BountyHunterpart17

"How many more hotels?" Maria asked after they had already visited eight without any luck.

"Two, including yours." Michael looked at the picture of Liz Parker in his hand. "I guess it's a good thing you had this with you, huh?"

"I guess," Maria adjusted the seatbelt to ride below her sweltering breasts. "I'm sure Isabel has one back at the office; I forgot to ask."

"Yeah," Michael nodded and damned himself for not thinking about asking the mug shot. Rookie mistake.

"Well, if she were at my hotel, I'd have seen her, so we can rule that one out. So one more." Maria shifted her attention to the passing scenery.

Michael rolled his eyes at her complete confidence. Throughout the morning they had seemed to get along; get along better than he expected after the scene in the parking lot the night before. She was acting as if it never happened and he was waiting for it to happen again.

"Okay, so one more." Michael grabbed a water bottle from the seat in-between them and took a long swallow. Hitting a pothole, he jammed the lip of the bottle into his chin and dribbled water down his face. He knew she had been watching without looking over at her. "Not a word DeLuca, not a word."

Maria bit her lip as she watched Michael wipe his chin and then toss the bottle out the window into the bed of the truck. As they passed by the bank she was startled to see the temperature displayed on the side of the building was over a hundred. Michael had mentioned it was going to be hotter today; he was right.

Any coolness that had slipped into her body was revoked the second she saw the numbers. Sweat trickled down in-between her breasts, soaking into the cotton bra she had deemed a good idea early in the morning. As the time approached noon, she was rethinking her entire ensemble. Sandals would feel better than boots, no bra would feel better than bra. At least the shorts and cotton bikini underwear were working for her.

"So, what do you think you're going to get out of Max tonight?"

Maria cocked her head one side almost positive she detected the same jealousy as the night before right before the 'parking lot incident' as she was beginning to refer to it in her head. "I don't know, he's your friend, what do you think I'm going to get out of him?"

Michael shrugged, the visuals of this DeLuca woman going on a date with his friend was bothering him way more than he knew it should. "He'll probably analyze you when you're not looking."

"Analyze me?" Maria smirked and lifted first one thigh then the other from the seat thinking about how many layers of skin she was leaving behind.

"He's a psychology guy, working on his degree, he has a tendency to analyze everyone," Michael glanced in her direction just long enough to notice her chest had a sheen of sweat on it. Just long enough to feel a familiar little jump in his groin.

"Really?" Maria wiped new sweat from her forehead and wondered if the a/c was fizzling out. "He'll analyze me on a date?"

"I don't know, I've never been on a date with him before." Michael sighed. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

"I think I can handle Max Evans," Maria eyes danced behind dark glasses. "God, did it get really hot in here or what?"

"No babe, I think it's just you."

She smiled and caught herself staring at the way his jeans fit so snugly over lean hips. "Whatever, Guerin."

"Nice comeback, babe. Heat getting to you?" Michael pulled into a motel parking lot.

Maria didn't answer him and figured there would be a lot of that. Michael Guerin was worming his way under her skin and she couldn't stop it. She looked at him again and wondered if there might be something more there than just a wild one-nighter before she blew out of hell. She shuddered at her thoughts and got out of the truck meeting Michael at the front doors to walk in together.

The female counter clerk couldn't have been older than eighteen; but her belly gave away the signs of being sexually active. At least she had been about six or seven months earlier.

"You need a room?" The clerk drawled and Maria knew in an instant that she wasn't local. That was a sweet Southern drawl. "For the whole day or half?"

Michael licked his lips ready with an answer for the knocked-up teen, but Maria beat him to it.

"Honey," Maria shook her head. "Look, me and my brother here," she motioned to Michael with a nod. "We're looking for his girlfriend and we think she's here in Roswell somewhere." Maria handed the clerk Liz's mug shot. "See, my brother was in a serious car accident a little while back and got some brain damage. His girlfriend broke up with him and now we're trying to find her to let her know besides the drooling, he's really okay."

The clerk looked back and forth between Maria and Michael and nodded sadly, then looked at the picture Maria had handed her. "Yeah, she looks familiar." She nodded and chanced another look at Michael.

Michael, not to be outdone by Maria, instantly began drooling, his mouth hanging open. A fine line of spit ran down his chin and hung in the air like a wet spider web dangling in the breeze.

"Really?" Maria leaned on the counter trying to nicely pressure the clerk for more information. She looked over her shoulder at Michael and tried to fight the laugh when she saw him drooling.

"Yeah, but her hair was different. Red, I think. And shorter." The clerk nodded and then grinned. "Right, she was here! Yesterday! She checked in for a half day and checked back out after a few hours."

"You sure it was her?" Maria felt the adrenaline rush through her.

"Oh yeah, she was really sweet." She looked at Michael. "I hope you get her back."

"Me too," Michael nodded and wiped some of the drool off his chin with the back of his hand.

"She probably didn't mention where she was going, did she?" Maria asked.

The clerk shook her head. "No, but I saw her get into a car out front."

"A car?" Michael wiped the rest of the drool from his chin.

"Yeah a really shiny silver car."

Maria looked at Michael and he nodded. Max Evans drove a very shiny silver car.

TBC