Page 52 of Unleash You

She spun around with a greedy look in her eyes that I now recognized as desire. “What promise?”

I pointed at the back of the sofa behind us. “You bent over right over there with your pretty ass up in the air and asked me to take you.”

Her cheeks turned bright red. “I was obviously not myself last night.”

“A promise is a promise.” I shrugged.

“Well, I guess I better do it, then.” She pressed her hand on my chest. Then her smile faded. “I like seeing you happy like this. Are you going to be okay?”

“What do you mean?” My heartbeat quickened because I knew where she was going with this.

“Venezuela. Are you ready to return to the jungle after all this time? I remember your words. You barely survived it last time.”

I’d been a coward last time. A better friend would have stayed to save Charlie. But he gave me a way out, and I took it.

“I got out, thanks to Charlie.”

“You did the right thing. I can see you blame yourself. We all make mistakes.”

“Yeah, but mine cost your brother eight months of his life.”

“What matters is that now we get to make it right.” She stood on her tippy-toes and kissed me. “Before you face the real monsters, we have to talk to your mom.”

I growled, pressing my forehead to hers. “You’re doing all the talking, right? She loves you.”

“You’re her son. She loves you too.” She laughed. “She’ll be thrilled.”

“It’s not that. She’s going to go all monster-in-law on you. I’m talking wedding plans and baby showers.” I was exaggerating, but I wasn’t too far off. Mom could ruin our Maracaibo plans very easily. “We couldnottell her.”

“I’m not lying to Lilly. Last night was bad enough. Let’s just get it over with.” She stood straighter, then glanced down. As if the quick bounce of her tits reminded her that we were naked, in the middle of her room, talking about Mom.

“Shower.” I pointed to the bathroom.

“Right.”

Before we headed over next door, we spent a few minutes in Anabelle’s study making phone calls. She got the ball rolling on her end by contacting several suppliers that could help put together a relief package that could be flown into Venezuela. The shipment would be our reason for travel to a country that no longer accepted American tourism. The alternative would have been flying to the neighboring country and driving across the border, which would be way more dangerous than walking in through the front door.

I scheduled our flight and contracted a pilot Tyler had recommended. Piece by piece, our trip back to the jungles of Venezuela was falling into place. And in case we needed a backup plan, I called Teak to see if he could meet us in person and put together some kind of exit strategy. If Anabelle’s and Charlie’s lives were not on the line, I wouldn’t be doing any of this. For me, that place was what nightmares were made of.

“Are you ready?” Anabelle placed her hand on my shoulder. She seemed so calm. She was either brave or utterly ignorant of the danger that awaited us.

“Yes. Let’s go see Mom.”

“Relax. It’s not that bad. I know she’ll be thrilled with the idea.” She placed her small hand in mine and pulled me out the door.

The sunrays cut through the tree line as we strolled through the wooded area between the two homes. The leaves rustled overhead, in tandem with the sway of Anabelle’s wrap dress. Her shapely legs came into view every time the wind swirled around us.

“Before I forget.” She squeezed my hand to get my attention. “I’m going to need my money back. I got the supplier to agree to have everything ready in two days, but he needs the money today. And it’s way more than my allowance.”

“I’m sorry I had to do that.”

“No, you’re not.”

“I’ll make a call right now and fix it for you.”

“Thank you.” She blocked my path and wrapped her arms over my shoulders before she kissed me on the lips. “I like this.”

“Like what? Bossing me around?”

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