“Yeah, I’d like to know what I’m getting into.”
Wade chuckled. “I think I could really fall for you.” He already had. Any woman who would come to his rescue without regard for her own safety had to be the one for him. How many jag shifters could claim they had a woman like that in their corner?
She smiled up at him, her eyes gazing into his, and she wasn’t pulling away from him. Maybe she thought he was kidding.
“All right. Then there was the time David and I needed to withdraw some money from the bank, but he wouldn’t come in because one of the bank tellers had the hots for him and he was afraid of her. So he sent me in instead. Guy at the next teller handed a deposit slip to her, and her skin turned pasty. The guy growled under his breath, ‘Do it.’”
“He was attempting to rob the bank?” Maya asked, wide-eyed.
“Yeah. I could have used David’s help. I glanced around to see if anyone else might be with this guy, and sure enough, another man was standing near the door, watching a security guard and looking nervous, his hand tucked in his jacket like Napoleon.”
“You shouldn’t have done anything. All they wanted was the money. Right?”
“Right. And I wouldn’t have done anything heroic, worrying someone might get killed. Me, even. The robber near me growled, ‘Now, lady, or you’re dead.’ About that time, my brother walked into the bank. I thought he believed I was taking too long, but I should have known better.”
“He knew.”
“Yeah, saw the getaway car, called the police, and came in to help me, in case I planned any heroics. I really didn’t.”
She smiled, looked down at his chest, and ran her fingers over his ribs with a featherlight touch. “I can’t imagine that.”
“Well, I thought about it, sure. But with just one of me and two of them, it was too risky. Now there were two of them. And two of us. David was close to the guy by the door. I was close to the one demanding the money. I shouted, ‘Now, David!’ Then I lunged for the guy near me, taking him down. He hit his head hard on the waxed tile floor, knocking himself out. Women screamed. Men yelled. The security guard shouted, ‘Hold it right there!’ He was waving a gun at David and the man he’d tackled, taking the guy to the floor. Police got the getaway driver and the two would-be bank robbers. As soon as David was standing, the teller who had the hots for him was all over him. I almost felt bad for him, considering he’d come in to save my butt.”
Maya laughed. “You’re so bad.”
“Yeah, it was his fault he’d used his charm on her earlier, though. We were given an award for citizens’ heroics and Martin had heard enough. We didn’t know anything about him and his organization or that he’d been following our shenanigans with interest. We were either being taken in by the police or doing police work. He wanted us to work for him, or else. So we agreed.”
She didn’t say anything for a moment, just resettled her head against his chest, her fingers tracing a circle around his nipple. “He’s damn lucky to have you.”
“God, Maya,” Wade said, hugging her close, hating that Maya had been in such danger and he couldn’t protect her. “Bettinger could have injured you, killed you. I’m sorry I got you involved in this.”
She shook her head. “You were always there for us… for Kat and Connor and me. Why shouldn’t we have helped you this time?”
He snorted. “Because I was supposed to be doing my job. What did Connor say to you last night about the whole fiasco?” He figured Connor would have said plenty.
“He was angry and told me not to get near you.” She smiled up at Wade with the most sinfully seductive look.
He chuckled, threading his fingers through her hair. “You didn’t listen to him.” He swept his hand over her bare arm.
She ran her fingers over Wade’s chest with a tender touch, making his blood heat. “I don’t always listen to what my brother tells me to do or not to do.”
A rapping at the patio door made Wade’s heart skip a beat. He peered through the gauzy mesh surrounding the bed and saw a shadowy figure at the back door, hidden by the drapes.
Chapter 16
“Connor?” Maya whispered, pulling away from the bed and Wade. The figure was definitely a male as tall as he was, and Wade was instantly on guard. “You stay in bed,” she said, grabbing a white terry-cloth robe off a chair and pulling it on.
Wade wasn’t sitting still, despite what she wanted. He quickly left the bed to protect her in case it wasn’t Connor, watching her move down the stairs and through the living room, ready to shift into his much more protective jaguar form.
She pushed the curtain aside before she opened the door, then turned and, smiling, said to Wade, “It’s your brother. And it looks like he brought us a late breakfast.”
Wearing khakis and a light-blue shirt, David stood grinning at the door.
Relieved to see his brother and not Connor—or one of the bad guys—Wade snagged a towel out of the bathroom and tucked it around his waist, then joined them in the living room. “What the hell are you doing here? You’re supposed to be getting your half of the bad guys.”
David chuckled as he carried in the tray of food, kissing Maya briefly on the cheek, then setting the tray down on the coffee table. “Compliments of your brother and me, Maya.”
“You spoke to my brother?” Maya asked, her brows furrowed.
“Yeah. I couldn’t find Wade and got worried. Then I figured if he was goofing off again, he might be here.”
Wade smiled a little at his brother and shook his head.
“I ran into your brother and his wife as they were on their way to breakfast. I assumed that the three of you had brought Wade back here.”
“Yeah, not of my own choice,” Wade said as he sat down next to Maya and looked at the food on the tray. An omelet made his stomach rumble with hunger. French toast made of Creole bread had been prepared for Maya.
Shaking his head, David sat down on the couch opposite them and glanced at Maya sitting in her robe. “Coming back here with Maya,” he said, then glanced at the bed and again at Maya, “would have been my choice if I’d been you.”
“Believe me, you would not have wanted to go through what I did to end up here.”
“Thanks, David. What a treat.” Maya smiled warmly at him.
“I was worried when you didn’t rendezvous with me at the appointed hour back at our cabana, Wade,” David said, watching him eat.
“Sorry about that.”
David frowned. “I knew you had to be in trouble.”
Maya looked up from taking another bite of her French toast. “Connor and Kat came to our rescue and we came straight back here.”
David ground his teeth. “Okay… When Mylar and Bettinger didn’t return to the cabana last night, Lion Mane and Smith were pretty shook up about it. Lion Mane knew we had searched the cabana, and he discovered the tranq darts and the scent of the female jaguar in the jungle. No sign of the guns or the men. No sign of the jaguars—you or the female. Lion Mane was sniffing at the scents left behind by Maya—who Lion Mane knew—and Kat and Connor, who none of us knew. He located the scents of Mylar and Bettinger, and the river where their scents ended.”
“You followed them to the site?” Wade asked.
“Yeah. I was trailing them when they returned to the cabana and discovered we’d been there. Then they returned to the rainforest to find the others. I guessed that they were supposed to meet back at the cabana, but like you and I meeting, it didn’t happen.”
“So what do we do now?” Maya licked her fingers.
Both Wade and his brother watched her tongue sliding over her fingers. Wade knew what he wanted to do. Take her back to bed.