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Annoyance flicked through her, and her chin came up. “For me and my family. Is that what you mean?”
A look of deep disquiet darkened his eyes, a somber, distracted frown appearing. She suspected that she would have immediately dissolved into indignant anger if he had let that unaffected SEAL mask slide over him. But she didn’t get the special operator, she got the man, and she got the truth. “That, and our mission here isn’t just protection.”
Gripping her forearms, Mari tried to will away the thickness that was growing in her chest, a thickness that was rooted in her deep feelings for Buck. She thought as much, but to have it confirmed hurt like hell. She trembled from head to toe, trying to process the truth. Raking her hair back from her face, she tried to make her mind focus, shock draining the warmth from her. It took a moment before she was able to frame the words, her voice numb when she whispered, “You used me to get information about my family, to get close to them.”
He braced his arms against the table, his rib cage expanding and contracting. A taut silence hung between them until, finally, his voice raw and strained, he said, “I want you to fully understand what happened.”
She heard his agony and felt his pain, and something broke loose in her. Her vision blurred, and she folded her arms tightly in front of her. Her throat was so cramped that her jaws ached. She took a deep, unsteady breath, her voice breaking when she got the words out. “You’re not denying it. Oh, God—” Her voice broke completely, and she had to wait for the nearly suffocating swell of emotion to pass. Wiping her eyes with the side of her hand, she collected herself and went on. “Was any of it real?”
“Goddamn it,” he said, pushing out of the chair and coming around the table. He pulled her into his arms, and a shudder coursed through him as he closed his arms around her in a rough, desperate embrace. “God, don’t cry,” he whispered hoarsely. “Yes, it was real. Let me explain, please. I would never hurt you, Mari.”
She took those words deep inside her, sure they were true. How could she doubt it when he’d risked his life with the puma, when he carried her so carefully back to her room, tended to her, and slept with her? She would listen because she hadn’t just given her trust blindly to him, he had earned it.
She looked up at him. He held her gaze, strong and steady, the disquiet in his eyes deepening, his expression taut. “When I met you, it was just as it seemed, fate. I never engineered any type of contact. Although you were constantly on my mind. I wanted to see you again.” He stared down at her, strain deepening the grooves around his mouth, then he inhaled unevenly. “After LA, after I got off the train, I knew someone was following me. It turned out to be the DEA.”
“Why were they following you?”
He rubbed his thumb against her cheek, then looked at her, his eyes bleak. “They weren’t initially. I was a secondary, unexpected target.”
Realization dawned on her. They weren’t following him. They were following her, and they had seen an opportunity. “It was me they were following. Why?”
There was an edge of urgency to his voice when he answered her. “This is classified information I’ve been authorized to relay to you. It’s for your ears only, Mari. We’re trusting you with this information because I convinced Kat, Russ, and my LT that you were trustworthy and had nothing to do with this whole mess.”
She blinked at him in confusion. “I’m at a loss. Completely, so tell me why all this is happening.”
“The night that you saved us, someone from your plantation gave away our location to Nacho’s men. Ever since, the DEA has been keeping you and your family under surveillance. After the murder of your shipping manager, we suspected that Diego might be involved. When I questioned him, he was evasive, and I thought he was the leak.”
She pushed away from him. Mari exhaled a deep breath, feeling as though her world as she knew it had tilted on its axis. And in a big way, it had considering nothing had been as it seemed, including the reason why Buck showed up here. “He would never do such a thing. He would never put us all in danger for monetary gain,” she said, angry that he would even suggest that Diego was compromised. “Never, Buck. He cares too much about the plantation and our lives. His wife and children are everything to him. Family is everything to him. His love for La Buena Tierra goes as deep as its coffee roots. No. Never. He’d die first.”
“I hope so, Mari, for your sake, Diego’s family and your family. The consequences of anyone from your family being involved with the cartel or their gang affiliation means that the DEA and your government will dismantle La Buena Tierra, confiscate your land, your wealth, everything.”
Mari’s face washed white, and she brought up a trembling hand to press against her mouth, to press back the cry, to hold back the bile that rose in her throat. Every single family member depended on the plantation and the hotel. Without them, they would be destitute.
He was right. The Costa Rican government had no tolerance for anyone who worked with the cartel or gangs, profiting off the misery drug trafficking had brought to their country—homicides, a drop in tourism, drug addiction, and the loss of tranquility. Maybe the government wasn’t the only threat to her way of life as her country turned into a narco-state.
Understanding her distress, he closed the distance between them and rubbed his hands down her arms, his caress as gentle and caring as the look in his eyes. “As it stands, Diego has convinced me he has nothing to do with drug trafficking. We will continue to look for the culprits who leaked our location and murdered your manager. Your plantation should be safe, especially once we find the leaker. Trust me, Mari. I won’t let you down.”
Tears stung her eyes, and she swallowed hard. “Thank you,” she whispered, aware that any promise Buck made, he kept. At least, that was evident so far. What she couldn’t quite shake was her caution around him now. He was working for justice, especially when it came to Mr. Barrantes, but if something came up that jeopardized her family’s business, how would he handle that? His hands would most likely be tied. She could only think that would leave her to safeguard their livelihood on her own.
She wasn’t going to back down from that challenge. Not for one minute.
He drew a deep, uneven breath, his voice raw with emotion, cupping her face. “I know we need to talk some more,” he said. “I can come by later after we’re done here.”
She nodded, wanting that conversation and moved by the depth of feeling in those hoarsely spoken words. She shifted her head, her mouth connecting with his in a kiss that was filled with so much emotion, with such an open, unfettered feeling. Rising on tiptoe, she molded herself tightly against him as he shifted his hold.
A quick knock on the door brought them back to reality.
Buck abruptly dragged his mouth away, his breathing uneven, his hold almost savage, then he let her go.
When he opened the door, Diego was standing there. “Mari,” he said, softly, apologetically.
She shook her head and wrapped her arms around him. “Let’s go home.”
He nodded and they left the station, a police officer drove them home in silence. When he dropped them off, she could feel the tension in her brother the longer the silence went on.
“Diego. What’s wrong?”
He turned to her, drawing her into the jungle as he shot a look toward the plantation. “I didn’t tell them everything, Mari.”
