Page 18 of Javier

“You might want to stop talking now.” Missy’s eyes glinted with angry flecks of orange. “You’re wasting air.”

I shook my head, not a little confused. For a sweet angel, she had a temper and liked to use it on me. And here I’d tried to compliment her.

Well, maybe I’d been an idiot, and the nuns were onto something. Mentioning tons of women had probably been a mistake. I could’ve also done without the curvy, busty, assy part, but then again, I was an honest, plain speaker. Bottom line, I’d offended her, and now she was pissed at me. I gave myself a mental kick in the ass.

“Let’s change,” Sister Elsa said.

Sister Janet snapped a dress in the air and shot me a glower. “What are ye looking at, ye big oaf? Turn around, will ye?”

I did as she asked and blew out an exhale. Three women against one guy?

Not even a contest.

“I’ll take the lead.” Missy stomped forward, pounding her feet on the trail.

“Stop,” I ordered. “You stick with the group unless I say otherwise.”

She shot me a glare over her shoulder, but at least she paused. “You enjoy your power plays, don’t you?”

“No power plays,” I ground out, reacting to her lingeringfury. “You’re my mission. My job is to keep you safe.”

“I’m your mission,” she repeated, her tone acid. “Your ‘wholesome’ mission. Thank God I won’t be your mission for long. Heck, maybe I won’t even be wholesome forever.”

It was more words than she’d said to me since we left the compound, and for whatever reason, they left me feeling like the biggest, meanest, dumbest jerk in the world.

I pushed hard for the lake. As we entered the jungle again, I motioned for Sister Janet to take point so I could keep an eye out for a rear attack. The gutsy nun trudged on with my gun in her hand. Missy and Sister Elsa followed on her heel. The vision-impaired nun had insisted she could navigate this smoother part of the trail on her own two feet with her cane and a little help from Missy. True to her profile, Angel had immediately offered her arm.

I hadn’t lied. Her body had the succinct, streamlined shape of a runner. Bringing up the rear, I had the best angle on her ass. How was I supposed to not look at her gorgeous little ass when she was so innocently waving it at me?

I was a great admirer of the female body in all its forms, but I usually liked my women sultry, spicy, and as lewd as me. It made my life’s mechanics work smoothly and without jams. Missy wasn’t sultry, spicy, or lewd. She was completely different from every other woman I’d ever been attracted to. She should’ve had zero effect on me.

Why then, couldn’t I take my eyes off her?

Wearing sneakers, she could be any eco-tourist wandering the countryside. She’d put her thick auburn hair up. Her long pony tail swung back and forth as she advanced, yet another distraction I had to fight to do my job.

The sun pierced through the canopy, deepening her hair’s fiery reds. The afternoon light loved her, encasing her figure in a striking radiance. As we moved out of the shadows, a sunbeamkissed her face and gleamed over her profile like a magical shimmer. The lines of her oval face made me think of softness incarnated. Her cheeks were downright cherubic. Her nose was a cute button perfectly drawn over her well-defined mouth, as small, pink, and plump as a rosebud.

What the hell?

Not even in my wildest dreams would I’ve used the term “rosebud” to describe anything, and yet here I was, “rose budding” my way to catastrophe.

As I’d prepared for this mission, I’d memorized every photo of Missy that her sister Thena had provided to me. The guys had thought Missy was another Astor looker. The problem was that the pictures of Missy Astor had failed to capture the subtle impact of her expressions, the golden fire that surrounded her pupils, and the devastating impact of her long silences. On paper, she looked cute but one-dimensional. In real life, she was anything but.

It was as if she hid her obvious intelligence behind her demure exterior, her sex appeal behind her innocence, and her power inside her delicate form.She didn’t like me, wasn’t even trying to seduce me, and yet, when I remembered her kisses, my dick stiffened.

Oh, fuck. Here I was, sweating under my gear, trekking through the hot and humid jungle, keeping my senses alert, and hard as granite.

I had to stop this. She was my mission. It was as simple as that. All I had to do was get my horny under control and take her home and yet, somehow, it didn’t feel that simple.

Chapter Six

Missy

As we neared the lake, I sensed Javier’s stare burning on my back. A quick glance showed me his attention was everywhere but on me. I let out a slow breath. In a way, his lack of interest was a relief. I didn’t like attention.

On the other hand, he was hot and handsome, and I wouldn’t have minded a tiny, itsy-bitsy dose of masculine appreciation or a compliment kinder than “wholesome.”

Wholesome.That was me. As in bland. Unremarkable. Plain.

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