by Alta Hensley
“Anson…”
Reaching for the water bottle that sat in the cup holder between them, he took a big swallow before he said, “Yes?”
“So what happens if we are able to leave Argentina, and we do get back to Texas?”
“What do you mean?”
“Where do I fit in in all of this? It’s your home. You belong there. You rescue me and get me safely to Texas, but then what?”
Anson paused, appearing deep in thought. “We make it your home.”
“My home?” She turned her head to look at him in disbelief. “What do you mean, my home?”
“Well, you said you have never had a real home before, or at least since childhood. You have no place to go now. And until Montez is dead, you aren’t safe to be anywhere else but with me at the ranch.”
“I’ve never been a burden to anyone before. I don’t want to become one to your family.”
“First of all, you will never become a burden to me. Ever. And second, you have a high level of skill that could be really useful to our company. Your years of training in Chile could really be an asset to us. We could use you.”
“Use me?”
He nodded. “Yes, we have several women who still need to be hunted down and rescued from Poplov’s sex trade. Not to mention working on taking down all the bastards who took part. Our job is far from over. Your talent, your knowledge, and your balls of steel could really help us. Adira has a psychology background that is really useful to us when we go in for the saves and bring them back to safety at the ranch. Did you know Zoya is quite the artist?”
“No, we weren’t exactly in a position to talk about our hobbies.”
“Well, she is. We were able to identify several of the men and the women from portraits she’d drawn. Both women’s skills are assets, but you—well, you can really be an asset in the field. It would help us to have a woman on the frontlines and not just back at the ranch.”
“Wow,” she said, making a small turn in the road which made the Parana River come into plain view. “You surprise me, Anson.”
“How so?”
“You come off as this alpha bad ass swooping in to save the damsel in distress. I didn’t expect for you to be so open to the idea of a woman working beside you.”
“Well, if that woman is you, I wouldn’t want it any other way. I think we make a damn good team together.”
“And your brothers? Your father? They wouldn’t mind me working with you all?”
He grabbed the water bottle and took another swig before handing it to Natalia. “They would want what I want. And besides,” he paused while she took a drink and then handed it back to him, “they are going to feel indebted to you. You rescued me just as I rescued you. Hell, I’d most likely have bled to death if it weren’t for you.”
“Please,” she huffed. “You would have managed just fine without me.”
“Maybe. But I prefer managing with you more.”
“You wouldn’t even be here if it weren’t for me,” Natalia said.
“Actually, you wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for me. I should have bought you at that auction no matter what.”
With a giggle, Natalia said, “So we both just fucked each other up. Is that what you are saying?”
“I guess so. Which is why we have to get out of Argentina, get home, and work on unfucking each other.”
She smiled with all the delicious thoughts that flooded her mind on ways to unfuck or fuck Anson. “So you mean it? You really want me to come back to The Black Stallion Ranch to help? Not just out of pity?”
“Yes, Natalia. I want that more than anything. I feel a lot of things for you, but pity is not one of them.”
“And I would be staying with you?” Her heartbeat thumped hard against her chest, and her mouth dried with the anticipation of what he would say.
“I would like that. But I also understand if the idea seems too fast for you. We have a guest room in the house if you would rather have your own space. I will respect your decision just as long as you agree to come back and stay. We need you, just as I believe you need us.”
They drove in silence for several more miles before she said, “Fine, I will go to Texas and stay with you on one condition.”
“If that condition is no more spankings, then the answer is no.” Anson laughed loudly, which caused her to playfully roll her eyes and shake her head. “I plan to have you over my lap again.”
“You are so bad.”
He stopped laughing but kept his handsome smile. “What condition? Whatever you ask will be my command.”
“If I go with you to Texas, no one treats me like a victim. I don’t want to be that weak woman who shivers in a corner you all walk on eggshells around. Deal?”
He nodded. “Deal.”
“And I earn my keep.”
“Oh trust me, the Steeles will work you to the bone. Jennie is going to love having another woman in the house. She was outnumbered by testosterone for so many years that she is eating up having Adira and Zoya living there now. I have no doubt she will be thrilled and will welcome you with open arms.”
“Tell me about this Jennie lady. You light up when talking about her.”
“You will see why once you meet her. She is a character like no other. She is this little hippie, earth mother, firecracker. She cooks these vegetarian concoctions, dances with bees, smokes pot, and lives life to the fullest. We all love her to death and would be absolutely lost without her.” He smiled at the memory of her. “My father and she never were a real item, but deep down, I feel they are soul mates. They just haven’t fully figured that all out. They live in their truths and don’t try to categorize what that is like normal people do.” He chuckled. “She is the light in our lives… when we deal with very dark things around us.”
“I can’t wait to meet her. She sounds like a special woman.”
“She is. Very.” He reached over and ran his fingertips along her jawline. “Everyone is going to love you. I can’t wait to have you meet them.”
In the corner of Natalia’s eye, she could see a look of satisfaction and happiness in Anson’s expression. It made her feel good that her agreeing to go to Texas with him caused that look on his perfectly chiseled face.
As she drove along the Parana River, she recognized her surroundings and knew they were on the right path. “It won’t be long until we reach civilization.” Glancing down at the fuel gauge, she said, “Looks like we are going to make it. Just as long as the gas station I’m remembering is still in existence.” The little line balanced on the very bottom edge of the red zone, but she was pretty confident they had just enough to drive the extra mile or two left.
“Sweating our asses off worked, I suppose.” His fingers plucked at the wet shirt sticking to his chest and he tried to flap it around to cool himself off. “Although, I have better ideas of how to sweat our asses off.”
“I bet you do.” She smirked. Changing the subject, because the last thing she needed right now was to get all hot and bothered, she asked, “And you are sure Nuevo Alberdi is where Stryder will be? I would hate to go to that neighborhood if we don’t have to. It’s not a place someone chooses to go unless there is a damn good reason.”
“Yes, I have been thinking about it a lot. I’ve played out every scenario in my head on what Stryder, Maddox, or my father could come up with. It keeps coming back to meeting up in a place I’d know though I’ve never seen it. Someplace that has a deep meaning for my brother. My gut is telling me that Stryder’s mother’s grave is what my brother would come up with.”
“Will he take care of Montez first? Kill him?”
“No. This will be a rescue mission only. When we do a mission, we stay on point. Attempting to do too much at once will muddy the objective. His one and only goal will be to get you and me onto American soil as quickly as possible. Once we are in Texas, we can deal with Montez.”
A part of her didn’t like hearing that. She didn’t want to leave Argentina until
Montez was dead. It felt as if she was failing her mission. But at the same time, she didn’t have much of a choice right now. They needed to regroup and figure out the next responsible step. She couldn’t be irrational in her actions. Her mind knew this, even though her heart and soul fiercely disagreed.
“I feel for Stryder that he had to grow up in such a bad neighborhood. It couldn’t have been easy,” she said. “I haven’t been there in person, but I have heard all about it. My father spoke of it often but never in a favorable light.”
“Yeah, my brother had it really tough growing up. His mother was a prostitute just trying to survive for her son. Stryder had a lot of dark demons because of his past, but Zoya really helped him out of it. Their love has really softened the guy.”
Natalia stole a glance his direction and saw the twinkle in Anson’s eyes at thinking of his brother being happy.
Finally breaking through the canopy of trees, she relaxed a bit when the dirt road they had been traveling on suddenly changed to asphalt. They had made it to Rosario—or at least the outskirts of Rosario. And in the far off distance, she could make out the gas station she had been praying still existed. They had made it.
“Lucky for you, I see the gas station,” she said with a smile. “It would have really sucked for you to have had to push the Jeep for miles and miles in this heat.”
Anson shook his head and did his best not to smile, but Natalia could see the corners of his mouth twitching as he resisted the urge, and lost. “So much for my need to rest my arm.” He slid his arm from the improvised sling she’d insisted he use to keep it immobile during the drive, stretching his arm out and flexing his fingers several times. “Doc, you do realize that your instructions tend to change on a whim, don’t you?”
Natalia grinned as well. “Haven’t you ever heard of woman’s prerogative?”
“Really? Pulling the female card?”
“I’ll pull whatever is necessary to get the job done. Something I’d think that as my future coworker, you’d find appealing.”
She glanced at him to see his smile seemed sexier and that it had reached his eyes, making the blue color sparkle.
“I assure you that I find every single thing about you appealing… even your feistiness.” He paused as if giving her time to process his words before he spoke again. “And I can’t even begin to tell you how appealing I find that word ‘pulling.’ The idea of you pulling me closer when I’ve got you naked beneath me or me pulling you up and down when you are on top. Yep, I do believe it’s now one of my favorite words.”
Well hell. He’d managed to turn the conversation in a direction she hadn’t imagined when she’d first teased him about the Jeep. Now all she was picturing was being on top of him, straddling his legs, rocking back and forth, up and down as she rode him.
“Natalia?”
“Um, what?”
“I thought we needed gas.”
Snapped out of her thoughts, she could feel her cheeks heat and heard his chuckle. This man had the ability to drive her loco and she was discovering that she didn’t mind being a little crazy.
She made the turn into the station and they only made it to the pump due to the forward momentum of the Jeep. It really had been running on nothing more than fumes and a prayer. Natalia couldn’t wait to use the restroom and splash cool water all over her face. She had to look like a complete disaster right now, and just hoped Anson wasn’t too repulsed by her smell and sweaty appearance. Parking in front of the pump, she turned off the Jeep and let out a deep breath.
Anson reached inside his pants pocket and pulled out a wallet. Taking out a wad of cash, he handed it to her and said, “Go on in and put forty dollars for gas and then buy us whatever snacks and drinks you want.”
Taking the money, she didn’t have to be asked twice. “I’ll double check on directions to Nuevo Alberdi while I’m inside too. Best not to have the gringo do it.” She gave him a wink as she hopped out of the vehicle.
Practically running inside, she tossed forty dollars to the man behind the counter so Anson could start pumping the gas, and asked for the key to the outside restroom. She decided she would deal with snacks later. Natalia was glad she did, because when she entered the bathroom and stared at herself in the dirty gas station bathroom mirror, she truly looked as if she had been in the storm of the century. Her hair was tossed in every direction and knotted. Her face looked greasy and in desperate need of a wash. Not being able to ignore her bladder any longer, she first went to the bathroom then walked over to the sink. She did her best to wash away the grime not only on her face, but her armpits, the back of her neck, and even her privates. She all but gave herself a bath in the sink. Not exactly lady-like, but she didn’t want her first meeting with Stryder to be in the condition that she was in, and she wanted to impress Anson. A dirty, wild woman who stank was not a way to a man’s heart. Cupping the water in her hands, she poured as much of it over her hair as possible, and she also tried to put her head under the stream of water. After several minutes, Natalia was staring back at a wet but much cleaner and more presentable person in the mirror. Knowing there wasn’t much more she could do, and with the stuffy heat of the bathroom getting to her, she exited to go get some snacks and directions.
Anson was approaching her as she walked out, with a large smile painting his face. “You and I are thinking the same thing,” he said. “I was just going to go in there and try to wash off some of this sweat from my body.”
She scanned his mouth-watering frame, trying hard not to imagine him shirtless as he splashed water over his perfectly sculpted chest.
Focus, focus.
“Do you need any help?”
He shook his head. “You just get us settled with food and water, and I’ll meet you back at the Jeep.”
It didn’t take long to do as he asked when Natalia realized and felt disappointed that there wasn’t much in the way of snacks or options for drinks. She grabbed some bottled water, some bags of chips that looked like they were at least packaged in this century, and the only bag of jerky that appeared edible. The man behind the counter gave her directions to Nuevo Alberdi, which she could have figured out herself, but was happy she could at least tell Anson that she asked. When she walked out, Anson was just getting into the Jeep—the passenger side.
“Ready to go?” he asked. His hair was slicked back with water he had no doubt splashed over his body, the sling was no longer hanging across his chest, and he looked revived and clean.
She tossed the bag of gas station supplies to him, noticing that he’d caught it with both hands without so much as a wince. Grateful that he seemed to be truly on the way to a complete recovery, she hopped in the driver’s seat. “I am, even though I’d love a real bath. I’m already sweating again. Are you ready to go find Stryder?”
He reached for her hand and squeezed. “In Texas, women don’t sweat, they glisten. But even though I find you beautiful when you are glistening quite profusely, let’s go find my brother and get the hell out of this sweat lodge.”
Chapter 15
As Natalia maneuvered through the streets of Rosario, Anson’s attention was divided between the world outside the Jeep and the person who had become his world sitting beside him. The playful banter had ended the moment she’d pulled out of the gas station. She’d been driving for hours over horrendous terrain that couldn’t be even considered roads, and yet never once had he seen her hands holding the wheel so tightly nor her knuckles white from that grip. Natalia didn’t have to say a single word for him to hear the conversation in her head. It might be a private conversation, and yet he had no problem inviting himself to join in when one hand released the wheel to swipe across her cheek.
“You’re doing great,” he said softly.
She didn’t even glance at him, her hand returning to the wheel as she sat up straighter in the seat. “What? Afraid we’d get lost? I told you I’d ask for directions.”
Anson shook his head, reaching to lay a hand on her
thigh. “I wasn’t talking about your navigational skills, Natalia. I’m talking about the fact that I know this has to be hard as shit for you. Even if you take away the fact that we’ve got a bounty on our heads, coming back to a place where your childhood ended and your world imploded is incredibly tough.”
It took her another three blocks before he saw her grip loosening and another one before she turned her head. His heart clenched at the look in her eyes—a look that proved she was indeed reliving the fact that the place where a child should have felt carefree, safe, unhindered by the cruel realities of the world, had instead turned into one of the deepest levels of Dante’s hell that day in the church. His soft squeeze on her leg was returned when she dropped a hand to cover his.
“I tried to brace myself, but…” She shrugged and returned her hand to the wheel, freeing his to reach up and run his finger down her cheek, tracing the track of the tear that had fallen.
“You can’t brace your heart against the ghosts of those you loved,” he said softly. “That doesn’t make you weak, Natalia, it makes you human.” Leaning over, he replaced his finger with his lips. “Let yourself feel, remember the joy of your childhood, and acknowledge the horror, as it took both to make you what you are.” Her head turned and he added, “And that is a woman who would make her family, her beloved abuela, extremely proud.”
The pain in her eyes dimmed. Not completely gone, and yet no longer consuming her every thought.
“You’re a good man, Steele.”
He grinned and after another caress of her cheek, he picked up her hand and kissed her palm. “And you’re the most incredible woman I’ve been blessed to know.” He sat back, pleased when she entwined her fingers with his. The Jeep continued onward and he took note of the scenery. As part of a team that would go anywhere in the world necessary to complete their missions, he’d seen poverty before. But not like this. Oh, the dirt was not much different than in other places, the trash and junk piles the same, even the chickens pecking the ground for insects or the occasional goat trotting across the street would have been at home in any third world country. No, what was different were the people.
