Well, maybe some people did. But so far, no one from their team had vanished, and no one seemed off, so even if the thief was someone among their ranks, they probably hadn’t found anything, either. Otherwise, what were they still doing there?
Ford’s mind raced in bed that morning, running through each member of their team and analyzing the likelihood that they were the bad guys, all while stroking his fingertips over Corrie’s bare shoulder next to him. Corrie was the only thing making this dig bearable. Even on the roughest of days, the ones when they found nothing and news of his mother only worsened, once he found himself beside Corrie at night, all his worries faded to the background. Some days he imagined this was their home. That they could stay here forever.
But that was an impossibility. Someday, and likely soon, they’d all have to go back to their normal lives.
What would that mean for Ford and Corrie? Would that be the end of their tryst? Would they go their separate ways, living on opposite ends of the country?
One thing was certain—he had to come clean to her about the circumstances that had brought them here if he had any hope that there would be something more between them. But the moment never seemed right. And if ever the moment felt right, Corrie would do something sweet and caring that would make him question whether he wanted to mess up such a perfect moment by revealing how big an asshole he really was.
Perhaps things would be better if they simply said their goodbyes at the end of all this and she never knew the truth. Corrie didn’t deserve to be hurt—again. She deserved so much more than she’d been given credit for. Who knew that behind all that sass and beauty was the smartest, kindest, most badass chick ever?
He didn’t deserve her.
“What are you thinking about?” her sweet voice asked, startling him out of his thoughts.
Was this it? Was this the right moment? His opportunity to tell her the truth?
“I was thinking about the attempted break-in.”
Chicken. Corrie sat up, her tits perky as ever and barely concealed in that flimsy white tank top she liked to sleep in—and that he liked her sleeping in, too. Like he could change the subject now. Not when she was looking at him like that.
“Babe, you’re going to send yourself to an early grave if you keep festering about that,” she said, running her long, smooth fingers across his chest.
Babe?
“Did you call me ‘babe’？” he asked. No woman had ever called him babe, and certainly not a mere week into their relationship.
Wait. Relationship? Was that what was happening between them?
Her eyes went wide, and she opened her mouth to answer, but a light rap on the door pulled their attention away. “Shit,” he muttered as he climbed out of bed and pulled on some clothes. Corrie didn’t bother hiding, but Ford knew better than to reveal her whereabouts as he squeezed out the door to find Sunny standing there with a worried look upon her face.
“Sunny, what is it?”
“Are you sick?” she asked.
Ford shook his head as he wrinkled his brow. Sick? Sick with what?
“We think it’s food poisoning. From the dessert,” Sunny continued. “Half the camp is lined up at the TTs.”
Ford peered around the corner of his tent, and sure enough, several of the crew stood hunched over and holding their stomachs, waiting to use the bathroom. Ford and Corrie had been so quick to get to his tent the night before that they’d passed on dessert. Guess it had been a wise move.
“Are you serious?”
“Dead serious. Agnes is beside herself, claiming she’ll never cook again.”
“Where’s Ethan?”
“Puking his brains out.”
“What about you?”
Sunny shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t eat sugar.”
Wait . . . all that energy was . . . natural? Ford internally shook away the thought with a laugh.
“What are we going to do?” Sunny asked.
Good question. What were they going to do? They couldn’t exactly go out in the middle of the jungle with half the crew keeled over with food poisoning.
“I don’t know. I need some time to think. Let me finish getting dressed and I’ll find you in a bit,” he said, returning inside and leaving Sunny on the porch.
He walked over to the bed and collapsed on his back next to Corrie, then ran his hands over his face.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“They’ve all got food poisoning,” he said, muffled by his hands.
“Then that settles it. We’re taking a day off,” she said.
With a swift movement, he tore his hands from his face. “We can’t take a day off.” They needed to push on if he was going to get the money for his mom’s treatment.
“Ford, it’s food poisoning. We can’t expect people to work out there with diapers and barf bags. Thank God that’s all it is, though. In a day or two, everyone will be back to normal. Besides, you need a day to clear your head.”
“I’m not going to be able to take my mind off the dig.” Or his mom.
“Really? Because I can think of some ways to take your mind off things,” she said, reaching her hand under the waistband of his boxers and stroking his cock. He closed his eyes, taking in the delicate touch of her fingertips along his skin.
“Well, that’s certainly working,” he said, pulling his lower lip between his teeth.
“I can do this all day. Or we can do other things,” she said, shifting her body to straddle him, their underwear providing little by way of a barrier between their insatiable bodies.
“People are definitely going to talk if we’re in here all day with the window flaps closed.” Not that he cared what other people said if that meant she was going to keep rolling her hips against him the way she was doing right now.
“Then we go somewhere else. We can go explore. Go for a swim.”
“In the river? It’s way too fast in this area.”
“No, Weak Sauce,” she said, nudging him in the side. “Down below. There’s a huge pool below the waterfall. And we can bring a blanket to fuck on when we’re done.”
“I like that idea,” he said with a waggle in his brow.
“I knew you would. Now, I’m going to head to my tent, get some things, snag some snacks, while you make your way around camp, letting everyone know they’ve got the day off,” she said, hopping off the bed and leaving Ford hanging.
Well, maybe the opposite of hanging. His erection stood at full attention.
“Do you have to leave right this second? Maybe stay a few more minutes?” Between his hard-on and the desperation in his voice, there was no hiding the obviousness of his request. He had to pull at the fabric of his boxers to relieve the pressure.
But judging by her smirk and her lack of hesitation as she put on her clothes, it was clear Corrie had other plans. “We’ll get to that,” she said with a smile that would be sweet if Ford didn’t know the meaning behind it. “But first we need to clear our schedules. I want the whole day with you, Ford. Not only another five minutes before I need to sneak away again. I want you all to myself with no time constraints. No duties. No thinking about Aztecs or archaeology. Just the two of us fucking in the jungle without a care in the world for one day.”