He was the devil incarnate. He had to be. There was no
other logical explanation for why he seemed intent on torturing her
mentally and emotionally as much as possible. He was the field commander of her military special ops unit, and she wanted him in the worst possible way. His dark good looks and his easy sense of humor attracted her to him like bees to honey. She'd liked him ever since she met him six months ago. There were a couple of reasons why they couldn't get together, though. The first was that romantic liaisons in the field were discouraged, especially between enlisted soldiers and officers, for obvious reasons. It could be distracting on a mission, in matters of life and death. The second reason was that he despised her. She didn't know why, but she knew he did. Sometimes there was such a look of loathing in his eyes when he happened to glance at her.
Also, when he bothered to speak to her at all, he usually made subtle jabs about her being crazy, or inquiring why she did certain things, making her sound like a ditz. That was the thing. His actions and words to her were so ambivalent, she didn't know what to think. Sometimes he treated her as though she were completely invisible, even when they were working side by side. Other times he would talk to her, but only about whatever task they were completing at the time....and he would usually redo things she'd already done, implying that she hadn't done it right the first time. She was confused. Other times he would have normal conversations with her, and would joke and tease. She knew he didn't like her, though. The insulting times outweighed the good times.
The real torment came from the fact that he would assign her to go on special ops missions with just himself, such as stakeouts. Assignments where they would have to spend hours together working, alone, trapped in a tiny space. During these "lock-down" times, he would usually play his invisibility game, so it would wreak havoc with her emotions. Having him so physically close to her for so many hours a day, yet so emotionally distant, was difficult and unnerving. It was awkward not speaking. She couldn't count the number of times she'd fantasized about caressing his hand, or his arm, or his lips...thousands of dream kisses. She couldn't understand why he would take her on these missions with him when he was so obviously uncomfortable with her presence, and could have chosen any number of able-bodied men, or even women, to go with him. Still, he was the commander, and she was under an obligation to obey his orders unless she had good reason not to, or to request not to. She didn't think their unique situation qualified. After all, nothing had actually happened. It was just torment.
On this particular day, they had been watching the office of a leader who was accused of something he shouldn't have been doing. They were trying to prove that there was enough evidence to take him to trial, and were collecting that evidence by surveillance. There were cameras all over the place, but there some angles difficult to capture on camera. The special ops commander stretched, and looked at her. "Well, I guess we should go get something to eat," he said, not really looking at her. She agreed. She stepped out of the vehicle, debating in her mind if she should say anything about what was bothering her. There wasn't a lot of activity going on at the office, and it was getting to be quite late in the evening, so they didn't have to be back right away. She decided it couldn't hurt to get brave and bring up the tension between the two of them. They casually strolled down the sidewalk, going to a nearby deli, where they ordered takeout sandwiches and drinks.
On the way back to the surveillance van, she decided she better speak up. She cleared her throat. "Um, Sir.." she began. "I've been meaning to ask..."
"Yes?," her commander replied. He glanced curiously at her out of the corner of his eye.
She swallowed. This was even harder than she'd thought it would be "I was wondering...have I done anything to offend you in any way?"
The commander stopped walking abruptly and looked at her with a puzzled expression. "No, not that I can think of...why?" he asked. His tall body towered over her small, but wiry and strong, form.
She pushed a strand of dark brown hair out of her face, not quite sure what to say now. "It's just...well..." She let out a breath and paused. "It just seems as though you try to avoid being too near me or talking to me unless it's necessary."
It was the commander's turn to pause. They had reached their special ops van. He opened the door and place the sacks of food on the seat inside, then closed the door again, running a hand through his dark, wavy hair. Just the sight of it curled against his neck made her want to run her hands through it, too. "Let's talk a minute, " he said. " I don't know how to begin. I guess I do try to avoid you as much as possible...but it's probably not for the reasons you're thinking and I'm sorry if I've misled you. I had a tough life growing up. A lot of people hurt me, and I learned to put up walls to avoid getting too close to anyone." He put his hands on her shoulders and turned her to face him. The street was dark except for a little light near the office, but she could see his handsome face looking down at her. She didn't see the normal glower in his brown eyes. Rather, they looked smoky...and sexy, He always looked sexy, damn him, especially in his uniform. She almost wished he didn't exist. They were both toughened special ops agents, but right now the look in his eyes was almost ...tender. He dropped his voice to a near whisper, just barely loud enough to decipher. "I need to have you near me, but I've been trying to shut you off emotionally, because every time you're close to me, I can't shut off the desire to do this." He pulled her close and gently pressed her lips to his.
She was in shock for a moment and pulled back, warily.
"But...there are cameras everywhere!"
He looked back over his shoulder for a second, at the same time placing his hand on his holster. "So there are, "he breathed. "We'll see about that." He drew, aimed carefully at each of the cameras, and fired. There was a silencer, so know one heard the noise, but it took out all the outside cameras. "Screw the cameras!" he retorted. He grabbed her around the waist and pulled her close again, kissing her harder this time, until she responded, throwing her arms around his neck and fingering the curls. This was better than fantasies. After several moments, he realeased her.
"Damn," she exclaimed. "Wow. I was right. You *are* the devil incarnate. (The end...for now)
