okay? I’m in a hurry,” he explained.

Angelica stopped for a second, opened her mouth, closed it again, and said, “I can see that now. And why are you in such a hurry?”

“It’s confidential,” he said, making a sharp right turn.

“You’re taking me with you?”

“No, of course not. I’m taking you home first.”

“But—”

“Shit,” he said, looking at his phone.

“What now?”

“He moved,” he said.

“Who moved?”

“My target.”

“Who’s the target? What’s happening here?” she said in panic.

“Just—be quiet for a second—shit!” he literally threw his phone at her direction and added, “tell me where the dot goes.”

“What?”

“The red dot! Tell me where it’s going!”

Angelica looked down and saw some kind of GPS but only it was kind of more specific. “Who’s the green dot?”

“It’s us, could you just tell me where the red dot is going?”

“It stopped.”

“It stopped? Where?”

“Uh,” she peered with her eyes to read the name of the street. “88 East Broadway.”

“Good. Tell me when it moves again.”

“Okay,” she answered. What the hell is going on?

Henry halted the car in front of East Broadway Mall a minute later and said, “Climb out. Stay inside the mall and I’ll pick you up. Angelica, don’t get out of the mall. Understand?”

“Can’t I come?” she asked. “You might need my help and—”

“No arguments please. I want you to safe and you’ll be safe in the mall.”

“Okay, okay,” she almost shouted. “You better pick me up alive!” she cried as she hurriedly climbed out the car. There was no answer because the moment the door was shut, he zoomed away.

She stormed her way inside the mall, muttering to herself. “I’m going to kill him. He better give me answers and he better—”

Her words were cut off by the sudden jerking of her arm. But before she could shout help, Henry’s voice said above her, “You brought my freaking phone with you.”

She looked down at her hand and gaped. “Oh my God, I totally forgot. Here!” she gave it to him.

He snatched it from her hand, looked at the screen, and cursed. “Forget it.”

“What? What happened?”

“I lost him. He already moved. The tracker only has a one-mile radius.”

“I thought you should have some kind of high-tech gadgets or something. One-mile radius coverage is no high-tech.”

“Look, I don’t want to explain anything. Let’s go home.”

  *****

Henry was lying when he said that. He exactly knew where his target was going. The problem was the place. It was in a private neighborhood and he was sure he’d be entering a death trap if he would go now. He was up against some Russian operatives and a stinking mole agent from the CIA. Best jobs were done during night time.

He was leading Angelica by the elbow through some mall-goers which mostly consisted of teens when they heard her name being called out.

“Ange! Hey! Oh my God, thank God I found you!” Chanty was literally standing in front of them. He didn’t think turning away and hiding his face would be great that moment, so he just froze. And he almost cursed when Chanty looked up from her friend and stared directly at him.

Her mouth fell open as she took in the sight before her, her eyes travelling swiftly between him and Angelica who, for some miraculous reasons, was speechless for the first time. When Chanty’s eyes went back to his face, she gasped, “Henry? Henry Bell?”

“Hi, Chanty,” he tried to smile. “Nice to see you. How’s Philip?”

“Are you two…?” she did not finish her question as she looked at Angelica.

“Yes, yes, we are,” Angelica recovered and answered with a tone like it was no big news. “So, uh, Henry, aren’t we in a hurry?”

“Yes, we are,” he answered.

“And we should go, right? Chanty, I’m sorry, now is not a really good time. I have to go back to the hospital and Henry’s going to be late for work,”

“But I just have one question,” Chanty said hurriedly.

“What?”

“Have you heard from Cass? I haven’t seen her since we visited Philip in the hospital and since I invited her over last week.”

“No, I didn’t. Oh, yes, I received a call from her but I was too busy assisting in an operation.”

“Really? I’m getting some vibes she might have a problem or something.”

“Well, try calling her. We really need to go.”

Henry looked on as Angelica gave her friend a chaste peck and dragged him towards the direction of the entrance.

“But, Ange! You better call me!” Chanty shouted behind them.

“Yes, yes, I will!”

  *****

Actually, Henry might have just a tiny bit of an idea why Cassandra was having a problem. Philip—his stupid friend—was finally able to demand from him that he serve him the divorce papers immediately which he did a week ago just a few days after his hospitalization.

But that was not something to think about right now. Because right now, he had to take his ward home where she’d be safe and be ready for tonight’s mission.

“So we’re going home?” Angelica asked, her eyes looking at him wickedly when they reached his car.

He groaned and opened his car. “I’ll be busy tonight.”

“Why?”

“I’ll be going out.”

“Where?”

“Classified information,” he retorted.

  *****

Angelica was getting pissed for getting answers like, “It’s confidential” or “It’s classified.” And she was getting pissed that he was leaving her alone tonight to go somewhere where he might get killed.

Ah, yes, the man was an agent and he was probably good at it, but she didn’t care. Her life was in danger as well and it would not be good if he got hurt or worse, killed. Henry shouldn’t be doing other missions while he was undercover.

She should have a talk with his superior. Or better yet, she should follow her guardian tonight and make sure he got back-up.

You think it was kind of stupid, right? Well, Angelica was different. She thought it was the perfect plan.