AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“To photograph them?”
“Yes, but also to measure them, and make observational notes in my journal about each one I find.” She shrugged. “I have a laptop, but everyone told me, unless it was a Toughbook, to leave it in the apartment and transfer my field notes to it in the evening where it couldn’t get rained on. I intend to rely on good ole ancient notebook and pen for now.”
Nik was impressed with her role playing. He saw the owner, Pedro, half listening to their Spanish conversation. And he’d deliberately chosen that language so that Pedro, if questioned by Korsak or one of the other men, would tell him about their flower conversation. It was the perfect cover to not rouse Korsak’s suspicion that Daria was something much more than what she’d just claimed. She spoke the language fluently and with ease. “When did you arrive here?” he asked.
“About ninea.m. I have an apartment for the duration of my stay and I need to get settled in.” Daria brushed some hair away from her cheek. “I wanted to explore this town, so I came to see the church close up. I love Gothic types of cathedrals.”
“It’s a good place for downtime too if you’re wanting to get away from that crowd out there,” he agreed, slipping his long, large knuckled fingers around his bright red mug.
“What are you doing here?”
Now his lies began, but Nik knew them by heart. “I’m with an exploratory mining team. We’re looking for mineral deposits between here and the Highlands. It takes us out in the jungle and we come back here for five days to rest up and get some decent sleep and food.”
Nik saw her tilt her head and study him. His heart cracked open. It had been shut for the last few months, and he’d felt numbed to the world. Now? He felt a trickle of returning feelings and it felt damn good to him. Truly, Daria had magic. At least for him.
“Then, you must know the good restaurants here?”
“Yes. There’s three. The rest,” and he raised an eyebrow, “let’s just say that there are no sanitary rules down here in this jungle outpost. No FDA around to protect people from how the food is handled.”
“Food poisoning.” Daria wrinkled her nose. “Definitely let me know the names of those clean restaurants.”
He looked at her through his thick, short lashes. “Actually? I was wondering if I might take you to dinner tonight to one of them? I could give you a lot of information about the area. There’s plenty of orchids around here, and I could suggest some trails that you might take to find a lot of them in a hurry?” Her eyes widened slightly and her lips drew into a line of relief.
“I’d love to take you up on that invitation, Nik. Thank you. You’re a lifeline to me because earlier in my apartment I was wondering who I could talk to to find out about the flora and fauna around here. A local always knows where the orchids would be.”
“I’m the person you want.” He looked at his watch. “May I escort you back to your apartment? I could drop by, say, at sevenp.m. tonight and take you to dinner?” He saw her cheeks grow pink and it made her so damn becoming to him. That wasn’t a reaction an actress could force. There was eagerness shining in her eyes and he could feel her truly looking forward to seeing him alone. He was too, but for different reasons. Behind closed doors, after sweeping the place for bugs, they could shed the role playing and get down to business.
“Wonderful,” she murmured, tipping the mug and swallowing the last of her coffee. She set it down and, before she could get up, Nik had stood and pulled the chair out for her.
“Chivalry is not dead,” he murmured in an amused tone near her ear.
His moist breath sent a skitter of tingles across her ear and scalp. Turning, their faces only inches from one another, she found herself drowning in his stormy-looking blue eyes, and her voice went oddly husky. “I see that. Thank you…”
***
Night fell quicklyin the jungle, Daria had discovered. It was completely dark outside the venetian blinds of the window that looked down upon the busy tourista street of Aguas Calientes. Nik would arrive any moment. She felt anxious. Excited. Along with some dread. Her heart wouldn’t stop skipping around, telling her how much Nik affected her as a woman. The man was, in her eyes, a certifiable hunk. Now, Daria wished that Lauren had warned her about that. Maybe it would have prepared her more, made it a little easier not to be ensnared by that slow, heated smile that sometimes shadowed his chiseled lips. Or to fall so easily into his narrowed gaze, and feel consumed by the invisible fire that throbbed organically between them. Her body was at a five-alarm-fire stage of alert, and she couldn’t douse it, ignore it or stop it. The man reeked of male sensuality so thick and primal, such that Daria had no experience with. Sometimes in that cafe, as she looked at him, sensed him, she thought he might be more jaguar than human. There was a decidedly primal animal side to him that he hid well, but it was far from hidden from her. And that is when Daria realized that he was just as powerfully drawn to her as she was to him.
Rubbing her palms against her black wool slacks, she didn’t know what to do or what to say. Maybe just ignore this invisible, scorching connection simmering between them? Stay focused on the assignment? Her fingers trembled slightly as she smoothed her white silk long-sleeved blouse and tucked it into her waist a bit more. She’d chosen a pale-pink alpaca wool scarf that she’d looped around her neck and shoulders, and a set of small gold Incan earrings. There was a soft knock on the door and she jumped, her heart slamming into her ribs. She was acting like a teenager full of wild, uncontrollable hormones! Gulping, she nervously threaded her fingers through her long, combed hair. Did she look all right? She wasn’t sure what to expect because they hadn’t had a chance yet to actually sit down and talk without being overheard.
Opening the door, she looked up and met Nik’s warm, shadowed eyes.
“For you,” he said, holding out a spray of white and purple orchids wrapped in silver foil encircled with a purple ribbon.
“Oh…,” Daria whispered, taking them, brushing his fingers during the transfer. “They’re beautiful. Thank you,” and she stepped aside, allowing him in. How different he appeared tonight. Earlier in the day, Nik had looked like an adventurer of Indiana Jones origin. Tonight, he wore a pressed white long-sleeved shirt, a black blazer over it, and black chinos trousers. Over his left arm was a tan raincoat. His combat boots were gone and he wore black leather oxfords instead. The change in him was startling. He reminded her of a rogue corporate businessman, the idea making Dara smile inwardly. Nik’s rugged face would never be that of the suave, elegant businessmen that graced the covers of GQ magazine, but that didn’t bother her at all. She quickly shut the door. As soon as she did, her voice sounding a little breathless, she said, “Please, sit down? Do we have time to talk at all before we go eat?”
Nik nodded and casually folded the raincoat over the back of the black leather chair. “Yes, the reservation is for eightp.m. We have an hour.” He placed his finger to his lips.
Dara understood he wanted to check the apartment for bugs. She already had, but another set of eyes wouldn’t hurt. She’d found none, but gave him a grave nod of her head, stepping out of the way as he began his thorough search, saying, “Do you mind if I briefly use the facilities first?”
Daria, understanding his ruse to disguise the lack of talk between them while he looked around, replied, “Not at all. Go ahead. I’ll be right here waiting.”
Once the search was done and he hadn’t found any bugs, Nik came back to the living room where she stood silent. He nodded in affirmation to her that they could drop the act now.
He opened his sports coat and sat down.
Daria placed the spray of orchids into a vase and sat it on the coffee table as she sat down on the couch across from him. “I’ve got to say, you’re really good at undercover work.”
He raised his eyebrows. “You were perfect out there this afternoon.” He saw instant relief in her expression.
