Artiface of Strength Ch. 01

"OK fine," she said as she began to blot at his soggy clothes. "I used to be the bouncer here; I've been studying martial arts most of my life.

"You're fast! Honesty, I've never seen anyone who could move like that..."

Knowing that as a wolf, she was much faster and stronger than any human, she had to be very careful here. It was abundantly clear to Florence that William was as observant as he was drop dead sexy, not to mention that he had already seen more than he should. Curious once again, she leaned closer and attempted to scent the man, only to be met with the overpowering aroma of warm ale, imitation citrus and cheap tequila. Irritated, she wrinkled her nose at his smell.

Grinning, William said, "This is your fault that I smell like a bar room floor now. If you hadn't knocked that tray out of her hands, I'd still smell like a rose! What on Earth were you reacting to?"

Flushing slightly, Florence looked into Williams eyes and said with a reluctant chuckle, "Projectile training... We train to deflect the unexpected and with all the loud music in there, I just never heard Beth coming. I caught a glimpse of something and just reacted. I've trained a long time to be able to do that, and it isn't the easiest thing to turn on and off, especially when it is loud and stressful."

William stared back at her and asked, "What was the stressful part? Was it eating with the enemy or was it pretending to be an airhead?"

Florence colored before responding, "The latter, and sorry about that. Beth convinced me to try it; she said I needed to have some fun, but I don't think I was very good at being a bimbo. I won't be trying that again!"

He sent her a smoldering look before responding, "I'm pretty sure that I like you better like this, even if you are trying to drown me!"

Startled, Florence looked down and saw that she was still ineffectually trying to dry William's clothes with the same towel that she had started with. Grinning with embarrassment, she tossed the towel aside and reached for a dry towel before continuing her efforts to dry his clothing.

"So..." William interrupted, "I'm assuming that you work security for Billington? That shirt was nice camouflage by the way."

"And you," she replied, "You work security for Waters... while disguised as a surveyor's assistant?"

He sighed. "Well, not exactly. I am a qualified surveyor; I was a contractor in Iraq and Afghanistan, but yes, my primary role is security. For some reason, Burton thinks this is going to get really ugly."

"It is. John will fight this until he's dead! We will fight this until we are dead. It's our land! There are too many people encroaching on it now!"

"Why is one road such a problem? Is Billington an environmental activist or something?"

"Nope; now it is your turn to answer a question. We will take turns."

William took a deep breath, pausing to consider his options. Looking into her dark eyes once again, he reached a decision. He knew that he wouldn't get anything further out of this fierce woman until he was willing to meet her half way. He held his hand out to shake her hand, "Quid pro quo?"

"Done," she responded, reaching out to grasp his hand. When their fingers met, there was a flash, a visible spark between them, this one quite literal. Both combatants saw the sparkle and felt the flash quite clearly. The spark resembled the flicker caused by static electricity in a dark room, but this room was far from dark, and this shock had been far from unpleasant. No, they both found it to be warm and soothing, almost reassuring.

Still grasping one another's hands, they simultaneously said, "What the Hell was that?"

Stunned and confused, the two nevertheless finished their handshake and began sharing information one question at a time. Neither of them was at their best however, both still pondering the cause of the spark rather than staying on mission. William found himself sorely tempted to use his questions to ask personal questions about Florence, rather than on anything job related.

For her part, Florence had the exact same problem; being more curious about William, the security man than about Burton Waters, the developer. She found it increasingly difficult to concentrate, wasting her questions on data that she could easily have inferred from previous queries. Irritated at herself, she shook her head as if to clear it.

William gazed into her eyes and said, "You too?"

"What the Hell was that spark," she replied crossly.

"Let's see if we can make another one," he replied softly as he leaned in for a kiss.

Not bothering to think about it, Florence leaned in, breathing deeply. But just before their lips could meet, they were startled by a loud discordant buzzing sound. Both of them leapt back into defensive postures, before realizing how ridiculous they looked, having been surprised by a simple pager.

Florence felt overwhelmed, I was about to kiss that man, a human for Goddess' sake! I haven't kissed a man in years and I was going to kiss an enemy. What am I doing? Have I completely lost control?

Clearly irritated at something, Will reached down and positively yanked the pager from his belt. Quickly reading the message on the screen, his anger seemed to morph into concern instead. "Damn it," he mumbled, "Can't she..." he said before belatedly realizing that he was speaking out loud and changing tack.

"I'm sorry Florence, I have to take this; it's an emergency and I have no choice in the matter. He then quickly rose to his feet and said "Philip and I are staying in the Hotel for a few more days. We'll take our meals here. I hope you'll come join us one night this week. We haven't finished this... conversation." And with this, he nodded to her and sped out the back door and out of her sight.

"No," Florence said slowly. "I don't think we've finished this."