A freaking compass had nothing on Rafe’s gut. It always instructed him on which way to go, whether he needed to fight or lay low. Right now, it screamed that this mission had turned into a level of FUBAR that a truckload of fucking pixie dust couldn’t fix. Fucked up beyond all recognition. He needed to get Penny the hell out of this damn jungle. The sooner, the better.
Anyone could tell that the junior Fuentes was a branch off the sick-bastard family tree, and Rafe didn’t want the sick fuck anywhere near Penny when the entire tree snapped in half and came crashing the hell down.
He needed quiet. He needed to think. And the sight of Penny biting her lip raw the second they walked into their room told him he also needed to calm his shit down. It was easier said than done, something that had never been an issue until she kicked him in the balls that first time. Now, it took all his focus and then some to keep his head on the grand finale.
The second he blurted out his plan, Penny stopped biting her lip and gaped at him. “You’re insane.”
“It’s what we need to do,” he clarified. “It’s time.”
“Aren’t you the one who said we have to think about every single move we make? You’re not thinking about this, Rafe. You’re reacting.”
“Damn fucking straight I am, Red,” he growled out.
He closed the distance between them, already knowing he couldn’t be this close and not touch her. His hands slid over her hips and brought her flush against his body. Like a slow-moving storm, the wariness in her eyes turned to arousal. Every breath she took brushed her breasts against his chest.
With her warmth saturating his body, he felt as though he could do anything. “There is no way in hell we’re staying here a moment longer, not if it jeopardizes your safety.” He silenced her opening mouth with a finger. “No. Way. It’s non-negotiable, Red.”
“He doesn’t recognize me.”
“Yeah, and how long is that going to last?”
“What if you get caught? And I’m not talking about what Fuentes would do to us. But what would happen to all those other women…Carlotta…Rachel. If we disappear off the face of the planet, who’s going to fight for them?”
He gently trapped her face between the palms of his hands. “Nothing’s going to happen to us. And on the far, far-off chance we can’t make it to Rachel, the team will. Alpha doesn’t stop until we get the job done.”
“Rachel isn’t your job; Fuentes is.”
Fuck it all. He hated seeing the doubt on her face. The lack of trust hurt a hell of a lot more than he anticipated. Ducking to eye level, he forced her gaze to meet his.
“Rachel is our top priority,” he stated adamantly. “And you’re mine.”
Rafe could see in her eyes that she didn’t believe it, not entirely. If the great Admiral Kline wasn’t already gone, Rafe would be on the asshole’s front steps with a specially delivered package—his fist. Because of her father, Penny saw herself differently than Rafe did. Knowing he couldn’t stand her in front of a mirror and point out each and every one of her kick-ass qualities frustrated him to hell and back.
“We’ll get to Rachel,” Rafe heard himself promise. “And we won’t get caught.”
“You’re not a freaking superhero, Rafe. What if the power never goes out? Have you thought about that? No doubt Fuentes has this entire compound outfitted with surveillance, and if they don’t catch you in the act, what about the dozens of armed guards? Despite that hard body of yours, I doubt it’s bulletproof.”
He took her mouth in a fierce kiss. “It’ll work.”
And it wasn’t entirely because he knew his job and did it well. It was because there was no way in hell he’d put her into the position of having to fend for herself. Penny may not need it. Or want it. But she had his protection, and he couldn’t provide it if he was dead.
*
After Rafe accompanied Fuentes on a hunting expedition later in the day, the hours had trudged by as slow as molasses. Now that they were back and the sun was close to sinking behind the tree line, time zipped by way too fast for her jagged nerves.
When she botched a sixth attempt at a pedicure, she couldn’t take it anymore. She slipped into the steam-filled bathroom and ogled the nude outline of Rafe’s body.
Water rolled down his broad shoulders, landing in large splats as they fell off his tall frame. He hummed an unfamiliar tune as he scrubbed himself from head to toe, working up a lather and increasing the smell of spice and pine that started permeating the small space.
He hadn’t seen her yet.
Before thinking about it too much, Penny shed her clothes and slid back the door. The man was built like a god, a slightly roughened god with long-ago-healed battle wounds. And the naughty smirk on his face as he turned toward her, cock in hand, told her that he was a very observant one, too.
“About damn time you decided to join me.”
*