With Roses Come Thorns

Reese looked at Dallas as they waded out into the mucky pond and she didn't trust him. But then she didn't trust herself either. Clover smiled at Dallas and the two of them moved towards the lily pads.

She felt the fish moving against her legs beneath the water, damn some of them were good-sized, probably koi.

"We'll go look at the reeds too," Clover said, "Why don't you look at the water lilies?"

Reese looked over where they were located and wondered how deep the water would be there. It's not like they could tell from where they stood. She asked herself again why she had taken this job.

Ah, because she had needed a place to hide out from just about everyone in the world that she knew including the man in front of her.

Not to forget Rodrigo who was searching the world for her right now, according to Dallas. She should have guessed she might have been worth the trouble for him given that she had bedded the trafficker and then betrayed him. She closed her eyes then to resist the thoughts that tried to overwhelm her and they were nothing compared to the imagery.

Dallas had her pegged so wrong. But that was okay because she didn't feel like setting him straight at this point. Let him continue to believe the worst of her that she was an opportunistic whore and life could move forward. If he could believe so easily that she would leave the warmth of his arms in the bungalow to shack up with Rodrigo because she had no qualms or no values.

No loyalties, certainly not to him. She sighed, and opened her eyes again to head, step by step to the lily pads. Mindful not to take the wrong step, to slip and sink beneath the surface in front of him.

Not that she still didn't want to dunk him…especially when her mind allowed her to wonder if he had fucked Clover last night in his bed or hers…or maybe someplace hidden on neutral territory like her and her guy for the night. She had needed last night, if only to know that she still controlled her own feelings and her body not anyone else. But as she had lowered herself carefully on top of the man before moving against him, she hadn't been thinking of him.

"Hey, look these aren't that bad," Clover said, "Adele might want to use these for a display."

""They might need another week or two to realize their full growth," Dallas said, "We had them where I grew up."

This had been some place where bodies of water broke up parched acreage of land that grew very little most of the time, one reason why Dallas had gravitated so quickly to an assignment in a tropical area. One surrounded by ocean even if the lush paradise had been ruled by a man with an iron fist.

She and Dallas had taken the job to get a friend who worked in the covert section of a federal organization out of a jam. He had used his extensive experience flying in the military to pose as the newly hired pilot and she'd been a woman applying for the recent opening in Rodrigo's closest staff created by the torture and murder of another operative. She had been surprised that he had hired her so readily and moved her into his closest circle seemingly without the extensive vetting she had anticipated.

But she hadn't known his real reasons yet. Not until later given that her administrative skills and discretion hadn't exactly been what he had wanted.

"Hey Reese, you going to be standing there all day or you going to help out here?"

She blinked her eyes at Dallas and rolled her eyes at him before heading to the lily pads. One step at a time, very carefully, she had to remember that. Each footstep sunk into the thick mud which layered the bottom of the pond and she had to pull it out. She tensed a bit anticipating the bottom to drop deeper but it remained pretty level until she reached the plants, green stems sticking out of the water attached to pads and bright yellow flowers beginning to blossom in the heat.

Reese reached her hand to touch the blossoms, delicate as they looked and her mind flashed to when Dallas dressed in his pilot uniform had picked a blossom, a rosy pink flower with soft rounded petals and stuck it gently in her hair, behind her ear. Her hair had been flowing gently in curls over her shoulders after she had released it from its constrictive bun.

But when he kissed her then, behind the thick tree which stretched its branches over the back of his bungalow, she felt herself melt into his arms. His fingers had stroked her mouth so gently first before his mouth possessed it. Each kiss he had given her had been more magical than the last, had left her more wanting for the next one. His hands had roamed over her back easing their way beneath her business-like where her breasts pressed against her lacy camisole.

When they had come together the first time, it had been as sensual and as wild as the summer squalls which coated the island with warm blankets of rain. The type that carried the scent of wild flowers, sweet and succulent, cooling their skin. It had been raining then even as the blue sky shone clearly now, and his handling of her, more gentle and leisurely. But always very careful, because they couldn't be seen together in each other's arms.

He had deftly unsnapped her bra beneath her blouse and she had sighed against him as he fondled her breasts, teasing them to temptuous points, at the mercy of his hands. Just as she had been…the combination of his dizzy kisses on her mouth with the movement of his hands on her skin…

She shook that reverie away hoping he didn't see her remember what it had been like before he had believed her to the mistress of a man like Rodrigo. Her skin felt clammy because that reminded her that Dallas hadn't been the last man to touch her breasts, and claim her mouth that way.

Handling the lilies gently brought her focus back to the present and away from the memories that just left her wistful and her body tingling for what it couldn't have anymore. Dallas would never forgive her for her transgression she knew, and what she told her handlers would never reach him, shielded as it was in the veil of confidentiality. And even that hadn't been the whole truth, no some things she had to keep to herself.

She heard them laughing by the edge of the pond where they clearly saw something that amused them. Clover splashed at Dallas and he reacted, as Reese watched. A chord tugging at her own heart because she remembered the impromptu water fight they had engaged in during one midnight swim when the moon had reflected off the waters as they stood on the darkened beach.

One kiss, one touch away from him taking her into the privacy of the bungalow to finish what one of them had started. She swallowed hard just then, pushing back yet another intrusive memory that did her little good here in her new life.

The one that Dallas had tried to drag her away from and when that didn't work, he had invaded it. If only to salve his own conscience that he didn't want to lose anyone who had worked with him.

She didn't hear the footsteps behind her but she felt the rippling of the water lap up against her chest.

"Reese, need any help?"

She didn't turn around focusing on the lilies.

"Actually I'm doing just fine Dallas," she said, "Don't need your help."

He stood next to her, his rugged masculinity just in her peripheral view.

"Looks like there are a lot of them here," he said, "Clover's got the reeds under control."

She sighed.

"I'll bet…look you two handle your area and I'll handle mine."

"Hey no need to get all worked up…"

She eyed him directly then.

"I'm not all worked up," she said, "I'm busy and it has nothing to do with you."

Not entirely true, she thought as she said it. She didn't want him near her right now because she had been pushing hard against the memories which threatened to invade her mind. Even now, she flashed onto the beach where he had drawn her into his arms, kissing her neck while cupping her bikini sheathed breasts in his hand. Damn, if that had made her feel wet, she'd never know it in here.

"Okay…just thought I'd ask."

She narrowed her brows.

"I'd never known you to do just that," she said, "rather than assume or order."

The look in his dark eyes showed her that her words had penetrated him more deeply than she had intended. He worked his mouth and then nodded.

"I suppose I deserve that," he said, "but we had a job to do and…"

She put her hand up.

"I did my part of it no matter what you believe Dallas," she said, "Now just let it go."

"Can you?"

She looked around and saw Clover parting a row of reeds with her hands, not paying them any mind. After all, the world she occupied was much different than that known by her or Dallas…and probably less complicated.

She paused and then nodded, biting back the bitterness slipping up her throat.

"I have to…life moves on Dallas and I'm not staying in the past."

With that, she moved away from her which proved to be damn slow in the pond, with the water pulling and pushing at her. Then she felt him grab her arm.

"And I'm living in the past?"

She just shook her head at him.

"Just let me go, okay," she asked, "and I mean that in more ways than one."

He released her arm then and she moved away, not to retreat she told herself or to escape but to continue working in peace.

But her heart still warred inside of her, her arm still felt the burn of the fingers that had in the past elicited so many delicious sensations from her. The man had proven to be an expert with his hands. She remembered that about him but right now, she had to live her life without him.

Because of those words of accusation that still rang in her ears and tore at her heart. Yes, all the more reason to put more distance between them while pushing down the part of herself that wanted to get closer.

Rodrigo got off the phone with some of his best trained men, hired to do just what he ordered, which was to find a needle in a haystack.

Two needles in fact, though his former pilot would die much more quickly than the woman who had shared his bed. After a couple rounds of torture, one gunshot or push outside of a window would take care of the man who had flown his top line of jets.

But for the woman, Rodrigo had something very special planned.

He could feel himself getting closer to both of them even though the reports hadn't been very promising in terms of information. But if he upped the reward for finding them, that might garner him much quicker results.

Rodrigo had no intention of going down as an example to the other traffickers who even right now were trying to exploit the opportunity to spread their own operations. No, she had plans to stay in business for a long time, spreading its tendrils throughout the globe. He picked up his Scotch and sipped it slowly, savoring what was to come when he could get his revenge.

Showing the world that he was no one to mess with and get away with it.