Page 53 of Wicked Suspicion

High humidity caused sweat to stream down her face. Nyx used the back of her arm to brush it away from her eyes and worked on keeping up with Case. If she wasn’t wearing long sleeves, her arms would have scrapes and cuts from the vegetation hitting her.

A machete would be handy, except that if someone found the hut, a machete would be as good as an arrow, pointing out the direction they’d taken. They were still leaving a trail, but it was less noticeable than chopping away the undergrowth.

She was getting desperate if she was weighing the benefits versus the risks of using a machete, but damn. Case moved with an athletic grace that captured her attention. Nyx bet he’d be smooth like that in bed, too. She wanted to test the hypothesis, and that made her focus more intently on her surroundings. There were goals to achieve first.

But would going to bed with Case really jeopardize her ambitions?

It was more than an hour later when he stopped them for a water break. “Your face is flushed.” He handed her a bottle. “Drink slowly.”

Nodding, she took the bottle and followed orders. After a few moments of sipping, he said, “You’ve been awfully quiet since we entered the rainforest.”

“You didn’t tell me it was safe to talk.”

He went still for a moment, and then slowly nodded. “I need to stop underestimating you.”

Nyx lowered her bottle. “I had a ton of dos and don’ts drilled into me, but there is a lot I don’t know. Make sure you don’t overestimate me.”

Case nodded. “I’ll keep assuming you need instructions. It’s weird, though.”

“What’s weird?”

“People usually get angry when someone believes they’re clueless. You not only didn’t get mad, you told me to keep assuming you’re ignorant.” He gave her that one-shoulder shrug of his. “It’s unexpected. You’re unexpected.”

“I’m not going to lie to you or pretend I know more than I do. Why would I? We’re in a high-stakes situation, one that’s potentially life or death. I’d rather you think I’m a dumbass than inadvertently do something that gets us killed.”

His smile wasn’t just a curve of his lips. “The more time I spend with you, the more I like you.”

“Thanks.” Nyx grinned back at him. “I like you, too.”

Looking away from her, Case lifted his water bottle. Raising her own water, Nyx checked out the area ahead. From what she saw, this would be the worst stretch so far today. Hell, she’d probably end up taking fronds in her face no matter how careful he was to hold them for her. There were too many and it would slow them down too much if he tried.

“Where are we headed?” she asked.

“I’m not sure yet. Right now, I just want us as far away from the hut as we can get.”

“Do you know where we are?”

His lips curved again. “Generally? Yes.”

That made one of them. This wasn’t like last night when she had some basic knowledge of her location and the stars to navigate by. Now she didn’t know where she was in relation to any landmarks and the sun was out. If something happened to Case, she’d be in deep trouble. Without a phone or a compass, her only course of action would be to walk until she hit a river or a road.

Or the bad guys found her.

Despite the heat, Nyx shuddered. “Don’t lose me in here,” she said, voice thicker than she liked.

“On my heels, remember? I can feel you at my back. I’ll know if you’re not behind me. Trust me.”

“I do trust you,” she said without hesitation.

Instead of relaxing Case, her answer seemed to make him tense further. Nyx didn’t ask. As beautiful as the rainforest was, it was also vast and deadly. There were venomous creatures, predators, and humans who were more dangerous than the first two.

“We need to get rolling,” Case said.

Nodding, Nyx capped her water bottle. He didn’t close his bottle or make any other motion that suggested they were moving again. Something seemed to be bothering him. Maybe he was trying to come up with a way to give her bad news?

“Nyx,” Case said, meeting her gaze dead on.

She braced herself. His tone of voice was serious.

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