It was just as she had promised herself, the moment she was away from Danae her anger returned. Irrational, as some may say, she suddenly felt the need to show her dominance once more over her life. The fact that Jacob was able to anger her so quickly into the relationship was not a good thing and that of course pissed her off even further.

She did not want to relenquish control, her life was her life and to hell with anyone else telling her what to do with it. Occasionally she took advice from others, most of the time however she forged her own path, something she'd learned at a young age. She was in control, SHE owned her life, HE was just conveniantly there.

She didn't even bother to get into the elevator to get to her loft, she was too hyped up, too pissed off, by the time she reached the top floor she was hardly winded and she crashed through the front door without so much as a "how do you do?" Her long brown hair was wind blown and her cheeks were red from the cold wind kissing her face as she had stalked by on the side walk.

"JAKE!" she shouted at the top of her lungs as she kicked off her shoes and threw down her jacket. She wasn't surprised to find him in the kitchen. "Why the hell didn't you tell me that you were considering entering MSI? What were we not good enough for you?" she sneered. Though she'd be the first to admit that she hated her job, her tremendous loyalty and gratitude to Anthony made her defend it's honor with tooth and nail. Funny, it wasn't even noon and she was already causing problems.

Jake glanced up, one regal eyebrow arched over confused hazel eyes. One look at Raelin told him this wasn't going to be a simple arguement, and with a quiet sigh, he flicked the stove off and slid the pot he had been looming over to the back burner before wisely stepping away from the stove. And unwisely stepping closer to the rather fuming young woman.

"Me? Consider MSI? As in go down and grovel to the superiors and beg them to hire me?" He frowned, feigning confusion as his brilliant mind instantly made the connection he was looking for. 'Shit.' "I don't know what you're talking about love." Lying was always a bad idea. But in the case of someone this angry...it was worth a shot, plus, it wasn't an entire lie. There were jsut some parts...neatly ommitted.

"Please don't tell me you came bursting into this house," Walking as he talked, he quietly shut and locked the front door, one sweep of his foot moving her shoes out of easy reach and hanging her coat int ehc loset all before turning to looking at her. "Like a bat out of hell to point fingers at me when you have no bloody idea what you're talking about."

He wasn't angry. Yet. He was eerie calm, but then again, he was still feeling out the situation. Something about the way his heart pounded in his chest told him though...she was someone he COULD be angry at. That was a worriesome feeling.

((just a bit of tiptoeing to fan the flames ^^))

Rae backed him up against a wall, one slim but powerful finger jabbed into his chest. "Don't patronize me, I wasn't born yesterday, see the thing about being a lead investigator is that you have access to all kinds of lovely information and sometimes things just sorta throw themselves at you. Like the fact that you were up for a position!" she practically shouted.

"Apparently my lovely resourcer informed me that about eight or nine years ago, you were about to be hired but then you vanished. Conveniant for you I suppose, the job probably would have been too tough for you to handle," she sneered as she backed away.

Rae didn't know what she was talking about anymore, she felt betrayed because he continued to lie to her and she wanted to strike out at that, NOT to blindly submit and apologize for her words and actions. After all, she rarely did in the fist place, she was Raelin Lorcan, she was damned near infallible when she felt like it. She had long since stopped caring that she was practically bullying others to following her lead and while she was damned good at what she did.

Everything that she had been feeling in the last few days was slowly ebbing away, how dare he come in here and take over her life? Snooping around her kitchen and always touching her and making her feel things she thought she wasn't able to anymore.

All aside of course the fact that she had hired him for just that reason wasn't making any difference at the moment.

Her fists clenched and unclenched at her sides and then, quite suddenly, she slapped him. The sound rang in her ears as her palm stung from the force of the blow, it was odd that...she never slapped anyone...she punched people, and when she punched someone, they stayed down. She simply stood there, glaring at Jacob, not willing to back down or speak. This was her life...not his!

OMG It's begun!!

Somewhere deep inside the floating void of calm Jake maintained within himself...he felt the first burning tendrils of real anger. She was snooping around in his past. The MSI had INFORMATION about HIS past. Jake's brow furrowed thunderously over eyes that had turned nearly black. And then....she hit him.

Compared to some of the blows he had taken from some of his more....excitable customers, and one he was sure she COULD give, it was the element of surprise that had him quietly grunting.

For a moment...he kept his head bowed. Then his own hand lifted, nearly imperceptibly...until it pulled back and backhanded Rae across the face. Although society would dictate that hitting a woman was wrong...Jake believed that when a woman was trained in the art of fighting...all was fair game.

"You pompous, overbearing, ignorant chit." He seethed between clenched teeth, hands carefully fisted and forcefully held at his sides to keep from striking out again, though he did begin an agitated pace in circles around her, always watching, waiting for her next move.

"I'm not playing this ridiculous game with you. I don't need to explain myself. So whatever crawled inside your knickers and died to put you in such a snit, go blow it off on someone else!" He was panting, body trembling with anger. This was new. He hadn't lost his temper like this in ages. It felt good. Suddenly...he was ready for a throw down.

He hit her so hard she felt her neck pop in a few places, this was going to be good.

She didn't even bother to clean away the tendril of blood that snaked down the corner of her mouth as she grabbed him by the front of his shirt and tugged him towards her, it would have been fairly sexy, had she not used his momentum to bring him halfway so that her knee could connect with his stomach. Once in a prone position she jammed her hand into his shoulderblade and flipped him onto his back.

It wasn't the most sophisitcated fighting style and she was sure that if Danae were here she'd be hearing all about how her technique was off. But Rae didn't use her hands to fight, she used a gun, she found dirty, street fighting was more effective to her than martial arts anyway.

She didn't feel the need to respond to his words, she siply looked down at him with the same arrogant look he had given her, this was a battle of wills, two people who were very much the same battling for control over something that normally would have been willingly surrendered.

That is...if Raelin had been anywhere NEAR normal...

The second she grabbed the front of his shirt, Jake was ready. Cupping his hands against his stomach, he caught the knee driven into his torso, allowing her to manipulate him until he lay flat on her back, Rae staring obstinatley down at her.

For a moment, he grinned mockingly back, then with a seemingly impossible arch in his back, he leapt back up to his feet, whirling to face her, hands held up in front of his face, fingers loosely curled. She was a street fighter. Jake had trained himself in more than one way of fighting. His hybrid style tended to work with just about anyone he faced. Rae would be no exception.

But he was a gentleman by trade. He was willing to give her another chance to get out. "You won't beat me luv. You can try, but trust me." His grin was feral, his breathing light, his eyes focused and dark as they zeroed in on her. "Unless...the violence gets you hot." His chuckle with rich and darkly sinful. "Then...bring it on baby."

Rae did not succumb to blind rage, she felt like it occasionally but she never did. So it was with the best of calculations in mind that she whirled around and while one foot caught his hands, she leapt with the other and brought it straight across his face. With the awkward position she found herself in she gave a flick of her ankle and wrenched it free, falling to the ground with a thud. But true to form she was back on her feet almost instantly and enjoying the bruise on his cheek.

"Now that you mention it I am getting rather hot..." she shot back with a flip of her brown hair, knowing full well how to employ her body against an opponent, however she was curious to see if it would actually work on Jake. She had a feeling that it wouldn't so she went in again, low this time, foot darting out between his and her knee locking around his ankle. She gave a traditionally awkward twist to send him sprawling again, but misjudged and fell as she tried to stand. She sought to avoid his special area, she felt it was underhanded to hit a man where it was most vulnerable, she just felt dirty when it was brought up.

She struggled to her feet and glared down at him, panting.

Rubbing his bruised cheek, Jake laughed at her...slightly clumsy attempt to take him down. With a rush, moving too quickly to be stopped, Jake had her back into a wall, slamming her head back into the rather large...antique looking mirror behind her, smirking as it cracked like a halo around her hair.

"Hot eh? Here love, let me help you with that." Reaching down with one strong hand, his other arm pressed against her collarbones, just barely avoiding her throat. Fingering the opening to her collar, he afforded her one devilish grin to foreshadow what he was planning, before he ripped his hand down along the front of her shirt, buttons flying as it parted neatly under his hand.

"Oh dear." Jake tsked, eyes locked with hers. "I bet that was an expensive shirt to. Ah well, but I'm sure you're much...cooler." With another rich laugh, Jake reached around the back of her neck and fisted his hand in her hair, pulling her forward and stepping out of the way, tossing her to the ground with a disdainful flick of his wrist.


((sorry...little bit of moding. let me know and I can change it if you want...))

Pain shot through the back of her head as it connected with her favorite mirror. He was going to pay for that, the shirt she could care less, it had been expensive but she hardly wore it. She was more upset about the fact that her bra was showing, along with the perfectly flat and toned stomach she worked so hard to get and damn him if he wasn't going to wipe that smirk off his face before she was done with him.


That is before he had tossed her to the ground by her hair. She let him hear one outraged shriek before she contained herself and shot back up again. It would be too much to fight in a shirt that was ripped open so she tossed it off and took a stance again. She needed to get him on his back and fast. With surprising speed she launched herself at him and securely put her shoulder into his chest and grabbed his outstretched arm. IN a move that was purely textbook she tossed him neatly ass over tea kettle. There was a satisfying rip as she clutched a sleeve in her hand and smirked. "Oops."

Triumph flared in her eyes but there was a frustration as well. She thought it would be different, she thought that something would change, she thought he actually had a chance of knocking her out and to be honest she wanted to be knocked out for more than one reason. However, it should be curious to note that the depression that had been haunting her over the last few weeks had almost vanished, her blood was singing and an insanely happy grin appeared on her face.

"What's the matter big boy, down already? I thought you would keep it up for much longer..." she emphasized.

Laying flat on his back, Jake lifted one arm. A bare arm. Well shit. Rolling to his feet, he narrowed his eyes before shrugging and ripping his own shirt down the center, wriggling out of it in a way that should have belonged only in the bedroom, he tossed it aside. His hairless, finely chisled chest glowed in the light of the room, naturally bronzed skin that looked as satiny smooth as it felt. Truly.

"Oh don't worry darling. I can go for days." Rushing her, he brought his forearm into contact with her upper chest with a hard thumb, spinning around behind her, locking his arm just below her throat, but pressing hard. "You know," He ran one of his hands down her side, digging his fingers in over her hips hard enough to bruise. "You'd be the sexiest woman on the planet, if you just shut that mouth."

Pushing her away, he spun and kicked her hard in the lower back, aiming just below her kidneys (he didn't want to kill her), but hard enough to hopefully temporarly numb her spine. Now trying to fight like that? Was an interesting feeling. "You're like a fucking crow. Caw caw caw."

Shaking his head, Jacob wandered over to one of her end tables, picking up and hefting the rather small but impressive paper weight sitting there. "How well can you catch love?" Hefting it back, Jake gave it an impressive throw (again, not hard enough to seriously hurt her), and he aimed for her forearm. If she missed, she'd have a whopper of a bruise. If she didn't? Well. Jake grinned. This just got better and better. And he knew he was toying with her. He could have her down whenever he wanted. But this was fun.

Raelin didn't know he was playing with her, her hip stung where his fingers had dug into her flesh but she wouldn't let him see her wince. She plopped to the ground after his kick and panted heavily, after she kicked his ass she was taking lessons from Danae, this could not happen again...then again if she were fighting her way he'd have been dead in the kitchen five minutes ago.

Her eyes got as wide as sauce plates as he actually threw her paperweight THREW it at her. Her hand darted out and caught it neatly, cushioning it to let her gain some momentum before she tossed it back at him, aiming for his shoulder. With a huff of amusment she watching it sink into his shoulder then fall to the ground, the thing didn't even bounce in thge plush carpet under their feet.

"I'd rather be a crow than a fucking jack ass," she shot back as she blew her tangled hair out of her eyes. The cut on her lip cracked open again and she absently reached up to wipe the blood away. She was having a hard time ignoring that body of his part of her wanted to run up to him and run her hands all over him and the other wanted to toss him out the window. She decided to compromise.

She launched herself at him once more but instead of attacking she jumped upon him, their combined weight sending them toppling to the floor with a giant thud. Now that she was atop him she reached down and pressed her slender but calloused hands against his throat and put just enough pressure on his windpie to make him uncomfortable.

"What was that Jake? You give up?" she cocked her head to the side in an attempt to hear better. A surprisingly feral grin graced her features.

The paper weight had hurt, but Jake was more concerned about the fact that he was now on his back, and he had a very sexy, very shirtless woman sitting on top of him. With her hands around his throat. Biting his lip to keep his moan behind his lips, he smirked at her, raising his hands and fiercely boxing her ears.

Knowing her head was probably spinning, he raised his legs, somehow managing to hook them under her arms, crossing them over her chest and jack knifing his body straight. He managed to keep her head from cracking against the floor, and in a movement that is impossible to describe, tangled his legs in hers, one thigh resting between hers, large hands pinning both of hers down to the floor above her head.

His other hand, was resting against one bare hip, body tense to move with her should she struggle...but....Jake's breath left his body in a soft groan. She was soft beneath him, soft but firm...but beautiful. Her chest, those beautiful breasts, rose in angry pants beneath him. There was blood on the corner of her lip and her hair lay spread around her head and face like an auburn halo. She was beautiful. She was his....

"Fuck the rules." Was all he managed to bite out before he lowered his head and caught her lips with his, his body melting down against her, keeping her pressed into the floor in all the right places as his soft, full lips worked against hers, coaxing her, teasing her....controlling her.

"Fuck the rules."

Rae's sentiments at that time EXACTLY.

It had been forever since she'd felt like this, her arms pinned above her head, her body pressed so hard into his that she forgot what it was like to be a seperate entity. Her mouth eagerly allowed him entrance, her body pressing up into his as she felt him rub against her.

Oh my...this is quite nice, why didn't I do this sooner?

That was one of the many thoughts running though her muddled mind at the moment her her body wiggled against his to rub more closely against him. She made a small whimpering noise in the back of her throat and she wanted to touch him so bad. She wrenched her mouth away from his long enough to beg for that feeling before her hot mouth pressed against what she could reach of his neck.

The groan that rumbled out of his chest was real and full this time as he tipped his head back, allowing the beautiful siren underneath him access to the long, clean line of his throat. When he couldn't take it anymore, he nudged her head to the side and began nipping his way down the long column of her throat, leaving little red marks as he went, his back arching as he kissed across her collarbones, pausing to lave the hollow of her throat, feeling the rapid flutter of her pulse against his lips.

"Fuck, so beautiful Rae." He growled out, sliding a hand under her hips to pull her more firmly against him, one thigh between hers, one of hers between his. It felt so good, and Jake shuddered, sending her a smoldering glance from under a fall of hair as he slowed his kisses, ending between the valley between her breasts.

Then, in a move he hoped wouldn't get him clouted, he moved left, nuzzling against the fabric of her bra, still watching her carefully. When there was no immediate fist to the head, he kisses her left breast through her bra....then opened his mouth and bit down on the nipple he could see clearly peaked through the thin fabric that covered her.

Rae groaned with a soft purr as she felt his mouth through the fabric of her bra. "Oohhh, Jake..." she gasped as she arched against him, rubbing and panting.

It was so hot in here all of a sudden, sweat dotted her brow and sheened her body from her fight and from anticipation...anticipation for what she knew, but something was nagging at her. This wasn't the way she wanted it to be, she couldn't quite understand why, but maybe it had something to do with the bruises she was starting to feel around her body.

Oh but it felt so good, the pressure, his mouth on her breast, it had been awhile since she'd been touched like this, aw why hadn't she done this sooner?? So hot..it was so hot...her heart suddenly hitched in her chest as she felt shame spreadiing through her body. She knew what this was going to lead to...

"Jake...Jake...is...is something burning?" she gasped between trying to control her moans of pleasure.

The first mention of his name had him slowly lifting his head. There was...something in her tone. And then he heard her question...and he felt his heart sink just a little bit. Meeting her eyes, the heat diminishing in his just the slightest, he nodded his head. Slowly lowering her hips, he gracefully slid away from overtop of her.

Standing up, he turned without a word and headed into the kitchens, waiting until he was out of site before he slammed his closed fist into the counter top, leaning against it as he struggled to control himself.

"Fuck." Another punch and he covered his face with a hand, clearing his throat hard before he stood up, flicked the stove on with an angry twist of his wrist and pulled the pot he had discarded earlier towards him. She wanted to stop, fine. He was stopping.

After Jake got off of her she lay there in a daze the cold air whipping around her body. This wasn't supposed to be this way! What the hell had she been thinking?! She darted to her feet and scrambled to put her shoes on. She didn't bother to get a shirt and just grabbed her jacket.

She had to get bac to work NOW.

The only sound she made was the slamming of her door on the way out.