From Russia, With Screwdriver

There was nothing Victoria hated more than chasing one of those damn hounds halfway across the estate and carrying the damn thing back to the house. It didn’t matter how many times she told Tom not to let Albert or Lizzy out in the garden unsupervised; somehow the stablehand-butler always managed to forget and, since he had a bum knee and Grandmother wasn’t exactly going to be doing marathons anytime soon, it would be Victoria having to spend anywhere from a few minutes to a half hour sprinting over the whole damned grounds to get the gleefully escaped dog back in hand.

Doing so the minute she stepped out of her car after arriving home from one of the most stressful assignments she’d ever had was hardly a fabulous welcome home either. “Tom,” she panted as she handed the wagging foxhound off to the grinning older man. “I’m going to kill you while you sleep.”

“No, you won’t, Tori. Catharine’d have your head!” he snickered, then headed back indoors while promising Lizzy treats for being ‘such a good girl.’

Victoria suspected the butler was letting the dogs loose on purpose just to torture her. His timing was too perfect.

Slamming her car door shut—she hadn’t had a chance to when Tom had waved her down in the drive yelling that Lizzy was on the lam—she rounded it, got her bag from the boot, and headed for the guest house. She wanted a shower and then it would be time to catch up with Grandmother, get scolded for the peppering of cuts all along the right side of her face and forearm, and hopefully then the evening would be her own. If she could get away with abandoning Grandmother again so quickly, she thought, she might head out again for a day trip. Or longer.

It depended on whether or not that mutt she’d taken a liking to would be home. By now, when she had been gone a little over a month and a half, it was very likely he wouldn’t be.

“Need to work out a system for this,” she muttered to herself as she hopped in the shower. It wasn’t as if she could very well call him to see if he were in, after all, not when it wasn’t unheard of for HQ to spy on their own time to time. Leaving him without a heads-up had not been exactly appealing to her, but she’d known he would figure it out. He was smart; she wouldn’t waste time on an idiot.

So it was that later that evening, at the first falls of dusk, she was getting back in her car for another drive. A ways out still, she found a public garage and hailed a taxi, and then had it wait at the curb as she walked up to one of Evan’s neighbors’ place first, eyed the number as if she were looking for the right address, and then moved on to his door. She knocked briskly and waited, figuring to give it a half minute before she’d head back to the cab.

It was around 35 seconds after a knock at his door that Evan managed to answer it. He had been sleeping soundly on his couch after a couple of beers, and when the knock had come, he had deftly rolled off the couch (his terms, he actually fell in surprise), and now somewhat alert, managed to head to his front door, opening it without bothering to look through the spy hole.

His hair was tousled from sleeping, the sleeves of his perfectly white shirt rolled up past the elbow with a couple buttons undone, loose black tie askew, equally ebony trousers and belt cladding his barefoot form. Amber brown eyes lit up in further surprise as the woman who was now a couple of steps away from his door turned around, and he spoke plainly, “Hey.”

A grin instantly hitting her lips, Victoria waved the cab off—she’d paid him the fare thus far before getting out—and stepped back to Evan’s stoop. “Well then, don’t you look like the lord of kip,” she chuckled. She gently pushed him back with a hand to the chest as she let herself in and closed his door. “Did I wake you or is this how you greet all the ladies?”

“I’m not sure. I’ll ask a lady when I see one.” He smirked and backed her up against his door. “And what brings you to this part of the neighbourhood, hmm?” His hands came up to press at the door at either side of her shoulders. “If it’s brandy you’re after I’m afraid we’re all out. Had a great session a few weeks ago and I haven’t had time to replenish the stock just yet.”

The brunette’s fingers were already dealing with the obstacle of his shirt buttons, though she was taking her time about it. “I could give you a perfectly lewd answer to that,” she told him, “and mean it absolutely. Or I could give you a much less fun answer that is equally honest and possibly makes me sound a tad pathetic…” His shirt now completely undone, she hooked a finger in his tie to pull his face close. “Be truthful, hm? Does bomb-rash make me look positively rugged or just plain ridiculous?” she asked with a smirk in regard to the innumerable tiny scabs she sported.

Evan’s answer was in the form of laying small kisses on each little mark down her face, then moving to her forearm, where he lay one final kiss to the back of her hand when he had finished, and after laying that hand over his shoulder, his own went to her behind so that he could lift her swiftly up to his hips. He carried her to seat her on the back of the couch. “Well, you just put two of my current favourite things in the same sentence. Fire and you.” He smirked. “Can’t say I’d want to see those two things together at the same time, but,” he brushed her affected cheek lightly, “I can’t say it’s unbecoming, either.”

Victoria laughed lightly. “If I didn’t know better, mutt, I’d think you practiced that charm every morning just in case.” She lifted her hands to cup his face before asking, “Do you want to hear why I’m here, truly?”

“Uhh.” He actually thought on this for a moment, as if there were some reason she should be asking that. “Yeeeeah… Unless there’s some sort of deathly flu you’re trying to give me. I’d rather you tell me later so I can at least die happy.”

After shaking her head with a slight chuckle (bless this man’s indomitable sense of humor), she looked him in the eye as she said rather seriously, “I was in Serbia. Do you remember that shithead fellow who was on the lists a while back, a bomber, Charles Mason? Turns out the little wanker had a brother who decided to go into the family business. By the time I tracked down where his manufacturing was holed up, his pack of shits had hit France, Belgium, Germany, and as I hear it half of the office had to hit the field. I finally found the freak and his toyshop, of course, and I nailed him. Oh I nailed his ass good.” She paused. “But not before I had to see him turn two women, a man, and a kid to smithereens.” She gestured loosely at her face, as it was evidence of that encounter. “And do you know what I was thinking on the flight home?”

“Well there’s no doubt about it. You were lamenting the loss of your final screwdrivers…” Evan smiled softly and turned the question just as calmly, “What were you thinking?”

Giving his ear a harmless tweak for the sass, she told him, “I was thinking that at least this time I have someone I can tell this to and he’s going to know. There’s someone to know exactly what it is, this shit we do all the damn time, and what it means. And he’s likely going to crack jokes anyway and be an absolute cheeky git and I’m going to love him for it. I’m going to screw his brains out and get my fingers in his hair and come morning I won’t feel like a shitty robot for going on with life after watching people get blown to pieces right in front of me.” She took a deep breath. “Now didn’t I tell you it’d make me sound a mite pathetic?”

“Not in the least.” Evan smiled truthfully. “Especially ‘cause I was excited about the day I’d see you again—if I would see you again—so I could tell you all the cool shit I’ve been up to.” He brushed a hair back from her eyes as the other stroked her back. “It really is great to finally know you can tell someone. Oh and for the record? I really liked that part in the middle,” he said in reference to her speech and, chuckling, moved in to kiss her slowly.

Raising her legs to wrap firmly around him (toeing her heels off first of course) and gripping his tie a little tighter, Victoria relished that kiss. And, of course, followed it up with one just a little hungrier. When eventually they broke, her lips headed for his neck again, she mentioned, “We need a damn system. It’s a bloody long drive up here, I’ll have you know, and if you hadn’t been home I would’ve been stuck with another long one back. Utter bullocks.”

His shirt was shrugged off onto the floor as she kissed at his neck, and as she left a sassy suck and bite, he mused, “Oooh, that’s gonna leave a mark…” He added to sass her, “…do it again.” She did and he grinned, hands moving to catch the bottom of her shirt, her arms lifting to help him get it up and over her head as it was discarded over onto a chair. “Maybe we can figure out a way of—ooh,” he smirked at her bite of his Adam’s apple, “…of letting each other know we’re about…”

He unhooked her bra and discarded that too, adoring the feel of her bare chest to his again, his lips heading for her own. “You know the internet is a wonderful thing…”

“Oh is it?” she asked, not really paying attention to what he said as she was busy with disposing of his belt and biting his lip.

“Oui ma chérie.” He licked her back and kissed her thoroughly, hands moving to undo her own trousers, and once they were properly seen to, his hands went to her back and he let her down onto the couch slowly. Once her back was settled onto the cushions, he helped her trousers off and kissed at the feet up in the air with a bemused look about him.

The burst of laughter that resulted in was a lot more abrupt and loud than her usual before she explained, “Ticklish there, a bit,” and then used her feet about his middle to pull him snug up against the couch’s back. With a swift motion following that, she’d gotten her calves and ankles hooked around his neck and shoulder and flipped him up and sideways to land on the couch as well. She let go before he’d fallen all the way, crossing her legs at the knee to rest over the cushions still while she laced her fingers in his hair and gave it a gentle tug. “You were saying?”

“Well…” He looked up at the ceiling, and after a moment looked to her. “…no idea. I suppose a ‘shut up and kiss me’ could work effectively here anyway.” He grinned and righted himself on the couch, and on hands and knees crawled into her and kissed her, while pushing her gently to her side and then on her front to her knees. He came to press himself into her behind, his kisses already having trailed down her chin and neck, now making their way down her spine as his hands rather massagingly stroked her sides, back and hips.

Victoria made a purring growl of a sound as his kisses found her lower back. She reached back long enough to capture one of his hands and pull it to her breast, but not before ducking her head to give a couple of his fingers a quick suck and scrape of the teeth. Pushing back against him slightly, she looked over her shoulder. “Enjoying the view, love?” she teased with a smirk.

“Oh, definitely.” He smiled into her back as he toyed with her breast, hands then sliding down her sides to her hips as he sat back on his heels, bringing her back up to him. His paws moved her hair out of the way so he could kiss her neck, then returned to her front to take up a handful each. He nibbled at her earlobe. “You have no idea how good you feel.” After speaking his mind and wanting to indeed feel more of her, his right hand then left the place on her chest and headed south, over her belly and down into her pretty underwear.

“If it’s even half as good as you,” she moaned, eyes closing and biting her lip over what he did to her with even the slightest touch before she could bring herself to finish, “then pretty bloody good. Dear god, forget those pretty bullocks of yours, I’ll just keep your hands.” She chuckled and then let her head fall back to his shoulder, her hand going to cover his over the fabric of her panties. “Slow this time, handsome. Nice and slow.”

He did as she ordered, fingers toying with her slowly and smoothly, the hand at her breast gently massaging her nipple while he kissed along her neck and shoulder. He took his time, gently riling her up for a few minutes before his hand was removed and he bemusedly licked at his fingers. His hands then set to sliding her underwear down with his thumbs as she sat up a little to accommodate him, then began working on his own buttons as more kisses were littered along her shoulder-blades.

Victoria’s hands soon found their way back there and began scooting his trousers off his hips, managing to get fingers around the length of him moments later. “There’s my good soldier,” she purred. Slow, twisting strokes were lavished on him for his earlier efforts while she turned her head to kiss him again with equally steady-paced passion.

His hands took up their previous positions as she worked him, getting right back at her, small moans intermingled with kisses. They worked for what felt like eternity with that relaxed pace, Evan soon giving in on his craving to be inside her, lifting her up to an appropriate height and guiding her back down onto him, moaning with a bite into her shoulder as she sank down around him. Victoria’s hand came up as she made a little sound, her head lolled back on his shoulder again. Her fingers found his tie, getting a grip on it that tightened as she came down. When he was fully within her, she shuddered and opened her eyes to grin at the mark he’d left in her shoulder. “Oh I think I like that,” she breathed.

“Good.” Evan licked at the bite mark bemusedly, hands going to her chest as he began to thrust slowly and rhythmically into her, moaning kisses at her neck and shoulder line as she held him captive with his tie. After a while he shifted her forward on her hands and knees, hips still rocking into her as he propped himself up with his left hand, right sent down her belly and between her legs to stroke her softly, biting and moaning at her ear. She gave as good as she got too, thrusting herself back to him with little sounds of pleasure, moaning when he’d bite down anywhere.

As pressure built and she neared orgasm, she fumbled for something to hold onto now that she didn’t have his tie to grip, and her hand ended up closing with a death grip on his wrist where he held himself up. “Evan,” she gasped. “Faster. Please.”

He obeyed her again, this time removing her hands to bring them up to the back of his head as she lifted up a bit, his own hands heading to hold her hips into him. It was then that he began to thrust powerfully and with gaining pace, moaning and gasping into her. He neared his own peak quickly at that speed and managed to moan a “Holy fuck…” before he came moments later with a groan and another bite to her shoulder.

“Damn,” Victoria chuckled, squeezing herself as best she could around him just to see how he’d react. She was this close, hadn’t made it, but damned if she cared just then. She felt good enough as it was that it didn’t really matter to her for the moment. She turned her head, hands in his hair pulling just a little roughly as she gave him a good long kiss. “I think I’d better invest in rubbers at this rate,” she noted when she let him go. “Not that you don’t feel fucking gorgeous, mutt; I’d keep you inside me every day of the year if I had my way.”

“That sounds like a damn fine idea.” He smirked as he kissed her, deciding rather morosely to slowly withdraw from her with a sigh despite his comment and turn her around to slide up her front. He left kisses along the way and then took a breast into his mouth lazily. After biting softly at the little bud of a nipple, he mused, “And as much as I hate to admit it, a jacket would be good I suppose… After all, I don’t think either of us want the sound of four countries mixed together in a little package running around.”

She tensed, shivered, and grinned at the nip, running hands through his hair idly over and over. “I was more concerned about the fact it wouldn’t mix well with work and, while it’s no problem for me, I hardly know you, sir,” she said haughtily, grinning wider. Her fingers started to trace his ear, familiarizing herself with the shape. “Though I do think we’d make a very fine package. Two beautiful people such as ourselves? Naturally that mutt would be cream of the crop, hm?” A hand under his chin brought him up for another kiss and a random question when that was done. “What’s your favourite colour?”

“Whatever you wear.” He smirked and added, with a kiss at her chin, “Or more appropriately whatever you take off.” She laughed and he said truthfully, “I’m not sure if it has a name. This green-blue I saw once. What about yours?”

“Hm. That reddish-brown, what is it called…sienna? That or black.” She chuckled, twining a leg around his. “Does black count as a colour? Alright then, favorite music?”

“I thought you’d already snooped around my place?” He grinned and casually sent a hand down to take up its previous position of stroking her gently, kisses moving to the side of her neck as he talked into her. “Classic rock, mainly. You wouldn’t believe it but I’m a sucker for some classical too. Especially after some port and a lie on the couch.”

Victoria took a moment to enjoy his touch, biting at her lip, hands sliding to his back now. “Well, you know,” she began saying, having to pause now and then to let herself ride the pleasure, “it’s one thing to snoop about and it’s quite another to hear you tell me. And the classical, well, actually that seems unsurprising somehow. Now I know you smoke—I found a pack last time—but when? Your lungs seem plenty in shape to—god, right there, love… Ah, plenty in shape to me.” By now her fingers had left a couple of little dents and gouges in his back when she’d get closer to climax and looking over his shoulder at these left her smiling smugly.

Evan had let out small, favourable groans each time she had dug her nails in, and he noted as his kisses trailed to a breast again, his whole body shifting lower, “Takes a lot of drink to get me to smoke, but when I do… I don’t know. Feels like fresh air in my lungs and—” his breath hitched as she moaned “…calms me down.”

He licked and teased at her nipple with tongue and teeth, fingers soon sliding within her as his thumb was left to toy with the small nub that gave her pleasure. It was when she was on the verge of her climax that he shifted to thrust his newly refreshed hardness within her, right at the point of her peak, groaning as she tightened around him, his teeth biting at the flesh of her breast gently.

“Jesus fucking christ,” she cried, whole body arching with the orgasm that shook her, muscles tightening to the point of spasms in her abdomen and thighs. “Fuck,” she panted, repeating the words a couple more times, each time louder until it ceased to be a word and just became a scream. Her fingers were dug into his bicep so hard it hurt her knuckles and she moaned even while trying to get her breath back. “Good. God,” she finally laughed, grip lightening a bit but her legs coming up to hook around his hips and hold him to her. “Your neighbors are going to think you’re killing me!”

“Tough luck there, Princess,” he mused into her flesh, her voice that had sent his heart racing still ringing in his ears. “I had the place soundproofed when I moved in.” He grinned. “Couldn’t have the neighbourhood hearing what goes on in here if something should go wrong, after all.” He was correct, of course. If someone were to track him down and try to off him, the police being called would be the last thing he would want.

He smirked and gave her nipple a little lick, looking up at her. “You can scream as loud as you want to, no one’s gonna hear.” It sounded like a dare.

Victoria shook her head, entirely too amused with the blond. “You mean scream as loud as you make me,” she corrected with a mirroring smirk. “And oh, but you do make me so very good.” Rocking her hips once, then tightening her thighs around his, she raised an eyebrow while lacing her fingers behind her head as if to relax. “Are you trying to distract me from interrogation, mutt?”

“Perhaps.” His hips rolled into her smoothly to get her back, mouth moving back to her own to kiss her soundly, hands curling into her hair. “A guy’s gotta have some secrets, you know.” He kissed her again, a lengthy, slow and passionate kiss that kept his pulse at its desired, rhythmic speed, his hips slowly pulling out to push back into her again at a pace that matched. He laughed softly after the kiss broke and bit at her bottom lip. “You have no idea how unbelievably horny you make me.”

“Oh, I don’t know,” she responded, still in that lazy pose. “I’ve got a pretty good idea just from how bloody sore you made me last time.” A quick kiss in return and she added, “Besides which, believe me, the feeling is thoroughly mutual.” She rather liked the feel of his hands in her hair by now, the strength he brought to their play whether slow or fast, and someone she could laugh at or with this much during sex was hard to come by. “Ah, do you mind if I make you horny for a day or two, by the by? I’ve got a month and a half to make up for, you see, and I intend to get as much of you as I can before one of us is called off to save the world again.”

“Now that sounds like a plan.” He kissed her at this, sweeping her into a rather sensual embrace. They carried on on the couch for another twenty minutes before a shower was called for, Victoria leaving Evan with a stupid, satisfied look on his face. It only took a couple of minutes for him to join her, both taking turns to wash one another’s backs and blow suds at each other. The playfulness soon turned on them, as it wasn’t long before Haverson kept her promise about his hormones and they were at it again.

Once they were again satisfied to a degree and clean again, Evan left to pull on a towel and order some take out for dinner. The night continued with much of the same flirty talk and jokes, the pair still taking turns to ask various questions about each other—mainly small things like favourite animal or place visited.

They retired past midnight, happily boozed and fed, new bits of information swimming around Evan’s head as he curled up into her back under the blankets, draping an arm over her waist lazily and kissing at her shoulder. The last thing he uttered before falling into a deep sleep was a casual, “’Night Princess.”

The morning saw them at play once again, morning showers and breakfast to follow. Evan was soon strolling around the place in naught but a pair of jeans, music blaring some classic compilation of Woodstock. He slumped down on the couch and was reaching for his coffee when the phone rang. He reached for it lazily, turning the music down a couple of notches and answering, “Luigi’s Bar and Bistro, how-a may-I ‘elp-a-you?”

Silence reigned at the other end for a moment and then came an exasperated, “Is this some sort of girly goth bond in-joke I’m missing? Why do you two answer the phone like fast food restaurants every time I call?”

“Mainly ‘cause it annoys you.” Evan grinned into the phone, picking up his coffee. “And how is Freckles doing? Oh, did you put that venison you were talking about on the menu?”

“I’m okay. Bored. Dan is working or something and I have to finish this stupid menu for that lady’s wedding. Why do people ask for food they don’t like for weddings? It’s silly! Um. Right, the venison. No, but I’m going to debut it next Wednesday, I think. When did you get home?”

Victoria appeared from the kitchen then, a glass of water in hand, and padded over to lay on the couch next to him, legs draped over his lap. She hadn’t bothered with figuring out where her trousers or bra had gotten to yet and had been spending any time that she wasn’t wandering his house naked wearing just her panties and one of her tank tops. ‘Who is that?’ she mouthed to Evan, then grinned and added, ‘Other woman?’

Evan grinned at her, holding up three fingers to hint that this was his third girlfriend on the phone, all the while replying to Trice, “We all know weddings are just an excuse to get drunk and throw cake in each other’s faces anyway. Ahh, the last socially acceptable abuse towards each other… And I got in yesterday, twelve hund—” he forgot for a moment that he was at home, and cut himself off, correcting his military speech, “Lunchtime.”

Trice promptly asked, “Have you been eating junk food again?”

He cast a sideways glance to the discarded Chinese boxes from the night before. “Nooooooooo,” he quite clearly lied. “Besides, what else am I supposed to eat if you’re not around to cook for me?” At this he cast a sassy wink at Victoria, clearly hinting to their morning tussle.

“You know you can order from the Libertine and they know to deliver, Evie! Stop making excuses. What are you doing tonight? Ansel is boring and if Dan’s going to be busy then I’ll get bored and start looking for something to do and you know how that always goes.”

While the chef was talking, Victoria was playing piano-fingers on Evan’s ribs, gently pressing bruises, scratches, and other marks she’d made in earlier fooling around or ones he had earned in the last month while they were each on respective jobs. Bored in her own way, seeing how well he’d hold up to keeping quiet on the phone while she half-tormented him was apparently going to be her entertainment for the time being.

“Hey now, no blowing things up, alright?” His breath hitched a little a moment later as Victoria pressed a deep bruise at his side. “Oh, what am I doing tonight?” He glanced at the woman playing at his chest for help. “I just thought I’d stay in and…rest or something….catch up on a few things.” It wasn’t technically lying, really.

Trice said nothing for nearly five full seconds. And then she asked slowly, quite suspicious, “Evaaan. Are you having sex while you’re on the phone with me? Because I swear…ew.”

He burst out laughing at that, surprising the girl next to him. “No, Freckles, I’m not having sex. And if I were I would most definitely not be talking to you while I was.” He grinned, hearing her relief, and his free hand went to stroke through Victoria’s hair absently, not really even noticing what he was doing, as comfortable as he felt with her.

Victoria shifted to sit up and give him better access to her hair (she liked it when he did this), grabbing some fiction novel off his coffee table and curling up against his side, legs folded under her, as she flipped idly through it and made bemused faces at the quality of his reading material. Trice was oblivious to this, of course, and asking Evan, “So then I guess me offering to bring lamb for supper is out? You’re going to be all boring on me too now, aren’t you? …I guess I could go steal something.” This last was clearly an attempt to get him to agree to keep her company and out of trouble, but then it was Trice and with her sticky fingers she might very well mean it.

Evan lifted the handle of his coffee mug with a toe, just high enough to let it go so she could hear the clink. “Woop, hold on a sec,” he said to Trice, “coffee emergency.” He hit the mute button on the phone and asked the other female now in his life, “Trice’s bored as hell. Were you planning on staying tonight? Should I set something up with her tomorrow?”

She glanced up at him and chuckled. “That’s up to you, handsome. Grandmother knows I had no definite plans but isn’t expecting me until tomorrow evening. Though I could always disappear for the night if you’d like and come around later, or even head home early.” She leaned up to give him a quick kiss. “Don’t let me interfere with your life, hm? I did invade, after all, and much as I enjoy having you to myself, I won’t be greedy.”

“Mm, but the thing is I want you to be greedy. Means I get to see more of you.” He smiled at her and gave her a kiss, unmuting the phone and speaking to Trice, his left hand continuing a slow stroke of dark hair. “Remind me to get more cloths. Yeah, come over in a couple hours. Maybe we can watch that movie you’ve been wanting to see.” He said his goodbyes to her after making her promise to bring food, and hung up.

“Sorted.” He removed himself from her then, wandering into the hallway and becoming quiet for a minute, coming out soon with a single, plain looking key. “Between you and me, I happen to have a ‘just in case’ safe house.” He sat next to her and handed it to her, telling her the address. “It’s only twenty minutes away so it’s much less of a drive to your place, and this way you don’t have to stay at a hotel.”

Eyebrows raised in mild surprise, Victoria took the key and then started to grin at him. A moment later she had shoved him onto his back and was crawling up over him. “You are one fabulous little mutt,” she purred. “And in terrible need of some reward.”

“Ooh I do so like that idea.” His hands slid to her hips and stroked up and down her sides, watching her eyes as he did so. “What kind of reward are we talking about, though…? ‘Man gets cookie’ reward or ‘man gets fabulously dirty sex’ reward?”

“Oh, I was just thinking ‘man gets pat on the head’ reward,” she teased, fingers starting to slide into his hair again.

“Well that could work.” Evan tilted his head to look down at his jeans, and then looking back up to her, turned her words against her with a grin. “He’s waiting.”

With a laugh, Victoria leaned down to give him a good long kiss that was just a prelude to the next hour the pair would spend.