by Laura Wylde
It would have been easier to ask her, instead of driving myself crazy with all of these questions. I should have just come right out and asked her what the hell was going on. How did a good girl like her, get into such a mess? There had to be an answer. None of it made any sense thus far and I just wanted it to all come together. Truthfully, I wanted to give into the wants I had, but I had already told myself that I wasn’t going to do anything, until I knew what I was dealing with.
As we were next to each other and she started to sweat and glisten, that desire for her got even worse. How was I supposed to hold it off? How was I supposed to pay attention, when all I could think about was what it would be like to be with her?
I never worried about women like this. There was a reason that I stuck to myself. Most women annoyed me. I took what I wanted and that was that. Why was I putting it off, delaying gratification that I was sure to get with the woman?
I went to a nearby rock and sat down. I waited for her to do the same, but she stood there for a moment with a determined look on her face.
“I'm fine. We don't have to stop, unless you need a break.”
“You're not fine. You look like you're about to fall down. How did you get up here last time?”
She gave me a dirty look and I just kind of smiled at her. again, it was a serious question.
Anna was slim, and it made it seem seemed like she was in shape. Getting to know her though, she was not the type of person that would go on long jogs or go to the gym. It was more a natural way that her body was just smaller.
“I am tired. I think it's time that we got some water and maybe some trail mix or something. Are you hungry?”
“No, we just started. Don't you think we should wait until we’ve gone for a little while first. I don’t see how we are ever going to get there if we keep stopping.”
I scooched over next to her. It was obvious that Anna need a break. She was a bit out of breath and I didn't blame her. The trail was completely uphill and even I was feeling a bit of burning in my thighs, and I was a wolf shifter. That should say something. The terrain was rough for a slight human like her, it was no wonder that she was huffing and puffing quite quickly.
“I probably didn't have as much equipment with me before. It was really a spur of the moment thing, and I just kind of fell upon the site. I didn't know it was going to be a dig site. I saw something sticking up out of the ground, so I pushed some dirt off of it with my foot. It was a coin that was very old and from the area. It was part of an old civilization that was once there, so I figured that there was more. The culture that it comes from, sent the wealth with it’s dead people. I must have found a grave, because there is a lot of wealth in the hole.”
“I was wondering what you meant by artifact.”
“It is a little bit of everything, but mainly coins. There is probably a lot more up there, but I need to keep the site hidden and secret for a little bit longer. If not, this whole place will be dug up and nothing will be left. At least who I sell it to, will put it in a museum. Since the coins are gold, bringing others would guarantee that they are melted down into bars and that would take the value out of it. They will destroy far more value, then the raw material would ever bring. That’s why I need to get Barrows paid off, so that I can get him off my back and then I can get the rest of it.”
It seemed like a smart plan that made complete sense. I did not have to be around Anna that long, to realize that she was very intelligent. She was also very loyal to her family, another quality that my kind found completely necessary. She was quite the catch in any world, and she didn't even know it.
Jack would have called her a unicorn. However powerful unicorns were, they weren’t supposed to exist. Now that I’d found one, I had no idea what to do with her.
“Sounds like you have a plan there.”
She looked right at him, probably for the first time for the day.
“I hope so. I hope that after I get Barrows paid off, I will never have to work with him again. I hope I don't have to work with any of them ever again, and I can just get back to what I love. I just want to uncover the past.”
I had to agree. Any situation where it was so messed up, it was probably best just to walk away. I didn't want to say anything on that though. She was obviously very independent, taking care of her own affairs. It would do me no good, to point out that she wasn't doing a very good job of it. I could imagine that she was far more critical than I could ever be.
I chose to see the magic inside of her. Anna was quite a woman, the type that any man would be happy to have.
I had to pull myself out of it. I don't know what the hell I was thinking. This was a job. Nothing more, nothing less. Sure, I was going to take her up on the whole virgin situation. The chick was gorgeous, how could I not? End of the day though, Anna was a job.
We sat around for a while, talking. Anna eventually went quiet and it felt just as comfortable not saying a word. I found that a relief, considering most girls talked a lot, but really didn’t say much. That was not the way Anna was at all. She had weight to her words, and they were few and far between.
“You ready to keep going?”
“Yeah, I guess so. How much further did you say it was to the cave?”
I told her that it was just a mile or two and that seemed to relieve her. I failed to mention that it was all practically uphill and it was going to take hours to get there. We were only about a quarter of the way there. We had a long ways to go.
I looked over at the grimace on her face.
“Are you going to be okay?”
“Yeah, I'm fine. It's just been a bit since I've been up this way. I haven't slept really good. Blah, blah, enter excuse.”
I agreed, but didn’t find myself relating to most of her problems. I would probably agree to anything at that point.
About the time when you were getting back into the swing of things, I heard a loud sound to our right. Without thinking, I pushed Anna into the bushes near the trail, to hide us both. I knew immediately what the sound I heard was, as well as what it meant. Anna did not.
“What are you doing?”
I had landed on top of her and even though I was holding my body off of her, it was still easy to see that she was smooshed a bit. She finally heard the blades of the helicopter and her eyes got a little wider.
“Is that?”
“I would guess that it is the people who are looking for you. Seeing as they are already here, that worries me that they know where you are, and they know where you are going.”
“They shouldn’t.”
My hand slipped and I fell on her a bit, crushing her soft breast and making her make a sound of displeasure.
“Sorry, really I am. I didn’t mean to…”
The helicopter came back around, going over us again and even though I knew that they couldn’t hear me, I didn’t say a word.
She was feeling so damn good underneath, pinned and submissive. She wasn’t trying to get out from underneath me at all and it was really bothering me. Why did I want this woman so much? It was becoming a problem.
When the helicopter left for the second time, I think we both decided that it was safe to get up. Anna was breathing a little bit quicker and she had a wide-eyed look on her face. I don't know why I got such a kick out of it.
I knew why she was looking that way or at least I thought I had an idea. I was rock-hard and I had been pushing against her for quite some time. It wasn't like I had meant for that to happen, just that it had. I wanted her, badly and even though she was part of the package, I was starting to wonder if I could wait. Jack hadn't given me enough information and for some reason it was stuck in my mind that I needed that information before I could go forward. A forward that I wanted to go.
I turned away, not wanting her to see my desire and to get scared. I had seen it before, her getting intimidated from the lust that was in my eyes. It's not like I could help it, so all I could, was keep her from seeing it.
“Sorry about that. I don't want to take any chances.”
“No, it's totally fine. I didn't even hear it. How did you?”
“I guess that shifters have better senses than humans.”
She smiled and then it turned into a frown after a minute.
“You want to know something funny, until you reminded me, I had completely forgotten.”
I didn't say anything to that, but it actually made me happy. I wanted her to be relaxed with me and my kind. It's not like there was a reason for it, not one that I could put exact words to. All I knew was I wanted this woman and once was not going to be enough. That was something that I already knew, even though we had only been around each other for a few hours. There was also another difference between our kinds. My kind just knew, when we had met the person we were supposed to be mated to. There was no wondering if we were doing the right thing. We just knew because a feeling that we would get.
“Let's keep going, we got a ways to go before we get to the cave and it's going to be dark soon.”
It was already past noon and even though we had several hours before dark, for some reason my hackles were up. Something was afoot, something that was dangerous to us and I needed to get Anna away from anything that was going to harm her. She wasn’t just a job anymore, it was personal.
8
Anna
“I know that it's getting dark, but we still have a couple of hours.”
“Yes, and we have a couple of vertical miles as well. You don't want to be charging through this in the dark. you're barely getting through it in the light.”
I looked back at him and gave him a dirty look. Of course, he was going to say something like that. Connor had a tendency to say whatever was on his mind, even though it was most likely going to piss me off. He just said things so blunt, not even thinking about it, just letting it spew forth like vomit.
“Why'd you have to say it like that? I'm doing the best I can.”
“You could always let me carry you for a little while.”
“Carry me? What are you talking about?”
“I don't know, I could even carry you piggyback.”
“Like a kid?”
“Now that I think about it...”
“If we could just chill for a minute. I know you can hear that waterfall. I can hear it and you have all these supe- secret Spidey senses, so why don't we go to jump in the water and cool off? I won't be so hot and then we will move faster.”
“It's already cold out here, and if you get wet, it's just going to lower your temperature. You're hot because your heart rate is too high, because you need to slow down. The problem is, we don't have time to slow down. Let me carry you for a little while.”
He started coming towards me, like he was actually going to do it and I made a sound that I didn't try to make. It was almost like a squealing sound and it was quite embarrassing. All I knew for certain though, was I did not want his hands on me. I certainly didn't want him carrying me.
“Just let me go take a swim real quick. It'll energize me, it'll take five minutes and then we can get back on the road.”
I was dead tired. I actually just wanted to lay down and not get up again. I know that was a bit dramatic, but that's how tired I was. He, on the other hand, did not seem to be fazed by it at all. I don't know if it was because he was a shifter or because he was just used to this kind of thing or whatever it was, I was beat. There was no way that I could go around, running around in the forest like he could. I just needed a break. Even if it was just a five-minute swim in the cold water. Whatever the reason for my heat being, it didn't change the fact that I was burning up.
As we got closer, he gave me a warning look and told me that we weren't going to be able to stop. I said something along the lines like we were already here, so I might as well do it. I just pretty much ignored him. I knew that all I had to do was get to that cold water and I was going to feel one hundred percent better. Of course I was going to do it. He could be mad at me later, but hopefully we will be moving faster, because I would have gotten my second steam. Or third at this point, I'm not really sure.
“Come on Anna, I'm warning you.”
“Yeah, you keep doing that. Why can't you just let me be? You work for me remember?”
“No, I don't work for you. I'm working with you to keep you safe.”
It didn't seem like that big of a difference to me, but apparently it was for him. He had the scowl on his face, and it stayed there until I shook my head and agreed with him. He was stubborn.
Any other day though, the semantics don't really matter. I was going to jump in the water.
Connor was about to say something else, but I really wasn't listening to him. I shrugged my shoes and my pack off, but that was it. I wasn't even going to take the time to pull all my clothes off because I wanted the water to cool me off for a while. I really was burning up and even though my skin might have been cold to the touch in some places, it is still hot in others. Whatever the reason, I was feeling like an inferno and I just needed it to stop.
When I hit the water, I regretted being so adamant about going swimming. It was so cold. freakishly cold even, and the only thing I wasn't regretting at that moment, was the fact that I hadn't took my clothes off. Somehow the very idea of it on my bare skin and certain areas made me shiver anew. I looked back at the bank and he had this smug look on his face, like I was an idiot. At the moment, it was taking everything in me to stop my teeth from chattering. I might have actually agreed with his assessment.
“I told you, you shouldn’t have jumped in there.”
“Yes, yes you did. It doesn't mean that I will listen to you though.”
“You are probably one of the most hardheaded women I've ever met. And that's saying something.”
“I bet it is. I just wanted to cool off.”
“Are you cool now?”
He knew damn well that I was.
I agreed that I was, certainly not going to tell him that I was freezing my ass off. I started to come out of the water, my white shirt sticking to my body. It was just another thing that I really hadn't thought through and when I saw his eyes widen and that now familiar look of desire in his face took over, I knew that he could see too much. I looked down and I could see my hard nipples poking out of the shirt fabric. I could even see darkness guiding the way.
He started to walk towards me, and I knew that I wasn't getting out of this water.
He had this determined look that made me nervous and shaking inside. There was obviously something on his mind and I was about to find out what it was.
Now, he was getting in the water and he didn't even take his shoes off. I don't think he was honestly paying attention to it. All of his attention was pointed towards me. I was trembling with anticipation, from what was going to happen next. He had told me that he wanted to wait until it was all done, but maybe I had just teased him one too many times. It wasn't like it was intentional obviously, but it didn't seem to matter. From the expression on his face, the how and why didn’t matter. He was just focused on the display that I was giving.
His hand went to my arm and I wasn't able to move any further. I was about waist deep and his hand moved to my waist, pulling me a little bit closer.
“I need some truth now Anna. I can't keep going like this with you, not knowing what's really going on.”
“What is it you want to know? I've told you everything.”
“No, you haven't. There's one thing that I just can't seem to understand.”
“What is it?”
“What did you do with half a million dollars?”
I tried to pull away from him, but his hold on me was secure. He wasn’t going to let me get out of the water, he wasn't letting me do anything. I tried to get out of his grip, but it did me no good.
When I caught him looking at my chest, I realized with chagrin, that he was just watching my tits bounced as I tried to get away. I was only making it better for him, giving him a show.
I was doing nothing but turning him on further.
“I needed it.”
“What in the world does a woman like you need it for? I've seen where you live, there's nothing extravagant. You don't wear expensive jewelry and diamonds. What did you do with all that money?”
“I needed it for my family.”
“Your brother?”
“No, well, little bit of it. He has expensive therapists and I'm still paying off the bill for when he was put into a treatment center last year. I had to pay it all back.”
“That's not half a million dollars. When did the rest of it go? What are you into?”
Why was he so interested in the money? I just couldn't understand it. It was like he was obsessed or something. Why did it matter where the money went? Why did he care at all? I was just a job and he didn’t need to know all of those details about me.
I said something along those lines and he practically shook me and told me that I was going to tell him what he wanted to know. I don't know why he was being so forceful, and I started to get angry. That was, until I could also tell that he was turned on. His eyes were this vivid green color that I learned very quickly to know what it meant. It meant that he was horny and he wanted me. So why was he mad? It didn't make any sense. None of it did. The man was an enigma.
“I don't think I should have to tell you. I don't know practically anything about you, so I do you think that you get to know everything about me, all of my secrets. It doesn't seem very fair, does it?”
“We have helicopters flying over, you have bounty hunters coming after you and from what I hear, the person that you owe that money to, is a pretty seriously scary guy. You have put us both in a very bad position and I think I have a right to know who I am in it with.”
“From what I hear, you're in it for the money and a piece of ass, so don’t act like you’re doing this out of the kindness of your heart.”