He hit the gas, knowing that the plume of dust behind them would conceal the make of the car and its license plate. No one was paying attention to them anyway. The car bounced over ruts, pebbles and rocks hitting the undercarriage as Zach tried to put a fast mile between them and the shoot-out. Then he saw what he’d been looking for—tire tracks leading off the highway and north into the desert.
He hit the breaks again, then cranked the wheel and drove off the road, the car fishtailing in loose gravel. Beside him, Natalie was still bent down. “It’s okay. You can sit up now.”
She sat up, glanced around them, blue eyes wide. “What just happened?”
“I think the Sinaloa boys got pissed off at the Zetas for holding up traffic and decided to take down the roadblock by force.” He stopped the car, waited for the dust to settle, then pointed. “Look.”
In the distance, black smoke rose into the air, the report of automatic weapons sounding like firecrackers. But even at this distance, stray rounds were a danger.
He took Natalie’s hand, gave it a squeeze, hoping to reassure her. “You ready? This ride is bound to get rough.”
She nodded, the fear in her eyes giving way to determination.
He nudged the car forward, and they were off.
CHAPTER 15
NATALIE STARED AT the charred remains of a minivan as they drove slowly by. It was not the first abandoned vehicle they’d passed, but it was the first to look like it had come through a war zone. “What happened to them?”
“Looks like they came under fire, and the fuel tank blew up.”
“A fight between drug smugglers?” She noticed dozens of bullet holes in the doors, shivers sliding down her spine.
“Maybe. Or it could have beenbajadores.”
She’d never heard that word before. “Bajadores?”
“Thieves who hide out along both sides of the border and steal drugs, money, and sometimes even human cargo from anyone who passes by.”
“Great. So we have to worry about desert pirates, too.” She looked around them, saw a landscape rich with opportunities for ambush.
“You let me worry about them. You worry about yourself.”
“Iamworrying about myself.”
“That’s not what I mean.” He chuckled, the sound warm and masculine, the smile on his handsome face making her pulse skip.
Stop it, you!
She needed to quit feeling so drawn to this man. He might be with her at this moment, but he wasn’t actually a part of her life. He’d said himself that his wasn’t the kind of life a man shared with a woman. She certainly didn’t want to get mixed up with a man who lived on the edge the way he did. She and Zach were headed in very different directions. The fact that they’d met was nothing more than an accident—a very lucky accident.
Natalie knew this, and yet . . .
When we get back to the U.S., you and I will go our separate ways.
His words had sent her spirits plummeting. She’d tried to cover her emotions by pretending not to care. But how could what she and Zach had experienced together have been nothing more than casual sex when it had touched her so deeply?
Maybe you’re making it out to be more than it was.
Perhaps she’d been so starved for a man’s touch that she was overreacting to what had been nothing more than good sex. How would she know? She’d never had casual sex before. She’d never been with anyone besides Beau, and they’d been deeply in love and committed to each other before they’d crossed that line.
And then her spirits sank further, weighted down by a sense of guilt. How could she have had sex without once thinking of Beau?
She didn’t want to think about this any longer, not here, not now.
She met Zach’s gaze, her tangled emotions making her words sharper than she’d intended. “Iknowwhat you mean.”
She was supposed to tell him immediately if she felt dehydrated, dizzy, disoriented. She was supposed to tell him if her feet hurt, even if it was nothing more than the beginnings of a blister. She was even supposed to tell him if she got a headache or felt too exhausted to go on.