Femme Fatale

Samantha was ready. Her last target. Months of preparation came to a pinnacle on the night of the attack. This was always her least favourite, but most necessary element of any assignment. The money she was going to earn from this was going to be enough to finally retire and open that bakery somewhere far from her violent past.

All preparations had been cleared away and after this evening, the loft she had been renting for several months would be cleaned clinically so that no trace of her presence would remain. It would be the last time she would get ready in that bathroom and sleep in that bed. It had been one of her better abodes and in a way she would miss it. What she would not miss was the memory of what she would have to accomplish here.

She knew her target like the back of her hand and she had created a persona exactly as he would have wanted for a woman. Down to the colour of her nail polish and the smell of her perfume, she had spun a web of lies and promises around herself that he would not be able to resist. No man had ever been able to resist her. No man had ever known her or even loved her; everything came down to lust. The weakness of the flesh was the easiest to exploit. After tonight, she would never have to do that again. One last time.

Together with this one, her total would be 35 confirmed kills. It was a symbolic number to end on, as it was also the age at which her father had been killed. As a kind of final tribute to the man who had raised her, this would be the last time she killed someone in the same manner he had lost his life. She was still young, not even thirty herself. Young enough to start a new life and leave everything behind. She had quickly made a name for herself in the milieu of the underworld, but now was the time to climb out before the dark claws would wrap themselves around her neck, pulling her back and entombing her in its thrall. No one knew her real identity, and she had to keep it that way.

Her alarm went off. Time to leave. She checked her lipstick, which matched her nails, for the last time and with one last sultry smile she closed the door behind her.

She walked into the bar as if she owned the place. Self-confidence was always the first step in getting things done, she had learned at an early age. She smiled sweetly at the bartender who served her a glass of white wine. He lingered a little too long and her sweet smile turned to ice. The message got through and the man quickly went back to his work. She took the book she had bought a few weeks ago and since then had been treating it so that it looked weathered. It was some classic where the contents did not interest her, but she knew that her target would have to talk to her about it, because that was how he was. All men were like that. Easy to win over with just the slightest encouragement.

At a quarter to eight on the dot, he walked into the bar. Peter Mertens. Samantha almost shook her head in amusement. It was habits that got people killed and this habit of his was perfect for spinning her web around him.

With a loose hand, she held her glass of wine absent-mindedly as if she were so focused on the book that she forgot the world around her. She felt his eyes resting on her and she knew at that moment that she had him. Nothing would be able to take him away from her predetermined path now.

Peter put himself on the chair next to her and accidentally bumped her leg. She made an irritated little sound, but remained focused on the page. He mumbled something that she also ignored. The moment she tried to put down her glass to turn the page, she looked beside her. Startled, she put her wine glass on the edge of the napkin so that it tipped over, right into his lap.

"Oh, I am so sorry!" she exclaimed, quickly grabbing some napkins to try and stop the stain.

"No, no problem," he said gingerly. "A good book does something to a person."

She blushed. "Really sorry, I was so engrossed that I completely forgot where I was. Oh, and your lovely shirt. I am so, so sorry! Let me make it up to you."

He laughed it off and said, "Thank goodness it wasn't red." With a wave to the bartender he ordered another glass for her and a glass of whisky for himself.

"Put it on my bill," she called after the barman, but Peter waved dismissively.

"No need at all. I've just closed a good deal so I have something to celebrate. And I don't like to do it alone. To make up for it, you can celebrate with me."

After a brief hesitation and a glance at her watch, she smiled. "Good." She raised her glass and said, "Here's to what?"

"To outsmarting the police," he said with a wink.

"Oh," she mouthed with her hand in front of her mouth. "That's pretty naughty."

"I can be quite naughty; if a lady lets me."

She averted her gaze and after taking a sip, looked at her watch again.

"Are you expecting someone else," he said airily, but with a facial expression that betrayed plenty. For a lawyer, he had a very bad poker face, Samantha noted.

She shuffled back and forth on her chair and took her mobile phone out of her purse. "I was supposed to have a date about ten minutes ago, but I don't think he's going to show up. It's my own fault, always with my nose in my book. I'll never find a man like that, my mother always says."

Samantha had never known her mother, but it sounded like something a sweet, concerned mother would say about her bookworm of a daughter.

"Well, you did meet me that way, gorgeous," Peter said with a wink. "Let me take you out to dinner. Your date blew his chance and I need someone to celebrate with over dinner tonight."

Samantha hesitated for a few seconds, just enough to make him more interested and not too much to irritate him. With a nod and a shy smile, she accepted his offer.

He gallantly held out his arm to help her off the barstool. Even with her four-inch heels, he still towered high above her. If she didn't know 29 different ways to knock him out within ten seconds, she would have felt small.

Peter took her to an Italian around the corner where he was a regular customer. To Samantha's surprise, the pre-arranged date went much better than she had expected. She knew who he was to the letter and she quickly had a picture in her mind of how he behaved to the lower classes; the same people that now wanted him "retired". The fact that he was a charming man who took an interest in her and could make her laugh with silly jokes was something she had not expected. She remained wary and did not tell him anything that might incriminate her in any way, but still he seemed to get under her skin in a way she did, and did not, like.

She tried to speed up the evening so she could get rid of him as quickly as possible. The bottles of wine passed and each glass of hers mostly ended in the plant next to her. Her behaviour became looser and her flirtatious advances less subtle. After dessert, the lust in his eyes had fanned into a passionate fire. The evening went exactly as she wanted, but she was reluctant to let it end as they expected of her.

The short walk to her loft was enough to clear her head and make a selfish decision for once in her life. As long as the job was completed, it didn't matter that she took a few more hours to herself to enjoy a man who seemed to be made for her.

She led him upstairs and pushed him onto the beautiful black leather seat.

"Another drink?" she asked as she rocked her hips seductively. She bent down to put on some sultry music and she felt his hands slide slowly down her back to her buttocks.

"I think we've had enough to drink already. I'm in the mood for something else."

"I also have some biscuits or something if you want them," Samantha said innocently as she looked at him from under her eyelashes.

"Something sweet," he said as he stood agile as a panther and slowly walked towards her like a predator towards its prey.

Samantha took a few steps back and said in a hoarse voice, "Chocolate?"

Her back bumped into the fridge and a shiver went through her. Peter came even closer until his body was against hers. His hard chest felt like a wall and the thick hardness in his trousers like a pole. The sharp contrast of the icy fridge against her back and the burning desire of the male body in front of her made her breath quicken and her blood pulse through her veins.

He leaned forward slowly enough to give her another chance to reject him. Not a hair on her head, fake and blonde or real and redhead made her hesitate. Samantha bridged the last few centimeters by standing on her toes. Their lips met in a dance for the upper hand. His hands gripped her long locks and he lifted her head slightly to deepen the kiss. Her hands gripped his shoulders at first to push him away, but on instinct she pulled him closer to her.

The kiss was as she imagined two lovers kissing after a long time apart, not two strangers who would never see each other again after this night. It dizzied her and she almost let him take over, but if there was one thing she could not do it was to lose a fight. This was a fight with a price she was not prepared to give up just like that, her heart.

She finally pushed him away breathing hard. His gaze was like fire that could melt the ice she had felt inside for years. She could not afford to be weak and reacted the only way she could, with lust. She leapt into his arms and he caught her skilfully.

She claimed his mouth as hers. Their tongues duelled passionately again, but this time she won the upper hand easily. She bit his lip and he moaned as he buried his fingers in the soft flesh of her buttocks.

"Bed," she panted between two kisses and he stumbled across the loft towards the bed that stood against the far wall.

He dropped her on the bed and with little patience pulled his shirt over his head.

Her mouth watered when she saw his smooth chest. That was short-lived because as soon as he took off his trousers it seemed as if all the moisture in her body had gathered in one throbbing place. She squeezed her legs together and bit her lip to keep from moaning out loud.

The man looked like a sex dream on legs. She knew exactly how to seduce a man to the point that he was ready to be eliminated. This phase of her plan never materialised and now that she was ready, she was suddenly shy. She was not a virgin, the sixteen-year-old son of the judo club owner had made sure of that when she got her first itch as a woman, but this man was in no way comparable to what she had already experienced. A few men here and there between assignments had kept her satisfied.

Her eyes fixed on the hard manhood between his legs that stood proudly erect. She didn't know if she had ever seen one that size in real life. He bent down and crawled on the bed towards her. The kiss he gave Samantha was with a tenderness she didn't know how to respond to, so she responded the only way she knew how. With lust.

She pulled him onto herself and grasped his hardness with her free hand. He grunted in response and pulled her dress down. Her breasts came free and immediately he fixed his mouth on them. His one hand took hold of the other breast and the other disappeared under her dress into her wet panties. It was a battle of lust, a battle to see who would succumb first to the pleasure they gave each other.

The sounds that filled the room were not those of gentleness. Moaning, grunting, sucking, the sound of wet flesh on wet flesh. Just when she thought she was going to win, he took hold of her hand and pulled back.

With a growl he pulled her under him and without a word he plunged into her. She moaned out in pleasure. With his fingers he had prepared her enough, he was still the biggest than she had ever felt. He filled her completely and it was as if he was giving her something she had always missed. She squeezed her eyes to ignore the flood of emotions that flowed through her. He panted and slid in and out of her at a rapid pace. She felt whole and perfect. Her pleasure rose and rose and it felt like her body was going to explode with pleasure.

"Fuck this feels so perfect," he moaned in her ear.

Those words awakened her from the trance she had fallen into. Perfect was not a word that could describe her. She was violent, broken, dangerous, damaged,... and not in any way perfect. She opened her eyes and could not describe what she saw in his eyes, but it was not what she wanted to see. It was more than lust, it went beyond a one night stand and she couldn't do that.

She had to end this, she wanted to say something, but he chose just that moment to rub his hand over her clit. That little rub, together with the fantastic thrusts deep inside her, was enough to push her over the edge. She experienced the most powerful orgasm she had ever had and her whole world seemed to collapse around her. Her body stiffened and the words stuck in her throat. Her pussy clenched around him, claiming him as her own.

She felt his lips on her cheek raining feather-light kisses. The kisses were sensual, soft, almost loving. She felt her heart leap, but she could not allow that feeling to take hold.

As soon as the first tremors of her orgasm passed, she grabbed his shoulders and used his weight to turn them both around. He looked at her in pleasant surprise and opened his mouth to say something. She quickly interrupted him with her lips. After the sultry kiss that made her world pause again, she pulled herself together. She grabbed her breasts and presented them as an offering to him. He took them in his hands and teased her nipples as she braced herself to give him the ride of his life.

She ignored the sweet loving words he uttered as best she could, but she could not deny the warm feeling they gave her. She tried to avoid his gaze, for the emotion in his eyes was something she could not handle. With eyes closed she moved her hips smoothly as if she were on a horse she had to spur. She tensed her inner muscles and saw a small muscle in his neck tighten. She knew that his control was hanging by a thread and she wanted him to lose it just as he had already done with her. He did not give in so easily and moved his hips in response to hers. Every thrust she made, he parried or strengthened on his own. Samantha soon felt that her second orgasm was not far off, but she was determined to take him this time.

She bent down and gave feathery kisses up his neck until she arrived at his ear. He growled softly and continued to move his hips along with hers. Her tongue moved seductively over his earlobe and just as she made a hard thrust downwards, she squeezed her muscles around him and bit him in his ear. He cursed loudly and he exploded inside her. The seed flowing into her triggered her own orgasm and she felt the pleasure flow into her along with his cum.

She let herself fall onto his chest with a sigh. He wrapped his arms around her and in that cocoon of warmth she felt... safe. A feeling she hadn't had in a long time. She was startled. That was not the assignment. She wasn't supposed to let herself get involved, like a young girl in love dreaming about a life that could never be. She had to finish this. The sooner the better.

He felt her stiffen and stroked her back soothingly. She pushed away from him and jumped out of the bed as if it were full of spiders. Peter called out behind her, but she didn't respond. She walked to the bathroom where her things were. She looked at the weapon she had to use. She heard footsteps behind her and quickly put it away again.

With a smile, she turned around and said, "Ready for round two in the shower?"

He looked at her inquiringly, ready to ask a question, but changed his mind at the last second. "Only if you're ready, gorgeous."

She giggled and pulled him into the shower with her. She kissed him passionately as he lifted her up and pushed her against the wall.

"Make love to me like it's the last time," she whispered in his ear.

He took those words to heart thrust into her with such passion that it took her breath away. Their lovemaking was fast and fierce.

After her first orgasm under the running water, she gasped, "Come into me, now Peter, now."

He obeyed and plunged into her again while moaning loudly. They stayed like that in the shower for a while. Connected in the purest way possible. Two people unaware of any evil in the world, focused on the here and now.

As the water got colder, Samantha detached herself from him and said, "I'll get the towels."

He nodded and closed his eyes with his face lifted to the cold jets as if praying. The smile that played around his lips only made him look more handsome, more human.

Samantha shook her head angrily as she felt a warm tear slide down her cold cheeks. A contract was a contract.

Her hand shaking she grasped the gun and quickly aimed at the back of his head. Even with a silencer the shot echoed in the small room. She had never been startled by the sound before, but this time she jumped. This time the sound was the ugliest she had ever heard.

A contract was a contract.