Page 68 of Evening Shadows

Turning his head to the side to rest on his arms, the image of Sam watching him filled his heart and soul. He knew he’d do everything possible to keep her safe. Especially from the woman whom she’d called friend.

She turned and their gazes locked, and the strength and resolve in her beautiful eyes bled into him. While she’d known the truth when they’d been Alejandro’s guests, a rock-solid determination radiated from her.

“I do, and I don’t think she’ll stop at me and Old Man.” Not after she’d provided Sam a drugged drink. He hadn’t even wanted to guess what had been mixed with their water. At least they’d caught it before finding out.

“Okay, you’re done.” Doc started putting items back in his pack. In a low voice, he ordered, “Don’t overdo it.” Then he stood, asked Sam about her health once more, before his next order. “I want you to rest. No.” He held up his hand to forestall Ken’s argument. “Both of you need to rest after your ordeal.”

“It’s not over yet,” Ken argued, then thought about Doc hinting at he and Sam tangling limbs then telling him to rest. Contradictory cuss.

“No, it’s not. But now, you’ve got us watching your back.” He turned, then slipped out of the cave, and just in time because the shadows slipped away.

“Go ahead and set up a couple of the blankets deeper in the cave. Far enough that the light shouldn’t hit us in the morning.

She did, then watched him with concern. How humiliating to his pride when he followed Doc’s orders and rolled to the new space instead of attempting to stand and then squat again.

He cursed Beverly to hell. “Fucking bitch,” he murmured. Because of that woman, the first time he had Sam naked, he could only lie there and watch while his body ached—and not just from the beating or shot he’d taken.

“What was that?”

Bringing up her lunatic friend would only take away from their semi-relaxed moods. Instead of answering, he smiled. “Time for you to get undressed.”

27

By the time Doc departed, Sam’s clothes had chafed her skin. She wanted nothing more than to remove them. With how they’d molded to her body though, peeling them off wouldn’t be easy.

“Come here,” Ken requested from his position on the cave floor. She’d dropped the extra two blankets under and over him in a large pallet. She could’ve created two separate spaces since the other agents had provided four blankets, but she fully admitted she’d wanted to be close to Ken.

The smile on his face, even with his chin sporting a few days’ growth, the purple beginnings of bruising, and a small split on his upper lip, gave the illusion he wasn’t in any pain. She didn’t know why he tried to fool her, but he’d failed. Although that smile did something funny inside her. Butterflies fluttered in her stomach, bouncing off walls to make themselves known.

While she’d seen him mostly naked when she’d turned around before Doc finished his work, seeing his bare chest now drew a different response from her. That concerned emotion had been replaced with a deep desire that she no longer wished to restrain.

Since she didn’t move, he mostly repeated himself. “Come on, get out of those wet things. I’d help you, but I promised Doc I’d stay flat on my back for the night.” He winked at her, and she wanted to shake her head at his playfulness amidst their situation.

She had things to accomplish first, and he knew it. She considered dropping some water over his head for tempting her away from the work. Technically they both should be prepping for defense, but she’d give him a pass this one time. “You know I have to dry out our weapons.”

“It was a test.”

Hmm. “Is that so?” With a laugh, she collected the weapons that had taken a plunge and field stripped them, drying the components and readying them for when they might need protection. Sitting on the floor, she caught Ken silently watching her. She wondered what he saw or was he saving up his impressions to critique her work once complete?

Moonlight spilled over the treetops, distorting through the clear mist of the waterfall. Not much light filtered through the cave entrance, but what had could be called romantic.

Satisfied with her work, she stood. She’d made the decision that while she needed to get out of her damp things, she wouldn’t remove her underthings as the sports bra and boy shorts would provide a barrier to that unrestrained lust flaring in her core. “I wish we could build a fire, but I’m worried about our safety in getting noticed.”

“Don’t fret. The men have our backs. Believe me, I wouldn’t lie here buck naked if not.”

She almost choked at that thought. While she’d thought he’d wear his underwear, hearing he wasn’t set her body on edge.

“What you do need to worry about are thealuxes.”

Her eyebrows rose at his shift in the topic. What kind of story was he about to spew? “The what?”

“They’re something like Maya leprechauns. They’re well-known knee-high tricksters,” he described with a fake Irish brogue. A terrible one at that.

She chuckled at both him and the story. “Is this a fireside tale you use on dates to woo the lasses?” She added her own flare of Irish to the tail end of her question.

“Only those I trudge through a rainforest with.” The sexy grin that could be patented spread over his face. “They’re depicted on Yaxchilán engravings.”

Enjoying his roguish nature, she asked for more as she removed her boots and socks. “And what kind of mischief do they get into?”

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