Authors: Cristin Harber
Which was true.
“But he’s evil.”
Very true.
“Not a sadist. Never hurt me. But the marriage, that is all a formality, like a business transaction. I want to go on a date. A real, hearts-and-flowers date.”
“Men are headaches,” Sophia said, but there was merit in being… wooed. If Javier did something to make her swoon, other than his ordinary actions, she would be ruined for all other men. But it’d be a hell of a memory to have.
“I want the opportunity for that kind of a headache.” Hana bounced her eyebrows, giggling, before she sobered. “I want a choice.”
How could it be that someone as good and beautiful as Hana had never had that? In a way, Sophia was lucky to be born into a life that was relatively easy compared to what it could be in Honduras. But she’d never
lived
.
She swallowed more pizza as Hana did the same. They were both lost in thought, probably about the same thing but with very different outlooks. “Alright, when you come up north, we’ll go on a double date.”
Hana beamed, her smiling glowing as bright as her dark eyes. “You with your crush, and… me with your brother!”
“What?” Sophia squeaked. Other than the obvious facts of living in another hemisphere at the moment and Hana’s pseudo-involvement in the underground world of Honduran hell, Colin and Hana would make a nice-looking couple. “Oh, wow. That would be… cool.”
“Very.”
“Ha.”
“Thank you. For everything you’re giving me—
a date with your brother
”—they both laughed—“and a chance to leave one day.”
Sophia watched the lunch crowd. “Promise me you won’t run back to Central America after you actually meet Colin.”
Hana smiled. “Let me take care of what I need to here so that one day I might actually be able to date.”
Sophia felt as though maybe Hana was more like a sister or best friend than she’d had before. More so than Liz. Different than Janny. They had a bond that they’d both risk their lives for. “Sounds like a plan.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Sophia let her legs swing from her perch on the kitchen counter. Janny’s large frame and extra curves worked around the room as though this was her dance in her domain. There, she ruled the roost, knowing where everything was and how to do each task with flawless elegance. No, Janny wasn’t a lithe, little wisp of a woman, but her dance in the kitchen was as mesmerizing a ballet.
“Lawdy, child. Are you daydreaming about the hunk of burning love?”
“
Actually
, no. I was thinking about
you
.” Sophia laughed and popped a granola cluster into her mouth. “Though he would actually be nicer to think about.”
Janny hummed and snapped a hand towel. “Alright. I’ll buy that one time, only because you got your girly-girl convo fix earlier today. But if you think I don’t want to hear about that fine, strappin’ young man, you are wrong.”
“Not that much to say.”
“He buy you that necklace you keep touching?”
“No. Hana.”
“A case of
keep your friends close, your enemies closer
?”
Sophia shrugged. “I legitimately like her.”
Janella coughed out a sarcastic laugh. “So does the Primeiro Comando. Careful.”
“I’m fine.”
“Just like you’re fine to walk down Av. República de Mexico?”
“If there was a problem with it, Jansen wouldn’t let that happen.”
Janny shook her head and turned to the fridge, pulling out spinach and tomatoes for a salad. “If you say so.”
“Since when have you started beating around the bush?”
“I’m not.” Janny put the spinach on the counter, emphasizing how
not
she was.
“You
are
.”
“I get that you lost your best girlfriend to your scum-bucket ex.”
Sophia’s jaw dropped at the comment that had come out of left field. “Wh-what?”
“But you don’t need to replace her with someone you can’t trust.”
“Janny!” Her eyes bugged. Trusting Hana was easy. Janny hadn’t met Hana, and while on paper there was a trust concern, in real life, where they walked and talked and dined and traded secrets, Sophia had found a counterpart whom she relied on.
“Take what I’ve said as a woman who loves you, who has twenty years or more of experience on her side.”
Sophia ignored the uncomfortable overprotectiveness that she could appreciate from Jensen or Brackster but not from loud-mouthed Janny. “You haven’t been in Honduras for twenty years.”
“And you are intentionally missing my point. Gossip with your girl; work your contact. I’ve cooked and laundered in places like this long enough to know it’s nice to have an asset who is friendly and fun.
But
remember why you’re here and
who
she is.”
“My friend and my partner.”
“Hana Ferrera is first and foremost a friend of the PC, whether for show or for real. She’s
their
friend.”
“But she’s my informant,” Sophia countered.
Janny blew out an exasperated sigh so large and long that Sophia half expected the woman to deflate. “I know you’ve been around long enough to know the flaw in that logic.”
Blurg. Sophia did know what Janny meant, no matter how much she wanted to ignore it. Loyalty could be won, bought, or sold. Hana was only as good as the last piece of information she passed to Sophia or protected her with. And why had she chosen to ignore that anyway? Her father—heck,
her mother
—had taught her better than that, expected more from her than that. Sophia’s chin dipped as the tickle of guilt burdened her chest, weighing down her shoulders.
“Anyway.” Janny cleared the air with all the subtlety of a grenade launcher at a golf range. “Subject change. Tell me about that fine Delta boy that likes to pin you against the wall.”
“Janny!” The heaviness that squeezed her lungs dissolved with a deep, surprised breath. “How…?”
“I know all.” Smiling as though she could feel how hard Sophia’s pulse pounded, Janny shook her knowing head. “I see all. And I hear all.”
Sophia ignored the thump of blood at the base of her neck that was a constant, drumming reminder that Janny had nailed what Sophia had on her mind already. “Alright.”
“I’m not kidding. For as stout as this building is, just know some of the walls are paper-thin, and I
do not
want to hear how close you and Sexy McHotterson are getting. And don’t even play that we aren’t going to delve deep into the gossip on this one. I want all the deets on McHotterson. You two will be better than the soaps, I can tell already.”
Sophia laughed, letting the surprised embarrassment make way for the flutters of a crush that had lust-drunk butterflies circling her stomach. “He’s
Mc
-nothing. Pure-blooded South American, and I melt when he talks.”
“Sexy El Hotto.” Janny grabbed the knife off a chopping block and sliced a tomato. “I like
El Hotto
. I bet he could make you La Screama. I think I read something in Cosmo once that our South American
hombre
friends are
packing
south of the border.”
“Janny!”
“They invented Brazilian waxes and tangoes. I’d say as a whole, you can’t go wrong with a Latin lover.”
“I can’t believe we’re having this conversation.”
Janny pointed the chopping knife at her. “
He’s
the one who should give you jewelry, amongst other things, so long as I don’t know about it firsthand.”
Cheeks back on fire, Sophia grabbed a handful of granola to redirect her attention, but thought that really, if Javier gave her a necklace and said not to take it off, she might die with the thing around her neck.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Eyelashes fluttering, a noise had her attention. But what was going on? She’d been asleep? Yes, yeah. Asleep. Okay. Sophia blinked in the dark on her bed when a soft knock pulled her further awake. Her e-reader was in one hand, her daytime clothes were still on, and it took several seconds to register the knock as coming from her door as if someone was asking for her attention and she needed to snap out of her dreamless dream world.
Javier.
Snapping commenced. She ran a hand through her hair. Janny wouldn’t knock like that, or in the middle of the night—unless there was a problem, in which case it would be a slap to the wall and a “Get-up-and-hustle.” Janny’s very distinctive mama-bear knock was always more
Open up
than anything else.
Sophia pushed out of bed, eager and nervous, checking there wasn’t dried drool on her chin or something embarrassing, then cracked the door. There he was. Dark, soulful eyes that made her melt, lips that she knew could kiss like a god; he was dressed casually, waiting for her to say something.
“Hi.”
“Can I come in?” His hair was shower wet and the stubble on his cheeks cropped close. Sexy in a way she couldn’t ignore but needed to.
“I’m not sure that’s a good idea.” She had a very thin line of sanity when it came to him. One touch, one kiss, and she’d be ready to make another mistake. That last mistake still made her shiver, but their previous interaction in this room had been a lecture on returning stateside.
His jaw flexed. “I have my reasons, but… I shouldn’t have been in your face.”
A tickle of surprise caught her off guard. “Is that your version of an apology?”
A beat passed. Javier licked his bottom lip then nodded. “Yeah. Yes. I’m sorry.”
It shouldn’t have been so easy, yet Sophia stepped back, holding the door open as an invitation. “Fine.”
Javier stepped into the shadowed room. Without the door as a layer of protection, his overwhelming presence grew. They were alone, with a bed, in the dark. Her heart thudded as she waited to find out why he was there. What more than to apologize did he want? Sex? Someone to chat with? Just practice working on his manners? Wow, he was gorgeous… and more than that, he was
Javier
. His scent, even his height, affected her. He’d rubbed her back as she drifted to sleep months ago. Why on earth she chose that moment to remember that, Sophia had no idea. But she did remember, and it had been sweet and tender, very much like the look on his face now.
“I’m sorry for how I said those things earlier.” He cleared his throat. “But not what I said.”
Her warm, ooey-gooey man melting
stopped
. “Oh, for God’s sake. Go.”
“I was out there.” He threw his arm toward the window. “And it’s hell.”
“Well, it’s not when I go.” Except sometimes it was, and that was why she needed to continue her work.
“Bullshit.” A soapy-clean heat emitted from Javier as he bore down on her. Everything about him was enticing—the way his damp hair fell and how the barely toweled-dry mess made her wonder if he’d rushed to see her.
“It’s not.”
Much softer, he whispered, “You know that’s bull.”
A slip of moonlight from her tiny window illuminated him, handsome and angry, emotional and cold—things that never should go together, but they did—as Javier towered above her.
“You have to know that, paixão.”
She couldn’t breathe. Her pulse jumped, and the most feminine part of her body came alive. A current of desire and electricity bounced between them, both their breaths quickening. He stepped closer until they touched. Her chest rose, and his fell. Javier’s hand moved to her bicep, drifting, sliding. He caressed up her neck—so careful, so delicate that he gave her pinpricks until he captured the back of her head with the force of his strong fingers threading harshly through her hair. Sophia sucked a breath and resisted him just because… hmm, just because his grip was iron strong and sure.
“You want to move?”
The tenor of his voice sent trembles straight to her nipples. “I don’t.”
Javier leaned toward her neck. His breath was hot, his lips even better. They were close enough to feel the heated tickle of skin on skin.
“No?” Gently, he tugged her hair. “Sophia Cole…”
Oh, God. He pulled again, firmer, tilting her face so their eyes lined up. She felt as though he could see her every thought without her speaking a word.
“Mmm, nice.”
She couldn’t stop arching and making that same
mmm
sound he did. Her eyelids slipped shut, letting the feeling run through her veins, awakening every nerve.
“Paixão.” The whisper of the word contrasted with his hard body, which backed her to the wall. “So good for me.”
His weight pinned her and, despite the dominant hold, nuzzled her neck. Stubble scratched her as the scent of his shampoo made her weak.
Scratchy and coarse, his fingers flexed into her scalp. “It kills me you’re here, and I don’t believe what you’re doing is about aid work—”
“It is,” she barely whispered.