Dangerous Curves (8 page)

“I can’t tell you how much I’m looking forward to that,” Rio said dryly.

His legs felt the burn from the strain, and when he stopped she collapsed against a tree.

“We’ll rest here until sunup.” With his back to the twisted roots of a tree, Max settled down to the ground and patted the space beside him.

“What a relief.” She dropped next to him, snuggling up to him and using his chest for a pillow. “Wake me if you need help kicking ass.”

She exhaled long and low, and within seconds she was asleep, her hand on his chest. Max disengaged her Glock from her relaxed grip. He stretched his legs out and laid his own weapon at his side, keeping his gaze on the nearest path several yards ahead. He snuggled her more comfortably. It felt good, her compact body resting against his. It had been a while. Max wasn’t proactive when it came to relationships. After a succession of dates, he adopted the lone-wolf way of life until fate threw him a bone. It was as much his fault as his job’s. Most women couldn’t handle the secrecy and the hours, nor understand his real purpose.

Rio’s lax hand drifted to his stomach and his muscles immediately contracted. He gently shifted her hand away from ground zero and tried not to remember what it was like to have her touch him. He wondered how long he’d last without tasting her again.

He wondered about her past. She snuggled closer and he thought
two hours to sunrise
. He’d be lucky if he made it. At least the hard-on she gave him would keep him paying attention.

He had to trust her, but not completely. People did weird things when they were threatened. Yet he had every reason to believe her about the Ghost. The threat was quite real.

“Your brow is furrowing. You’re thinking too hard again,” she said, and it startled him.

He tipped his head to look at her. She never opened her eyes. “How do you know that?”

“I can tell. What is it?”

“Honestly?”

“No, lie to me.” Her tone amused him. “Of course honestly.”

“I was wondering about your stepbrother,” he said.

“How do you know about that?”

“Your file.” His tone almost sounded apologetic.

“His name was Shane McMasters. He was a DEA agent killed in the line of duty. He was a very good man, liked the Bears, sharp cheddar cheese and the Rolling Stones. I buried him three years ago.”

“I’m sorry.”

“So am I,” she said softly.

“Get some sleep, Rio.”

M
AX HEARD A SUCCESSION
of thunks and he started awake. The sun was just peeking over the horizon casting a pink glow, but to Max’s sleep-gritted eyes, it stabbed like a penetrating spotlight. His body protested when he shifted and opened his eyes.

Rio was standing in the glade and she was throwing knives into a tree, one after the other with a blinding speed that left him a bit breathless.

“Okay, I changed my mind. Fishnet and throwing knives.”

“You are pathetic,” she said, and walked over to him,
slipping the knives into a sheath she had concealed beneath her shirt.

“Did you get some sleep?”

“Yes, but it was like lying on a rock. You are one ripped guy.”

“I thought you liked it hard?”

She tipped her head, smiling. “What are you saying? A hard man is good to find?”

“Isn’t he?” He rose and stretched.

She walked up to him and laughed. Placing her hand on his chest, she slowly moved upward to the back of his neck, her fingers pushing into his hair as she pulled him down.

Max went willingly, and when his mouth touched hers, it was all he could do not to devour her whole. She was warm, her mouth soft and playful, as she teasingly took her time, refusing to let him rush it. He loved how Rio was so patient, when she had been so impatient before.

You’re falling for her
, he thought, and while internal warnings were going off inside his brain, the sudden dark need for her smothered him as he kissed her back. Her response knocked him sideways, and when he ran his hand down her spine and pulled her tighter, he knew he had to stop this before he lost control. With Rio, losing control was getting easier by the hour.

Max drew back, ran his fingers across her lips and heard her breath rushing in her lungs.

“Damn those bad guys,” she said, then grasped his hand to look pointedly at the gun he was holding.

“You’re a vigilant guy.”

“I’m supposed to be protecting you.”

“Don’t get your knickers in a twist, Max. I’m aware of our situation.”

She brushed dirt off her legs, and then reached for the pack. Max tried to intercept her, but this time she shouldered it. “You know I can handle this, Max.”

He could hear her unspoken words.
What I can’t handle is you.

He held her gaze, understanding more than he thought. “Okay, you can carry it.”

“I wasn’t asking for your permission,” she muttered as she moved past him and gave him a light shove.

E
DUARDO MOVED SWIFTLY
, running through underbrush and across the forest floor as if he were bred for it. Maui wasn’t much different from the jungles of his boyhood and he’d been like a jackal in that environment. The elite guard followed but were much slower. The American had elected to stay in the hotel, telling Eduardo he was obsessed with the woman.

No whore of a DEA agent was going to get the best of him, especially a woman.

They hadn’t done the expected and headed back to Hana, so Eduardo decided he would track them himself. They had done an admirable job of covering their trail, but Eduardo was an expert tracker. He stopped and checked his progress. They were about five hours ahead of him.

His pride drove him.

Spooked prey was dead prey.

I
F ONLY SHE COULD
prepare herself for what was going to happen. Her head told her to make a clean break of it as soon as possible and go back to working as she always did: solo. Her heart wasn’t so clear on the matter.

She tried telling herself what happened back at the waterfall didn’t change anything. She had no intention of jeopardizing Max any further.

She was in a Catch-22. She couldn’t tell him who the bad guys really were because she had her orders, so she couldn’t explain to him what was really going on. For the first time in her career, it really bothered her.

“Rio,” Max said impatiently.

She realized she’d been caught up with her own thoughts and hadn’t heard him. “What?”

“Look, I’m sorry about the pack. I just wanted to lessen your load. Sue me for being a freaking gentleman.”

She kept walking. She didn’t want to acknowledge anything about the kind of man Max was. It was already too painful to think about walking away from him. She needed to keep this about the business at hand.

But Max wasn’t the kind of man who gave an inch. He grabbed her shoulder and turned her. “Look, I know you’re competent. I know you outdo me in the jungle. Hell, you outdo me period.”

Damn he was confident in his own masculinity to admit such things to her. She nodded and turned back to the path, but Max snagged her arm again. “Rio…”

His touch was too much right now and she shrugged out of his hold. “We have to get to Makawao.”

“I know, but I’m trying to explain to you—”

“I get it, Max.” She looked over at him. His clothes were rumpled, his hair a bit of a tousled mess, and he had a hint of beard stubble lightly shadowing his jaw now. She’d seen him all spiffed up in his dark blue suit and power tie—the FBI uniform. She knew how well he cleaned up, but the way he appeared now seemed so real. It hurt her to look at him.

Max held her gaze for a moment too long, a moment that told her he was probably reading every last thought in her mind.

She softened her tone and sighed. “You’re sorry. It’s okay.”

He seemed satisfied with that. It didn’t help much that his general geniality was making her feel crabby and unreasonable. When, in reality, she was generally far more like him, grabbing for the joy in life and doing her best to let the rest go.

She couldn’t see there being a future in grabbing for him.

Which meant it was time to let him go.

She went to move forward again, but he waylaid her.

“Can I ask you one thing?”

She stilled, feeling him so close, knowing it would likely be the last time he was in her personal space like this. She tried not to feel so disappointed about that, to put it in proper perspective, which was that she was fortunate to have experienced any intimacy with him at all. But it proved to be beyond her compartmentalizing capabilities. She’d get past it in time.

“Ask,” she directed him, reaching for what she liked to term her kick-ass voice.

Her skin prickled at his nearness. She purposely kept her eyes on the trail.

“You’re not going to skip out on me, are you?”

She jerked her eyes to his and swallowed her words. Taking a calming breath, she lied to his face. “No. We’re in this together, like you said.”

“W
HAT ARE YOU DOING
?”
Rio asked when Max focused on the ground intently for the second time in twenty minutes and then very carefully re-planted his feet into his footsteps.

“Laying a good false trail. Follow my lead. We’re going to double back in a bit. I don’t trust the Ghost not to have planned ahead. As a marine, I know how to lay a trail even the Shadow Wolves couldn’t follow.”

“Shadow Wolves?”

“They’re this group of Native American trackers who work for the government,” he explained as she followed him and tried to place her feet in her previous footsteps.

“What makes you think you can fool these Shadow Wolves?” she asked, eyeing him and the ground.

“They’re the ones who taught me to lay the trail. Gave me some of their secrets.”

“Like?”

“Make a false trail logical. Don’t set it to go off in a direction that doesn’t make sense to whoever is chasing you.”

“The fact remains though, they have to know we’re
headed to an airport. It’s the fastest and most logical way off the island.”

“Got that. It’ll buy us time.” He grinned. “What they don’t know is we have our own personal pilot. We’ll just have to lie low until I can contact him and get him here.” Max looked at the sky. “It’s going to be dark soon. We should start scouting for a place to lie low for the night.”

“After we lay this false trail?”

“I’ve been setting them all day when we took our rest breaks to eat and drink. You’ve been preoccupied.”

Her expression shuttered completely then, which only made him want to press harder. His gut was telling him there was something definitely wrong here.

“It’s okay, you know,” he added with complete honesty. “You don’t have to pretend otherwise. You’d be foolish not to be worried, and you’re anything but foolish.”

There was a slight flicker in her expression at his description of her inattention, but he couldn’t decipher what it meant.

“You are worried, right?” Max asked, crouching again and then looking up at her.

“Yes, any smart agent would be worried. We’re in a high-stress, potentially fatal situation.”

“I think it might be a bit more than that.”

She rose. Her expression was unreadable now, her gaze steady, but definitely wary.

“We’re wasting valuable time,” she said.

“Rio—”

“Max,” she mimicked. “We need to focus on finding Makawao and getting the hell away from here.”

“Mmm-hmm,” he said and held her gaze. “I’m not going to stop pushing. You know that.”

Her shoulders dropped ever so slightly. And he thought he heard the softest of sighs. “I know.”

He pressed a finger under her chin and turned her face gently to his. He smiled, but he was serious. “Why don’t you just tell me? If you’re worried about my safety, I’d say I’m already committed. I can take care of myself.” He drew his fingertips up to her cheekbone and stroked her jawline, “There’s no shame in admitting you need me.” He caressed her cheek, lowered his mouth to hers. “But I can’t do anything unless you let me in.” He brushed a soft kiss across her lips. “Let me in, Rio.”

She sighed into him, accepted his kiss and then returned an impossibly sweet one of her own. His heart dipped, and then squeezed tightly.

“You’re further in than you know,” she said briefly rubbing the backs of her fingers over his face. “As in as I can let you.” She stroked her thumb over his lips and looked into his eyes. “And trust your own instincts. They’re not going to let you down, Max.” And then she dropped her hand and ducked her head, removing herself from his touch, if not his personal space. “Now please, we need to figure out where to spend the night. Let’s get going.”

Max stared at her lowered head for a long, silent moment. She didn’t give much, but she asked for even less. So when she did, he listened. She hadn’t asked for his trust, but he’d given it.

He understood trust was about more than believing she wouldn’t betray him. But it didn’t make him feel any less
conflicted. He wasn’t used to feeling so proprietary or worrying so much about anyone, except his own family.

He swore softly to himself. Partnerships could be tricky at times. He knew that from working with others at the FBI, discovering their boundaries and limits, as well as developing trust and faith. But with Rio there was the added emotional element, which was as huge as it was confusing. That was the part that wasn’t rational or reasonable, more like a primal directive to protect and defend. He snorted at himself. Sexist.

Now he had even more questions. And fewer answers. It was driving him insane. She was driving him insane.

“Why couldn’t I do something easy?” he muttered. “Like fall for a terrorist.”

She reflexively glanced up at him, then immediately looked away. Given she was no terrorist, he could only guess it had been the part about falling.

“I know that unnerves you, but it’s there anyway. You’ll have to find a way to deal with it, Rio,” he said, wanting to shake her. Wanting to take her. Wanting…everything. “You’re going to have to find a way to deal with me.”

“I’m working on it,” she said softly.

“S
ON OF A BITCH
,” Eduardo swore as he looked around the lush, vast valley. Two of his elite guards had caught up with him and they now flanked him. “Those agents aren’t pushovers.” One of them knew how to lay false trails. He’d been chasing his tail for an hour.

Eduardo raised his head like a dog scenting the breeze and then he saw it. The telltale sign of which way they went. His wolfish grin spread across his face.
Almost howling with glee he set off again, setting a grueling pace. The two men followed.

R
IO THOUGHT SHE’D HAD A
monkey on her back when that howler had jumped her in Colombia, but it was nothing compared to the two she had on her back right now. One: Max was falling for her. The thought brought her a sliver of joy, but she forcefully tamped it down. Two: she was lying about more than just the Ghost. She was lying about not leaving. That was a really big monkey. So, monkey number two would take care of monkey number one. She could only hope, for his sake, that as soon as he discovered her gone, he would head for Makawao and call his friend. Then he’d go back to L.A. It may be true that Eduardo knew who he was, but that wouldn’t do Eduardo any good. The mole would confirm that Max didn’t know anything about Colombia.

The only question was: what would she do?

They’d found an idyllic spot to settle for the night. It was a protective and well-hidden pool that afforded a view of the valley spread below them.

It was a strategic location that offered a good vantage point to see anyone approach. She intended to wait until Max fell asleep. She’d take what she needed and leave the rest for him. Some money, the GPS and one of the weapons would do for now. Then she’d get herself off Maui and find her boss and hope he could rectify the situation.

As plans went, it wasn’t the greatest, but it would have to do. She’d occupied Max’s time as best she could and, if she knew Max, he would be too distracted by
what had happened here to immediately go after the Ghost.

The bottom line was that Max would be as safe as she could make him. She knew Fuentes would kill Max if he found him, but the drug lord’s focus was on her, not Max. Eduardo was a ruthless man and anyone found with her would be gunned down without question. She couldn’t handle losing Max that way. Better that he hate her, but still be alive.

She heard someone approaching and cursed her inattentiveness. When Max emerged from the trees, his arms laden with bananas and a mango, Rio relaxed.

“Where did you get those?”

“Picked them off the trees. Man, this is a beautiful island. It’s too bad we’re running for our lives.”

He looked so proud of himself her heart slammed into her chest. It hurt. Physically. “Yeah, too bad this didn’t turn out to be that piece-of-cake assignment you’d hoped for.”

“That’s for sure. We could have been sunning and swimming for two damn weeks on the government’s dime. But then some gunrunner has to come along and screw it all up. Jerk.”

She laughed because he was trying to be funny and he expected her to be amused. Inside she was anything but. Max was turning out to be someone she could see herself with for the rest of her life.

Too bad she was too afraid of losing someone to risk it. Alone was the way to be.

If she didn’t feel for anyone, then she wouldn’t hurt so bad when they were gone. It seemed so logical when she thought of it. Now, it seemed like self-preservation.

“Let me have one of those sharp knives.”

“You know, Chef Carpenter, those knives are not for carving up fruit. I need them pointy and sharp.”

“I don’t know about you, but I haven’t eaten mango straight from the tree. I bet it’s succulent and juicy. Can you sacrifice some of your sharpness for a little sweet?”

She pulled one of the knives out of its sheath and handed it to him. “Be careful, it’s really sharp.”

Max smiled. “When we get out of this, I’ll cook you a real meal. What do you think about that?”

Her heart turned over. “I think that would be amazing.”

“That’s right. It’ll taste amazing.”

“That’s not what I’m talking about. The fact that you cook is amazing.”

“Hey,” he said, “you can judge me after you’ve tried my meatballs with orzo. My sisters love it.”

“Well, they’re family,” she said dryly.

He got her around the neck in a headlock and wouldn’t let go until she yelled uncle. Then they ate the delicious mango and bananas, washing the fruit down with one of the two bottles of water they had left.

“So, was your brother one of those fun brothers or did he find his little sister to be a nuisance?”

Rio’s insides knotted up. Shane had been the perfect brother. “He taught me how to catch a baseball and how to slide into home base. He took me to the movies and bought me popcorn.” She paused as the memories of her brother washed over her. “He helped me with my homework,” she finished hoarsely.

“So, he’s a good guy.”

“Was.”

“What?”

“He was a DEA agent and he was killed in the line of duty.”

“I’m sorry about that, Rio.”

“It was three years ago.”

“That must have been so hard. Losing your mother and father and then your brother.”

“It was. It was extremely hard for me.” What she hadn’t expected was that her stepbrother would die and leave her with such rage.

It was all due to one man.

Eduardo Fuentes. Her need to see him convicted for all his crimes, not just her stepbrother’s murder, was a relentless force that drove her.

Max went to the pool and washed his hands off, drying them on his shorts. The sun was setting and Max seemed to glow in the fading light. He looked up and Rio was struck by not just the physical attraction she had for Max’s dark good looks, his hard-muscled body, but for the man he was, as well. A man with integrity. He wouldn’t easily tolerate liars.

She was banking on it.

He walked back and sat down. “It’s a beautiful sunset. Come sit next to me and we can both enjoy it.”

“Someday I’ll have to come back here when I can enjoy it and not worry about bad things and bad people,” she said. A sigh escaped her lips when Max put his arm around her and shifted her to his lap.

“Mmm. I think I have a better view,” he said as he trailed his mouth down the side of her neck. “Much more interesting to me.”

“You
are going to miss this spectacular sunset, Max.” She laughed and his arms came around her waist. In a move that she couldn’t control, she arched against him.

“You know,” Max murmured just beneath her ear, “we could say to hell with all this, find a hotel with our wad of cash and stay for a few days.” He nipped her earlobe. “Weeks.” He tightened his arms around her waist and snuggled her against the growing bulge in his shorts. “Maybe a month would do it. Maybe.”

“Maybe,” she repeated a bit breathlessly as his palms flattened on her stomach and started to slide upward. She was trying like hell to keep her gaze focused, if somewhat unsteadily, on the valley below. But Max wasn’t making it easy.

Nor was she scrambling to get off his lap.

He cupped her breasts, gently catching her nipples between his fingers as he squeezed. A moan slipped out as she arched into his hands, and any thought of the valley and her all-important mission dimmed substantially.

“Max—”

“Shh, it’s all about the sunset.”

No, she thought, it was all about Max. And she wanted more of him on her. He nibbled at her nape, making her shudder, then slid one hand down between her legs, undoing a button or two to allow him to slide his fingers along the inside of her thigh.

“We…should—”

“Do more of this,” Max murmured roughly. “Come for me, Rio.” He stroked the cotton panel between her legs as he continued toying with her nipples and
nibbling her neck. She was going to stop him and focus on the job, really she was. But she was tired, and hungry, and needy as all hell, and this felt way too damn good to stop. So she let her eyes drift shut, let the sensations take over, let Max take over, and promised herself she’d regain control the moment it was over. Promised herself she’d come to terms with Max and his effect on her.

Just as soon as he made her climax. Again.

She was still shuddering, still jerking against his hand and the oh-so-clever fingers he’d slid inside her, when he was already slipping them out and shifting her around so she faced him. He took her mouth with his, even as he whisked his hand between them to unbuckle and unzip. “Let me in,” he breathed against her lips.

And she could have told herself it was only fair to let him have his, since he’d so thoroughly seen to hers, but the raw truth of it was she was craving the feel of him, filling her up, as she’d never craved anything before. She would have pushed his hands away and torn at his shorts herself if she’d thought it would get him inside her any faster.

She was pushing at her shorts and he was tugging at his, and they’d barely freed what had to be bared when he was jerking her down on top of him. She pushed down as hard as she could, grinding on him, glorying in the long groan of satisfaction she wrenched from him as she rode him until every last spark of need was sated to its fullest extent.