He crinkled his nose and twisted his mouth. “All right, what if I told you Vautour already made it to the Cidade da Lua?”
“Then I’ll want to find it to assess the damage. Try again.”
His eyes narrowed at her, then, like a light had flickered, he perked up. “What if—”
With a swift movement, Miri stepped forward, placing her index finger on his lips. “Just stop.”
While her shushing quieted him, a cacophony of warnings sounded in her head. His body was close. Almosttooclose, aside from the fact thatherbody quite liked it. His gaze homed in on hers as their bodies shifted, placing her between him and the doorframe. She leaned her back against the wood, staringup at him with her palms now on his bare chest, open but giving no resistance. His stance with one arm overhead on the doorjamb and one hand holding her waist was the opposite of cooling things off. Miri was hot.Redhot. But not as warm as his skin upon her hands.
The air between them was thick with tension, making it hard for Miri to breathe. They stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity. Questioning. Waiting. Challenging the other to make a move. Miri no longer cared that she could smell the booze seeping from his skin, because beneath it, she could smellhim. Raw. Desirous. She wanted to bathe herself in his scent, spend the entire day in his cabin melding her body into his until they became one. Fuck it all and sink into his heavenly abyss, not caring whether it was morning or night, Monday, Thursday, or whatever the hell day it might be.
Which is exactly why she needed to pull away.
“This isn’t quite what I had in mind when I said we needed to cool things off,” Miri said, almost breathless.
“Oh really?” His husky voice titillated her core. She fought to keep her hips from bucking against him. “Because all I was going to say was what if I told you the two point five million species of bugs in the Amazon were all descending upon us at the same time?”
He flashed that killer smile at her, the one that sent a delightful prickling sensation dancing over her skin, and they both burst out laughing. She buried her head in his chest, soaking him in as he brought her closer to his body, holding her tightly in his arms. His touch felt so natural. So familiar. God, why did she have to meet him here? Why now, on the very gig her career depended upon?
Long after their laughter subsided, they still held on to eachother. Almost like they knew that letting go would be twofold. She wrapped her hands around to his back as he caressed hers with a soft, soothing motion. Words unspoken. Hearts pounding. His gentle strokes the most sensual thing Miri had ever experienced, making it hard not to want more.
“I wish you were wearing pants,” she said.
“I wish you weren’t,” he responded.
She chuckled and closed her eyes for a moment before finally letting go. “This probably isn’t helping,” she said, backing away and resting against the railing opposite Rafa and the door.
“No, probably not.” He folded his arms and leaned against the doorjamb. God, it was effortlessly sexy, triggering every single one of Miri’s biological buttons.
“Have you done this before? Hooked up with someone on a job?”
“I wouldn’t say we’ve hooked up, but no, I’ve never done this. And we probably shouldn’t.”
“No, probably not,” she said, letting her head drop a fraction of an inch before bringing it back up again. “And why not, exactly?” The uncertainty carried through her voice.
His eyebrow quirked up. “Why not? Are you trying to convince me or yourself?”
Me. Definitely me.
“Both of us, I suppose.”
Rafa sighed. “Look, Pringles. I like you. A lot. I think that’s pretty obvious right now…”
Miri couldn’t help but glance at his boxers, andoh boy. It was obvious, all right. So apparent that she had a hard time averting her eyes.
“But is this,” he continued, motioning between their bodies,“going to get in the way of what each of us came out here to do? Because I’m not sure if we can accomplish our individual goals with this…distraction.”
Yep. That’s what she thought.Sigh.
“So then how are we going to make this work? Ourworkingrelationship that is,” she asked.
“I don’t know. What do you have in mind?”
“I want you to stop trying to convince me to leave,” she said.
“Nope. I can’t do that. Not when I think you’re in danger by staying here.”
She sighed again. “Fine. But you can’t meddle with my team.I’mresponsible for them, not you.”
