He chuckled. “Me, too. I suppose all those years in the paratroopers paid off.”
Jessica smiled. She was sure he’d done a lot of good in his time in the military. He certainly seemed like the type, who believed in doing good things for the right reasons. Perhaps that was why he was so resistant to her belief that the rebels weren’t the totally evil villains he believed them to be. War had made him see in terms of good guys, and bad. In conflict, shades of gray were discouraged.
Or maybe it was just who he was. Maybe he believed in doing the right thing no matter the circumstances.
“Let’s eat,” he said, pulling her out of her thoughts.
Her stomach grumbled violently at his words. Christ, she was starving. The water boiled, so he took that off the fire and let it sit in the dirt beside it. He used two sticks to pinch the wrapped vegetables and pull them from the embers of the fire. On the raincoat, he carefully unwrapped one of the vegetables. It was a root of some kind.
“What is that?” she asked.
“Taro,” he replied. “It’s good, but it needs to be cooked. Can’t be eaten raw like papaya.”
She nodded. He proceeded to carefully unwrap the other vegetables, none of which she recognized. He told her the names of all of them, but she promptly forgot them at the sight of real food. She’d gnaw off her own arm if it meant filling her stomach at this point.
“Careful, it’s hot,” he said as he handed her the taro.
She took it from him and blew on it impatiently. Before it was ready, she took a bite. It burned her tongue, but it was so worth it. It was the best food she’d ever tasted, purely because it had been forever since she’d eaten proper food. Papaya only got a girl so far, particularly given how far they’d walked today.
She moaned in pleasure and took another bite. She never wanted to go without food again.
Once she’d finished that, Mike handed her some more. They ate side-by-side, making their way through all the vegetables he’d collected until Jessica was full. Then, he filled his canteen with the water they’d boiled earlier and offered it to her. She drank deeply, then handed it back to him.
The fire and Mike’s body heat made her sticky again, but Jessica couldn’t bring herself to move away. She was content and unwinding in the small, intimate pool of light. Mike’s presence was a comfort, like a barrier between her and all the horrors that lay beyond the light. No rebels, or spiders, or chigoes could reach her here with Mike beside her.
And, yes, she had a long trek again tomorrow, but at least she would get home eventually. She trusted Mike would make that happen.
Full for the first time in over a week, Jessica yawned and leaned deeper into Mike’s arm.
It would be okay. She had to believe that.
Mike couldn’t stop watching her lips. He told himself it was purely so he’d know if she said anything, but it was a lie. Because all he could think about was kissing her.
The pleasure on her face as she ate wasn’t helping. It sent his mind straight into the gutter, wondering if that would be her expression if he made love to her.
He cleared his throat and threw another piece of wood on the fire. He only had small sticks and rotted pieces of fallen trees, since he didn’t have time to chop down a fresh tree. He’d need to feed it constantly to keep the fire burning through the night. They didn’t need it for warmth, but it would help scare off predators, and would anchor him in the dark without his hearing.
He hadn’t wanted to tell Jessica, but he was nervous about their hike through the rainforest. It was bad enough being deaf in the city, unable to hear honking horns, or calls of warning, or any other sounds that kept people safe.
But in the rainforest, with its far deadlier predators, the crack of a branch or the buzz of a mosquito might be all that stood between him and death. Or, worse, Jessica and death.
There would be big cats in this area, along with the chigoes, leeches, spiders, and other creepy crawlies. Any of those could cause injury or even death if they weren’t careful.
And to top it all off, they had an entire rebel army hunting them, desperate for the payday they believed Jessica would bring. He could hope they’d give up, and decide it wasn’t worth the effort of chasing them through the rainforest. But even out here in the middle of nowhere, the rebels must know what she was worth.
Jessica’s father was from one of the wealthiest families in the country—and she was the last of its line. From his research on the plane to Zolego, Mike knew her future fortune was valued at over a billion dollars.
That kind of money was more than the entire gross domestic product of Zolego by an embarrassing amount. It was life-changing for these rebels.
Mike couldn’t imagine what it would be like to grow up so rich and privileged. It was a foreign world to a man who was raised in a dying town in America’s heartland. More foreign even than the warzones he’d spent so many years in.
He turned to Jessica, determined to distract himself from thoughts of his childhood.
“What was it like?” he asked.
“What?”
“Growing up like you did?”
She pursed her lips. “Cold,” she said, surprising him. “The house I was raised in had a lot of marble. And my parents didn’t make up for the lack of warmth.”
Her expression was flat as she talked.
He frowned. “It can’t have been that bad. All that money? Had to count for something.”
She shrugged. “I would have given it all up for my mom to read me a bedtime story.” Her chest rose and fell on a sigh.
“Jesus.” At least his mom had given him that much. “So you guys don’t get along?”
She shook her head. “I took my trust fund when I turned eighteen and went to see the world. I wanted to do more, see more, than the path my parents had laid out for me. Of course, I then saw the reality of the world, and the stark contrast to all my privilege shocked me. I’d never really known except in the most vague sense.”
“And that’s when you got into your volunteer work?”
She nodded. “My parents have all the money in the world, and what did it get us? Nothing. Coldness and misery. I wanted to use my money to bring happiness instead.”
She was so matter-of-fact about it all. As if it hadn’t been a huge, life-changing revelation she’d been through. As if this was something everyone experienced. Maybe in some ways they did. Hadn’t he abandoned the life he’d known to experience more of the wider world? Found himself helping people? And having adventures in foreign lands?
Not the same, but he and Jessica had more in common than he’d thought.
“At least you know your parents worry about you. They sent me to save you.”
She gave a bitter laugh. “Sure. Most likely because my mother has reelection coming up, and she doesn’t want anything to distract voters from her campaign.”
He didn’t know if he could convince her otherwise. She knew her own mother better than Mike did, even though he was convinced Senator Vanderslice had been terrified for her daughter. Maybe he’d been fooled.
“I see you on the news during election time.” He hadn’t meant to admit that. It implied he’d noticed her, remembered her. And that was a little too close to the truth.
“I help with my mother’s campaigns. We don’t get along, but she’s a decent politician. I’d rather she get elected than some of the assholes who have run against her. Besides, every time I’m in the news, they usually mention the charities I support. You know,”—she put on a newscaster’s voice—“‘Jessica Vanderslice, who recently returned from volunteer work in Sudan…’ and the charities I support get an influx of donations. I figure it can’t hurt to keep my public profile up as long as that’s still the case.”
She sent him a self-deprecating grin, and he smiled in response. This woman was nothing like what he’d expected. Seeing her on the stage next to her mother, so cool and collected, not a hair out of place, he’d thought she’d be prissy and spoiled.
Instead, she was down to earth, with a sense of humor that was often directed at herself. She cared about others, more than she did about herself. She was brave, and strong. She’d trekked through a deadly rainforest all day with barely a word of complaint. Yes, she’d broken down briefly earlier, but it was a completely understandable—even normal—reaction. And it had given him a chance to wrap his arms around her, feel her soft body against his. He couldn’t complain about that.
He liked this woman more than the cool ice-queen she presented for her mother’s campaigns. She was real, and within reach. The kind of woman that he could see himself spending time with on a normal day, when not forced together by an endless rainforest surrounding them.
Not that he would. He wasn’t exactly the relationship type. But still. There was something about this woman.
“What about you?” she asked, shifting to draw his attention.
He blinked. “What about me?”
“Where did you grow up? What was your family like?”
He shrugged. “I was born in this factory town in the midwest. The factories had started shutting down a few years before I was born, but my parents stubbornly stayed, even after my father lost his job. We didn’t grow up with much. After I finished high school I searched for work—couldn’t see myself leaving town, the only place I’d ever known—but it was impossible. There was nothing there. No jobs, no future. So I joined the military.”
“How old were you?”
“Nineteen.”
“And you enjoyed it?”
“Yeah. For the first time it was like I had a future in front of me, you know? All kinds of possibilities. It was a kind of adventure I’d never really dreamed of.”
He sighed. Until an IED had exploded near him and taken it away again. It was like all the hopes and dreams he’d built over a decade of being a part of something were snatched away the second he was told his hearing wouldn’t come back.
Until Duncan had found him and convinced him to apply for a job at Soldiering On Security, he’d really believed he was worse off even than the first time he left his hometown. This time he’d had no prospects and no hearing.
“And how did you end up with your current job?” she asked.
He smiled. “Duncan—my boss—has contacts with all the local VA hospitals. He asks them to give him hints if they think anyone who passes through might be a good candidate for his company.”
“And they passed on your name?”
“God knows why. I was a mess. I drank a bit too heavily. I planned to go back to my hometown with my tail between my legs, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. The alcohol was for courage, I guess, and drowning my sorrows. And then Duncan knocked on my door. I thought he was kidding at first.”
“But he wasn’t?”
“No. He showed me all the recent news articles about the company. I hadn’t heard of them, but Soldiering On Security had made a name for themselves. He invited me to apply for a position. I nearly didn’t. I didn’t think he’d take me. But in the end I suppose I had a bit more hope than sense, so I sent in an application. A few days later I had a job.”
It had saved him, getting that job. He’d been on a downward spiral and Duncan had pulled him out before he’d got in too deep.
“Of course he did. You’re perfect for this kind of thing. Look what you’ve achieved here,” she said, waving her hand at their camp, and to the jungle beyond where they’d had their adventures earlier in the day. Warmth spread through his chest at the praise.
Rather than saying anything, he shrugged. “I was still in the adjustment period after losing my hearing. I’d already started learning to read lips, and sign language, by that point. But I was more diligent after getting the job. Among all the other things I do, it’s helpful to read lips during surveillance, and such.”
“Of course.”
“They’ve only recently opened up to international missions, actually. This is one of the first.”
Her eyes widened in surprise. “Oh, that’s cool.”
“Yeah. Obviously, there are a few more legal and diplomatic hurdles to doing this kind of thing off US soil.”
She nodded. “Yes. I’m glad you came. I can’t imagine what would’ve happened if my parents had left me there.”
She shivered. Against his better judgment, Mike wrapped an arm around her. She immediately let her head fall on his shoulder, where he couldn’t see her mouth. No vibrations ran through her to indicate she was still talking, so they stayed that way for a while, taking comfort in each other.
After a while, Jessica yawned. Mike caught it, his jaw clicking with his own wide yawn.
“We should sleep. It’ll be a long day tomorrow.”
Jessica nodded and slowly raised her head. He wondered if she was as reluctant to part as he was, or whether it was his imagination.
He stood and dug through his pack, eventually producing a few sets of clothing, a bar of soap, and toothbrush and toothpaste.
“You need to get changed,” he told her.
She frowned at him. “Why?”
“We should wash and dry those clothes you have on overnight, so you can wear them tomorrow. You need to be covered from the bugs tonight, but we’ll sweat with this humidity. Better to wear one set of clothes every night, and have another for during the day.”
She eyed him oddly, but eventually held out her hand. He draped the clothes over her arm, and handed her some bug spray.
“For once you’re clean.”
“You had this all along and you still smeared me with mud?”
Mike shrugged, unrepentant. “It was at the bottom of my back and we didn’t have much time. I didn’t want to take everything out and have to put it back in. But we can use it from now on.”
She glared at him, but didn’t say anything else, so he handed her the toiletries.
“That’s all I’ve got,” he told her. “So we’ll have to share the toothbrush.”
She ran a tongue over her teeth. “Honestly, I’m so filthy right now I’d share a toothbrush with a jaguar.” She glanced up as if one might appear above her.
He grinned. “Well, I don’t think I’m quite that bad.”
“These clothes are so gross. Can I wear them tonight and wear these clean ones tomorrow?”
He shook his head. “These are mine. They’ll be too big and uncomfortable for you to walk in. Better to sleep in these and keep your real clothes for the daytime.”
She gave a reluctant nod, and then headed in the direction of the small stream. It lay at the edge of the firelight, and Mike forced himself not to watch as Jessica stripped off. Instead, he focused on gathering enough sticks to last them through the night, struggling to find many that were dry enough. It was easiest to survive in a jungle than any other climate. There was an abundance of food, water, and shelter if you knew where to look. But he sure did miss the area near where he’d grown up.
It had plenty of food to hunt, and dry wood for fires. He and his father had regularly gone on hunting trips, bringing back meat enough to feed the family for another week or two. Mike had two siblings, both younger. A brother and a sister. Neither of them had left town like he had. They’d stayed to repeat their parents’ mistakes.
He should call them when he got back. He didn’t hate them, he never had. But he didn’t have much in common with any of his family, not since he’d moved away. He wanted them to move, too. Join him in Portsboro, where Soldiering On was located. But every time he suggested it, another argument sparked.
They hadn’t understood why he’d wanted to leave, and he couldn’t understand why they’d stayed.
But they were still family. And he should make more of an effort to stay in contact with them. Otherwise he might end up like Jessica, where she and her parents mutually used each other for their own benefit.
Jessica finally returned, scrubbed clean from hair to toes and in his clothes. She was fresher and happier now, even as she clutched sopping fabric to her c
hest. Mike was distracted by her wearing his clothes. They were too big for her, but a primal satisfaction welled in him at the sight regardless.
“I’ll never take soap and toothpaste for granted ever again,” she said as he came closer. “All I could do was splash myself with the water but it was the closest thing I’ve had to a shower in over a week.”
He grinned. “I’ve been there. I’m glad I packed a full bag, even though I thought we’d be out within a day.”
“Always be prepared?” she suggested.
“That’s the Boy Scouts,” he said with a laugh. “But yes.”
He held out his hands for her clothes and then hung them over a low fern near the fire. They steamed instantly, and he hoped they’d be reasonably dry before morning. It was one of the challenges of jungle environment—avoiding the problems that came with being constantly damp.
“Want a boost?” he asked, nodding towards the hammock. He’d tied them at his chest height, higher off the ground than normal, knowing it was safer to be as far from the forest floor as possible.
She glanced over at it. She must have started speaking while her head was turned, because he only caught the tail end as she faced him again. “…struggle a little bit.”
He strode forward and swept her up into his arms, bridal style. She whacked him on the chest.
“Hey!”
“You said you’d struggle,” he said, pausing but not letting her down even when she squirmed. Her moving against him made his cock heavy, but he ignored it, focusing on her mouth.
“I said, ‘I’m determined to do it myself, but I might struggle a bit.’”
“Well, how was I to know that? You were facing away.”
She stopped squirming. “Oh.” Her cheeks went red, visible even in the warm glow of the fire. “Sorry. I forgot for a moment.”
“It’s okay,” he said. And it was. It took people a while to get used to facing him when they spoke. “Want me to put you down?”
She turned to the hammock, and then back to him. After a moment’s hesitation, she shook her head and wrapped her arms around his neck. He pulled her even closer to him and stepped forward again, finally easing her into the hammock. It should hold, but he wouldn’t take any chances that putting her down too heavily would send her straight onto her ass.
On the Move: Soldiering On Security #6 Page 6