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“Do you want to leave this evening or now?”
Sighing, she sipped her coffee. “Fine. Deduct it from the amount that you owe me. So what do you want to do for the next couple of hours?”
All kinds of erotic images popped into his head, and he tried to keep them to himself, but she must have seen the desire in his face. Narrowing her eyes, she pushed past him and climbed from the plane. “You can find a way to entertain yourself for a couple of hours. If you’re not back in time, I’m leaving without you.”
Catching up with her easily, he fell in step next to her. He still felt unsure about letting her wander on her own after what’d happened last night. Despite the lesson he’d taught them, he suspected that if those two men saw her on her own, they might want to try again. “There are quite a few shops near the airport all decked out for Christmas. Think maybe we can find a few more teddy bears to take with us?”
Maria snorted. “I thought you hated Christmas.”
Shrugging his shoulders, “Just because I don’t care for it doesn’t mean others can’t enjoy it. Like your refugees.”
She turned to look at him; he could have sworn she was trying to look into his soul, the way she stared at him. Taking a noisy sip from her cup, he watched her eyes start to twinkle with amusement. “Trying to distract me with toys?”
“Is it working?”
Looking up at him, she shook her head and smiled. “I’m not usually the kind of woman to be distracted by shopping, but toys? Count me in.”
Even with the pressure weighing down on his shoulders, he couldn’t help but feel good about indulging her and distracting her. A strange peace settled over her face when she filled up her cart with toys and goodies, and he couldn’t miss the sideways glances she gave him or the looks she stole around the aisles.
Nor could he resist stealing them in return.
There were so many different layers to her. There was the fiery side that wouldn’t let anything get in her way and the raw fear that she wouldn’t be able to help those in need. Here, he could see the innocence of a woman experiencing pure joy. Jarik wanted to continue to peel those layers back until he found the very center of her.
Her laughter filtered around the corner, and he leaned against the wall as he watched her flipping through a children’s book. The urge to touch her was overwhelming. Before he could analyze the insanity of his choice, he pushed himself off the wall and grabbed her around her waist. She gasped but didn’t fight him.
Lowering his head, he pressed his lips to hers and released all the pent-up desire he’d kept locked away. Maybe she was too surprised to push away, or maybe she wanted him just as badly as he wanted her, but she melted against him and wrapped her arms around his neck. His kiss was almost desperate and entirely too hot to be public appropriate, but he didn’t care. She tasted of coffee and sugar, and if she’d let him, he’d pick her up, push her against the wall, and slide his fingers inside her until she surrendered herself to him completely.
“Mine,” he growled as he pulled away and tangled his fingers in her hair.
The word slipped out before he could stop it, and it immediately erected a wall between them. Maria stepped back and stared at him.
“Wait,” he said hoarsely as he stepped toward her, but she put her hands up to stop him.
“I am going to pretend that you didn’t just say that, that we didn’t just do that. I’m going to purchase the toys and load the plane. You can buy us some lunch for later and meet me out there,” she said in a low voice. He could tell that arguing with her would be fruitless, so he nodded his head and watched as she clutched the handle on her cart and headed to the register.
“Damn,” he whispered. There was no way that he was going to let her go. Not after that kiss, but it was clear that he had his work cut out for him.
That was okay. Jarik was up for the challenge.
6
Maria wasn’t great with ignoring issues, but she wasn’t even about to touch the kiss in the toy store.
Toy store. Seriously? That kiss was far too hot to have taken place in any public place, but a toy store?
That was just wrong. And oh-so right. If they’d been anywhere else, she’d have kept going. At least until he’d said, “mine.” From the look on his face, Jarik had been as shocked as she had to hear him say it out loud. For now, she was going to pretend none of that had happened.
Thankfully, the mechanic finished the job quickly and they were fueled and up in the air in less than two hours. So far, the weather appeared to be holding. She was trying to ignore the fact that Jarik was sitting in the cockpit with her. Surprisingly, he had some experience flying and was turning out to be a good co-pilot.
“My father used to fly,” he explained with a smile. “He didn’t get to go very often because of his responsibilities, but when he did, he used to take me with him. Kashif wasn’t allowed to be in the same plane as him, and Samir was never interested, but I loved it.”
Oh boy. Personal conversations needed to be off-limits. She didn’t want to know about his past. She didn’t want to make a connection with him, didn’t want to discover things they had in common, like a shared love of flying. She was already way too attracted to him. If she wasn’t careful, she’d start feeling things she didn’t want to feel. They were wrong for each other, and she needed her body to catch up with her brain. She simply had to get to Syria, finish the job, and get as far away from him as possible.
“So I’ve been thinking,” she said as she cleared her throat. “Since I’m way behind the schedule you probably anticipated when you got on my plane, you don’t have to volunteer when we get there. I know you have pressing business to attend.”
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him turn his head to stare at her, but she refused to look at him.
“We made a deal.” There was a sharp edge in his voice. “I have time to help you out at the camp and still make my intended engagement. Do you really think I’d run so easily?”
