Page 24 of One Weekend in Rio de Janeiro

Donovan shook his head, utterly disgusted. This was exactly what he’d been scared of—that his drone would fall into the wrong hands. And he couldn’t let that happen. “You’d really sell out your own country?”

“Maybe you didn’t notice, but I left there. Brazil is now my country.”

“Fair enough. But what about your family and friends? You’d put them in danger? Because selling that drone to a foreign enemy means innocent people are going to die.”

“My only loyalty lies with capitalism,” he stated coolly and without emotion. “Do you have any idea how much a drug lord would pay for tech like this?”

“You already have billions of dollars,” Donovan snapped.

“And I’ll have a trillion when I sell this drone.”

What a greedy asshole. Clearly, there was no changing his mind. But, Donovan still needed to buy some time. An idea was forming and he took a slight step closer to Warren. As close as he dared. Close-quarters combat had never been his favorite thing as a SEAL but, ironically, here he was and shit was about to go down. Donovan just hoped his rusty military skills would kick in and he could move fast enough to avoid a bullet in the head.

Because for the first time, he had someone to return to…and he really wanted to get back to Kate.

“Put the flash drive down,” Warren ordered.

Feigning defeat, Donovan moved even closer, stepping right up to the desk and acting like he was about to set it down. Instead, at the last second, he grabbed the masked figurine statue, swung it upwards with all of his might and hit the gun right out of Warren’s hand. Served him right for holding it straight out like an inexperienced idiot.

The revolver flew through the air and Donovan dropped the statue and launched himself forward, tackling the billionaire down. They fell backwards and Donovan threw several hard punches. Warren wasn’t a fighter and after a fist upside the head, the man passed out.

Fuming, Donovan pushed off him and stood up. Then he walked over to the man’s laptop, yanked the cords out and tucked it under his arm. There was bound to be some shit on Warren’s computer to take the billionaire down and Donovan planned on hacking in and finding it. Their earlier conversation told Donovan that Warren had no loyalty to anyone and a penchant to make the most money however he could—whether legally or not. Donovan planned to sniff out and track down every nefarious and illegal source of income the bastard had and then expose him to the correct, trustworthy people there in Rio.

Despite what he thought, Kent Warren wasn’t untouchable. And Donovan would do everything in his power to bring the asshole to justice.

???

Kate expected to celebrate when Donovan returned, so when he told her what happened, she was shocked. He also explained that it wasn’t safe to remain in Rio any longer and the best thing they could do was return home immediately.

Home to Tennessee, Kate realized with a heavy heart, while Donovan went back to New York.

Just the thought made her stomach clench into a hard, little knot of misery. And she hadn’t even seen Tijuca.

As though he read her mind, Donovan said, “I’m sorry you didn’t get to go to your park.”

“Next time, right?” She heard the melancholy in her voice, but tried to act like it didn’t matter. The truth was she wouldn’t be returning to Rio any time soon. But, what made her even sadder was the abrupt end to her once in a lifetime adventure.

Because a very angry and powerful Kent Warren was still out there, most likely conscious by now and ready to wreak his revenge. Donovan encouraged her to pack quickly and, in less than twenty minutes, they were down on the curb and sliding into a car headed for the airport. Donovan had found them direct flights home, but they were on two different planes, bound for two different cities. Two different lives.

The idea of saying goodbye made her heart ache.

Everything seemed to be moving far too fast and before she could blink, they had checked their luggage and zipped through security.

“You don’t have much time,” Donovan said. “Let me walk you to your gate and make sure you get on the plane okay.”

Emotion roiled through Kate and every step closer to her gate made her want to turn around and run away. She felt like she was headed straight to Death Row instead of a flight home. Everything she wanted was right there in front of her and about to be ripped away forever. Because a life without Donovan would be dull, boring and lonely. Once they reached their destination, Kate stared through the window at the stupid plane that would take her away from here. Away from Donovan.

Holding back tears, she looked up into his caramel eyes. It’s best to just say goodbye and walk away, she told herself. Before he sees you sob like a baby. Yet her feet refused to move. “I don’t want to go,” she admitted, unable to stop the tears from trickling down her face.

“C’mere.” Donovan pulled her close, wrapping her up in his strong embrace. “Please, don’t cry.”

“I can’t help it. I’m going to miss you.”

For a long moment he didn’t say anything. He just stroked a large hand over her hair and down her back. Then, in a low voice, he murmured, “We both knew this moment was coming.”

His words made her chest tighten. “That doesn’t make it any easier.”

“No, it doesn’t.”

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