Well, when he lays it all out like that, it sounds fucked up.

Tal glared at him and walked a few feet away. Of course, he knew Ruiz was right. They were in Italy to do a job, and then they would be gone. Assigned elsewhere. It wasn't like he could take Mischa with him – for a whole bundle of fucked up reasons he didn't even want to begin to get into. And even if by some magical way he was able to, she couldn't go. She belonged to someone else.

No. Not while she's here. Something about this woman … while we're here, she's mine.

“Look,” he sighed, turning back to his partner. “I get it, alright. Your little act was super cute, trying to piss me off, trying to scare her off. Don't worry about me, okay? I know what I'm doing. I know what's going on, I know what the mission is. You know me, you know I wouldn't do anything to compromise that. I'm just having a little fun.”

This stopped being “fun” a while ago. How did I not notice? She's more than just a “fun time”.

Ruiz stared at him for a long time, scowling. Then he took a deep breath and nodded.

“Fine. Fine. I trust you, man. And you were right, she's a knock out. A sweetheart. I just ... don't want your little crush ruining all our months of hard work,” he said.

“It won't.”

Ruiz gave a curt nod, then walked off down the street, running his hand over his head. Cursing in Spanish.

Tal turned the other way and snapped for a hotel valet to get him a taxi. When he slid into the back seat, he pulled out his phone. Called Misch's number. But just like he'd assumed would happen, she didn't answer.

He chewed at his thumb nail while the car raced across the city. He hadn't really taken the time to think about it before, what was going on between them. He'd told her they were just winging it, just having fun. That's really all it could be, fun ...

But it was already more. Somehow, in their small space of time, it had become more. He'd felt it before he'd left. He'd felt it even more while he'd been gone. And he felt it now more than ever, as he worried that Ruiz had possibly ruined something amazing, before it had even really started.

What am I doing, chasing a married woman all over Rome? I'm a stupid, stupid man. Only me. I'm the only man on earth who, when I decided to fall for a woman, she's fucking married. Figures.

He didn't bother stopping at the front desk or trying to call her again. Just went straight up to her room. Knocked on the door. It took her a while to answer and he was leaning against the door frame when she opened up.

“I told you not to move,” he said, smiling down at her. She frowned up at him, her bottom lip being worked between her teeth, and she kept the door mostly closed.

“When it's just us, Tal, it's kinda like a dream, as cheesy as that sounds. But being around other people, makes it real. And reality is horrible,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

God, don't say that. Nothing about us is horrible. I'm beginning to think we're the only “right” that's going on in our lives.

“Ruiz was being a dick, he's just … work has him worried,” Tal tried to explain. Tried to reassure her. Tried to remove that worried look from her face. He knew it was lame, but he wasn't in a position where he could tell her more. Her eyes slid away from his, stared off down the hall.

“It's not just him,” she replied.

Oh.

“What happened? Did he call?” Tal asked bluntly. She'd never really talked about her husband, wouldn't say a word about him, and still. In his own mind, Tal had grown to hate the man. Hated sharing something with him. Mischa still wouldn't look at him. She just frowned and nodded.

Tal didn't know what had happened to Mischa's relationship, couldn't wrap his brain around it. She was sexy. Beyond that, she was beautiful. Captivating. Something. Something big. Like the sun, just pulling him into her gravitational field.

He reached for her, tracing his fingers down the side of her face, and her eyes slowly closed. She had amazing hazel eyes, one of them a slightly darker shade than the other. He kept moving, slowly slipping his fingers into her hair. Moving his hand around her head, attempting to pull her forward. She held her ground.

“Tal,” she whispered his name, not opening her eyes.

“Just let me be with you,” he whispered back. He didn't know where the words were coming from, but there they were.

Let me make you feel whole.

He continued pulling, and she finally moved. Allowed him to pull her out into the hall. Allowed herself to be pulled into him. Allowed him to kiss her. Kiss her like how she deserved to be kissed. How she should always be kissed.

What the fuck am I doing?

“How about school?” Tal threw out. Misch glanced at him.

“I went to the University of Michigan, studied dancing,” she replied, kicking her leg up for effect. He smiled.

“I knew that.”

“What about you?”

“Didn't really go to school. I was in the Israeli Army for a while,” he told her. Misch was surprised. Not just that he'd been in the army in Israel, but that he'd actually answered the question.

After he'd talked his way into the room, things had calmed down. He'd made himself comfortable while she'd gone into the bathroom and tried to clean up her face. When she'd come back out, he'd been sitting at the foot of her bed. She had a standard hotel room, not a suite like him. There was only a queen sized bed, and two cushioned chairs pulled up to a small, circular table, and that was it for furniture.




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