Angel snorted. “Fine. Maybe I come back here when we’re done with this job. It disturbs me that it would even be like that.” She opened the driver’s side door. “You guys ready?”
Zelda took Hugo’s hand. It felt so natural to be with him. Partners. Lovers.
Angel and Cole argued about who would drive as Liza walked out with Paolo. She and Paolo were getting dropped off at the big waterpark in Guayaquil. Liza was doing great these days—she was a natural with Paolo and she’d really pitched in on the harvest. She was thinking about staying in Buena Vista after the trip the two of them were planning to visit their parents in Okinawa.
Zelda watched Hugo roughhouse with Paolo. They were so much more physical now.
She and Hugo had talked a lot about the future. She wanted to get back into the field, maybe even freelance with the Association, but Hugo was into working the literal fields and raising Paolo. They would make it work. She could base out of Buena Vista as easily as New York. She needed the distance now.
The group of them piled into the vehicle, all except Liza, who came up and kissed Zelda on the cheek. She was back to blonde, but she had blue eyes now. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”
Zelda narrowed her eyes.
Hugo wrapped his arms around her as Liza spun around and headed toward the SUV. Hugo had that energy she’d come to recognize, like a wild bear. She trembled with anticipation.
“And light on the junk food for Paolo, or you’ll be sorry,” Zelda called as Liza shut the door.
The vehicle pulled out, disappeared down the mountainside, leaving them in blissful peace and quiet.
Kind of.
When even the sound of the SUV faded into the wind, Hugo lifted her up.
“Hugo!”
He carried her into the house. His legs were all but healed now. “I am sorry, corazón, I cannot wait.” He brought her clear through the house and out to the veranda, setting her on a slate-topped table in the sun and the wind.
“Out here?”
He didn’t answer, just began tearing at her clothes.
She pushed him off. “Hold up.” She slipped off and stood in front of him, unbuttoning her shirt little by little, stoking his frenzy.
She glanced out over his shoulder as she undressed, looking out at the newly harvested field. Really it was partly harvested. There was a row on the far edge where they let the savincas bloom. She and Hugo had decided on it together, to let that farthest row of flowers bloom wild and free.
“I love you,” he rasped.
She gazed into his brown eyes. “Do you think that’s going to get me to take off my shirt faster?”
He came to her then and started on her pants, feverishly.
“I love you more,” she whispered.
“Do you think that’s going to make me not rip your clothes?”
She snorted. Everything was so different now. She understood that no amount of penance could erase the death she had caused. Her painful guilt and shame would always be with her, but that time with El Gorrion had freed her from some of the worst of it, ironically. She saw now that the guilt and shame were only small facets of her. There were other facets of her, like her love for Hugo and Liza and Paolo. And the way she was rediscovering her passion for growing things, her passion for spycraft, for justice.
It felt strange and beautiful to feel whole after feeling reduced for so long.
Hugo set her back onto the stone table and fumbled with her bra, a sexy front-clasp number. He swore in Spanish, having lost his characteristic dexterity. She let him struggle; it was just stoking up his frenzy. “Don’t you dare wreck it,” she commanded.
“I cannot wait, corazón.” He tugged the bra downward over her breasts, an animal needing to get in. She loved him like this. He nuzzled and kissed her breasts, tender and rough and whiskery out there in the sunshine.
“Yes,” she whispered, holding onto him tightly.
She loved this man more than anything in the world. And beyond him, at the far edge of the terraced fields, the savincas bloomed in all their wild, blood-red glory.
Thank you for reading Behind the Mask. I hope you enjoyed Hugo and Zelda and Paolo as much as I did!
I made this book lendable wherever I could, so please feel free to share it with your personal, real-life friends, and I love when people leave reviews where they bought the book, no matter what they thought, even if it’s just a few lines. It’s a huge help to me and it helps other readers find books that fit their tastes, too. But most of all, a massive thank you for reading!
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Acknowledgments
I want to deeply and profusely thank my critique partners – Joanna Chambers, Carolyn Jewel, Jeffe Kennedy, Mark Powell, Katie Reus, and Skye Warren – for their smart, generous feedback and ideas, and for reading this book when it was in various states of chaos. You guys are so amazing—I would be lost without you. Deb Nemeth did the beautiful developmental edit and copy edit, and Carrie Smoot seriously delivered with the proofreading! Author Penny Watson (who also happens to be a trained botanist) spent tons of time helping me brainstorm the botany aspects of this book—her expertise really made this plot pop. Marcela of thebookaholiccat.blogspot.com acted as my Spanish language and Latin American culture virtual assistant, helping me to bring this beautiful setting to life (any Spanish mistakes in the final edition will be mine and not hers). Kisses to my Facebook page gang, and a special shout out to Facebook pals Dena Howard Embree, Debi Murray, Kacy Flowers, Debbie Oxier, Prue Dwyer, Robin Driscoll, and Natalie Bookloverslife for the idea for using Jelly Bellies this past winter! It worked really great, guys!! BookBeautiful perfectly captured the mood of Hugo on this lovely cover, and this amazing formatting job was done by bbebooksthailand.com. Gratitude and kisses to you all!
About Carolyn Crane
Lucky for Carolyn Crane, romance novels have given her a safe outlet though which to work out her not at all insane fascination with tortured killers, dangerous secret agents, and kinky bank robbers. Today she is a RITA® Award-winning author of romantic suspense, urban fantasy, and other steamy tales adventure; she’s been published by Random House, Samhain, and now her own indie self. She is married to her best friend, and they live in Minnesota with their two adoring cats. Her dirty-writing alter ego is NYT bestselling author Annika Martin.
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By Carolyn Crane
Sexy Romantic Suspense
Against the Dark (Book #1 of the Undercover Associates)
Off the Edge (Book #2 of the Undercover Associates)
Behind the Mask (Book #4 of the Undercover Associates)
Urban Fantasy
Mind Games (Book #1 of the Disillusionists)
Double Cross (Book #2 of the Disillusionists)
Kitten-Tiger & the Monk (A novella; 2.5 of the Disillusionists)
Head Rush (Book #3 of the Disillusionists)
Devil’s Luck, a Disillusionists novella (3.5)
Outside of North America discount/freebie editions
Mind Games (Book #1 of the Disillusionists) Amazon UK | AU
Double Cross (Book #2 of the Disillusionists) Amazon UK | AU
Paranormal
Old Salt
Writing sooooper dirty books as Annika Martin
The Hostage Bargain (Book #1 of Taken Hostage by Kinky Bank Robbers) PSSST
: THIS IS A FREEBIE right now!
The Wrong Turn (Book #2 of Taken Hostage by Kinky Bank Robbers)
The Deeper Game (Book #3 of Taken Hostage by Kinky Bank Robbers)
Taken Hostage by the Kinky Bank Robbers: Book Bundle – All 3 at a discount! (Books #1 #2 and #3 of Taken Hostage by Kinky Bank Robbers)
PRISONER, a dark romance (co-written with Skye Warren)
~ Thank you for reading the Associates. ~
Behind the Mask (Undercover Associates Book 4) Page 32