“What kind of break sends a guy out into the sweltering jungle?”
Finn gripped the steering wheel as they bounced over a large pothole. “A pretty big one. Why don’t you lie down and get some sleep. We’ve got a long drive ahead of us.”
Alone with Finn in the cab of the truck, surrounded by nothing but darkness, for the first time all night Lauren felt safe. And tired. More tired than she’d been in longer than she could remember. She lifted her bare feet onto the seat, shifted over so she could rest her head on Finn’s thigh. He tensed, and for a second she thought he was going to ask her to move over. But then he dropped his right hand and ran it down her hair.
Her eyes slid closed. A sigh slipped from her lips. Yeah, she could totally get used to this. Not the guns and running and scare-the-shit-out-of-her part, but the comfort. These hands. This man. Somehow, before whatever this was was over, she had to convince him he needed to get used to her as well.
CHAPTER 6
Dammit.” Finn pullhe old truck as far off the road as he could before it died.
Lauren pushed herself up from his lap. Blond hair fell over her face as she licked her lips and looked around with eyes sleepy and sexy as hell. “Wh . . . what happened?”
Resisting the urge to reach for her, Finn pushed his door open. “Ran out of gas. We’re gonna have to hoof it from here.”
Lauren’s eyes cleared. Her brows knitted together as she looked out the windshield at the gray morning light seeping in through the thick jungle canopy. “What? How far is it? I still don’t have any shoes, remember?”
“No more than three miles.” Finn reached under the seat.
“And don’t worry. I’ve got you covered. These slid out from under the seat when we turned a corner.” He pulled out a filthy pair of dingy orange flip-flops that had obviously seen better days.
Lauren stared at the flip-flops. “You’re kidding, right?”
“Come on, Slim. I’m sure these shoes have sentimental value for someone.”
She frowned, took the flip-flops with restrained enthusiasm and slid them on her feet. “You owe me a pair of Givenchys. I’m not gonna forget this.”
He didn’t say anything as she slid out of the cab of the truck, her skirt riding high on her thighs. Told himself he didn’t want to take her shopping to pick out that pair of Givenchys. Definitely didn’t want to see her slide her sexy feet into those icepick heels and model them just for him, naked.
Sweat broke out on his forehead. He turned away, wiped his brow. Reminded himself about being a class-A schmuck. It was all he’d been able to think about this morning while she’d been asleep with her head nestled on his lap. There wasn’t going to be a repeat of last night. He wasn’t going down this road again, no matter how smart and unique and sexy she was. Last night had been . . . a reaction. A surge of adrenaline. A rush of hormones. A natural response to a near-death experience. It didn’t mean anything.
Keep telling yourself that, buddy.
He pulled in a breath, let it out slowly. Okay, so it had been hotter than hot. More erotic than his X-rated dream. The best sex he’d had in . . . shit, a long-ass time. But that didn’t mean it wasn’t a monumental mistake. He had a job to do here. He was going to get her to Archer’s compound and then get her the hell out of Mexico. And that would be it.
Resigned, he pulled out his satellite phone, checked the GPS coordinates and pointed through the trees. “That way.”
They hadn’t trudged more than a half mile before he wished he’d had the foresight to stop for water in one of the small towns they’d driven through early that morning. He whipped off his shirt, swiped the sweat off his face and neck, then stuffed the dingy rayon in his back pocket. From the corner of his eye he saw Lauren pulling the skimpy top she wore away from her chest, fanning the fabric to cool herself off.
Images of her succulent breasts popped into his head. Of her arching her back, offering them to his mouth. He clenched his jaw and tried to force the memories away.
Didn’t work.
“Did you hear back from your friend Jake while I was asleep?” she asked.
“Yeah.”
“And?”
He’d wanted to avoid this conversation, but at least it kept him from imagining what it would feel like to slide into her naked bodrom behind. How it would feel to caress her breasts until she screamed his name again like she’d done last night.
He wiped the growing sweat from his brow. Told himself to refocus. The info Jake had passed on changed things dramatically. He stopped on the path so she could catch her breath. “Know much about Aztec mythology?”
“No. Do you?”
“Not much. There are a bunch of gods and goddesses, way too many to remember. All do different stuff. Anyway, this one goddess, Chantico, she’s like the goddess of fire. Her symbols are a red serpent and cactus spikes, and she rules over fire, wealth and precious stones within the earth.”
Lauren’s brow drew together, and he could almost read her mind. She knew where this was going.