Chapter 4
CHAPTER FOUR
ASWAN, EGYPT
“This is a dream, right?” Julia opened her eyes to find herself lying in bed, a soft, white cotton duvet covering her body.
She slowly lifted the covers and peeked underneath to see if she was naked, figuring if she were, that would confirm she was dreaming.
And the vision of Finn standing at the window, in front of a picture-perfect view of a country she’d only dreamed of visiting, was just a fantasy.
She was not naked.
A devilish grin slowly swept across Finn’s face as he advanced closer to the bed, those attractive wrinkles at the corners of his brilliant green eyes making her stomach do a little flip.
Beneath his playfulness lay shadows she hadn’t noticed until now.
An intensity revealed by a look Julia could only describe as haunted.
It stirred something inside of her on what felt like more than just a physical level.
“Do you dream about me often, then?” he asked seductively, his tone strikingly similar to the one used by the sexy male lead in a recent Netflix movie.
Three-Sixty Something? She’d watched it for the plot. Yup, the plot. Not the hot guy or the sex. Actually, who was she kidding? She’d hoped that movie would help her get over the strange, impossible-to-orgasm hurdle she’d been dealing with since January.
Startled back to reality upon discovering she was indeed wearing clothes and that this was not one of the many dreams she’d had in the last two weeks starring Finn, she cleared her throat.
“I, um. You know I didn’t sleep on the plane ride over like the rest of you, and I”—she glanced at the clock by the bed—“guess I slept longer than planned.”
Fortunately, Finn had been joking about the whole jumping-out-of-the-plane thing, but she’d been a tense ball of nerves the entire flight and hadn’t slept at all. She must have crashed the second Finn left her in their hotel room early that morning.
He’d insisted they stay together. No, demanded.
Wyatt was across the hall. A.J. and Chris were bunking in the room off to her left.
And Harper and Roman shared the room to the right.
She was fully surrounded by protection at the swanky hotel that sat on the Nile River.
But Finn went so far as to also mount a microcamera across the hall focused on their door.
He’d said it was to keep an eye on her if she happened to be alone.
She was pretty sure the camera was also to make sure she didn’t sneak away while he was working with his teammates in one of the neighboring rooms.
“You needed the rest.” He removed his hands from his pockets, turned, and opened the French doors that led to a small balcony with a two-person table.
Julia stood from the comfy bed and took a minute to stretch before joining Finn on the balcony.
When they’d arrived, Julia had been more interested in sleeping than checking out the view.
It had still been dark then anyway. But now, the sun was at high noon, mercilessly beating down on the city.
The view of the Nile, the saturated colors of the buildings, even the sand on the other side of the river that appeared to be baking in the sun was rather breathtaking.
“Beautiful,” she said softly. “I’ve wanted to travel here ever since I was a kid.
I was obsessed with those Mummy movies. You know the ones, right?
” When she stole a look at him from over her shoulder, he was eyeing her instead of the scenery.
Unsure what that was all about, Julia swallowed and braced her hands on the black, iron railing and peered back at the river.
“Why haven’t you visited before?”
Good question. “I haven’t had a reason to, I suppose. Most of my work is stateside. And when I travel for pleasure, I wind up in a bungalow on a beach, hoping to avoid that people-ing thing. You know, just me, the ocean, sun, and a good book.”
“An introverted movie and book lover, huh?” Finn sounded surprised.
“You don’t believe me?”
“I just didn’t know we had that in common.”
She caught him shrug from the corner of her eye, probably wondering what to make of the fact they had anything in common after the hell she’d put him through for the last two weeks.
“So, what’s your favorite movie?”
Finn quietly stared at her, a confused look on his face, seemingly contemplating whether or not she’d just asked a trick question.
“I don’t care so much for superheroes lately,” Julia plowed on without waiting for him to answer.
“Like Superman or those Avenger movies.” Why am I rambling?
Why does he suddenly make me nervous by being all broody and quiet while staring at me?
“I think those movies can set unrealistic expectations. Real heroes aren’t without vulnerabilities.
They bleed. Suffer. Feel pain.” Her stomach knotted as she thought about Tucker.
“They die.” Memorial Day was just around the corner, too.
A reminder of those who hadn’t made it home.
Tucker made it home, though, he just . . .
“Julia, you okay?”
She closed her eyes and gathered in a deep, relaxing breath, and as if she were in yoga class, the soft voice of her instructor guided her in calming down.
“Yes, I’m fine. Just forget the movie question. And what I said after that.” She pivoted, but he reached for her wrist.
“Star Wars. I’m more of a Darth Vader and Kylo Ren fan, though. Not the heroes. Weird, I know. When I was a kid, I probably just thought they were cooler because of their masks.”
For a long, silent moment, she stared down at his large hand gently wrapped around her wrist, and when she looked up to meet his eyes, a slight smile crossed his lips.
“I’ve never seen those movies,” she whispered.
He jerked his head back as though she’d spoken blasphemy, then smiled and released her wrist. “Well, we need to change that. I’ll trade you one Mummy movie for one Star Wars film. But once you get started, you won’t want to stop. I promise.”
“Oh yeah, we’ll see.” She focused back on the river where a felucca moved along the water. The sail on the wooden boat had just caught the wind, propelling it forward. “Didn’t you say you had somewhere to be around lunchtime?”
“I do. I want you to come with me, though. Prefer not to leave you alone.” He motioned for her to head back into the room, and she noticed the Nikon camera sitting on the coffee table in front of the red couch where Finn said he’d sleep tonight.
“Is that a Z50?” She picked up the camera, forgetting how good it felt to have a real one in her hands instead of just her iPhone.
“It is. That’s right, you’re a photographer.”
She smoothed a hand over the red and gold strap connected to the Nikon and handed it over to him.
He put the strap around his neck, and the black camera hanging against his chest stood out like a target against his plain white tee.
“Not a professional. It’s been forever and a day since I’ve been behind a lens. ”
“What made you stop?”
Realizing she ought to change, Julia went over to where her luggage sat on the floor and bent forward to root through the bag.
At the sound of a throat clear, she looked over her shoulder to find Finn’s eyes pinned to her rear end. Apparently, the bold letters that spelled out PINK—in bright pink, of course—on the ass of her gray sweat shorts had garnered his attention.
He cleared his throat again and fidgeted with the camera, clearly searching for a way to transition away from the fact she’d caught him checking her out.
“So, why’d you stop?” he repeated.
She picked out a dress and clutched it to her chest, her thoughts landing squarely on the reason why she quit. When Tucker died. “I should get ready if you want me to go with you to play tourist,” she said instead. “That’s what we’re doing, right?”
He nodded, and she headed toward the connecting bathroom but stopped and turned. “Do I have time to shower?”
“Are you capable of getting ready in five minutes?”
She smiled. “Challenge accepted,” she responded in a spunkier voice than she’d intended, which seemed to catch him by surprise because what appeared to be a sincere smile crossed his face before she shut the door.
The room felt a little steamy and carried a hint of Finn’s aftershave or cologne, so she assumed he’d showered while she was asleep.
After making fast work of washing off the travel grime, she slipped into her dress and twirled around to make sure the white fabric wasn’t see-through.
Egypt was a predominantly Muslim country, and while there were no hard-fast rules regarding female fashion, it was considered inappropriate as well as impolite for women to wear anything sleeveless, above the knee, or revealing.
But it was wicked hot outside, and a white dress would keep her somewhat cooler.
She hoped, at least. It was knee-length with capped sleeves, so it shouldn’t offend anyone.
Julia patted her wet hair with a towel, then secured it into a side braid. A little lip gloss and mascara, and she managed to finish in under five minutes.
When she opened the door, Finn’s eyes were on his watch. “Four minutes and fifty-seven seconds. Not bad.” He lifted his gaze to look at her and frowned.
She frowned right back at him. “What’s wrong?”
“You realize we’re in Egypt?”
“There’s nothing wrong with this dress. I double-checked.”
“Walk into the light.” He pointed toward the open French doors.
“You can’t be serious.” Based on the tight draw of his lips, he was most definitely serious, damn it.
“We’re trying to blend in. Not draw attention.”
“So, a tourist uneducated to the local customs and norms wouldn’t be such a stretch, right?” She gave him a sweet smile.
“Just please step into the light. Let me check before we go,” he rasped, his tone borderline pleading.
“Fine.” She brushed past him and walked along the wall of windows, past the open doors, then twirled and moved in the opposite direction. “Am I good?”
“No.” He shook his head. “You’re wearing nude panties.”
“Yeah, because white panties would stand out more.” How the hell could he tell the color?
Was he that stealthy? “It’s just a bad angle.
I’m fine.” Based on the heat radiating into the room through the French doors, she should change into a white string bikini and walk around in that.
Not that she’d ever do something so offensive, but damn.
It was already over a hundred degrees outside, and she hadn’t thought to pack sunscreen for her last-minute trip.
“I don’t give a damn about angles. Or fucking quadrilaterals, for that matter.” His mouth tightened before he said more forcefully, “There are going to be lots of men here who aren’t used to seeing a woman dressed like that, and I don’t want to have to kill a guy in broad daylight.”
How did those words manage to coax chills to pop on her arms despite the heat?
She bent over to rummage through her suitcase for something that wouldn’t cause Finn to commit murder. Hell, murder was the very reason she was in Egypt. “Do you only kill guys when it’s dark out, then?”
“Usually,” he said in such a humorless tone, she wasn’t so sure he was kidding.
“My shorts don’t go to my knees, so dresses will have to work for you, sailor.” She retrieved a similar dress in baby blue, then held it up to the light, and he offered her a nod of approval.
A hint of a smile revealed a dimple she hadn’t noticed before on his left cheek.
“Roger that, ma’am.” He shot her what was probably meant to be a playful wink, but it came across as far too sexy.
And she felt a stir between her legs that not even the actor from that Netflix movie had been capable of producing.
She started for the bathroom to change and cast a quick look back his way to find his eyes super-glued to her ass again. “Those angles again, huh?”