Page 12

“I’m so glad you’ve arrived,” Anissa said, tapping her clipboard on a small side table in Miri’s cabin.

Miri turned away from the window perched high above the river after counting the team members down by the boat. Eight of them total.

There should have been nine.

“So am I,” Miri said.

She’d never been happier to see her friend. Or an actual bed. Although the furnishings in the huts were simple, after the night they’d had, this place felt like a five-star hotel. If she hadn’t still been wearing Logan’s clothes, dirty from sleeping on the deck of the boat, she would have already nestled into that cozy-looking bed.

“Is that everyone?” Miri asked, nodding her head down to the group then turning back toward Anissa.

“Erm…” Anissa said, twisting her face, “about that. We had someone quit in Caracaraí.”

“Quit?” Miri blurted out. Shit, shit, shit. “What happened? Why didn’t you tell me when I called earlier with our update?”

“I didn’t want to worry you.”

“Worry me? Anissa.” Miri said her name very matter-of-factly.

“I know, I know,” Anissa said, raising the clipboard to cover her face. “But with those guys attacking you and with you being out in the middle of nowhere, I figured you didn’t need another thing to worry about.”

“Funny that you thought I wouldn’t worry about it no matter when you told me,” Miri said. “So what happened?”

“It was Dr. Quinn and all his gibberish nonsense. He kept saying, ‘He’s coming. Pierre Vautour’s coming, and he’ll destroy all your lives like he did mine.’?”

“He mentioned Vautour?”

Anissa nodded. “Yes, that asshole who fucked with Corrie and Ford in Mexico. And after I confirmed that another team with lots of gear arrived in Caracaraí a few days ago, Frank said this wasn’t what he signed up for and left.”

Vautour. The other crew had to be his.

“Great. Well, when we find the Cidade da Lua, we can send them a postcard,” Miri said.

“You mean, if we find it.”

Miri waved Anissa off. Now wasn’t the time for casting doubt.

“What about the men who attacked us? Were you able to figure out who they were?” Miri asked.

“No. Just a couple of dirtbags working with Vautour, I suppose.”

“And presumably Dr. Quinn?”

Anissa stopped in her tracks and turned to face Miri. “You think?”

“How else did they know how to find us?”

Anissa looked at the floor as if trying to recall the events of the last day. “I mean, I chalked up most of the crap he was saying to the concussion, but now that you mention it…” Her voice trailed off as she considered Miri’s suggestion. “Oh, by the way, that’s your stuff.”

Anissa motioned to a couple of bags in the corner of the room.

“Oh, thank God!” Miri said, diving toward the bags and pulling out a clean pair of underwear and clutching them to her chest.

“You must really love your panties,” Anissa said with a snicker.

“You try sleeping in river-soaked undies and men’s cargo shorts and then see how excited you are for a clean pair of underwear. Mind if I shower really quick?”

“It’s your room. Go for it.”

Miri grabbed her toiletries and a fresh set of clothes, then headed to the bathroom and started the shower. God, she’d never looked forward to a shower quite like this. It was amazing Rafa wanted to get close to her given how she probably smelled.

The water hit her face and instantly she felt rejuvenated. Sort of like the way she felt kissing Rafa. His lips awakened something in her, something she didn’t know existed. A desire. A passion. A sexiness she didn’t know she possessed.

He made her feel beautiful. Special. It had been a long time since anyone had made her feel wanted. He’d been so warm and comforting last night. If only Felix and Logan hadn’t been there. Who knew what would have happened?

Perhaps she’d find out tonight once everyone went to bed.

“How were things sleeping on the boat last night?” Anissa called from the other side of the bathroom door.

Speaking of.

Miri wiped the soapy water off her face and called out, “Good.”

“Good? Hmm…Might that have anything to do with the company you kept?”

The suggestion in Anissa’s tone couldn’t be missed, but after her goading the night before, Miri didn’t need to spill the tea. She’d never hear the end of it.

“Yeah, we all got along well,” Miri said, pausing to await Anissa’s reaction.

“I’m sure you did,” Anissa said saucily. “I noticed how quickly Rafa volunteered to stay back with you, and how quickly you agreed.”

“Well, it was silly of me to think I should stay out there alone. He was just trying to be helpful. Besides, Felix and Logan offered to stay behind, too,” Miri said.

“Okay, Miri. And so how’d things go at the bar the other night?”

“Fine, until Dr. Quinn showed up.” Miri rolled her eyes thinking back on it, then remembered his phone. “I have his phone, by the way,” she called out.

“You do?”

“Yeah, it was in his bag under the seat of the van. But I haven’t looked at it yet.”

“Where is it?” Anissa asked.

“It’s in the cargos I was wearing. They’re in here. You can come in.”

Anissa opened the door and dug around for the phone while Miri continued showering.

“Shoot, it’s locked,” Anissa said. “What do you think his password is? It’s only three numbers.”

“Probably something pompous.”

Dr. Quinn’s voice echoed in her head. Me, myself, and I. Numero uno. My favorite number.

No? He couldn’t be that pompous.

“Try one-one-one,” Miri said.

She waited a moment, then Anissa called out, “Oh my God, that actually worked. How did you know?”

“Lucky guess.” She did always have a knack for picking up on things others may have missed. “See anything interesting?”

Anissa was silent for a few moments. “Hmm…there’s a text string between him and someone named V.”

It could only be one person.

“What’s it say?” Miri asked.

“Let me scroll back. Hmm…well, Dr. Quinn was bitching about you changing course and talking about how you must have figured something out. And then this V person said to stop you, and Quinn said…er…never mind.”

Miri scrunched her face, pausing for a second in the shower. “What do you mean, ‘never mind’? What did he say?”

“Well, um, he said you have no idea what you’re doing and not to worry because he’d put you in your place.”

“Put me in my place?” Miri pushed the shower curtain around her face so she could see Anissa. “Fucking asshole!”

“Is it awful that I’m a smidge glad he got injured?” Anissa asked, twisting her face to soften the dig.

“A smidge glad? I’m fucking elated!” Hope you’re enjoying your place in that hospital bed, Captain Save-a-Dick!

How men like Dr. Quinn managed to score journal articles and prestigious speaking engagements while Miri was exiled to jobs like dig cleanup duty would forever remain a mystery.

“Oh my God, did Corrie ever tell you about that time when he said she was a ‘good archaeologist for a woman’ during that speaking panel?” Anissa said, resting her behind on the sink and holding the phone by her thighs.

“No, he didn’t!”

“He did. I mean, are you even surprised?”

Unfortunately, not really.

“So what did she do?” Miri asked.

“She said, ‘Well, you’re an okay archaeologist for being a prick.’?”

“No!”

Anissa nodded proudly. “You know she did. Someone even caught it on video. Seriously, she was pissed when Larity insisted on Dr. Quinn being here. She said the only way she’d agree was if she got to pick the rest of the team.”

Miri smiled and pulled the curtain back in place to finish rinsing off. Damn, what it must be like to command such authority.

“So, what else do the texts say?” Miri asked, unable to stop grinning thinking about Corrie’s badassery.

“Hmm…well, looks like they were talking about Rafa.”

And instantly, Miri’s smile fell. “What about him?”

“Oh, you’re not going to like this…” Anissa said. “Quinn said he saw the two of you getting cozy over drinks.”

“What?!”

Miri hopped out of the shower and snagged a towel, not bothering to fully wrap it around her wet body before snatching the phone out of Anissa’s hands.

“Damn, girl,” Anissa said, smirking at Miri’s bum hanging out.

Miri waved her comment off, then haphazardly pulled the towel the rest of the way around her body with her free hand while scrolling through Dr. Quinn’s texts with her other.

Quinn

This journalist from GloGeo seems like an arrogant prick. He looks familiar. Is he working for you?

V

No. What’s his name?

Quinn

Rafael Monfils.

V

The name sounds familiar. I’ll look into him.

A few minutes passed between texts.

V

Seems his father is Jean-Luc Monfils. He’s a GloGeo board member.

Quinn

That charity do-gooder?

V

Yes. I wouldn’t worry about him. Silver spoon baby.

Quinn

Explains the arrogance.

V

He should be a non-issue.

Quinn

You sure? Jacobs probably would have gone to his room if I hadn’t interrupted. What if they’re working together?

V

I doubt that. Seems Jacobs is just following in the footsteps of her mentor.

Quinn

How so?

V

Just another female archaeologist whose mind isn’t on the expedition. Fire her.

What the hell?

Quinn

Fire her? For what?

V

You don’t want another scandal like what happened in Mexico, do you?

Quinn

Weren’t you the one behind that?

V

I had nothing to do with Mejía and Matthews frolicking in the jungle.

Quinn

Well, I don’t have the authority to fire her. And it’s not a fireable offense anyway.

V

Then you call someone who does have the authority. Tell them she’s not taking the job seriously. THAT is fireable.

Quinn

And what about when Dr. Mejía finds out that I got Jacobs kicked off the job? She’ll have my head. What if we make a call to GloGeo instead and get Monfils tossed?

V

No. I told you. He’s not the problem. It has to be her. She’s the one who needs to be stopped.

Quinn

Fine. I’ll see what I can do.

V

You’d better figure out a way. Need I remind you what’s at stake? That loan I gave you wasn’t free.

Quinn

Will figure something out.

Miri lowered the phone a fraction of an inch. “I think I’m going to be sick,” she said. “I can’t believe this is happening.”

“A year and a half ago, I would have said the same thing. But now, after everything that happened to Corrie, well, I…I…shit. Fuck!”

Miri paced in the three-foot-by-three-foot bathroom, staring at the floor, debating their next steps.

“Should we call Corrie?” Anissa asked.

“What? No!” Miri said, perhaps a little too forcefully. But WWCMD? She certainly wouldn’t call herself. “I just…need a few minutes.”

Anissa stood in the bathroom doorway as Miri tried to come up with a plan, but her mind kept going back to the texts.

“God! Bradley Quinn, of all people,” she blurted out. “Acting all high and mighty, calling me a nobody, and look at him. Can you believe him?” Miri paused to look at Anissa before continuing her ramblings. “Plotting against us? And did you see the way they were talking about me and Rafa, like we’re horsing around at high school band camp?”

Anissa tossed her a sympathetic glance. “Oh, who cares what they think? Besides, like Quinn said—it’s not fireable. You can fuck whoever you want.”

“But we’re not fucking!”

“Which is a shame, if you ask me,” Anissa said, pursing her lips.

“I’m serious, Anissa!”

“So am I.” Anissa looked at Miri straight in the face to ensure the message was clear. So Miri returned the stare. Two could make this standoff.

Anissa folded her arms and ticked up her eyebrows. So we’re going to play this game, are we? they said.

Miri pulled her face tight, glaring at her friend. If that’s what it takes.

A few more seconds went by, when Miri finally gave in. “Oh, whatever. Can we focus here?”

“Fine. What else does it say?” she asked, nodding her head toward the phone.

Despite her strong desire to take the phone and toss it into the depths of the Amazon River, Miri begrudgingly snatched it up and resumed scrolling.

There was a gap in the time stamp for the texts, then hours later:

Quinn

Got into a car wreck.

V

?

Quinn

Van ran off road. Doesn’t look like we’ll be going anywhere soon.

V

Where are you?

Quinn

GPS pin dropped

V

I thought you said you were heading toward the Serra da Mocidade. This is nowhere near there.

Quinn

That idiot journalist got us lost. Jacobs trusted him to navigate. I think I can use this to take over as lead.

V

Do it.

Ten minutes passed between texts.

V

Update?

Another five minutes.

V

Update?

Ignoring me isn’t going to get you out of this.

I’m sending Hunter and Kevin out to find you. Remember our deal. Break it and you’ll regret it.

That was the end of it.

Miri set the phone on the edge of the sink near Anissa, then she walked out of the bathroom and collapsed on the bed, lowering her head to her hands with her elbows braced on her knees. Her mind raced. Surprisingly, confirming Dr. Quinn’s involvement didn’t make her feel any better.

This was a disaster. A complete fucking disaster.

So much for not creating a scandal.

“Well, that was something,” Anissa said, joining her after turning off the shower and sitting on the bed across from Miri.

Not that Miri was looking at her. No, Miri’s eyes were squarely focused on the wide wooden planks of the floor. Maybe if she counted the striations in the wood grain everything else would fade away?

Miri lowered her hands and pinched the webbing between her thumb and index finger. Ouch . Nope. This was all real. Very, very real.

“At least now we know how those guys found you,” Anissa continued. “I can’t believe Dr. Quinn was working with Vautour the whole time. Dropping our coordinates? Now I’m definitely more than a smidge glad about his injury.”

“I hope he never gets to go on a dig ever again,” Miri said.

“Well, he won’t get the opportunity once you tell everyone what he did. You should get his ass fired!”

“I can’t.”

“You can’t what?”

“Tell people about this. Not yet.”

Anissa eyed Miri curiously. “Why not? That guy’s an asshole! After the Joukowsky Institute finds out that he fraternizes with the likes of Pierre Vautour, he’ll lose his job. Don’t feel sorry. He deserves whatever’s coming to him.”

“It’s not that. Once we find the Moon City, I’ll have no problem taking down that pompous sack of shit. But until then, no one else can know. I already had to convince Rafa not to tell his boss at GloGeo .”

“Oh really?” Anissa said, waggling her brow. “Convince him how?”

A wave of heat washed over Miri’s cheeks. “I told you. It’s not like that,” she said. Though by the shit-eating grin on Anissa’s face, she clearly wasn’t fooling anyone.

“And I told you, you’re a terrible liar.”

Miri sat still. Maybe if I pretend I didn’t hear her…

“Don’t pretend like you didn’t hear me,” Anissa followed up. “Tell me what happened between you two!”

Miri groaned. “Fine! We kissed.”

“Oh my God, yes! I knew it!” Anissa said, covering her mouth and giggling. “How was it?”

“It was…it was amazing,” Miri said with a sigh.

“Of course it was.”

“Well, it won’t be happening again.” Miri pulled the towel up under her armpits, then got up to get her clean clothes from across the room.

“Why?” Anissa cocked back her head. “Because of those texts? Seriously, who the fuck cares? Quinn’s gone. And you’re both adults. You can do what you want.”

Miri furrowed her brow. “But they were right. I’m distracted. And, I don’t know, Vautour seems to know a lot about Rafa. Why would he know who he is?”

“I mean, if he’s some rich guy’s kid, then it would make sense that people might know who he is. Not people like us, maybe, but people like Vautour—they make it their business to know things. And he wasn’t exactly pulling strings for him.”

“But he also wasn’t trying to get him fired, like he’s trying to get me.”

“Sure, but what would getting Rafa canned accomplish? You’re the one who’s looking for the Moon City, not him.”

“Okay, then I need to actually look for it and focus on this expedition, not on some guy.”

“Who says you can’t do both? Look at Corrie and Ford. They took the dig seriously and fell in love at the same time.”

“Fell in love ?” Miri couldn’t mask the incredulity in her voice. “You’re talking about love now?”

“Yeah, so what?”

“So what?” Miri started pacing. “Anissa, I’ve known the guy for a total of forty-eight hours and you’re already comparing my relationship with him to Corrie and Ford’s!”

Anissa smirked.

“What now? What are you smirking about?” Miri asked.

“You said your ‘relationship.’?”

“Oh my God, Anissa!” Miri tossed her head back and threw the towel at Anissa. “It’s just a word! Besides, I’ve never been in love. I don’t even know what love feels like. This is…this is lust. That’s all.”

Yeah. That was it. It couldn’t be a relationship. Miri hadn’t been in a relationship in well over five years. Definitely not since getting her PhD.

“Okay, and what is it about him that you find attractive?” Anissa rested on her side, propping her head up under her arm.

“Well, he’s funny, and kind, and brave, and patient, and—” Miri stopped and stared at Anissa sitting there looking quite satisfied. “What? Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Oh, hon. You like him,” Anissa said, staring at Miri with tenderness in her eyes. “Like, you really like him.”

“Oh, I do, do I? And how do you know that?”

“Because you listed all these reasons why you like him, and none of them have anything to do with how he looks. That’s not lust. That’s”— Don’t you dare say it. Don’t you dare say the L-word. —“affection.” Anissa sat up. “Look, Dr. Quinn’s not even here anymore, so you don’t have to worry about someone tattling on you, if that’s what you’re worried about. I’m certainly not going to say anything. And honestly, Miri, if this is only lust, you could probably stand to get laid.”

Miri’s jaw dropped.

“What?” Anissa asked all innocently. “You know it’s been a while.”

“There’s no way you could know that.” Miri crossed her arms.

“Girl?” Anissa said, leaning back on the bed and propping herself up on the side. “I know.” Her lips pursed as she gave Miri the side-eye.

Miri’s mouth twisted as she fought to come up with a retort, but how could she argue? The last time the two of them had gotten together in Chicago for the Chimalli exhibit at the Field Museum and they’d grabbed some drinks at the bar, Miri had pretty much confessed her dry spell over a couple of G and Ts. The gin had been doing most of the talking—okay, so maybe it was Miri’s proclivity for buzzed ramblings, or ramblings in general—but damn, Anissa ! This had to be breaking some sort of friend code.

“Well, whatever.” Nice comeback. Miri almost rolled her eyes at herself for her unwitty response. “None of this matters anyway, because with Vautour out there clearly looking for the Cidade da Lua, I don’t have time for distractions.”

Anissa sighed. “I mean, if that’s what you think you need to do.”

“It is,” Miri said with feigned confidence.

Though she wasn’t sure she meant it.

Miri peered out the window, watching the crew standing around talking, waiting for further instruction. Laughing. Joking. Carrying on not knowing the danger that awaited them.

And there was Rafa. He was a few hundred feet away, but she could make him out clearly. The reminder of his lips warmed her body, giving her momentary pause.

But that was the exact reason she needed to pull away. She couldn’t afford to pause. She couldn’t afford to waste any more time thinking about anything other than what she came here for. The Cidade da Lua.

Corrie would be so disappointed in her.

She needed to do this. She needed to stop this not -relationship and definitely-not-love before it turned into something more.

Tonight. She’d call things off tonight.

But first, she had to meet the terms of their deal.

Ting, ting, ting, ting, ting .

Miri held her wineglass high, tapping a butter knife on the side to get the group’s attention at dinner in the open-air cabana.

“Can I have your attention for a few minutes, please?” Miri said.

Annnnd, nothing. Forks and knives clattered against plates. Conversations continued. Barely even a flinch.

Let’s try this again.

Miri flipped the butter knife so the heavier end could tap against the glass. Ting, ting, ting, CRACK!

The glass shattered, spilling red wine down Miri’s arm and onto her shirt. Thankfully the stem she’d been holding hadn’t cracked with it, but still. All eyes shot to her.

But hey, at least she’d gotten their attention.

She scanned the tables, spotting Rafa with Logan, Felix, and a few other guys, before connecting with his gaze. So many questions swirled in Miri’s head. Wondering what he was thinking about. What, if anything, in Vautour’s messages was true. Whether she was making a mistake by deciding to end things with Rafa, not that they’d ever really started. But with the way her heart skipped just at the sight of him, the answer to at least that last question was clear.

Anissa whispered into Miri’s ear from behind, “What was it you were saying about distractions?”

The words zapped Miri back to the task at hand, finally tearing her focus from Rafa and back to the rest of the group, staring and waiting for her to speak.

“Now that I’ve got your attention, I want to fill everyone in on where we’re at with this expedition. First, Dr. Quinn is no longer with us…”

The entire team gasped in unison. Their hands quickly shot to cover mouths, and their faces contorted with worry.

Anissa palmed her face. Oh. Oh dear. They had the wrong idea.

“No, no, no,” Miri said, quickly waving her hands. “Not that. What I meant to say is that he’s alive”—the others instantly relaxed—“but his hand is broken in multiple areas, and he has a concussion, so it’s not safe for him to rejoin us here in the middle of the jungle in case his condition worsens.”

“But isn’t Dr. Quinn the expert on the Cidade da Lua? How are we supposed to find it without him?” someone called out.

Oof . Talk about a punch to the gut. They doubted she could handle the situation without a more experienced lead. But Corrie trusted her for a reason.

And Miri had the medallion. All the experience in the world couldn’t have been better than that, right?

If only she knew how to use the medallion to find the landmarks.

“Dr. Quinn is an expert,” she continued, “but I think you’ll be surprised. I happen to know a few things about the Moon City as well.” She smiled and puffed up her chest, then paused as if waiting for the team to cheer her on. Crickets.

Okay, so maybe knowing “a few things” wasn’t all that impressive.

“I mean, I know a lot of things,” Miri continued, her voice shaky and hurried. “More than Dr. Quinn, in fact. And I was handpicked by Dr. Mejía. And I’ve been on a bunch of digs. Like to Guatemala, and Belize. Oh! And I did this really cool field study in Greece. And another in Italy. I mean, I wasn’t really digging, but…”

Faces turned from concerned to skeptical. Sigh . The regurgitated résumé was probably unnecessary.

She scanned the cabana, looking for support, but none came. “Anyway, there’s more. Yesterday, Felix, Logan, Rafa, and I were, well, perhaps they’ve already told you, but we were attacked.”

More gasps, now some murmuring. Okay, so maybe they hadn’t already mentioned it. Shit. This wasn’t going at all how Miri had imagined it.

“Hold on a second. Please, please let me explain,” she said, pumping her arms to try to calm them down. “Yesterday after we all split up, a couple of men found us on the side of the road and offered to help. But we eventually realized that they weren’t there to help us. They were there to stop us. They’re working for Pierre Vautour, and it appears he has another team out here looking for the Cidade da Lua.”

“Isn’t that the guy who was behind that whole debacle with Drs. Mejía and Matthews?” someone asked.

Miri nodded. “Yes, that’s him. Some of his cronies attempted to steal our equipment and they…they…”

How was she going to explain this without scaring everyone off?

“They pulled a knife on us,” Logan blurted out.

The group clamored again as rapid-fire voices shot at Miri.

“A knife!”

“I didn’t come out here so I could get stabbed.”

“Where’s Dr. Mejía when you need her?”

Ouch. Their comments were valid, though that last one stung a little.

“Listen, listen,” she said, trying to regain their attention. “I get it. You all thought you were going on an expedition led by Drs. Mejía and Matthews, and now you’re stuck in the Amazon with me. I’d be disappointed, too. But we’re going to be an effective team, I can feel it—”

“Searching for a place that no one knows ever even existed and, even if it did, no one has seen in hundreds of years,” someone responded very matter-of-factly.

“Yeah, and possibly getting killed while we’re at it,” another pointed out.

The team peppered her with questions, standing and shouting over each other with demands for more information and assurances. Miri’s attention shot from one person to another as she tried her damnedest to answer their questions only to be met with more pressure and inquiries. Control was fleeting.

“Dr. Jacobs?” Anissa said, lightly tugging on Miri’s arm.

Miri slowly rotated her head toward Anissa, trying to wake from her fog, before her gaze flashed over to meet Rafa’s. Despite what she’d planned to tell him later, she hoped he’d at least give her a supportive smile, but all he offered was an apologetic twist of his mouth.

“I’m sorry…I just…” she said, shifting her attention to Anissa before shaking it off and then turning to address the group again. “Listen!”

Her commanding voice silenced the team.

“I need you to trust me,” she continued. “We may be strangers, but we’re here for the same thing. We all want this expedition to be a success, and we can’t do that without a little trust. But, again, I get it. This isn’t the expedition you signed up for, and if you want to leave, I totally understand. You’ll be bound by the NDA you signed, but you’re free to leave if that’s your choice.

“But for those of you who are up for an adventure, we start tomorrow morning. I want to be packed and ready to leave by seven a.m. As you are already aware, we don’t know where exactly we’ll be going and there isn’t going to be an official trail to follow. So we’ll pack light and hike in and out from camp each day until we find what looks like the right way and then we’ll load up for a longer trek.”

“How are we going to know we’re going the right way?” someone called out.

Miri paused and the crew fell silent waiting for her answer. Her eyes shifted as she tried to figure out what to say. She glanced at Rafa again, then quickly averted her gaze.

“Dr. Mejía gave me a clue to the location of a landmark. The mesa de pedra,” she responded.

Rafa’s eyebrows raised and he sat straighter in his seat while the rest of the group continued murmuring.

“Once we find it, I’m sure the rest will be easy,” she continued, struggling to convincingly say the words without wincing. “Look, I can see everyone is tired. How about we finish dinner, get a good night’s rest, and in the morning we can start fresh?”

A few more grumbles, but no one outright refused. She’d take it as progress.

“Great!” she said, like they were answering a question. “With that, guess I’d better change.” She motioned to her wine-soaked clothes, then followed up, “See you at seven!”

Miri hurried away before they could ask more questions she couldn’t answer. Plus, now she’d met Rafa’s conditions. If anyone decided to leave at this point, then it would be of their own volition.

Back in her cabin, she searched her bag for yet another clean, dry shirt. It was only day three and she’d already soiled a quarter of her wardrobe. She peeled off her hiking shirt down to a tank top and rushed to the sink to try to wash the red wine out of the fabric. Last thing she needed was to ruin another outfit.

Knock, knock, knock .

Miri shot her gaze up to the vanity mirror and blew her bangs out of her face. Seriously, what now? She didn’t have any desire to give further explanation. Couldn’t whatever this was wait until the morning?

She paused for a moment, willing the visitor away, but when another knock rapped against the door, she succumbed to the fact that there was no getting out of this. So she stood straight, dried off her hands, and tucked her hair behind her ears before swinging the door open.

“Rafa?” she choked out.

He stood on the other side of the door, his head dipped to the side. Seeing him now standing in front of her, she no longer wanted to have the talk . And not simply because he looked utterly delectable. And it had nothing to do with the fact that there was a soft, cozy bed positioned a mere six feet away. But the sheepish look on his face told her he was equally torn by whatever reason he had come for.

“What are you doing here?” she asked, crossing her arms like an invisible barrier.

“I was hoping we could talk.”

He wanted to talk, too? Nope. She couldn’t do this now.

“Oh, well, I was about to go to sleep.” Jeez. She was a terrible liar.

His gaze traveled the length of her body still in her day clothes, then he craned his neck to look around her room. “Doesn’t look that way,” he said.

She uncrossed her arms and stood straighter. “I’m finishing up a few things, and then I’m going to sleep.”

“Are you trying to avoid me?” He eyed her suspiciously. “Because if that’s the case, you can say so.”

“No!” she said, perhaps a tad too emphatically. “I’m tired, that’s all. It’s been a long day.”

“You’re not just saying that because you’re trying to get rid of me, are you?”

“What? No, why would you think that?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe because you’re practically shutting the door in my face?”

Miri blinked quickly and took a step back, just now realizing she’d unconsciously begun closing the door on him. She looked at the door as if it had magically closed by itself. When did that happen?

“Look, if this is about what happened on the boat—” he started.

But Miri swiftly cut him off. “It’s not about the boat.”

“So, then, the reason you’re acting weird doesn’t have anything to do with the fact that we kissed?”

She furrowed her brow. “Weird? I’m not acting weird.”

“Pringles,” he said matter-of-factly. “You’re being weird. The only reason you haven’t locked me out is because my foot is in the way.”

She glanced down at his foot, and sure enough, the toe of his hiking boot barely broke the threshold barrier, keeping her from being able to shut the door completely. She released the pressure she’d placed on the doorknob, instantly giving way to his foot, and opened the door wide.

“Fine. You want to come in and talk?”

She turned her back to him and walked a few feet into the room, letting him follow. Shit, now what? Her thumbs tapped together with her hands folded in front of her waist as she debated what to say.

Rip off the Band-Aid.

Cut him loose.

Get your head back in the game.

The door clicked behind her, and she spun around, blurting out, “I think we need to cool the jets,” at the same time he said, “I don’t think we should take things any further between us.”

A pit formed in Miri’s stomach. He wasn’t supposed to reject her. She was supposed to be rejecting him . Though rejection wasn’t the right term. Either way, however, it didn’t matter who rejected who. For the first time in a long time, she’d met a guy who’d seemed to like her as much as she liked him. She’d sure read that situation wrong.

And it fucking sucked.

“Well, okay then,” he said, standing a few feet inside the door. “Seems we’re on the same page.”

She bit her bottom lip. It wasn’t that she wanted to cry. She’d known the guy for two days, for fuck’s sake. But being on the same page meant closing the door on the possibility. After spending the last decade believing love was an im possibility, Miri couldn’t help but be disappointed. Hurt.

But it didn’t matter. This was the right decision—and it seemed it wasn’t her decision, anyway. So she forced the next words to come out of her mouth with as much confidence as she could muster. “Oh, good. I was worried things were going to be awkward between us.”

“ Riiiight ,” he said, unconvinced. “Because things totally won’t be awkward now.”

Miri scrunched her face and shook her head. “Nope. Not at all. It was just a kiss.”

“Or twenty. But, hey, who’s counting?”

“Twenty?” she said skeptically, cocking her head to the side. “That’s a bit of an exaggeration, don’t you think?”

“Okay, but there were a lot,” he said with a sweet smile that gave her hope that maybe things wouldn’t be awkward.

So she played up the frivolity. They were just people, after all. Two people who’d kissed in the heat of the moment. And a dozen more times later that evening. And the next morning. It was no big deal when she really thought about it. Not like she hadn’t kissed a guy before.

Even if it had been a while.

“It’s fine. We were caught up in the excitement,” Miri said, waving her hands all footloose and fancy-free. “With Hunter and Kevin, and the whole boat thing, and then with the knife…it just got our danger-boning hormones going, that’s all, and—”

Rafa burst out with a laugh. “I’m sorry, our what?”

Oh, God. Had she really said that out loud?

Just play it off. Don’t make things awkward.

“Danger boning. I mean, it’s a common action and horror movie phenomenon.” He looked at her like he had absolutely no idea what she was referring to, so, naturally, she needed to explain even though he technically didn’t ask. “You know, like in a movie when there’s a couple in serious danger, like they’re-about-to-get- killed level of danger, yet somehow they still have time to get it on even though it defies all common sense?”

“I didn’t realize there was a term for it,” he said, clearly amused.

“Oh, absolutely,” she continued even though her brain screamed to stop talking. “Like, oooh, the movie Scream ? Classic danger-boning scene in that one.” He stared at her blankly. “Oh, I suppose you probably don’t have time to watch movies.”

He snickered. “I watch movies, Pringles.”

“Oh. I guess I figured maybe with all the traveling and assignments…” She trailed off, fearing she’d lost him with her tangent. “Anyway, so, yeah, that’s all this was. We got caught in the thrill of the danger. At least we stopped it before things went any further. I mean, could you even imagine what would have happened if we hadn’t stopped ourselves, or if Felix and Logan hadn’t been there?”

An uncomfortable laugh escaped her lips right when another knock rapped against the door, saving her from continued mortification. Rafa turned to face the door as Miri called out, “It’s open.”

Anissa poked in her head, immediately grinning at the sight of Miri in the room with Rafa. “Well, hello!” she said, a little too excitedly. “I can come back if you’re busy.” She was hardly able to contain her smile.

I’m going to kill her .

“Actually,” Miri said, “we were wrapping up.”

He glanced back at her, his eyes like lasers trying to figure her out.

“So we’re good, then, right?” Miri asked, not really waiting for him to say otherwise.

“Yeah, we’re good,” he said, walking to the door and nodding at Anissa as they switched places. “Oh, and, Pringles? To answer your question, yes, I can imagine it. And I suppose that’s the root of the problem. ’Night.”