Fatal Pursuit (The Aegis Series) by Elisabeth Naughton Page B

a thing. Take your clothes off and get in. The water’s great. It’ll ease your grumpy mood.”
    “I’m not grumpy.”
    “Oh. My mistake. It must be caffeine withdrawal.”
    His eyes narrowed. He couldn’t quite read her. Her smile was one of ease. And there was a playful glint in her eyes he hadn’t seen in a really long time. “Are you trying to get me naked, Addison?”
    She rolled her pretty sky-blue eyes. “As if. No, I’m not one of your groupies. You stink, Ryder. I should know. I had to sleep next to you last night. If I have to spend the next few hours with you in this sweaty jungle, I don’t want to smell you.”
    He shot her a look, which only made her laugh again. She turned her back. “I won’t watch. How’s that?”
    That was good. Though a tiny part of him was disappointed that she’d turned around. Which totally made him frown because this was Marley. Not a woman he was the least bit attracted to romantically.
    He glanced over the jungle, then looked at the pond and waterfall. She was right, it did look refreshing. And he was hot and sweaty and, yeah, grumpy as hell. And they did have a good long hike in front of them. A quick dunk would do wonders for his mood.
    His frustration slid to the wayside. He bent over and unlaced his boots. “I don’t know how I let you talk me into this shit. If I get eaten by piranhas or a Komodo dragon, you’re in big trouble, Addison.”
    “Komodo dragons live in Indonesia, not South America. But if one happens to miraculously bite you here, I’ve got a first aid kit.”
    God, she was a smartass sometimes. But as he kicked off his boots and socks, tugged off his T-shirt, and reached for the snap on his pants, part of him was amused instead of annoyed. His gaze slid to her bare shoulder. Her toned, tanned, really sexy bare shoulder. “No peeking.”
    “Don’t worry. I have to work with you every day. I don’t need to be scarred for life.”
    He dropped his pants on the ground and waded out into the water, the silty bottom squishing between his toes. She was definitely right. The water was cool and felt damn good. He turned around and sank into the water backward, letting the clear liquid rush over his skin and bubble above his head.
    When he came back up and shook the droplets from his hair, Marley was treading water feet from him, a wide smile on her pretty face. “See? Told ya.”
    Had he ever thought she was pretty before? Probably. When she wore a new blouse to work, or did her hair differently, or when she really smiled, like she was doing now. But for the most part he tried not to notice. Though her filing system aggravated the hell out of him, and she rarely did what he wanted at the moment he wanted it done, she managed the ops with precision, she could hold her own with each of the guys in the company, and she rarely complained—at least not about the job. He’d never wanted to mess up their working relationship by noticing something as silly as her looks, so he’d never really tried.
    Except, he couldn’t deny those looks now. As she dunked under the water and came back up, swiping her wet hair away from her face, he couldn’t stop looking. She wasn’t exotic like the last woman he’d dated, wasn’t flashy like most of the women he went for. She was pretty in that girl-next-door way he’d told himself he was never interested in. And as he watched the water slide down her temple and inch its way toward the corner of her plump pink lips, something in his belly heated.
    She opened those sky-blue eyes and smiled his way. “Nice, huh?”
    Jake drew in a sharp breath and inched back from her. “It’s okay.”
    What the hell was wrong with him? Noticing Marley’s looks? Being turned on by her? Not good. Especially not with his history.
    He turned around, glanced across the pond again, checking the edge of the pool and the water for any creatures. That, at least, kept his mind focused on something important and off the fact she was naked