Mission Made For Two (21 page)

Jake stalked back to her and stopped in front of her, crowding her personal space. 
“The longer you stand here arguing with me, the closer Diaz’s men are getting.
  I’m not leaving you by yourself.  We’ll get the bag to Trent. Together.”

Their gazes locked and held. Her chocolate brown eyes spitting frustration and stubbornness. It didn’t matter because she’d met her match on stubbornness. This was something Jake wouldn’t bend on.  Never leave a man behind. That was the Marine way. That was his way. 

“
Fine.”
  She stomped around him.  “Let’s go.”

He stopped her and gave her the pistol, which she stuck in her waistband at her back.  The rifle he slung over his shoulder.  The knife he strapped onto his leg. The grenade
and the extra ammo,
he put in the backpack.  It wasn’t a lot of defense against fourteen heavily armed men, but it was better than nothing. “You tell me when you need to stop.”

He moved past her and they headed out.
 
Considering how angry she was at him, h
e wondered if h
e should be worried that he’d given
her a loaded pistol
. 

~***~

Sierra was sucking wind and trying to keep moving.  They’d
covered probably half the distance they needed to. The ground was slick in places, making it harder to walk. The terrain had also gotten
hillier
.  In top form, Sierra would have no problem keeping up, but she needed rest. 

Problem was
,
she didn’t know how to admit defeat. She’d come as close as she could when she’d told Jake to leave her.  Part of her couldn’t help but be warmed by the fact he’d refused. 

She was used to people leaving her or letting her down.  The only place she’d ever really felt a sense of family was at the agency.  But even that had its limits. None of them really socialized outside of work. They couldn’t.  It was better to keep their identities separate.

She was easy, because she had no family to miss her when she was away. 
No one to care if she didn’t come home.
 

Jake pulled up suddenly.  Sierra almost ran into him.  “What is it?  Do you see something?”

He turned. “No. But I think we’ll stop here and camp for the night.”

“Don’t stop on my account,” she said, but it was all bravado.  Jake knew it too. 

He frowned.  “Your face is pale
and you’re sucking wind like you just finished a marathon.  We’re stopping.  There’s a little outcropping of rock over there.” He nodded to their right and Sierra saw what he meant.  “It isn’t much, but it’ll give us a little shelter.”

Sierra looked behind them.  “How far back do you think Diaz’s men are?”

“Not far, but I’m suspecting they aren’t moving very fast. They don’t care if they catch us, they just don’t want us doubling back. They’re basically herding us toward Cotuit.”

“Where they no doubt have more men waiting for us.”
  Sierra grimaced. “Nice.”

Jake took her hand and a little electrical jolt went up her arm.  You’d think that as tired as she was and as crappy as she felt, there would be no way for anything
to stir her body’s
libido.  Not to mention the fact that she and Jake both desperately need a bath.  But here she was feeling a shot of lust from the simple act of Jake taking her hand.

He led her t
o
the rock. There was just enough light left for her to get a good look around. No snakes, w
hich was good. She didn’t think
s
he could handle any more emotional
upheaval
at the moment.  “Why don’t you
rest?  I’m going to see if I can find some water? There’s not much left in the canteen.”

Sierra nodded.  Jake looked at her a moment longer, she was sure he was waiting for her to argue. But she didn’t have the strength.

Sierra lowered to the ground and leaned against the rock.  It felt good to sit.  They’d stopped only once on their trek, to eat and for her to take more aspirin.  She was pretty sure her fever had broken.  Her skin didn’t feel all prickly, but she was soaked with perspiration from the humid air. 

Jake reappeared in front of her.  He held out his hand. “Come on. I have a surprise.”

“What is it?” she asked as she let him help her up.

He smiled and led her around the rock.  Behind it was a small, clear stream.  Probably the same stream they’d walked in when they’d first entered the forest. 

“Thought you might like to clean up a little.”

Sierra sighed.  “You do know how to charm a girl.”

That got a chuckle out of Jake. She liked hearing him laugh.  She didn’t think he’d laughed much since he’d lost Katherine.  Guilt and anger tended to rob you of your sense of humor.  

Sierra didn’t waste time. She pulled her tee shirt over her head, shucked her pants
and walked into the water
with
a pair of panties
and her bra
on.  The water
came to her thighs.  She knelt, figuring it might not be the best thing to get her wound wet with the creek water, but she splashed water over her face and chest.

She heard splashing and looked up to find Jake beside her. He’d s
hucked his pants and shirt also.  He was gloriously naked except for a pair of black boxer briefs.  Muscles rippled across his hard chest.  H
e was holding the ugly red shirt she’d
had on yesterday.  He dipped it in the water and handed it to her.
“Thought you might want to scrub some.”

His deep voice was husky. Their eyes met and held.  Heat simmered in his gaze.

Sierra took the shirt and used it to wash away the grime from the last day. The water was cool and refreshing.  She looked back at Jake as she stood and used the
shirt to wash down her legs.  Jake’s gaze tracked her every move.

She tossed him the shirt when she was through.  Despite the cool water, her body heated.  She walked to the edge and sat down, enjoying the view as he moved.  The man was beautiful.
And dangerous.
 

Her feelings were becomi
ng more complicated than ever.  The care and concern he showed her. The way he’d looked when he’d killed the guard who’d attacked her.  He had a protective streak a mile long. 
But, she
didn’t need protecting. 

If she were ever to have a relationship beyond the physical, she wanted to be on equal footing. She didn’t need a protector. She wanted someone who could respect who she was.
Could respect her independence.

He’d said he’d never use her weaknesses against her, but that wasn’t human nature.  People always used your weaknesses against you.   They might not mean to, but they did.

She and Jake were like oil and water.  He wanted to be in control and she didn’t want to be controlled. It was hard to imagine anything long term between them, despite the chemistry that clearly existed.

Still, that image of him at that farmhouse persisted in her head.

It was still dark when Jake opened his eyes.  Sierra was snuggled against his chest, cradled in his arms.  They were propped against the rock base.  Not the most comfortable bed, but he’d slept under worse conditions.

And without the feel of a warm female body against him.
  She’d slept like the dead.  He watched her for awhile, noticing how vulnerable she looked
in sleep. Probably the only time she let her guard down.

He thought about how she’d grown up. 
Always looking over her shoulder.
Waiting for someone to exploit her weaknesses.
  He was screwed up enough and he’d had a stable home life.  It was amazing she was as normal as she was.

That is if you called normal, jumping
fearlessly
into t
rouble with both feet
.  It was hard to hold that against her though. She was competent, smart and loyal.

And so damn beautiful, she stopped the breath in his lungs.  Watching her in the creek last night had lit his blood on fire.  If it wasn’t for the fact they were in the middle of jungle with a contingency of very bad men chasing them and she’d been running on empty, he would have pulled her to him and buried himself inside her warm body.

Bad.
Very bad.
  He shouldn’t be feeling the things he felt.  It was dangerous and stupid.  And everything he’d sworn not to feel again. Not for a fellow agent. And not for someone like Sierra, who was compulsive and fearless.

He felt her stir.  She pushed off his chest and sat up. 
She shoved her hair off her face and yawned.  “What time is
i
t?”

“Almost dawn.”

“Give me a couple of minutes and I’ll be ready to go.  We still have a lot of ground to cover today.”

“How do you feel?”

She smiled. “Better actually.  I think my fever is gone.  I think
Ms. Grayson was right and
I’m too mean to get an infection.”

Jake sho
ok his head. “It wouldn’t surprise me where you’re concerned
.”

They stood and each headed in different directions.  Five minutes later, they’d eaten a protein bar, downed some water he’d treated with the purification tablets and were on their way. Everything seemed quiet behind them. 

But like he’d told Sierra yesterday, Diaz’s men were probably just herding them to the open.  He really hoped
F
lores had gotten his message. His friend would have enough man power to help them out.  If not, then they were probably screwed.

~
***~

Wispy cl
ouds glided across the afternoon
sky.
 
Sierra knelt behind Jake. 
They’d traveled
at least eight
hours, having to cut around a large lake they’d run into. But now t
he trees had thinned and the town was in sight. 

“What do you think?”
Sierra asked.  If Diaz’s men were waiting to ambush them, they weren’
t anywhere in sight.  Of course, she hadn’t really expected them to be. 

Jake looked at her.
“We wait here until
it’s
completely dark.”

“What about your
friend?”

Jake sighed.  “He could be out of town for all I know.  But I think if he’s able
, he’ll help us
.”  He put his bag down and pulled out his cell phone.  “
I don’t have any coverage.”

Their perch was at the top of a small slop
e.  She looked down on the
town.  “I doubt these people have much need for mobile phones.”

“I didn’t think things would be easy.”

She grinned and leaned against a tree.  “That would take all the fun out of it.”

Jake grunted, but a small smile played about his lips.  He was a good-looking man without any help.  When he smiled, he was devastating.  She wished he’d do it more often.

“We could
always make out
while we wait,” Sierra said and arched an eyebrow.
“I’m feeling much better today.”
She was ribbing him, trying to make him smile again.  Her words had the opposite
effect
.

He touched a hand to her cheek. “Don’t tempt me.”

“And why
not?
  Not to give you a bigger head than you already have, but you’re a pretty good kisser.”

He shook his head and the smile returned to his sexy mouth.  “You’re incorrigible.”

“But I made you smile.  Something you don’t do very often.”

Leaning closer, he placed his mouth beside her ear.  “You make me do a lot of things I rarely do, Sierra.”

His voice was low and husky, his breath warm against her neck. 

Goosebumps peppered her skin, sending a pleasant tingle through her nerve endings.  Sierra turned her head and pressed her lips to his.  He hesitated only a second, before his hand moved to cup her neck and his tongue worked
its
magic.

Amazing that wh
en they were lip-locked
, she didn’t feel the slightest discomfort from her side.
  He was better than
Vicaden
.

She would give anything to be somewhere they could tak
e this kiss to the next level. 
A nice clean comfortable hotel room.
  Soft sheets, soft
er
bed and nowhere they had to be in the near future.

The kiss ended and
with it, her wishful thinking.

“We need to keep our guard up,” Jake whispered and
took one step back.

Sierra sighed and tu
rned to look back at the town
, settling in to wait.