Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 68509 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68509 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
“Fine. But if I get bit by anything, I am going to make it your problem.”
It would be fucked up to say what I was thinking out loud.
That I had a sneaking suspicion I would enjoy having a woman like Violet being my problem.
So, yeah, I kept that shit to myself.
CHAPTER NINE
Violet
“Keep your eyes open,” Wick said as mine squeezed shut the second the speedboat lurched forward. “It’s like when you are a little too drunk. When you close your eyes, it makes the spinning worse.”
I forced my eyelids open as my stomach whirled around ominously. And I really, really didn’t want to lose those two plates of carbs I’d just shoveled in my mouth.
I was hoping that Wick would let me catch a nap in a real bed before we had to head out.
As it was, he’d only let me have a few hours to set my clothes outside to dry in the sun, pack my duffle with anything I might want from his cabinets, and say a little goodbye to Hank before he insisted we had to get going.
I figured Marco had some sort of schedule to keep. Even though I’d yet to hear the man utter a single word. Which was weird since Wick talked to him. In Spanish. So I only caught on to every couple of words. I heard something about a map, a flight, and a Jeep. But that was all I got.
Then, well, we were loading onto our boats, and I was too busy reasoning—and bargaining—with my stomach to ask Wick any questions.
Thankfully, Wick decided to show me more mercy this time, lagging well behind Marco on the way back to the other islands. And even I had to admit, it was much better standing with my eyes open than lying in the back squeezing my eyes shut as my body rocked around.
“See? Not so bad,” Wick said, hopping out of the boat to tie it down.
“What are we doing now?” I asked.
“Now, we get back to the mainland and gather some more supplies,” he said, finished with tying the boat down, and offering me a hand.
Normally, I would have pushed his hand away, said I could help myself off a boat thank you very much. But for some reason, I took his hand.
Sure enough, it hadn’t just been a fluke from being stranded and close and reliant upon each other. The spark sizzled from the contact and up my arm, across my chest, then down.
“Why did we have to come all the way out here if we were only going to go back?”
“I needed cash to pay Marco,” he said, shrugging.
“You keep cash at an unattended house on a remote island? What if someone else happened upon it?”
“That’s unlikely. It’s well-hidden. And has a code to protect it. And it’s not all my money anyway.”
“Right. You have that in offshore accounts.” At his raised brow look, I added, “Your case said the DOJ never found the money. I figured you were smart enough to move it offshore before they came down on you.”
“To be fair, I moved it offshore just for privacy and tax reasons. But, yeah, it worked out in this case too. What are you looking for?” he asked as my head went on a swivel.
“Marco.”
“Marco does his own thing. He’ll be at the rendezvous point by the time we get there. Where are you going?” he asked, grabbing me around the waist when I went to head toward the small town we were passing.
“That sign said coffee.”
“I’m afraid we are on a time crunch,” Wick said, pulling me away. “This is the only flight off the island today. We have to catch it.”
“Why do you hate coffee? And, more importantly, me getting coffee?”
“I promise to get you a coffee before all this is over.”
I’d thought at the time that he meant before the day was over.
But, nope.
Wick was a stickler for his own little made-up schedule.
Which meant he’d dragged me through the airport back in Ecuador before I could even think about getting on line for an extra-large, extra-sweet, lightly creamy coffee.
Cut to us sitting in a crowded bus, my arms crossed, glaring daggers at him.
While he pretended he didn’t see me.
The bus dropped us off somewhere in the middle of nowhere later that evening.
“I swear to God, if you are going to say we are walking to the rainforest from here, I’m going to knock you over the head and drag you back to the States right now.”
“Marco will be getting us with the Jeep then driving us the rest of the way.”
“How far is it?”
“Another two hours or so. The resort should be reasonably easy to find from where we are going. If it exists at all. I think this could all be done in a day or so.”