Page 31 of Monstrous Heat
His eyes narrowed at my attitude. “I had to hire people to find you and skipped out on several important meetings to make sure you were found.”
Bullshit. Those men with guns hadn’t been on a rescue mission. “Ah, yes, those very important people you were wining and dining at the hotel. I’m sure they couldn’t find out that the twenty-six-year-old female grad student——that you’d left in the jungle alone with two strangers—was missing.”
“Tomas came highly recommended as a local guide. He wasn’t supposed to leave you like that.”
I snorted. “Yeah, well, babies can fuck up the best-laid plans. It’s not Tomas’s fault he had an emergency.”
His eyes flared at my language. I’d always taken great pains to be the ideal student. Not too coarse, not too loud, not too brash. Amiable without too many opinions. Always “yes sir,” and “could I help you with that, sir?”
Complete bullshit. I just wished that it hadn’t taken me all these years to figure out that swallowing down my pride and anger at the unfairness of it all was a losing battle. It’d taken almost losing my life in the jungle to realize that none of it mattered. If I had to pretend to be his trained monkey to get a position at the university, then I’d be miserable. Forever. I’d always be tainted by that subordinate association, at least in my own eyes and heart. And honestly, that was all that mattered.
“It seems as though you’ve wandered far afield from the young woman that I thought you were, along with leaving our safe and secure camp location.”
Watching his reaction, I shrugged casually. “So you mean I wasn’t supposed to see those men in the jungle last night? How shocking.”
His hand twitched on his hat so hard that he dented the perfect brim.
“Now I’m Miss Whit instead of sweetie,” I drawled. “Why? Because you suddenly realize I have a brain in my head and have seen through your disguise?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
I rolled my shoulders, shifting uncomfortably to remind him that my hands were still tied behind my back. “The grad student gets left in a deserted Maya ruin overnight in the middle of a protected park with limited civilization. When she’s finally found and identified, she’s treated like a prisoner. The only thing that makes sense is that I saw too much. Those smugglers were yours. That’s why you make so many trips down here, right? You bring along a good little assistant to do the work for appearances, and then you go off to make your drug deals. It must have been a pretty sweet deal for you. You’ve been making these so-called archeology trips for years, conning hopeful and desperate students to do your research for you while you make a hefty sum on the side.”
The perfectly charming facade cracked a little. “There’s always twenty or more silly girls standing in line to join the next dig. Pretty ones, and smart ones. You know which one you are.”
That comment might have hurt me a few days ago. But I’d experienced a lifetime of adventure in just twenty-four hours. I’d finally experienced real passion. The kind of passion that would make a person burn up the world to have again.
With a slow smile, I lowered my lashes and gave him a sultry look. I almost chuckled out loud at the way his eyes widened with surprise. “Yeah. I’m both.”
His gaze dropped down to my chest as if he’d only just realized that I had breasts. Unfortunately, I hadn’t bothered with a bra, and the T-shirt was thin. It gave me the creeps to know he was ogling me.
“Our men were attacked last night,” he finally said, though he wasn’t able to drag his gaze back up to my face. “You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you, now, Miss Whit?”
Voices rose outside and one of the armed men poked his head inside. I hadn’t caught his name, but he was the man I’d assumed to be the leader when they found the hut. “Trouble.”
Dr. Snyder stood but still stared at me with a pole-axed look on his face. “What kind of trouble?”
“Two of my men are gone.”
Finally, Snyder turned away, and I drooped with relief. To think that I’d once found the man attractive—before I’d seen the douchebag in action.
Someone yelled outside. Gunfire. Both men crowded at the tent flap, trying to see what was going on. The soldier pressed a phone to his ear.
“What is it?” Dr. Snyder asked.
“Another man’s gone. They saw some kind of… animal. They’re pursuing it now.”
The way he said animal made me smile. Lizard. Monster.
Kroktl’s here, and he’s pissed.
Or rather, his creature was here. I shivered, relieved but also terrified. He said he was in control of his beast. It would remember me.
Right?
His words replayed in my head on repeat.Whatever you do, don’t run.
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