“See you in a bit,” Mateo said, not looking at Gabriella again.
So much for keeping watch over me. Hypocritical ass.
She crossed the room on unsteady legs and stepped outside, tears stinging her eyes. The heat of the moment curdled into something ugly—confusion, rejection, a sickening sense that she’d been pulled in only to be discarded.
With numbed limbs, she moved robotically after Sally, who seemed to find enjoyment in her distress. She spoke little until they got closer to the edge of the jungle, where the path began.
Sally glanced back at her, pleased. “The springs are our favorite part of town,” she said as she led the way down a lantern-lit path. “You’ll enjoy them.”
The trail opened into a clearing where steam curled lazily into the night air. A creek flowed through smooth stone, water shimmering and alive. The scent of sulfur mingled with rain and wet earth. It was beautiful and otherworldly.
Sally showed her where to leave her clothes, gesturing absently. “We soak nude so I will give you privacy and be back in a bit,” she said. Gabriella noted the glint in her eyes before she disappeared.
She probably wants alone time with Mateo.
Gabriella thanked her, though the words felt hollow and only settled on empty air where Sally once stood. She looked around and thought of her options.
She could try to escape, trek through the jungle in the night with nothing but the clothes on her back. The moon was outenough that she could see a little, but it also meant she could run into animals happy to nibble on her flesh, or worse, a man.
Her other choice was just to enjoy the damn bath.
She chose the second option.
The water wrapped around her like a sigh when she stepped in—warm, soothing, easing the tight knots in her muscles.
Don’t think about the bugs. Don’t you dare, she recited to herself as she sank lower, letting the heat quiet her thoughts, the ache in her chest dulling to a throb.
All around her, the jungle was alive. The stream’s bubbling, singing birds, buzzing bugs, and whispering leaves all merged together to create a long uniform song of preservation and tranquility.It’s nature’s white noise machine, she chided herself.Just think the bugs are white noise.
It helped calm her mind, and pushed her to simply focus on the heat of the water, her limbs relaxing. For a moment, she almost drifted to sleep, but then footsteps crunched nearby.
“Sally?” she called, lifting her head, droplets of water tickling her heated skin.
She turned and froze.
Several men stood at the edge of the clearing, half-shadowed, watching her far too closely. None of them were smiling.
The warmth of the springs suddenly felt cold as ice.
CHAPTER 16
MATEO
I almost fucked up.
Mateo stood alone in the house, motionless, fists clenched at his sides as if restraint were the only thing keeping him upright. The inferno inside him hadn’t cooled—it intensified. Gabriella’s warmth still lingered on his skin; the memory of her pressed against him was a dangerous distraction. The sound she’d made replayed in his head, unbidden, tightening his jaw.
That was the problem. She felt real and beautiful and smart.God, she was amazing today. The potential of her? The way she spoke down to the men around her had been incredible. She had been damn near reminiscent of a queen.
But theatrics can only go so far. He’d seen the strain on her by the end of the day and caught the way she had leaned towards him for support. He was dancing a fine line between trying to maintain his own facade and keeping her safe. His love for her was real, and love was a liability.
He had dragged her into this. Every instinct he’d honed over years of survival screamed that she didn’t belong here. He should have left her in Costa Rica, shoved cash into her handsand sent her somewhere loud and anonymous where men like him didn’t exist.
But that fantasy collapsed the second he imagined it.
Little tidbits of her past reminded him that she was struggling. She barely spoke Spanish despite her father being Costa Rican. She didn’t know how to read a room, didn’t recognize the quiet signals that meant run or submit. Out there, alone, she wouldn’t last a week. Someone would notice her, take her, and possibly kill her.
He would never forgive himself if that happened, so he took the role of protector himself, even if it meant dragging her to hell with him. But right now, he needed space and knew the hot springs would be a reprieve for Gabriella.