Chapter 5
CHAPTER FIVE
“You boys plan on telling me who you’re surveilling?” Julia asked as they walked the pathway through the hotel grounds that led to the exit into the city. “I mean, that’s what you’re doing, am I right? Following someone, or searching for someone? Or maybe it’s a something.”
Chris and A.J. were walking in front of her and Finn, but they both stopped and turned to face them.
“Jeez, by the looks on your faces, you’d think I just asked why men seem to love doggy style so much.”
Finn had just taken a swig from his water bottle and immediately choked, then gasped in a breath and began coughing.
“Down the wrong pipe?” Julia slapped him on the back.
He chucked the now-empty bottle in a nearby trash bin and shoved his sunglasses into his thick hair. Widened green eyes stared back at her.
“What?” She looked at Chris and A.J., then back at Finn. “I may act like I have a stick up my ass most of the time, but that doesn’t mean I can’t joke, too.”
Finn reached for her elbow with his free hand and gently pulled her closer to put his mouth to her ear. “I think maybe we shouldn’t talk about your ass anymore,” he whispered.
Chills chased down her spine at his words and the sexy “or else” implied in the warning.
Now she couldn’t help but visualize Finn shifting her to all fours and taking her hard, the headboard in that hotel room colliding with the wall.
It has to be the heat making me like this. But at some point, sooner rather than later, she needed to focus on her mission, the reason she’d come to Egypt.
Julia had texted Mya that she was safe and with Finn before leaving the hotel room, but she was most likely still asleep, given the time difference.
Now that she was here, though, she most likely needed to tell Finn about Lorenzo and his boss, Giorgio Ferrari—that he was also in Aswan. And she needed to talk to him.
Though, what she would say when she finally approached the doctor was still unclear.
Hey, I hear you surgically alter the faces of people who want to fake their own death. By any chance, did you perform an operation on—
“Well, shit, it’s hotter than a billy goat with a blow torch out here, so I think maybe we should split up to get this done faster,” A.J. suggested, failing to hide a smile pointed Finn’s way.
“What he means is that—”
“I speak Southern,” Julia joked, cutting off Finn. “I’m from North Carolina, remember?”
“So, why don’t Chris and I take the east side of the city, and you two go get some grub, then?” A.J. slapped his palms together, anxious to get out of there from the looks of it.
She didn’t exactly blame him. She did just mention “doggy style” to three Navy SEALs. Yeah, the heat alright. Or I’ve actually lost my mind.
“I assume your target is located somewhere on the east side of the city?” Julia asked. “Or you wouldn’t be shooing us off to go eat.”
“Right, um, you two have fun now,” Chris spoke up, then quickly slapped a hand over Finn’s shoulder before saying, “Good luck.”
“They weren’t too obvious,” Julia said when Chris and A.J. were out of sight. Finn pointed to the gated exit up ahead and motioned for her to walk in front of him. “But I suppose you can’t divulge why you’re here, so I won’t push.”
“That doesn’t mean I won’t be pressing you for answers,” Finn was quick to say.
As much as she hated to admit it, Julia knew she had that coming, but still, she spun around to confront him, slamming into a solid wall of man, the Nikon the only thing separating them.
Finn quickly reached out to steady her, then slowly ran his hands up the sides of her arms as his eyes held hers captive. “What is it, Julia Maddox? What is it you’re not telling me?”
Julia shivered at the feel of his slightly rough hands and dragged in a breath. “Care to know my middle name for the full effect of trying to—”
“I already know it.”
Of course, you do. “I hate to disappoint, but I’m not ready to talk. Plus, I’m getting a little hungry. Can we grab something to eat?”
“Yeah, I don’t need to deal with an angry you. Been there,” he said with a small smile as he released his hold on her arms and tried to play off the strange moment they’d just shared, “done that.”
Sorry hung on the tip of her tongue, admittedly an inadequate apology for her bitchy behavior over the last few weeks, but her hunger pains and moaning stomach won out.
After a few minutes of browsing lunch options, they grabbed lamb gyros from a food stand and ate in silence as they continued to walk through the city.
Julia came to a stop in front of a home painted bright baby blue, which would’ve been lost in a sea of similar homes featuring a selection of cotton candy colors if it weren’t for the seven-foot croc.
“Why is there a fake crocodile hanging outside on the wall of that home?” She tossed her trash into a nearby bin while Finn did the same.
He patted his hands on the sides of his shorts as he answered, “It’s a mummified croc.”
“So, it was once real. Makes perfect sense to mount a massive reptile outside of your house.”
Finn hid his hands in his pockets and faced her. “This croc hanging here also means they have live ones inside for viewing. Well, so I’ve heard.”
Julia stumbled back a step, nearly knocking into a traveling street vendor passing by, the talismans hanging from long gold chains clinking as he pushed the cart up the gently sloped pathway they were standing on.
“So, then that’s a no to going inside for a look?” Finn smirked, then resumed walking. “Back in the day, crocodiles were given divine status in hopes they wouldn’t attack people.”
“I don’t remember that from the Mummy movies.
” Julia slowed as they neared the bank of the Nile and studied the long dock that stretched out onto the water.
It was jammed with people milling about dozens of pop-up shops displaying their wares.
“And how’d the divine-status thing work out for the Egyptians? ”
“We can get closer to the water and find out.” Finn unexpectedly nudged her in the back when they were within falling-in distance to the water, and she just about jumped out of her skin.
“Dalton Finnegan.” In one fluid motion, she swirled around to face him.
“Want my middle name?” He lifted his sunglasses to showcase his eyes and let her know he loved every second of this.
“As a matter of fact, I would like to know. What is it?” She took a few safe steps away from the bamboo-like grass, papyrus maybe, near the water and eased herself closer to him.
“Samuel.” Shades now back in place, he abruptly moved past her only to crouch in front of a kid selling jewelry.
She watched with curiosity as he patted the boy on the head and smiled.
The kid remained seated on a red-and-blue-patterned carpet, little trinkets splayed proudly before his crossed legs.
Julia’s heart gave a little tug as she witnessed the ease and sincerity on Finn’s face as he chatted with the boy.
After a few moments of animated conversation during which Finn repeatedly glanced toward Julia, as if ensuring she was safe, he pointed to her.
The boy’s attention followed, and his eyes lit up.
Then he grinned and quickly nodded. Finn handed him a fifty, which she assumed was more than the going price, and the boy gave Julia a thumbs-up sign after handing something to Finn.
Finn waved goodbye to the kid, who couldn’t have been more than seven years old, and Julia’s heart gave another tug. The man was so damn sweet.
“I’m gonna take a wild guess and say this isn’t real, but here you go.
” He grinned as he took her hand and opened her palm, but rather than focus on what he was doing, she peered up at him instead.
He’d pushed his aviators into his hair, and now she was able to get a good look into those deep, forest-green eyes of his.
She remained still for a moment, barely registering the fact he’d set something in her palm.
He subtly cleared his throat, released her hand, and lowered his glasses back in place as if he didn’t want her looking too closely. She wondered if he, too, was holding on to painful secrets.
Looking down to examine what he’d given her, she saw a smooth, flat silver circle on which a small flower had been painted. The disc was connected to a thin silver chain.
“It’s a blue water lily.” Finn casually pocketed his hands like it was no big deal that he’d impulsively bought her a necklace. “The flower opens in the morning and closes at night. In Egyptian culture, they represent regeneration and rebirth.”
“That’s beautiful. Like every day is a fresh start.” Her voice was a little dry, and she blamed the heat, not the gesture.
“I was hoping he had lily of the valley but nope.”
“Why?”
“They’re poisonous.” He lightly chuckled. “Kidding. Well, not about the flower but about giving you a necklace with one on it.”
“Sure you are.” She handed him the chain, turned around, and shifted her braid over her shoulder, hoping he’d get the message to hook it around her neck.
As Finn’s fingers gently touched the back of her neck while he worked to secure the clasp, Julia gazed at the amber desert off in the distance. Shimmering heat waves rose from the sand, creating a mirage that looked almost like a lake.
“Sorry, my hands are—”
“Big,” she blurted loudly, then cringed. Over the last two weeks, she’d ogled his masculine hands like a perv. Well, whenever she was certain he wouldn’t catch her staring.
Strong hands and forearms with prominent veins, like Finn’s, were basically an aphrodisiac for her. And it’d been so long since she’d had any sort of intimate touch that the mere act of his fingers skating against her neck had her core clenching in desire.
“There,” he said softly.
Julia felt the loss of his presence immediately when he stepped away, and she clutched the pendant. For years she’d kept her neck bare after removing Tucker’s military ID tags. It felt strange to have anything else there.