We hiked a couple of miles into the backwoods of the Reyes’ property in our flip flops. The cool morning air felt soothing. The sun was still very low in the sky, having not had a chance to heat up the earth yet.
“Gorgeous landscape,” I said aloud to Louisa as she walked next to me.
“So you really like Corbin, don’t you?” she answered, ignoring my comment.
“It’s just business,” I said.
“So? You’re not allowed to like the guy you are doing ‘business’ with?” she made air quotes with her hands. “Corbin isn’t like the rest of the guys who do business here. He’s young and he’s sexy as fuck. I saw the way you were looking at him. Don’t lie.”
I raised an eyebrow. I wasn’t sure where she was going with this one, but Louisa was more perceptive than I had thought, so I figured I might as well bait her.
“Well, you know. Corbin is such a lady killer anyways. I’m sure he jumps from girl to girl. No sense getting attached.”
Louisa’s lips curved up in a soft smile, like she knew something I didn’t. “Really? Why would you think that?”
I swallowed. “Well, I don’t know. He just seems like the type of guy who would be with a lot of women.”
“He’s not like that, though.”
I felt almost angry now. “How do you know that?”
Louisa stopped walking for a moment and put her leg on a fallen tree to stretch her hamstring.
“Because I tried to sleep with him a while back.”
My heart raced. Corbin and my relationship was rather superficial, and we’d certainly never discussed other partners.
“And did you?”
“Yes. He said that I wasn’t his type.”
“Oh.”
Was I Corbin’s type? As much as I wanted to believe I was his special something, there was that side of me who was worried that he was a giant manwhore.
Before I could finish my response, I heard a faint rush of water.
“Come this way,” she said, her speed picking up to an almost-jog as she led the way on a faint path that zipped in and out of trees.
I followed Louisa around a rocky bend to see a 100 foot tall waterfall glistening in the sun. Under the falls were a series of rocks, and beautiful white sand lined both sides of the river where the powerful stream of water created a misty haze spreading out through parts of the stream.
Louisa turned over her shoulder and smiled at me. “Isn’t it beautiful?”
It was—breathtakingly so. I smiled at the beauty of the ridiculousness of this situation. Hanging out with a prostitute in the middle of a drug lord’s mansion in Mexico on an undercover mission.
Years later, I would look back on this moment and chuckle out loud, and people would wonder what I was remembering.
If I made it out of here, that is.
Louisa started to strip. I was a little shocked at first, but then why not skinny dip? After all the crazy things that had already happened on this trip, what would it matter if we took it off in the isolated jungle?
I took off my clothes, put them on a rock, and waded into the water, feeling as happy and girlish as I ever had in my life. It was so hard to believe this was work.
In that moment something pulled at my heartstrings, and I couldn’t believe what it was. I wished Corbin was there with me. I dove into the water headfirst.
23
Corbin
I went for an early run the next morning. I had a small hangover, and running had always been therapeutic for me. So I threw on some athletic shorts and gym shoes and flew out the door shirtless to take a tour of the Reyes property, waving to the armed guards on my way out.
A few minutes into my run, I noticed I had naturally started jogging toward Reyes Mansion number two, and I wasn’t sure why.
Fuck that. I knew exactly why I was gravitating toward the other mansion: because she was there. Subconsciously, I didn’t want to admit it, but I wanted to be around Eva. To check and make sure she was alright.
She’s a DEA agent, she can handle herself. I kept repeating the words in my head, but I needed to know for myself that she was safe. Who knew what kind of stripper-esque things they might have made her do last night? Mobs of men could be evil.
I slapped my sweaty face. Snap out of it. I didn’t get lovestruck, and I sure as shit didn’t get protective over one girl, a DEA agent no less. I had a mission--and as sexy as Eva was, I needed to focus on completing it and getting out of here alive as the first priority.
The sun began to rise higher in the sky, and I heard a waterfall in the distance, so I turned onto a dirt path that lead off the road.
A mile later, I found myself at the top of a giant waterfall. I walked out onto the edge on a rock. It was jumpable—about a hundred feet down—but it would require a skilled landing. Scanning the water beneath, I spotted something out of some kind of fairytale.
Two women—they looked like beautiful water nymphs—splashed each other in the water below, totally nude. I couldn’t make out their faces through the mist, but one of them had brown hair and lighter skin, and the other had this blonde hair, coffee with cream colored skin, and what looked to be a voluptuous ass and tits. They splashed and giggled like a couple of kids in the water.
After I pinched myself to be sure that this wasn’t a dream, I took a seat on a rock and just watched them for a few minutes. I was taken aback completely by how utterly joyfully they played in the water. Joy. Eva. Eva brought joy to me.
Fuck. Why did it always come back to her? It was only a one night stand, for God’s sake! Why couldn’t I just sit here and enjoy the moment, where two beautiful naked females were playing with each other in the wilderness. This was similar to what I had dreamt about many times over when I was locked up. Naked women. Hell, even if we had porn in prison—which we didn’t—this would be ten times better. They were yelling and laughing and, one of them let out a scream that, in my dirty mind, sounded like an org—.
Holy shit. The high pitched yell was unmistakable.
Eva. She was down there.
I watched them for a couple more minutes, and then decided—fuck it—she needed a surprise.
I stood up and jumped.
When I got to the top of the water, I saw Eva and Louisa looking around for me, no doubt wondering who—or what—had just landed in the water. Their backs were turned when I poked my head out of the water, so I took a deep breath and went back under water. I opened my eyes under water and swam toward her until I ended up right behind her. As I was coming up to the surface, I extended my arm and tapped her on the shoulder.
She shrieked, and turned around to swing at me, but I stopped her arm.
“Hey,” I smiled. “It’s me.”
Eva’s eyes went wide; her chest heaved adrenaline, her erect nipples pointed right at me.
“Asshole!” she yelped and splashed me. “How dare you sneak up on me like that!”
“Wow,” I said, staring at her breasts for a solid couple of seconds before moving my eyes back up to meet hers, which were sparkling, their deep brown color catching the reflection of the sun on the water. Eva opened her mouth and closed it, as if unsure of what to say to me.
“You’re getting all worked up,” I smiled. God she was hot when she got fired up.
Louisa, also standing in the water, stared at the awkward interaction happening between us.
“Louisa,” I said, putting my hand on Eva’s shoulder, “I would like to have a few moments alone with my girl, please.”
Louisa shrugged and walked toward the shore where her clothes were lying.
“How the hell did you find me?” she said, seeming stressed.
“No idea,” I said honestly. My internal Eva compass? “But I think it’s safe to say we’ve found another place to chat without being bugged.”
“What? You don’t think they’ve got microphones strapped to the rocks here?” she joked.
I led her by the hand over to a rock in the middle of the natural pl
unge pool that was half shade half sun. I hopped onto the rock and motioned for Eva to jump on top of it with me.
“I’ll stay in the water, if that’s fine,” she said, standing in waist deep water.
“So shy all of the sudden?” I smiled, untying one of my shoes to take it off.
She didn’t return my grin, her expression staying neutral. “Corbin, I’ve been doing some thinking. And the thing that happened two nights ago, we can’t do it again. Really.”
“Do you mean the thing where we only have sex? It’s a little late for that.”
She broke into a slight grin. “No Corbin, I mean it. I know we are acting for the cameras and all that, but I just can’t do it. It’s a total breach of DEA conduct, and I’m so gonna get my ass handed to me by headquarters if they find out that you and I were together.”
I stared back at her gorgeous brown eyes, letting go of my smile for a moment. “So you didn’t enjoy what we did the other night. It was just an act.”
“That’s not important. What’s important is that we adhere to policy.”
I tilted my head, taking off my other shoe. “Right. Policy.” What was really bothering her? “I don’t get you, Eva.”
“You and me,” she said, pointing at both of us in succession, “Cannot be a thing. I’m afraid I’ve made a big mistake.”
“You made a big mistake…twice.”
She rolled her eyes. “Yes.”
“I don’t get you Eva, what is your deal?”
She folded her arms, naked, which made her little ‘this is a taboo romance’ tirade even sexier to me.
“My deal, Corbin, is I should never have slept with you. If you had told me who you were up front, I wouldn’t have done it. But you lied by omission. You played a dirty trick. And now…”
She trailed off and looked at the falls; the early morning sun was creeping over some trees and casting a light on her body from the neck up.
“That’s not it,” I said, leaning forward and nudging her chin with the back of my curved finger. “There’s something else. Tell me.”
Eva stayed silent. Eva definitely had her guard up in a weird way. She’d let me ravage her in bed, but she hadn’t let me all the way in by any means. Emotionally, she was hiding something from me.
“What are you thinking about right now?” I asked.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” she answered, turning away from me.
My gym shoes off and drying in the sun, I slid into the water and stood next to her.
“I feel…guilty about my last relationship,” she said.
“Guilty. Okay.” I looked at her eyes and saw her twisting in pain. Clearly I was pushing her out of her comfort zone.
“I feel guilty because,” she took a deep breath, “I cheated on Ned. That’s why our relationship ended.”
Bombshell. Two of them. “You dated Ned? Like, DEA Ned? Doesn’t seem like your type at all.”
“Yes! And DEA Ned was actually a nice guy. But I ruined everything because of one drunken mistake. And now, I’m here with you playing being a mistress. But in reality, it’s true. I am just a mistress type of girl.” She frowned.
I didn’t say anything. I looked down at her and then I extended my palm around her neck and massaged her.
“You’ve never cheated on anyone, have you?” she asked.
I actually laughed out loud, which I guess wasn’t the most sensitive response, because she swiped my arm away from her body.
“Dick,” she mouthed under her breath and turned away from me.
“Hey, I didn’t mean it like that.” I stiffened, and considered how to answer her question.
She half-turned toward me, her arms crossed. “Well then how did you mean it, other than to say that my question was stupid?”
“Your question isn’t that stupid. I’ve never cheated on anyone. Well, now that I think about it, I’ve never been in a real relationship that’s lasted more than a couple of months.”
I massaged my temple with my thumb and forefinger. Eva was leading me to a revelation of my own.
“Huh, what?”
“It’s stupid. You’ll laugh.”
She opened up her body language and took a step toward me. “Tell me. I promise I won’t judge.”
“No, forget it. It’s not something guys talk about.”
She wrapped her hand around my bicep and looked up at me. “I’m standing here baring my soul to you—literally, I’m naked—and you can’t tell me what comes to your mind? Wow. I am just an expert when it comes to finding emotionally closed-off guys.”
Her gaze didn’t leave my face. She just kept staring innocently up at me with those beautiful dark eyes, requesting that I share my darkest secrets with her. I looked off into the distance for a moment, my eyes following the sightline of the river, which seemed to go on forever.
“Fine. I had a girlfriend toward the end of freshman year of high school. One of those ridiculous, make-out by the locker room kind of romances. Never cheated on her.”
“Why are you talking about your high-school sweetheart right now?”
I smirked. “I thought you said you wouldn’t judge what I was thinking about.”
“Touché.”
I continued. “So my mom did a lot of drugs—crack, meth, pot—you name it. It was a lot for a teenager to handle. And one day early sophomore year, I came home and my mom was gone. She left a note that said she wasn’t a good mother with the number for child services for us to get in touch with. I never saw her again, and eventually found out she passed away. And as far as girls go, I didn’t really have time for a girlfriend since I was providing for our family, albeit through the illicit means of dealing drugs.”
Eva was an arm's length away and she took another step toward me, eclipsing the remaining distance so that her skin was almost touching me.
“Holy shit,” she said, her eyes glazed over. I thought I saw a tear stream down one cheek, but I wasn’t sure if it was just mist from the waterfall. She moved her body closer to mine and wrapped me in a hug. I was a little surprised that she was hugging me naked after the whole ‘not going to sleep with you anymore’ tangent that she had just gone on, but her soft body felt amazing against mine, and I loved the way she nuzzled her head into my chest, almost like a golden retriever.
We hugged for a good long minute. She sniffled, answering my question as to whether or not the drop was from the water or a tear.
I realized that what I had just told Eva, I had never told a soul. Not my brother Casey, not my counselor in prison, not any of my friends. And it felt fucking good to let it out.
We released each other. Eva ran her hand through my hair.
“Hey,” she said. “It’s not your fault. None of this. Not your mom being a coward and leaving you, not the fact that you got wrapped up in drugs, nothing.”
“Thanks,” I shot back. “It’s not your fault either.”
She scrunched her face in a quizzical look. “What do you mean?”
“You act like I’m the only one here who is in confessional mode right now. You blame yourself for cheating on Ned. I’m not a betting man any more, but I would bet the relationship was on the way out when that happened. And that, Eva, isn’t your fault. Stop blaming yourself.”
She paused and thought for a moment, her hands on her hips. Then she opened her mouth like a lightbulb had just gone off in her head.
“Oh. My. Gosh. You’re right. Ned had ignored me for weeks when I did it. I was at the point of stalking him on a Friday night when he said we couldn’t hang out.”
We let our respective revelations hang in the air for a few moments. I didn’t know what else to say, so I just slipped my hands down to her sides, grabbed her, and kissed the shit out of her.
Her body fit against mine like a puzzle piece, her every curve molding into my muscles.
I was the one with the guilty conscience now, considering my getaway plan.
24
Corbin
Later th
at evening, Marco, Eva, Louisa and I sat on the patio back at the big mansion sharing a bottle of wine, our chairs in a circle as we watched the sun go down. I felt like we were no closer to finding Luis Reyes than when we were back in San Diego. Personally, I was getting more and more curious as to his whereabouts. He was the leader of the biggest cocaine cartel in the world and this was his hideaway. Where else would he be? Something smelled funny, and I intended to find out what.
Plus, Marco kept droning on about how badly he wanted to spend a night with Alexa, which was starting to get to me. No way was I letting her alone with that psychopath, much less after what he did to his innocent employee last night.
“Alexa, I’d really like for you to spend a night with me. Trust me. I will make it worth your while,” Marco sneered.
I wanted to jump across the table and slap Marco. Just let it go, man. I decided a good natured ribbing would be a better route.
"You really want to get my sloppy seconds," I jabbed.
Marco leaned in toward me, his elbows on the table. "I’m fine with you warming her up for me,” he said. “I don’t care if I’m first or fiftieth, I just want her. With me. Alone.”
I held on to my stone face even as I threw up a little bit in my mouth. She was mine and only mine, and Marco wasn’t getting anywhere near her. No way in hell was I allowing this to go on.
"Corbin? Did you hear what I said?"
Shit. I'd spaced the hell out into my own little world again.
"Sorry,” I said. “I was calculating all of the money I am going to make when I pull this deal off."
"Ha. You would be thinking about money. Money and women, those are Corbin Young's priorities," he grinned.
"Obviously," Eva said without looking at me.
Louisa sat there twirling her hair, drinking her wine and looking off into the horizon, either purposely ignoring us, or just generally oblivious to our conversation. Either way, I envied her. It must have been nice to be so worry free.
"I deal with a lot of assholes in my line of work," Eva said, stealing a glance at me. "So it's nothing new."
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