It takes her a moment to realize what I'm saying. "Oh, sorry," she quickly says, turns red, then begins to move off me.
I tighten my arms around her and put my palm on her head.
She freezes but furrows her brows, as if in a panic.
I lean into her ear again and whisper, "I'm not." I kiss her neck, under her ear, then continue across her jawline until I get to her lips. As my tongue swirls in her mouth, her body shudders on mine, and I internally groan.
My erection is growing. It's too close to wake-up time to do anything about it, and I'm going to pay the price all day.
When I pull back, her chest is colliding with mine. Her blue orbs are like windows to her feelings. In them, I see passion and need mixed with pain and fear.
Her emotions burn into my soul. The protector in me wants to shield her even more from any potential harm or stress.
I lean back to her ear. "Get under the covers, Flower. There are still a few more hours for sleep."
She nods, and I lick her lobe and rub her perfect ass one more time.
When she slides back on the mattress, I instantly regret the loss of her body on mine. I restrain myself from pulling her back on top of me, and instead, tuck the blanket around her, then give her one last peck on her luscious lips.
She's turned on her side, facing me. I lay back down, and she traces my jaw with her fingertips.
There's a shuffle on the other side of the small room, and she quickly pulls her hand under the blankets and closes her eyes.
Glad I woke her up so she isn't embarrassed.
Ryker walks across the tent. He whispers, "Hunter."
"Yeah?"
He motions for me to follow him.
I take one last glance at Vanessa and step outside.
"What's going on?" I ask.
"Did Andre find out where we're dropping the women off?"
The hairs on my neck stand up. "No."
"Julieta is petrified of going back to her country or anywhere else in Central America where her airline flies to."
"Why?"
"She won't tell me."
"Vanessa insists she needs to get out of Belize. She won't tell me why, either."
Dirk comes out of the tent and joins us. He arches his eyebrows at me. "Did you have a good sleep?"
Shit. He heard us.
"Didn't sleep. I'm not like you. I don't sleep when someone is under my watch."
"No one sleeps. You know that."
Great. I'm not sure why I expected any of the guys to be asleep.
"Drop it."
"I would, but I'm not sure I can get the sound of your groan out of my mind."
"I'm going to take a piss." I turn and walk away.
Leave it to Dirk to say something.
I do my business, and Malin joins me.
"Good night?" he asks in an amused tone.
"Not you, too."
He chuckles. "Relax. You can't do that and not take some banter from us."
I groan.
"No, it was more like this." Malin loudly groans, and I elbow him.
"Did Andre say when he's finding out the drop-off point for the ladies?" My pulse increases at letting Vanessa anywhere out of my sight. The notion of leaving her somewhere forever sends a stinging sensation through my heart.
What is wrong with me? I don't get like this about women.
Malin scratches his face. "No. I didn't get a chance to talk to him last night after we got back. But he doesn't know the coordinates yet?"
"Not to our knowledge. Besides Naomi going to the U.S., I haven't heard anything else," I confirm.
"Something hasn't been sitting right with me."
"The fact we don't know the location for the other women?"
Malin finishes and zips his pants. "That and why does the U.S. want Naomi and not the other women? Unless we didn't receive the full message, only Naomi is going to the U.S. They aren't even sending Emilia with her."
"Vanessa asked me where I was taking her last night, and it hit me that in ten years, I've never rescued a target without being told where to take them."
"Something is off."
The uneasy feeling I've had returns. I'm not sure what to do about it. "Let's talk to Andre and get his take on it. I'm going to wash up and then start breakfast."
"Yeah. From the sounds of it, you got pretty dirty last night. Make sure you use soap."
"Shut up." I go back into the tent. Vanessa's eyes are shut, so I grab my backpack and turn to leave.
"Hey," she whispers.
I crouch down in front of her and push her hair off her face. "Hi."
She shyly smiles. "Where are you going?"
"To the river to wash up."
She hesitates and nervously scans my face.
"What is it, Flower?"
"Can I come?"
I almost get giddy she wants to spend time with me. "Yeah. But it's going to be hard to walk in my flip-flops. When we get to the edge of the campsite, I'll need to carry you."
She bites her lip.
Is she scared of me again?
I stroke her cheek with my finger. "Will that be okay?"
"Sure."
She rises and gazes down. Her fists are clasped on my T-shirt. "Is it okay if I go in this and wash my other clothes?"
Stay naked under my shirt? Yes, ma'am.
"Sure."
We leave for the river. I ignore the smirks from the guys. It isn't anything Vanessa would notice, but I know those looks. It's like I'm doing the walk of shame after a drunken night on the town.
Bastards are just jealous.
They should be. They aren't going to ever find anyone as smoking hot as Vanessa.
When we get to the edge of the camp, I almost pick Vanessa up but stop.
Don't scare her.
"I'm going to carry you from this point out, Flower."
She nods, and I scoop her up in my arms. She glides her hands behind my neck and winces.
"What's wrong?"
She shakes her head. "Nothing."
"Didn't look like nothing."
Her smile looks forced. "It's fine. My wrists just hit the wrong spot on your shoulder. I shouldn't have slid them."
"I want to look at your injuries when we get to the river."
"No. I'm fine."
"It's not a request," I growl.
She releases my neck and shifts in my arms, turning her head quickly away from me and shudders.
I glance at the sky, then back at her. "Flower, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to frighten you."
"It's fine," she murmurs, but her lip trembles.
Way to go, dickhead.
I don't know how many men have hurt Vanessa, or what they've done, but I've seen enough to know something happened. She wouldn't confirm it last night, but I know in my gut her fiancé did something terrible to her. And I want to do to every one of them whatever it is they did to her before I kill them. I firmly reply, "It's not fine. No one should hurt or scare you."
A tear hits my arm, and I cringe inside.
How deep is my Flower's pain?
I kiss the top of her head, and she buries her face into my chest. "Can we keep going, please?" She asks so quietly I barely hear her.