Fatal Pursuit (The Aegis Series) by Elisabeth Naughton

surprises me you’d turn to someone like him for help instead of asking me.”
    There it was. The frustration she knew had been at the root of his moodiness since the moment he’d stepped foot in Colombia.
    She tried to figure out how to answer and came up empty. Because deep down she wasn’t exactly sure why she’d been so adamant he not help her. It was more than the fact she didn’t want to listen to his opinion. It had to do with the complexity of their relationship—more than colleagues, not quite friends, and the weird sexual tension she’d been feeling around him the last few months.
    She cleared her throat. Crossed her ankles. Really wanted to put distance between them because her skin was suddenly tingling, but knew there was nowhere to go. Not knowing how else to answer, she finally said, “Ronan is not what you think. There’s more to the story about how and why he was discharged than you and your SEAL buddies know.”
    Jake turned his head in her direction. She didn’t have to see his get real expression to know it was there. “You know all guys say that, right? It’s not what you think?”
    “In this case it’s true.” Marley didn’t want to talk any more about Ronan. What he’d been kicked out of the military for was pretty nasty. He’d been lucky he hadn’t been court-martialed, but his judge advocate had gotten him off due to mishandling of evidence. He’d still lost his commission, and it had pretty well fucked up his life, but these days he seemed to be doing okay even if he was floating around South America doing mercenary work she didn’t want to think too much about.
    It wasn’t worth her time or energy to try to convince Jake of that fact, though. No matter what she said, his rigid by-the-book ethics would make it impossible for him to agree with or understand the things Ronan had done.
    “Where did he go?” Marley asked, changing the subject.
    “I don’t know.” Jake looked back up at the ceiling. “Just threatened me if something happened to you.”
    Marley smiled again in the darkness. There was the protective little brother she knew and loved, even if he rarely showed it. “He knows who you are. He must have felt comfortable leaving with you here. Otherwise he’d have stayed.”
    Jake huffed, lifted his hand, and slapped a bug on his bare forearm. “Maybe he just didn’t want to trek into this beautiful jungle to be eaten alive by mosquitoes.”
    Marley chuckled.
    “Or maybe he knew you were being evasive about this so-called boyfriend and didn’t want the headache.”
    Marley’s smile faded. So they were back to Gray. She knew their respite from this topic had been too good to be true.
    “Why didn’t your father want you dating the guy?”
    She was not in the mood to talk about this tonight. Especially when she was already so conflicted about Gray in the first place. And considering the odd tingle in her belly just from being close to Jake, she knew he was the last person she could talk to about her ex.
    Rolling away from him, she rested her cheek on her hand and blew out a long breath. “I’m tired. We’ll talk tomorrow. Night, Jake.”
    He sighed. Muttered, “You bet your ass we’ll talk tomorrow.” Then louder said, “Night, Marley.”
    And though she knew she was off the hook for the moment, she didn’t have a clue what she’d tell him in the morning.

    Jake blinked several times as he stared at a tree root inches from his face. Rolling to his back, he looked up at green banana leaves above. He was in the shelter they’d built in the jungle. The events of the last few days rippled through his mind, forming waves of consciousness that slowly sank in.
    Man, he had to admit, Marley had shocked the hell out of him with her hunting and gathering skills. And she’d not only caught an iguana—which wasn’t an easy task for anyone, him included—she’d skinned and cooked the bugger.
    A slow smile spread across his lips as he thought back to the way