On the Move: Soldiering On Security #6

by Aislinn Kearns

  “How is it?” he asked dubiously.

  “More comfortable than being tied to a chair,” she told him with a smile.

  He grinned at her. “Okay. I’ll get ready for bed. See you in the morning. If you hear anything during the night, throw something at me. Your aim is pretty good.”

  Her grin widened. “I played softball in college, much to my parents’ disgust. I picked the least graceful sport that had a women’s team at my college.”

  “Well, don’t hesitate to use those skills on me if you need to.”

  “I won’t. Good night.”

  He nodded and took the toiletries from her. He headed towards the stream while she made herself comfortable. He cleaned off the day’s sweat and dirt as best he could and then changed into clean clothes. He only had the three sets, so he had to hope nothing happened to these or they’d both be in trouble.

  Once he’d cleaned his teeth and readied himself for the night, he returned to the camp. Jessica was already out like a light. No surprise, given the day’s adventures. He hoped she had a good night’s sleep, because she’d need her strength tomorrow, and for the week ahead.

  He vaulted up into his own hammock, careful where he put his hands on the trees. He didn’t want to accidentally stick his hand in a fire ant colony or hornet’s nest.

  When he was finally settled in the hammock he lay back and closed his eyes.

  Then immediately snapped them open again.

  He didn’t like the vulnerability of being deaf in an unsafe, unfamiliar environment. With his eyes closed, then rebels could sneak up on them and take Jessica without him being the slightest bit aware.

  He simply had to hope he’d taken enough precautions, and she’d be safe for the night. There was nothing more he could do.

  He forced his eyes shut again, and willed his body to sleep. He’d need to be well rested, to be on the top of his game to keep Jessica safe. She deserved that much.

  And finally, after a long moment, he fell into a restless slumber.

  Chapter 6

  Parrots screeched.

  Jessica woke with a start and tumbled out of her hammock, landing hard on her side. She lay in the dirt for a moment, groaning and trying to get her bearings.

  When it all came back to her—the kidnapping, the trek through the jungle, Mike—she let out a long breath. And then scrambled into a sitting position as she remembered his warning about chigoes living in the earth.

  She pulled herself up using the hammock and then glared at the trees above her. Damn parrots. It was too early for this. But then she lost her breath and the anger drained out of her at the sight of the stunning, bright colors flying above her. It was too high up for her to see much detail, but the reds and yellows flashed past her eyes, circling overhead. They were beautiful, if loud.

  Though…she glanced around. It was quite light beneath the trees, so it was well past dawn. She must have slept for at least nine hours. It wasn’t enough to make up for the lack of sleep for the last week, but between the sleep and the toothpaste, she definitely felt more human. And less likely to cry again.

  Heat flooded her cheeks at the remembrance of her weakness. What must Mike think of her, losing it like that? Though, he hadn’t commented on it, or berated her. In fact, he’d been quite sweet. Her cheeks heated as the memory of his hard arms around her surged.

  She slanted a glance to his hammock, where he still slept peacefully. Clearly, the parrots hadn’t disturbed his sleep. Lucky bastard. Well, if he planned to sleep in, she’d make herself useful. He deserved the sleep as much as she had.

  Unable to resist the stream, Jessica headed over to splash water on her face. Even the nights were hot under the canopy, so she was sweaty all over again. Clearly, sweat would be a permanent fixture until she got out of here.

  Once she returned to their makeshift camp, she took a deep drink of water from the pot they’d boiled last night. She was glad she’d kicked her coffee addiction a few years ago. She’d needed it to get through college, but after that, she’d spent a majority of her time in countries where resources like coffee were often scarce.

  She stretched and her stomach grumbled. She could find some food, right? She shouldn’t rely on Mike for everything.

  She hunted through the trees for various fruits, like the papaya. She craved meat, or maybe nuts—some kind of protein, anyway. But she wasn’t game to attempt setting traps or catching anything. That was definitely Mike’s department. He could be the hunter, and she the gatherer, though she was a little loathe to comply with ancient gender roles.

  A tree with an apple-like fruit grew near the campsite, so Jessica plucked a few from the branches. She pulled up the bottom of Mike’s over-sized t-shirt to make a sling, and plopped the fruit into her makeshift basket. Next, she found some papayas, so she added those to the pile. A few feet away, a plant a bit like an orange grew, so she grabbed those, too. She was reaching for a strange-looking segmented fruit like a mini pumpkin when a hand grabbed her wrist.

  Jessica squeaked and dropped the fruit as she spun around. She raised a hand, ready to fight off whoever held her.

  Mike.

  She slumped.

  “You scared me.”

  “Sorry,” he said, sharp-eyed despite the fact he must have just woken up. “I didn’t want you to touch the sap.”

  She frowned. “What?”

  “The sap on the tree you were reaching for,” he said, indicating with his chin. “It’s called a sandbox tree. The sap can irritate skin. And if you accidentally get it in your eyes, it can temporarily blind you.”

  Jessica froze. “Seriously?”

  “Seriously,” he confirmed, with a completely straight face. “We’ve already got a deaf guy. I don’t want to risk having a blind woman in the party, too,” he joked.

  The blood drained from Jessica’s face. “I had no idea. I’m sorry.”

  He shrugged. “It’s fine. Just…don’t touch this plant. The fruit is poisonous as well.”

  “Oh,” Jessica said, shoulders hunching. “I didn’t know. But I got some other stuff, too.”

  She glanced at the sad pile at her feet. Mike studied it as well, facing twisting like he was trying not to laugh. “Great job on the papaya,” he said.

  Jessica narrowed her eyes. “Are you saying those other fruits are poisonous, too?” she moaned.

  He chuckled, like he could help it, and she scrunched her nose in apology. After a minute, she giggled along with him, his amusement infectious.

  When he was finally done, he crouched down, and Jessica joined him.

  “This one,” he said, pointing to the apple-like fruit, “Is a beechapple. It’s poisonous. This one,” he said, indicating the orange-like fruit, “Is strychnine.”

  “Wait, like the poison?”

  “Exactly like the poison. It’s in the seeds. Mostly this plant is found in India, but like the bamboo, it’s migrated across the world.”

  “Oh. So the only edible thing here is the papaya?”

  “Yes.”

  She sighed. “Oh. I was so looking forward to some variety.”

  “We can find some other fruits,” he assured her. “Why don’t you grab more papaya from where you found it, and I’ll meet you back at the camp? I want to get moving soon, but we need to eat.”

  She nodded and picked up the papaya from the pile. She headed back to the tree where she’d found them and picked some more with a sigh. She already never wanted to see another papaya, and she’d barely even eaten them before yesterday.

  Had it really only been yesterday? So much had happened since then. Enough for a lifetime. But it had only been twenty-four hours or so since she’d met Mike.

  After what they’d been through, it was already like they’d known each other for a lifetime, but really she knew so little about him. He’d opened up about his upbringing last night, and his job. It wasn’t much, but it was a start. She was definitely curious to grill him some more about those things. What was his famil
y like? What kinds of jobs did a security company like Soldiering On usually do? She couldn’t imagine that dramatic rescues in foreign countries were the norm.

  Jessica made it back to camp, her mind still on Mike. She threw more sticks on the fire, and then dumped her papayas on the raincoat they’d sat on the night before.

  She took another drink of water—the day was already hot, and she knew she could easily dehydrate despite the moisture in the air.

  Mike came back not long after, shirt full of fruits. “Guava and passion fruit,” he told her. “Brazil nuts. I found some cashews as well, so I’ll cook those while we eat.”

  Jessica let out a breath in relief.

  They sat side-by-side. Mike cut the fruits with his knife, and handed half to Jessica before taking a bite himself. They alternated fruits and Brazil nuts as the cashews roasted merrily in a small pot. When Jessica was satisfied, she held up a hand to stop Mike from giving her any more.

  He frowned. “Eat more.”

  “I’ve had enough.”

  “You need to eat more than enough. I’m not sure when we’ll be able to stop, and we can’t take the fruit with us. It’ll go bad too quickly in the heat. It’s better for you to overeat to get enough nutrients for the day.”

  Jessica reluctantly took some more guava from him. He saved the rest of the Brazil nuts and added them to the cashews, then finished off the rest of the fruit himself. He kept handing her slices, and Jessica ate whatever he gave her until she was full to bursting.

  When she held up a hand again, he reluctantly stopped. “It won’t fill you up for long,” he warned.

  “Truly, I can’t eat another bite.”

  He nodded and stood. He kicked the remainder of the fruit and the skins deeper into the jungle. The hammocks caught his eye, and he paused.

  “We should take these with us. I doubt we’ll find more bamboo on our journey.”

  Though the hammock hadn’t been her most comfortable night of sleep ever, it was still better than the dirt. Jessica stood to help him pull the hammocks down. She reached for the vine, only to snatch her hand back. The vine had gone from green to yellow, and was in fact no longer a vine.

  “Snake,” she hissed, heart hammering, but she was facing away from Mike.

  She backed away, unable to take her eyes from the creature in front of her. She backed into something solid and she jumped, whipping her head around. Mike.

  She buried her face into his chest to hide from the snake and clutched at his shirt. His arms came around her, automatically offering comfort, even though he must be confused. She waved a hand in the snake’s direction, hoping that would explain why she was suddenly shivering.

  But Mike didn’t say anything in response, only held her close, as she forcibly pulled herself together. It was only a snake. It wouldn’t hurt her. And if it did, she had no doubt Mike would deal with it as calmly as he dealt with everything else.

  As her reason returned, she became distractingly aware of his hard body against hers. She sucked in a breath and focused on him, not on the slithery thing behind her.

  How is it that Mike smelled good? They had no proper shower, and yet somehow he didn’t have the odor of stale sweat, just the pleasant scent of natural man.

  That wasn’t fair. She must smell like she’d been rolling in a dumpster for the last week.

  Her hands fisted in his shirt, tugging him closer. But not in fear this time. No, she wanted to better feel him against her. Those hard muscles of his torso against her soft breasts. The rise and fall of his chest, his exhalations against her hair.

  She wanted to dip her tongue out and taste his skin. It would be salty, she was sure. Delicious.

  “Jessica?” he asked, the sound rumbling through his chest.

  She swallowed, her mind leaving the pleasant daydreams she’d been having and crashing back to Earth. And to the reason she was currently in Mike’s arms.

  Slowly, she tilted her head back. Her gaze met Mike’s, inches away. Close enough to kiss. His expression was intense and heated as he stared down at her.

  She shook herself, dragging herself all the way out of her fantasies. “Snake,” she repeated.

  Mike glanced over to where she pointed, face tense. But he relaxed when his gaze landed on the snake that had so frightened her.

  “Oh, he’s okay. That one won’t hurt you.”

  She shook her head in disbelief, frozen into speechlessness, and gripped his shirt tighter. He glanced down to where she tugged at him, then back at her with a raised eyebrow.

  “Not a snake fan, huh?”

  She shook her head, heart in her throat. She really, really didn’t like snakes.

  “You can face down armed men out to kidnap you with barely a blink, but the snakes send you into fits?”

  “They’re slimy, okay?”

  He laughed. “Okay, stand back. It’ll get rid of him for you.”

  Jessica shook her head, eyes locked on the snake. Mike lay a hand over hers and slowly disentangled her fists from his shirt. He pushed her an arm’s length away in the opposite direction to the snake, then placed his hands on her shoulders and stared deep into her eyes.

  “Stay.”

  Jessica bristled, some of her fear disappearing as her annoyance surged. He couldn’t order her around like a dog. But before she could give him a cutting response, he whirled away and faced the snake. He picked it up near its neck without hesitating and lifted it gently from where it had twisted around the vine. Then, he strode into the forest and disappeared.

  A few seconds later, he was back. Sans snake.

  Jessica breathed a sigh of relief. “It’s gone?”

  “It’s gone,” he confirmed.

  “Thank you.”

  He nodded. “You’re welcome. Though if at all possible, I’d recommend getting over your fear of snakes. That won’t be the last one we see out here.”

  She shuddered. “I wish that were possible.”

  He shrugged and gave her a roguish grin. “Or, you could jump in my arms again. I won’t complain.”

  She glared at him, her face heating. “I didn’t jump.”

  “There was a bit of jumping,” he teased.

  “Well, it won’t happen again. I was startled, is all.” She straightened her spine, projecting as much dignity as she could manage given she’d considered licking the man less than a minute ago.

  “More’s the pity,” he said, which only made her blush harder. Was he only teasing her? Or was this attraction a two-way street? She’d caught him staring at her breasts yesterday, sure. But it was one thing for a man to zero in on a woman’s breasts because they were there, and another for him to be attracted to her. Wasn’t it? Or would she just be a warm and willing body for him?

  And she was willing. She hadn’t been this attracted to a man in, well, ever. And it shocked her, because he definitely was not her type. Or maybe this had been her type all along, and she hadn’t known it. Maybe her former boyfriends—all slim, intellectual types—hadn’t floated her boat as much as she’d believed at the time.

  Jessica considered Mike. She wouldn’t be adverse to a little fun together while they were trapped out here. If they could find her a shower, that was. No way did she intend to sleep with a guy without access to necessary hygiene.

  But that’s all it could be. Fun in the jungle. There’s no way she could seriously date a guy like Mike. Could she? They lived very different lives. His life in Portsboro sounded full of action and excitement. He traveled the world rescuing people.

  And Jessica was rarely home, since she was also traveling most of the time. Or, she used to. Now, she wasn’t so sure exactly what she planned to do once she got home. Could she go back to that life, after having been kidnapped and held hostage? She wasn’t sure.

  So what would she do with herself? Well, that was the question. And could it involve a guy like Mike?

  It was far too soon to tell. She needed to make decisions for herself first. If she found room for a man
in her new life, there was no guarantee it would be a former paratrooper.

  She shook herself. She shouldn’t be thinking such things. Not now.

  They finished packing up the camp. Jessica helped Mike strap the hammocks to his back, over his pack—no snakes this time.

  They set off through the jungle once again.

  Jessica’s muscles complained twenty minutes into the walk and got progressively more vocal for the next hour. She hadn’t known how sore she still was from the trek the day before until she forced those muscles to work again. Eventually, they loosened up enough that she wasn’t gritting her teeth with every step.

  Mike stopped them for a rest any time they encountered edible fruit—avoiding the ones she now knew to be poisonous. They quickly downed the sweet flesh, had a handful of the nuts he’d toasted earlier, and sipped some water from the supply he’d boiled the night before.

  During one of these stops, Jessica slumped against a tree. “Must we go so fast?”

  She was sweating in the heat, her clothes sticking to her skin. The wash she’d given them last night had helped a little, but she still fully intended to burn these clothes the instant she could find replacements.

  “The slower we walk, the longer it’ll take us to get to the border,” he told her. “And the more vulnerable we’ll be if the rebels are chasing us. We can rest when we’re safe.”

  Jessica knew all that, she did. But she was ready to collapse right here and she had at least six more days to go. Mike, too, was affected by the heat and enforced exercise. Dark shadows smudged beneath his eyes and his skin glistened with sweat. He took another long sip of water and handed the canteen back to her.

  “It’ll be dark in a few hours,” he continued. “I’ll start looking for a place to stop, so we don’t have to make camp in the dark.”

  Jessica nodded gratefully. When Mike called time on the break, she reluctantly straightened from the tree and followed him deeper into the jungle.