Read Online Hush by Cherry Adair - Free Book Online Page B

bound hands in front of her face andtried to move ahead of him. It gave her a little comfort being sandwiched between two big, strong guys.
    Pinhead-tiny black bugs swarmed in lazy circles inches in front of her nose. Pulling out her insect repellent now would only get her gear confiscated, or worse, subject her to a more thorough search. A large red-and-green-striped leaf sprang out into her path, and she used her knee to push it aside, then scratched an itch on her cheek as something bit her.
    â€œYou don’t look like the type who’d BASE-jump the falls,” Zak said, sounding annoyed, as if her presence there was an affront to him personally. “What the hell are you doing in Venezuela?”
    Acadia resented the implication that she wasn’t the bold, daring type. “Looks can be deceiving,” she told him mockingly. Hoping like hell she didn’t—“What else would I be doing here?”—lie. Nerves, damn it .
    â€œYou were going to jump the falls?” He sounded insultingly disbelieving, but she didn’t glance back to see his expression.
    â€œI was waiting for my guide. He was picking me up later this morning. Now, I suppose.” God. She wished she’d stop doing that. It was a ridiculous defense mechanism she’d thought she’d outgrown, from when she was an insecure kid. Apparently not. Zakary Stark brought out the worst in her. Which was unfortunate as hell, since she was stuck with him for the duration.
    â€œIs that right? Venezuela’s a damned dangerous place for a woman to visit alone.”
    â€œThat’s very unenlightened of you. Isn’t Venezuela adangerous place for a man to come to alone?” Judging by the scars on his body, he’d been to some very dangerous places already.
    â€œYeah. It is. And as I recall, I didn’t come alone.” Heat rushed to her cheeks at his oh-so-obvious double entendre. But he saved her the embarrassment of floundering for a response as he added, “As it so happens, I traveled here with my brother.”
    She cleared her throat. “Well, I was expecting five friends to fly in later this morning. I wasn’t planning on—” Don’t say it! “—being alone for long. They’re going to freak out when they arrive and I’m not there.”
    An understatement. Shelli, Sharon, Julia, Amber, and Natasha were going to be frantic . They’d practically strong-armed her onto the plane because Acadia hadn’t wanted to be this daring. Sure, she’d reluctantly agreed to step out of her comfort zone, but she’d imagined they’d all go to New York, or maybe be wild and crazy and take a trip to Aruba and be served umbrella drinks at the pool by tanned cabana boys.
    Sharon, the boldest of her friends, had dared the group to go to Venezuela. The next thing Acadia knew, she was paying a fortune for the tickets and accepting the itinerary from well-organized Julia. She’d known before her brandnew Cypress Ion WPi waterproof hiking boots touched the ground in Caracas yesterday morning that she was having a mid-something crisis and way in over her head. But by then it was too late to chicken out and turn back.
    Zak shrugged, powerful shoulders moving in her peripheral vision. “Your friends will put two and two together and go to the authorities.”
    Nice of him to sound half-assed confident, but Acadia was pretty sure that wouldn’t achieve anything. The police in Venezuela were pretty much as corrupt as the plethora of kidnappers in the country. They’d go to the American embassy and hope someone there could help. Then they’d run out of money and options and return home to see what they could do from there.
    She fell silent, concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other in the knee-high grass. As it got hotter, moisture on the foliage evaporated into a steamy hothouse fog that caught in her lungs and made sweat pour down her