So, I've actually had this chapter written up for a little while (probably around two weeks) but I didn't want to update until I'd had time to write up a few more chapters to follow after this one, unfortunately, with my crazy schedule, that didn't happen. So I figured I'd just post this chapter and not make you all wait any longer. That's not to say how soon I'll be updating again though, sorry. I have been ridiculously busy (as mentioned briefly in the post I put on my message board) and it only got worse this weekend, but it's getting better.

I do not have an update for Agent 34, so I apologize, when I have had a few minutes to write I've been working on Catching the Storm as I am closer to finishing that one than Agent 34 at the moment. So, my apologies.

I do have another chapter for Catching the Storm written up as well, but I have not finished editing that one yet. Of course, there may still be some editing mistakes in this one, so please feel free to point those out and I'll fix them.

I also wrote a bit of rant at the end of this chapter (you obviously don't have to read it) as I'm just frustrated and wanted to get it out.

Anyway, Enjoy!

Crystal's POV

The sun was streaming in through the window, casting its bright light right into my eyes. I blinked several times as I continued to lie in bed until finally, my eyes had adjusted to the sudden harsh light waking me from what had actually been a very deep sleep. I groaned and threw an arm over my eyes, trying to block out the light and go back to sleep. I was not ready to face the day and even less ready to deal with the infuriating conman sleeping on the couch.

I suddenly frowned and uncovered my eyes to look back at the window, at the curtains that I could now distinctly remember closing before I had gone to sleep. I pushed myself into a seated position as my still sleep-induced brain tried to make sense of exactly what the open curtains meant.

Well for one it means someone opened them. Brilliant deductive work Crystal, really.

I rubbed at my eyes and then began to glance around the room, to see if anything else was out of place. And there was.

I let out a scream as I scrabbled back, only to fall off the bed and hit the floor, my head hitting the nightstand beside me. I swore and rubbed at the back of my head as Jackson shot up in alarm, looking all around the room for the reason I had screamed.

He frowned, his hair tousled from sleep and half in his eyes as he then looked at me sitting on the floor rubbing at my head with a glare directed right at him.

"Why were you screaming?"

I looked at him in disbelief. "Oh, I don't know," I said sarcastically. "It must have nothing to do with waking up to a man in my bed when I know I went to bed alone."

He rolled his eyes. "Good to know your sarcasm works this early in the morning," He said as he put his head back down on the pillow in front of him and closed his eyes. "And close the curtains will you?"

Alarms went off in my head. "Were you not the one who opened them?" I asked him.

He lifted his head from the pillow once more to look down at me still on the floor. "What are you on about?"

I narrowed my eyes at him and gritted my teeth together. "I closed the curtains before I went to bed, did you not open them when you invited yourself into the bed?"

This time he pushed himself up into a seated position, a look of alarm on his face. "I did not touch the curtains."

Whatever I was going to say was suddenly lost from my mind because when he pushed himself into the seated position, the sheet that had been covering him fell away revealing his very toned, very defined, bare chest.

A very smug and knowing look suddenly crossed his face.

I held up a hand before he could say anything. "Not a damn word from you unless it's about the curtains," I said as I pushed myself to my feet.

He smiled widely at me and winked.

My eyes widened as Jackson threw off the covers and stood tall. And I immediately turned away, because that infuriatingly beautiful man was as naked as the day he was born.

"You're naked," I couldn't help but exclaim as I shielded my eyes and then turned to stare pointedly out the window beside me.

"Oh come now, Babe," He said. "It's nothing you haven't seen before."

I let out a half disbelieving laugh half choking sound. "That is so not the point. What on earth goes on in your head to just crawl in bed naked with someone?"

"I don't believe you actually want the answer to that." I could hear him shuffling around behind me. I didn't turn to look and see what he was doing. "And I sleep like this, you should know that."

"I didn't, actually," I replied, still making a point not to look at him and trying so hard not to think of what he looked like without any clothes on. "and I didn't need to know that either. But that doesn't explain why you were in the bed. I left you on the couch!"

He suddenly appeared in front of me and I immediately went to turn away again only to notice that he had a pair of colorful beach trunks that were hanging dangerously low on his hips.

I ended up turning away again, my face on fire because no matter what I did I could not get the thought of Jackson without clothes out of my head. And those shorts were very attention-grabbing. There was also the fact that he looked every bit like he had just rolled out of bed, but it was a damn good look on him. Not that I'd ever tell him that. "That is somehow so much worse," I muttered.

"Oh?" Jackson questioned. "Have you noticed what you're wearing?"

I glanced down at the clothes I'd worn to bed, as I had completely forgotten what they were. My face felt like it got even redder, because of the spaghetti strap nightgown I was wearing that was very near to being see-through and barely covered my ass.

I cleared my throat awkwardly and crossed my arms over my chest, trying my best to keep my cool. I locked eyes with Jackson who was looking way too amused with the entire situation. "I wore this to bed with the impression that I would have my own privacy."

He shrugged. "I did tell you I wasn't going to sleep on the couch." His eyes suddenly got that infuriating look in them. "Don't worry, I kept my hands to myself."

I cleared my throat again. "The curtains," I said as I looked pointedly at the window behind him.

He looked over his shoulder at the window and waved a hand dismissively. "Yes, and the window's unlocked as well. It's most likely we had a visitor sometime in the night." And then he promptly when back to staring at me, his eyes going lower to my chest.

I snapped my fingers in his face and he looked back up at my face. "And this isn't a concern to you?"

He shrugged nonchalantly. "If it were Branson, you and I would be dead. So, no. It doesn't concern me." He suddenly began to lean in closer to me and I immediately leaned back. "Also," He held up the small notepad the hotel had left on one of the nightstands for guest use. "this gives me a pretty good idea who it was."

I frowned at him, noticing he still didn't back up. I took the notepad from him without ever taking my eyes off his. As soon as I had taken the notepad, he backed up. I looked down at it to see just one sentence written in neat handwriting.

Just returning the favor.

I frowned again, this time in thought before turning back to Jackson. "Mrs. Branson?" I questioned.

He nodded. "That is my thought."

I threw the notepad down on the bed. "That still doesn't bring me any comfort."

"It didn't expect it would."

I shot him a flat look before shaking my head and then throwing it back with a groan.

"You look like you could use another massage."

"You," I said as I pointed at him with a glare. "keep your hands to yourself."

"Just my hands?"

I shook my head and moved to the dresser, beginning to sift through it for something to change into. "It is too early for me to deal with you right now."

I wasn't even sure of exactly what I had grabbed from the dresser, mostly I was just trying to come up with an excuse to get away from him. On the yacht, he had still been unbearable, but we'd had separate rooms and much more distance between the two of us. Plus, more witnesses to help me keep my head on straight. Now, however . . . everything I was trying not to feel toward him was just coming right back up the surface.

Sometimes I wanted to shoot him, other times I wanted . . . something else.

I felt like that one statement sort of summed up whatever messed up relationship we had with each other. We weren't friends. We weren't completely enemies. And we weren't lovers either.

My hands were shaking as I tried to get my thoughts together and just randomly grabbed a handful of clothes. I turned around only to let out another shout and drop the clothes because Jackson was quietly standing behind me, way too close for comfort and I hadn't even heard him approach.

He had that annoyingly knowing smile on his face. Like he actually could read minds. "Thoughts like that will get you in trouble," He said, his eyes moving to linger on my lips.

"Thoughts like that will get you punched," I retorted, though it came out much less confident than I would have liked.

"Are you a mind reader now?"

I scoffed. "It does not take a mind reader to know where your thoughts are."

"Right back at you."

I had been on so intently staring at his forehead, trying to look anywhere but his eyes or his lips. Of course, with him being this close, it was becoming increasingly hard to keep my focus off his lips . . . and how they would feel against mine.

I sucked in a sharp breath and let it out slowly. "Personal space," I muttered.

"What about it?" He asked, his voice soft and quiet and oh so flirtatious.

"I want my personal space."

"It's overrated," He told me. I made the mistake of finally looking at his lips and watched as they curved into a wide smile. "Are you sure personal space is what you want?"

I licked my lips, my mouth and throat suddenly feeling very dry. "Yes," I barely managed to whisper.

"As you wish," He said.

I blinked and he was suddenly sitting on the edge of the bed in front of me, a stupid smirk on his face.

I made a point to look away from him. To make sure I was not looking at his shirtless chest and low-hanging shorts. I blew out another long breath. "I hate you," I whispered.

His smirk got impossibly wider. "What for this time? Is it because I invaded your personal space? Or is it because I stopped?"

I glared at him, picked up the clothes I'd dropped, and walked into the bathroom, locking the door behind me.

"Your lack of answer is answer enough," He called out before I heard his footsteps fade away.

I leaned back against the door, my face still feeling red, and mentally cursed him out. I let out a groan, dropped the clothes once more, and buried my face in my hands.

"Why can't he look like the grinch?" I muttered. "That would just make this so much easier."

***

After I had finally composed myself and dressed in one of the awful summer dresses he'd packed for me, I finally stepped out of the bathroom.

Now the color and material of the dress itself weren't actually awful, however, the short length, the lowcut front, and the fact that it absolutely hugged my body made it awful. Normally, as Crystal Carver supermodel, I probably would be wearing this during the summer months out at a party. However, for just day-to-day activities, never in my wildest dreams would I wear this.

My biggest problem with the dress wasn't even that it was tight, short, or lowcut. Nope. My biggest problem with the dress was that it would be impossible to fight in if need be without something going very wrong. Plus, if I'd had my gun there was absolutely nowhere to hide it.

I walked out of the bedroom area to see Noah on his computer, sitting in one of the armchairs, Julie staring at his computer screen from behind him, Damien standing near the door with a scowl on his face, and Jackson happily leaning back on the couch, feet up on the coffee table, with a drink in hand.

I crossed my arms over my chest and glared at him. "A little early to be drinking, don't you think?" I asked him.

He didn't even look at me. "It's happy hour somewhere," He replied. "I take it the warm fuzzy feelings you were having for me earlier are gone now."

"There were no warm fuzzy feelings."

"No?" He questioned. "Then what would you classify them as?"

I continued to glare at him before taking a seat in the second armchair, away from him. "What exactly do you have on the itinerary for today?" I asked him. "Or do I even want to know?"

Jackson smiled. "What would you like to do?" He asked with a wink.

"Anything that has nothing to do with you. At this point, I'll even walk right up to Branson and introduce myself in the hopes that he'll just shoot me, and then I'll no longer have to deal with you."

Jackson laughed. "Well," He said as he took a sip of his drink. "you're in luck. You're getting your wish."

I eyed him suspiciously. "Why?"

"Because I have some . . . business to attend to that doesn't concern you." He got to his feet. "And, you need to go pick up an outfit for tonight. Preferably a dress."

I frowned up at him. "And what's tonight?"

Julie was the one to answer. "Apparently this hotel hosts themed nights for couples to get dressed up whether it be in costume or formal wear or whatever else," She said. "Noah, in hacking into the hotel's database, was able to learn that Mr. and Mrs. Branson are attending the one scheduled for tonight."

"And what, do I dare ask, is the theme for tonight?" I asked her.

"A masquerade dance," Jackson replied. "So, you and Julie need to dress appropriately. Agent North will be your escort while Noah and I attend to other matters."

"And what exactly are these other matters?" I questioned.

He smiled at me. "Nothing that concerns you, I can assure you of that."

"Your assurance? You're a conman, your assurance means nothing."

He shrugged. "True." He winked at me. "I look forward to seeing you tonight."

"What makes you think I won't take this opportunity to finally rid myself of your presence?"

"I know you won't," He replied as he brought his glass to his lips once more.

"And how do you know that?"

His eyes seemed to light up with amusement as he looked at me over the rim of his glass. "Haven't you figured it out by now? I'm a mind reader."

Sorry it took so long.

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Enjoy!

And Thanks for Reading!

And on to my Rant;

So, on top of all the college work my professors have been piling on me because they seem to think that with the classes all online, we students have nothing better to do than hours worth of work-joy oh joy-my dog very suddenly could barely stand and couldn't walk. He was stumbling around and just seemed to have lost nearly all function in his back legs mostly, but his front legs were also affected.

His name is Koda, he's a 13 year old Labrador retriever, and since we were unable to get him an appointment with his usual Veterinarian-and they told us that they would not wait to get him an appointment elsewhere as this was serious-we were forced to go to an emergency vet clinic this past Friday where we ended up spending most of the day for them to finally look him over and then tell us that because he was old his body was basically deteriorating and what had happened was that he had ruptured several disks in his spine and the chances of him fully recovering was very slim, but they would give us medication to try-though the vet basically said it wouldn't help him get better only help the pain-and to make him as comfortable as possible and basically to take him home and start saying our good-byes.

However, me and my dad noticed some other symptoms, and we called the vet back on Friday night (he was unavailable at the time and we were told he would call us back-he never did). So, we decided not to wait and on Saturday morning we called to try and get him in with his usual vet for a second opinion. At first they said they had nothing available, though they called later to say that there had been an opening.

We took him in (we weren't allowed to actually go in because of covid but they came out and got him) and his usual vet got to take a look at him and he then called us while we were waiting in the car in the parking lot. First, he asked what the other vets had told us was wrong with him. So we told him. The first words out of his mouth after that were "Those yahoos" (He's a much older gentleman). He then went on to explain what was actually wrong with him which is something called Old Dog Vestibular Disease, that it was totally treatable, and that he'd be just fine by the end of the week. He prescribed the right medications (also told us to throw out the medication the other vets had given us because they were useless) and he gave him a shot of one of the medications to help speed up his recovery, he sent him home with us and by the end of the night Saturday, Koda was up walking again. Granted, he still needed help, and was walking like he was totally drunk, but he was standing and walking again. And today (Sunday) he has only gotten better. We still walk around with him everywhere to make sure he doesn't fall, but he's walking on his own (albeit very wobbly) and of course, in his mind, there's nothing wrong with him so we should totally let him chase that lizard he just saw across the yard.

Anyway, now he's already getting much better and now that I've had time to think about all of it, I'm actually so pissed with the other vets, because they were basically telling us it was time to put him down and if we'd listened to them, we would have lost him when it was not yet his time. The other vet clinic also called my dad today, to ask how Koda was doing, and my dad, very calmly, explained to the vet tech that had called that Koda was doing just fine now that he had been given the right medication and that basically they'd completely misdiagnosed and messed up. He's just as pissed as I am.

Now I'm sure the vets have helped other people's dogs before, but they certainly were no help to us. I'm glad we were able to go see our usual vet (we absolutely love him, plus he attends to my turtles too when they need to go to the vet) because without out him we may have just listened to the other vets instead. Koda doesn't seem to care either way (as I said he thinks there's absolutely nothing wrong with him) and has been enjoying all the extra attention and treats. He's still got a little while until he's fully recovered, but he's already made so much improvement since getting the right medications.

Sorry for the long rant, I'm just really annoyed and felt like venting. Thanks to those who read this, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and there will be more to come, hopefully soon.

Thanks again