John swallowed hard. She was so close. He could feel the heat of her and knowing that she was totally naked under that dress made his dick harden and his balls nearly scream with agony.

“Trying to be my mother now?” He licked his lips and resisted the urge to bury his face between her breasts. She smelled so warm and sweet and he was practically drooling from the urge to taste her.

“Not likely.” Her fingers raked across his chest again. Sliding her hand up his neck, she tangled her fingers in his hair, pulled his head back and planted a kiss on the bridge of his nose. “But you might get a spanking if you don't behave.”

She let go of his hair and moved around the table. She pulled out a chair and sat across from him.

“What?” He smirked. “You don't want me to pull your chair out for you?”

“Since when have you ever been a gentleman, John Sheppard?” She sighed and picked up her fork. “I'm a big girl. I can handle myself.” She smiled at him and he felt something warm touch the inside of his thigh.

He jumped and realized that she was nudging the front of his jeans with her toe. He felt his face go red.

“You're a big boy too.” Her eyes widened slightly and she made a little growling sound. She sounded almost like she was purring. “A very big boy.”

“What the hell are you trying to do?” He grabbed at her foot but she'd already moved it away and was sliding it along the length of his leg.

“Nothing you don't want me to do.” She laughed and pulled her foot back before he could grab at her again. Picking up a roll from the basket on the table she threw it at him and it hit him square in the chest. “Now eat your dinner before it gets cold.”

John scowled at her and then picked up his fork. He didn't like being ordered around. But the food smelled delicious and he wasn't stupid enough to turn down the first really decent meal he'd had in weeks. The thought that the food might be drugged flittered through his mind but one taste of the steak on his plate and he really didn't give a damn about it.

Andi set down her fork and reached for the bottle of wine beside her on the table. She poured a glass and handed it to him. He took it, swallowed about half the glass of the sweet stuff and set it down beside his plate.

He knew that she was watching him and though it pissed him off a little, he kept on eating until he finished the last roll and drained his glass of the rest of the wine.

He set the glass down and raised his head to look at her. In the light of the candles flickering on the table her eyes looked soft and sleepy. John's lips quirked slightly. She might look like she was about to doze off but he knew that was just an act. Andi was as sharp as a tack and those gray eyes of hers never missed a thing.

As if knowing what he was thinking she opened her eyes and looked directly into his.

“Finished?” She shifted slightly and the dress pulled taunt across her breasts. Her nipples were like hard pin points beneath the thin material of her dress.

“You're not.” John forced himself not to look at her and nodded his head toward her nearly full plate.

“I'll have it wrapped for you.” She slid her chair back and stood up. “You can take it home with you.”

“What about dessert?” He couldn't resist asking.

“Since you were such a good boy you can have that now.”

John's head snapped up. The look she was giving him was hot enough to peel the paint off the walls.

She pressed something on the underside of the table and he heard a slight ringing noise from somewhere farther back inside the house. From out of nowhere, a slim Gothic looking youth appeared and stood patiently waiting by her side. She rested her hand on the young man's shoulder and whispered something in his ear.

The young man nodded, stood back and kept his eyes fixed somewhere on the wall behind John's head.

John gave him a curious look but the boy kept his eyes glued in that spot and wouldn't even so much as acknowledge that John was even there.

“Don't worry about him.” Andi took his hand and pulled him out of the chair. She pulled him after her and as she passed the silent young man, she gave him a light slap on the ass. “He won't tell anyone you were ever here. Anton knows how to keep his mouth shut.”

They were half way down the hall when John grabbed her arm and pulled her around to face him. “Just when do you plan to tell me exactly why you're back in Vegas?”

She looked at his hand on her arm and then looked up at him. A slight smile crossed her face and she reached up to gently touch his face.

“Sugar, you're the detective. I'm sure you've figured that out by now.”

“What?” His eyes narrowed slightly. “What's your plan, Andi? A little payback?” His grip tightened on her arm. “Have you got a camera hidden in your bed room? Are you gonna fuck me and then I'll awake up and find my face plastered all over the morning papers?”

He knew he'd made a mistake when her face went white and she slapped him hard across the face.

He rubbed at his sore jaw. “What's the matter, Andi? Did I hit it right?”

She grabbed the front of his jacket and shoved him hard against the wall. “No, Sheppard. You haven't got it right.” Her breath was hot on his face. “If I wanted to just 'fuck you' as you so eloquently put it, I would have done it already and kicked your ass back out into the street.”

“Then what?” He asked angrily. “Why go to all this trouble if you don't plan on setting me up?”

Her eyes went cold and for a second he thought she was going to slap him again. Then her expression softened and she looked at him with something he hadn't seen in a long time.

Hope.

She looked up at him and he was surprised to see the sad expression in her eyes. She sighed and touched his face again, running her soft fingers gently across his mouth.

“Did it ever cross your mind that maybe...just maybe...someone really wants you?”

“And what is it you want me for, Andi?” He glared down at her, his mouth twisted into a sneer. “To fuck you like a rabbit? Sorry, honey but I'm not about to hop to any of your commands.”

Andi's eyes darkened. She balled her fingers into a fist and punched him hard in the stomach. He doubled over and fell to his knees. His stomach lurched and he felt like the steak he'd just eaten was going to make a return visit.

“You know...” She grabbed a handful of his hair and jerked his head back so that he had to look up at her. “I really really don't like that word, John.” She raked her fingernails across his cheek and he felt the sting as her sharp talons drew blood. “Apparently your Mother didn't teach you how to talk to a Lady.”

“Fuck you.” John managed to gasp out.

Andi hit him again.

“Fuck...You!”

She drew back her hand and slapped him hard across the mouth. His head fell back and slammed into the wall only to have her jerk him forward and slam him into the wall again.