Sloth

by Lana Pecherczyk

  He glanced over at her. Naked from the waist up, and only in her panties, she was a vision. He couldn’t look away. Dark hair plastered her face. Lips so rosy they bloomed in the shadowed cavern. Big eyes sparkled heavy with want. Breasts bared and rock-hard with desire—his. The sudden thought moved him. His forever. This was the defining moment. Everything he’d wanted. Everything he’d dreamed impossible but hoped for from the bottom of his heart, prayed from the depths of his despair.

  A ring. A family. Together.

  But not like this.

  Later. He gathered his fly and went to zip up.

  She stopped him with a hand to his wrist, furious. “What are you doing?”

  “What does it look like?”

  “My turn.” She reached for his pants.

  He jerked back. “No.”

  “No?” She blinked, shocked. “Why not?”

  Always so demanding. “I can’t be gentle right now. Next time.”

  A sound caught between a purr and a growl came out of her throat. “Who said I need gentle?”

  He pushed her away. “I say you do. I want to give you gentle. You deserve diamonds and satin sheets.”

  “Max,” she protested.

  “Please. Let me do this.”

  She stared defiantly, but in the end, she nodded.

  It was the hardest thing he’d had to do in months, but it was right. When he got his time with Sloan, he wanted it to be special. It would be how she deserved, and not when she was still recovering from being bitten by genetically modified beasts.

  “I’m tired,” he said. His finger hooked her under the chin with a finger and pressed his lips gently to hers. “I’m going to set up a place to rest.”

  He knew she was disappointed, but in the long run, she’d thank him. And it wasn’t a complete lie, exhaustion filtered in as his lust seeped out. He really needed to rest, and so did she.

  Sometime later, they’d cleaned off and set up a makeshift bed using a combination of clothes and a bedroll at the opening of the cave. In only his boxer shorts, Max collapsed beside Sloan on their bedroll, hands possessively around her despite her reacting stiffly. Tugging her body to his side, he hoped she was listening with her heart and her sixth sense, because then she’d know the truth. Unable to keep his eyes open any longer, he blacked out, falling into a deep dreamless sleep.

  When he woke, stiff and sore, the sun shone brightly into the cave. Disorientated, he struggled to get his bearings. A glance around told him they were now deeper into the cave, avoiding the direct sun. Sloan must have moved him in his sleep. Considering he’d not noticed, he must have been out cold. Cursing at his sore ribs, he searched and found her close to the entrance, keeping watch.

  “Did you sleep?” he asked.

  She gave him a sweet smile. “I don’t need as much as you. Well, not anymore.”

  “Oh?”

  “Before you, I slept all the time. Now… not so much.”

  “How long was I out?”

  “About four hours. You needed it.”

  Dressed back in her clothes, she used a tiny screwdriver to poke at the insides of her device out. She was trying to fix the damaged thing. Incredible. Clever, beautiful, and funny. He was a lucky man.

  But she wasn’t feeling the same love. A frown marred her face and she looked out at the scenery with concern.

  Finding his clothes, he put them on, watching her intently, wishing he had an ounce of her ability so he could understand where that frown came from.

  “What is it, Sloan?” he asked.

  “Do you think I’m a whiny bitch?”

  He blinked. Didn’t expect that. Then a surge of dissent flowed through him. “Is this about last night?”

  “What?”

  “Because, I know I stopped things early, but… ” He strode over and took her nape. Squeezing her neck, he locked eyes with purpose, and planted his lips on hers. The kiss was only meant to be a brief reminder of his passion, but once he tasted her, he was all in. Her flavor was something more than feminine. It was heavenly. Her tiny whimpers of approval aroused him, and it took all his resolve to draw away.

  Diamonds and satin sheets, he reminded himself.

  “Wow,” she muttered. “Every morning starts now, huh?”

  “Damn straight.” His voice came out rough. “Whatever it takes to make you believe what I feel for you is real.”

  “Oh, I know that.”

  “You do?”

  “Yeah, I can feel it. Literally.”

  “So what’s with the frown and the question?”

  She chewed her lip. “Nothing. Just something Parker said to me.”

  “Parker’s got a carrot stuck up his arse, so I’d take whatever he says with a grain of salt.”

  She snorted. “You speak weird.”

  “You’re weird.” He flicked her nose playfully.

  “You love it.”

  “Yeah. I do.” Lifting her from her perch, he pulled her into his arms. The sun had baked heat into her skin, and it infused his own. Sky reflected in her eyes as tenderness washed over him. He rubbed his nose against hers. “Sloan.”

  “Yeah, Max.”

  “You’re not a whiny bitch.” She didn’t respond, so he elaborated. “I think he’s jealous.”

  She scoffed in disbelief.

  “I’m serious,” he added. “Maybe it’s because you’ve got better hair than him.”

  The laughter squealed out of her until it ended in a snort. Fucking adorable.

  “I know, right?” she laughed.

  “Sloan. Someone like Parker has a hard time seeing beyond his own reflection. I like him, but he’s not immune to saying things he shouldn’t out of frustration. For the record, I think you’re smart, beautiful, and talented.”

  “You’re just saying that because you’re you.”

  “I’m saying it because it’s true. What brought this on?”

  “Things didn’t go according to plan. I messed up last night.”

  “No, you didn’t. You rescued a blackmailed man. You put a serious dent in their operation. All we need to do now is rescue his daughter.”

  She lifted the broken device, still in her hand. “I can’t get it to work. We’re screwed.”

  “Why?”

  “Well, I have no idea how to get where we need to go.”

  “You know you’re dating the Bear Grylls of Australia, right?” He smirked and to his surprise a ruddy blush crept up her cheeks.

  “Dating?” She arched an eyebrow.

  “Yeah. That’s what we’re doing, right? Unless. Um. I mean… there’s the mating thing, and—” he dropped his gaze. Wasn’t that what she wanted?

  “I’m teasing you.” She touched his cheek softly. Fondness flashed in her eyes as she studied him. It went on for such a long time that he imagined her committing his face to memory.

  A sheepish smile and then he disengaged and stepped out onto the ledge. He checked the position of the sun. “We need to head east, right?”

  “In that general direction, but I don’t know exactly. I usually use my tech.”

  “That’s a good start. I have my cell in my pack. Once we get within range, we can check our coordinates from there.”

  “You have your cell in your pack. Why didn’t you lead with that?”

  He grinned. “I enjoy watching you squirm.”

  Eighteen

  If Sloan could rate how much she’d been sweating on a scale of one to stuffed, one being dry as a desert, and stuffed being wet as the ocean, she’d be… she couldn’t even finish the comparison. The heat had fried her brain. She could see mirages in the dirt and ghosts in the trees. They’d spent the first half of the day clearing the mountain, and now Sloan and Max were drained and tired. Both were approaching heat exhaustion. Water supplies were half gone, and with Max impressing more compartmentalization sessions on her, she became irritated.

  But the good news was, they’d hit a spot within range of a cell tower. Max had triangulated
their GPS coordinates on a map, and they headed in the right direction. If they continued through the bushland, they’d hit civilization in an hour or so. The trek down the mountain had been decidedly quicker than the trek up.

  After attempting to phone Parker, they’d come up with nothing. He was still out of range. But Flint wasn’t. Sloan called home base and had a quick conversation outlining the new mission, only to discover Parker had called home at some point. He was still trekking, but like them, must have received some spotty cell reception. Sloan’s iPad was the only team device connected to a satellite. She made a mental note to upgrade all their cells when she got back.

  Communicator watches. Satellite cells. Polymorphic visual algorithms. Phew, her workload was expanding exponentially. So this was what it was like to be productive. She liked it. She’d like it even more after getting to a nice cool shower and washing the thin layer of silt off.

  “Okay,” Max said to Sloan as they trudged through a clearing. “Tell me everything you know about this Barry bloke and his daughter. What are we up against?”

  She swatted a fly out of her face and grimaced. “I don’t know much. She’s sixteen. Goes to boarding school.”

  “What’s her name?”

  “Beatrix.”

  “Beatrix Pinkerton.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “What does she look like? Tell me everything.”

  “Everything?”

  “Yep.”

  “Strap yourself in. You ready?”

  “Hit me.”

  She took a deep breath and then let it all out. “Beatrix is the captain of the debate team. She’s in the swim squad. Practices on Tuesdays and Fridays at five in the school pool. She’s got brown skin and black hair like her father, but silver eyes like her Caucasian mother. Parents are divorced and the mother now lives in France with her new husband—Pierre. Beatrix has a lot of friends, but none of them truly like her—probably because she’s super bossy.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “Facebook.”

  He arched a brow. “Care to elaborate?”

  “I hacked her account. And I hacked her friends’ accounts. Her friends are a total bunch of mean girls. She can do better. Anyway, I’m not done.”

  “There’s more?”

  “Absolutely.”

  “Anything we can actually use?”

  She gasped. “I’m offended.”

  “No you’re not.”

  “You’re right. I’m not. But you don’t know what we can use, so I learned whatever I could.”

  “You snooped.”

  She shrugged. “Maybe I call it being thorough.”

  “Good work. Just stop here for a minute.” Max squinted up at the sun and pulled out his cell to check for reception. “Battery’s almost dead, but we’re heading in the right direction. Two more hours and we’ll hit our target. I’ve let them know where we’ll end up for Parker’s contact to deliver the car.”

  “Thank God. I can’t wait to have a proper shower. I’ve still got mud in weird places.” She continued after him, catching up to walk side by side.

  “Yeah, well, get used to it if you want to come camping with me.”

  She feigned excitement. “I get to have mud in weird places all the time?”

  A pink tinge flushed his cheeks. “You know what I mean.”

  “Oh my God, Max. Are you embarrassed?”

  He averted his gaze. “I didn’t mean for you to get so filthy. You were still hurt, and… I should have controlled myself.”

  Sloan sidled up to him, wrapped her arms around him and held his gaze. “Are you telling me you have regrets?”

  “Hell, no. Except… maybe next time I buy you dinner first. At least pizza.”

  “No pineapple.”

  He smirked, brown eyes sparkling. “Loads of pineapple.”

  She made a gagging action, but he kissed her, swallowing her protests. The kiss turned deep and heavy, and he squeezed her on the ass, lifting her a moment before placing her back down. Brushing her fingers through his hair, she felt all together happy. “I shouldn’t feel so happy when we’re on our way to rescue a teenager from the clutches of a fanatical organization hell bent on ruining the world.”

  “Just another day in paradise, right?”

  “You don’t think they know Barry is missing yet, do you?”

  “It’s hard to say. Perhaps if they’ve gone over their camera footage, but that could have taken a few hours, depending on their system. Barry could come and go as he pleased, so unless they have tagged him as missing, they shouldn’t notice his absence until he was next due to work.”

  Sloan let those words sink in. Hopefully, since they’d seen Barry in the early hours of the morning, he was due to go home and not return to the base until the afternoon. They wouldn’t know unless they could get through to Parker and ask.

  They walked onward for another hour or so, and then Sloan noticed something strange. “Are you sure we’re in the right place? That tree looks very familiar.”

  He squinted at it. “They all look familiar.”

  “No, I’m serious. That cropping of rock with the dried moss on it. We’ve come this way. I know, because the moss looks like the baby Moses in a basket.”

  “Baby Mosses,” he joked with a goofy snort.

  They chuckled, but then Sloan’s brows drew together. “We’d better check. How’s the reception on the cell?”

  Max took his cell out again, but groaned. “Dead.”

  “We’re lost, aren’t we?”

  “We’re not lost. Just time to do some good old fashioned Alby Mangels shit.”

  “Who’s that?”

  “Australia’s Bear Grylls of the Seventies. Except he traveled with hot babes.” Max waggled his eyebrows. “Kinda like a traveling James Bond.”

  “Yeah, okay, you old perv.”

  “You weren’t calling me that last night. In fact, I think you shouted something about me being God.” He dodged the pebble she ditched at his head with a smirk. Then he dropped his pack and rifled through it. “Be prepared to be amazed.”

  Sloan couldn’t fight the smile on her face. This was the old Max. The one she’d fallen in love with all those years ago. Effortless and enjoyable banter. She could chat about anything and everything with him for hours. Just wait until they sat down at a console together. Which game would they play?

  All of them. She laughed evilly in her head. All of them.

  He pulled out a little metal box, opened it and stood.

  “A compass?” She folded her arms. “That’s your amazing Alby Mango shit?”

  “Mangles,” he corrected. The cheeky, dimpled smile he shot her made her stomach flutter. The compass was old, beat up and rickety, but it worked. They said nothing as he adjusted himself to point North. When he found it, his silence stretched and a slow trickle of emotion wriggled into Sloan’s gut.

  Sadness.

  Confused, she puzzled over his emotion and then noticed an engraved G on the side of the metal compass casing.

  She ran her hand down his forearm and covered his hand. “The compass was Gale’s wasn’t it?”

  He nodded.

  With her other hand, she embraced him and laid her head on his shoulder.

  “He gave this to me on our first solo camping trip before we enlisted. His dad had given it to him for good luck, but… he gave it to me instead.”

  Sloan turned him until they faced each other. “I wish I could have met him.”

  “Me too.” Then his gaze hardened. “We need to keep walking.”

  He picked up his rucksack and put it back on. “Keep telling me about Beatrix. Will she be at school? What’s the school like? Is there easy access?”

  “Whoa, dude. Hold your horses. We can figure all that out when we get there.”

  “No. We keep planning, and you need to keep working on your emotions. The more prepared we are, the more likely we’ll have a positive outcome.”

  “You don’t thi
nk we can do this?”

  “Look. I just…” His voice trailed off.

  “Okay.” Sloan stopped. “Now, it’s your turn to spit it out. What’s going on?”

  “It’s just—I think maybe I agree with Parker about last night.”

  “What?” She blinked. “I thought you were on my side. I thought you said I wasn’t a whiny bitch.”

  “That’s not what I’m talking about. This is coming out wrong.”

  She folded her arms and raised a brow. “Uh-huh.”

  “I meant… with Barry. You kinda just jumped in. And at the time I thought I should just go with it. I trust your instincts, I really do.”

  “So what is it?”

  “Not planning makes me nervous.” His eyes flashed with some unnamed emotion, but she felt his doubt prickle at her.

  “I thought you said ‘no doubts’.”

  “It’s not you I’m doubting.”

  Her breath hitched. “Are you doubting us?”

  “No! I’m… look, it’s me. I’m doubting me. I’m not okay with leaving a stone unturned. I need to know everything before going in. So, can you please just continue briefing me with everything you know?”

  “I thought I was.”

  “You haven’t told me about your other sister.”

  “Oh.”

  He moved ahead with quick strides and Sloan jogged to keep up. A rush of compassion washed through her.

  “Max, Gale’s death wasn’t your fault.”

  He kept walking doggedly. “It was, and you know it.”

  “You can’t blame yourself for the actions of crazy people.”

  “Can we not talk about this now?”

  She took him by the shoulder. “Stop.”

  His dark scowling eyes met hers. “We don’t have time for this.”

  “There’s always time for me to tell you how incredible you are.” He tried to look away, but Sloan dragged his face back to hers. “I mean it, Max. Just look at what you’re doing. You’re not only helping us fight the Syndicate, but you’re helping a complete stranger find his daughter. You’ve set up a security company purely to employ your friends—”

  “Because it was my fault they lost their jobs. I’m lucky we weren’t sent to prison.”

  “—and you were ready to help me, even though you hated me. You offered to create some sort of touching schedule to ease my sin.” She shook his head between her palms. “Don’t you dare say you don’t deserve to be happy.”