Deadly Trouble, page 7
part #2 of Vegas Vixens Series
As if he had read her thoughts, Cooper shot her a wink while his hand rested on one of Mary’s swaying hips. Lily glared and stomped toward the tent. Inside, she plopped onto the cot. How dare he flirt with me while he’s practically feeling up Mary! Time passed, and the music faded. Still fuming, she stared into the darkness.
Feet shuffled outside and then came whispered voices. “Come on. I won’t take no for an answer. My bed has a soft mattress. You know you want to,” a woman said, and immediately Lily recognized Mary’s voice.
“So tempting,” Cooper said.
Lily stiffened and narrowed her eyes. Mary’s and Cooper’s voices drifted away, and the rest of the conversation was lost.
Lily clenched her fists. That untrustworthy, mongrel dog! Obviously Mary and Cooper were together. Lily had hoped she’d been mistaken, but she wasn’t blind—or deaf. Cooper was a player like her father, and she’d been dumb enough to fall for his games.
…
Slivers of morning light and the suffocating heat woke Lily. She lay quietly as the powdery glow illuminated dust motes that floated about. Footsteps sounded outside followed by the voices of a man and woman conversing in a foreign tongue. A dog barked, and the voices faded. Glancing at her bandaged arm, she was pleased to see it hadn’t started bleeding again. The strong earthy fragrance from plants engulfed the tent and made her nose twitch.
Lily sat up and attempted to work the kinks out of her neck. Shouldn’t Cooper have returned by now? This was his tent after all. Mary. The name slammed into her like a punch to the head. Apparently Cooper had enjoyed her “soft mattress” so much he hadn’t bothered to return to his quarters. How many girls did he flirt with, kiss, when he already had a girlfriend? Probably one in every lodge and village. Her teeth ground together knowing she’d almost become one of his conquests. She was quickly becoming unfond of alcohol. The panty ripper more specifically. She shook her head, hating how much Cooper consumed her thoughts. What did she care where he slept? The answer was simple. She didn’t.
She gained her feet, running her fingers through her long strands in a futile attempt to comb her hair. Near the door, she approached a make-shift sink: a five-gallon water jug and a bowl. Next to it stood a small mirror, toothpaste, razor, and a towel. She eyed the items before temptation won. After finger-brushing her teeth and washing her face, she felt better.
While Dr. Love was still out on his booty call, Lily looked over his quarters. Maybe she’d luck out and find a map and pinpoint the location of the village. She needed Cooper’s help. But if he were in the pocket of the drug lord, she’d do Jaime no good dead. She sighed in frustration as she pushed aside the curtain and entered the other room. A folding table stretched the length of the wall, and in front of it, a woven rug covered the floor. She skidded to a halt and frowned. Hundreds of insects and plant samples were stuck and labeled on boards. One board contained rows and rows of various species of beetles.
Strange. Her mind searched for an explanation. This was a bit extensive for a hobby. Where were his medical supplies? A stethoscope? Something other than a well-stocked first aid kit? Wasn’t he the doctor for the entire village?
A large-scale map tacked on the wall caught her eye, and she rushed toward it. Groups of different-colored tacks decorated the map of the Mountain Pine Ridge area. She brushed her finger down the Macal River but couldn’t pinpoint the village. She squinted, trying to find the Che Chem Ha Cave. Nothing. This map just had the bigger town of Cristo Rey, rivers, mountain ranges, and elevations.
“Useless. Absolutely useless,” Lily mumbled, tempted to rip the stupid map down and stomp on it. She shoved away one of the plant specimens sealed in a Ziploc bag to snatch up a GPS device. When she pressed the “on” button, it beeped, and the black and white display lit up. She studied the screen: coordinates, elevation, date, and time. After pressing the menu button, she still couldn’t make sense out of the information. Fighting back frustration, she shut off the device and set it down. Stop and think.
Okay, I’ll have to ask Cooper about the cave on the sly. I’ll pretend to be a cave junkie. The idea of exploring a dank hole filled with bat crap and murderers made her squirm. No time to dwell on the unknown. She had to stay focused—to remember Jaime.
The heat of the tent became stifling. Perspiration beaded along her forehead and trickled down her back. Paper littered the tabletop. She edged closer. A survey and inventory chart had a zillion handwritten numbers on it. Possibly coordinates. Next to it was a permit from the Belize government that allowed limited access for research and collection. Lily swiped the sweat from her brow. Why would a doctor be here collecting insects and plants? She glanced behind her before fanning out a stack of disheveled papers. A motorboat rental. Must be the boat on the dock. A leather portfolio caught her eyes and she studied the gold lettering stylishly engraved across the front.
Cooper Deforest Ph.D.
Professor of Entomology and Applied Ecology
University of California, Berkeley
Her eyes widened in disbelief. Explanation after explanation swirled inside her head. Her gaze flickered to the stuck bugs and then the word entomology. “You can’t be serious.”
“About what, my regal Lily?” The sound of a deep voice came from behind.
She whirled around. Cooper stood near the curtain separating the two rooms, his mouth tilting up in a smile. His tan, muscular chest peeked out through his half-buttoned, white-linen shirt. He set down a change of clothes.
“You!” Fury coated her tongue, causing the words to stick in her mouth. “You fraud! You aren’t a doctor!”
“Now, sweetheart, that’s not true. I have a doctorate—”
“You don’t have a medical degree! You’re a professor of entomology,” she spat, her hands clenching at her sides. Amusement twinkled in his eyes, sending her blood rolling to a full boil.
He rubbed his hand across his clean-shaven jaw and moved closer. “Now, I never said I was a medical doctor.”
She was sick of his games! “Well, you led me to believe you were. Oh, God, I had a doctor of bugs stitch me up. I’m probably going to get an infection and lose my arm!”
His expression sobered. “Now, wait a minute. I have medical training. I’ve been conducting field research for years in remoter places than this. I have almost as much training as a paramedic. I didn’t lie to you. I have stitched people up several times.”
“And I bet none of them lived!”
He had the nerve to laugh, the sound deep and rich. “Lily, you’re priceless.”
She saw red. “That’s it! I’m tired of you making a fool of me!”
…
Holding up both hands, Cooper tried to stop laughing. “Don’t you think you’re being a tad dramatic?” He studied the fine, ivory planes of Lily’s face and didn’t miss that her little nostrils flared like a baby bull. She’d been ticked at him ever since she’d shown up at the village. Okay, he hadn’t mentioned he lived temporarily in a local village, but the subject hadn’t come up. And even though he really liked her, he didn’t pour out his life story to a woman he’d just met. In all honesty, there had been a good chance he wouldn’t have seen her again, so he’d kept things light. People popped in and out of paradise like it had a revolving door.
“You think this is funny, Doctor?” Her almond-shaped eyes narrowed to slits.
Lord above, she looked even more beautiful all full of fire and sass. He couldn’t help it—he grinned like an idiot. “Oh, yeah, this is hilarious. And I never claimed to be a doctor of medicine. You just assumed, and that’s hardly my fault.”
His gaze traveled the length of her slender body that held enough curves to tempt any man. He envisioned getting wrapped up like a cocoon in her long silky hair and exchanging hungry kisses. He tasted her before, and every inch of him wanted her again. No doubt he’d get a black eye for his effort, given her dark mood. But, hey, he was a risk taker. Uncomfortable, he shifted his stance, his blood pumping south.
Lily advanced on him, her finger jabbing into the air, but before the retort could escape her lips, she tripped on the rug.
“Watch—” His words cut off as she stumbled into him, and he lost his balance. He secured her against him seconds before he slammed into the floor. The air whooshed out of his lungs. Now flat on his back, he stared up at the ceiling, waiting for it to stop spinning. Lily wiggled on top of him, and her small, firm breasts pressed against his chest. He drew in a breath and tightened his hold, not quite ready to end the sensations her movements created.
She gasped. “Get your hand off my butt!”
“Huh?” It took a second for the words to register. Cooper flexed his hand and realized he indeed had a firm grip of her backside.
Before he could move his hand, she knocked it away.
“Now, I didn’t do that on purpose,” he said. “Well, not the first time anyway.”
“How dare you!” In a sudden movement, she straddled him, and her hair fell in waves over her shoulders and around him.
Hell’s fire! What a woman! His fantasies took center stage, imagining what she would do to him next. Her glare and pinched expression made him smile.
She whipped back her hand, and he caught her wrist in mid-air before it connected with his cheek. “Now don’t get all worked up. I just grabbed you so you didn’t hit the floor. I apologize for giving your backside a squeeze.”
“Let go of my arm.”
“Promise to be nice.”
“Yes,” she said through her straight, white teeth.
He’d been thinking about Lily in this position since he’d first seen her at the lodge, but she needed to get off her high horse. Cooper released her arm and threw his weight to the side. He had at least seventy pounds on her and, in a tangle of arms and legs, flipped her onto her back. Keeping his weight on his elbows, he nestled his torso between her legs. He inhaled a slow breath through his nose. She smelled tangy—like insect repellent.
He gave her a wink, his face inches from hers. “Now, this is much better.”
“What do you think you’re doing?”
This was just too good to pass up. He lowered his head and captured her warm pink mouth. She responded immediately and parted her lips, her tongue brushing in tentative strokes against his. The warmth of her hands trailing up his torso seeped through the fabric of his shirt to his skin. He deepened the kiss, and she met him with the same urgency. Her fingernails burrowed in his hair, and a moan formed deep in his chest from the jolt of arousal. His blood pressure soared. Then her fingers caught a fist full of his hair and jerked his head back.
He stared at her and tried to smooth out his erratic breathing. Cooper could still taste her minty sweetness.
“Don’t kiss me again.” She released the hold of his hair. Her gaze lowered to his mouth as she moistened her lips.
He propped higher onto his elbows. “I thought you liked kissing me. Something about it being so hot your toes caught fire.”
Her brows snapped together. “Shoes, and I was drunk. It doesn’t count.”
“Hah! You do remember.” He hadn’t bought her lapse in memory for a second. Their kisses packed too much of a wallop for even alcohol to erase.
A throat cleared.
Cooper’s and Lily’s gazes jerked in that direction.
“Um. Am I interrupting something? I thought we were heading out to region four.”
Cooper shifted his weight off Lily and glared at his twenty-two-year-old Canadian research assistant, William. Sunscreen coated the younger man’s extremely pale skin, and his brown ponytail poked out from under a ball cap adorned with a beer mug. William was a good assistant—an asset, really, since he’d conducted research in Belize before—but right now Cooper wanted to chain him to a tree at the jaguar reserve.
“I’ve seen you before.” Lily sat up.
Reluctantly, Cooper sat up as well. He was definitely feeding William to the jaguars. A man didn’t interrupt a bud when he was having a little wrestling match with a hot number like Lily.
“You were at the Hidden Paradise Lodge.” She gained her feet, continuing to speak to William.
Frowning, Cooper also got to his feet. Why is she so curious about William?
William’s Adam’s apple bobbed up and down as unflattering splotches of red appeared over his pale flesh.
Cooper almost laughed. This kid clearly needs more experience with women. This reminded him of when they had gone into a bar at Cristo Rey last week, and a local girl had taken a liking to William. His friend had been reduced to a mute puddle on the floor.
“Um. I-I guess you might have seen me. I went to the lodge with him…with Cooper.”
“I saw you when the police carted off Mr. Flores’s body. Did you know him?” Lily asked.
“What?” Cooper’s frown deepened.
The younger man’s gaze ping-ponged between Cooper and Lily. “Um. Some guy hanged himself. Cooper, it was after you left for the village.”
“No,” she corrected. “He didn’t hang himself. Someone killed him.”
Cooper straightened. He didn’t like this one bit. Why is Lily really at the village? He hoped she wasn’t caught up in something she couldn’t get herself out of. He grabbed her shoulder and turned her to face him. “What are you talking about? Who got killed?” He didn’t want to know by whom. Around here ignorance was survival.
“Breakfast.” The sound of Mary’s soft voice floated into the tent.
“Well?” Cooper didn’t take his gaze off Lily.
Lily stepped back, and his hand dropped, breaking their contact. Her eyebrows lowered as she eyed him and then William. “Go find a newspaper if you want the inside scoop. I’m just a tourist.” And with that useless information, the conversation ended.
Chapter Five
Lily sat on a barstool for breakfast at the only restaurant in the village, savoring the brief attention from the oscillating fan. She tapped her toe to the rapid beat of the music and tried to guess what the foreign writing on the wall just above the low ceiling could mean. “Yu kyaahn travl pahn emti stomak.” Something about traveling on an empty stomach, and given this was an eatery, it probably cautioned against it. The place had room to seat ten between the clean yet worn, mismatched barstools and dinette sets. It was cooler outside, but Mary owned the diner and Lily needed to speak to her. Lily sighed and straightened the strap of her green tank top, feeling like a tramp for wanting a favor from Mary after she’d just locked lips with Cooper. This isn’t your fault. Cooper kissed you. But it’s your fault you kissed him back—that you enjoyed it. He’d turned her into someone she swore she’d never be: the other woman. Was this how the women her father had seduced felt? Angry at themselves for wanting an unavailable man, but too weak to resist his kiss, his touch? “Ugh!” Lily felt disgusted with herself. An older man eating at a table shoved against one of the bright-yellow walls glanced her way before returning to his meal.
Okay, she was done with Cooper. She locked in her mindset. Nothing romantic would be happening with him. He was off-limits—end of story. She stiffened her spine. She had to stay focused on her plan to save Jaime. She couldn’t let him down. Earlier it had been on the tip of her tongue to tell Cooper everything and plead for his help. But with his assistant, William, listening, she’d thought better of it. Reimer’s warning echoed in her head: watch your back, Miss Sanborn, and trust no one except me. Trusting the wrong person could leave her dead. After careful consideration, she decided Mary was her best bet to approach for help. She was local, and Cooper had placed her up there with the saints. Lily just prayed Mary wasn’t Maximo’s cousin, too.
Lily swatted away a fly, and then she took a bite of her breakfast. Greasy sugar coated her lips as she swallowed the fry jack, which was nothing more than a deep-fried flour tortilla. Glancing around, she failed to locate a napkin so she brushed the sugar granules onto her legs exposed beneath her shorts. She slathered jelly over the next piece and took another bite, licking the fruity remnants off her fingers.
“Can I get you something else?” Mary asked with warmth in her brown eyes. In orderly rows behind her on two shelves sat spices, beans, rice, flour, and baskets of fresh fruits and vegetables.
Why is this lady always so blasted happy? Oh, yeah. She had Cooper as her bedmate last night. It was on the tip of her tongue to tell Mary that Cooper was a two-timing fleabag, but at the last second, she decided against it. She needed information, not for the conversation to get sidetracked by the emotional drama brought on by a man.
“No, thanks. Breakfast’s very good. ” Lily returned a tight smile and glanced at the older man still eating. She wished he’d leave, so she could question Mary. “With this being the only eatery around, I’m surprised it’s not packed; food’s good.”
“Oh, it often is, but you missed the breakfast crowd. They get up with the sun, so they can work before the heat sets in.”
The heat was always on, but the humidity did feel lower in the morning.
“I would advise you to get here about six if you wish to stay for dinner. Dukunu and kow fut soop will be served.” Mary paused a moment and then added, “That means chicken tamales and cow foot soup.”
Lily quirked a brow. “Foot soup, huh?”
“It is a local favorite. I boil the foot until it is sticky and chewy…lots of spices.” She lifted her hand to her mouth and then flung open her fingers. “So good. Don’t be afraid to try new food.”
Lily stiffened. If Mary thought Lily would cower away from a eating her Belizean dish, she’d better think again. “My grandmother cooks chicken feet, so I have no problem eating a cow’s.” She frowned in thought. “I haven’t seen any cows around.”
“My uncle has a farm about three miles from here. He comes in to trade about once a month.”
Lily perked up. “Is there a road then? Does someone in the village have a car?” Maybe it was just hidden by the dense jungle.
