Free Fall by Catherine Mann Read Free Book Online Page B

far?”
    “Can you walk on your own or do you still need to be carried?” Jose turned to Stella. “And you? Are you sure there aren’t any medical issues I need to know about?”
    She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear with a shaky hand. He sensed a brittleness in her from her efforts to hang on to professionalism to the end. And pride, he saw that too in her eyes, a defensive wall she’d erected between them because of how they’d ended things. He scratched the ache lodged in his chest—not that he expected any relief from the pain of losing her, from the teeth-grinding frustration of knowing he wasn’t the right man to give her what she needed.
    Sutton cricked his neck from side to side. “Isn’t there a boyfriend/girlfriend conflict of interest in you treating her?” He held up his hands. “What? I’m standing, ready to walk.”
    Bubbles coughed once, flicking a fuzzy caterpillar off his arm in disgust. “Quiet’s a beautiful thing.”
    “Fair enough.” Sutton raised his hands again. “I’m embracing the chi of quiet.”
    Jose slid an arm around Stella’s waist for support, nothing more. She’d made that clear enough when she broke things off with him. There could never be anything more.
    ***
    Stella wasn’t sure she could take much more.
    She understood they needed to get far away from the compound. The place would undoubtedly be crawling with bad guys. She prayed they assumed everyone had flown out in the chopper, but they couldn’t count on that.
    Still, Jose was making damn sure their tracks were covered. Now Bubbles had Sutton over his shoulder, the student’s ankle having given out after five minutes of hobbling.
    They were all business—and her brain was still locked on that impulsive hug from Jose. For that moment, she’d forgotten all about their fight and the fact that he didn’t want to build a real life with her. She could only lose herself in the undeniable connection they shared, a chemistry that could too easily make her lose her objectivity when she needed it most.
    Stella stepped alongside him as they trekked through the scrub brush, around acacia trees, the thorny branches reaching out like gnarled witch’s fingers. “Is it safe to talk?”
    “For now,” Jose said, jabbing a stick at the high grasses for snakes, keeping his eyes on the horizon. “Just keep it low. Stay on the lookout. If we’re lucky, they don’t even know we’re out here. They’ll think we all got away in the helicopter.”
    “That’s what I’m hoping.” She leaped over another protruding root. “I can hardly believe you’re really here.”
    “You sent for me,” Jose answered, eyes ahead, searching through the night.
    That she had. Guilt scuttled around inside her again, like the lizard scrabbling up a tree trunk, but she knew she would do the same again.
    “I wasn’t sure the message would be picked up.” She was careful to keep her voice low so Sutton wouldn’t hear the details. “I wasn’t even sure they would understand the message if it did go through.”
    “They didn’t understand.”
    “But you did.” She’d suspected and now she knew for sure. “Because of that time we slipped away to a hotel along the Nile River, and in the restaurant I blinked Morse code to get you to…”
    “Proposition me. Yeah. Pretty much.”
    She stumbled and he caught her elbow. She forced a smile. “Keep going. I’m okay.”
    Not really. Three days of limited food and sleep deprivation was taking its toll, but she couldn’t give in. She couldn’t let her guard down for a second when even a racing ostrich could be dangerous.
    “You can do it.” He slid his arm around her waist with the familiar ease of a lover. “One foot in front of the other, like the snowman in that kiddy movie.”
    “With legs like melting snow.” She laughed on a gasp.
    His arm went tighter, pulling her more firmly against his side, muscles moving against her in perfect synch. So familiar. So sensuous. “Do you