Dangerous Attraction Romantic Suspense Boxed Set (38 page)

“How much farther are we going to go tonight? How can you tell you’re going in the right direction?”

She sat on her pack and removed her left boot to empty it of the dirt and pebbles that had been bothering her for the last hour.

“I want to go another two hours before we make camp.” He handed her a small pouch of the beef jerky as he popped a piece into his mouth.

She didn’t know if she would make it two more hours, but when she wanted to voice her complaints, an image of Mark popped into her head and she closed her eyes.

“There was nothing you could have done,” he said softly. She looked at him and realized he must have guessed where her thoughts had turned. She looked down at her boot and played with the laces.

“If I hadn’t taken the chance they would both still be alive.” She didn’t realize the tears were coming, but knew she’d held them at bay for over a day and that they had to come at some point.

“Ann.” She saw his boots by her feet, but kept her eyes fixed on her own boot and hands. “I know you think that you were foolish doing that interview, but what you were trying to do was a very noble thing. The world should know about the injustice going on down here. Did you see those people in the favelas?” He knelt down and put his finger under her chin, bringing her eyes up to meet his. “Those people live in fear every day that they’re going to be killed for talking to the wrong person or for crossing the wrong street. The drug lords have complete control there and it just pisses me off to think that what Heitor said might be true. That government officials may have control of it all. The people need to know.”

His face was so close to her, she could see his hazel eyes. So close that, even though she was coated in bug repellent, she could no longer smell the stinky stuff. Instead, all she could smell was him. He had a musky, sexy scent and she wondered if he tasted as good as he looked. What would it be like to run her hands and mouth all over him? To play her fingers over the ripples in his arms and chest she’d seen the night before.

She felt his finger on her chin and enjoyed when he moved his hand and pushed a strand of her hair behind her ear. Then he ran his hand into her hair and pulled her closer so that he was a breath away.

“This is probably a mistake,” he whispered right before he laid his lips gently on hers.

Yes, this was definitely a mistake, she thought as his mouth moved over hers and she felt a shiver run down her spine. Her hands went into his dark hair, holding him closer as she tilted her head and took the kiss deeper.

She was probably still in shock from everything that had happened to her in the last day. After all, it was just yesterday she’d sworn she’d get him fired because he was an incompetent fool who didn’t know how to do his job. But now she realized he
was
doing his job and she was alive today because he’d been good at it.

She felt him pull away and held off opening her eyes for a few seconds. She could taste his lips and wanted more. Hell, if she could, she’d probably jump him right here and now. Then she opened her eyes and looked at him and realized things with him weren’t going to be as easy as a quick fling.

They had a long trip ahead of them and their lives were in his hands. They didn’t have time to stop and romp in the forest. Remember the snake? she asked herself and felt a shiver of disgust flow through her.

“I hope that wasn’t because of my kiss.” He smiled.

“Oh, no! That was for the snake.” When he smiled and made a point to looked down at his crotch, she laughed. “Not that snake, the one who’s head is lying a few feet from its body over there.”

He laughed. “I know. I just love messing with you. Come on.” He stood and held out his hand to help her back up, but then realized she’d yet to put her boot back on. “We’d better get moving again.”

She dusted off her sock and slid on her boot, hating the feeling of the wetness from her sweaty sock, but knowing it wasn’t as bad as it could have been.

An hour later she could have kicked herself for jinxing it. The rain wasn’t just coming down, it was pouring down on them like someone was hovering overhead with an unlimited number of full buckets.

She tried to look up past her rain hat to see why the canopy of leaves above them wasn’t sheltering a little of the water, but every time she tried, she got a face full of water. It was worse than standing under a broken shower-head.

Ethan continued to march along at the same pace like he was unfazed by all the water. Their rain ponchos sheltered them from most of the damp, however her boots and the legs of her pants were muddy and soaked. She didn’t know how much longer she could tolerate hiking at this pace. Every time she stepped down, she slid a little in the mud and had to make sure she didn’t end up on her butt.

“Ethan?” She had to shout over the sound of the rain hitting the leaves. He continued to march without looking back. “Ethan!” She pulled on his sleeve. “Can we stop?”

He looked down at her and she hoped he saw the desperation in her eyes. She was tired, more tired than she’d been in years. The lack of a good night’s sleep and the stress of everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours had been slowly catching up with her. But what had finally caused the weariness to sink in was the downpour of the steady, cold rain.

“Can you walk five more minutes? There’s a safe place up here we can stop. The rocks will shelter us from the rain and we may even have a dry place to sleep for the night.”

It sounded wonderful, so she nodded her head and they continued on. Thoughts of a soft bed ran through her head, but she knew she’d be sleeping on the hard ground instead. She was glad she’d packed an extra blanket in her bag. Even though it was in the upper eighties, she felt chilled and knew the second they stopped her blood would cool and she’d be cold.

They took a rocky path that shot off the main pathway. It climbed high above a tall ridge-line. The steepness was a little hard to maneuver with the slick mud underfoot and it took them twice as long as he’d hinted at to finally reach the top.

They had to hold onto tree branches and rocks to help them climb the last few steep feet. Once they made it, she almost felt like crying with relief.

But when they reached the top she understood why he’d pushed so hard to get here. The large moss-covered rocks crossed in a pattern and underneath was a perfect teepee-shaped cave with a small waterfall to the right. The water rushed into a small pool that she assumed was normally very calm. Today, however, all the rain had caused the little lake to look like the ocean during a storm. There were even little waves that lapped at the pebbled shoreline.

They walked around the water’s edge and made it into the stone archway, and she breathed a sigh of relief. It was hard to explain, but the steady pelting of the rain on her skin was almost annoying. She actually felt like it had sandblasted the top layer off.

Her feet hurt, her head hurt, and she knew she had a few new blisters. Setting her pack down, she moved to sit when Ethan grabbed her arm.

“Better wait until I check it out. Other animals like to take shelter from the rain.” She jumped up. How could she have forgotten they were in the jungle? She picked her pack up and hugged it to her chest as pictures of spiders, snakes, and bats danced in her mind again. Ethan took out his flashlight and checked every corner of the small space.

“We’re clear.” He smiled when he saw the nervous look on her face.

“I don’t like creepy-crawling things. Are you sure?”

He smiled and then ran his light around again. “Yes, we’re clear.”

She relaxed a little and set her bag down, then sat in the dry dirt, happy to be off her feet.

Chapter Five

Ethan watched Ann across the small space as she slept. He’d sat across from her last night at Javan’s and watched her, much like he was doing now. She slept like he’d dreamed of doing for years, like the whole world had dropped off and she had no cares.

He knew the hike had been hard on her. Hell, it had been hard on him, but he was used to being uncomfortable and tired. He’d done it all his adult life and had no plans of letting up any time soon. He liked his job and the travel. He liked helping people out and working with his buddies from his time in the corps. He was very glad that he and Javan had patched up their relationship. He’d been his best friend for so many years. Ethan had hated knowing the man was not around to call when he got in a tight spot.

But above everything else about the job, Ethan liked the danger and the thrills he got when he outmaneuvered his opponents. It was like a game to him. He’d always been good at it. When he was a kid, he’d played paintball wars with all his friends. He’d always won. His high school buddies hadn’t realized the game wasn’t about shooting but about strategy, something he was really good at.

Ethan tried to close his eyes while keeping on alert. He felt his muscles relax one at a time until finally he could focus on the sounds around him, listening for anything out of the ordinary. But he could hear only the gentle rain hitting the stones, the rushing sounds of the waterfall, and Ann’s light breathing.

Listening to Ann breathe made his mind switch from protection mode to thinking of Ann. As he slept, he dreamed about how soft her skin would feel, how her lips had felt against his. He remembered the softness of her hair in his hands and thought about holding her close as he rained kisses up and down her neck.

In his mind, she wrapped her legs around his hips and her breasts pushed against his chest. His hands came to her hips and held her tight against his desire until suddenly they were skin to skin. Her legs were still wrapped around his hips, and he was buried deep inside her and she was moaning with delight and just when he was on the verge of coming, her moans turned to screams.

He woke with a jolt and was on his knees quickly with his knife in his hands. The cave was still dark but he could just make out her form on the ground next to him. She was thrashing around and moaning with the nightmare.

Sheathing his knife, he sat back down and pulled her up halfway onto his lap. Then he gently rocked her as she woke from the nightmare.

“Shhh, you’re safe.” He put his hands into her hair and pulled her face to his, kissing her temple.

He felt the second she was fully awake. She tensed, and then when she realized where she was and who she was with, she relaxed and wrapped her arms around his waist.

The rain had stopped and he could already hear life in the jungle coming awake. He knew sunrise was coming soon and they probably should get up and start the day early. But he sat there holding her, kissing her hair and forehead.

“I dreamed you left me here to run off with two dancers, then men came after me and…”

“Shhh, it won’t happen,” he said against her skin. “I’m not going anywhere. Although, what did the dancers look like?”

She chuckled into his chest, a sound he was happy to hear. Then she pulled back and looked at him through the dark. He could just make out her face. He leaned down and put his lips to hers in a gentle kiss meant to soothe her. Instead it lit fires deep within him and made him aware of how uncomfortable it was to have her leaning across his crotch. He realized how much he wanted to pull her down on top of him so he could take her slowly as the sun rose.

“Mmm, Ethan?” She pulled back a little, looking at him.

“Ann, we’d better get ready.”

He felt her huff out a breath and smiled. “Trust me, there is nothing more that I want to be doing than making love to you now. But now is not the time or place. Besides, I’m starved and we could both use a shower.”

She pulled back and he saw mortification cross her face as she realized they both stank of day old sweat. He wanted to laugh. She actually smelled wonderful; he had been more concerned about himself.

She moved from his lap and he instantly missed the feel of her body next to his. Standing, he tried to work out the kinks from sleeping in the same position on the hard ground.

The cave was getting lighter, which told him the sun was rising. In the dim light, he watched her shake her blanket out and start to roll it up. He walked to the mouth of the cave and decided a quick shower would be worth the chill he’d feel.

Taking the small path of rocks, he climbed down to the base of the waterfall and removed his clothes. He shook them free of dust and hung them on a low branch. He walked into the shallow end until he was in waist deep, then dove into the crystal clear water, enjoying the freezing water as it woke his body very quickly.

A few minutes later he stood under the waterfall, allowing the water to rinse away the dirt and sweat. He was shocked to look up and see a very naked Ann jumping into the pool in front of him.

He would have laughed, but his mouth had gone dry. She was exquisite. Her long legs and arms pushed her through the water quickly as she moved to climb the stones towards the fall. He watched her as she came to stand right in front of him.

“You didn’t think you were going to be the only one to enjoy such a wonderful waterfall did you?” she yelled over the rushing water and smiled at him. “You can shut your mouth now, Ethan.” She laughed and then closed her eyes and let the water fall over her head.

He stood there and watched her, and even though the water was cold enough to have any man shivering, he felt himself getting hot. She ran her hands over her hair and down her neck towards her breast, and he licked his lips seeing her nipples pucker in the icy water.

She moved her hands over her chest and down her tight stomach, and he closed his eyes when she stopped just above the dark patch of curly hair covering her sex. How could she do this to him? Did she not get that they were totally exposed here?

He opened his eyes and saw that she was watching him with hunger in her eyes. He watched as she ran her eyes over him slowly, feeling her stare burn into him everywhere she looked: his arms, down his chest towards his light happy trial of hair that traveled to his very large, very erect sex. When she saw him, she licked her lips and he lost control.

He pushed her against the rock face just to the side of the rushing water, and then his mouth was on hers as her legs wrapped around his hips. He pushed her legs farther around his hips, lifting her higher so their sexes touched, and before she could say anything, he was imbedded deep into her heat.