She'd never expected that this could happen...

She never asked for it to happen...

She wasn't ready for it to happen...or was she?

How could chaos be brought down on her like this, when she'd always been careful to plan every minuscule detail, even in the heat of the moment of making a business deal?

How could she have been so brash, so careless, so...curious about something she feared the most, so wanting of his touch against her flesh. To feel his lips brush against hers again, to feel his body pressed against hers. How could she be so foolish?

Had she found him?

Had he found her?

Business, always business everything was business to the Rogue. She'd taken a chance on him, a big one. Inviting him to live on her property, offering him a job...offering to build him his own shop. Something always had to benefit the Rogue from her business transactions, and in this she'd have her own smith to craft her weapons...a business partner, someone she could trust...never expecting someone that would stir emotions inside her, someone that would care about her, someone that could make her weak in the knees by a simple touch from his lips.

When she'd left him that first night, it was business. Nothing more than business, though he'd peaked some semblance of curiosity in the Rogue. He was so different from any other partner she'd had. They'd all been cold, cruel and...well...a lot like her, never caring or showing care for anyone but themselves...but this one, this one was very different. He'd carried the damn cooler for her! All..the..way back to the Estates without a blink. He never once looked at her body in the mannerisms that most men looked at her, with that hungry sexual predator gaze, he had always looked her in the eye.

Innocence...how is it measured in one's self? In one's actions to another?

A simple kiss...how simple can it really be?

A simple kiss brought chaos to her life...brought her to the breaking point and broke through years of defenses.

She'd watched him throughout the day working with the boys and Travis. She'd a been a fool to not have noticed how good looking he was. Hell, just because she'd managed to stay free of men for so long, didn't mean she didn't have an eye for them.

The first official day of their partnership seemed to go well until they'd gone to the Inn for dinner and drinks...that's when everything changed. On a professional level and a personal level for her...and for him.

The heated touch of lips to lips ... the turmoil it causes.

She'd never thought he would have followed after her after the incident in the Inn, but he did. And she'd never have thought she'd be swept into his arms and carried back to the house like a damsel in distress...And where she would have faught back tooth and nail. Cussing, kicking and screaming...she'd found herself weak and exhausted...nearly ten days of no sleep. The burning feeling of his lips still on hers...She gave in and had curled into his arms. He treated her like a princess...like she was the most precious thing in the world...yet he'd laid no claim to her nor her to him. Why would a man treat her this way?

She needed a bath desperately and that was what she had her mind on when they'd finally reached the house. A nice long bath, mebbe something to eat and more Badsiders and mebbe some bullshittin with Lang...and another sleepless night. That had been the original plan...

A simple dare, though it was in jest totally as she was trying to recover from the foul mood the Inn had brought her, and enjoy the light heartedness he offered to her on the trek back to the house. She'd never expected him to take her up on it.

And what would happen between the two after that, would not only surprise the Rogue, but would set a precedent to their..."business arrangement."

I love you


Those three words are ones that are very strong, as well as meaning very much to whom ever they are spoken to.


Both had uttered those words to the other, during a very private moment, after they had dinner. Had they both meant those words? How much of an impact would those three little words have on their personal and business relationship? Pondering thoughts of the blacksmith, as he looked down at the sleeping form of Cheyenne, as she was curled up againt him.



He knew deep down, that he had ment those three words...and knew she did as well, even though she might not wish to admit it..He would talk to her privately when they got the chance, but once she woke up, and they ate and dressed...they had a business deal to take care of first.

Words...do they really mean that much?

How can what seems such a simple phrase, mean so very much?

How can it change one's life?

"I love you baby..."

Had she really uttered those words? She could not blame it on the heat of the moment, they'd been floating down from it.

She'd only ever uttered those words to one other man...and then she'd died in more than one way.

What does that phrase mean exactly?

She'd sworn she'd never let anyone get close enough to her...never let them get close enough to ever be able to utter those words, let alone for her to say them first.

Had he said them back to her?

But she had...she'd let herself fall...

Fall into the arms that welcomed her so...that were always there for her from day one. A man that didn't judge her, a man that awakened things inside her she had never given a second thought to.

She didn't even know what it meant to love...she didn't know what it felt like to be loved. That was forgotten. Buried...dead inside her the night she'd been captured by the Bloodspeakers.

Then what was this chaos she was feeling?

Mebbe...just mebbe he hadn't heard her, she could pretend she'd never uttered those words...those seemingly simple words...

Who was this man?

He was a man that had managed to awaken the one true fear the Rogue knew.

He had come clean to her, telling her everything about his real employers, as well as him being hired to capture her. It started that way, when he took the job and home she offered him, but between that..and the the moment that got there...something changed.


She had dared him to come upstairs, to bathe with her..then without coming out and saying it...asked him to stay the night with her..From the moment she done that, and feel asleep in his arms, he knew he couldn't turn her in...nor could he rat her out and disappear.


As time moved by from that day, they had fallen in love with the other, as well as spent heated moments together, some more heated than others...but still they were together.


When he finally did get the guts to tell her, she missed to the side, by a hair from killing him, yet he didn't flinch, before returnning the dagger to her, then moved to leave. At that moment, he had guessed she wanted him to leave.


A simple touch to his arm, relayed that she needed him to stay, wanted him to stay, dispite all that he had just said. He would move to her, without pausing, letting her see..those three words he had said to her before...was true..He did love her...He did want to be with her...and he would do anything for her.


" We'll get throught this..we have to..we've come to far together. I love you..my Rogue. "