Code of Control (15 page)

“Nothing is
wrong. I’m fine. I’ll manage.”

“Nolan?”

“Dear God,
woman. I fell out of an airplane holding your dead weight in my arms. I may or
may not have broken my wrist upon impact. No big deal.”

“No big deal?”
She could swear her heartbeat was in her ears, both ringing much too loudly.

“Yes, no big
deal.”

“That is a huge
deal. You can’t be broken.”

“I can manage…”

“I don’t want
you managing…”

“Then what the hell
do you want from me? I’m only human, Charlotte. Humans break,” he yelled at her,
reigning in when the waterworks fell.

“I want you
perfect,” she said hotly. “We are not going to get out of this if you’re
broken.” Sudden hyperventilation had her in full body tremors, Nolan reaching
out to her to hold her still.

“We are not
going to get out of this if you keep screaming at me,” he rushed at her face.
“And I am anything but perfect. Don’t expect the impossible from me.”

“I’m not…” Her
words then cut off by the thick brow rising on his face. “Oh, God, I am. I need
to get it together, don’t I?”

“Yes, you do, for
both our sakes.”

“Hey, this was
not my fault!”

“Hay is for
cows, horses and mules. Protocol to a missed tragedy should be our main concern
at this point.”

“It is.”

“Then let’s get
it together and get out of this tangled mess,” he reasoned.

As they worked
together to untangle legs and arms, Nolan swearing through most of it,
Charlotte felt the adrenaline spikes inside of her as never before, her skin
tingling, blood rushing to all four limbs. She tipped her head up and looked at
him, struggling for composure. His face ashen, he was trying to hold his wrist
to his abdomen, probably avoiding increased pain.

He returned to
her a stony expression.

“I’m sorry I
yelled at you,” he said quietly, setting his palm against her cheek.

“I’m sorry, too,
for reacting so badly to all of this.”

“It’s not your
fault.”

She shook her
head, nevertheless, gave him a half-hearted smile, leaning into the warmth of
his hand. This wasn’t anyone’s fault except for a bunch of wayward birds; not
an oddity in the aviation field, but certainly not expected when it happens
without warning.

“Let me make a
sling for your arm,” she suggested.

“I’m fine,
Charlotte.” The odd shake of his head against another flinch doused this lie.

“I don’t care if
you are. Humor me on this.”

Unbelievably, he
allowed her a moment to concoct a sling out of the parachute, wrapping his arm
closer to his body. By now, his skin looked flushed, his jaw clenched tight,
sweat beaded on his upper lip.

“You broke more
than your wrist.” There was an unshakable unease inside of her suspecting he
was not telling her the truth.

When he tried to
avoid the question altogether, taking a firm step away from her, he cringed,
swallowing hard. “Fuck!”

“God, Nolan! Did
we crash-land? Is that why we tangled in your chute?

“I’m fine,” he
reiterated. He then stared at her with a dulled expression, suspending her
breathing for a few seconds.

“Even if you’re
not fine, you’re not going to tell me, are you?” she asked.

The now pensive
expression and avoidance to any eye contact supplied this truth. There was more
broken on or in him that he was not willing to share with her at this point.

“We need to
start moving,” he determined, yet his mouth was so tight little white lines had
appeared at the corners.

“Do you still
have your phone?”

Nolan’s head
whipped toward her. Hard eyes staring at her dared her to continue asking a
hurt man dumbass questions. “No. I lost it. Sue me. Did you bring yours?”

He knew she
hadn’t.

“Did you maybe
lose it around the parachute? We should look for it.”

“Jesus Christ,
Charlotte. I lost it on the airplane. It fell out of my pocket and slid too far
away for me to retrieve when that guy slammed into my back. We are in a foreign
country, our plane crashed, no survivors, top secret papers are still in your
carryon somewhere in Belize, we have no phone, and there is not a prayer on Earth
anyone will find us tonight unless we start walking to the nearest road.”

“You don’t need
to get pissy at me.” Yet, a sense of panic rose in her like the tidewaters.

“I’m not pissy,
I’m pissed. There’s a huge difference.”

“Yes, there is.
One makes you sound like an old woman.”

His sudden
indrawn breath shocked her. Nolan held it, and then looked at her again. His
quick grin threw her off balance. “You are so damn cute when so scared out of
your mind. Anyone ever tell you that?”

“Gee, glad to
hear it,” she perused, losing the energy to argue with him anymore due to a dimpled
grin.

He set his hand
to her shoulder. “I’m glad to hear you’re okay.”

Charlotte stepped
into his embrace, Nolan locking his good arm around her back, resting his chin
on the top of her head. “Thank God for that,” he added.

“I wish I could
say the same…the part of you being okay,” she rued.

He gave her
crown a quick kiss. “I’ll be fine. I’ll live.”

She tipped her
face, Nolan leaned toward her, both sharing a lingering, emotion-packed kiss
with each other. He drew back, giving her a soft smile.

“I wish I could
do this all night long,” he muttered sweetly.

“So do I.”

“But we need to
find a road.”

“Nolan?” she
asked as he started moving away from her.

“Hmm?”

“Can I ask you one
more thing?” His mock growl did not stop the words, however. “What if no one
finds us?”

“Someone will.”

“But…”

Walking away
from her, he stopped, turning on his heels and flinching. “Someone will find
us, or we’ll find them. This is not the end to us.”

“Thank God you
clarified that! I’d hate to think this was it for us.”

“You know what I
meant.”

“Yes, I do.” Pensive
and quiet, mulling over what was in her head against what was in her heart, screw
the head! This was a moment for the heart. “I’m going to say this once, and
only once…and then you will never have to hear it from me again.”

He waited, his
gaze locked on hers.

She took a deep
breath and released it in one fell swoop. “Okay, here goes. Full confession,
take it or leave it.”

When he did not
interrupt, she began, “I am so glad we are alive and I plan to stay alive long
enough to make love to you again. I don’t know when this will happen, but it
will, I can assure you…and whether you like it or not, I’ll be the one in
control. Let’s be clear on this from the get go. I can’t fall out of an
airplane without telling you this.”

He encouraged
more out of her with a raised brow and slight tip to his head.

“I need you one
more time…well, more than once, but at least once should do, and if this shocks
you, so be it. This has been a rather shocking day all the way around. Plus, I need
to clear the air about your brother. I did not have sex with him. Even if the
potential had been there, I would not have done that to you. I would not have purposely
hurt you. I like you…a lot.” Her cheeks suddenly burned, yet she boldly met his
eyes once the words had fallen out of her mouth.

Nolan’s mouth
open and closed. He stepped forward, setting a finger against her throat. That
finger slid along her neck, up to her face, then tucked a strand of her hair
behind her ear, stalling the confession as Charlotte swallowed against the
gentle pressure.

He set his
finger against her bottom lip, gliding it along the curves until she smiled.

“That doesn’t
shock me, Charlotte. It gives me hope, because I like you more than a lot, too,
and I know you did not do anything with Devon. We need to get out of this mess
so I can prove it to you.”

Her deep groan
was not due to any pain, it was because Nolan finally admitted to having
feelings for her, unfortunately those feelings declared at the worst possible
moment in their lives—the only time she couldn’t do anything about them.

“I’m going to
hold you to your promise, Mr. Morgan,” she said softly, truthfully. As a pair,
they had seriously bad timing.

“Good. I look
forward to it.”

“No complaints?”

“Complaints?” He
gave her a shameless grin then chuckled. “Hell, none whatsoever.”

“No ‘he’s the
boss’ crap thrown in my face? We shouldn’t even think about each other in that
way…I’m out of my mind?…”

“Wouldn’t dream
of it,” he said, his smile widening.

Grinning like a damned
fool herself, upon impulse she stood on her toes and kissed him. When done, she
watched as Nolan licked his lips, groaning in need.

“Ah, Charlotte,
you can do better than that, can’t you? I’m injured here. I need more than a
mere kiss from you. I mean…we just fell out of an airplane. We’re lucky I’m
such a superb operative and neither of us was killed, even if a little bruised
and broken.”

Charlotte shook
her head. She smiled. “I’ll do better when we find a road. Until then, keep any
desire at its maximum capacity.” Her glance down confirmed what maximum
capacity meant to her.

Nolan gave her a
salute with his uninjured arm. “Yes, ma’am.” Ten seconds later, he grabbed for
her, maneuvered her against his chest, and devoured her lips until she cried
Uncle.

Chapter Sixteen

“As far as I can
tell, we are somewhere in the Orange Walk district,” Nolan said, knowing
Charlotte had heard him. “1829 square miles…shouldn’t be too much of a hike while
under full moonlight.”

“Well, that’s a
start,” she grumbled.

He did not care
if she wanted to comment. His mind was set firmly on their coordinates. “There
should be at least two river systems near us, Rio Hondo and New River. I wasn’t
paying attention to the river system when in the air but I know they’re here.”

His steps sure
and quick, Charlotte was having no trouble keeping up with him while he talked
through his thoughts. She was, in fact, quiet. Something he hadn’t heard from
her in a long while. Perhaps he was pushing her too far by moving so quickly
after a crash. He turned and looked at her. Her head down, she was
concentrating on where to walk, one foot in front of the other, biting her
lower lip.

“You okay?” he
asked, drawing in a ragged breath. He’d turned too quickly, his body reminding
him of what a fool he was.

She tipped her
face up, licked her lips, and gave him a half-hearted smile. “Um, what?”

“I asked if you’re
okay?”

“Just peachy
keen, Boss. And you?”

“Do you need to
stop?”

Her brows
crested her hairline as she stared at him. “Do you?”

Nolan shook his
head. “Not yet. I’d like to get to a road or river, even a small village, and then
we can rest.”

“What you need
is medical attention,” she suddenly snapped at him, giving a hurried glance at
his injured wrist. “A road or river won’t fix broken bones, or whatever else
ails you.”

Yes, his wrist
was giving him a lot of hell, but he could work past the pain. “Nothing else
ails me,” he lied.

His mind went
back to calculating the distance. “I hope we are not in the Rio Bravo
Conservation area,” he said quietly.

“Why?” she asked
from only two feet behind him, scaring the crap out of him.

His one good
hand set to his heart, he stopped and turned, almost bumping into her. He had
to set his hand on her shoulder to steady her.

“I don’t want to
explain to anyone why we would be in a private nature preserve, on foot, no
luggage, no passports, nada…”

“Ah…I do see the
problem,” she agreed.

“We need to find
a road.”

“You’ve said
this about a dozen times, Nolan. Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yes.”

“Positive?”

“Positive,
Charlotte.”

She gave a quick
shrug. “Okay, if you say so.”

Again, his eyes
locked on hers. “I do say so.”

“Because…you
know, you’re the boss…,” she muttered rudely.

Nolan clenched
his jaw. “Are you trying to say something, Charlotte?”

Eyes bright, she
looked up at him. “Yes.”

“And that
something is?” he baited.

“We are fucking
lost!”

Nolan quickly
stepped away from the outburst. “I know where we are…sort of. We’re not lost.”

“Sort of don’t quite
cut it for me. I want proof positive, and for the last three hours you have
been meandering about this wilderness without a clue as to where the hell we
are.”

“Men don’t
meander. Nor am I clueless.” He took offense she would even think such a thing
about him.

Any offense
checked him, tenfold. He’d said worse to her over the days. He supposed he had
it coming.

“Do you even
have a rat’s idea as to where we are?” she pursued.

Nolan closed his
eyes, counting to ten. “Yes. Why? Could you do better at this?”

“Probably.”

“Probably?” He
laughed aloud, never meaning to, because her glare hit him square in the chest
this time.

“Yes, Nolan,
probably. I do have a background in sociology, emphasis on political divisions.
Didn’t you read my file when in your possession?”

“I read your
file,” he snapped at her, almost recklessly, looking away in a rush.

“Boss Man doeth
protest too swift,” she ruled in perfect Shakespearean accent.

“What’s that
supposed to mean?”

“I means…you did
not read a goddamn thing about me, did you? You gave me this job on the thin
and dangerous line of possible scandal. I can see this now, and let me tell
you…that bites.”

“Oh, really? You
think a tiny scandal would change my mind about who I do or do not hire?”

“Hell, yes!”

“I’m not that
shallow, Charlotte.”

“I’m not calling
you shallow. I’m calling you ‘
covering your ass, Golden Boy
.’”

Golden Boy?

“My ass is
perfectly fine, covered or bared. It so happens I thought you qualified. And
about that ass part…”

“I am
qualified!” she interrupted heatedly.

“So you say.”

“I do say so,
you arrogant sonofabastard! I know this place backward and forward, yet you’re
the one leading us toward nowhere in a hurry.”

Nolan stepped
aside, making a huge sweep of his good hand to the worn logging path in front
of them, flinching again. “Then have at it. If I’m so clueless, you lead the
way to the nearest village. I’d like a Mayan ruin at this point, if you’ve got
one of those tucked in your back pocket.”

She threw her
shoulders back and stepped ahead of him. “I do believe I will. Thank you.”

Two seconds
later, he was following her.

He wasn’t at all
prepared for the history lesson she started on, but the view was rather
enjoyable for a man down on his luck.

“Did you know
this land is cultivated with sugar cane, sorghum, rice, corn and vegetables?”
she asked absentmindedly.

Nolan did not
answer the question, his eyes glued on the sway of her incredible backside.
God, he wanted to grab her, throw her on the ground and impale her with the
General
until she begged for mercy. He willed his body to behave, shoving aside the
urge.

“The entire
district is home to mostly Maya mestizo descendants of the Mexican refugees who
fled from the 1840 Caste War,” she continued, clueless to his pain, his cock
engorging.

“Is that so?” he
muttered.

She whipped
around and glared at him, hands balled into tight fists.

Nolan took a
step back from the visual heat, dousing any and all blood flow to his cock. He
knew exactly what those balled fists could do to his face. “What did I do now?”

“I could do
without snippy comments coming out of you.”

“What? I was
just saying…”

“I know exactly
what you were saying, Mr. Morgan.”

“Do tell,” he
said, smiling. “I’m certain you are going to tell me, whether I care to hear it
or not.”

“You don’t like
that I know more about this country than you do, or any country for that matter.”

“I’m fine with
you knowing more about Mexican descendants and sugar cane fields,” he started.

“No, you’re not.
Your alpha-male ego is crumbling into a million pieces, right before your eyes.”

“Jesus,
Charlotte! I just said
‘is that so?’
. I did not contradict your
knowledge about Belize agriculture or its descendants.”

She gave out a
half-hearted humph of air then returned to walking, continuing the history
lesson. “There are over 32,000 folks in the rural areas. We should be able to
find a small village.”

“Hopefully, one without
chickens,” he grumbled under his breath, thinking she could not hear the dig.

She whipped
around and gave him another glacial stare, proving she had. “Really, Nolan? Do
you want me to break your other wrist?”

His shameless
grin grew, pretending ignorance. “What did I do now?”

“You’re so damn innocent,
aren’t you?” she ground out.

“Um, no…”

“Damn right
you’re not!”

“I’m not,” he
determined hotly, pursuing this sudden change in her demeanor by way of a more
in-depth conversation. “I’m guilty as hell most days.”

“The chicken
comment was uncalled for.”

“I know. I’m
sorry.” His shame short-lived, her gaze glued on him for long, agonizing
seconds, she then turned around and continued walking, torturing him all the
more.

“They’re trying
potatoes and onions now. Not sure how it’s going for them. Dairy, beef and rum
production are pretty dominant here, too.”

“I could use a huge
shot of rum about now,” he muttered, “perhaps two. Hell, I’d take the whole
bottle at this point.”

Charlotte
stopped dead in her tracks, tipping her head up to the canopy of trees above
them. “Did you hear that?”

Nolan listened.
“What am I supposed to be hearing?”

“Um, not sure.”

They craned
their eardrums to catch whatever caught her attention. Suddenly, her face lit
up like a Christmas tree. “People!”

Nolan grabbed
her arm before she could bolt. “I know you’re tired and cranky, and thirsty,
same as I, but let’s be safe about this.”

She tugged
against his grip. “Nolan, I heard people.”

“I’m sure you
did. Must I remind you there is a downed operative here and we can’t trust
anyone at this point.”

She yanked her
arm out of his grip—hard. “You need to trust me at some point in your life,”
she said rudely.

“Charlotte…”

“Don’t you dare
Charlotte,
me, Nolan Morgan. There are people up ahead. I’m going to get us help, whether
you like it or not.”

“Then don’t
blame me if you get killed. I saved your ass once. I might not do it again.”

“You worry too
much about something that is not going to happen,” she said.

“And you don’t
worry enough about things that can, and usually do.”

“I do too worry,”
she argued.

“Prove it.”

“Excuse me?”

“Prove it. Show
me the brilliant operative side of you I should have read about in your file.”

“I knew it!” she
exclaimed.

“Knew what?” he
asked, confused.

“You did not
read a goddamn page of my file, did you?”

Nolan looked
away. When his gaze returned, the guilt remained unhidden. “I wanted you on my
team to see exactly what kind of woman would be able to do to me what she had…aside
from bottles of Bourbon and in the throes of insatiable sex.”

“You
sonofabitch!” she yelped.

“What?”

“You did not
want me on your team, did you?”

“I never said
that,” he said quickly. “Are you hard of hearing?”

“You did not
have to say it. I can hear it in your voice.”

“Why are we even
arguing about this? You’re here with me and we are in one hell of a jam. You’re
on the team. End of discussion.”

“A jam, of which
I can get us out of if you’d let me go find help.”

Nolan stood
tall. “Fine. Go. But don’t say I did not warn you.”

“Fine, I will go,”
she clipped out, yet remaining in her place.

“Well, what are
you waiting for?” he taunted.

She gave him
another glacial glare. “I’m waiting to hear the sound again.”

This time, both
tried listening for human voices. Nothing came over the chorus of night birds
and bloodthirsty insects. He half-expected there hadn’t been any human voices
to begin with.

“Dammit! Now I
don’t hear anything other than you breathing down my neck,” she said bitterly.

“Perhaps what
you thought was human…wasn’t.

“Perhaps what
you thought…” she parroted rudely, rolling her eyes.

“Charlotte?”

“What?!” she
said loudly.

“Can we continue
onward without unnecessary drama?”

She opened and
closed her mouth, seemingly aghast. “Ugh, men!”

“Yeah? Well
women aren’t so terrific most days, either.”

“You’d die
without a woman in your life,” she concurred hotly.

“Haven’t yet.”

“There’s still
time.”

“Jesus! I
haven’t had a woman in my life for twelve years,” he declared honestly. “It’s
the one I’m with now that might cause me an early death.”

She whipped back
around so swiftly he almost fell to his ass.