Chapter Thirteen
T hat night they made love again, and again in the morning. Becca had always known she was a sensual woman, one who enjoyed her own body and harbored few inhibitions. Yet she’d never had a lover of Rio’s stamina, with such unwavering interest in her body, or so much tenderness.
The tenderness surprised her most of all.
Mr. Cool wasn’t cool beneath the sheets. She’d never known a lover who ran so hot—-from the temperature of his skin to his blazing eyes, to his sexy, whispered compliments.
Becca lay beside him on her back, breathing deeply after her last orgasm. Phew!
During the long hours of lovemaking, she hadn’t wanted to give much thought to their predicament, to the violent men hunting them. Now, Rio’s first words of the morning jerked her right out of her comfortable musing.
“Tonight, we have to move,” he said. Beneath the covers he placed his hand on her bare abdomen and gave it a little caress before standing up in all his nude glory. Like a golden mythic god, his broad shoulders tapered to narrow hips and strong buttocks. His skin was tanned all over, as though he sunbathed in the buff. Becca couldn’t look away. She’d never before seen a man so physically compelling, so perfect .
This incredible specimen of male animal was her lover? It was hard to believe. As she watched him stretch, raise his arms above his head and flex his shoulders, Becca felt herself grow warm. The heavy drag of her heartbeat thundered in her chest. Impossible, after the long hours of lovemaking, but she wanted him again.
As he dressed, obviously his mind was elsewhere.
Tamping down her sexual thoughts, she got up on one elbow. “We’re leaving?”
“Soon as it’s dark.” He pulled on pants and drew a shirt over his head. “Since they haven’t found a trail for us yet, those bastards out there will know that we’ve gone to ground. They’ll really concentrate on combing the area. This place is too dangerous to stick around any longer.”
“Where are we going?”
“I know a guy. He’ll fly us north to Nuevo Laredo, near the Texas border.”
“Okay.” That sounded good, getting closer to the U.S., closer to her home state of Texas. Closer to home. “So, why Nuevo Laredo? Do you have another, what did you call it, a hidey hole there?”
He smiled, revealing his dimple. “No, but I have friends along the border.”
“You’re so resourceful,” she said. “I bet you know a lot of fighting techniques and survival skills.”
“A fair amount.”
Beneath the quilts, she shivered. “I don’t like to think about that mountain lion. I was so scared.”
“Me, too.”
“I’ve never been taught any survival skills. Maybe I should take a class.”
He sat on the bed. “When confronted by danger, the most important thing to do is remain in control. Panic never helps. When you’re in trouble, you should adopt an offensive mindset. If you’re scared, the transition from defensive to offensive is essential.”
“Offensive mindset,” she said, thinking.
“And if you don’t have a weapon, keep your mind open to anything in your environment to use against an attacker.”
She cocked her head. “Like what?”
“Look around. See anything in here?”
She cast her gaze around the small room. “Just these quilts, your pack.”
“No, look like you want to find a weapon.”
She sat up in bed. “Okay, there’s an old Phillips screwdriver on top of the mantle.”
“Good! Anything else?”
“Mmm, not really.”
“Do you normally carry a purse?”
“Yes.”
“What in there could be utilized? If you have a pen, it can be used to stab someone. A comb can be shoved into a guy’s lips—man, that would hurt. See where I’m going?”
“Yes.”
“If we were outside, you could scrape up a handful of dirt or sand, throw it into an attacker’s eyes. It could buy you time to scream, to run away.”
“Okay, I’m beginning to get it.” She tried to imagine being attacked and reacting properly.
“What are your strengths? What can you use? Think!”
“I’m thinking, I’m thinking.” What was in her purse back home? A wallet. Tissues. Makeup.
He leaned over the quilt and cupped her breasts. “These are weapons, honey, never doubt it. Your confidence makes you wildly hot. To a man, it’s very distracting.” He gave her a wicked smile.
She smiled back.
Standing up again, he put on his coat and hat. “I’ll have a look around. Stay inside.”
She had no intention of going anywhere.
****
I n deep thought, Rio retraced his path up the mountainside to his lookout point. The sun had come out and melted most of the snow, leaving slush and mud. He’d told Becca he wanted to look around, but he also wanted cell reception. Harrison had better have a good explanation for that fiasco last night.
At the top of his lookout near the outcropping of boulders, he peered through the field glasses. There was nothing going on close but miles to the south he saw unusual activity. Yep, he’d be getting Becca out of there as soon as the sun went down.
Taking out his phone, he waited for his call to connect.
“There was a fuck-up,” Harrison said, as soon as he answered.
“No shit,” Rio answered. “What happened? Those guys weren’t sent by you.”
“I can’t explain right now. Just know that this thing has become a little complicated.”
“What’s that mean? They tried to blow my head off, and they weren’t careful about hitting Rebecca De Monte, either. Wanna explain that?”
“I just got the report. The team I sent was ambushed by the cartel. Goddamn it, we lost seven men. All killed.”
“Somebody told them about the rendezvous point,” Rio said. “They were waiting in the right place.”
“I know,” Harrison said impatiently. “Just get Rebecca to the next location.” He rattled off a new meeting point some sixty miles to the west. “I’ll have my men there. Get that girl to me now.”
“How can I be certain your guys won’t be ambushed again? I don’t like your plan.”
“Don’t turn into a rogue character, Lang.” Harrison sounded aggravated. “I don’t need you going off the reservation. Just do the job you contracted for.”
“Maybe I’ll take the girl home to her father myself. That’s what I’m getting paid for.”
“No! You’re getting paid to deliver her to me—to my men. There’s a protocol here, a chain of command. And you’re at the bottom. Hear me? This is political. Not your area of expertise.”
“Yeah? Well, so far on this job I’ve been shot at twice . That sort of thing focuses the mind, you know?” He hesitated. “What do you mean it’s political?”
“Just deliver the girl,” Harrison growled. “You’ll get a big bonus at the end. Double pay.” The connection went dead.
Rio stood, his gaze still scanning the landscape. Nothing Harrison said alarmed him as much as the doubling of his pay. That had never happened before. What the hell was going on here?
Obviously he was being given only a small wedge of the information pie. He wanted the whole pie.
He thought of the woman below who waited for him in a warm nest of quilts. In bed, Becca had been sexually adventuresome, eagerly uninhibited, and sexy as hell. She was every man’s dream bedmate and he felt his body hardening, just remembering.
But why was her life so valuable that different factions were fighting over her, with some desperately wanting her back, and some apparently trying to kill her?
The bad guys in pursuit weren’t going to tell him. Harrison certainly wouldn’t.
That left Becca. He had to talk to her.
First, he made a phone call and arranged for a flight to ferry them to a dirt landing strip just outside Nuevo Laredo. The trip was privately arranged, and no flight plan would be filed. The trip wouldn’t exactly fall within the narrow parameters of flight law. However, he knew the pilot and would fill his palms with cash. The trip would be covert, with neither the knowledge of the Mexican authorities, nor Harrison’s, to hinder their travel.
Nothing Harrison had told him had given him confidence. He didn’t like the uncertainty, or the possibility of yet another double crossing. And more deaths—maybe theirs. His boss had warned him to do as he was told.
He would, and he’d get that double-pay bonus. But he’d do it his own way.