Armed And Dangerous (The McKinnon Legends - The McKinnon American Men Book 2) (23 page)

What he wasn’t telling her was that he needed her, period.

Just as Mason suspected, they were met by police. Weighing their options, Mason quickly concluded that encumbered with gear made it impossible to do anything other than cooperate. Not that Mason had any other brilliant ideas. He considered himself fortunate for being able to formulate any coherent or intelligible thoughts, period. What he did comprehend, through the fog of exhaustion, was that they came legally into the country and they needed to leave the same way.

Captain Redondo was standing with Carmen by the jeep questioning the men one by one.

“Ahh, Señor McKinnon. You have been doing some diving?”

Mason wanted to ask Redondo if he was in the habit of asking questions with obvious answers, but managed to keep his mouth shut. Maybe he was growing up or growing smart.

“What is all this about, Captain?” Mason saw Redondo’s eyes dart to the spear gun. “I have a permit for the spear even though it is mainly for protection, purely precautionary. My wife has a gash that we cannot seem to get closed,” he offered before laying the spear gun aside. “So why are you here,” Mason asked again.

Redondo chose to ignore the question for now. “Sharks can be a nasty pest. Fortunately, we have few attacks here, at least few attacks from marine animals. Did you see anything interesting on your outing, Señora?” Redondo asked Barbara just as she was dropping her mask, fins, and regulator onto the seat of the jeep.

“We did,” she offered cheerfully. “Do you dive, Captain?”

“Yes,” he answered, wondering where this was going.

“Then you know night dives are very different animals. When you see only a few yards in front of you and then a manta or eel comes out of the darkness it can really get the blood pumping. There was a fairly large Pacific octopus by the wall. Curious devil nearly took my mask off.” She laughed softly and naturally without a shred or trace of the nerves she really felt.

Mason was impressed. He had no way of knowing she was pulling from a past dive experience off the coastline of California.

“Are you a new diver?” Juan continued to question Barbara very casually.

“Oh, no. I certified in 1985. It is a sport that I really enjoy, and it is one sport that Mason and I actually share a mutual love. Mason has a tendency to more extreme sports, and he scares the hell out of me with what he does sometimes.” That was also the truth and Mason could hear the genuine ring to it.

Obviously, he did scare her with the crazy things he did. Perhaps, he should think about those who love him before he did anymore death-defying stunts.

“I thought you were leaving, Señora?” He eyed her suspiciously.

“I see you heard about our little disagreement.” She breathed in heavily. Slowly letting it out, she looked lovingly over at Mason and then back at the Captain. “Well, Mason and I have always had a history of going at each other and probably always will to one degree or another. But when it is all said and done we have the other's back. That is what partners do, Señor Redondo. You can either forgive, forget, and move forward, or you don’t and lose out. I care enough about the relationship that I have with him to work through it.”

Mason almost wished she had not said that. It confirmed what he was going to do would hurt her in the long run.

“What about you?” He looked at Mason.

“What goes on between me and my wife is none of your business. Did you come here to investigate a domestic dispute between us or was there some other reason that you are here in the wee hours of the morning.” Mason was done with this line of questioning.

“I suppose you did not hear or see a thing?” Juan asked as he watched the couple’s reactions.

“Such as? You are being a little vague,” Mason said while tossing the remaining gear into the back of the jeep.

“The fire and explosion was heard for miles. You heard nothing?”

“We were sixty feet or better below the surface for most of the night.”

The men squared off, Mason just daring the Captain to challenge him.

After a few tense moments between the two men, the standoff ended with Redondo blinking first.

“As you say, Señor. All right men, let us return to the villa and do the clean up. I have seen enough here.” He began to round up his men. Before they pulled away he had his driver stop the jeep beside Mason. “Señor McKinnon, I would suggest you have your lovely wife’s leg and arm looked to at the first opportunity. And might I suggest it be in a Costa Rican or American hospital?”

“Yes, Sir,” Mason quickly agreed.

Redondo acknowledged Mason by inclining of his head before ordering his driver to pull out.

They watched as the jeeps pulled off into the predawn light. The sun was just touching the eastern horizon of the Caribbean Sea.

“He knows,” Barbara whispered leaning heavily against Mason’s side.

Mason put his arm around her waist. “Of course, he knows. However, he also knows that he cannot prove anything, and we did him a favor. Go get dressed, Baby Doll. We are going to take his advice. Dallas is sounding better by the minute.”

Panama City

What had taken them three days by jeep took them less then four hours by boat. Heading straight across the Gulf of San Miguel, they were in Panama City before lunch. The hustle of the city was loud after spending the last few days away from all the noise pollution.

After first getting Barbara to the clinic they checked back into the resort. Mason wanted to get a few hours rest before striking out by car to Coast Rica. He really wanted to fly back to Dallas. However, a very nasty CAT 4 Hurricane named Kathy was roaring up into the Gulf of Mexico grounding everything from extreme South Texas all the way back to the Florida panhandle and down from there to Miami. No one was going anywhere close to Texas, at least not by air.

He secured their suite of rooms, ensuring there was more than one bedroom with more than one bed. He had made that tactical error once and was not making it again. He wanted some fun now that the mission was completed and the danger was passed. So the door to their rooms could definitely be closed from the common sitting area.

Barbara’s was currently closed as Mason sat slouched in one of the oversized chairs of the common room. “I really want a good strong drink, a nice easy woman, and maybe a round of blackjack at the gaming tables down stairs in the casino,” he mumbled as he stared at the closed door of Barbara’s room where she was sleeping courtesy of the drugs the doctor gave her.

The drink, the woman or maybe even two, and the gambling were definitely what he wanted because what he really needed was to join her.

He needed to crawl into bed with her and just feel her breathing beside him. He needed to touch her soft skin and drink deeply her essence. That closeness to her was what he needed though sex with her would undoubtedly be phenomenal. But truthfully, that was not going to happen even if she begged him to make love to her every day of the week and twice on Sunday. There could never be anything more between them. He had to get her out of his system once and for all.

She was not into a man like him and that wasn’t changing even if he had seduced her in the jungle. He wondered exactly how it had come to this as he continued to stare at that doorway. Having no further necessity to continue carrying the cover of the happily married couple he could now do exactly what he wanted, but what he wanted was at odds with what he felt should be normal for him.

The desire he could see. She was beautiful even at her dirtiest, even covered in sweat, dirt, and blood, he thought she was attractive. Cleaned up, fresh and showered like she currently was and sleeping in his t-shirt proved a morsel almost too tempting to bypass.

He hated to think what his reaction to her was going to be if she ever decided to put on that red tango dress again. He figured if he had his way, she would not be in it long. So yeah... the desire he could understand.

What he could not understand was this undeniable, unquenchable longing. It went deeper than just a sexually driven need or desire. It hammered at his insides pulling him to her with a need bordering on obsession. She was like a drug, one that left him still wanting more after just one taste.

He was not so addicted that he couldn’t walk away. Still, remembering the feel of her was a ferocious temptation. His body and mind were driving him, whispering she was worth exploring again.

She never admitted to it while they were at the hospital, but she was in serious pain from the wounds she sustained the night before. The doctor, at his insistence, had given her a strong dose of morphine. She had three new injuries. She would not confess the cause or source to the doctor or him, and it took a hefty bribe for the doctor to look the other way. If it had been gunshot they would have been smoked.

She had a nasty burn and shards of glass and pottery in her arm and upper back, which he had no clue how she had come by. All he knew for certain was that she had come to the villa to warn him, risking her own life to save theirs. She had scratches, scrapes, and one deep laceration. There was plenty of dirt lodged in her existing leg wound.

They all had to be cleaned and tended.

She had almost broken his hand as she gripped it while the doctor cleaned and stapled her leg and hip. He had the urge to punch the man even knowing it was necessary and certainly not intentional.

Barbara was now the proud owner of forty three staples in her hip, right arm, and upper back. As the doctor worked on her, it was evident that she was in a lot of pain, and he desperately wished he could take the pain from her.

As he sat there looking at her closed door, he was thinking about the trip back to the hotel from the hospital. She had rested her head against his shoulder completely secure in the fact he would take care of her. In her drug-induced state, she admitted her faith in him to keep her backside covered.

He smiled thinking about that conversation.

He promised to oblige her. He made the comment that she had a very nice backside, and he would be happy to cover it again if she would let him. She smiled and crooked her finger at him.

“Psst, come closer Mason,” she said, whispering conspiratorially. He leaned in closer to her and she pulled his face closer still. “Listen, Mr. Stud, the only thing you will be doing with my backside, other than protecting it, is some rendition of this,” she said just before she kissed him full on the mouth in a very loud smooch. She was not one bit subtle in telling him to ‘pucker up and kiss her ass’ in no uncertain terms. He had laughed, loving her humor. She was edgy, forward, and completely unpredictable. After they returned to their rooms, she was very unstable, so he helped her from her bathroom and into bed.  Nevertheless, like anyone under the influence, she had no idea just how unstable she really was at that moment, and he had no desire to have her do a face plant into the coffee table. He insisted he help.

“I’ll get you into bed, and then I’m off to the gaming tables unless you need me to stay,” he offered once she got out of the shower.

“I’m fine, Mason. Go eat,” she had told him. “I think I’ll just stay here for a while and sleep it off. Bring me back dessert,” she slurred sitting on the side of the bed trying to pull on her socks with comical results.

“Here, let me help.” He tried to keep from laughing and had gotten down on one knee to get to her feet.

“Oh, Mason. I can’t marry you. You’re not in love with me.”

He knew it was just the drugs, but it still took him by surprise.

He had thought about that as he put her socks on her. He was still thinking about it.

Was he in love with her? Was that why he felt panicked each time he thought of them together as a couple? Was it why he felt the urge to run? He did not need a serious relationship in his life. What he did for a living and for fun was dangerous. He was a widow maker.

She admitted that he scared the shit out of her with the things he did and the risks that he took. It wasn’t fair to her or any woman.

Besides, she wasn’t interested in him. However, he had to admit the sex was fantastic. He had also found her desires and needs were coming first before his own, and it was exactly how he wanted it. As a result, he was beginning to feel as if his life were no longer his own. He was losing control over his own fate.

Part of him wanted that change while the other part was fighting against it.

He continued to stare at that door.

He thought about her as he poured himself a drink from the mini bar. It was his third. She was honest, open, giving, and not out for bragging rights as were so many of the women when they slept with him. She was funny, charming, and caring. He loved her friendship and her smile. He loved her body and her mind. He loved her spirit and her dogged determination and loyalty.

What was there not to love about this woman?

So, yes, maybe he was in love with her.

The thought terrified him as he slammed back the hard liquor grimacing as it slid down his throat.

Physically, she was beautiful, but it went so much deeper than that with her. Just as Robert had said, the layers of Barbara Allen were many and varied.

She was a warrior, a fighter, and a dancer. She was a poet and a woman. She was a friend, a lover, a confidante, a teacher, and his soul mate. She was like no one he had ever been with or was attracted to before now.

He was beginning to realize that she was everything he had always wanted in a woman, and he was looking to find in a mate. Yet, he had no idea that this was the kind of woman he wanted before now, and she was everything he could never possess because of who he was to her, a man who lived hard, loose, and fast. He never denied it and had never been ashamed of his life. He took risks which she did not approve. She was a woman who was too good for him and well out of his league.

The internal debate raged inside him.

She was a good woman, but he was not relationship material. She was commitment and marriage personified in a soft cover of womanhood. He was a single jump away from decreasing the world’s population by one.