Show No Fear Read Online Free PDF

repeated.
    “You know, it’s not too late to turn around, Luce,” he mentioned quietly.
    In Spanish, her shortened name came out as
luz,
meaning “light.” Lucy sucked in a tight breath. “My parents are having marital problems, okay?” she hissed, bringing up a
     situation that had weighed on her thoughts since she’d limped into her apartment after her microchip procedure and discovered
     her mother had moved in with her.
    His expression of dismay would’ve been comical if the subject wasn’t so touchy. “Damn,” he muttered. “Sorry to hear that.”
    Lucy popped an ice chip in her mouth and pulverized it between her teeth.
    “How long have they been married?” he asked her quietly.
    “Twenty-nine years,” she replied, peering into her cup for another ice chip.
    “They’ll work it out,” he reassured her. “It’s probably just a bump in the road of life.”
    “I don’t know.” She sighed with worry. “My mother’s living in my apartment.”
    “So that’s what’s bothering you,” he said with a thoughtful nod.
    “Yes,” she retorted.
    “You’re sure you’re being honest with yourself.”
    Lucy’s temper simmered. “Yes,” she repeated. “Would you drop it already? We’ve already been through this.
I am not backing out,
” she added in English.
    Without warning, his mouth covered hers, muffling further words.
    Lucy’s breath caught in her throat at the feel of his smooth, warm lips against hers. Memories, unsettling for their blinding
     sweetness, caught her off guard.
    The pressure eased. “
Cuidado,
” he whispered against her lips.
Careful.
They were supposed to remain a hundred percent faithful to their covers, speaking only in Spanish.
    Did he think he could manipulate her at will? Offended by his heavyhandedness, she kissed him back, wresting the reins of
     control away. He stiffened as she slipped her tongue between his teeth. He met her stabbing tongue with a gentle, sensual
     parry of his own, and pleasure rippled through her.
    Alarmed, she drew back. His taste and texture were still familiar, but his confidence bespoke sexual experience that sparked
     an immediate and powerful response. With the feeling she had unwittingly opened Pandora’s box, she drew back.
    For a moment they gazed warily into each other’s eyes.
    “Just curious,” she whispered, explaining her impulse with a shrug, using the same explanation he had used the other night.
    With a tight look, he straightened in his seat and sat back, thoughtfully quiet.
    Lucy turned her warm face toward the window and peered down, dismissing her actions as an aberration.
    Far below them, the coast of Venezuela drew a skirt of sand out of the tourmaline waters of the Gulf of Mexico. It was down
     there that she’d been stripped of her confidence in the first place.
    She was coming back to reclaim it—not in Venezuela, exactly, but in neighboring Colombia. As tough as it was for her to admit,
     she couldn’t do this without Gus. She would have to rely on him to cope with the jungle’s rigors—that was no doubt true. But
     once this assignment was over, she’d be stronger and more self-reliant than ever. PTSD would be a thing of the past.
    P ERCHED ON A PLATEAU in the Andes Mountains, nine thousand feet above sea level, Bogotá sprawled as far as the eye could see. Seven million people
     living in one place had clustered into neighborhoods of differing wealth and ethnicity. To the north, a chain of mountains
     created a scenic backdrop for the wealthy.
    The airplane floundered through the thin air, then bumped down on the runway at El Dorado International Airport. As the unique
     scent of South American soil stole through the open door, uneasiness roiled in Lucy’s stomach, congealing into something approaching
     fear as she exited the plane.
I can do this,
she assured herself, stealing guilty reassurance from Gus’s hand as they strode along the boarding platform into the terminal.
    Bypassing baggage claim, they