Emma slept harder than she had in weeks. Every since she'd found out about the virus. Her mind took a moment to register her surroundings as she blinked sleepy eyes and felt the warm solid body beneath her own. A slow flush crept up her cheeks as realization hit. She was naked and sprawled out over Liam's solid form.
Taking a deep breath she slowly shifted, biting back a moan of pleasure as his skin rubbed against her own. Memories of their night together flashed through her mind, making her smile. He'd teased her about it not being exciting enough for her. If he only knew! It had been more than amazing for Emma and truth be know, she wanted more.
As her eyes adjusted to the dim lightly, she gazed at his sleeping face. He looked good, relaxed and completely out of it. His breathing was steady as it fanned against her face, one big hand splayed across her bare backside. She fought the grin that threatened to appear and instead carefully shifted off his body trying not to wake him. She needed to take care of business and was extremely sticky in embarrassing places. A quick shower would solve that.
Off the bed, she located the shirt she'd tossed aside and pressed it to her naked front. Just in case. She didn't want to make it a habit of strutting around in the nude. On tip toes, she moved away, strangely not worried about the fact that she was still flashing him a view of enticing bare bottom all the way up until she entered the small bathroom.
She went through the motions, dreading the cold water as it hit her skin. Her gasp echoed in the stall. How did he get used to this?!
****
Hansen's body might have slept, but his mind didn't. It never did. He could think in his sleep and remember everything afterward. It should have made him tired, driven him mad with exhaustion, but it didn't. It was the way it was.
After being in Jimmy's office with all the cameras monitoring the city, there had been something niggling at the back of Hansen's mind. Now he knew what it was.
The cameras were not Jimmy's, they were the SPF's, used to monitor as much as was possible of what was happening in the city. Jimmy had tapped into the feed somehow. Hansen didn't know how and it wouldn't have mattered if it was all explained to him. The important thing was that he'd noticed one on the bar where he'd first met Emma.
Was it a coincidence or had they been watching the place because they knew he and Carl met there? Carl had pretended to work there for months, but then it would have been odd that they hadn't apprehended him. Hansen himself was a frequent visitor there and they had made no attempt to try and get them. Maybe they wanted them all? It was a thought, but realistically, if they took out Carl and him, then it would be a major body blow to the team. They all had important skills, but they were the muscle. No muscle, meant the they couldn't do as much damage.
He was still thinking about that, when he felt Emma slide away from him carefully, to not wake him. He felt a pang of loss as her warmth retreated, but he figured she was going to the bathroom so he let her go and pretended to be still asleep.
He had to break their electronic shackles. There was no way around it. He couldn't knowingly place Emma in more danger than she was already in.
Especially after last night.
The shackles needed to be disabled so that she could work on the virus antidote and he could work on what he did best: roughing things up. To break the shackles, he would need to get into the SPF building that housed the main computer. That was easier said than done, but he could do it. He had breached a similar security system in South America once. It was messy. It was dangerous. But it could be done. Nothing was impossible.
With a little risk and pain.
He listened to Emma moving about in the bathroom and smiled when he heard her draw breath sharply.
Cold showers take a lot of getting used to.
He knew what he had to do. He would wait for Emma to finish in the bathroom and then he would clean himself up and have something to eat. He smiled again. She would
insist
on it.
He lay there with his arms folded behind his head, looking at the ceiling. He felt like whistling and he nearly did, but he was going to whistle an Elvis tune.
Shit.
They had a lot to do today and Hansen was always at his best when he had a lot to do.
Always.
****
Emma finished up and toweled herself off, wrapping herself up before combing out her hair. She struggled a little to pick out the knots, but finally got it smoothed down and towel dried. She'd never been a huge make up lover, but she did miss certain essentials that added to her femininity. Now after their shared night, she wished she could look a little nicer. She wasn't sure she could pull off sexy, but looking pretty never hurt anyone.
She frowned slightly as she brushed her teeth and spit, rinsing out her mouth. She was worrying about looking nice for Liam when people were in serious danger. Shaking her head, she shoved away her silly thoughts and sighed. Returning to the room and noticing that he was awake. A wave of self consciousness hit and she once again was angry with herself. Was one night of sex...really really good sex...going to turn her into a silly girl? She inwardly groaned. Maybe.
Clutching the towel close she smiled and padded towards the bed, taking a seat on the edge next to him. "Morning. Shower is all yours, but I will bug you for some clean clothes. Sure will be nice when I can wiggle back into my own wardrobe."
A cool hand slid over his forehead , down his cheek and neck. "How do you feel? You feel so warm...I'm really hating your shower. I'd kill for a hot soak in...and a shave. I'm beginning to feel like a porcupine and another week from now you'll be sleeping with a gorilla."
She made a face and resisted the urge to continue touching him. She wanted to. To touch his stubble and lean down to kiss his mouth. To crawl close and absorb his heat. She wanted to lay in bed all day and forget about their problems. For one more day. Just one. But she knew that wasn't going to be the case. She doubted that Liam ever lay around in bed for a day.
"So...what's on the agenda?"
****
Hansen just started wondering about the Palanozol and what it was doing to him, when Emma came out of the bathroom. He remained lying down with his hands behind his head. She had a towel wrapped around her and her dark, damp hair hung loosely. The cold shower had freshened her up and she looked perky and....beautiful.
Yes.
Beautiful.
He smiled gently at her, but with a sly movement of his eyes to hers.
"A gorilla, Irish?" he said. "Seemed like a tigress was already in my bed last night," he said, bouncing out of bed before she could do anything about it. He winked at her from the other side of the bed. "I don't know about clothes, either. If you ask me, you look just fine without them."
He laughed, grabbed a towel from the cupboard behind him and wrapped it around his waist to preserve some modesty.
"I was thinking, next time I need nursing, I'm requesting you as my personal nurse," he said, pursing his lips to hold back more of a sly smile. "Yep, never been looked after so well...."
He looked over at her sitting on the edge of the bed. She looked so beautiful. He could have done with some morning relief, but there were things to do....
He slid slowly slid across the bed towards her. He lay on his belly, the front of his body held up by his arms and his face so close to hers his breath was on her cheek.
He whispered.
"This changes nothing, Irish, ok?" he said. "Well, I mean it does, but you have nothing to be ashamed of.
We
have nothing to be ashamed of. You're young, smart and beautiful and I'm a man. If something
