Page 11

Asoft glow filled the sky as a macaw flew overhead. A light fog settled atop the river, casting a serene, almost peaceful stillness on the rainforest. Which was funny seeing as there were probably a few hundred thousand various plants, insects, and animals that could kill them lurking beyond the tree line. The puttering boat at least provided a steady hum of white noise to drown out the creatures lurking at the riverbanks. Creatures they couldn’t see but Rafa knew were there, stalking them in the night.

The temperature had dipped, casting a chill over their bodies, but Miri’s quiet, gentle kisses radiated enough heat to stoke the inferno raging through Rafa’s body. With the team taking turns at the helm, there was always someone else beside them—thankfully fast asleep. Lucky for Rafa, he was adept in the art of covert kissing.

He knew he shouldn’t have invited that first real kiss. He knew it was a bad idea, that once he’d had a taste, he’d want more. But it was the first time in his life that he could remember going for something that he wanted that hadn’t been someone else’s suggestion. His hobbies. His career. Those were his father’s hopes and dreams for him. Thinking back, Rafa wasn’t sure he would have made those same choices had his father not pushed him in those directions. Even that creative writing course had led to his career as a journalist, not as the fiction author Rafa so desperately wanted to become.

He couldn’t picture a situation where he allowed himself to veer. Allowed himself to want something so badly that he was willing to forgo common sense.

And when he’d tasted Miri’s lips, well, she’d kissed him silly. He was giddy as a schoolboy, riding high like it had been his first kiss. He couldn’t stop smiling. Smiling at how delightful her lips felt, at how haphazard it was, just like each of their interactions, at how much he didn’t care about anything except wanting to kiss her again and again.

So he did. All night. And once they were satiated by each other’s lips, she eventually allowed herself to drift to sleep in the safety of his arms, his body molded to the curvature of hers.

He lay there most of the night contemplating his next move until it was his turn to captain the boat. Though he slept for only a few short hours—if even that—he felt more rested than he’d felt in a long time. It was amazing Rafa had managed to sleep at all given the danger they were in, and after sleeping on a wooden deck with no pillows or blankets and only each other to provide comfort. But oh, did Miri provide enough comfort for Rafa to forget about everything else.

Such as his promise to his father. He’d yet to figure out how to explain this situation to him.

For now, however, Rafa took in the sights and sounds of the Amazon. This might be the last time he did something like this—well, hopefully it would be the last time he traveled by stolen boat running away from criminals in the Amazon—but really he was thinking about being out in the wild. Exploring the world. He couldn’t say he hadn’t enjoyed his time working at GloGeo , but sometimes even good things had to come to an end.

Sometimes they needed to end to make room for better things.

“Morning,” Miri said as she entered the captain’s cabin, stealing his thoughts. Speaking of.

“Morning, Pringles,” he said, unable to hold back his smile at the sight of her.

Her hair stuck out from her ponytail, glasses askew on her face. It only added to her charm. Even swimming in Logan’s clothes, she was beautiful.

She let out a huge yawn, then said, “Man, what I wouldn’t give for a cup of coffee.”

“Well, it’s not coffee, but I did find this,” Rafa said, handing Miri a half-drunk bottle of cachaca.

“Do you drink this straight?”

“I did. Helped to wake me up.”

“Won’t this make me sleepy?”

He chuckled. “Maybe if you drink the whole thing, but I don’t think a little nip is gonna knock you out.”

Miri opened the bottle and took a whiff. The scent of alcohol alone seemed to awaken her senses, but she took a quick nip at the bottle anyway. Rafa imagined the subtle, almost fruity flavor hitting her taste buds and sending a jolt through her body as it did his.

“Not bad, right?” he said, taking the bottle back.

“It’s surprisingly good. Though, seeing as the only thing we’ve eaten in the last twelve hours was a few chips, not sure I should have much more than that.”

“Well, I found this, too,” he said, lifting a ratty bench cushion on the side of the cabin and revealing a random assortment of food: some fruit, nuts, bread, meats, and cheeses.

“Jackpot!” Miri dove toward the box, digging in and grabbing a banana. She quickly peeled the small banana variety and took a bite, closing her eyes and groaning at its sweet flavor. “Oh my God,” she mumbled into the fruit. “Mmm…I could put this whole thing in my mouth right now.”

Rafa’s jaw slackened as he watched her devouring the banana halfway in her mouth. Oh God. It hadn’t been that long since he’d been with a woman. But watching her eat that phallic fruit sent his mind back to that first kiss last night. A kiss he had no business enjoying as much as he did. And no business wanting more of, particularly given the predicament they were in.

But, oh, did he want it. Want her . All of her.

He pictured that pretty little mouth of hers wrapped around his cock, those sweet sapphire eyes staring up at him behind her yellow glasses. Imagined her twirling her silky tongue and delicate fingers along his shaft. Taking him in like she was taking that goddamn banana.

She opened her eyes to find Rafa examining her. Upon meeting her gaze, he quickly cleared his throat and snapped his attention straight ahead.

“You must really like bananas,” Rafa said, hoping she didn’t notice the bulge growing in his pants.

Miri swallowed and covered her mouth as she finished chewing, then said, “Actually, it’s a banana mac?. Apple-banana. Have you ever tried one?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Oh, here.” She broke off a one-inch piece then brought it to his mouth. He stared at her hand for a fraction of a second before wrapping his lips around the fruit, his tongue grazing her fingertips with the subtlest of touches.

“Mmm…that is good,” he said.

Now Miri was the one clearing her throat and averting her attention as she snapped her jaw shut and backed away. “I know. I wish you could find them in the States more easily,” she said. “Do you think it’s okay if I eat something else?”

Rafa laughed. “Sure. I don’t think Sérgio will be expecting that we left his stash alone,” he said with a wink.

Miri smiled, then dug into the box again, this time pulling out a guava. She bit right into the skin, again groaning at the deliciousness and settling onto the bench. Did she not know what those groans were doing to him?

“God, why is fruit so much better here?” she asked, her eyes practically rolling into the back of her head.

Rafa laughed again. “Let me try it.”

Miri hopped up and brought the fruit to his lips while licking her own. This time, he took her wrist in his hand, steadying her hold, then sunk his teeth into the juicy fruit while his gaze firmly focused on her.

Time slowed as the juice seeped from the fruit and dribbled down his chin, and he paid no attention to the fact that her hand was dripping with the guava’s sweet nectar. With Felix and Logan still sound asleep, they were finally alone. They lowered their arms and took a few steps toward each other. He pulled her close, then leaned down to kiss her.

“Wait!” Miri said, stopping him and lifting her hand to cover her mouth. “I have morning breath.”

He smiled and then took the guava from her hand, placing it on the steering panel. Then, one by one, he took her fingers and placed them in his mouth.

“After spending half the night kissing you,” he said as he lapped up the delicious juice from her pinky, “I’m surprised that you think I’d care about a little morning breath.”

Miri’s chest heaved as he sucked her fingers. Tasting her. Savoring every bit of that fruit on her and then some. Maybe it was simply the boat rocking on the river, but Miri’s knees buckled, and she lost her balance.

“Whoa,” Rafa said, quickly wrapping his arms around her. “I got you.”

Her hands gripped his biceps, and she looked up at him. Oh, he had her all right.

Though, with the way her eyes seemed to search his soul, maybe it was the other way around. She’d taken hold of him. And as his entire body swelled like a thunderous wave crashing into the shore, he wasn’t sure he ever wanted her to let him go.

“Morning,” Logan said as he and Felix entered the cabin.

“Everything okay?” Felix asked upon noticing Miri in Rafa’s arms.

Rafa quickly released her from his hold and returned to the ship’s wheel.

“Yep, lost my footing is all,” Miri said, smoothing out her clothes and hair.

“Oh! Where’d you get that?” Logan said, rushing over to the guava sitting on the dash and sinking his teeth in. “Mmm, so good,” he said with his mouth full.

“Some might say finger-licking good,” Rafa said, winking at Miri. “Goes great with Pringles.”

“You’ve got Pringles?” Felix asked excitedly.

“Sorry,” Rafa said. “I don’t share.” He tossed Miri a suggestive glance, and her mouth slackened.

“Er,” Miri stammered, her cheeks flushed, “but there’s more stuff in there.”

She lifted the bench lid, then immediately scrambled out of the way to avoid getting bowled over by Felix and Logan as they lunged for the food.

“Score,” Felix said, passing food back and forth with Logan and sharing bites.

With the two of them thoroughly distracted, Miri circled behind Rafa, then stole a quick kiss. Nothing but a peck, really. But there wouldn’t likely be another opportunity for a while, so he’d take whatever he could get.

“So, what’s the plan?” Logan said, mouth half-full with a piece of bread.

“Looks like we’ve got another half day on this boat,” Rafa said, handing a map over to him.

“And after that?” Felix asked.

After that? Oh, Rafa had grand plans for the evening.

Nice hot meal. Nice hot shower, perhaps with Miri. And maybe, just maybe, Pringles for dessert.

They pulled up to the base camp by midafternoon. Almost like a village in the trees, the resort campus was a collection of thatched-roof huts on stilts, connected by wooden platformed walkways, with a larger structure connecting them in the center. It looked like the body of a spider with all the individual cabins webbing away from its legs.

The structures sat in the middle of a wide clearing surrounded by strangler figs and giant Brazil nut trees, but Mother Nature had already started to reclaim the resort. Lianas covered in moss and epiphytes grew from the nearby tree branches, twisting and winding their way around the boardwalk railings. Bird nests hung from beneath the huts. Although the rainy season was coming, the resort hadn’t yet flooded. But in a few short weeks, the ground would be completely submerged, overtaken by the adjacent river, necessitating the raised walkways. A family of capybaras watched them from the other side of the river, surely waiting for an opportunity to poke around the grounds for some food scraps. Every inch of this place was a reminder that they were the intruders. The forest was only allowing them to visit.

The expedition team gathered to greet them at the river’s edge. They may have been strangers, but Rafa had never been so happy to see a group of strangers as he was now. Anissa quickly whisked Miri away with her clipboard in hand, but not without Miri tossing Rafa one last sweet, sexy smile, signaling that they’d meet up again soon. That look gave Rafa the boost he needed to get through the rest of the day. Because as soon as night fell, he’d find an opportunity to get Miri alone, and hopefully this time without Felix and Logan sleeping beside them.

Rafa tied the boat to a stump on the edge of the river as the rest of the crew helped unload. Once they finished, he set off to his cabin for a shower and a change of clothes. Each cabin had its own bed and bathroom but was otherwise bare bones. They didn’t need much. And hopefully, they wouldn’t be here long. Fortunately, his bag seemed to have made it with the other van and was already waiting in his room when he got there. After cleaning up and doing an inventory of his belongings, he headed back out to the resort grounds to start working on documenting the expedition. Sabotage or not, he still had an article to write, after all.

He meandered through the group, listening to their stories and taking notes. Most of it wouldn’t make its way into the piece, but a journalist didn’t always know what details would necessarily be important later, so he jotted everything down, weaving in and out of conversations. Word had spread fast. He heard lots of whispers and rumors. Questions about what had happened with Quinn. Worries about Vautour.

Maybe Rafa didn’t have to do anything to sabotage this expedition. The expedition seemed to be sabotaging itself.

It sure would make things easier between him and Miri if that were the case.

Right then, Felix came running up to him, waving the satellite phone in his hand.

“Rafa, there’s a call. It’s for you,” he said.

A call? On the satellite phone?

“Are you sure it’s for me?” Rafa asked.

“He says it’s your father.”

His father? How in the—?

Rafa glanced around, almost as if he half expected his dad to pop out from behind a fern and yell, “Surprise!” No, that was absurd. He took the phone and walked several feet away from Felix.

“Dad?” Rafa asked, wrinkling his brow.

“Rafael?”

“Where are you?”

“What do you mean, where am I? I’m at home.”

“In Montreal?”

“Of course. Where else would I be?”

“Well, is everything okay? How did you get this number?” Rafa asked.

“I called your boss.”

“But why?”

“Why? Son, I was worried about you. I’d heard a rumor that Dr. Bradley Quinn got injured, and that your crew had gotten off course, and when I hadn’t heard from you, I feared something had happened to you.”

“Dad, I’m in the Amazon,” Rafa said, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Cell service isn’t exactly 5G out here. How did you even hear about Quinn?”

“Protecting the Cidade da Lua has been my life’s work,” his father said matter-of-factly. “I know people.”

Wasn’t that an understatement. Rafa had witnessed his dad’s connections firsthand. People spilling their secrets. It was amazing his dad wasn’t involved in politics.

“We’re fine. There were some guys in the jungle who were trying to steal our equipment, and we got into a fight with them,” Rafa explained.

“Were you hurt?” his dad asked with worry in his voice.

“No, but we managed to get away.”

“You should have let them take the stuff. That might have solved all our problems.”

“Yeah, I realized that afterward,” Rafa said, rubbing the back of his neck. “But it all happened so fast. One second these guys were waving goodbye with all our stuff, and the next Pring—I mean, Dr. Jacobs—she went after them without a second thought.” Rafa smiled thinking about it, picturing Miri taking on those guys as if she didn’t have a fear in the world. “She was pretty amazing,” he unwittingly said, immediately snapping his mouth shut once the words came out.

Fuck.

“Mmm…Dr. Jacobs,” his dad said. “I looked her up after you told me about her. She’s quite pretty.”

“Yes, she is.”

“Sounds like you might have a soft spot for her.”

“I suppose I do.” There was no use denying it. Besides, he couldn’t lie to his dad. That was one thing they promised never to do. No matter how bad things got. No matter how terrible things seemed to be. Their relationship depended on trust.

It was bad enough he hadn’t told his dad how he felt about his job at GloGeo .

“Hmm,” his father murmured, as if deep in thought. “That might be a problem, then.”

“Why?”

“Because you can’t let her succeed, Rafael. She can’t find the Cidade da Lua. That’s not what you’re there for.”

That may have been the plan, but Rafa didn’t want to be the reason for her failure. It didn’t feel right. Not anymore.

“Well, I don’t think it matters anyway,” Rafa said, trying to refocus his dad’s attention away from Miri. “Seems there’s another team out here looking for it, too.”

“Another team?”

“Yes. Have you ever heard of Pierre Vautour? His guys are the ones that attacked us.”

“Rafael,” his dad said after a beat. “Pierre Vautour is a dangerous man.”

“You know who he is?”

“Of course I do. I met him in Brazil many years ago, searching for the Cidade da Lua.”

“Why didn’t you mention him when we were talking about this expedition last week?”

“I had no idea he’d still be out there looking for the city decades later. If he’s there, then you need to stay out of his way.”

“And how am I supposed to do that? It’s not like I know where he is.”

“You do that by keeping Dr. Jacobs and her team from making any further progress.”

“But then what about Vautour? Won’t that make it easier for him to find the Moon City? If he’s as bad as everyone says he is, shouldn’t we try to get there first? To protect the city, I mean,” Rafa said, echoing the words Miri had said to him.

But she’d changed his mind. Opened his eyes. All he needed to do now was convince his dad that her way was the right way.

“No!” his father yelled. He’d yelled so loud, in fact, that Rafa jumped. It was amazing no one else had heard. “I’m sorry, Rafael. But you must convince Dr. Jacobs to leave. The Cidade da Lua cannot be found.”

“But what if I convince Dr. Jacobs to leave and then Vautour finds it anyway?”

“We leave Vautour to os protetores da lua.”

“I don’t get it, Dad. Why send me out here if all we had to do was rely on os protetores da lua? Couldn’t they have stopped both teams?”

“Because os protetores da lua will stop at nothing—and I mean nothing—to protect the Moon City. Vautour has done many terrible things. And unlike Vautour, Dr. Jacobs and her team are innocent people. They don’t deserve what os protetores da lua would do to them. What they’d do to you to get back at me.”

Get back at him? “Dad, what are you talking about?” Rafa said, holding his head to think. “I thought Mom was one of them? Why would they be trying to get back at you?”

“Rafael,” his father choked out. Rafa could feel the tears in his father’s eyes although he couldn’t see them. “Rafael, it’s time you knew the truth about your ancestry.”

The truth? Rafa already knew the truth.

“What more is there to say? You’ve told me this already. Mom was a member of the protectors. She’d heard about a man in Manaus asking questions about the Moon City—you—so she posed as a guide, intending to throw you off the scent, but then you fell in love.”

Rafa recited his parents’ love story as if it were old news he’d heard before. Why was his dad bothering him with this now?

But his father let out a long sigh.

“That’s only part of the story,” his father said. “All of that is true, but what I didn’t tell you is that…your mother…” He paused.

Okay. Now Rafa was starting to worry. What the hell is going on?

“Your mother,” he continued, “she was sent to lure me to os protetores so I’d be killed.”

“What?!” A knot formed in the pit of Rafa’s stomach. The protectors were murderers? And his mother was one of them?

His father had lied to him. Lied all these years, tricking him into believing in this fairy-tale love story that didn’t exist.

“I know this is hard to accept,” his dad explained. “Os protetores da lua will stop at nothing to protect the Cidade da Lua. It’s no coincidence that several expeditions to the Moon City resulted in people never returning. Whole teams lost, never to be heard from again.”

“Why didn’t you ever tell me this?”

“I’d always planned to tell you someday, but the moment was never right. Because I didn’t want you to think ill of your mother. She wasn’t a bad person—”

“She was going to let them kill you!”

“No, no, son.” Rafa could almost picture his father coming to his side to comfort him. “She couldn’t do it, but os protetores…they are dangerous people.”

With shaky legs, Rafa shuffled to a nearby tree and sank to the ground. With the tree at his back, he looked up at the dense canopy.

His father continued. “Your mother—she showed me the error in my ways. Taught me that the Cidade da Lua needed to be protected. Even though your mother had changed me, os protetores were angry with her for leaving with me. But more than that, they were furious at me . I was someone who’d wanted to take what was theirs.”

“So why should I help them?”

“Because I promised her—I promised your mother that I wouldn’t let anything happen to the Cidade da Lua if I could help it. But I’m old now. I wouldn’t last a day in the Amazon. So it’s on you. I’m asking that you do this, Rafa. Please, do this for me. All you need to do is stop Dr. Jacobs from reaching the city.”

Rafa dragged his hand slowly down his face, wishing more than ever that he hadn’t taken this job.

“Which brings me to that problem I mentioned earlier.”

“What problem?” Rafa asked.

“The soft spot you have for her.” His father sighed again. “Rafael, I know this isn’t what you wanted. To be on another expedition, away from home. Away from your life. I know we said we’d talk about your career and your future when you got back but…she isn’t it.”

Rafa wrinkled his brow even though his father couldn’t see it. “What do you mean?” he asked.

“I’m sure you have lots of feelings about what’s happening to you right now. Being there, in the very same jungle where I fell in love with your mother. But Dr. Jacobs can’t be that for you.”

The buzzing and chirping of the rainforest stilled, as if creating silence for Rafa’s father to hear his thoughts. His dad was right—there were all sorts of feelings swirling through his head, things Rafa couldn’t make sense of.

But it had been two days. He wasn’t in love. He couldn’t be.

“Dad, I don’t know what you’re even talking about. Just because I enjoy being around her doesn’t mean I—”

“She wants to destroy everything your mother wanted to protect,” his father said, cutting him off. “Destroy the very memory of her.”

“No, Miri isn’t like that. She cares about protecting the city.”

“By revealing its location to the rest of the world? How can she protect it once it’s been found? If you care about her, you need to convince her to leave before os protetores find you.”

“She’ll hate me if she finds out. I don’t want to be the reason she quits.”

“And I don’t want to lose you!” His father’s voice boomed through the phone. Long, slow breaths reverberated on the other end. Almost as if he were angry. “I won’t have you die for a woman you barely know,” he continued after calming down. “I’ve already lost your mother. I can’t lose you, too. You’re all I have left.”

Rafa hung his head. His father was right. Two days ago, Miri was nothing to him. Was he really willing to risk everything—his job, his father’s trust, his life —for her?

“Okay,” Rafa said.

“Okay, what?”

“I’ll do it. I’ll find a way to get the team out of here.”

His father let out a breath. “Thank you. Be safe, my boy. And remember, I’m with you. Always.”