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  “Yeah, me, too.”

  Finn tore her eyes away from Luisa and the distracting drop of Corona to give herself time to regain her bearings. She felt at odds. She usually felt like she was walking on air before a trip. Being with Luisa made her feel grounded. She didn’t know which surprised her more—that she could feel that way about someone she had just met or that she liked it.

  “And on the other end of the spectrum,” she said, “there’s ya’aburnee, an Arabic word that means ‘you bury me.’ It’s a declaration of your desire to die before someone else because it would be too difficult to live without them.”

  “That describes my parents perfectly. They’re like two halves of a whole. They would be lost without each other. Have you ever loved someone that much, Finn?”

  Finn didn’t have the heart to tell Luisa she had never been in love and didn’t have the time or inclination to start now. There were still too many countries she hadn’t seen. Too many stories she hadn’t written. Too many adventures yet to be taken.

  “No. Have you?”

  “Not yet.”

  Finn heard the hopefulness in Luisa’s tone and tried to ignore its effect on her. Her relationships, partly by necessity and mostly by design, had always been fleeting. Luisa made her long for something more enduring. Something that lasted longer than a week-long fling in an exotic locale. But that wasn’t going to happen. No matter how enticing the bait dangling in front of her—or, in this case, sitting right next to her.

  “Tell me about you, Luisa. What do you do?” She hoped the answer would be something boring so she could talk herself into losing interest, but Luisa’s response made Finn find her even more intriguing.

  “On Monday morning, I officially become a member of the Federal Police.”

  “You’re a Federale?” Finn took a longer look at her. She still felt the same sense of authority coming from Luisa, but now it was paired with an air of command. “I can see it now, but on first glance, I would have sworn you were military.”

  “I used to be. I was in the army for five years before I got tired of my commanding officer’s corruption and opted out after my superiors refused to discipline him despite the mountain of evidence I provided to show he was dirty. I was told I should either learn to look the other way or put myself on the narcos’ payroll, too. I wasn’t willing to accept either solution. From what I hear, I may be in for more of the same when I report for duty on Monday since some of my fellow officers are known for taking bribes, too. I may not succeed, but I hope to change that mentality as soon as I can. If we don’t make a stand, the narcos will grow too powerful to be stopped. If we haven’t already given them too much of a head start.”

  Finn could easily picture her as a crusading white knight, but she hoped Luisa wouldn’t end up falling on her sword. She wondered how Luisa’s predominantly male coworkers would respond to having a woman join their ranks. A woman who was determined to eliminate the under-the-table deals that provided them with much-needed extra income to boot.

  “Why did you decide to become a cop?” she asked.

  “Because of what my mother likes to call my overdeveloped sense of honor. I’ve never been able to turn a blind eye when I see someone doing something illegal or immoral. I feel compelled to do something about it. It seemed only natural for me to decide to do it for a living.”

  “Even if it means putting your own life at risk?”

  Finn had never been able to understand the mentality of soldiers or police officers. They routinely put other people’s needs ahead of their own, knowing full well they would receive nothing in return except for marginal support and healthy doses of both contempt and mistrust. How could anyone be that selfless? Did it come naturally or did it develop over time?

  “The risk is part of the job,” Luisa said with a shrug. “I can’t separate one from the other. Nor would I want to. Why do you do what you do?”

  “Because it’s the only thing I’m good at.” The real reason Finn had become a writer was something that went far deeper than her flippant response, but she didn’t make a habit out of sharing deep, dark secrets with random strangers. Not even a stranger with a killer smile, beautiful eyes, and a smoking hot body. And Luisa definitely had all three. She raised her beer bottle in a toast. “Good luck with the new gig.”

  “Thanks. I’ll need it.” Another dimpled grin. One more and Finn might be tempted to drop trou right there in the bar instead of finding a more discreet location. “Good luck to you, too. With the article, I mean.” Luisa drained the rest of her beer, set the empty bottle on the counter, and waved off the bartender’s offer of another round. “If you go on vacation for a living,” she said, turning back to Finn, “what do you do for fun?”

  “I chat up strange women in airport bars.”

  That answer, unfortunately, was closer to the truth than Finn was willing to admit. She didn’t consider herself a pick-up artist by any means, but she preferred fleeting encounters with mutually satisfying conclusions to frustrating delusions of happily ever after.

  Luisa rested her elbows on the bar, and her rich alto dropped into an even lower register. Her expression was less come-hither and more come-get-me. “Then this must be my lucky day. Are you a member of the Mile High Club? You must be with so many flights under your belt.”

  Was she kidding or was she serious? Finn hoped Luisa could tell the difference because she had lost track somewhere between “Is this seat taken?” and “My name’s Luisa. What’s yours?”

  Finn smiled at the memory of a certain flight attendant who had spent most of a sixteen-hour flight to Australia catering to her every need.

  “I’ll take that as a yes,” Luisa said. “Will this be a working vacation for you, or do you plan to have some fun this week?”

  Finn tried to determine if they had time to take a taxi to a nearby hotel, check into a room, and put it to use before their respective flights took off. The answer—if she wanted to make it through the long lines at security and back to her gate before it was too late to board her flight—was probably no. But the prospect of spending even a few minutes getting naked with a woman like this was worth the risk.

  “I’m game,” she said. “What do you have in mind?”

  Luisa tossed a twenty-dollar bill on the bar and held out her hand. “Come with me and find out.”

  ❖

  Luisa Moreno didn’t do things like this. She was the good girl. She played things safe in her personal life. She took risks on the job, but never at home. And she definitely didn’t pick up strange women in airport bars. Or anywhere else, for that matter. She preferred relationships, not flings. One-night stands weren’t her style. But there was something about Finn Chamberlain that inspired her to do something completely out of her comfort zone. Her head told her coming here was a cautionary tale waiting to happen, but instinct said this was an opportunity not to be missed. When in doubt, she had learned long ago, always go with your gut.

  She waved the key card in front of the hotel room door and waited for the light on the electronic sensor to turn green. When she heard the lock click open, she felt something inside her spring free as well.

  “After you.” She held the door open, and Finn stepped inside. Luisa left her inhibitions in the hall as she followed the gorgeous gringa into the room.

  The room was nondescript—nothing Luisa hadn’t seen before—but Finn was anything but. She was a study in contradictions. Shy, but with the guts of a daredevil. Tall and thin with the body of a jock, but the mind of an intellectual. Her chunky black glasses and ironically humorous T-shirt said nerd, but her fashionably messy brown hair and designer tennis shoes said fashionista. Luisa didn’t know which incarnation was the real Finn, but it didn’t matter. She was hooked the instant she looked into those piercing blue eyes. She tossed her bag in a corner and turned to face her.

  “I don’t—” she began, but Finn cut her off with a kiss.

  “I know.” Finn’s hands rested lightly on Luisa’s wa
ist, then gently began to rub her sides. Luisa could feel the heat even through the thick cotton of her shirt. “But I do.”

  Luisa placed her hands on Finn’s chest and slowly slid them down until the heels rested on the rise of Finn’s breasts. “So what happens next?”

  “You assume the position,” Finn said with a mischievous smile. “Officer.”

  Finn twirled a long, tapered finger in the air, indicating she wanted Luisa to turn and face the wall. Luisa complied. Not with the reluctance of a perp, but the eagerness of a lover. She placed her palms on the peeling wallpaper, spread her legs, and waited for the next round in an increasingly sexy game.

  Finn began at her feet, her hands gripping her ankles and sliding up her calves. Luisa gasped when Finn’s searching hands reached her inner thighs.

  “Are you carrying any concealed weapons, Officer? Anything that might stick me or cause me grievous bodily injury?”

  Luisa shook her head as Finn cupped her ass. “I plead the Fifth.”

  Luisa felt Finn’s breasts press against her back. Then she felt Finn’s breath in her ear, as warm and intoxicating as a shot of well-aged tequila. “You’re not allowed to do that.”

  “Says who?”

  “I do.” When Luisa turned her head, Finn reached around and gently kneaded her breasts, then captured her lips in a kiss.

  Luisa moaned when Finn slid her tongue into her mouth. Teasing. Touching. Exploring. She enjoyed the power play. Giving up her own in order to submit to Finn’s. So different from what she was used to. Different and incredibly exciting.

  “Am I under arrest?” she asked after Finn finally allowed her to turn and face her again.

  “Not yet, but I will have to subject you to a much more thorough search before I decide whether to charge you with something.”

  “Here. Let me help you.” Luisa kicked off her boots, then unzipped her jeans and shimmied out of them. Her underwear quickly followed. When she reached for her Henley, Finn held up a hand to stop her.

  “Please allow me.”

  Luisa released the hem of her shirt and raised her arms over her head. “Since you said please.”

  Finn peeled off Luisa’s shirt, then grazed her knuckles across her belly. Luisa involuntarily flexed her abs in response to the unexpected sensation. Finn’s mouth quirked into a smile. “You like that?”

  Luisa put her hand on the back of Finn’s neck and pulled her closer. “Don’t ask questions if you already know the answer.”

  Finn’s smile grew. “I only ask questions if I know the answer’s yes.”

  Luisa pushed Finn on the bed and straddled her body. “Then you must hear ‘yes’ a lot.”

  Finn ran her hands up the backs of Luisa’s legs. “Upon occasion.”

  Luisa unbuckled Finn’s belt and pulled off her jeans and thong underwear. Then she reached for Finn’s T-shirt, which proclaimed she was once addicted to the hokey pokey but had managed to turn herself around. “We don’t have much time,” she said, tossing Finn’s T-shirt aside and lowering her weight onto Finn’s body, “so I might forget to be gentle.”

  Finn arched her back to meet her. “I was hoping you’d say that.”

  Luisa glanced at the clock on the nightstand to check the time, then turned the display away from her so she could focus on what really counted: the woman writhing in anticipation beneath her.

  Her friends called her “the nun” because she hadn’t had sex in so long she had practically become a virgin again. What would her friends say if they could see her now? Probably the same thing her family had said when she’d told them she had decided to join the Federal Police: “What, are you crazy, Luisita?”

  If this was what it felt like to be crazy, she decided as Finn’s mouth closed around her nipple, she needed to lose her sanity more often. “Tell me what you like.”

  Finn looked up at her. Luisa had heard that your eyes were the windows to your soul. If that was truly the case, Finn’s eyes revealed she was open to adventure. Of all kinds. “I’m flexible.”

  Luisa placed Finn’s knees over her shoulders as she settled between her legs. “I can tell.”

  She slowly parted Finn’s lips with her tongue, savoring the taste of the evidence of Finn’s arousal. Finn groaned deep in her throat. Then she gasped when Luisa flicked her tongue against her clit. Once. Twice. On the third stroke, Finn snaked her fingers into Luisa’s hair. “That’s what I like,” she whispered.

  Luisa smiled despite herself. Compliments were good to receive no matter what the setting, but especially one like this. She reached up and pinched one of Finn’s nipples between her thumb and forefinger. In response, Finn’s guttural moans changed to a high-pitched cry. Luisa wanted more. She wanted to know what Finn sounded like—what she looked like—when she came. She wanted to know what Finn liked for breakfast in the morning and the last thought that crossed her mind before she drifted off to sleep at night.

  Even though neither of them had said the words, Luisa knew this was supposed to be a one-time thing, not the start of a relationship. But when Finn came in her mouth—came screaming her name—Luisa knew one time with her would never be enough.

  ❖

  Luisa’s mouth was so addictive Finn could have come from the first kiss. Fortunately, Luisa paid as much attention to the rest of her body as she did to her lips. Finn lost count after the third orgasm, but her internal clock told her she needed to get her ass out of bed and back to the airport or she’d miss her flight. But she couldn’t leave. Not until she took care of some unfinished business first.

  She rolled Luisa onto her back and kissed her way down her body, wondering all the while when she had ever taken a journey she had enjoyed nearly as much. Luisa’s body was taut and firm, her smooth skin warm beneath Finn’s lips despite the frigid air blasting from the rattling vent strategically placed over the bed.

  “We’re running out of time,” Luisa said.

  “I know.” Finn chose to ignore rather than heed the warning. “But I need to feel you first.” She slid her hand between their bodies, glided through Luisa’s wetness, and slipped two fingers inside her. “Are you still ready to leave?” she asked as Luisa began to move against her.

  “There you go again.” Luisa’s voice was husky with desire. “Asking me a question you already know the answer to.” She pulled Finn into a kiss that left her breathless from its unexpected combination of tenderness and intensity. A kiss that seemed to embody its initiator. “I don’t want you to leave, Finn. I want you to fuck me.”

  Eager to fulfill Luisa’s request, Finn pumped her hand harder. Then she rubbed her thumb against Luisa’s clit. She felt Luisa’s walls close around her, clenching her fingers and drawing them deeper inside. Luisa sighed in satisfaction. In release. Finn kissed her, wishing they had time to do it all over again.

  She didn’t know what she had expected when she had agreed to come here, but she definitely hadn’t expected this. This sense of connection. Of coming together. Of something that was meant to be.

  Being with Luisa was like finding something she didn’t know she had been looking for. Something she didn’t know she needed. And it was about to end. She wasn’t sure she should feel happy that it had happened or sad that it would most likely never happen again.

  “Would you like to share the shower to save time?” she asked as she reluctantly rolled out of bed.

  Luisa folded her arms behind her head. “I’d love to share many things with you, mamasita, but unless you want to show up for your assignment a day late, you’d better not let me anywhere near you when you’re wet and naked. Or fully clothed, for that matter. I’ll wait my turn and enjoy the show.”

  Finn paused. “Is this the part where I ask you if we’re going to see each other again?”

  Luisa’s smile was warm and inviting. With no hint of the brush-off Finn had expected to take place as soon as the afterglow from their final orgasms had faded. The fond farewell she preferred to give rather than receive.

 
; “This is the part where we agree today was something special that probably won’t be repeated, but I program my number into your phone when your back is turned in the hope you might find a reason to use it one day.”

  Finn grinned. “I think I like that part.” She impetuously dug her Porky Pig toy out of her backpack and tossed it to Luisa. “Take it. It’s yours.”

  “You’re giving me this?” Luisa asked, turning the toy over in her hands.

  “A little something for you to remember me by.”

  Luisa looked skeptical. “Are you sure?”

  Finn had owned the toy for nearly twelve years. Porky was never far from her side, whether she was on the road or sitting with her feet up in her apartment. It was hard for her to part with him, but she liked the idea of leaving him with Luisa. And, perhaps, meeting up with the two of them again.

  “Maybe, if we’re lucky, I’ll get a chance to visit him someday.”

  “Maybe.”

  Luisa closed her fingers around Porky as if keeping him safe. In that moment, Finn knew she had left him in the right hands. She padded naked to the bathroom, conscious of Luisa’s hungry eyes tracking her every movement. She caught herself humming as she allowed the shower’s warm spray to wash over her.

  She had balked at taking this assignment since it was like nothing she had ever done before. But if every day of the upcoming trip turned out like this one, agreeing to take it might be the best decision she had ever made.

  Unless, of course, it didn’t.

  Despite today’s pleasant diversion, she had a bad feeling about this trip. An unexpected sense of dread deep down in her gut. Her instincts had never failed her before, but she hoped against hope now was the first time.

  Because if it wasn’t, this trip could end up being her last.

  Day One

  After her plane taxied to a stop and the interminable wait for the doors to open finally ended, Finn hooked her backpack over her shoulder, pulled her carry-on from the overhead bin, and shuffled down the narrow aisle with the tanned golf nuts, lovestruck honeymooners, and fanny pack–wearing seniors with whom she had shared the flight from DFW.