As one-night stands went, this one was actually good-looking, for a welcome change. It was less common now, now that she’d given up, gone clean, but, while she had been shooting, some of the men she’d ended up with... Like things out of a horror movie.
She’d ordered a drink, a Bloody Mary, lips twitching with amusement to see the way this Special Agent Peter Strahm kept glancing from beer to her breasts, beer to her breasts. Just like Hoffman... only...
“You from here?” she asked, taking a sip of her cocktail.
“No, just... here, meeting with Homicide. Mostly going through paperwork, autopsies, that kind of thing.”
“Huh.” She took another, longer sip of the cocktail.
“What about you?”
“...Taking some night classes in engineering. Pretty... interesting.” Not too far from the truth, now, are we?
“Sounds great.” Don’t bring up Jigsaw, don’t bring up Jigsaw. His mind started to panic as he tried to think of a topic that wouldn’t offend her in any way. “So... any... uh... any roommates? Or you just live by yourself?”
“Well... does it matter? I was kinda hoping we could, maybe, go back to your place.” Her lips spread into a wicked smile, a look that seemed to cause the heat in the room intensify, sweat to appear on his skin. He worked his tongue around his dry lips, wondering how he could have thought of this as anything but a good night.
“Is a hotel room okay?” he breathed, unable to manage anything above a whisper. Her smile grew even wider at that, her body getting a little closer to Strahm, so tantalizingly close...
“Of course-” she broke off, her grin fading as she caught sight of something, rather, of someone, a someone who took a seat next to him, much to her apparent annoyance. He turned to look into a pair of hypnotic blue eyes, staring at him in a way- He had to tell himself it was in no way arousing, that those eyes weren’t making his skin sweat even more profusely.
Hoffman looked at the federal agent in front of him, taking in every detail of that angular face. Not bad-looking. If I were gay... rather than just... making her a little jealous... He smiled over Strahm’s shoulder, as he leaned a little closer to the agent, to Amanda’s glower.
“Usual,” he grunted to the man behind the counter, who seemed to be trying to grasp that he was back again, back for a drink, no less.
“Usual fifteen? Hoffman, you sonuvabitch, where the hell’ve you been all this time?”
Hoffman kept his gaze on Strahm, trying not to turn around, leap across the counter, and attack the man who had willingly helped take five years of his life away. You’re better than this, Hoffman. You’ve seen worse. Well, okay, you’ve tested worse... “Just the one.”
“Amanda. Nice of you to wait for me to park the car. Who’s this?” His beer was slid to him, a glass he caught and started to drink in one fluid movement.
“Does it matter? We were just leaving anyway.” Amanda slapped the cocktail glass to the table as she stood up, dark eyes flashing as Hoffman’s fingertips began to circle the counter, just next to Strahm’s arm, letting the side of his hand brush against the white material of his shirt. Strahm shivered from the oh-so-slight feeling, trying to imagine the woman next to him naked and prostrate on the countertop, trying not to face that just a little bit of contact with the man on the other side of him was enough to turn him on. No, no, think of her, think of how her bare skin would look, how easy it would be to penetrate her...
“We only just got here, Mandy.”
“Correction. You only just got here. We are heading back to a hotel room, and you can get shit-faced. Sound good?”
Hoffman’s hand strayed to Strahm’s arm, stroking the skin. “Face it, Amanda... you don’t have a chance.”
“A chance at what, asshole?”
“Just one girl, in a hotel room... Couldn’t even compare. My place... both of you’d love it.”
“Listen, both of you,” Strahm said, glancing from Amanda, bristling, to her... acquaintance of some sort. “Hotel room? Shit. His place? Sounds good. Thanks...”
“Hoffman. Mark Hoffman.” He looked over Strahm’s shoulder, his smile twisting into a kind of smirk as his eyes caught Amanda. “How about a threesome?”
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