Hero for Hire Read online

  Then they climbed out of the plane. That alone took great effort as they were deeply embedded in bush. Rick had to cut branches away so they could leap down. He went first, and though he jumped, lithely hitting the ground, he sat for a long moment afterward, holding his head.

  “Rick!”

  “I’m okay.” But he was green when he stood, reaching to help her down.

  Around them, trees and plants grappled for space in the hot, damp perpetual summer climate. They set out walking, Rick looking down at the compass he’d found in the survival kit. Around them broadleaf evergreens made up the main tropical growth. There were tree ferns as well, tall with delicate crowns some as high as a six-story building.

  And though it was the middle of the day, the light had to filter through the growth, which muted it to early dusk.

  By dark, it would be terrifying. The whole situation terrified Nina. “You know there are lots of hungry creatures out here in the jungle, right?” She craned her neck, checking to make sure none of those creatures were following them.

  “We’re hungrier.”

  “I do not know, the capybara eats a lot.”

  He slowed and looked at her. “Capybara?”

  “A hundred-pound rat.”

  “Oh, that.” He swallowed hard and started moving again. “Nina?”

  “Yes?”

  “Stay right behind me.”

  “Okay. Have you seen an anaconda before? They are forty feet long—that is the height of a four-story building in case you were wondering. They swallow their prey whole. Keep your eyes out for one of those.”

  His back and shoulders were wide, strong, beautiful. And very tense. “Nina?”

  “Yes?”

  “Watch where you put your feet.”

  She watched her feet and followed him.

  And followed.

  It seemed they walked forever and a day through the tropical vegetation. The ferns, grasses and other flowering plants had all attained great height and volume, sometimes taking on strange shapes that fed her imagination. There was bamboo too, some only several inches high, some giants more than 120 feet.

  Exhausted, Nina looked at her watch. They’d been walking only three hours.

  Rick never slowed, and she couldn’t help but feel there was more to his urgency and desperation to get them to safety than he had indicated.

  Not that he was talking.

  He was in front of her, whacking his way through the heaviest growth with the biggest pocketknife she’d ever seen—which he’d taken out of his pant leg.

  “How many more weapons are you hiding?”

  “Plenty,” came his grim reply, reminding her that this man truly lived on the edge at all times.

  More hours passed. Soon it would be nightfall. Rick was breathing hard, too hard in her opinion, and his head was bleeding again, right through the strip of cloth they’d ripped off the hem of his shirt. “Rick, we have to stop.”

  He looked at her, his shirt damp and clinging to his body, his eyes dark and intense. Around him, lianas and woody vines, some as thick as a man’s body, hung like cables. An alien world, yet he looked at home. She had a feeling he’d look at home anywhere. Only she could see the pain he struggled to hide, and the exhaustion.

  “You’re not okay?” he asked.

  She was, she supposed, but he wasn’t, not that he’d admit it. He needed to rest. “I need to lie down.”

  His expression assured her she hadn’t fooled him, but he complied. They found a small clearing, and together set up the tent, which was the size of a postage stamp. “We cannot both fit in there,” she said, knowing neither of them could rest without the dubious protection of the tent.

  “It’s meant for at least four people.” Rick nudged her in and followed. “We’ll manage.”

  Yes, if they were on top of each other.

  When they were both inside, on their knees, facing each other, Rick shook his head. “Okay, it’s a tight fit.” He looked shaky, and she scooted as far back as she could before opening his pack and taking out some water and crackers.

  “Lie down,” she said gently. “Please,” she added when he would have resisted. Taking the matter out of his hands, she helped him stretch out, then fell against his side when he tugged on her.

  “You lie down, too,” he said, opening his arms. “Come here.”

  His body, hot and hurting, felt solid and familiar beneath hers. He was there for her, which was more than she could say about anyone else in her life. Overwhelmed, she wrapped herself around him, and he held her with his big, warm hands, allowing her to bask in the closeness. “Rick...”

  “I know. You feel good.” He pressed his face to her throat. “Good and alive. I like that in a woman.”

  Making a satisfied sound of agreement, she slid her hands beneath his shirt, seeking more of that warmth because she couldn’t seem to get enough. Somehow, he took the emptiness from deep inside her, the emptiness threatening to swallow her up, and filled it.

  “When I first realized we were going down,” he said against her skin, “all I could think was, I had to keep you safe.” He hugged her hard. “And I couldn’t.”

  She closed her eyes to the reassuring masculine sound of his voice. “But you did.” Her body hummed now, with something much more than fear, and she pressed even closer. “You did.”

  In the wake of the terror they’d survived, his holding her was a relief, but a pleasure, too.

  Suddenly more pleasure than relief.

  “Rick...”

  He groaned, and when she might have backed away, he pulled her tighter to him. “Not yet. Don’t go away yet.”

  He’d been hurt. He didn’t trust. Maybe he never would. There could certainly never be a future between them without that trust, but she couldn’t walk away.

  Not yet.

  “Nina.” His mouth nuzzled at her ear. “Hold me.”

  “I will. I am.” She was on his lap, straddling him so that she could feel every hard, perfect inch of him. The slow burn in the pit of her belly took flame, and she couldn’t have stopped the gentle rocking of her hips to his erection to save her life.

  He gripped her tight, urging her on, coaxing her body to fit itself to his in an attempt to put out the fire.

  She could feel the pumping of his blood, or maybe that was hers. There’d be no resisting, not now, maybe not ever, at least not on her part. Much as she knew pulling away to be the smart thing, her body simply wouldn’t, couldn’t, and driven by this overwhelming desire and hunger, she closed her eyes and let it take her.

  He touched her, and everywhere he did, she smoldered for more. Her breasts, her belly. Between her thighs.

  Her head spun with the unrelenting need.

  Somehow his jeans opened. Somehow her skirt bunched up around her waist. Somehow her hands were in his shorts, touching him. He was fully erect, needing release, and she was equally desperate.

  “Have to...” He gripped her bottom in his kneading fingers. “Have to feel you.”

  “Yes. Now.” Shamelessly panting, shamelessly wet and ready, she rubbed herself over him.

  They were both lost then. He pulled her down on him, smoothing her panties aside to let him in. “Like this, Nina, here—” With a low, rough sound, he guided her over him, while she tore at his shirt buttons so that she could open her mouth on his bare chest. When he slid into her, they both let out a long, gratifying moan, and then again when he thrust into her with rising fervor, using his fingers, his mouth, everywhere, until she was a quivering, heated mass on the very edge. Knowing her inside and out now, as no one else ever had, he easily drove her off that edge, flying with her, and they both came with a long, thready cry.

  Stunned, shaken, they sank together and let sleep claim them.

  * * *

  NINA CAME AWAKE to Rick holding her close, his mouth to her ear. It was nice, and she snuggled in.

  Then he whispered, “We’re going to get out of this, Nina, I promise you,” and reali