On the drive back to the safe house, Jax had decided that the best way to handle his smoldering attraction to Brenda Barrett was to treat her with a detached, polite, business-like coolness, to touch her as little as possible, and to pray to God that she didn’t smile at him too much. The vision of unexpectedly seeing her smile was still emblazoned in his mind. It was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen: those tiny dimples revealing themselves; that lovely, mesmerizing sparkle in her eyes; those soft, full, sensuous lips just screaming out kiss me... Jax concentrated until he could no longer see the vision of her smile in his mind -- he was good at dismissing things that way - and once again resolved to put as much distance between them, physical and otherwise, as possible. He figured if all of those things happened, he could get through this just fine.

Meanwhile, Brenda was thinking that the best way to endure being cooped up in this FBI cottage hideaway with two gorgeous men (one of whom she could not deny an alarming attraction to), and a woman she hated, was to somehow make the best of it. She and Eve would never get along, so she would simply avoid talking to her. And she would stop giving Agent Adonis such a hard time, she decided. She would be cooperative and would stop frowning and glaring at him all the time. After all, all he seemed to want of her was cooperation. And although she still did find it unreasonable that he would not tell her exactly what was going on, she decided she could stop badgering him about it for a few days. She would stop going out of her way to keep a distance between them too. She figured if she made these efforts he would realize she was trying, which would garner his quiet appreciation, and they would get along better. With this new approach, she should be able to get through this strange ordeal just fine.

Safe house # 77, Syracuse, NY...

Two pizza boxes were open on the medium-sized kitchen table, the steam rising from them, as Jax, Scott, Brenda, and Eve sat around the table, eating their dinner while the girls answered questions about Bastian Reese. Eve had just gotten finished telling Scott and Jax how she had witnessed Bastian Reese and Sonny Corinthos exchanging pieces of paper.

"They did not exchange pieces of paper," Brenda corrected. "The guy with the auburn hair and the gray eyes gave the short guy with the dark hair an envelope, and the short guy gave him a piece of paper in return."

"Stop correcting everything I say!" Eve snapped, taking a sip of her diet Coke. "I was there, too, you know, Brenda. I know as much as you do."

Apparently not, Jax thought. Both he and Scott had observed that throughout their questioning of Brenda and Eve about the events of the night they had come into contact with Bastian Reese, Brenda was far more specific and reliable in her account of the details, whereas Eve was very vague.

"What were you guys doing at the nightclub anyway?" Scott inquired. "Was it a mixer or some other kind of school function there that night?"

"A frat birthday party," Eve revealed. "Phi Kappa Beta. I was there as an invited guest of Kevin Miller; he’s our star quarterback," she bragged. "Brenda was only there because the frat president, Clyde Roberts, has got a major Jones for the campus virgin, and he made us invite her."

Eve knew how Brenda hated to be taunted about her virginity and the campus rumors started by spurned suitors accusing Brenda of being a frigid ice princess, afraid of intimacy. But to her surprise, Brenda, with great effort, simply ignored her and turned to Jax.

"I’ve been looking for the phone number Bastian Reese gave me, but I haven’t been able to find it so far," she told him.

She had been being very pleasant and cooperative all evening so far, and Jax warily wondered what was up with that turnaround in her attitude.

"Are you sure it was even a phone number, Brenda?" Scott asked her.

Brenda shrugged. "Honestly, I never looked at it. I just shoved it in my pocket. I never intended to call him, so I didn’t care if it was a phone number or not. But he said it was. He said it was his cell phone number. He told me he travels a lot."

"That he does," Jax murmured. "What else did he tell you?"

Despite his resolve to be cool and distant and detached and nothing but professional with her, he could not help but look at her in a very unprofessional, non-platonic manner. Without a doubt, she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. This attraction he felt to her was maddening. He'd never felt anything like it.

Scott shook his head as he looked to see what had Jax so enthralled and realized it was the girl sitting in between them.

As Brenda relayed her conversation with Bastian Reese, Jax found his concentration slipping, as she had the audacity to smile at him as she was telling him what he wanted to know. Why was she doing that?! Her nearness alone was driving him to distraction. He had no idea how he was looking at her, but if it was anything reflective of what he was feeling, then she had to be fully aware that he found her exceptionally desirable.

As Brenda continued to try to give him as much information as possible, she faltered in her own train of thought, every now and again, as the way that Agent Jacks was looking at her was making her pulse race wildly. She had never seen eyes that literally smoldered before. She had read about such things in romance novels, but she’d never actually seen it until now. His eyes were a smoldering, smoky kind of blue, and she had a feeling he was not hearing a word she was saying, as he seemed completely distracted, watching her mouth move as she spoke. Occasionally his gaze would shift to her eyes, and she would feel her heart leap about foolishly and her body grow warm and reactive. She was hopelessly attracted to him. More and more with each moment he was near her. Recalling her body’s reaction to her last close encounter with Agent Jacks, Brenda halted mid-sentence, crossed her arms over her chest and jumped up from the table.

"Excuse me," she said, dashing off into the bedroom.

When she emerged from the room five minutes later, gone was the snug blue sweater she’d been wearing, and in it’s place was a very loose, oversized, white, PCU sweat shirt.

Jax could not help but grin at her change of attire, and the reasoning behind it, and Brenda glared at him when she was hit with that sensual grin head on. This man was just too much! His smile bragged that he knew it was because of him that she had changed. She glared at him in total annoyance, and then remembered her decision to stop glaring at him and to try to be nice to him and make this ridiculous arrangement work.

Jax was completely thrown when Brenda’s hostile glare vanished in the blink of an eye and was replaced by an unintentionally alluring, very beautiful smile that made his blood run hot and heart contract with a thud loud enough that Scott swung his head around to look at Jax in surprise.

Suddenly Jax was furious with himself for not acting the way he had decided he would act in her presence from now on. He was appalled at his uncharacteristic lack of self control and he intended to change that immediately.

"You really need to find that piece of paper he gave you," he told her. His tone was so abrupt, impatient, and cool that Brenda was thrown by his swift change of attitude. Hadn’t he only two seconds ago been grinning sensually at her, letting her silently know that he knew perfectly well why she had changed her shirt? Like it was some cute, amusing secret they had? Now he was not smiling at all, and his gaze upon her was a cool, impersonal blue, detached and indifferent.

She tried to stick to her guns to be nice to him. "I’ve been trying to do that," she reminded him. "I’ll just have to . . ."

"You’ll just have to try harder," he ordered her. "This is important." And then he got up from the table, all but dismissing her. And Brenda felt the blood boiling in her veins. How dare he! She was bending over backwards to cooperate with him and smile at him and be nice to him, and he was being . . .a jerk!

Eve smiled gleefully at the turn of events. She had been painfully aware of the obvious growing attraction between Brenda and Agent Jacks. It had been nearly instantaneous, and Eve had been greatly annoyed by it. It was nice to see him treat her so indifferently now.

Sensing that Brenda was about to go off on Jax, Scott stepped in, placing an arm casually about her shoulder. "Maybe I can help you look for that piece of paper," he offered, steering her away from a confrontation with Jax.

Glaring at Jax, who sat on the arm rest of the couch gazing unflinchingly back at her, Brenda just nodded and allowed Scott to lead her back into the bedroom to start a new search for the missing phone number.

Alone with Jax, Eve joined him in the living room, sitting in the love seat across from him.

"She can be a real pain, can’t she?’ she snickered, turning on the TV. "But don’t worry, Agent Jacks, you have my full cooperation in this. Is there anything else you’d like to ask me about that night?"

Jax shook his head. "No."

"Anything you’d like to ask me about . . . Brenda?" Eve volunteered.

Yeah, why do I feel this close to heart failure every time I look at her? Why does she make my blood run hotter than any woman ever has? And please do tell me, why is it that I want to possess her in every way imaginable?

Out loud Jax said, "No."

"Is this Bastian Reese guy really dangerous? Would he hurt us?" Eve questioned.

"He never has," Jax told her, "but he certainly could."

"Is he one of America’s most wanted, or something?" she asked.

"His notoriety reaches far beyond the United States," Jax responded to her.

"What is he? A murderer? A mob dude? He looked way too polished to be the latter. Plus he’s got this British accent, you know."

Jax’s eyes glanced at her briefly. "I can’t discuss that with you."

"So how long are me and my roommate, the sacrificial virgin, going to have to be here with you guys?" Eve asked next.

Jax frowned at her a little bit. "Do you think you could possibly chill with your pointless, little, running commentary on Brenda’s virginity?" he asked in a voice tinged with annoyance.

"Hey, I’m not saying anything that isn’t true," Eve defended herself. "Besides, I’m sure she’ll be losing the title of pristine campus co-ed, soon enough. Clyde Roberts is determined to go where no man has gone before," Eve laughed, slapping her thigh at her own humor.

For some reason that comment really made Jax hit the roof. "Do you really think that I give a damn about any of this?!" he demanded.

Just then they were both distracted by the sounds of laughter coming from the bedroom where Scott and Brenda were searching for the infamous piece of paper Bastian Reese had given her.

"So what did you say when she said that to you?" Brenda asked, still laughing.

Jax closed his eyes in an odd combination of both frustration and serenity. He’d never heard her laugh before. It was as beautiful as everything else about her. He did not need to hear this, or feel this. His mood grew worse.

"I think I told her I’d rather kiss a corpse," Scott said. "Which, you know, she didn’t respond to very well."

Brenda laughed. "I can imagine."

"Then I had to amend that statement, because you know, as I was looking at her I realized she bloody well already did resemble a corpse."

Brenda’s burst of laughter was delightful, and Jax couldn’t stand it.

Eve watched him in fascination as he sat there rubbing his temples, looking very much like a beautiful, caged panther, his spectacular eyes boring a hole in the wood floors.

"A little tense there, Agent Jacks? Do you want a massage?" Eve offered eagerly.

"Would you please be quiet?" Jax said, not even bothering to look at her.

"Fine," Eve huffed, sick of having even her most innocent advances rebuffed while he obvioulsy couldn't get Brenda out of his mind. She got up off of the love seat and went into the other bedroom, slamming the door.

"The misison from hell," Jax said into the darkness of the living room. He sat alone there, refusing to turn on the lights, his head pounding with the tension of his strange mood. He never had moods before. . . .before her…

He tried to think about Ariel and the wedding, but that thought offered him no comfort at all. The antics of Ariel and her mother and his mother over this end-all and be-all wedding had always bothered him, and they still did. Still, he would have given anything to have Ariel there with him. Surely having her physcially there would have to make a difference. Would have to steer his thoughts away from another. Would have to cool down this fire inside of him. . . . wouldn't it?

He shifted his thoughts to the mission he was on. Tracking down Bastian Reese. Capturing the un-capturable. It stood to reason that he was most likely out of their reach, unless what he had given to Brenda was something he needed to get back. Or, unless he’d had the same reaction to Brenda that Jax did. If either scenario were true, then he would be back for her, all right. Jax wondered if either Brenda or Eve had heard Bastian mention anything in passing about his mysterious partner?

He got up to ask Brenda just as she came out of the room, still laughing at something amusing Scott had told her. Jax and Brenda looked at each other and she quickly squelched her desire to glower at him and brusquely walk by him. She was determined to still try her plan to peacefully co-exist with Agent Adonis for the duration of this nightmare.

She took a deep breath and smiled at him, and his eyes seemed to narrow in annoyance, which made her want to scream at him as to what exactly his problem was, but she held her tongue.

"Did you find it?" he asked her, still in that cold, impersonal tone, although his voice was soft and low and sent shivers up and down her spine. She was grateful to be wearing that big, white sweatshirt.

"No, not yet. But we will," she said with confidence. "I just came out to get a drink of water."

Jax nodded, and Brenda became a bit disconcerted as he followed her into the kitchen.

"Do you recall in your brief conversation with Bastian, whether or not he mentioned the name Madison Kennedy?" Jax asked her, leaning against the kitchen counter.

Brenda didn’t answer him right away as she was too busy staring at tanned, muscular forearms which were folded across his chest, as he awaited some sort of response from her. The man was really simply too appealing to deny.

"Brenda? Did you hear me?" he said.

She cleared her throat and poured her glass of water. "Madison Kennedy? No, he didn’t mention any such person." She took a sip of her water and then attempted to make some normal conversation with Agent Jacks. "I’ve been trying to think of anything I can remember that might be able to help you out," she told him.

He gave her a look that signified he found that hard to believe.

"I’ve decided to give you and Scott my full cooperation," she assured him, thinking that the least he could do was say thank you.

"Scott?" he said. Since when did she call Scott ‘Scott’ instead of Agent Wilkie?

As if reading his thought, Brenda once again forced herself not to glare in annoyance at him. "You really don’t need to take that tone with me. He said I could call him Scott," Brenda informed him. Then she realized he might be feeling a bit slighted that she and Scott were bonding and she and he were still muddling through all of this awkwardness whenever they were in the same room together. "If you’d like I can call you Jasper," she offered, recalling his first name.

"I would not like that at all," Jax said abruptly, walking out of the kitchen and sitting back on the arm of the couch in the living room. "The only thing I would like is for you to find that damned piece of paper."

Brenda struggled to keep in the heated retort she wanted to hurl at him. Why was it that he seemed to be rejecting her every kindness? And reacting so badly to her valiant attempts to make the peace with him? She was trying so hard and he was such an ingrate!

She glared at his back as he sat there gazing out at the window, ignoring her. Dismissing her yet again! It had begun to snow lightly outside. Night had fallen, but a pale moon was visible outside. It’s faint silvery beams filtered into the living room and cast quite the spectacular glow on his bent, honey-blonde head. Brenda stood there so quietly that Jax was sure she had gone back to the other bedroom to search for the paper. He began to rub his temples once again, thinking this entire situation was just going to be intolerable. Surely she must think him some sort of evil-tempered, mad man, that he would glare at her every smile and reject all of her cute efforts to meet him halfway. She wouldn’t understand it was his only means of self-preservation where she was concerned.

Brenda watched him, seeing him rubbing his temples as if he had some sort of headache. Good. She hoped he had a killer migraine! Then she realized, she didn’t hope that at all.

"Does your heart hurt?"

Her voice melted through him like some exotic warm breeze. She was still there?

"It’ll go away," he said quietly, wishing she would go away.

Instead, trying once again to show him that she was trying to be friends, Brenda walked up behind him and then stood in front of him.

Jax had that familiar feeling as if his heart had stopped.

"If you’ll just sit still and try not to be so disagreeable, I think I can help you," she said. And before he knew it, her elbows were leaning on his shoulders and her hands were touching the sides of his forehead. His first instinct was to recoil from how good it felt to have her touch him. "Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing. Stop squirming around," she said, clearly oblivious to what her touch was doing to him. He felt her fingers brush absently against his hair, as she moved her fingers against the side of his head in slow, circular motions, which he had to admit really were alleviating his tension headache. Of course, while it released tension there, it built up tension elsewhere. It happened so suddenly, so overwhelmingly. He hadn’t realized that desire could explode so quickly.

Her fingers moved slowly down to the back of his neck. He just knew he was going to do something crazy and grab her as pleasure infused him each time her fingers slid up and down his neck, even sliding into the hair at the back of it. His eyes were pinned to the lips he wanted to kiss, but she didn't seem to notice. He felt himelf leaning towards her. He felt hypnotized. But it was so nice.

"This really would be more effective if you were laying down," she told him, matter of faclty, as her hands went down to his shoulders, and he heard her soft intake of breath as her hands slid over rippling muscles, and he felt her touch change dramatically from clinical massage to a far more intimate, exploratory touching.

Quicker than lightning, Jax grabbed her hands, startling her.

"That’s enough," he said softly, dropping her hands to break the potency of the contact between them.

She wondered why he'd reacted as if she burned him, and if she should be offended or flattered? She gazed at his lowered lashes and realized how beatuiful they were. Thick blonde lashes crowning those magnificnet blue-green eyes - the combination of which gave him an angelic look, although she knew perfeclty well this man was far from angelic.

"So your headache is gone?" she asked.

"Yes" he lied, still averting his eyes from her. In truth his headache had returned. Everything ached now. He ached. For her. For only her. And it infuriated him beyond all reason. He had only known her for a day!

She stood there smiling, waiting for him to compliment her on her massage therapy skills, and to thank her for ridding him of his headache. He did neither.

"You’re welcome!" she said sarcastically, shoving his chest and deciding that she was through trying to be friends with this impossible man! She hoped his headache came back ten times worse! She hoped he would be on the floor writhing in agony from it! He heard her turn around in a swift whirl and march back into the room.

Just then Scott came out looking for Jax. "Hey Jax, I found it!" he said handing Jax the piece of paper.

"It's not a phone number, right?" Jax said excitedly, even before looking at it.

"Nope. More like Swiss bank account numbers, baby," Scott revealed as they exchanged a high five.

"Yes," Jax said with the cutest grin Brenda had ever seen.

"Can you imagine how distracted he must have been to give her this?" Scott laughed. "What an idiot."

Jax smiled. "He’s going to come back to get it. He has to."

Scott smiled too. "No doubt about that. Can’t wait."

They exchanged a low five while Brenda looked at them both in exasperation. They were acting like two little boys who had gotten their first Sony Play Station for Christmas. She half expected them to link arms and dance around the living room with their mutual boyish glee.

"Is my part in this done now?" Brenda asked, now openly glaring at Jax, no longer trying to smile and play nice with him. "Can I possibly go back to my life now?"

"No," Jax told her, his eyes flickering over her slowly, almost posessively, his fantastic mood about finding the Swiss back account numbers making him give her a smile that was devastatingly attractive and made the blood rush wildly inside of her.

"No?" Brenda managed to repeat, trying to ward off the paralyzing, mesmerizing effect of that smile. "What do you mean, no?! You guys have the paper now. I’ve told you everything I saw, everything I know. What more could you possibly need me for?!"

Jax gave her an enigmatic look, but something about the beautiful sensuality of his eyes made her blush and she immediately turned her eyes to Scott, who, despite being as wickedly attractive as Jax was, did not look at her the way Jax did, and make her nervous, and send her heart reeling crazily out of control.

"Bastian is going to come back looking for you, Brenda," Scott told her. "There’s no doubt about that now. Eve is the one we don’t need. But you. Well, you’re basically our bait, luv. So you’re stuck with us for the long haul," he informed her.

"I’m what? I'm bait?!"

Brenda looked worried, Jax looked both mildly amused and harassed, and Scott was the only one genuinely happy with these turn of events. With Eve gone there would be no more of that mindless, extremely loud, female bickering to contend with. And with just Brenda to keep an eye on, he and Jax would be much less hampered in their efforts and their abilities and their mobility.

"We’ll be just like the three musketeers," Scott said, when he saw the skeptical expressions on the faces of the other two. "Except, of course, we’re a hell of a lot better looking than they were." He pulled out his agency phone to notify the director as to what they had found. "All right, Bastian, my man, let the games begin," he murmured eagerly.

Jax and Brenda exchanged an accidental glance that would have melted the polar ice caps. Brenda was the first to look away, as she suddenly felt extremely flustered and restless. And hot. Very hot. She wished someone would dump a glass of ice on her. Jax seemed to know what she was feeling, and he looked as if he would like to plunge into some ice cubes himself.

The games had already begun.