Fatal Pursuit (The Aegis Series) (8 page)

He glanced at the clear blue water, then to the waterfall that dropped from a rock face fifteen feet above. The edge of the pool was nothing but sandy loam. No reeds, no water lilies, nothing for snakes or alligators—correction: caimans—to hide under.

A little of his anxiety eased. But his irritation kicked up once more when Marley slapped her hand against the surface of the water, sending spray all over him.

“Hey.” He jerked back and held out his arms. “What’s wrong with you?”

“Not a thing. Take your clothes off and get in. The water’s great. It’ll ease your grumpy mood.”

“I’m not grumpy.”

“Oh. My mistake. It must be caffeine withdrawal.”

His eyes narrowed. He couldn’t quite read her. Her smile was one of ease. And there was a playful glint in her eyes he hadn’t seen in a really long time. “Are you trying to get me naked, Addison?”

She rolled her pretty sky-blue eyes. “As if. No, I’m not one of your groupies. You stink, Ryder. I should know. I had to sleep next to you last night. If I have to spend the next few hours with you in this sweaty jungle, I don’t want to smell you.”

He shot her a look, which only made her laugh again. She turned her back. “I won’t watch. How’s that?”

That was good. Though a tiny part of him was disappointed that she’d turned around. Which totally made him frown because this was Marley. Not a woman he was the least bit attracted to romantically.

He glanced over the jungle, then looked at the pond and waterfall. She was right, it did look refreshing. And he was hot and sweaty and, yeah, grumpy as hell. And they
did
have a good long hike in front of them. A quick dunk would do wonders for his mood.

His frustration slid to the wayside. He bent over and unlaced his boots. “I don’t know how I let you talk me into this shit. If I get eaten by piranhas or a Komodo dragon, you’re in big trouble, Addison.”

“Komodo dragons live in Indonesia, not South America. But if one happens to miraculously bite you here, I’ve got a first aid kit.”

God, she was a smartass sometimes. But as he kicked off his boots and socks, tugged off his T-shirt, and reached for the snap on his pants, part of him was amused instead of annoyed. His gaze slid to her bare shoulder. Her toned, tanned, really sexy bare shoulder. “No peeking.”

“Don’t worry. I have to work with you every day. I don’t need to be scarred for life.”

He dropped his pants on the ground and waded out into the water, the silty bottom squishing between his toes. She was definitely right. The water was cool and felt damn good. He turned around and sank into the water backward, letting the clear liquid rush over his skin and bubble above his head.

When he came back up and shook the droplets from his hair, Marley was treading water feet from him, a wide smile on her pretty face. “See? Told ya.”

Had he ever thought she was pretty before? Probably. When she wore a new blouse to work, or did her hair differently, or when she really smiled, like she was doing now. But for the most part he tried not to notice. Though her filing system aggravated the hell out of him, and she rarely did what he wanted at the moment he wanted it done, she managed the ops with precision, she could hold her own with each of the guys in the company, and she rarely complained—at least not about the job. He’d never wanted to mess up their working relationship by noticing something as silly as her looks, so he’d never really tried.

Except, he couldn’t deny those looks now. As she dunked under the water and came back up, swiping her wet hair away from her face, he couldn’t stop looking. She wasn’t exotic like the last woman he’d dated, wasn’t flashy like most of the women he went for. She was pretty in that girl-next-door way he’d told himself he was never interested in. And as he watched the water slide down her temple and inch its way toward the corner of her plump pink lips, something in his belly heated.

She opened those sky-blue eyes and smiled his way. “Nice, huh?”

Jake drew in a sharp breath and inched back from her. “It’s okay.”

What the hell was wrong with him? Noticing Marley’s looks? Being turned on by her? Not good. Especially not with his history.

He turned around, glanced across the pond again, checking the edge of the pool and the water for any creatures. That, at least, kept his mind focused on something important and off the fact she was naked only inches away.

“So how is it you spent eight years as a SEAL and you’re afraid of the water?”

He glanced over his shoulder and huffed. “I’m not afraid of the water. Sea, air, and land. Kinda had to get used to all three during SQT.”

“What’s that?”

“SEAL qualification training.”

“Ah. Got it. But you clearly don’t like the jungle.”

He eyed the edge of the water. “I don’t have a problem with the jungle. It’s everything
in
the jungle I have issues with.”

She laughed. “You worry too much, Ryder.”

He turned to look at her. She was floating on her back in the water, her hair flaring around her head, the tips of her breasts skimming the surface.

Her very naked breasts.

He glanced quickly away and moved another foot in the opposite direction. The water was way too damn clear for his taste. Especially now, when that warmth he’d felt earlier was suddenly spreading lower.

She came back up and shook the droplets from her eyes before he had time to get to the edge of the lagoon and get the hell out. “Why did you leave the navy? I just realized I never asked before.”

Oh gee. There was a topic he did not want to dive into. Especially not now when they were both naked and she was way too close to touch. Because talking about the past was like a giant knife slicing open a wound that would just leave him wrecked and vulnerable.

“My body couldn’t take it anymore,” he lied. “Sucks to get old.”

She laughed and splashed water over her shoulders. “You’re hardly old. You’re what, thirty-six? And now that I’ve seen you without your shirt on, I know you’re just as built as the rest of the guys at Aegis. I’m sure you’ve got a few more years left before you get all senile and decrepit.”

Had she just implied she was checking him out? He turned in the water, watching as she ran her fingers through her damp hair, rinsing away the dirt and grime. A sliver of sunlight filtered through the canopy to highlight the different colors in her hair and make her skin glow, and though he knew he shouldn’t look, he couldn’t seem to tear his gaze away. If he didn’t know who she was and had just stumbled across her in this pool, he’d think she was a water sprite, or a mermaid, or a forest nymph out for a quick dip. Yes, she was that fresh, alluring girl-next-door, but she was also confident and sexy, and that didn’t just make her pretty, it made her drop-dead gorgeous.

That warmth in his belly spread down into his groin, making him hard and hot and achy.

She opened her pale-blue eyes and glanced his way. “Oh, I forgot to tell you. Before I—as you so eloquently call it—stole your plane, I sent that paperwork to the realtors.”

“Realtors?” Why hadn’t he ever noticed that spray of freckles along the bridge of her nose? The tiny little light-brown dots that seemed to dance across her olive skin, making it that much more alluring.

Because she usually wore reading glasses at the office, he realized. And because he’d never let himself take a close look like he was doing now.

“For the properties we talked about. The ones you haven’t shown any interest in since your father passed. They should all be listed within the next week or so.”

Just the mention of his father dampened his arousal and slingshotted his mood back to dreary. He blinked, looked away from her and out over the water, then blinked again. Before his death, Linus Ryder had cultivated quite the portfolio of land all over the world, most of which Jake had never seen. Real estate had been his father’s one true love, and now, even four and a half years after his death, Jake was still trying to unload a good chunk of disgustingly ornate homes he had no interest in visiting—most out west where his father had spent the last years of his life schmoozing with celebrities and girls half his age in an attempt to stay young.

“That’s good.”

“I didn’t mean to bring up your dad,” she said quietly. “It just popped into my head when I was thinking about you not liking the jungle and how good it is that you don’t have a house here you’re trying to sell.”

Marley knew Jake held no love for his late father, but she didn’t know exactly why, and right now it wasn’t a topic Jake felt like diving into. Especially not when just looking at her was short-circuiting his brain and making him think about things other than what they were really doing in this jungle.

He flashed her a smile, one that didn’t come close to reaching his eyes, and moved for the edge of the pool. “It’s fine. And you’re right. This would be a shitty place to own a house. We should get going before it gets too hot.”

“We’re near the equator, Jake. It’s
always
hot here.”

She was right. But unfortunately, he was too hot near her. And being naked here in the water with her wasn’t helping.

A fat raindrop hit his nose. He looked up toward the canopy but couldn’t see more than layers of green. “All right, let’s go before a giant alligator thinks we’ve taken over his home. Turn around again, Addison. I don’t need you ogling my naked ass.”

She laughed once more, the sound like a soft breeze. “They’re called caimans.”

“They can be called chompers for all I care. Same damn thing to me.”

He climbed out and dressed. After pulling on his pants and shirt, he sat on a log and laced his boots. Another droplet hit his forearm. He glanced up again but still couldn’t see any clouds through the dense canopy.

“Are you just gonna sit there, or are you going to leave so I can get out?” Marley asked.

“Shy all of a sudden?” He looked over at her. “You weren’t shy ten minutes ago when your nipples were sticking out of the water.”

Her eyes widened. “What?” She swam toward the edge of the pool and slapped her hand against the surface, sending water spraying all over him. “
You could see my nipples?
Why didn’t you tell me?”

Laughing, he jerked off the log and moved out of her splash zone. “Watch it. It’s so humid in this jungle my clothes won’t dry out if they get wet. Besides, you’re the one who said the water was clear. All I was doing was checking for predators.”

“I’ll show you a predator,” she mumbled. But there was no heat in her adorably annoyed look. “You’re still here, idiot.”

“Okay, okay. I’m going.” He held up his hands and turned. “You win.”

Just before he passed a palm that would block his view of her and the pond, he glanced over his shoulder. “They were nice nipples, though.”

“Oh my God.” Her eyes flew wide. “That’s sexual harassment, Ryder!”

Feeling ten times better than he had in days, Jake laughed and headed back toward their makeshift camp. “Only if you can prove it, Addison.”

He might be a moody pain in the ass sometimes, but Marley didn’t mind Jake tagging along as much as she’d originally thought.

After breaking camp, they’d spent the next two hours picking their way through the jungle on their way to Bruhia. Jake had let her take the lead, and as Marley used the machete to chop palms and brush out of their way, she thought back over his teasing at the waterfall.

A silly smile toyed with the edges of her lips. She kinda liked him when he was in a good mood. When he wasn’t grousing and nagging, he was actually funny and easy to be around. She’d even consider the nipple comment flirting if it had come from anyone but Jake, but she knew he wasn’t interested in her. Interested in annoying her, sure. Interested in frustrating her, absolutely. But not interested in her romantically. Not even close.

Her smile faded. A little of her good mood ebbed. She hacked at a palm frond and shoved it out of her way. It wasn’t like she wanted him to flirt with her. God no. That would just muck things up since they worked so closely together at Aegis. But, really. She’d seen some of the women he went out with, and she knew she was just as attractive and way smarter than all of them put together. So why on earth would he flirt with them and not her?

“Careful, Addison,” Jake said at her back. Too close at her back. What was he, breathing down her neck? “You’re hacking at those branches erratically. Sure you don’t want me to take over?”

“I said I’ve got it.”

“Oookay,” he drew out. “Just trying to help.”

Marley blew out a breath, hating that he had this innate ability to get her worked up even when he wasn’t trying to annoy her. This was Jake. Her boss. Not a guy she even
wanted
to flirt with her. So what was her problem? She shoved another palm aside and kept moving,

“So this boyfriend,” Jake said casually behind her. “Is he the only one?”

Marley stopped and turned, blinking in surprise. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“It means, I just think I should know if there’s one, or more than one, or if you’ve got a string of guys in various countries I should be worried about.”