“Do you think there are piranha in the water?” she asked, trying to sound teasing, desperate to ease the tension that seemed to be increasing by the moment.
He laughed. “Piranha only live in South America, love. We are pretty safe here,” he told her, his voice thicker. Huskier.
She blinked, nodding slowly. “You don’t think they might have found their way up here to Costa Rica?”
He shrugged. “There are biting fish off of the coasts. Especially on the Pacific side. But those would be salt water fish.”
She turned to look at him and the air seemed to pulse with awareness. “How do you know?”
He shrugged and her eyes dropped to those impressively broad shoulders. “I’m not an ichthyologist, so I can’t be positive.”
Calista smiled, turned on by his vocabulary. Not many people knew that a scientist who studies fish is called an ichthyologist. “You’re a very attractive man,” she replied.
“You sound surprised.” He had one hand resting on the steering wheel while he watched her, his upper body twisted slightly to observe her reactions.
“I guess…I kind of am,” she replied, shyly because she wasn’t sure if she was insulting him now. “I mean, I’d thought you were handsome when I’d first met you. And…well, after that first kiss.”
A dark eyebrow lifted. “But after that, the attraction waned.” It was a statement, not a question.
She nodded ever so slightly. “You felt it too, didn’t you?”
He stared at her and Calista held her breath, wondering if he’d be honest with her. Finally, he nodded his head. “Yes. I’d become…concerned…about the potential success of a relationship between us.”
Calista breathed out a sigh of relief. “Thank you for that.”
He chuckled. “For telling you that I was concerned?”
“For being honest with me. I could feel your distance whenever I was with you. It was as if you didn’t want to touch me.” She saw the surprise in his eyes and she straightened. “That’s okay though!” she stared out through the windshield, rushing her words so that she could explain. “I felt the same way. It was…well, we’d just…I think…”
She stopped because he’d used his free hand to wrap around her neck, pulling her close for a long, soul-drugging kiss. Calista couldn’t breathe, she couldn’t even move! His mouth was…magical! Or maybe it was just the moment, the romantic atmosphere or something more elusive. But she leaned into him, kissing him back with all of the crazy need that seemed to swell up in her body at the merest touch from this man.
When he lifted his mouth to stare down at her, Calista sighed. Her lips felt swollen and she was almost angry that he’d stopped kissing her.
“Are you worried about my testosterone levels now?”
The question was so completely outside of anything she was expecting that Calista couldn’t stop the laughter. It burst out of her and she leaned back, grateful for the release of that mind-clogging tension. “No. I have no fear for your testosterone levels, Goran.”
“Good.” He grumbled about something, then turned to push open the door. “Let’s get cleaned up and formulate a plan.”
Calista watched, fascinated as Goran stepped out of the Jeep and immediately started to strip off his sweat-soaked clothing. He moved to the back of the Jeep and rummaged through the other supplies. There were some other clothes, but the other cargo pants he pulled out of a bag were too short for his much longer legs so he tossed them to her. “These will probably fit you better.” He found a tan tee-shirt and tossed it over one shoulder, then tossed her another.
“The tee-shirt will fit you?”
He grunted. “The material will stretch enough until we can get new clothes.”
She leaned one side of her body against the grubby Jeep, unconcerned about the filth now. She was probably dirtier than the Jeep and they were about to clean up, so what did a bit more grime matter?
“I’ve been thinking about that. If we call my brother and he sends someone to come get us…”
He filled in when she paused, “Then everyone will know that we’re alive and will become a larger target.”
“Exactly.” She straightened when he waved her towards the water. “I mentioned this suggestion before, but it bears another mention. What if we continue to hide out here while Astir does some careful digging? He’ll use his resources to investigate who wanted one of us out of the way. It’s more likely you,” she said with an impish grin. “You’re such an annoying man!”
He growled, then swatted her butt. “You’ll get used to my annoying ways,” he ordered.
Calista jumped slightly at the unexpected sting from his hand, but the swat actually turned her on more. Or maybe it was the tough-guy manner he was displaying now. The gentleman was definitely still around, but that side of Goran’s personality wasn’t smothering the other parts. He was looser now. His shoulders weren’t as tight, his whole body more relaxed. It was an astonishing realization. They were out in the middle of a jungle with none of their normal luxuries and…and he was relaxed!
With a start, she realized that she was more relaxed as well. In fact, she hadn’t felt this relaxed and alive in…a long, long time!