Chapter 22

Nyx felt Case's restlessness, had felt it since she woke. Bending over, she secured the notes in the backpack, concealing them behind the lining, and zipped up the bag. A careful search would find the papers, but it was the best option she had.

With the document taken care of, she braided her hair as quickly as she could. Case was going to have them on the move again and it would be in minutes, not hours.

After tying off the braid, she visually scanned the hut, making sure they hadn't left anything, but she and Case hadn't been here long enough to spread out. She watched him. He went from window to window, studying the surrounding area. Yes, they'd be leaving soon.

He came over to the table and stared at her without speaking. He was edgy, and that amped up her nervousness.

"What's wrong? What did you see?"

"Nothing, but my gut says it's time to move. How long will it take you to?—"

Nyx pulled on her hat, tugged the braid through the back, stood, and put on her pack. "I'm ready."

Case's lips curved. "Damn, if I'd known this was what it was like, I would have dated a chief's daughter before now."

He called this dating ? "Case, there is no one else like me." She stopped in front of him and tilted her chin up. "Bank on it." His smile broadened just a little. "Are we going?"

After putting on the helmet, he shrugged on his backpack, one he'd kept at the hut and reached for his assault rifle. "Oh, yeah, Fireball, we're leaving. Stay on my heels."

"Copy that. On your heels." It was repetitive, but Nyx understood why he gave the order each time. He wanted her to know what he expected of her. No mistakes. No confusion.

The going was rough. Case was in front of her blazing the path through the undergrowth and watching him was no hardship. Her thoughts drifted to their kiss. She'd never felt that excitement in the pit of her stomach before. The timing was inconvenient given the situation they were in, and even if they weren't neck deep in it, he was on an op and she was in Puerto Jardin for work.

She tried appreciating the beauty of nature to take her mind off the feel of Case's hard body pressed against hers. Late afternoon sunlight filtered through the leaves to the ground below, and while she'd rather not be trudging on foot, at least this time she could see where she was going which made it much better than last night.

High humidity caused sweat to stream down her face. Nyx used the back of her arm to brush it away from her eyes and worked on keeping up with Case. If she wasn't wearing long sleeves, her arms would have scrapes and cuts from the vegetation hitting her.

A machete would be handy, except that if someone found the hut, a machete would be as good as an arrow, pointing out the direction they'd taken. They were still leaving a trail, but it was less noticeable than chopping away the undergrowth.

She was getting desperate if she was weighing the benefits versus the risks of using a machete, but damn. Case moved with an athletic grace that captured her attention. Nyx bet he'd be smooth like that in bed, too. She wanted to test the hypothesis, and that made her focus more intently on her surroundings. There were goals to achieve first.

But would going to bed with Case really jeopardize her ambitions?

It was more than an hour later when he stopped them for a water break. "Your face is flushed." He handed her a bottle. "Drink slowly."

Nodding, she took the bottle and followed orders. After a few moments of sipping, he said, "You've been awfully quiet since we entered the rainforest."

"You didn't tell me it was safe to talk."

He went still for a moment, and then slowly nodded. "I need to stop underestimating you."

Nyx lowered her bottle. "I had a ton of dos and don'ts drilled into me, but there is a lot I don't know. Make sure you don't over estimate me."

Case nodded. "I'll keep assuming you need instructions. It's weird, though."

"What's weird?"

"People usually get angry when someone believes they're clueless. You not only didn't get mad, you told me to keep assuming you're ignorant." He gave her that one-shoulder shrug of his. "It's unexpected. You're unexpected."

"I'm not going to lie to you or pretend I know more than I do. Why would I? We're in a high-stakes situation, one that's potentially life or death. I'd rather you think I'm a dumbass than inadvertently do something that gets us killed."

His smile wasn't just a curve of his lips. "The more time I spend with you, the more I like you."

"Thanks." Nyx grinned back at him. "I like you, too."

Looking away from her, Case lifted his water bottle. Raising her own water, Nyx checked out the area ahead. From what she saw, this would be the worst stretch so far today. Hell, she'd probably end up taking fronds in her face no matter how careful he was to hold them for her. There were too many and it would slow them down too much if he tried.

"Where are we headed?" she asked.

"I'm not sure yet. Right now, I just want us as far away from the hut as we can get."

"Do you know where we are?"

His lips curved again. "Generally? Yes."

That made one of them. This wasn't like last night when she had some basic knowledge of her location and the stars to navigate by. Now she didn't know where she was in relation to any landmarks and the sun was out. If something happened to Case, she'd be in deep trouble. Without a phone or a compass, her only course of action would be to walk until she hit a river or a road.

Or the bad guys found her.

Despite the heat, Nyx shuddered. "Don't lose me in here," she said, voice thicker than she liked.

"On my heels, remember? I can feel you at my back. I'll know if you're not behind me. Trust me."

"I do trust you," she said without hesitation.

Instead of relaxing Case, her answer seemed to make him tense further. Nyx didn't ask. As beautiful as the rainforest was, it was also vast and deadly. There were venomous creatures, predators, and humans who were more dangerous than the first two.

"We need to get rolling," Case said.

Nodding, Nyx capped her water bottle. He didn't close his bottle or make any other motion that suggested they were moving again. Something seemed to be bothering him. Maybe he was trying to come up with a way to give her bad news?

"Nyx," Case said, meeting her gaze dead on.

She braced herself. His tone of voice was serious.

"I want you to know that despite that kiss getting out of hand earlier, you don't have to worry. I'm not going to force or coerce you into sex."

That's what he was concerned about? Nyx rushed to put him at ease. "Case, I know that. If I can trust you with my physical safety, I can trust you with my virginity."

There was an endless length of silence.

Well, shit. She hadn't meant to tell him that.

Case realized he was staring at Nyx, opened his mouth to speak, and then shut it again. He didn't have any idea what to say.

It took a moment for the shock to recede. As beautiful as Nyx was, she could have almost anyone she wanted. That meant she'd made a choice.

"Did something happen? Did someone try to hurt you?" That came out more fiercely than he intended, but Nyx didn't appear uneasy with his intensity.

"No, nothing like that." He was dubious and it must have showed on his face, because she added, "I promise."

"Did your dad scare everyone away?"

"My dad wasn't home often enough to be much of a deterrent. Although, he did teach me to take care of myself."

"Then why?"

"Maybe I just didn't meet the right guy."

There was a note in her words that Case read as flirtatious, but he wasn't making any assumptions. "There's more to it than that."

She tugged the brim of her cap down a fraction. "My reasons don't make any sense without the history and you're not going to want to stand here long enough to listen to all of that."

Case nodded. "You're right. We should be moving. You could tell me the details while we're walking."

"Why is it so important to you?"

Valid question. "You and I have been dancing around each other since we met. We haven't been able to act on it because of the circumstances, but the more time we spend together, the harder it is to resist the pull." Case looked away for a moment, before meeting her eyes again. "Do I need to know? Probably not. But your reasons are one more piece of the puzzle that makes up who you are, and you've had me intrigued from the beginning."

Nyx tilted her head, considering him, and then seemed to reach a conclusion. "We're headed in a direction that has me equally intrigued and uneasy at the same time."

"I'm not going to?—"

She cut him off. "I know you're not. I'm not worried about you. The pull between us is stronger than anything I've dealt with before. I'm worried about me."

Without commenting, he stowed his water bottle in his pack and reached out a hand. Nyx passed him hers and he put that away as well. "We can't stay here any longer. If you want to share your history, I'll be listening."

Case headed out, and Nyx was behind him within a couple of steps. It was a good ten minutes before she spoke. "The story isn't very interesting. You'll think it's much ado about nothing."

"I'm not going to judge you, Fireball. Your reasons are your reasons and they're legit no matter what they are." Case waited, but Nyx stayed silent. He let it linger.

It was at least another five minutes before she said, "My mom got pregnant her freshman year in college and dropped out to have my oldest sister. Her boyfriend did marry her, but he stayed in school while my mom worked to support them. They had a second baby, my other sister, a couple of years later. They'd originally agreed she would get to go to school after he graduated. Instead, they got divorced almost as soon as he received his diploma."

He wasn't sure what to say to that, but Nyx was clearly waiting for something. "That's rough."

"Husband number one was always iffy on child support payments. From what my mom said, she had a really hard time keeping a roof over their heads."

"No parental support?"

"No. Her parents pretty much disowned her when she got pregnant."

Case ducked to avoid a woody vine. "Watch your head."

"Husband number two was a mistake. Mom never said that in so many words, but I'm sure she feels that way. I think she believed he would stabilize her financial situation."

"Sounds like she was putting her two little girls first, making sure they had somewhere to live and food to eat."

"You're right." Nyx sounded surprised.

"Fireball, I grew up in a situation like that. Single parent, not enough money to keep food in the apartment. There were lots of nights I went to bed hungry. Your mom was looking out for your sisters and willing to sacrifice herself for them."

"I'm sorry you dealt with that."

"It was a long time ago," he said, keeping his voice cold to discourage questions. "Husband number two didn't stick, I take it?"

"No, they were divorced before my brother was born. Mom was leery after that. Then she met my dad. He had to woo her for weeks to even get her to agree to have coffee with him."

There was amusement in Nyx's voice and warmth, too. "They're still together, I take it?"

"Closing in on thirty years and going strong."

"But?"

"But I told you. Dad was Special Forces. Mom still couldn't go back to college because he was never home. There was always an op somewhere."

"And now she had a fourth child."

"Exactly, but at least she didn't have to worry about feeding or housing us."

Nyx went silent again and Case waited. And waited. Finally, he nudged her. "This is the history behind your why?"

Nyx's sigh was loud enough for him to hear easily. "Mom never regretted us. She made that clear. We were loved, but she did regret never being able to get her degree. She regretted not being able to pursue the career she always dreamed of. If she told me once, she must have told me a million times to chase my goals before finding a man. My goal is to get a PhD in geoarchaeology."

There was a downed tree ahead of them. They would need to go around it and he adjusted course. It also gave him time to think. Nyx said her mom told her to do what she wanted to do and probably told her that if she didn't, she might not ever be able to have the future she envisioned. Case was willing to wager that the advice had started when Nyx was small, maybe even too young to be in school yet. Was it any wonder that it had taken hold as a core belief?

"There's birth control, you know." The sun wasn't as bright and Case looked up to see rain clouds rolling in.

"I know. I have a contraceptive implant in my arm, just in case, but no birth control is one hundred percent effective."

If he wore a rubber and she had the implant, the odds against pregnancy would be astronomical. Case almost said it, but stopped before it came out of his mouth. Nyx had shared personal intel with him, and trying to talk her into bed was the wrong response. Besides, they weren't in a situation that allowed time out for a hookup.

He'd reached a decision at the hut. One his Fireball wasn't going to like. He was sending her back to Los Angeles. It was the only way to keep her safe.