Heated Pursuit

by April Hunt

  Temporarily distracted by his use of the word we again, Penny took a moment to realize what he’d said. “Wait. What? Who? Why?”

  Rafe shrugged. “The who is what I don’t know. But he made it clear his connections make his job a hell of a lot easier, and we’ve been after him too damn long for it not to be a possibility.”

  “Why would anyone want to help a monster like him?”

  “Money. Power. Greed—in all its forms—is a powerful motivator. We’ll find a village, get someplace where we can contact Sean and the team, and then we’ll work on flushing out the turncoat. Right now, we need to create some distance. Once daylight hits, we’ll start cycling in sleep. We’ll be less easily tracked if we move at night and sleep during the day.”

  Trekking through the dark jungle turned out to be a lot less precarious when not hurdling sprawling shadows, but it wasn’t a cakewalk either. Especially at the insane pace Rafe set. By the time daylight peeked through the treetops, hours had felt like weeks.

  There was nothing special about the place where they finally stopped—no holes in the ground, no caverns. She watched as he circled the base of a particularly high tree as if he were a lumberjack estimating a trajectory.

  “We’re stopping here?” she asked curiously.

  “To rest and recharge. Once the sun sets, we’ll get on the move again.”

  “Do you have a tent in your little bag of tricks?”

  “Unfortunately, Diego’s man didn’t pack a tent…but we do have this.” From his procured bag, Rafe pulled out a long segment of climbing rope—and shot her a boyish smirk. “Ever sleep in a tree?”

  Penny blinked. Nope, the mischievous grin still twisted up his lips. “Are you kidding me right now?”

  Not even Rafe’s smile was enough to erase the dread that made her eyes scan up the length of the tall, tall tree. Her gazed swayed from Rafe to the tree, and back again. He wasn’t joking.

  Feet sore. Leg throbbing. She did the only thing that would get her closer to sleep. She took the rope from his hand. “Give a girl a boost, will ya?”

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Waking up perched in a tree shouldn’t have led to the morning wood from hell, but with Penny tucked firmly between Rafe’s outspread thighs, his dick had long since turned from wood to granite. One little shift, a slight nudge, and he’d come in his pants like a randy teenager. They needed to find civilization before he started envisioning ways to use the damn rope that didn’t involve tying his ass up in a tree.

  His job had always been enough to pull his mind from the sexual gutter. No one could get a hard-on while calculating the amount of C-4 needed to drop a building. If he needed a bit of feel-good stress relief post-mission, he’d work out his sexual frustrations with a blonde or a brunette and get back to work the next day. Hell, a few hours later.

  It wouldn’t be that simple with Penny. There wasn’t a thing about her that didn’t mess with his head or other parts of his anatomy. Her death-ray glares created an instant erection. When she got that pain-filled, faraway look in her eyes as she thought about Rachel, he craved to kiss the pain away. And when she ravaged him with a simple glance, he mentally mapped a route to the nearest flat surface—vertical or horizontal.

  No woman had ever affected him this way, not on a physical level and most definitely not in a way that made him worry over everything going on in her head. He could no longer deny it when, with a sleepy sigh, she shifted innocently against his crotch. The only thing that kept him from expelling his load was the sight of the viper not four inches from her bare left foot.

  He should’ve seen it, should’ve realized that as the sun set, day-sleeping creatures would start to rouse. And of all the venomous snakes, it had to be an eyelash pit viper.

  He swallowed a curse as the small, coiled yellow snake shifted securely on the branch where Penny’s sneakers were tied and air drying. One eye on its movement, Rafe nudged his mouth against Penny’s ear. “Red, baby. I need you to wake up. And don’t move.”

  With a sleepy groan, she shifted. This time, the movement didn’t create a single stir in his pants. As a matter of fact, the snake extinguished his hard-on completely.

  “Penny.” He gave her ear a gentle nip. “We have a bit of an issue here, and I need you to wake up. Slowly.”

  “Is there ever a time when you’re not raring to go?” Slow to rouse, her words sounded sluggishly amused.

  “Around you? No. But right now I’m more concerned with creating a little distance between us and the snake.”

  “The what?”

  He knew the instant she saw it because her body stiffened like a flagpole. “Oh God,” she whispered breathlessly. “Please tell me that thing isn’t venomous and that it’s more afraid of us than we are of it.”

  “Wish I could. It may look small and dainty, but the eyelash viper suffers from a continual streak of general bitchiness. We must’ve invaded its home turf.”

  “You mean it lives in trees?” The tight squeak of her voice made the viper lift its triangular head.

  “If it’s any consolation, there’s a whole hell of a lot more poisonous things on the ground. Trust me—you don’t want a dart frog jumping into your pants.”

  “Oh yeah. That’s much more comforting. Any idea how we’re going to get out of this?”

  “Can you get to the knife strapped to my left thigh? Just move slow. Be careful. And if the snake moves, you freeze. Immediately.”

  “We really need to talk about this reassurance thing you seem to lack.” Penny inched her trembling hand slowly onto his thigh.

  “That’s it. Slow and steady. Easy. You’re doing great, Red.” The second her fingertips made contact with the knife’s handle, the damn snake tightened its body into an offensive position. Rafe urged her still with a touch. “Don’t move.”

  Every muscle in Penny’s body froze. The staccato huffs of her breathing were the only thing he could hear above the pounding of his heart.

  “Where’s that commando s-superhero cape?” she joked in a stutter.

  “I must’ve left it in my other tree.”

  “Too bad you didn’t leave your snake there, too.” Her voice shook. Hell, he was scared, too. A venomous bite was one thing they didn’t need tallied onto their list of fucking obstacles.

  Rafe slid his leg over hers, ignoring the ten names of stupid she mumbled at him from under her breath. The viper rose, body tensed. Rafe swung his booted foot just as it struck. Both speed and luck knocked it off course before a second well-aimed kick dropped it fifteen feet to the jungle floor.

  He felt the hitch in Penny’s breathing before he heard the first quiet sob. Damn if his own hands didn’t shake as he wrapped his arms around her trembling body. “It’s okay. It’s over. Where’s my badass bail enforcement agent, huh? The woman who can wear six-inch stilettos and still kick a man’s ass to the curb?”

  From out of nowhere, a string of soft giggles shook her shoulders. Laughter definitely wasn’t the response he’d been expecting, but the sound of it pulled a smile to his lips.

  With a deep sigh, she dropped her head back onto his shoulder. “Yeah, I left that woman somewhere in the helicopter, or in that dark alley. She may have even stayed in the States, because she sure as hell isn’t here.”

  Sarcasm laced Penny’s words, making Rafe frown. This beautiful, courageous, force of a woman thinking she wasn’t the epitome of bravery didn’t make the least damn bit of sense. He knew grown men who didn’t have the balls to go through everything she’d dealt with over the last week.

  Hell, traveling to a foreign country would’ve deterred most people. She’d not only navigated the streets of one of the most notorious South American cities, but had had no intention of leaving even when they’d threatened to put her ass on a plane. And there hadn’t been the slightest bit of hesitation when Fuentes suggested their little trip into seclusion.

  Fuckin’ A. She jumped off a goddamned cliff!

  Penny doubting herself pissed him
off. But what infuriated him even more was knowing that she wouldn’t believe him even if he listed off each of her accomplishments in a fucking PowerPoint presentation.

  * * *

  Six hours, four blisters, and a precarious hike later, each breath took more effort than Penny would’ve liked. The stagnant jungle air invited insects to buzz around her body as if she were a walking buffet, and the cloud of bugs worsened the closer they got to the river.

  She didn’t care. Let them eat her alive. She’d suffer through a lot worse if it meant feeling even a degree cleaner.

  They stepped through the edge of the tree line, and there it was. The river. Murky brown jungle water never looked so damn good. Rafe’s hand landed on her arm before she could dive in face-first. After twenty-four hours without a drop to drink, she seriously contemplated pushing him in.

  He chuckled when she shot him a murderous glare. “Just let me take a look around the area. We wouldn’t want any surprises popping out, okay?”

  “Yeah, I’ve had about all the popping and dangling I can handle for a while.” She shooed him away. “Go. Inspect. And then I’m diving into that river like an Olympian.”

  Penny understood his caution. Even though the river meant they were on the right track, it also made them more vulnerable. It didn’t stop her from giving the water a longing look as Rafe disappeared back into the jungle.

  Her leg was bouncing like a pogo stick by the time he reemerged from the trees after what felt like eons. “We’re all clear. If you want to wash up, now’s the time.” Rafe gave the river a side eye. “Only wish our Fuentes buddy had been hospitable enough to pack us some iodine tabs.”

  About to slurp a handful of water, Penny stopped. “Iodine tabs?”

  “A survivalist’s friend for staving off a parasitic invasion, because chances are that if the water didn’t immediately fall from the sky, it’ll make us sick. But I guess that’s the least of our worries right now.”

  Penny could’ve smacked herself as she dug out Logan’s bug-out bag from her pocket. “And I suppose that would be something a commando type would make sure to pack in one of these things?”

  Rafe’s mouth formed into a dimple-inducing grin as he reached for the clutch. Wrapping one palm around her nape, he hauled her in for a fierce kiss. “Goddamn, Red. You’re a fucking beautiful genius.”

  “It was Logan who stuck it into our things. I just thought to grab it. Does that mean you’re going to kiss him when we get back, too?” Penny teased.

  Rafe chuckled. “I just damn well might.”

  Penny accepted his hand as they navigated the slick rocks. River water sprayed up, misting any inch of skin that wasn’t already damp with sweat. She took a seat and watched him pull out two brown pills from the bug-out bag and drop them into their procured canteen.

  He caught her watching him and winked. “It’ll have a metallic taste, but it’s a hell of a lot better than the other option. Looks like Logan also thought to load us up with the necessities, because there’s dried jerky and antibiotic ointment in there, too.”

  “Looking more and more like that kiss is going to happen,” Penny joked.

  “Jealous, Red?” Rafe’s mouth twitched into a forming smirk.

  “Maybe.”

  He handed her the canteen. “Bottoms up.”

  Penny wrinkled her nose as the first drop of water hit her tongue, but she chugged it eagerly. Microscopic parasites or not, it was the best damn thing she’d ever tasted. She downed her share and passed the canteen back to Rafe, their fingers brushing.

  Maybe it was the luminescent glow of the moon, or the wild call of jungle animals protesting their presence, but she half expected a melodic, hidden voice to break into a love song and cartoon lions to roll their way down the riverbank.

  After meeting Rafe, she understood what women meant when they said a man possessed the ability to undress a woman with his eyes. Even dusted in the grime of nature, Rafe’s intense gaze made her feel flat-out sexy. Wanted. And it had been a long, long time since anyone had made her feel that way. If ever.

  She hoped he’d act on that look, but he tore his gaze away and spread his weapons out on a nearby rock. “I don’t like being out in the open, so let’s make this a quick scrub-down.”

  “So we’re conserving that water again, huh?” she teased.

  His cool mask quickly reverted to all heat. Okay. Maybe joking with him wasn’t the best course of action if they needed to make this a quick pit stop, but she couldn’t help it. She secretly hoped he’d take her up on the offer, which was ridiculous because they were in the middle of a jungle with God only knew how many men after them.

  That’s how potent Rafael Ortega was. He’d lured her in at the first glimpse of his sea-blue eyes, but it was the man himself who kept her coming back for more.

  She’d quickly learned he was a bit more than a solider—a lot more. He’d taken a chance on her, believed in her when she didn’t entirely believe in herself. He pushed aside his own Fuentes agenda to help her focus on hers…on Rachel. And she had no doubt that whether for one of his friends or a perfect stranger, he’d step straight into a bullet and not think twice.

  That was Rafe. Not soldier Rafe. Or Alpha Rafe. But the man Rafe.

  He was the kind of man she could fall easily in love with…the kind that could break her heart to smithereens simply by living his life the way he was meant to. Love—in general—was a land mine. Falling in love with a man whose sense of duty was etched into his DNA was like walking through that land mine blindfolded with explosives strapped to your chest.

  Realizing she could very much be approaching the point of no return, Penny closed her eyes and took a shuddering breath. When she opened them again, her gaze clashed with Rafe’s. She forgot it all—except the sweltering pull she felt to be close to him.

  “Oh boy,” she murmured.

  Never once breaking eye contact, Rafe shed his shirt and tugged off his boots. By the time the pants followed, Penny was a raging hot mess of mixed emotions. The fabric of her bra chafed against her sensitized nipples, and a dampness coated her body, which had nothing to do with humidity. Modesty definitely wasn’t an issue with the man, and why would it be?

  Beneath the glow of Honduran moonlight, he looked like a warrior god. Every chiseled muscle flexed and rippled with fluidity. His broad chest melted into the taut angles of his abs.

  The only imperfection marring his granite-hard body was a six-inch jagged scar to the right of his navel. Raised and rough, it contrasted the smooth perfection of his skin.

  Penny blamed pheromones for not having seen it before. It looked vicious, as was the method by which it was probably obtained.

  “That looks like it really hurt.” Her whisper sounded like a shout against the low drone of jungle wildlife.

  “It didn’t tickle.”

  Rafe’s muscles twitched as she gently ran her fingers over the serrated line. No, it wouldn’t have tickled. Even without a medical degree, she could recognize a mortal wound. An injury like that would’ve required life-saving efforts and a grueling recuperation. Her chest ached at the thought of him dealing with it alone, then throbbed with the realization that he’d dealt with it at all. In his line of work, injuries like this were collateral damage. And it didn’t stop him in the least.

  Her pathetic handful of haul-ins in rural Pennsylvania didn’t qualify her to buff his combat boots, much less assist him on an operation. They sure as hell didn’t equate to a relationship where he didn’t pull out all his hair from boredom and run in the other direction.

  “I was in a remote region near Kandahar—with my Delta unit.” His rough voice pulled her eyes up to his. As he spoke, his hand slipped on top of hers until their fingers entwined over the scar. “Villages were being pillaged for food and supplies. Residents lived in constant fear, too afraid to stick their heads out of their doors. From one day to the next, they never knew which travelers were friends and who wanted to blow them to kingdom come. Any assis
tance offered by US troops was always refused because they feared retaliation.”

  “I can’t imagine living that way.” Penny shook her head, horrified.

  “Neither can I, and eventually the village elder realized he wanted more for his people. My unit was sent to babysit a government official who wanted to broker a deal for intelligence-collection in exchange for protection from the insurgents. One of the elder’s sons wasn’t as receptive to the coalition. All he saw was the threat of danger to his family.”

  When she got his meaning, her mouth dropped. “And he stabbed you because of it?”

  He gave her fingers a gentle squeeze. “Fear and desperation sometimes make people do things they wouldn’t normally do. Kind of like a social worker turned bail enforcement agent boarding a plane to the murder capital of Central America and hunting down an international drug lord.”

  Penny wanted to tuck this moment in her pocket and save it for later. Men like Rafe were a rare breed. Time and training could make a Sunday school teacher a trained sniper. What set him apart was that he genuinely cared. The growls and glares and conceited innuendos were a Band-Aid covering the vulnerable parts. Even if it was only for a split second, he’d taken that bandage off and exposed himself—to her.

  It made her happy and sad, jumbled her emotions until she couldn’t figure out which one dominated her thoughts more. He was so much more than he even knew. He was so much more than she could have ever known.

  Until now.

  Her damn rules. No soldiers. No hero types. No men who sought to save the world one mission at a time. For years she’d lived by them without any second guesses or what-ifs. And then Rafe Ortega walked into her life and made her start to think maybe—just maybe—she’d been wrong.