Claimed: Gowns & Crowns, Book 3 (17 page)

They went over the side minutes later, their feet clad in climbing shoes, and ropes attached to their belts in case they were needed.

As Nicki had predicted, the ridge was thick with crags and handholds, and the cliff face angled out slightly, offering a gentler grade than straight down. Gravity was also on their side, allowing them to scramble more quickly than an upward climb would manage. As he’d seen before, Nicki proved to be a fast and nimble climber—better than him at discerning footholds and ledges. She went first and proved her value by calling out the path in a low, clipped voice. It took the guesswork out of the descent, and within a few minutes, they were hovering over a small stream.

“Not deep,” she said. “But the rocks could be slippery.”

Stefan peered down as well. “To the right?”

She nodded, and he noted the leaves and dirt tangled in her hair. She seemed completely oblivious to them as she glanced back at him and grinned. Then she was off the wall, dropping in a crouch with a small splash, making sure her feet were steady before she moved out of the small stream.

“That hurt like a bitch,” she laughed. “You hang down closer to the ground, and bend your knees more. There’s not enough water to give you any sort of cushion.”

He moved down quickly, following her direction. “You’re injured?”

“Eh, not really.” She was sitting on the grass, working off her shoes. She rotated her ankles and gave him the thumbs up. “Jarred me, that’s all. And thank God we’ve got dry socks and shoes. Because it’d be a long soggy walk back to the street otherwise.

They changed and headed out of the woods, but there was no denying that Nicki wasn’t moving as fast. “You
are
injured,” Stefan said as they cleared another stand of underbrush. They were in a shallow ravine behind a row of brightly painted cottages, but they could see a cobblestoned street above. “I should call a car.”

“You should shut up and let me get out of the forest. I’m fine,” Nicki said, her tone unusually tight. “Quit lagging. I need you to stamp down the brush or I’d set the pace.”

He turned back, not fooled by her vocal bravado. Her stride appeared steady, though, and they made it to the street quickly enough, then hiked toward the center of town. The moment Stefan saw a cab, he hailed it, despite Nicki’s protests. She wasn’t limping, but she was—off.

In the cab she leaned back against the seat, rolling her eyes as they set off. “I’m fine,” she said. “You worry too much.”

“It’s an occupational habit.”

She snorted. “For everyone but yourself, maybe.”

When they reached the hotel, she exited the vehicle with surprising speed and Stefan quirked a glance at her. “You’re better. That was fast.”

“I told you I was okay.” She grimaced down at herself as they stood on the front steps of their hotel. “But I’m not gonna lie. I’m a little gross. We totally just climbed through a garbage dump. You know that, right? Even if it was a really nice one.”

He laughed, gesturing her up the stairs. “I need a shower as well. And I can arrange for our medic to see you.”

“Oh for God’s sake, Stefan.” Nicki stamped ahead of him, clearly recovered, but with a speed that didn’t make sense to him. “I’m fine. I would tell you if I was hurt, and I’m not hurt. I’m good. I stink, but I’m good.”

“Perhaps.” Smiling at her groan, he watched her as she walked crossed the lobby and punched the elevator button. When they reached their rooms, he addressed the neatly outfitted guard who stood at attention inside Nicki’s room. “Any issues? Visitors?”

“No sir,” the operative said. “A sleepy day in Alaçati.”

“Good,” Stefan nodded as Nicki moved out of earshot, and focused on his man. The operative’s face had changed subtly.

“Everyone’s back aboard the yacht, sir, and ready for your orders. Tonight?”

“No,” Stefan said. “The official tour isn’t until tomorrow, and if we find anything in our recon, we’ll need to leave quickly. But unless I miss my guess, it will be tomorrow. You find out anything else?”

“We’ve pulled out of the parks and surveyed from a distance. It was as if we weren’t there. The squatters keep to themselves. They took the money and blankets and supplies, then vanished back wherever they came. I don’t think we’ll have any trouble there.”

“Good.” Stefan glanced back to the door that led to Nicki’s sleeping area. Nicki had already turned the shower on. “I need eyes on the excavation site, as much information as we can get. Security should be light—no more than three men, standard weaponry. If you see anything more involved, notify me immediately.”

Then man stepped away and Stefan secured the hotel door, then considered the second closed door between him and Nicki. Something was definitely unsettled about her, and he was determined to find out what.

Chapter Fourteen

Nicki closed the door on her bedroom and darted across the room, kicking off her shoes as she went. Two water bottles sat on the dresser, and she grabbed one and tilted it into her mouth. She was being silly. She was drinking enough, she knew she was. Her nerves were on overdrive, was all. She simply needed to chill out and stay hydrated.

A short knock sounded at the door. She froze.

“Nicki?” Stefan’s voice was cultured and aristocratic, and currently overlaid with a distinct tone of concern. And she didn’t want him concerned—not about her. Not when they were so close to doing something so cool.

“Yes! Yes, hang on.” She moved quickly over to the doorway. Today’s walk in the woods had been exactly as she’d imagined working with Stefan would be. They were partners, equals, since there weren’t any sophisticates standing around and no one was firing guns. She knew how to hike, and how to read terrain. She knew how to climb, too. The fall into the water had jarred her ankles, but it hadn’t hurt her. Not really. It simply had jammed the leg she’d broken in the damned bike accident four years back, and she’d had visions of traction in her head violent enough to make her dizzy. Once the dizziness had started, all the usual freak-out followed—
Was she having an incident? Would she be okay? Was this a heart attack of any sort?
And of course that kind of thinking invariably kicked up her heart rate. A vicious stupid cycle that she knew better than to—

She opened the door.

“Hi!” she said brightly. “Sorry, I was getting ready to take a shower.”

Stefan’s expression was solemn. “One of the finest features of this hotel is its master bath. They’re four times larger than typical Turkish hotel master suites, did you know that?”

Nicki blinked. “I—I didn’t know that,” she said, taking a step back though she hadn’t expected, hadn’t planned for him to follow her into her hotel room. But she could definitely roll with it. “I’m not sure my hotel room is as well-equipped as yours is, though. Maybe you should double check.”

Stefan took another step forward, shutting the door behind him. “I think that’s an excellent idea,” he said. “You can never be too careful with quality control.”

“I’ve heard that.”

He lifted his hand, smoothly pulling off his shirt, and she marveled once again at the perfection of his abs and pecs. He wasn’t muscle bound from a gym, and he wasn’t corded the way athletes were, but he was somewhere deliciously in between.

He kicked off his shoes, then reached for his pants. “Showers are usually improved if you take off your clothes,” he said. “You might want to catch up.”

“I—” Nicki reached for her shirt, but she stopped when he undid the clasp of his trousers, allowing them to fall to the ground. They didn’t get stuck on his smooth hips or muscled thighs, but fell in a micro-fiber whoosh. He stepped out of them, and padded toward her, working out of his boxer briefs as well.

“Now you’re really behind,” he said. “Maybe I should help you out.”

Nicki couldn’t move if she tried. Stefan stepped closer and pulled her shirt up over her head, then hooked his fingers underneath her sports bra. “How can you breathe in this thing?” he muttered. Nicki laughed and kept her arms raised, but as he lifted the bra to her biceps, trapping her arms, he left it there.

Instead he leaned forward and nuzzled her breasts with his face, holding her close when she would have flinched away. “I really need a shower, Stefan—”

“We’re getting there.” Leaving her to finish pulling off her bra, he sank to his knees, trailing his hands down her now-quivering abs. He flipped the tab loose on her pants and pulled them down along with her underwear, but when he would have leaned in for a kiss she stepped back.

“Race you,” she said, kicking off her pants and heading for the bathroom. Stefan gave her a head start, but there was only so much space in a hotel room, even one on the celebrated coast of Alaçati. Nicki squealed as he caught her one step shy of the shower, and he reached over her head, turning the spigots on full blast.

“You should never try to race me to water,” he warned. “I will always win.”

He crowded her into the shower as it heated up and she clung to him while he adjusted the temperature to something shy of boiling. The water pounded onto her back as his arms went around her, and she groaned at the competing sensations of man and hot water, surrounding her in a cocoon of comfort.

“Better?” he murmured, angling her head under the water enough to drench her hair.

“So much better,” she said. And it was. Her dizziness was gone, her heart rate was steady, and she felt rejuvenated despite the fact that she wasn’t precisely clean yet. Stefan laughed and turned into the stream of water as well, soaking himself as she reached for the shampoo—which he took out of her hands.

“Let me?” He asked the question as if she might say no, and she coughed a laugh.

“A hot naked man wants to wash my hair, you think I’m going to say no to that?”

“Any hot naked man?”

“Anyone I allow into my shower. And believe me, you…qualify.” She let her words trail off as Stefan massaged thickly luxurious shampoo into her hair, his fingers massaging her scalp then down her neck and over her shoulders.

“You’re hired,” she moaned. “For whatever cost you want. Please don’t stop doing that.”

His laughter rumbled behind her, and he slicked the soap through her hair—and his own, she vaguely realized. That done, he turned her in his arms and pulled her to him, the water cascading around them in a warm, sensuous haze.

“Better yet?” he asked.

“Infinitely, impossibly better yet.” Nicki was plastered against Stefan’s chest, the tilt of his shoulders protecting her from a direct hit of the blasting water, and his heat expanded around her, making everything safe. She sighed, and to her own ears it sounded a bit more intense that she intended.

Stefan apparently agreed. He shifted to look down at her, but she kept her head tucked against him a moment longer, until his hand touched her chin, lifting it up.

“You were injured in that ditch,” he said. “But you walked steadily after, no limp.”

Nicki nodded. Her heart didn’t skip a beat, though, her adrenaline didn’t fire up. Something about the lulling patter of the shower and the feel of Stefan’s arms around her made his questions concerned, but not intrusive, not dangerous. She knew what she needed to say to soothe his worries. To soothe her own. And she said it.

“I thought I tweaked my old leg injury. The biking one. That one had been super painful to come back from, and every time I stick a landing I react all out of proportion to the actual impact. It’s ridiculous, I know it’s ridiculous, but I can’t help myself.” She grimaced, knowing the words sounded accurate—because they were true. She was also being ridiculous about her possibly-maybe-never manifesting heart condition.

But that she couldn’t share with him. Not yet.

“And did you disturb the leg?” he asked. “Is it weaker?”

She shook her head, feeling safe enough to meet his gaze. “Not that I can tell. It may hurt tomorrow, but not much.”

He frowned. “You shouldn’t participate in the expo today.”

“Oh, that’s not going to be a problem,” Nicki said. “It’s on water, and I won’t be going at the speed of say, water skiing. Windsurfing can get dangerous, sure, but not here. The water is shallow and the winds aren’t crazy.”

“Would you know you were overdoing it before you actually injured yourself?”

She considered that. It was a good question, both for her heart and her leg. “I would,” she said honestly. “I’d feel the pain start up—if for some reason the wind is unusually bad or the currents tricky or whatever. I’d know I was heading into danger.”

He appeared to accept her response, and dropped a kiss on her forehead. The movement was so gentle that something quivered in Nicki’s chest. Something good this time.

Stefan reached out to the wall, turning off the faucets. “I think we should be doubly sure,” he murmured.

Stefan stepped out from the shower first, pulling a towel off the granite counter and shaking it out. He folded Nicki into it as she watched him, her entire body quivering with the need to dry herself off on her own, without his help. “This would be one of the times you need to follow my directions,” he said, softening his words with a smile. “Are you willing to give that a try?”