Hush (31 page)

“You? Me?”

Yes and yes
. “Didn't you find what you needed?” she asked, tucking her hand around his bicep. She'd never been big on PDAs, but with Zak she was afraid that public displays of affection could easily become the norm.
When he touched her, everything and everyone else disappeared.

“Got a computer,” he told her easily as he started walking. “Sent it back to the hotel. Here, hold this.” He handed her a small white bag with the familiar Apple logo on it. “I got you a phone. It's fully charged, and has my number and the concierge's number at the hotel. I also programmed in the numbers of my partner, Anthony Buckner, and my personal assistant, Debra McGuire, in Seattle. If, for any reason, we get separated, or you need anything while we're here, contact Deb first.”

They
were
going to be separated. Soon they'd go their own ways. She doubted Zak would want her to contact his office
then
. “Thanks for the phone.” Acadia removed the iPhone from the bag, sliding it into an outside pocket of the purse she'd just bought, the strap secured across her body. Plenty of pickpockets in Caracas.

She fought off a pang of separation anxiety. Despite the danger and uncertainly these last few days, she'd never felt so alive, or had so much fun, ever. Even if the fun was fraught with danger and mayhem. And no matter how much Zak protested about not being a hero, she trusted him with her life.

AFTER A LEISURELY LUNCH,
Zak took Acadia back to the bank, where he secured a cash advance for her. It was unnecessary for her to know that the banker, Landro Méndez, did so only on Zak's signature. She was an
unknown entity with no identification, whereas Zak had done business with Méndez on several occasions and had dined at his home on his last visit. Gideon had hauled Zak's ass on a trip to climb Pico Bolívar, in the northernmost reaches of the Andes Mountains, six weeks after Jennifer …

It had been too soon, the trek and subsequent climb, not nearly challenging enough for the way Zak had felt at the time. He'd spent the entire trip in a morose silence, although God only knew he appreciated his brother's attempt to distract him when he thought about it later.

Jesus, Gideon.
Where the fuck
are
you?

Méndez offered Zak the use of his car, which he'd accepted gladly. Renting a vehicle without identification, while not impossible with the right bribes, would have been time-consuming. And Zak could all but feel time, like an hourglass, running out around him. The scrolling numbers hadn't stopped, even after a few hours' rest earlier this morning. They didn't change. They didn't speed up. They didn't slow down. Zak was almost getting used to the monotonous intrusion, except that something about them seemed … critical.

Acadia settled back in the luxurious black leather seat of the borrowed Mercedes, clicking the seat belt across her lap. “Back to the hotel?”

“No,” he told her, voice grim, jaw clenched with tension as he pulled into a break in the traffic. “I need your expertise. I'm taking you to your home away from home.”

Zak had been on the phone with the hotel five minutes before. Gideon was still MIA, although Carina had
Gideon's room ready, with clean clothes and a doctor on call in case Gid needed one. Zak had given her both his and Acadia's cell numbers and instructions to call the second his brother showed up.

Zak had a bad feeling. Gid shouldn't be taking this long to get to Caracas unless something had gone drastically wrong. He gave Acadia a quick glance as he wove through the traffic, noticing how the silky fabric of her dress separated across her thigh as she crossed her legs. “What are you wearing under that dress?”

“The appropriate underwear. Why?”

His fingers tightened around the leather-covered steering wheel. “Take off your panties.”

“There's a bus right next to us.” But she didn't say no.

“Now.”

“We'll never see those people again, right?” She slid the skirt of her dress up higher, exposing a mouthwatering length of smooth, lightly tanned skin. She leaned against his arm and lifted one cheek to hook her thumbs into what Zak fleetingly saw was a sheer scrap of aqua. There wasn't much of it, and his dick stood to attention as she arched her back to slide the panties down her legs.

“Happy?” She stuck the wisp into her purse.

“I like knowing there's nothing between what I want and where I want it,
when
I want it.”

“Well, you aren't getting it driving seventy miles an hour in traffic, Mr. Stark.”

“But I know how much you enjoy being well prepared in case of emergency.”

She laughed. “You think sex is an emergency?”

“With you? Yeah. Knowing that you're in commando mode again will keep me motivated until we get back to the hotel.”

She settled back into her seat and recrossed her legs, letting the dress slide all the way against her body, not exposing anything, but firing Zak's imagination so that he almost drove into a pickup truck filled with pigs as his libido went haywire.

Twenty minutes later, Acadia was in her element, in the sporting goods store. She dragged him around for one circuit, then got a cart. “Surely you won't walk back into the jungle alone?” she asked as they waited for a clerk to go in back and return with ammunition for the weapons Zak had loaded into the cart, with no questions, no ID required. “It's too dangerous, Zak. Especially while you're still healing.”

“Buck's sending a security team with jungle experience. They'll be here tonight. Can you locate a map while I'm waiting?”

Acadia went off in search of a topographical map of Canaima National Park. He watched her stride off, filled with confidence and high energy. God, she was hot and so sexy in that dress, with her long legs and high heels, he practically had to wipe the drool off his face. Knowing that she was bare under that thin layer of fabric made his heart pound and his pulse race.

She was sweet and honest and funny and peppery and sassy. He knew the taste and texture of every inch of her body, and just looking at her bare ass lovingly outlined in chocolate-colored silk made him hard. Her sunny blond
hair was loose down her back, and looked as shiny and soft as it felt when he crushed it in his fingers.

Damn. If only they'd met in another time and place … if only he'd been a different person.

The clerk returned with his arms laden with boxes of ammo. Zak piled them in the cart, then checked the list Acadia had jotted down in the car. With each selection he prayed that he was wasting his money. That Gid would be back at the hotel, waiting impatiently for him to show up.

But if that were the case, Carina would have called him.

A few minutes later, Acadia handed him a folded map and dumped an armload of khaki into the cart on top of the boxes. “SCOTTeVESTs for both of us. Very handy in the jungle, as you know.”

Zak's heart ricocheted into his throat, and unexpected fear tasted unfamiliar and unwelcome in his mouth. He stepped right into her personal space and grabbed her arm. “You're
not
going with me.”

Acadia put up both hands. “Down, boy. You're damn right I'm not.” She flattened her palms on his chest, so he shifted out of her way. A place he'd very much have liked to stay in if they hadn't been in the middle of rows and rows of weapons and pup tents. “But you owed me a new vest. I'm collecting.”

Zak opened his mouth.

“Sshh!” She pinched his lips closed with two fingers. “
One
vest. Not a dozen.” She pulled the list from her pocket. “Okay, what else do we need? I'm starting to get hungry again.”

He was hungry, too. He wanted his mouth on her, and his hands on her, and then he wanted to bury himself to the hilt in her hot, wet, silky heat.

Pretending to be oblivious to his thoughts, she was an efficient drill sergeant, collecting things Zak thought he might need, vetoing things she knew were inferior products and unnecessary because she'd found something that did the job of three. She certainly knew her stuff, and saved him time as well as weight as she loaded the cart with essentials.

They were soon on their way back to the Gran Meliá in the late-afternoon commuter traffic, which was slow going. Zak checked his phone to see if either Buck or, please God, his brother had called. Neither had. He stuck the phone back in his pocket. “Hotel or restaurant for dinner?”

“Hotel. You'll want to be there when your brother arrives. We can work on your number thing, and go over the map to pinpoint where the guerrillas held us.” She paused to give him a sultry smile. “Then you can indulge all those fantasies you've been having all afternoon.”

“While shopping for supplies?” he asked, pretending puzzlement.

“True,” Acadia murmured. “
Most
inappropriate. I'm sure you didn't consider sliding your hands under my dress to fondle my bottom when I bent down to look at the hunting knives in that case back there. I'm positive you didn't calculate to the last nanosecond how quickly you could untie this one little bow at my waist to get
this dress off me. Or wonder if my new bra was as sheer and pretty as these.” She twirled the postage-stamp-size thong under his nose. “I'm positive none of that crossed your mind at all.”

He shot her a feral smile, because she was dead-on, and there'd been plenty more one-second inspirations all afternoon. “
Nervous
, Miss Gray? Because you're going to have to run like hell when we get to our floor. I'm not sure we'll make it to the room before I see for myself.”

“Oh. Did I forget to mention I talk a lot when I'm so hot I'm about to explode without your help?”

“Spread your legs,” he ordered thickly as he pulled into the tree-lined parking lot adjacent to the hotel.

“Absolutely not!”

“It'll stop you from coming without me.”

She eased her knees apart and he could smell her musky warmth. “Don't touch me, Zak,” she grumbled, voice strained. “I mean it, I'm hanging on here by a thread.”

HAND IN HAND THEY
raced into the suite, slamming the door behind them. It was dusk, the sky outside the panoramic windows a deep indigo, sparkling with city lights. Acadia barely noticed the heap of packages on the coffee table as Zak stripped off his clothes and hauled her through to the bedroom at warp speed. They'd paused, barely, before coming to the suite, to check in with Carina in person and inquire again if Gideon had arrived while they'd been out. He hadn't.

“I'm going to take a shower,” she said breathlessly, laughter bubbling up inside her as Zak flung himself naked on the bed and motioned her with one finger and a cocky smile to come to him. God, he was irresistible, though she saw the pain in his eyes, and the worry he was doing his best to hide. And even with that, this was the most relaxed she'd seen him since they'd met, what felt like a lifetime ago, in a small, noisy cantina.

“I'll shower with you.” He caught her hand and gave a little tug. “Later.”

“I'm hot and sweaty.”

Not smiling, he tugged a little harder. “And about to get a lot hotter and a hell of a lot sweatier. Put your knee right here.” He patted the mattress beside him with his free hand, and winced as if his shoulder hurt.

“You're going to tear out your stitches if you aren't careful.”

“Then you'll have to do the heavy lifting.” He exerted a little pressure on her hand, and Acadia bent her leg and rested her knee beside his hip.

“All things considered, I've already done all the heavy lifting, Stark.” She smiled, her body practically vibrating with anticipation. The sight of his hard body laid out for her viewing pleasure made her throat close and her lungs tighten. He was fully, impressively erect, lying there like some sort of pagan god waiting to be serviced.

“I've
been
your
hero for days on end,” she told him sternly, her nipples hard beneath her clothes. Moisture pooled between her thighs as she looked down at him. “You should be parading around naked and feeding me
peeled grapes in gratitude for being so resourceful, so helpful, so ably equipped to repeatedly saving your life.”

“So true,” he told her soberly and, she saw on his face, with utmost sincerity. “I am naked, but not parading at the moment. However”—he gave her a wicked smile—“I plan on repaying you by being your sexual slave for many glorious hours. Then I'll order a
vineyard
of grapes as soon as we're done, and we'll start on fulfilling your every fantasy. Swing your leg all the way over.” His voice was rough, slightly uneven.

Her body blocked him from the city lights shining in through the window, turning most of him into a forbidding shadow.

Acadia gave him a stern look. If he touched her right then, even the lightest of touches, she'd go up in flames. “You are completely out of your mind, do you know that?”

The wicked grin widened. “Do it.”

Acadia straddled his narrow hips, but didn't sink down on his erection. She folded her arms under her breasts and scowled fiercely. The man was certifiable.

He motioned to the bow at her waist with his chin, holding her gaze with his own. “Untie that.”

The skirt of her dress pooled on the mattress around her hips, but under the dress she was bare, and exquisitely aware of it.

She'd felt naughty and bold and delicious sexy all afternoon, knowing that he knew she was naked under the perfectly proper dress. His thick penis stroked her inner thigh.

After a few moments of nonverbal, eyeball-to-eyeball communication, she tugged slowly at one end of the sash and the bow fell apart.

“God.” Zak closed his eyes as if in pain. “You mean that's all it would've taken this afternoon to get you naked?”