by Jane Cousins
Then of course there was that wall over there where she’d gotten those bruises on her butt. And that wall over there, not to mention that section of the small cave… Okay, who was she kidding, every round had been unique, surprisingly fun and very, very satisfying.
Absently Quinn reached up to gather her hair and begin braiding it. Her clothes were a little damp, thanks to the high humidity, but she was conscious that the far off horizon was starting to lighten. Who knew how early they might get a visitor or two dropping by.
“What are you doing?” Matias’s voice was rough and rumbly, causing things low in Quinn’s body to tighten and quicken.
Seriously? Hadn’t she had enough sex already? She was as bad as Matias, at least he could blame his high adrenalin levels on the stay awake potion. Quinn had no such excuse except that her body craved his.
“I’m getting dressed.” She pulled the now short-sleeve top on over her sports bra. “The sun is coming up.”
Matias, naked and sprawled across the bed of soft moss, rested his head on his hand, watching Quinn intently. “The stars are still out. That makes it officially night time. Come back to bed.” He patted the space beside him.
So tempting. But that was okay, she had a lot of practise at resisting temptation. Step one, stop looking at the gorgeous naked man. Shifting her attention to pulling on her sneakers, Quinn grimaced at their sad state. “No, I’m good. And seriously, if you are ready to go again, after everything we did last night, then I think you should seek medical attention.”
Matias grinned. “Well Doctor, how would you go about curing me?”
Quinn finished tying her laces and stood up, picking up the woven basket half full of water as she did so. “Cooling you off would be my first step.” She moved quickly, dumping what was left in the basket over Matias’s head.
The infuriating man just laughed loudly. Flinging back his head and pushing wet curls out of his eyes. Damn, and he looked even more sexy with droplets of water clinging to all that bare, muscular flesh. Even in the dim light his caramel skin looked so darn lickable. A needy ache began to throb low in her body.
Grrr, she was better than this. She was not weak. She’d indulged herself already when it came to Matias Yanez. If anything, she’d gorged herself. It was cold turkey time. Dropping the empty basket, Quinn settled her hands onto her hips. “I’m serious, Matias. Get dressed. Someone… Copper, your brother, any or all of the Enforcers, they could turn up at any moment.”
“And you think if we are fully dressed they’ll have no idea of what we got up to last night?”
“Yes.” It was a perfectly reasonable plan based upon denial and subterfuge.
Matias shook his head, smiling. His teeth flashing white as the edge of the sun clipped the horizon in a blaze of orange and dark pink. “Only a few glaring problems with your plan I’m afraid.” Matias reached up, rubbing his palm back and forth over the dark stubble clinging to his jawline. “First off, you are covered with stubble burn, sorry about that.”
Oh, damn.
“Second, we’re both covered in finger shaped bruises. Who knew you played so rough.” Quinn glared down at her arms, noting in the morning light that Matias wasn’t exaggerating. “And lastly, but most telling my lovely Quinn, you glow.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.” Quinn scoffed. She didn’t glow. Did she?
“Like a firefly.” Matias confirmed, standing up suddenly, stretching his arms wide before rolling his shoulders.
Don’t look, Quinn. I said don’t look, you ninny. If you are going to keep your hands off him you need to play it cool, keep your distance, and stop staring at the gorgeous hunk of man that she so badly wanted to take a bite out of that her mouth was literally watering. “The only way anyone will know what we were up to is if you can’t keep that frighteningly smug smile off your face. Stop it.”
“What?” He held his arms up in surrender. “I’m just standing here innocently smiling.”
“Shut up. Get dressed, and wipe that smirk off your face.”
Matias heaved out a put upon sigh before reluctantly moving to pull on his tight, damp clothes. Wincing as he did up the borrowed jeans. In the sad state they were in, he didn’t believe that all the washing in the world would ever make them fit to return to Quinn’s brother.
“We should talk… about last night.” Quinn popped a handful of dried fruit into her mouth and chewed quickly.
Matias waggled his eyebrows in a suggestive manner. “I’d rather be doing.” He toed on his sneakers, then began running fingers through his hair to untangle a few knots. “But okay, talk.”
“Again with the smug smile?” Quinn would have liked to hit him but didn’t trust herself to be within touching distance. Besides, physical violence was childish, and she’d probably just end up hurting her hand on all that hard muscle of his.
Matias shrugged. “Not smug… satisfied.”
Quinn rolled her eyes. “I don’t care how you classify it, just get rid of it. Channel the gruff, surly asshole you usually are behind the bar.”
Matias tapped his head. “No memory of that.”
Quinn actually growled at him. She, who never let anything or anyone get under her skin was reduced to speechlessness because of one frustrating man? Where was her rigid self-control? Her impenetrable aura of calm and serenity? “Look, Matias-”
“I thought I was Bubbles?”
Quinn couldn’t help herself, she growled at him again. He was baiting her deliberately, she was sure of it. Worse, she was allowing him to get to her. Breathe. You are the ocean. Breathe. “Matias… what happened between us last night. I think we need to agree that it didn’t… happen.”
“Which time in particular? The first time? The follow up round? The sexy as hell rough fuck under the waterfall? When I took you up against that wall? Or that wall over there-”
“All of it. The entire night. We agree to never discuss it again. No references to it in passing. Or sly double entendres, jokes, looks, leers or smug smiles. Essentially, what happens in an ancient Mayan jungle, stays in an ancient Mayan jungle. Agreed?”
“I’m not sure the rules of Vegas can be invoked after the act.” Matias bit back a smile. Quinn was hell on wheels when she got a little flustered. Suddenly all prim and bossy. It was a hard won battle not to kiss her to test if he could shake her resolve.
“I’m not invoking anything after the act. You were the one to propose a brief, no attachments hook-up. The whole never discussing the hook-up is obviously inferred in the proposal.”
Matias shook his head. “Not really. A hook-up by its very definition is a loose, casual arrangement between two equal parties. See what happens is, when the party of the first part kisses the second party, she kisses him back and then strips off all her clothes. That’s pretty much when all thinking goes out the window… or in this particular case, the cave.”
“You… You.” Quinn tapped her foot against the hard, rocky floor of their bolt hole. Breathe. Be the ocean. Okay, what would she do if this were a session with a particularly stubborn client? Well, she’d turn it around, wouldn’t she. “Okay. My bad. Let’s talk about last night and the future.”
Matias blinked slowly, clearly surprised by the shift in Quinn’s stance. “The future?”
“Yes, let’s discuss how last night will impact our lives once we get back to the real world. Will we take up where we left off? What official or unofficial relationship status will we have? I’m not overly fond of the classification - girlfriend. But then nor do I like the terminology - fuck buddy. Thoughts? We’ll probably need to address multiple scenarios of course. One, where you get your memory problem fixed. A second, where you don’t.” Quinn offered him her best, professional, encouraging smile. “Why don’t you go first?”
Matias scowled, then he started to laugh, shaking his head. Damn, it would be so easy… too easy for him to fall in love with Quinn Bennett. She’d neatly boxed him into a corner. He had no future to offer this woman. Didn’t even kn
ow if this whole adventure back in time and their all-night session of hot sex would be anything more to him than a black and white journal entry in a few day’s time. A real possibility if they failed to find a way to grab the hollowed blade from the asshole Mega-Priest with a hard on for human sacrifice, and get this ridiculous Shard of power out of his head. Assuming when they did remove it, that it would cure his condition.
Too many ifs, whats and maybes loomed large in his immediate future to make any promises or plans. Crap, he couldn’t even try and talk Quinn into a second night of fun, since he had no idea what the next twelve hours would bring.
Yeah, he needed to stop teasing her and jump on board the perfectly reasonable suggestion she had made.
Hold on a moment. Why had Quinn Bennett made such a suggestion? Was he not good enough to be seen with her in public? The bar owner and the respected Doctor? Or was it something else? What secrets was Quinn hiding? The woman had those personal - all but impenetrable - barriers up for a reason.
Crap, he had more than enough family drama on his plate, but he had to fight the temptation to ask Quinn outright what the deal was. But he knew her well enough by now that he could be certain she would go into avoidance mode. Deflect any questions. Give him that serene – nothing can touch me- quarter smile she employed to keep the world at bay.
Okay, he needed to prioritise. Save his sister. Get this Shard out of his skull. Kill the world ending High Priest and his deadly hybrid Jaguar minions. And then, pin Quinn down and have that discussion about the future that she had taunted him with. He’d make her share her secrets and together they’d deal with them. Easy… right?
Matias chuffed another laugh. “Fine. Fine. I’m on board the Vegas option.”
Quinn couldn’t help but flash him a triumphant smile. “I thought you’d eventually come round to seeing things my way.”
Matias shrugged. “Congratulations, you won the battle. Me, I intend to win the war.”
Quinn grit her teeth. Frustrating, irritating, annoying… man. What did he mean by that challenging statement? Was she the war? No, that couldn’t be what he meant. He was the one who’d insisted they could be nothing more than a casual, no attachment, brief hook-up.
She would not ask him. Nope, no way would she grant him the power of knowing that his words had any impact on her what so ever. Instead, she’d just play them over and over again in her head. Looking for the answer. Dissecting and analysing. Conjecturing and assessing.
Which sounded a little obsessive. No, it was just common sense, trying to understand a formidable opponent. Matias Yanez was not getting to her… he really wasn’t.
She could stop thinking about him when ever she wanted to. But just what the hell had he meant by that last statement? Grrr, irritating man.
* * *
Several times, as Quinn had skittered awkwardly down the narrow dark tunnels, Matias bringing up the rear, she wondered why they hadn’t just jumped down into the dark river below. Surely a quicker and less claustrophobic route. But then, who knew what creatures hid beneath the surface of the water or lingered along the banks.
Emerging into the early morning sunlight filtering down into the ravine, Quinn blinked rapidly to adjust to the brightness, quickly scanning the rest of their waiting party, trying to gauge how their night had gone. Jodie looked well rested. Adrian and Taite appeared no worse for wear. Nico however, looked surly and put out. Whilst Elijah was stoic and watchful.
As the group followed their young camouflaged guides – the walking rocks – Quinn sidled up next to Elijah, her cousin, Head of the Enforcers, and her client. “You okay?” She enquired softly. Elijah hated the rain. Especially storms when they occurred at night. And she could only imagine how the rocky canyons and ravines, though far from the desert, triggered all sorts of nasty flashbacks.
Elijah’s gaze flicked up to the edges of the top of the ravine, to their guides, and then behind him. The man never stopped watching, looking for trouble, always alert and ready. “I dealt with it. There were a lot of distractions going on that kept me focused.”
“I bet.” Quinn glanced back at the dark thunderous expression that clung to Nico’s features as he conferred with Matias. “What’s up with Nico?”
Elijah scratched absently at the pelt of thick blonde hair covering his scalp. “He’s pissed off. That little sister of his it seems is full of surprises.”
There was an edge to Elijah’s last comment that caught Quinn’s attention. Interest? Irritation? A mix of the two, Quinn decided. Hmm, and a flicker of something in those slate grey depths. Well, well, it looked like Copper Yanez had caught the attention of the most feared Enforcer in the Southern Sanctuary. The question remained though, did Elijah see Copper as a threat or an ally? She wasn’t sure if her cousin knew the answer yet to that question.
“What happened?”
“After we left you and Matias last night, we stashed Jodie, Adrian and Taite in a second bolt hole and I joined the Yanez siblings in a third.” Elijah probably had meant to perform double duty, act as umpire and at the same time keep an eye on the powerful leader of a potentially large group of skilled and deadly fighters. “Let’s just say the discussion quickly grew heated. Nico attempted to play the big brother card and it didn’t turn out so well for him.”
“There was violence?” Quinn was shocked.
“Not as such. More like he was trying to intimidate Copper with his physical superiority.”
“Heavens. What happened?”
“Next thing you know, Nico is on the ground out for the count. Took him over five hours to stir.”
“Copper hit him that hard?”
“I get the feeling she wouldn’t have had any trouble taking him out, but no, she used a little blow dart apparatus that she keeps strapped to her thigh. She advised me that the sleeping agent she used was her own special recipe.” Elijah’s jaw clenched unconsciously, and it was hard fought for Quinn not to enquire how he and Copper had passed the time together in their little bolt hole with the storm raging overhead and Nico unconscious on the floor. “I need you to tell the Yanez brothers to tread carefully when it comes to dealing with their sister.”
“She’s not a kid anymore. But I think it will take them a little more time to get that through their thick skulls.”
Elijah shook his head. “This whole set up, it’s primitive yes, but effectively military grade. The different types of camouflage. The way her people move. The weapons they are using. The slingshots, the spears, blowguns, the different types of poisons and paralysing agents they are employing. What she used on Nico was completely different to what she used to coat her spear and take out that Jag-off that attacked Jodie. Even now, if you look closely, you can see watchers clinging to the rock face above us, unmoving, just watching and waiting.”
Quinn shivered, fighting the urge to search the sheer cliff faces that loomed on either side of them. “They’re very good.”
“Extremely.” Elijah acknowledged. “And smart too. See those old looking vines trailing up the walls? I checked them out earlier, they are a lot tougher and sturdier than they look. And the way they are anchored, you can either climb up or down them. Access and egress points covered. Guards positioned overhead with the sun behind them. These people, they revere… love Copper. I’m guessing partly because she made all this happen. Made them feel safe. So they are not just willing to follow her, they will potentially be willing to die to protect her.”
“From us?”
“Hell yes, in a red hot second.”
“You said partly. They follow her because she turned them into a fighting force against Gap’gn and his Jag-off minions. What’s the other reason they follow her?”
Elijah glanced at Quinn, sending her a wry, annoyingly enigmatic smile. “Because I don’t think she is exaggerating when she claims to be a Goddess.”
What the hell did Elijah mean by that cryptic statement? Unfortunately, there was no time to ask any further questions as they stepped ou
t into the circular canyon area, dotted with scraggly trees, ferns and jutting rocks. Copper, or should she say, the Goddess K’in, was there waiting for them. Decorated in a fresh batch of strategically placed leaves and layers of mud, patches still drying on her torso and legs.
Four very tall, very muscular guards stood on either side of her. Interesting to see the adult males were only decorated artistically with mud, each had two streaks across the dark brown skin of their chests and three dots under each eye. Intertwined thin vines were wrapped around their waists, keeping dried palm leaves in place, securing their modesty. Their dark black hair was uniformly long and tied back. Their black eyes fixed firmly and unwavering on the group of strangers, who followed Elijah’s example and performed a deep bow, acknowledging the Goddess K’in.
Standing upright once more, Quinn noted that almost as one, the four warriors all zeroed their gaze in on Elijah. Unquestionably they had come to the conclusion of who was the biggest threat in the group.
Elijah did no more than lift his chin ever so slightly and stare back at them with cool, dark, assessing slate grey eyes. Deliberately he relaxed his shoulders, stating clearer than words that he found no corresponding threat before him. As insults went, it was a big one, as all four warriors’ stances stiffened, liquid dark eyes blazing with banked emotion.
Copper held up a hand, making a small clicking sound under her tongue. As one, the foursome shifted their long spears to rest across their bodies and stare straight ahead. Quinn was guessing this was their version of parade rest.
Nico stepped forward. “Cop… I mean K’in, I’m sorry about last night. I got a little carried away… look, you don’t need the thug squad here to protect you. I promise I’ll behave… please, can we just talk?”
K’in inclined her head, then began speaking low and fast to her warrior guard. Quinn had no idea what she was saying but from the surly, stubborn expressions on each of the guard’s faces, she got the distinct feeling that Copper’s protection detail this morning had not been her idea.