No response. Meg was fast asleep.
Ari lay back and closed her eyes, willing herself to slip back into the dream. She and Luca had been in the middle of intense sex, well, pre-sex. She was slick from the all-too-real images. The dream images of Luca’s mouth all over her and her responses made her groan. Omigod. I want him so much.
Meg’s loud snoring, similar to a chainsaw, quickly ensued, sometimes in sync with the raucous howling of the monkeys. Ari focused on her deep breathing, but after five cycles, she was more awake than ever. It was not working, and she used to be able to sleep anywhere, anytime.
The last vestiges of her dream disappeared. The combination of howler monkeys and deep snores was distracting. She gave up, envying her friend’s easygoing ways. Meg always upbeat, positive, relaxed, and interested.
She checked her watch again. Five o’clock. Maybe writing would help. Pulling her journal from her pack and opening it to a blank page with the intention of writing, she moved the lantern closer and turned it up. Her pen stilled on the paper, mind blanking. How could anyone sleep or function through this racket?
Meg snuggled deeper into her bedding and sighed.
Ari’s thoughts shifted. She had slept great the other night with Luca—worn out and sated from their passionate lovemaking. Was he sleeping now? Her body flushed and heated.
Soft rapping on the tent startled her, accelerating her heart to a point where it was suddenly difficult to breath. The jungle quieted, as if it was waiting to know too.
“I hear you stirring. I have made a fire. Come sit with me,” Luca’s melodic deep voice encouraged.
Ari chastised herself. This is what she got for wondering. Of course he knew she was up. She rose and unzipped the screen, not bothering to try to muffle her efforts, and poked her head out, almost bumping into Luca’s solid, sculpted chest. “Oops. Sorry.”
His eyebrows rose, and amusement lit his eyes and mouth. “Good morning. Are you always so loud?”
She looked up into those spectacular eyes of his and smiled a smile just for him. “Good morning. Meg won’t hear me. She sleeps like the dead.”
“Mm.” Luca’s smile grew. “I suspect she and Matt had an active night.”
She wasn’t about to take that bait. “Did the monkeys wake you too? I’m still not used to them. They’re howling less, now that morning is coming.”
He leaned in, his hair brushing her neck, sending shivers through her body, which was now permanently imprinted with all his touches and kisses. His lips grazed her ear. “No. A shouting petite redhead woke me. Then I began to think about her more. I became—how shall I put it?—more awake.” His meaning clear, Luca stepped back and looked deeply into Ari’s eyes, allowing her to see his hunger.
A zipper sounded on the edge of the campsite. Luca shuttered his expression, and the sensual teasing lilt of his voice vanished. “Coffee is brewing, and the others are rising. The sky softens. Slip into some clothes and come greet the morning with me.”
Two nights later, Ari tossed and turned, unable to sleep. The teams had worked longer hours than usual. An opening to what looked to be a significant temple was revealed in Rax, and only when the jungle’s shadows made it impossible to see without lanterns and headlights did they stop, disappointed to be so close to discovering more. Ari had choked down her food and taken a quick shower, falling into bed, sure she would crash early.
That was not to be. Hunger for Luca gnawed at her. It grew and grew as the hours passed. Decision made, she grabbed her flashlight and exited her tent quietly. She was sure of where Luca’s tent was this time, and that was where she intended to go. Her heart jumped around in her throat as she approached. Coming closer, she was able to discern the soft glow of a lantern light. Quiet talking and a woman’s voice stopped her in her tracks. His laughter carried through the screen, and then the sound of the screen’s zipper sliding had her turning off her flashlight. The night was moonless night. She was cloaked in darkness.
Natasha stepped out. Behind her was Luca, his camp shirt hanging open, exposing his beautiful chest and abs. His hair was slightly wild. She was familiar with the look. It was how he looked when waking up. Natasha turned to him, her hand going to his chest. She leaned in and spoke so low that Ari couldn’t hear her. Then she embraced him, and he returned it, his murmured words carrying clearly to where Ari stood. “I am glad you are here. Sleep well, Nat.”
“I will, Luca. Thanks.”
A broad smile accompanied his words as Natasha turned on her lantern before walking away. “My pleasure.”
Pleasure, my fucking ass.
Luca watched, waiting until Natasha’s lantern disappeared into a tent. He started to slip back into his.
“I don’t know what to say.” Ari turned on her flashlight.
He stumbled back out, closing the screen behind him, swatting at the air around him. “Ari?”
“Yeah. It’s me.” She laughed, not kindly. “Surprise.”
“Come inside. The insects are thick.” He walked to her, gently taking her hand, guiding her to his tent. “You are shaking.”
She wrenched her hand from his, furious. She enunciated every word. “Do not touch me.”
“Lower your voice. You will wake everyone and everything.”
“I doubt it.”
“We can talk in my tenda. Please.”
“Fine.” She walked stiffly behind him, shedding her sandals and passing inside as he held the flap open. He zipped it closed behind her.
Luca’s tent was large. A divider made it multiroom and multiuse. The room they currently stood in was neatly organized as an office, outfitted with a table and several chairs, where he had gone over her paperwork. The zipped screen door in the divider led to his sleeping quarters.
He checked his watch. “What are you doing here? It is late. You will be up in a few hours.”
“As will you.” She angrily wiped at the unwelcome tears wetting her cheeks and dripping off her chin, her voice rising with each word. “What the fuck do you think I’m doing here? I haven’t been with you since the kayak trip. I… Finding you… Goddammit. I… goddammit…”
He held his hands up, as if to ward off blows. “Ari, wh—”
She held her hand out, palm facing him. “Stop! Not another word!”
His voice grew serious. “Please lower your voice.”
Sniffling, then taking a deep breath, her words came out in a rush. “I came to see you because I couldn’t sleep. I believed we had something special. You led me to believe that. I took the chance. I let you in.” She was crying hard now, no longer yelling at him.
He ran his hand over his face as he looked at her, a myriad of emotions jostling around in him like bumper cars. “Neither of us was looking for something to happen, but it did. We have undeniable chemistry. However, I must be honest with you. I have no idea what might happen after our time here ends. It is easy to leave a passionate relationship when you leave a beautiful, timeless place.”
“Chemistry? It’s more than that.”
Silence filled the room, like a great white elephant.
“You and Nat—”
“Do not accuse me of things you assume.” Irritated, his voice snapped. Now he was yelling. “I care about you. You need to calm down and lis—”
“Care for me. I care for my plants at home.” She unzipped the flap, choking on her tears. “You’re just like him, like Er—” The last of her yelling was swallowed up as she ran from the tent.
Ari heard him calling her name, but she kept going until she was in her tent. Joan snored away, and Meg was MIA. She scrunched her camp pillow around her ears and silently cried herself to sleep, her heart shattered.
“We’ve got something! We’ve got something! Dr. Antony, follow me!” A grime-covered, deeply tanned young woman waved her hands in the air, literally jumping up and down with excitement. A black baseball hat capped chin-length, wavy black hair that framed a flushed walnut-hued face.
The student’s enthusiasm was contagiou
s, and the familiar rush of discovery filled Ari. She moved forward and then paused, holding up her hand and calling, “Where?”
“It just off-site, up ahead,” she answered. “We thought you might like to see it before you tell the others.”
“Hold on, let me grab my pack.” Luca’s constant harping about always having water on hand had made an impact during her time here. He was the ultimate worrywart, but Ari appreciated it. From experience, she knew even seasoned archaeologists and anthropologists occasionally forgot to replenish the necessary items, like that fellow outside of Rabat two summers back.
Although frazzled from not sleeping well, Ari smiled and extended her hand, deferring to the student, who was a few inches shy of her own five foot three, and stockier. “Okay, lead the way. Show me what you’ve found.”
Like Ari, the student wore long pants, a long-sleeved shirt with her cuffs rolled up, and sturdy hiking boots. She also wore a yellow scarf tied around her neck. A bottle of water hung from her belt, and a machete, which was odd. For safety, machetes were to only be handled by team members and leads or used under their guidance. She ignored her niggling concern.
The student wasn’t familiar to her, but then so many had come and gone during the past weeks, and there were some she never did get to work alongside. Ari trailed the student and quickly became lost in her thoughts. She sniffed and wiped at her nose. Admittedly, she suffered from her own unique form of tunnel vision when she was focused on something, like now. She struggled to make sense of the blowup she had with Luca. Last night complicated things. It was a stark contrast to the exquisite thrills she experienced by literally unearthing the past in Kanul.
Ari was pissed and tired from crying and a lack of sleep. She was mortified. She had had amazing, mind-blowing sex with him and, feeling certain she was in love with him, spoken the words. What the fuck? Thank God he had been asleep. Right now all she wanted was to escape. Maybe she could finagle some time in Flores again. She tripped and almost fell. It jarred her back to the present. “I’m awful with names. Can you remind me?”
Flashing a smile, the student turned and started moving. Calling over her shoulder, she said, “Inés.”
Ari picked up her pace as Inés moved forward, talking faster and louder, taking care to step over exposed, tangled roots under the thickening understory. The sounds from the excavation site had become muffled by dense foliage. “How far have we walked? I didn’t check my watch before leaving.”
“A few of us had an idea to go look for a cave, um, a cenote. We found one. This is so cool! Don’t you think it’s cool, Doctor?”
Ari tried to break in and respond, but the overzealous woman didn’t pause. She wanted to ask why they decided to search for a cenote and if they were coring; the teams had their hands full with the two excavations. They couldn’t spare workers to begin an excavation in another area. Surely one or two of the lead archaeologists accompanied the students.
Inés changed direction, heading left with confidence. Ari mulled over the claim that a cenote had been found while increasing her pace to keep up with Inés. Well, it certainly was possible. Caves were sacred to the Maya. Portals to Xibalba—the underworld. There were thousands of caves and cenotes—natural water-filled sinkholes—throughout the Yucatan.
“So you all have been coring?”
Inés ignored her questions, answering. “This whole thing is so cool! I never dreamed that digging could be so exciting when I volunteered to do this. It sounded boring. Digging in the dirt like when I was a little kid, getting all gross and sweaty every day.” She bent slightly forward as they pushed uphill. “God, I hate this heat and humidity. I mean, look at my hair! And my nails! Even though I wear those nasty gloves, the dirt gets under my nails. I have to pick them out every night. It takes hours. But now…”
Although Inés appeared to be around Ari’s age, she sounded younger. The terrain flattened out. Inés turned right, and the terrain dipped. She kept her pace up. No path was evident, but she seemed to know where she was going. Dark green leaves slapped Ari in the face and brushed over her covered arms and legs. Occasional rocks and the slick plant-covered jungle floor caused her to almost fall a number of times. She stayed as close as possible because the jungle swallowed Inés up quickly.
Insects flitted all over, some landing on Ari and then taking off just as quickly. Mosquitoes hummed around her face and exposed hands but kept a distance, sensing the chemical barrier emanating from her body. Her calves burned from the pace and changing terrain. She dodged a large spider and its web. Shit. Breathe. You held a tarantula. They were definitely heading away from Kanul. She was certain of it. Invisible tendrils of fear rose as Ari’s system went on full alert. Restricted by the pounding of her heart in her throat, she gasped for air. “Inés?”
No answer. Inés kept moving.
Ari stopped, fought for her breath, and shouted, “Inés? Stop!”
Inés stopped, stumbling backward toward Ari and falling to her butt. She rose and brushed herself off. “What?” She sounded annoyed.
“Is it much farther? Where are we going? Kanul is over there.” Ari pointed behind her and to her right. “You know the excavation rules. We need to return.”
Inés’s hand struck out like a rattlesnake, turning Ari around and closing the distance between them in a heartbeat. Her hold was like a vise. The young woman’s demeanor changed abruptly. She lifted her black baseball cap and smoothed her hair with a practiced wrist. Then she put the cap back on, turning it around into a snapback, all with the same hand while holding on to Ari. “No. We’re not going back.”
The chatty, scatterbrained student disappeared. Cold, black eyes, one with a large black mole above the heavy brow, moved over Ari. She hooked her thumb into the waistband of her pants and sneered, speaking slowly and quietly. “Dr. Antony, so many questions. There has been a change in plans.” Inés stepped back with an ugly smile before placing her free hand to her mouth to make a loud birdcall.
Ari’s eyes widened as Inés patted the machete hanging from her belt, running her finger over it, almost lovingly. She put her finger to her lips and narrowed her eyes in warning. “Shh,” she demanded harshly, pulling a small clear bottle from her pocket and opening it, then liberally dousing part of the yellow bandana she had pulled from her neck.
Bile rose, and Ari’s breathing became more labored as the cold fingers of realization dawned. What in fucking hell? Ari started to yell and jerked in the iron grip, but she couldn’t free herself. Inés wrenched Ari’s wrist painfully, causing her to cry out. “Stop struggling. I promise I will break it,” she said, clapping the fabric over Ari’s nose and mouth.
Ari fought to hold her breath. She grew dizzy, needing to take a breath.
“There is no point in fighting it, Doctor. Breathe or I’ll knock you out myself,” Inés said, sounding bored.
Fear rendered Ari complacent. The pungent, sweet-smelling scent was the last thing Ari remembered before black spots expanded and the jungle floor rose up to meet her.
Luca swatted at the insect buzzing in front of him. Sweat trickled into his eyes, stinging and blurring his vision. The sun was not at its zenith yet, and he was roasting. He took the bandana tied around his water bottle, pulled his sunglasses off, wiped his eyes and the nosepiece, and then replaced them, tying the scarf around his hairline. Its coolness dissipated quickly. He placed his hat back on top and scanned the activity around him, observing his colleagues and their assigned students working diligently at their tasks with a myriad of tools to expose what had been buried for centuries. Large piles of sifted earth buttressed many grids. Artifacts lay on drop cloths, and several students worked with professors to catalog the findings electronically. Backpacks were scattered in the shade, keeping charged electronics, batteries, and water cool. The students, professors, and leads worked well together, and enthusiastically.
Where was Ari? His attention was interrupted by the arrival of the resupply truck that came every Monday and Thursday
. A few students waited to help unload it and to get dibs on the fresh fruit and cheese. They whooped as they saw the cases of beer, calling to him, “Dr. Fierro, thanks!”
“See if there is extra cold storage or float it in the river so you can enjoy it at the end of the workday,” he responded. Luca returned to perusing the excavation again, going slower this pass, grid by grid, making sure to carefully look over each person. His eyebrows knitted together. That luscious hair of hers must be tucked under a hat since he was unable to spot her immediately. But still, he would know her anywhere, dressed in any way, hair up or down. His brain and senses had memorized every centimeter of her skin, her movement, her taste, her smell.
She was not present. Maybe she had walked back to camp for something.
“Morning, Big Guy. You look distracted. Everything okay?”
He nodded as Natasha stopped and stood almost shoulder to shoulder next to him. “Ciao.” He sometimes forgot how tall she was. He surveyed the work in front of him. “We are making a lot of progress. Have you seen Ari?”
“I’m not her keeper.”
His anger flashed, causing each of his words to be clipped. “A reminder to you. We are all each other’s keepers out here.”
She paused before answering, contrite. “You’re so right. I’m sorry. So, when is the last time you saw her?”
“Breakfast. However, I did not talk to her.”
“So why don’t you ask Meg? Or Matt? They’re such a tight little group.”
Luca fully faced Natasha and bared his teeth. “Goddammit. This is beneath even you, Nat. What is up your ass? Check your dislike of her or whatever is driving your comments. I was there when you agreed to a truce with her. Honor it, please.” He inhaled deeply to dissipate his outburst. “Meg is on the botany project with Joan, Rhys, and another team. You know how it works. The teams and projects are fluid. That is the beauty of this organization. Matt is not needed here yet, nor is Joan. They can assist Meg. We all benefit. Ari is supposed to be here, and she is not. You did not answer me. Did you see her?”
Afraid to Fall (Ancient Passages Book 1) Page 18