Choices
Glennon
“Glennon.” The whisper brought warm air across her cheek, and right behind that came a pair of soft lips to her temple.
The ambient noise of the jungle cocooned them, much like his arms held her close, assuring her that things were safe. Nothing disturbed the animals from their nightly activities.
As she stretched her arms and torso, she sat up from her reclined position against Triumph’s chest. He handed her a small packet of dried fruit chips. “Eat this. Drink some water. Stand up and stretch.”
“Bossy,” she teased as she complied.
“You haven’t seen the worst of it yet. I’m trying to temper it, at least until we get home and you’re one hundred percent healthy.”
He handed her the gun they’d confiscated from her shooter. Then, while she snacked, he rearranged himself on the ground to lie with his head against his backpack. “You get tired, wake me. I don’t sleep much, so I’ll probably just doze now anyway.”
She crumpled up the bag from her food and took a long drink of water. Looking upward, she saw the tree had several branches at a good height that appeared solid enough to hold her weight. “I’m going to watch from up above.”
“Need a boost?”
“No. The bark is rough enough that I can get a hold of it.”
His face scrunched up. “Thanks for cockblocking me from getting to put my hands on your ass to boost you,” he grumbled.
“Down, boy,” she teased.
“Chicks always ruin my fun.”
She knew he wasn’t serious. Shaking her head in humor, she hoisted herself up into the tree and tucked herself into the juncture between the trunk and the lowest branch.
“That should not have been sexy,” he grumbled from down below.
“Watching me climb a tree was sexy?” That was weird, right?
“It was more the view of your ass and leg muscles as you climbed up there.”
“That’s… odd.”
“Men are odd. Never ask. We get turned on by the stupidest shit.”
“Shouldn’t have said that. Now I don’t just want to know, I need to know. What else turns you on?”
“Seriously? You want to discuss what makes my dick hard while we’re being chased through the jungle?”
“Well, if you’re too embarrassed to admit what you like…”
“I didn’t say I was embarrassed. Just think the timing is off. I’d much rather be discussing it in my luxury sheets with you, naked, wrapped around me, totally sleepy and blissed out.”
Help. There was an image. She shouldn’t push the conversation. “So…?”
Yeah. She went there anyway.
He sighed. “Why are we discussing this uncomfortable topic?”
A giggle escaped her. “Aw, did I make this conversation hard for you?”
“Little spy, you’re begging for a spanking.”
“I’ll take the odds. C’mon. Give it up.”
“And that didn’t sound like a boy trying to cajole his prom date into the back seat,” he groused. “If you really must know—”
“Oh, I really must.”
“Raspy voices.”
“We’ve discussed that one.”
“Black clothing with mint-green or hot pink trim. East End British accents.”
“Those are oddly specific.”
“You asked.” The night was pitch black, and she heard him shift his position. “What about you? It’s only fair that you share your turn-ons.”
“I don’t really know. I’m not being difficult or anything.
Boys were never on my radar when I was young.
I tried dating in college, but guys gave up quickly when I kept getting called away on emergencies for Joey.
Never really had a chance to figure out what I liked. Then suddenly I was with Guillermo.”
“What are you attracted to?”
“Apparently, bossy men with little-boy smiles, bright blue eyes, and bad jokes.”
He was silent for a long while. When he finally spoke, he quietly said, “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Now get some sleep.”
* * *
As the sky lightened, she kept her ears open to the jungle around her, but her eyes drifted often to the man asleep below. He was a puzzle she desperately wanted to put together.
Outwardly, nothing seemed to faze him. Their plans went horrifically awry with the ambush at the port, yet instead of panicking, he methodically assessed the situation, proposed solutions, and took care of whatever was needed.
Their first day had been a slog through jungle terrain with no paths, hiking through knee-high vegetation, slicing through it as best they could, and also trying to avoid pissing off dangerous wildlife.
Of course, there was also the concern that Guillermo’s men would catch up to them, as they were still, relatively speaking, close to the edge of the gap.
On very little rest, they’d spent the bulk of that second day in the gap, crossing several rivers, from mere streams to others with currents strong enough to sweep them away with one wrong step.
With each step, they moved further north, but they’d hit rising elevations yesterday, late in the day, and that was taxing on a whole other level.
Today would be their third day, and now they had a choice to make—the left path, which was more traveled, or the right path, which was less traveled.
She dropped to the ground from her perch in the tree she’d taken watch duty in. Gently, she touched his shoulder. “Triumph.”
He claimed he didn’t sleep much, but he definitely slept deep and woke hard. His eyes were wide open before she finished his name. After a few steps off to take care of business, he was back by her side and ready to be on the move.
They were just about to step onto the left path when their decision changed.
A small group of travelers appeared about a quarter of a mile down from them.
Backing into the jungle out of sight, they waited.
While they weren’t Guillermo’s soldiers, out of caution, they let the group go, where they chose the left path.
The guides would have some form of radio, she was sure, and would report two Americans on the trail as fast as he could turn the device on.
So they waited sixty minutes for the group to pass, and when they saw no one behind them, they continued on, taking the right path into who knew what.
He took the lead, giving her a chance to marvel at the man who quickly became a lifeline.
She was beginning to think he wasn’t human.
He moved through the jungle as if they were out for a Sunday hike.
He didn’t complain once. Didn’t sigh with frustration.
Didn’t grumble about the heat, or that his muscles ached, or that his feet hurt.
Nothing! Maybe she should check for a belly button while he slept, just to make sure he wasn’t an alien. Or a robot.
Wow. Okay. The jungle heat was getting to her because that was just crazy thinking. Maybe she had an infection after all, and this was the fever setting in?
As they walked, she continued musing on her rescuer.
If she had the capacity to appreciate kindness—and she must, or she wouldn’t have helped that woman at the camp—she recognized that he had the heart of a caring soul that was covered by his bossiness.
Since her phone call, he had moved heaven and earth to help her, a woman he’d known only briefly through their jobs, going far beyond what anyone should do.
He purchased clothing and food for boys he didn’t know, and he gave up his own possessions to make a little girl smile.
Over hair braiding, for fuck’s sake! If the bracelet meant something sentimental, he didn’t show it. Hopefully, it hadn’t.
Now she had to know.
“Triumph?”
He didn’t stop moving. “Yeah?”
“That bracelet you gave up the other day. It looked”—she searched for the right word—“personal.”
All he said was “Nothing I can’t live without.”
She pushed to catch up from her few steps behind and grabbed his now-bare wrist to stop him.
He looked down from his slightly elevated position on the hill.
Something in her look must have told him not to shrug it off.
“Relax, Glennon. I can get a new one when I get home. It’s the band that links to my accounts at Shadowlands and designates my rank as a Dominant, plus signals my limits. That’s all. I promise.”
“Sorry.”
Frowning, he repositioned their hands so they clasped together, and he continued up the hill. “Have you been stressing about that for two days?”
“Kind of,” she mumbled.
They hit the crest of the incline, where he stopped. “Drink,” he ordered. He watched to make sure she followed through before taking his own water jug off its clip to drink. “What’s really the problem? It’s not the cuff.”
A cuff. Right. It had been a wider band. Made sense. Dominants wouldn’t wear bracelets.
She couldn’t meet his eyes. “I just worried it was something sentimental, that’s all.”
“Uh-huh.” His eyes remained on hers as he took another drink of water. “Wanna try that again?”
With a huff, she attached her water bottle back into the sling she’d fashioned out of a T-shirt. “You’re giving up a lot to help me, and I can’t figure out why. Flying here without asking too many questions. The cuff. Five figures in cash. Possibly your life. People don’t do that shit. Not for me.”
“Glennon.” He called her name softly. “Look at me.”
She continued to stare into the distance.
“Glennon.” He said it with more force this time. She wondered if this was what they called “the Dom voice.” Something about it certainly pulled at her to respond.
“Little spy.” The threat was light, but it was there nonetheless.
“I know,” she whispered. She felt the sting of tears. She couldn’t cry in front of him. “I know what you told me. But belief doesn’t happen overnight, Triumph.”
And she did know. He said no compensation, now or in the future, was expected by him or any of his friends, but she just couldn’t wrap her head around it. She’d lived her whole life in a paradigm where people expected things from her. She didn’t know anything else.