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Her brow wrinkled. “Should I be?”
Exasperation crossed his rugged features. “Yes, dammit. Especially after everything you just mentioned.” He moved an arm’s length away from her, slapped the water between them. “I’m supposed to be keeping you safe, not . . .”
“Not what?”
His jaw clenched. “Not fucking you against a rock like an animal, hurting you in the process and putting you in more jeopardy than you were before.”
A space in her chest eased. He wasn’t rejecting her. Not yet.
“Finn, do I look hurt?” When his skeptical gaze swept over her, she added, “Seriously, do I sound like I’m complaining over here?”
He stared at her, the wrinkle between his brows so damn cute, she ached to kiss it from his forehead. “Why aren’t you?”
“Because that was hot. You wanted me so badyou didn’t stop to think. That’s what every woman wants.”
“She does?”
“God, yes.” Her lips curled. “To be desired that much? It’s the sexiest thing ever.”
She moved into him, her breasts grazing his chest, her arms wrapping around his shoulders so he couldn’t get away. “And before you go getting all bent out of shape on me, remember this. I happen to know you’d never put me in danger, consciously or subconsciously, whether you agree or not. If I had said no, I know you would have stopped. I trust you, Finn. With my safety, with my body. With every part of me.”
He didn’t answer. Simply stared at her again, this time like she’d sprouted horns to go with those wings. In the silence her anxiety peaked, and she wondered if he was going to push back. She couldn’t read his mind, but she knew what was in hers. She was falling for him, and she had no idea if he felt the same, or if this thing between them was nothing more than sex. If it was only sex . . .
She swallowed hard, hating the thought. And just when she was sure he was going to move away, he sighed and closed his eyes. His arms came around her, drawing her tighter into his embrace and holding her close, as if she was the only thing that mattered.
“Yer gonna be the death of me, you know that?”
“I hope not,” she said against his neck, loving the feel of him, the scent of him, loving everything about him. “I kinda like you, Tierney.”
Something in her chest squeezed tight as he cradled her in the water, ran his fingertips up and down her spine. She didn’t want to push things, didn’t want to do anything to scare him away. But their time was ticking down. In a matter of hours, it could be over. If she didn’t go after what she wanted now, she might never have the chance. And what she wanted most, she’d realized, was him.
Now or never . . .
She eased back, stared at his tanned face, ran her finger over the scar near his left eyebrow. And swallowed back the fear. The fear that had kept her single for way too long. “Finn, I—”
The wind kicked up, whipped past their faces, ruffled the palms and foliage around them. Lauren’s words died as they both looked toward the trees along the edge of the pool. A low rumble sounded above the jungle, growing progressively louder.
“Oh, shit,” Finn mumbled.
Lauren’s eyes narrowed as she tried to see past the thrashing tree branches. “What is that?”
Before he could answer, the helicopter appeared above the parted canopy. Rushing right toward them.
Finn let go of her, hollered something Lauren couldn’t hear over the whir of the blades. The door of the big bird opened, and a man leaned out of the chopper.
They’d been found. Lauren’s eyes flew wide. Oh, God . . . they’d been found.
Finn slapped one big hand on her head and pushed. She went down with a gasp. Water filled her mouth and lungs. But the only thing she could focus on was the image she’d seen before plunging beneath the surface. An image she would take to her grave.
The barrel of a machine gun trained on her heart.
CHAPTER 8
Finn wrapped his hand around Lauren’s wrist and pulled hard. A muffled grunt came o whir of t her under the water, followed by the slurping thump of bullets cutting through the liquid toward them.
He kicked harder, cursed himself for leaving his gun yards away on the rocks, for putting her in danger like this. Ahead he spotted the cave he’d noticed earlier, the one that started at the waterfall and ran back deep into the limestone rocks.
The water curved in under the protection of an arching ceiling of stone. He pulled Lauren in after him, made sure she was out of sight of that chopper and pushed her up onto the rocky ledge. She gasped for air.
