Page 81 of Casualties of War
“Thank you for telling me.” His gaze met hers.
Heat seared the length of her, stopping her heart and her breath. She hadnever in her life let down her guard while active—not until this moment, when she didn’t just let it down, she forgot where she was and everything about her mission.
All she knew was that Adán was looking at her with the heavy, speculative gaze she had only ever glimpsed a few times in the long years they’d known each other. He had kept it contained and hidden from her since that first nighton his new boat and the damn kiss that changed everything.
He’d come back into her life through Stuart. While he never showed by so much as a quiver she was anything but the wife of a business associate to him, sometimes she caught Adán watching her with this same heated look.
It had been in his eyes the last time she saw him, too. The day she forced herself to ask the question of him that hadhung between them since her divorce. She saw this expression in his eyes, even while he was telling her “no”.
It was a richly silent statement of lust and longing that made her knees weaken and her heart to stutter and her sleep to evaporate. She had spent wakeful nights trying to forget it and here it was again.
Parris realized with muted amazement that her back was to the tree. How had shegot here?
Adán leaned over her, his hand still planted against the trunk. “I want to kiss you,” he whispered. “It’s all I can think about.”
Her heart leapt joyfully. “I’ll kill you if you don’t,” she breathed.
His lips met hers and it was…oh, it was so good! She sighed into his mouth as his arm came around her and his body pressed against hers. Every inch of her throbbed in response.
How hadshe lived without this?
She breathed in his scent…she had forgotten how he smelled, only now it was as if she had always carried it with her. It was so familiar. She thrust her fingers into his thick, silky hair and leaned into him.
The touch of a breeze against her overheated cheeks shifted her focus from the delicious ache of her body and the touch of his, to externalities.
Reality crashedback with a force that made her jerk. “No. Adán. Stop,” she said.
Adán straightened with a snap and stepped away from her. “You’re right. Of course, you’re right. I shouldn’t have—”
“No, I let you,” she told him. “AndIshouldn’t have.” She glanced among the trees, taking stock, while she compulsively squeezed the grip of her gun. She had even forgotten she was holding it. How had she let herselfbecome so distracted?
“You should go back in,” she told him.
Adán cleared his throat. “I can’t. Not yet,” he said apologetically.
She forced herself to keep her gaze up. Her cheeks burned and her heart hurried a little more. “I can’t leave you alone out here,” she said, “so I can’t go first.”
He pushed his hand through his hair, the hair she had ruffled. She could feel the tickle of his locksagainst her fingers, still, making them tingle. “Firewood,” he said, his voice hoarse. “We can collect wood and take it back for them.”
She nodded stiffly. It would give them the moment they needed to find calm and reassemble their normal faces. She jammed the gun back in the belt clip. “You can collect. I’ll leave my gun arm free and watch your back.”
* * * * *
When Adán dumped the wood inthe middle of the circle, ten minutes later, he got a round of thumbs-up and handshakes.
No one looked at Parris at all as she settled on her mat and got back to work.
Nine hours later, at midnight, they left the cave and moved silently into the night.
Parris had precisely zero sleep.
* * * * *
Nicolás Escobedo arrived at the house shortly after dawn. Téra thought she was the only one tosee him arrive. He moved down the long jetty like a man walking the last mile to his execution.
Her heart stirred as she watched his progress through the window of Calli’s office. She didn’t know Nick well because he was a private man and because a war arranged everyone’s priorities for them.
One thing she had seen was his obvious love for his wife. He hid it well, especially if he thought anyonewas watching, although she had seen him follow Calli with his gaze and his expression soften.
