Forty minutes later, Evan stirred, burrowing her face into Miguel's broad chest. She knew immediately where she was, who she was with, what had occurred. She also knew she needed to pull away. This man was dangerous, an enigma, a stranger. And yet, she prolonged her departure from the shelter of his embrace.
She couldn’t quite wrap her brain around it, or more accurately, she didn’t want to wrap her brain around it. She had let him touch her, begged him to touch her. God. Date after date, man after man had her retreating like a tortoise sensing danger. Nice boys, clean-cut, intelligent, successful professionals and academics. Never had she felt the desire she felt with this man.
The situation had been so wrong—a dank, dark cave, air tinged with pot smoke, a menacing man, and yet something about it had been so right. A clandestine encounter with a stranger she would never see again, to whom she could confess her deepest shame. A man who could provide unimagined pleasure. An Adonis she hadn’t even kissed before she urged his hand between her legs. If Evan felt any regret at all, it wasn’t over their tryst but rather their inevitable parting.
He must have sensed her wake because Miguel lifted her chin. “The men are gone. You can make your escape.”
She fought the urge to nuzzle his hand. “What time is it?”
“The sun will be up soon.” He reached out and illuminated one of the lanterns he had brought over to their side of the space.
Reluctantly, she climbed to her feet, snagged her T-shirt, and pulled it over her head. “I need to get to the dig site and show Dr. Emberton what we found.” She gathered up the gold box and a sampling of the coins and slipped them into her canvas shoulder bag.
Miguel grabbed her messy ponytail and turned her head gently toward him. “What you found, querida. I was never here.”
She didn’t know why Miguel wouldn’t want anyone to know he had been with her at the find; most men in his position would see dollar signs. Clearly, this man had secrets, and Evan didn’t want to know them, so she nodded and stood. When they crawled through into the storage room, Evan cleared her throat. “So, um…”
Miguel spared her the awkward moment when he leaned down, took her face in his rough hands, and kissed her forehead. It was the only time his lips had touched her. “Be safe, Evan.”
He disappeared into the mine, leaving Evan to retrace her steps through the cave system to the little cove where the Zodiac was hidden in an outcropping along the cliffs.
Evan emerged into the cool morning air, stood on the tea-colored beach, and watched the sky slowly pink. She stretched her arms toward the heavens and felt a corresponding ache between her legs. After taking a moment to bask in the memory, she patted the canvas bag at her hip and marched over to the boat. It was time to get down to business. Nevertheless, she couldn’t help the secret smile that danced on her lips.
Best night of her life.
Cam leaned against the rock wall of the tunnel outside the empty storage room and fought to corral his emotions. Why, why had he allowed Miguel Ramirez to touch her. He tugged on his too-long auburn hair fighting the true realization that came. In that moment, touching that angel, he had been both men, the concerned protector and the salacious deviant. The line between the two had blurred, melding Camilo Canto and Miguel Ramirez into one man and threatening to fracture his psyche. Could he reconcile the idea that Miguel was a part of him, that this impulsive, selfish man was a side of Cam?
He suddenly felt as if he had been standing on a fault line for the past three years, and this beguiling, beautiful woman was causing the earth to shake.
His thoughts turned to Evan. He bathed in the vision. There, in the dark, he saw her. She had seized her pleasure with a boldness that tapped his most primal urges. He wanted to roar when she shattered, pound his chest, and dive between her legs, extending the euphoria for minutes, hours, days… forever.
If a genie had emerged from a bottle and granted him his perfect woman, that woman would have paled in comparison to Evan. He hadn’t even thought a woman like that could exist. She was perfect in her imperfection, a wonderful amalgam of timidity and bravery, reserve and fire. The way she passionately pursued what mattered to her it was… she was… captivating.
He didn’t feel that zing his dad had talked about. What he felt was a tether, an invisible lasso pulling him toward her. And he willingly went. Even now, her absence had left him with a hollow ache, as if she were somehow essential.
Giving himself a mental slap, Cam came back to earth. Evan was spending time with Miguel Ramirez, not Camilo Canto. She didn’t know Cam. What's more, Cam knew he couldn’t be with any woman who wanted a man like Miguel. He’d have to take that night for what it was and move on.
Cam made his way through the labyrinth of tunnels to the mine's front exit. He looked over his shoulder one last time and allowed the memory to wash over him.
Best night of his life.