Page 78 of Rio

“You had the foresight to bring that?”I’m impressed.

“I didn’t.Thank your boss.”

“Alma is a legend.”

He starts taking things out of the bag and setting it on top of the crates.“This is going to save us,” he says, rubbing the dirt off his hands.There’s a rolled-up poncho, a tightly wrapped up emergency blanket, a tin of sardines, a pocket knife, a ziplock bag of matches.A small med kit, a packet of dried mango slices, and three bottles of water.

“That should keep us going for a day,” he announces.

“All thanks to Alma,” I say proudly.“She knows this land like the back of her hand.She doesn’t take any chances.”

“Just as well that I ran into her.”He opens a bottle of water and hands it to me, before taking one for himself.After guzzling a third of it, he sets it back down, alongside my empty one.I look up at him guiltily.“I should have made that last, huh?”

“You were seriously going to go out there looking for me?”he asks.

I wipe my mouth.“You were gone forever.”

“I was gone for …” He glances at his watch.“For fifteen minutes.The Jeep is parked nearby.”

“It felt like forever.”

“What did you think I was going to do?Vanish into the sea?”

“I don’t know.I thought you might be dead.”

He smiles, leans back, assessing me as if I’m someone he doesn’t recognize.“You were worried about me?”

“Don’t push it.”

He takes a step towards me, and I inch back.He raises an eyebrow.Challenging, daring, then takes another step.I inch back further until my back is against the tinny wall.It’s rough surface grazes my heated skin.

“What did you think would happen to me, princesa?”he whispers.

“I-I don’t know.”

We’re so close now, I feel his breath on my lips.He brackets the wall on either side of me with his hands, caging me in.I’m worried that his strength and weight might cause the flimsy structure to collapse, but that thought instantly vanishes.He’s all I see.All I sense.And he smells like storm, and heat and adrenaline.My heart begins to pound and an ache spreads low in my belly.

Whatever fears I had being stuck in here, disappear, as heat rolls off his body, heating mine.His hair’s plastered to his forehead and he’s drenched again, water running down his skin.All I can think about is licking up every single drop.

“But you were worried?”He doesn’t let this go.

“Yes.”

He leans in, our lips brushing.“Good,” he murmurs.“Now we’re even.”

My chest heaves and heat pools between my damp panties.His hand brushes my skin, his fingers resting along my jaw, as his thumb traces around my lips.He looks at me like he’s daring me to push him away.

But I don’t.

I won’t.

I can’t.

His eyes burn into me, causing my body to combust under his touch.His hand slides gently onto my shoulder, then slowly trails to my waist.My back arches with anticipation, with yearning, with memory.

“Raquel.”His hands cup my face and soon his lips are on mine, a fevered collision.Our mouths claiming, bruising, wild and hungry, as unrelenting and as inevitable, as the storm outside.

Our tongues duel for dominance, and our kiss deepens, turning urgent, hot and frenzied, like we only have a few seconds.He devours my mouth, tilting my face up, angling his head to deepen the kiss, like he’s drinking from me.I melt into him, pressing my body against him, feeling pressure building low in my belly.The hut fills with the sounds of harsh breathing and my soft mewls as I kiss him back, greedy for more, my fingers running up the bare skin of his chest.