“I worked on the plane, mostly, and did some other light activity. It was one long year,” he said with a shake of his head.
“I can imagine. You like to take risks, to push yourself,” she observed, running her fingers up and down the length of his hip now and sending sparks along his skin that made it hard to focus.
“Ana, I can’t think straight when you touch me,” he admitted, but didn’t want her to stop.
“Good. I like that,” she said, curving her hand around his backside and squeezing.
Chance was hard in three seconds flat, but backed away from her exploring hands. It wasn’t easy, as he would have rather gotten closer.
“We shouldn’t. Your arm,” he said, taking a deep breath and pulling his shorts back on.
“My arm is fine. Just a little sore. I feel better now that the meds have worn off and I had some sleep. I could use some help cleaning up, though,” she said coyly, looking up at him with those eyes. Chance couldn’t look away, and he certainly couldn’t say no.
He slid an arm around her, easing her up gently, careful not to touch her sore shoulder. When she stood next to him, he pushed the hair back from her face, kissed her forehead, her cheek, her jaw, before teasing her soft, soft mouth with his own.
This was different, he knew. Something was different.
“Your mother, she made that comment about her daughters finding good men,” he said, nuzzling her.
“Oh, I’m sorry, yes... I mean, not that you are not a good man, but Mama, she sees wedding bells everywhere. I don’t know how to tell her that we are, well, nothing serious,” Ana said, sighing as she kissed the column of his throat.
Chance backed away slightly.
“So what are we, then?” he asked, shocked to hear himself ask the question that women had asked him over the years. His response was always to break it off and go in another direction as quickly as possible.
But he had no inclination to get away from Ana. Quite the opposite.
“What are you saying?” she countered, looking circumspect and...hopeful?
“Just that... I don’t know. What I do know is that this isn’t a job anymore for me.”
She smiled. “Hmm, I’m glad to hear that. I’d hate to think you are this way with all of your clients.”
He smiled, too. “I didn’t mean it that way. Just that, yeah, this started as...fun. Attraction. A distraction, even. But it’s more now. I’m not sure what, exactly, but I know I’d like to keep seeing you, even after this is over. If you’d like that,” he said and realized he was actually holding his breath.
Chance had never once been nervous with a woman since sixth grade, when he’d asked Marlee Cooper out on his first date. She’d said no, and he’d quickly learned there were a lot more fish in the sea. Many, many pretty fish.
“I wondered if you felt it, too,” she said, and he breathed again. “I’d like to keep seeing you, too. To see if we have...something,” she said.
“Oh, honey, we definitely have something,” he said with a smile, tipping her face up so he could let her know exactly how much something they had.
She parted her lips, meeting him kiss for kiss, the heat building rapidly between them. But when he inadvertently nudged her shoulder and she bit back a gasp, he sucked in a breath and stood still.
“I’m sorry, sweetheart. You make it hard to say no, but why don’t we just focus on getting you cleaned up, change that bandage and we’ll head downstairs to help your mom?”
He could see that she wanted to argue, but then she nodded. “Thank you, yes. That’s probably best.”
They made their way to her bath, where Chance helped her undress, and as it turned out, concern for her comfort far outweighed his need to make love to her...though his body was making its needs clear. He ignored it.
Her needs came first, and he helped her wash up in the shower, enjoying gliding the soft sponge over her skin, washing every curve and hidden space. He found the task to be oddly satisfying, still aroused—how could he not be? But just caring for her in this way satisfied something deep inside of him.
She grabbed his shoulder with her good hand as she balanced and he washed behind her knees, planting a kiss on her thigh.
“Chance, I don’t think I can take this much longer,” she said, her voice tight.
“Do you hurt? Do you feel sick?” he asked, cursing himself for getting too caught up in touching her.
She looked down, her cheeks flushed, her eyes glittering with heat.
“No, silly man. Your washing has put me at the edge. I need you to make me come, or I think my knees might give out if you keep this up,” she said.
Her directness shot straight through him, challenging every ounce of control he had.
“I can do that. Can’t have you falling, can we?” he said, looking up. She shook her head.
“That wouldn’t be good, no,” she agreed.
“Maybe this will be,” he said, easing the sponge between her legs as he washed gently there, kissing the inside of her thigh.
Ana gasped, her fingers digging into his shoulder.
“Oh, yes, that is good,” she said, panting as he continued to rub the sponge rhythmically along her sex.
“Maybe this will be even better,” he said, dropping the sponge and parting her gently, replacing it with his lips, his tongue.
She was hot, slick. Even as the water ran down her body, Chance lapped at her clit until she cried out, and he didn’t stop until she was sighing his name again. Her knees trembled, and he stood, pulling her into his arms to support her. He was as hard as steel, but he didn’t care, rocking her back and forth as she relaxed against him.
They definitely had something.
“C’mon. Let’s get that bandage on, and some clothes, and go make some tamales,” he said, kissing her once and then stepping out of the shower, assisting her out, as well.
She laughed. “Have you ever made tamales?”
“Nope. Is it hard?”
“It’s fun. Everyone pitches in. Like a factory. You’re in for a treat,” she said as they dried off and focused on her bandage.
Chance smiled as he affixed the bandage and helped her with her dress. He was pretty sure that as treats went, tamales were going to pull an easy second place.
* * *
ANA WAS HAPPIER THAN SHE could remember being in a very long time. The food was prepared, and she, Chance and her cousins were decorating the courtyard and the house. Tomorrow night, everyone would gather in the center of the village to watch fireworks set off over the water, exploding over the tree tops of the jungle, and then they would all travel from house to house for food and dancing, games and conversation.
But at midnight, she planned to sneak away and have a very private celebration with Chance, to bring in the New Year with him alone.
He wanted more. He said they had something. Ana had been thrilled to her bones when he had asked to see her after he was no longer her bodyguard. Then, he would just be...hers.
He’d cared for her so sweetly, so tenderly, her heart had just about burst earlier when he’d come to her room to help her. There had never been anyone like him, and Ana was romantic enough to admit there might never be anyone else who could make her feel this way.
It was too early, too brief, to tell him that she loved him—or that she could, so easily—but her heart insisted, every time she looked at him.
As if she had finally found something that she’d been missing all along, and she hadn’t even realized it.
“What are you thinking about?” Chance asked her as he stood poised on a short ladder, holding up one end of some colorful garland that Juan was tacking into place from the other side of the entryway. Because of her arm, Ana couldn’t help, except to direct their efforts, but she was having fun with that, too.
“Just that you need to move that a little farther to the middle,” she said.
Her tone was innocent enough, but he got the message. She had asked him to move exactly that way, earlier, whe
n his mouth had been on her in the shower.
His blue eyes darkened in response, letting her know he knew exactly what she was thinking about.
Ana smiled, looking away, enjoying the game. It had been so long since she’d played this way or had even flirted.
“I guess Lucia decided to stay at Marco’s tonight,” she said, checking the clock. It was unlike her sister not to call, but then again, it was clear that Lucia’s focus was not on much other than Marco. Ana couldn’t blame her, feeling much the same way about Chance.
“I guess so,” Chance said noncommittally. Not that he would have much concern about her sister’s love life, but Ana couldn’t help but detect that Chance changed when the subject of Marco came up. His face would shift to a more serious and more neutral look, a mask—as if he didn’t want to give anything away.
He couldn’t possibly still be jealous of Marco having proposed to her—clearly, that was not even an issue. Marco and Lucia were a surprise, but clearly they were deeply in love. And Ana had eyes for no one but her bodyguard.
She smiled to herself; funny how only a few days ago she was doing anything she could to evade Chance, dead set against having a watchdog.
Now she was very, very glad he was so good at his job.
A cell tone sounded in the room, and she realized it was Chance’s phone. He handed off the garland to another one of her cousins and excused himself to another room.
Ana couldn’t help but wonder who it was. It had to be very late back in the States, and nighttime phone calls were usually important. Or perhaps a woman, a lover, making contact during his absence?
A jolt of jealousy was replaced with common sense; Chance was not that kind of man. But as he returned to the room, she could tell from his expression that something had happened on that phone call.
He walked directly to her, looking around the room, as if to make sure no one was listening.
“Can we talk in private for a moment?”
Ana frowned, wondering what was going on, and nodded. “Of course.”
They went to the far side of the courtyard to a more private spot, yet she knew his request was not a personal one.
“What do you know about Marco? His past, what he’s into?”
Ana was surprised by the question and took a second to process it.
“I don’t understand—what do you mean?”
“I’ve just had a feeling about the guy. Something isn’t right. He fights like he was trained to do it, and my gut tells me there’s more there than meets the eye, so I had my brothers do some investigating,” he told her.
“You had them look into Marco’s background? But why? He works for his family business, in agriculture—that’s all. What could he possibly be hiding? A lot of men know how to fight,” she said, feeling as if Chance had perhaps become too paranoid.
“I think he probably does work for his family business, but I also think it’s a cover.”
Ana shook her head, waving off Chance’s concerns. “A cover? A cover for what?”
“Possible illegal activity. Who knows? Maybe something else. All I know is that when Jonas and Garrett tried to dig up information on him, there was almost nothing to be found.”
Ana stared at Chance, hands on her hips. “Maybe that is because there is nothing to be found—you are wasting your time on this, Chance. Marco is just...Marco. We’ve known him since we were children.”
Chance didn’t look as if he was buying it. “It’s more than that. It’s hard to explain, but when people are involved in things like illegal activity, or when they are working undercover, or in black ops—”
“Black ops?” Ana interjected incredulously.
“Or things like that. My brother Ely would know. He was one of them. Their records are often scant and clearly constructed—they have enough of a background to put them on the map, but sometimes, there’s not much else. None of the things you find with normal, everyday life. Like travel records. Marco travels a lot, but there’s very little record of where and for how long, where he stayed, that kind of thing.”
Ana was completely confused, and she was, to be honest, a bit scared. Her sister was with Marco, and if Chance was right, what did that mean for Lucia?
“I don’t know what to say. I’ve been away so long, I don’t know what’s going on, but if you’re right, is Lucia safe?”
“You should call her. Tell her your mother needs her home and wants Marco to come here, too. Make something up, but get them here. I’ll feel better with her here and I’m going to talk to him myself,” Chance said.
Ana could tell by his tone that he was dead serious, and while her mind told her that there was no way this could be true, concern for her sister and a willingness to trust Chance had her reaching for her phone.
“She isn’t picking up,” Ana said, and her hands trembled slightly as she dialed Marco’s number.
Gratefully, he answered. Though he sounded odd—as if he had been drinking.
“Marco, thank goodness. This is Ana. May I talk to Lucia? Mama needs to check on something,” Ana said, surprised at how normal her voice sounded.
No response.
“Marco? Are you all right?”
“I’m sorry, Ana, I was sleeping, and just getting my bearings. Are you saying Lucia is not there with you?”
Ana’s hands turned cold.
“No. I thought she was with you,” Ana said and gripped the phone more tightly. “Marco, what happened? Where is Lucia?”
“We had a fight. She took my truck home, but that was hours ago. Perhaps she stopped to walk along the shore, to think.”
“No, she’s not answering her phone. She wouldn’t not pick up for me. Marco, what happened? What did you do? What did you fight about?” Ana asked, her voice increasingly louder and panicked in fear for Lucia.
Chance took the phone from her hands.
“Marco, what’s going on?”
The men talked for a few minutes more, and Chance hung up.
“What did he say?”
“He’s leaving now, going out to look for her. He said she was upset and didn’t want to stay with him, didn’t want him to take her home, so he lent her his truck. He hasn’t heard from her since, but he’s going to search for her and will call us back shortly.”
Ana grabbed Chance’s arm. “We need to go, too. She could have had an accident, if she was upset, or she could be hurt,” she said, her throat constricting. She wasn’t sure she could breathe, thinking about her sister hurt, or worse, while they had been here having such fun.
Chance took her face in his hands. “Ana, you need to stay calm. It could be okay, and we’re going to find out. We have to stay put—this could be a trap to lure you out.”
“I don’t care! This is my sister!”
“I care, and you have to trust me, okay? We’ll find her, and we’ll settle this.”
Ana wanted to fight, to run to her car and leave, but she also knew he was right.
“I will call the hospital, the police, to see if there were any accidents,” she said, feeling sick at the thought.
“That’s a good idea. Go. I’ll let you know as soon as Marco calls,” he said and pulled her in close first for a hug. “It will be okay. I’ll make sure of it,” he told her. Ana held on, pressing her face into his chest, wanting to believe him.
She did what she said she would, avoiding her cousins and not wanting to worry her mother. She went back to her room to call. A short while later, she didn’t know if she was relieved or not that no one had been reported hurt in any car accidents, at least, no one matching Lucia’s ID or description.
As she was going downstairs to tell Chance, he opened the door and walked through, and to her surprise, Marco was right behind him.
“Did you find her? What happened?” Ana asked, rushing across the room to meet them both.
Chance curled his arm around her and pulled her into his side, supporting her. He glanced down at her, his expression fierce.
“
We will, Ana. You have to be sure of that.”
She focused on Marco, her heart sinking. “What do you mean, we will? Where is she?”
Marco nodded, looking bleak but also angrier than she had ever seen him.
“I found the truck. With a note. They took her,” he said, his jaw tightening. “And I will do whatever it takes to get her back. This is my fault, Ana, and I’ll fix it. No matter what.”
12
“LUCIA IS PREGNANT?” Ana hissed as she stood up from her seat in the courtyard, poised as if she were about to launch herself at Marco. Chance had no doubt from the look on her face that she wanted to hurt the man.
“No, maybe. I mean, she said she was hoping to be. We’d only been together for the last two days, but she wasn’t... We didn’t use...” He faltered, and Chance had to fight off a wince, embarrassed for the guy even if he had screwed up royally. “When she told me that, I didn’t handle it well. I’m in the middle of this case, and I’m around some very dangerous people, and up to this point, it was possible to keep my lives separate. I told Lucia that I had to go back to my case, that I couldn’t stay. Our engagement was...”
He paled, shaking his head as he met Ana’s eyes.
“I love your sister. More than my own life. But our engagement was a sham. It was only an excuse for me to get closer to you, to have a reason to stay close while you were here.”
Ana frowned. “Why?”
“The threat against you is coming from somewhere within the group we’ve been infiltrating. I’ve done business with some of the fringe players, but we’ve been trying to get deeper, into the central management. None of the major players know me, and I thought it was best if I protected you myself—but it’s hard to know whom to trust, and I think someone must have told them I was here.”
“Wait, I don’t understand,” Chance interjected. “Are you saying you think someone from within the federales ratted you out to the criminals you were following?”
“It’s the only thing that makes sense. The cartel itself would have no reason to follow me back here. But there is a price on Ana’s head, and the police knew I was becoming engaged to her. It’s possible that they mistakenly took Lucia, thinking that she was Ana.”
His Kind of Trouble Page 14