Page 39 of Colombian Chemistry

This boat ride is going to be torture.

I almost asked her to turn around and face the opposite way so she wasn’t tempting me with those legs, but not only would that have led to an awkward conversation, I knew it was best to have her looking over my shoulder, watching for any sign of the cartel or for rocks up ahead.

Irene chattered away at me while I guided the little boat down the river. She was a nonstop wealth of strange facts and information about the jungle, and I found it so interesting she knew so much, yet she’d never ventured more than a five-hour drive from her hometown before this. No wonder she spent so much time researching and reading. It must have been terribly boring, never having explored the world.

I’d been to more countries than I could count and couldn’t imagine never having left my small farm town in Ohio. I’d barely made it through high school graduation before I’d jumped on my motorcycle and took off for the Marines. My desire to help people had fueled my goal, sure, but I also wanted adventure and to see the world. I’d grown up pretty poor, and for people like me, joining the military was the only option to achieve that goal. Even though my career had more downsides than I’d prepared for, it certainly had fulfilled those desires.

After my six years were up, I was preparing to reenlist in the Marines when I’d been approached by the Elite Stealth Force to join them in covert ops. I couldn’t say yes fast enough. A job where I got to dance behind the red tape stopping the government from doing good... real good? Hell yeah. I was in. Death didn’t bother me one bit, and knowing my skills at killing could save countless lives had just been the cherry on top.

Life on the Elite Stealth Force Alpha team had been amazing. We’d done things so crazy even I struggled to comprehend how we’d all made it out alive. Knox, Piper, Wes, and myself had made one hell of a team, and if it weren’t for the fact we’d had to retire to go save Knox, I knew we’d still be at it. Part of me was grateful I’d made it out alive and could enjoy the newfound peace in my world, but the other part of me missed the excitement of it all. These past few days with Irene had been like a little vacation from my boring life, and I hated to admit that it had me craving more adventure again.

“Is it childish if I ask, ‘Are we there yet?’” Irene said.

“Yes. Please don’t start doing that.” I chuckled.

“Okay, I won’t. But if you ever want to, you know, let me know how close we are, that would be great.” She smiled wide and lifted her shoulders.

So damn cute. Everything she did was so damn cute.

“Probably an hour or so. The current is moving us along pretty fast.”

She glanced down over the edge at the rippling water. “It seems to be speeding up too.”

She wasn’t wrong, and as someone who had traveled down many rivers, I knew to keep my eyes peeled for any dangers ahead, like rapids or waterfalls, that could cause the current to pick up. I would have plenty of time to steer us to shore, and we could portage the canoe over land and reenter in a safer spot.

“Yeah. It is. You can see by the way the water has started churning here that there is likely a waterfall or some rapids up ahead.”

“A waterfall?” Her eyes widened. “I don’t even need to go over the statistics on how dangerous going over a waterfall is.”

“We’re not going over a waterfall. When we get a little farther up the river, and it gets bumpier, we’ll go to the side and portage the boat down the river.”

“Portage?”

“Carry. We’ll carry it around the rough spots and then put it back in.”

Her innocent face lit up with recognition. “Oh, gotcha.”

“Don’t worry. We’ve probably got a half-mile or so before we need to worry.”

She gave me that look that meant business. “I’m not going over a waterfall.”

“Neither am I. I may not be terrified of the entire world like you are, but I’m also not suicidal.”

“Okay. Good. Just wanted to be clear and make sure this wasn’t one of those moments where your eyes light up, and you get super pumped to go do something horrifically dangerous.”

“I don’t get pumped to do the dangerous stuff. I just do it.”

She snorted. “Oh, you get pumped. I can see the excitement in your eyes. Don’t lie.”

I hadn’t actually realized it until now just how excited I did get when I ended up in life or death situations. Maybe it was because my adrenalin seemed busted, and each time we got going I hoped it would kick in again and give me that rush I used to get when I first started. Like a drug. But it didn’t come anymore. And she was right. Even though I didn’t get the fix of an adrenalin rush, it still got me excited to be doing something dangerous again.

“Okay, valid. I do enjoy it. But I’m not going over a waterfall. That’s just crazy.”

“Good.”

She smiled and crossed her legs, and the bulge in my pants swelled again at the sight of her sexy stems. I pulled my eyes up from her legs and focused on the river over her shoulder, noting that the churning water signaled maybe we should get out and walk sooner than later.

Before I could steer the boat toward land, voices from the shore captured my attention.