One Intrepid Seal

“I can’t breathe,” she whispered through tight lips.

Immediately, the man behind her eased back. “Were you hit?”

“No,” she said and dragged air into her lungs. The desire to move, to get away, took hold of her and refused to let go. At that moment, she had the uncontrollable urge to throw herself out of the tree. But she couldn’t. The enemy could return. They might be lying in wait just beyond the clearing around the tree, hoping to capture them as they came out of hiding.

Instead, she bit down hard on her lip, clenched her fists and started counting to one hundred. Her body shook with the effort to control her reaction.

“Are you sure you weren’t hit?” Diesel asked, his voice quiet, his mouth close to her ear, his body leaning into hers.

Reese couldn’t respond, couldn’t utter a word. She remained focused on not losing her cool.

Diesel’s hands gripped her arms and pulled her back against his chest. “You’re shaking like a paint mixer. It’s okay. They’re gone,” he said, holding her close.

“I’m okay,” Reese said, forcing the words out from between her teeth.

Diesel’s arms wrapped around her midsection and held on tightly. “Clearly, you aren’t.”

“You don’t have to hold me,” she insisted, hating herself for her reaction and the need to feel his arms around her. “I can manage on my own.”

“I’m afraid to let go. You might shake yourself right out of this tree.”

“I’ll manage,” she insisted. “Please. Let go.”

When he moved his arms away from her, Reese let go of the tree long enough to hug herself to ward off the chills threatening to take over. When she touched her arm where his hand had been, she felt something warm, wet and sticky. Blood? She felt around, but nothing hurt.

Because the blood wasn’t hers.

“Hey.” She half turned. “Were you hit?”

“I got nicked. But it’s just a flesh wound. I’m fine,” he said. “I’m more worried about getting us out of here and away from our friends with the AK-47s.”

“You should let me look at your wound.”

“It’s not like you can see in the dark, and I’m not willing to risk turning on a flashlight for a little scrape.”

Reese would bet her best pair of hiking boots the wound was more than a mere scrape. “At least let me apply a pressure bandage to stop the bleeding. Where is it?”

“It’s okay,” he said, his tone sharp.

“Look, you dripped blood on to my arm. If you’re still dripping, you might leave a trail for the goons to follow.” She grabbed the hem of her shirt and, carefully and as quietly as possible, ripped off a section. She tried to turn on the tree limb and nearly tipped over the side. Her heart clattered against the walls of her chest.

Diesel held on to her arm to steady her. “Wait until we get down from here.”

“For all we know, we’ll be up here for a while.” She shook her head. “Let me feel for myself. Where is it?” She touched his wrist and moved up his arm.

“Higher,” he said.

Reese ran her hand up his thick, solid forearm to the bicep. When her fingers encountered fresh, warm blood, she knew she’d found the source of the leak. “It’s more than a scrape. You might need stitches.”

“I don’t. But if it makes you feel better, you can wrap it up to keep me from bleeding and leaving a trail.”

“Damn right I will.” Pushing her fear of heights to the side, she maneuvered herself around to face him, her knees touching his, making it hard for her to reach his arm. She bent close, but still couldn’t get to the spot she needed to reach. “Could you lean closer?” she asked.

“Oh, for Pete’s sake.” He grabbed her hips, lifted her off the tree limb and deposited her onto his lap, her legs straddling his hips.

Heat rushed into Reese’s cheeks and farther south to her core. She’d never sat in a man’s lap quite like this before. The angle of their contact was more than intimate, and completely befuddled her thinking. Thankfully, it also took her mind off the fact they were over twenty-five feet in the air, perched on a tree limb.

With his arms holding her firmly around her waist, she went to work wrapping the fabric around his injured arm. The fact he could move it as well as he did was proof it wasn’t as bad as she’d thought. But any injury in the jungle and subsequent blood loss could be life-threatening, especially if it became infected. She did the best she could in the dark. The sooner they got her rescuer to a health-care facility, the better.

“That’s as good as I can manage, without seeing the actual wound,” Reese said. “You can let go, now.”

“And if I don’t want to?” he said, his voice rich and thick like smooth heated chocolate, spreading into every pore of her skin.

Reese’s breath lodged in her lungs, and a thrill rippled through her, culminating at the point where her bottom rested on his thighs. Good Lord. She could not be having lusty thoughts about a complete stranger, while facing one of her most irrational fears in the canopy of a jungle tree.

Diesel’s arms tightened around her for a moment and then loosened. “I’ll balance you, while you turn around.” He grabbed her around her waist and eased her backward.

Reese rested a hand on his broad shoulder, until she was forced to release it and turn to clutch at the tree’s trunk.

A second later, Diesel moved from behind her and dropped to the limb below. Once again, he wrapped his strong hands around her waist. “When I lift you, wrap your arms around my neck and slide your body down mine. Your feet will land on another limb.”

“C-can’t we wait until morning?”

“The more I consider it, the more I’m afraid that if we wait until morning, the men in the camp will see us. We need to get as far from them as possible tonight.”

Reese knew what Diesel said was valid, but climbing down from a tree was so much more frightening than going up. The warmth of his hands gripping her waist gave her the courage to let go of the tree trunk and transfer her hold to his neck. She wrapped her arms around him so tightly, she was sure she practically strangled him.

He settled her feet onto the limb in front of him and urged her to ease up on the stranglehold around his neck. Once he had her sitting on the lower branch, he leaned close. “See? Not so bad.”

“Easy for you to say,” she grumbled. But it wasn’t so bad. She still couldn’t see the ground, and maybe that was a blessing.

“I’m going all the way to the ground,” he whispered into her ear, his warm breath stirring the loose hairs against her cheek. “Don’t move a muscle, until I return with the all clear.”

She nodded, wanting to tell him to be careful, but knowing it was a wasted sentiment. The man was obviously trained in tactics and evasion. He knew how to steal through the night like a shadow.

He slipped away before she could change her mind or cling to him and beg him to stay. While Diesel was gone, she counted her breaths, praying he didn’t walk into a trap and get himself killed.

He was gone for what felt like an eternity. When she’d about given up hope of his return and started to consider her own descent from the tree, she heard the soft rustle of fabric and a gentle grunt. Diesel pulled himself up to the limb below her, his head on level with her thigh. All she could see was his black silhouette against the dark backdrop of the jungle and the pale whites of his eyes.

“Miss me?” he asked.

She snorted. “Hardly,” she lied. “What took you so long?”

“I went back to the camp. The men there had settled in for the night. The ones that took off on the boat hadn’t returned.”

“God, I hope they didn’t catch up to the rest of your team.” She prayed Ferrence made it back to civilization without further incident. Then, at the very least, she wouldn’t be responsible for his death.

“Don’t worry. There are enough of them to take on anything those rebels have in store. It’s you and me I’m worried about.”

“Any ideas?”

“We head north, following the river. Hopefully, we will run across someone who can help get us to safety. But first, we have to get you out of this tree.”

“I can do it by myself,” she said with a lot more confidence than she felt.

“Okay then. It’s tricky in the dark. If you need to hold on to me, I’ll be here.”

Taking a deep breath, Reese leaned on to her belly and dropped both legs over the side of the limb she’d been sitting on.

A hand on her bottom steadied her and helped guide her to the branch below. Once she had her feet firmly on the thick limb, she dropped to a sitting position. Using this method, she slowly eased herself to the lowest limb.

Diesel dropped to the earth and touched her thigh. “Swing your other leg over and drop. I’ll catch you.”

“I’m a full-grown woman, not a small child. If I throw myself out of this tree, I could hurt both of us. Besides, you’re injured.”

“Do you always argue this much? If we don’t hurry, those goons will be on top of us. Now do as I said,” he commanded.

Reese closed her eyes, swung her leg over the limb and slid out of the tree.

True to his word, Diesel caught her. Granted, he staggered backward several steps until he got his feet under him. Still, he held her in his arms.

“You can put me down,” she said. “I can stand on my own feet.” She touched his arm where she’d tied the cloth around his wound. It was soaked with blood. “Damn it, Diesel, you’re still bleeding.”

He let her feet drop down, and she slid down his muscular front, feeling every line, ripple and indentation as she went. By the time her feet touched the ground, her body was on fire. What was it about this man that awakened in her something she thought died back in Afghanistan?

Reese quickly stepped away, her breathing ragged, her thoughts flustered. She was glad for the darkness, as she figured it would hide how red her cheeks must be. “We need to get you to a doctor. You might need stitches and antibiotics.”

“I’ll live. I won’t need any of that if we don’t get out of here ASAP.” He grabbed her hand and took off, running north of the camp.

Reese ran with him, doing her best not to trip over branches and fall flat on her face. They didn’t have time for broken legs. The few shafts of starlight making it through the canopy were all she had to light her way. She prayed they didn’t run into any crocodiles or gorillas in the darkness.

* * *

DIESEL KEPT UP a grueling pace, determined to get as far away from the camp of Congolese rebels as he could before daring to slow down.

To Reese’s credit, she did a good job keeping up with him. Based on the brief moments he’d held her in his arms, he could tell she didn’t have a spare ounce of flesh on her. Her body was honed, her muscles tight and well-defined.

Eventually, they slowed and moved at a fast walk, following the river, keeping it within twenty or thirty yards—close enough to maintain their bearings, but hopefully not too close they would run into a crocodile lazing on the bank. The river twisted in undulating curls, making it hard to follow exactly. Despite the meandering nature of the waterway, Diesel felt confident they were still within fairly easy reach of the water.

If only they could come across some sort of civilization—someone who had a telephone would be great. The river had villages along the way, but Diesel had no idea of how far it was between each. They couldn’t remain on the run for long. And as soon as they stopped, the mosquitos would eat them alive and spread who knew what kind of diseases. Fortunately, he’d packed a lightweight mosquito net in one of his cargo pockets. As soon as he felt they’d gotten far enough away from the rebels, he’d find another tree big enough for both of them to sleep in.

They’d been fortunate thus far that they hadn’t run into any other wildlife. That luck couldn’t last forever. Big cats, gorillas, hippos and crocodiles were just a few of the dangers that lurked along the banks of the Congo. The two-legged creatures could be every bit as treacherous.

After they’d been on the move for two hours, Diesel could feel his energy waning. The wound on his arm hadn’t stopped bleeding and had begun to throb. They needed to stop and rest soon.

He came across a clearing in the jungle, where the trees on the edges were large enough to provide shelter for them.

When he stopped beside one of the trees, he turned to Reese.

“Please tell me you’re just stopping to catch your breath,” she said, bending over to rest her hands on her knees, her breathing labored. “You know how I am about heights. It’s not something I’ll ever outgrow.”

“It’s the safest place to sleep. If you want to stay on the ground, you’re welcome to it. You might be sharing it with snakes, big cats, warthogs and gorillas. The mosquitoes alone might kill you. I’m going up. And I have a mosquito net.”

Reese straightened and slapped at her cheek. “Mosquito net? What armed aggressor carries a mosquito net into an operation?”

“One who’s going into the jungle. I brought the very basics for survival, in case I was separated from my team.”

“How fortuitous. I don’t suppose you have a cell phone in one of your pockets?”

Diesel could see the pale outline of her face in the murky darkness, but not the expression in her eyes. “We were equipped with two-way radio headsets, but we’re too far away from my team to communicate, and the chances of finding a cell phone transmission tower in the jungle are slim to none. The cell phone I have probably won’t work until we make it all the way to Kinshasa.”

Reese tipped up her head. “I really hate climbing trees,” she muttered and grabbed a hold of a low-hanging branch. “And what will keep a big cat from climbing the tree with us?”

“I think we can fend off a big cat in a tree easier than we can on the ground. I do have a weapon.”

“With that weapon, couldn’t we fight off everything on the ground, then?” Reese pulled herself up onto the first branch.

“We need to get some rest. You might not like heights, but I’m not fond of snakes. I’d rather take my chances in a tree than on the ground.”

“Fine. I’m climbing. But don’t expect me to like it,” she grumbled.

He chuckled and climbed up behind her. “I didn’t expect you to.” He handed her a tube. “Drink.”

“Where did you get water?”

“I have a water container on my back. Standard issue. Beats the hell out of canteens.”

She sipped and then sat back. “I didn’t realize how thirsty I was. As humid as it is, you’d think we wouldn’t need to drink.”

“All the more reason to keep hydrated.” He tucked the tube away and tipped his head up. “Wait here.”

She raised her hand. “I’m not going anywhere.”

Diesel climbed higher, found a fork in a sturdy branch, broke off some boughs full of leaves and twigs and laid them in the fork. He figured if the gorillas could make nests, he could too. Soon he had a relatively secure place for them to sleep through the remainder of the night. He hooked the mosquito netting from a branch above and camouflaged it with leaves.

When he was satisfied, he turned to climb back down, only to find Reese scooting out on the limb.

“I got tired of waiting,” she said.

The meager light that found its way through the canopy gave just enough illumination for her to see what he’d been working on. “Looks like a cocoon.”

“It is, in a way. Crawl on in.”

“You sure it’ll hold me?” she asked, still hesitating.

“I’ve been all over it. It’s pretty sturdy.”

Reese eased beneath the netting and stopped. “Can we be seen from below?”

“Won’t know until daylight. Go ahead. Get some rest. I’ll take first watch.”

“No way. You’re the injured party. I should have been up here doing all this while you rested.”

“I’m fine. It’s just a—”

“Flesh wound,” she finished. “You men. You could have a sucking chest wound and you’d still call it a flesh wound. At least let me do a better job on the bandage, now that we’re far enough away from our pursuers.”

“If it’ll get you inside, okay.” He slipped into the nest beside her and turned his arm toward her.

“Got a flashlight? I’d like to see what I’m working with.”

He handed her a small flashlight with a red lens. “Better than nothing and not as visible from a distance.”

She nodded, wedged the flashlight into the netting and pointed it at Diesel’s arm. Then she tried to untie the knotted bloody fabric.

Every time her knuckles grazed the wound, Diesel flinched.

“It’s getting red and puffy around the wound. You need medical attention.”

“Why? I have you.” He winked.

She frowned.

“Why the frown?” He touched her cheek.

Was she frowning? Reese schooled her face, ripped off another strip of fabric from her shirt, made a pad with part of it and pressed it to his wound, maybe a little harder than she should have.

He flinched. “Mad about something?”

“This whole situation. I’m supposed to be on a diplomatic mission with Ferrence Klein, protecting him from threats, not alone in the jungle with a stranger, far from my client.”

“Sometimes plans change. Missions change. You have to learn to roll with the punches.”

She glanced at the nest of branches. “I’m rolling.” She nodded toward the makeshift bed. “You sleep. I’m taking first watch.”

“I don’t need much sleep. You can go first.”

Her lips curled on the corners. “Do you always argue this much? You’ve lost blood. You need to rest.” She switched off the flashlight and remained in an upright position, refusing to lie down beside him.

Diesel could tell by the stubborn tilt of her chin that he couldn’t change her mind. Used to catching Z’s wherever and whenever he had the opportunity, he’d make use of this time to refill his internal store of energy. “Have it your way. But wake me in a couple hours. You need to sleep, too. We might have a long trek ahead of us tomorrow.” When he woke, he’d figure a way out of the jungle and back to his normal routine.

He lay staring up into the darkness, wide awake, wondering about this woman he’d rescued from the rebels. She wasn’t like most women he knew. “How did you end up hiring on to protect Klein?”

“I had some connections,” she replied.

“What’s your background? What makes you qualified to protect Klein?”

She hesitated only for a moment before firing back, “What makes you qualified to recover him?” She was feisty and gave as good as she got.

Diesel chuckled. “I’m in the navy. My team was tasked with the mission to rescue you and Klein.”

Silence stretched between them.

“Four years active duty in the army and two years on the MMA circuit.”

“MMA?” he asked.

“Mixed Martial Arts.”

“Why the army?” he asked.

“Why the navy?”

“Family legacy. My father was a marine, my grandfather was in the navy. I guess you could say it was in my blood. I like a challenge,” Diesel said. “Your turn. What’s your story?”

“Why do you care?” she said.

Diesel sighed. “Look, I’m just trying to get to know the woman I’m sleeping with in the jungle.”

Again, she was quiet for a few moments before speaking. “My parents died in car wreck a few days after I graduated high school. I had nothing keeping me there, no home to go to. A recruiter said, Join the army, see the world. So, I did.”

“But you didn’t stay in the army.”

“No.” The one word was spoken in a tight, sharp tone.

“Deploy?”

“Yes. And when I got off active duty, I became an MMA fighter.”

Diesel stopped suddenly, his brows rising. “Seriously?” He touched her arm. An MMA fighter was the last thing he expected to come from her mouth. “I mean, you’re in great shape and all, but I didn’t picture you as someone who’d fight for sport. Why the MMA?” he asked.

“I had some anger management issues I needed to resolve.” She shifted. “Are you finished with the interrogation?”

“I am.”

“Good, because you’re supposed to be sleeping.”

Diesel suspected there was a lot more to Reese’s story than she was sharing, but he wouldn’t push her more. If she wanted him to know more, she’d tell him. He had enough to go on, for now.

He’d hoped talking would make him less aware of her tight body. When she’d been in his lap, he’d been so turned on, he’d thought for sure she’d notice. Her body was honed, her attitude determined, but she was vulnerable enough to make him want to protect her. And if that meant holding her in his arms through the night, so be it. He swallowed a groan on that last thought. Maybe it was a good thing they split the watch and slept in shifts. Nowhere in his life did he have room to fall for the long-legged, curvaceous bodyguard, even if she was pretty hot in the red glow of the flashlight. And she had gumption. No. He needed to complete this mission and move on.

He lay on his back, unable to ignore the warmth of her thigh pressed against his. Swallowing a groan, he focused on sleep. He’d never had trouble falling asleep before he’d met Reese. Why start now?

Chapter Four

Reese sat beside Diesel in the nest of boughs and stared through the gaps in the camouflage he’d applied to the netting. Every time the man moved, he brushed up against her, making her heart race and her body light up. What was wrong with her? Even if she wanted, she couldn’t begin to sleep with her thoughts running wild over her rescuer.

When Diesel had flashed his smile and winked at Reese, butterflies had erupted and swarmed in her belly, and heat had spread from her center outward. Not only was the man as hard as a bodybuilder, he was charming and sexy, too. A triple threat to her libido. She shook her head. She was in a tree, in a jungle with a man she’d met only a few hours ago. How could she be having lascivious thoughts about him when they were both covered in sweat and dirt?

She could hear the steady breathing of the man beside her. Darkness kept her from studying him. Time passed slowly with nothing but her thoughts to keep her company. Every sound made her tense up until her back ached. In the wee hours of the morning, her head dipped, and sleep threatened to overtake her.

She didn’t want to wake Diesel. He was the one who was wounded. His body needed time to recover.

Guilt made a knot in her gut. She’d already botched her first assignment. Ferrence’s father would fire her as soon as she got back to civilization. She wouldn’t have a job, and word-of-mouth about her failure would see to it she never had another bodyguard client. The least she could do was watch over the navy SEAL.

But she was so darned sleepy.

The man lying beside her moved. A second later, a hand touched her shoulder, and Diesel pressed the drinking tube against her fingers. “Drink and then sleep.”

She didn’t argue. Too tired to do anything but what he commanded, she sipped from the tube, the liquid soothing her dry throat. Then she lay on the bows and closed her eyes.

Reese must have fallen asleep right away. When she opened her eyes, she could make out all the shapes and shadows within the nest Diesel had created.

One thing she couldn’t see was the man himself.

Reese bolted upright and listened for the reassuring sound of him moving around outside the mosquito netting.

She heard sounds, but they weren’t the sounds she expected. Something was moving down below—a lot of somethings. And there were several grunts and other sounds she couldn’t quite place. She leaned forward and pressed her face to the netting. In the clearing below, dark shapes moved about. Some big, some smaller, but none of them human.

Her heart leaped into her throat, and she fought back a gasp.

A troop of gorillas had moved into the clearing and appeared to be setting up camp. Even from her perch high above them, Reese could tell they were big. Mothers sat preening their babies. Adolescent gorillas romped in the clearing, wrestling and tumbling.

Reese looked for the alpha male but didn’t see him. He had to be there. All troops had an alpha male, and the alpha could be extremely fierce.