BountyHunterpart5

Michael bit back surprise. He wasn't expecting that and he knew it showed on his face. The 'bounty hunter' remark usually scored him a few squeals from women. Obviously not this one. This was Maria DeLuca? "So, what are you doing here?" He felt like a high school boy again and didn't like it.

"What are you doing here?" She shot back at him as the mental wheels began turning in her head. "Are you here for Elizabeth Parker?" She had a cell phone in her hand before he could respond. She was punching in numbers, her blood pressure rising. She looked back at the man in jeans and T-shirt and knew she must be getting dizzy from either the heat or the anger because he was looking pretty damn good.

"Yeah, I'm here for Liz." Michael said dully, his posture determined that he wasn't quite sure how to take the woman in front of him.

"Damn it!" Maria shouted into the phone and walked a few paces away from Michael Guerin, just out of earshot.

He watched her, bemused at her actions, amused at her spirit. He jut one hip out and pursed his lips, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Oh right�" Maria shouted into the phone. "Have I ever let you down before?�Save it, just fucking save it�Oh yeah, I'll get her and I'll be back. Don't fuck with me again, Marco." She looked towards Michael and shook her head as she slid the phone back into her backpack.

"Problem?" Michael asked coyly and then licked his bottom lip.

"Yeah, I have a fucking problem and it appears to be you." She strode up to him and looked up into his face. Her breath caught as he gazed down at her, an amused half-smile gracing his lips. Shit, she thought.

"How can I already be a problem when we just met? It usually takes a little while for me to be a problem," he smiled.

She smiled in spite of herself and took a step away from him. She ran her hands through her almost dry hair; setting the backpack down on the sidewalk, she retrieved a hairbrush from it and brushed her shoulder length blond hair up into a ponytail before facing the oppressing stranger again.

"So, you're a bounty hunter, huh?" Maria asked from a few feet away. "I bet when you say that it makes all the girls swoon."

"Most of them," he sighed and wondered how Isabel had known he was going to meet his match. Damn, she was good.

"Well, Guerin is it?" She asked and waited for a nod before continuing although she remembered his name. "Well Guerin, I'm here in this circle of hell for a reason, to find Parker and take her back to Montana. Try not to get in my way."

"Get in your way?" Michael raised his sunglasses by the arm and looked at the petite woman in front of him. "How about you try not to get in my way, babe."

"Babe?" Maria raised her sunglasses mimicking him.

"Yeah, babe." Michael nodded feeling cocky.

"I am not your babe," Maria smiled sarcastically.

"I didn't say my babe, just babe." He shrugged and felt the heat of repartee that he got with Isabel; yet, slightly different. This woman was a stranger. A very hot, yet very annoying stranger.

"Well, if you must call me something, even though I don't know why you would since I will blow this place as soon as I have my girl, you may call me Maria."

"Well babe," He lowered his sunglasses and grinned. "I guess I could call you Maria since I'll be seeing you around. You're not going to get Liz."

"Oh," she lowered her glasses. "I'm not?"

"No, I don't think so. See, if you were as good as apparently you think you are, then I wouldn't have been hired to do your job for you." He let the words hang in the air watching the redness creep up her neck. Bingo. Damn she has a beautiful neck.

"I will get her Guerin. Without a doubt." Her words were heavy, each one stung. Self doubt loomed heavy through her, she attributed that to the heat as well.

"Not if I get her first," he raised an eyebrow and shrugged one shoulder.

She lowered her head and smiled at the burning sidewalk trying to keep her cool. When she raised her head, she damned herself for taking in every inch of Michael Guerin. From the leather of his boots, to the black T-shirt that was sticking to him like a second skin to the eyes hiding behind dark glasses.

"No, you see, I will get her. Period."

"You won't get her," Michael smiled.

"You seem awfully confident about that."

He held up his hand, surrendering. "Maybe we could do this together, you know, considering we're both after the same thing."

"Listen," she placed her hands on her hips and thrust her chest out, only second guessing that action after it was too late. After she saw his head dip forward. "We're not friends, we're not partners, we're not going to be like some kind of cop-buddy movie. We're not going to go out for a drink and talk about work. Are you getting all of this?" She waited for his curt nod before moving on. "I'm here to do a job and do it alone."

"Okay," he said slowly as his head bobbed up and down. "Well babe, excuse me, Maria, then I guess I'll be seeing you around. Good luck to you."

"I don't need luck, Guerin, I have skill. Maybe you'll be lucky and might get some for your birthday." The smile on her own lips was annoying her.

"Ouch," he laughed and shook his head. "You're pretty tough Maria, you know that?"

"I've been called worse."

"Yeah, I bet you have." He mumbled as she turned away from him. He waited until she was just a few steps away before saying anything else. "Hey, I know Liz Parker. We went to high school together." He smiled as he watched her shoulders sag.

Maria closed her eyes at the last statement made by this Michael Guerin. So he knew Liz Parker? Great, she thought, just freaking great. She took a few more steps towards the jeep and stopped. "Quit staring at my ass, Guerin."

Michael smiled widely; he watched her get into her car and pull out onto the street.

TBC