Sex.
That’s what he was thinking could happen.
“I’ve got some antibiotic cream in my pack.” Geezus, she was beautiful. It just wrecked him, the way she looked.
“I already put some on, at the hotel.”
Sex.
Just sex.
“Good,” he said, nodding his head like a little antibiotic cream on a scratch was rocket science.
Just soft mouths and soft…
“I had a tube in my suitcase-ah, hell.”
Yeah, her luggage. He’d kind of forgotten about that. Actually, he was having a little trouble remembering a lot of things, like his plan, the one where he walked out of here and left her all by her lonesome in this room while he scooted back to Beranger’s to get sopping wet in one of those basement cisterns.
That plan was losing its appeal faster than a lightning strike.
“I think I can get your stuff back-your suitcase, your shoes, everything you left at the Gran Chaco.” It was a long shot, but not impossible. “I know some guys… some guys who can…uh…”
The thought ran out, because she was looking up at him, her gaze softening into a languid, mesmerizing stare.
“Thank goodness,” she said, her voice sweetly sincere. “Dax?”
“Yes?” When she sounded like that, the answer was bound to be yes.
“I’m hungry, and really tired. Could you go get us something to eat?”
And there was his plan, the solution, his exit strategy, all laid out for him-except he wasn’t all that interested in going now.
Hold on, boy-his brain kicked in-let reason be your guide.
He was all for reason. Right.
“There’s a restaurant down the street,” he said. “A churrascaria, a lot of grilled meat, some different kinds of bread, fruit. I could head down there.”
He started to turn away, but she stopped him with her hand on his waist.
“Thanks.”
That’s all she said, just “Thanks,” but that’s all he’d needed, just one more moment of hesitation.
Hell.
He was such a fool. He knew it, dammit, but he went ahead and did it anyway, slid his hand around the back of her neck and lowered his mouth to hers.
Big mistake-he was so instantly lost in the warm, lovely taste of her mouth, the mindless pleasure of her kiss, so sweet, so hot, so softly, erotically female.
She melted up against him, her body yielding in all the right places, and it was such a turn-on-but at some point, she was going to realize he’d cut her out of the deal, and if she’d already gone to bed with him when she discovered his betrayal, she was going to think he was the world’s biggest bastard, or even worse-and she’d be right. She’d feel used, and he’d feel like hell, and it would be damn hard work to come back from a dirty trick like that and maybe make a go of it, make some kind of relationship-the kind that had a chance at lasting.
Lasting relationship? Now there were two words that didn’t go together in his vocabulary very often-let alone in his life.
Okay, this kiss wasn’t nearly mindless enough. He was thinking, a lot, and even with this exquisitely hot and beautiful woman in his arms, he was thinking he needed to get the hell out of the room, before he did something he was going to love and she sure as hell was going to hold against him.
Damn. Talk about bad timing for an attack of conscience.
But then she opened her mouth wider, pressed herself closer, and his conscience did a nosedive. He slid his hand down over the curve of her perfect ass and pulled her in close, where he could feel her up against him, cradling him, and he deepened the kiss.
Oh, yes, he was going to go straight to hell for this and love every minute.
Unless he stopped.
And did the right thing.
“Suzi,” he whispered, pulling back from the kiss just enough to get his brain working again, and he immediately wished he hadn’t.
She stiffened in his embrace, then turned her back to him and leaned up against the balcony door.
“I’ll just go… get us something to eat.” And with those few words, he won the Lame-Ass Idiot of the Year award, hands down, no competition in sight. “I won’t be gone very long,” he promised, but he figured she pretty much didn’t give a damn how long he was gone. Like maybe forever might be too soon for him to come back with a plate of barbecued meat and some nameless piece of fruit.
Well, perfect. Turning women down was not exactly his forte, so no wonder he’d blown it. Geezus.
He went and got a couple of tools out of his duffel bag and slipped them into the cargo pocket on his pants. He had some connections, still knew a few guys who could pull all kinds of strings, even as far south as Paraguay, and when he had the statue secured, if it was even in that damn crate hidden inside the cistern, and got back with the food, he was going to do his damnedest to get her out of Ciudad del Este-tonight, before sunrise and another day of disasters. For the kinds of guys he knew, it wouldn’t matter that the police were looking for her. Evading all and every law enforcement entity on the planet was their modus operandi-and they were the good guys.
But first, he had to get back to the gallery, before the damn basement flooded again.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Suzi stood just inside the door to the balcony and watched as Dax crossed the street below. Once he disappeared into the crowd, she took the phone General Grant had given her out of her fanny pack and headed across the room, toward the door to the hall.
Within a minute, she had her assistant on the phone.
“Jane?” she said. “It’s Suzi.”
Jane Linden had been with her, on and off, for almost five years, working at different galleries Suzi had either owned or managed.
“Hey, Suz,” Jane answered. “What’s up? Where are you?”
“In a room with a view,” she said, being deliberately obscure, and with an answer like that, Jane knew not to pry. “I need a cell phone number for Levi Asher. Can you look in the dealer files on your computer?”
It wasn’t really a question. Between Suzi and Katya Hawkins, they’d nearly created the girl, taking her from being a half-wild street urchin with a few years of reform school on her résumé, to a sophisticated art aficionada with superlative job skills and exquisite taste. Between the two of them, she and Katya had given quite a few girls a second chance, including a couple of the Eastern European women.
“Sure. I’m at my desk, so just give me a… minute or so…and I’ll… Got it.” Jane gave her the number, then repeated it for good measure.
“Thanks.” When she reached the door, she stopped for a second and took a breath. God, that kiss. It had almost been her undoing. She had to stop kissing Dax Killian, but good Lord, it had felt like heaven. No man had affected her like that since-since too long to remember.
“So what’s up, Suz?” Jane said. “It’s not like you to call Asher. What’s he working on that you can’t resist?”
Levi Asher’s reputation for art was impeccable. He was one of the world’s master dealers. But his reputation with women was nothing but bad. Suzi wasn’t one to deny anyone their fantasy world, but to date, she’d declined becoming part of Levi Asher’s entourage. To date, she’d declined him about an even twenty times.
Tonight, Levi’s ship was coming in, or at least Suzi was going to do her best to convince him of the fact. If he knew anything at all about where the Memphis Sphinx was, she was going to get it out of him. Something had happened in the Galeria Viejo, while she and Dax had been bailing out the second-floor window, and she wanted to know what. If someone, anyone, had gotten their hands on the statue, she wanted to know who. If Levi had actually seen it-and Levi would know if he had-she wanted to know that, too.
“He’s got a piece he’s working on that I’m interested in, yes,” she admitted, opening the door and checking the hall in both directions. It was empty, but she knew where to find what she needed. “At the least I’m hoping he’s got some information I can use.”