Page 26

Her curly red hair was the color of fine wine, and her emerald-green eyes made me want to search out every emotion she was hiding behind that intelligent gaze.

She was a lot more animated and optimistic than I would have imagined for a woman with her history, but that made her that much more beguiling to me.

Who was this woman who had always worked hard for a better life without any acrimony about her circumstances?

How was it possible that she harbored absolutely no bitterness?

And how in the hell was it possible that she wasn’t freaking out about what had happened to her in Mexico?

Instead, she was worried about my damn injury. A wound that was going to heal without complications in a relatively short period of time.

Maybe she was wary and she didn’t trust easily, but her personality was overall sunny and happy, even though she’d just been through a pretty horrible ordeal.

And my grumpy ass was more attracted to that light than I wanted to admit.

Her curves were less noticeable because of her weight loss, but that didn’t stop my damn dick from reacting every time I saw her.

There was something about Jenna that drew me in, some kind of chemistry that made me want to get closer to her, and I knew I was eventually going to scratch that itch.

I couldn’t seem to help myself.

“I’m done with the chapter,” Jenna announced as she closed the book and put it on the coffee table. “I can breathe now that I know that Brady lived through that horrible situation.”

“Until the next horrible situation happens,” I said drily.

I put my fictional special forces team through hell and back several times in every single book.

“He’s safe for now,” she informed me. “Do you need anything?”

I shook my head. “I don’t, but I’d really like to know exactly what happened to you in Mexico.”

“What part?” she asked evasively.

Okay, maybe she wasn’t ready to deal with the emotional part of her kidnapping. I’d have to settle for the facts. I could live with that. For now.

“All of it,” I replied. “But you can start by telling me what possessed you to go to Rosarito when there are travel advisories asking for people to reconsider travel there. And you definitely shouldn’t have gone there alone.”

Just the thought of Jenna crossing the border and heading to Rosarito alone made me a little crazy, and I had no idea why.

I barely knew her, and she was a grown adult.

She sighed. “I knew the risks, but I really wanted to see the strewn field of new and rare meteorite. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for an astrophysicist. Having a large meteorite drop that close to me was an extremely rare occurrence. I knew I could get there to observe and get photos before most of the meteorite hunters and other people who could destroy a pristine strewn field. I had to go.”

“No, you didn’t,” I disagreed grumpily, gritting my teeth in frustration. “Not when it means that you have to cross the border and enter cartel territory to get that experience.”

“How could I possibly know that I’d run into a cartel member who wanted a redheaded sex slave for his boss in South America?” she asked in a reasonable tone.

“Is that why that bastard kidnapped you?” I questioned gruffly.

She nodded. “Rico is a Mexican working for a South American cartel. He just happened to be visiting his family in Mexico. He wanted to take his boss in Ecuador a redhead to gain status with his superior. I think he just happened to be passing by the area on his way to the compound and saw me checking out the meteorite site without other people around. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. It was a weird fluke, Brock. I don’t think the cartel has suddenly decided to specifically target foreigners for sex trafficking. My kidnapping wouldn’t have happened if Rico wasn’t visiting his family in Mexico.”

“You don’t know that, and it was still a dangerous thing to do,” I said unhappily. “It’s not like Americans are never kidnapped in that area. There have been kidnappings for ransom there. It’s never fucking safe to be in an area with a heavy cartel presence, Jenna. Yeah, there are tourist areas that are safer in Mexico, but the cartel is everywhere there now. They just target people less in more crowded tourist areas. Going outside of Rosarito alone was really risky. A woman alone in a less touristy area is an almost irresistible target.”

She folded her arms over her chest. “How long do you plan on lecturing me about this?” she asked in a disgruntled voice.

Really, I hadn’t planned on lecturing her at all, but I couldn’t seem to help myself.

I didn’t want her to ever put herself in that kind of situation again.