BountyHunterpart13

"What the hell is he doing here?" Michael watched his friend Max Evans get out of his shiny silver car and start walking towards Nancy Parker's house. Without thinking, he was out of the truck, Maria was on his heels trying to pull down her shirt and button her shorts on the way.

"Michael," Max stopped in mid step when Michael Guerin appeared in front of him. "Hi."

Michael narrowed his eyes and took Max by the arm leading him back towards the truck. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I was�" Max looked back and forth between his friend and the cute blond stranger next to him and smiled. "Who are you?"

"Never mind her, what the hell are you doing going to the Parker's?" Michael ignored the glare he knew he was getting from Maria.

"Hi," Maria elbowed Michael out of the way and extended her hand towards the dark-haired stranger with a great smile in front of her. Great smile? I wonder when I got so desperate. She again decided it was the heat and then wondered what the hell she looked like after sitting in a sweltering truck for more than an hour with an intensely sexy man next to her. "Maria DeLuca, please excuse the excess sweat but this town is entirely too hot."

In more ways than one.

The man shook her hand, "Max Evans, nice to meet you."

"Yeah, yeah," Michael rolled his eyes. "So Max, what the hell are you doing here?"

"It kind of bothered me that you were after Liz�I just wanted to stop by and see how her mom is doing."

"Have you heard from Liz?" Michael accused.

"I haven't heard from Liz in eight years," Max spat back with more emotion than he should have. "Nancy Parker was always nice and I'm sure she's been through a lot lately and I just wanted to see how she was. You know, considering my best friend is going to turn her daughter in."

"She's a criminal," Maria interjected as a realization hit her like a bullet train. "Evans? You and Isabel?"

"She's my sister," Max tilted his head to the left side. "You know Iz?"

"Shit," Michael sighed. "Maria is a bond enforcement agent and is also trying to catch your girlfriend."

"Another bad ass bounty hunter, huh?" Max said with something close to an amused look on his face. He glanced at Michael. "And she's not my girlfriend."

"Whatever, just do me a favor? Stay away from the Parker's or I'm going to start suspecting something might be going on," Michael pursed his lips and felt sweat trickle down his back.

"I'm sorry Michael, did you just become my keeper?"

"No, I've had that job for a long time already. Just go home Maxwell, I'll call you later and we'll meet for a beer tonight, okay?"

"Will you be joining us, Maria?" Max asked ignoring Michael completely and centering all of his attention on Maria.

"No, she won't. We're not friends and we won't go have a beer and talk about work," he smiled at Maria while speaking. "Right?"

"Actually, a beer later on sounds fantastic." Maria smiled back at him before facing Max. "Thank you."

Michael shook his head and looked at the ground. He had been pretty sure before that this Maria DeLuca was going to be a pain in his ass, now he was positive. "Go home Max. I--" he glanced at Maria, "Excuse me, we will meet you around six at the usual place. Unless of course we zero in on your girlfriend, then we might be a few minutes late."

"Great," Max smiled in Maria's direction. "I'll be looking forward to it." He started walking back across the street to his car and looked over his shoulder once before getting in.

"He's a friend of yours?" Maria asked after they got back in the truck. "That's hard to believe."

"Why is that so hard to believe?"

"He just seems so�Normal," Maria shrugged and folded her shirt back up under her breasts. She caught a glance at her chest and figured she might do pretty well in a wet T-shirt competition.

"He is normal, too normal." Michael turned on the bench seat to face her. He licked his lips taking in every inch of her. He knew he could turn on the a/c for a few minutes to cool them down, but seeing her sweaty with her shirt soaked against her skin, he'd suffer with the heat. "That's why I think he's hiding something."

"You don't believe he'd just show up to check on Nancy?" Maria knew Michael was looking at her and she liked it. She swiveled on the seat and sat cross-legged, her back against the door.

He shrugged, "He might. You never really know with Max. Well, I guess you'll see what I mean tonight."

Tonight. Maria nodded and wondered what in the hell had possessed her to tag along for a beer. Underneath the heat of a reckless desire, she didn't want to get involved. A night with Michael Guerin would be good, but that was it, she didn't have room in her life for a man. Especially not a man who lived in hell and was entirely too much like her.

* * *

Four hours and thirty-five minutes.

Maria gave up caring about Liz Parker around the three-hour mark. It was a lesson in futility as far as she was concerned. It was obvious that Liz Parker wasn't going to just walk down the street and into her mother's house. Nancy hadn't been seen all day except when she stepped on the porch to retrieve her mail.

"I can't take it anymore Guerin," She sat up straight after pulling away from the vinyl slowly. "I think I might be actually boiling. I mean, my skin is burnt from the windows and you've seen more of me that I ever thought imaginable." She glanced to her barely covered breasts.

Somewhere in the time that had passed, she managed to rip the front of her tank shirt open down the middle. The thin wet fabric hugged her nipples, but left most of her breasts exposed. She had fumed that it was turning her on the way Michael had watched her earlier, now she just didn't care.

Michael looked at her with heavy eyes. He'd ditched the sunglasses when they kept sliding off his nose. His eyes lingered on the milky flesh of her breasts and the slight discoloration of the contour of her aureole. If the heat wouldn't have melted the irrational part of his brain, he would have made a move.

He saw in his mind's eye what he wanted to do; but he didn't have the energy. He wanted to lean across the bench seat and pull her shirt open totally exposing what he had already seen part of. He wanted to suck the salty sweat off of her nipples until she begged him for more.

"Quit staring at my tits," she smiled.

"I can't help it," he shrugged. "They are right there." He pointed.

"Let's call it a day, we can shower and then figure out what to do next."

"Together?"

"Guerin, let me explain something to you," she pointed down to her chest. "What you see right now is all you're ever going to see. If it wasn't nine hundred degrees in this oven you call a truck, you would have never seen this much."

"Ouch," he started the truck and turned the radio up. He waited a few minutes with the truck running until he felt the first hint of cool air coming out of the vents. He turned the a/c up and watched Maria's chest. He saw her nipples poke through the material of her shirt and grinned. She wanted him, he was sure of that.

Maria closed her eyes and savored every second of the cool air and loud music. When she opened her eyes they were parked in the small dusty lot outside of the bail bonds office. She grabbed her boots and backpack and was out of the truck before Michael even turned off the engine.

"Where should I meet you and Max?" She asked walking around to the driver's side.

"Where are you staying?"

Maria raised one eyebrow at him, "The Martian Inn."

"Two blocks east, a little dive of a bar called Little Green Bar. You can't miss the green neon in the window."

"Little Green Bar," she nodded and walked to her jeep. "See you there."

Michael watched her get in the jeep and peel out of the parking lot. He looked towards the office and saw Isabel at the door watching him. He cut the engine and got out walking slowly towards his partner.

"You look like shit," she smiled and held the door open for him.

"Thanks," he smirked sarcastically. "It's freaking hot out there."

"So I noticed. Anything?"

"Liz arrived in Roswell this morning by bus, we've been at her moms all day and there's been no sign of her."

"So�?" She prompted.

"So I'm going home and taking a shower then I'm meeting Maria and your brother for a drink. Okay?"

Isabel nodded and looked like she wanted to say something more, but didn't.

"Oh, speaking of your brother," Michael turned towards her and began walking back towards the door. "Any idea why he felt the need to go and check on Nancy Parker today?"

TBC