I smiled against his shoulder. “For now. But I’m sure they’ll come back again later.”

  “Then stay with me,” he requested huskily. “I’d be more than happy to take care of every one of them for as long as they keep popping back up.”

  God, I knew that would be an eternity.

  I was never going to stop wanting this man.

  I was never going to stop needing him.

  There was never going to come a time that I didn’t want to be with him.

  Cooper was my elusive Mr. Right.

  I wasn’t sure if I was alarmed or elated.

  While he was quite expertly pleasuring my body, I’d also realized that he managed to steal my heart, too.

  I was completely, irrevocably, terrifyingly in love with Cooper Montgomery.

  “You went quiet. Everything okay?” he asked as he stroked a gentle hand over my wet hair.

  I’d always known my emotions were out of control when it came to Cooper, so maybe it shouldn’t have surprised me all that much that I was in love with him. “Just taking a rest,” I said lightly.

  I was not going to let the way I felt about him scare me away from the best thing that ever happened to me.

  Yeah, it was scary, especially when I had no idea if he loved me back. But if I’d learned nothing else during my kidnapping, I’d discovered that nothing was guaranteed.

  I was going to hang on to Cooper and enjoy the ride for however long it lasted.

  When I’d been afraid that I was going to die in the Amazon, my one big regret was the fact that I’d never had an intense love affair in my life.

  Cooper could give me that…and more.

  Once I’d stopped rolling in post coital bliss, I slowly lowered my feet to the floor of the shower.

  I wallowed in the pleasure of Cooper washing me all over again, and I took my time returning the favor.

  By the time he finally shut off the water, my fingers were completely pruned and my body was still trembling.

  I watched, drooling as I finally got the chance to ogle his powerful, naked body as he quickly dried himself off.

  Cooper was every woman’s fantasy. From his muscular biceps to his six-pack abs, his nude body was a work of art.

  He quickly tossed his towel and brought a fluffy one to dry my body off.

  I reveled in the intimacy of something so simple as Cooper taking his time to dry every inch of my exposed, damp skin.

  By the time he was done, I wanted him all over again.

  “Food?” he asked as his hungry eyes roamed over my body. “I did promise to feed you.”

  “All I really want is you,” I said honestly. “Unless you’re starving, feel free to just take me to bed, Cooper.”

  I felt like I’d waited so long to be with him like this that I had more exploring to do.

  “Food is really highly overrated,” he replied hoarsely as he lifted me into his arms and headed for the master bedroom.

  Cooper

  “I can’t claim that I kidnapped you, but I did finally get you into this incredible jet for an adventure,” Torie teased as we lounged on the wide couch in the cabin of my private jet on our way to Peru.

  Hudson had sent his jet to Michigan to pick up some of our guys who operated together in the same city there. They’d be our backup, our security, and I was grateful they’d all volunteered to help me out. We’d all be rendezvousing in Iquitos for the trip down the river.

  I wasn’t taking any chances.

  I’d bought out a riverboat that usually did river cruises to carry us into the jungle. The captain and the small crew had all been hired and approved by Marshall, which meant they had some kind of ties to Last Hope.

  I’d turned down Hudson and Jax’s offers to accompany us since I had plenty of guys meeting us on the boat, and someone had to stay behind to run Montgomery. The last time all three of us had left at the same time, Taylor and Harlow had been kidnapped in Lania.

  Torie had explained what her plans were to Chase and Wyatt, and although they weren’t thrilled about her return to the Amazon, they were okay with the way we were doing the traveling.

  Both of her brothers had offered to fly back to come with her, but she’d blown them off since they weren’t ready to leave Paris.

  And me? Hell, I was the happiest bastard that ever existed just because I’d spent the last week knowing that Torie was mine.

  That she had no desire to see anyone except me.

  Thank fuck!

  I’d even decided to adopt Milo myself because Torie loved the mutt so much, and her reaction had been more than worth the effort of getting the pup comfortable at my place.

  I wrapped my arm around her and pulled her on top of me. “Are you sure you’re going to be okay? It’s okay to be nervous, you know.”

  She smiled at me, and my heart kicked against my chest wall.

  That was all it took.

  One smile.

  One look.

  One kiss.

  And Torie Durand could knock me on my ass.

  She stroked her fingers over my jaw and I closed my eyes because each gesture of affection she gave me was so damn sweet.

  “I really won’t know how I’m feeling until I’m actually there,” she explained. “But I’ve watched countless videos of the area over the last week, and it’s not making me cancel the trip.”

  “Videos and reality are different, sweetheart.” I didn’t want to burst her bubble, but she was bound to have some kind of visceral reaction at first.

  The sounds.

  The smells.

  The water.

  None of it was all that real in videos.

  One look of true fear in her eyes and I swore that I was throwing her ass over my shoulder and getting back on my jet.

  It was a big world, and there was no damn reason she had to visit that small part of it ever again.

  She sighed. “I’m not going to deny that I’m a little anxious. I think the sights and sounds will all come back to me as soon as we get there. I might need you to hold my hand for a while, but I think I’ll be okay.”

  I grinned at her. “I’m completely available for whatever needs you might have, hand-holding included.”

  She lifted a brow. “Are you?”

  “Absolutely.”

  “When it comes to you, I’m always pretty needy,” she murmured close to my ear.

  And I’m always there and eager to take care of those needs.

  Christ! After the last week, I would have thought the poor woman would be sore and totally exhausted.

  I could barely keep my hands off her long enough for her to get a decent night’s sleep.

  Our seemingly insatiable appetite for each other was incredible for my ego, though.

  It was obvious how much she wanted me, which made me feel like the biggest stud in existence.

  “I think I might be ready to accept that job at the university,” she said. “The more I’ve dug into the job description, the more interesting it gets. I might have to teach some classes occasionally, but even that would be kind of fun.”

  “Will you be happy?” I asked. As far as I was concerned, that was really all that mattered.

  “I think I will,” she said. “Obviously I won’t know until I try it, but I think teaching languages and cultures is pretty important.”

  “Then I think you should give it a shot. If it’s not your thing, there are plenty of other jobs out there for a woman with your skills and talent. Are you hungry?” I asked. It had been hours since we’d boarded in San Diego, and we hadn’t eaten a thing yet. “The kitchen area is well stocked with food so you don’t have to cook.”

  She nodded. “Maybe after that, we can play a game of chess.”

  I shot a glance at the large chess table I had set up in the corner. “Not happening.”

  She frowned. “Why not? I do play. I doubt I can give you a huge challenge but it might be fun, right?”

  “Can’t,” I said. “I’m pretty much unbeatable, and I don’t like to see you unhappy. Therefore, I’d hate beating you all the time because you’d always lose.”

  I wasn’t trying to be a prick. I was just stating facts. I didn’t want to demolish her at chess and then get her naked. There was something wrong with that whole scenario.

  She shot me one of her are-you-serious-right-now looks. “That’s completely twisted. You play with your brothers and I know you’ve played with Taylor.”

  “That’s different,” I said uncomfortably. “I’m not in an intimate relationship or fucking any of them.”

  She raised a brow. “Have you ever played with a girlfriend?”

  “Hell, no. I’ve never had one who even knew the basics of chess.”

  “Did it ever occur to you that I could learn to be a pretty good player if we played over and over again? You could teach me to beat Chase and Wyatt,” she said. “I’m actually not a sore loser. If I was, I never would have suggested it.”

  Hell, I’d never thought about that. That idea was slightly appealing. “Have you ever beat either one of them? They’re both really good.”

  “No,” she answered with a disgruntled expression. “I can give them a challenge occasionally, but I’ve never won a game.”

  I was pretty sure Chase never let Torie forget it , either. Maybe it would be entertaining to watch Torie kick that crap out of him.

  “I’ll think about it if you really want to play,” I told her. “When I’m alone with you, the last thing I think about is a chess game.”

  “I think we could definitely find something else interesting to do,” she agreed with a sexy smile.

  I rolled her over on her back and stared down at her gorgeous face.

  Fuck! I was so used to seeing that smile every damn day. I was getting so used to Torie accepting me, even if I wasn’t exactly normal.

  Or romantic.

  Or charming.

  She got me like no one else ever had, and that shit was completely addicting.

  “Do you ever think that we spend an abnormal amount of time together?” I asked her without thinking about my words.

  She looked a little confused. “No. It’s never felt like that to me, but if you’re sick of seeing—”

  “Fuck! No, sweetheart. That’s not what I meant. I’ve always been…separate from anyone I dated. Our lives weren’t….intertwined. At all. It’s not our relationship that’s strange. I think my past relationships were odd.”

  “How so?” she asked.

  I explained how things had always worked for me while she listened carefully.

  “So you planned your weekly outings, but you never did anything else together? Did you even talk on the phone or text in between dates?” she asked.

  “Not unless we had a problem with our date night,” I confessed.

  “I’m sorry, Cooper. I’m so sorry that not a single woman you dated ever really saw you because you’re someone incredibly special,” she said earnestly.

  And just like that, Torie could completely disarm me with a compliment like that, just because she thought I was someone special.

  “None of them matter as long as you think so,” I said as I leaned down to kiss her.

  Little by little, Torie was teaching me what it really felt like to have someone care about me and not everything I could give them.

  And it felt…amazing.

  Was it really any wonder that I never wanted to lose her?

  “I do think so,” she murmured. “I think you’re the most incredible man I’ve ever met and sometimes I have to pinch myself to remind myself that you’re real. Especially when you saw my crazy eyes in the dark and you didn’t run away screaming.”

  I nuzzled her ear as I said, “Hottest thing I’ve ever seen.”

  Torie’s eyes were extraordinary, and on the rare occasion when the low light was just right, they did glow in the dark. And it was one of the sexiest things I’d ever seen because she was almost always in a state of sexual arousal at the time.

  “There’s definitely something wrong with you,” she joked. “But you won’t hear me complain because you think everything about me is sexy.”

  “You’re beautiful, Torie, and there’s not a single thing about you I would change, even if I could,” I said honestly as I started to unbutton her shirt.

  “You make me feel beautiful,” she answered breathlessly. “Over and over again.”

  “I’m going to take the time to appreciate all of that gorgeousness this time,” I warned her.

  Every time I touched her, I swore we were going to take it slow, but once that torch caught fire, there was no way to stop the inferno.

  “One of these times, we’ll actually manage to take it slower,” she said breathlessly as she reached for my shirt. “But I have a feeling it won’t be this time.”

  Turned out, she was absolutely right.

  Torie

  I woke in the dead of night in pain, and completely confused.

  It took me a minute to process the fact that someone had a hard grip on my hair braid and a gun to my head as they yanked me into a sitting position.

  The light was dim in our tent, but one of the pirates had a flashlight, so I could see what was happening.

  Cooper had his Glock trained on the pirate that had a handgun at my skull, and his gaze on the one who didn’t that was standing right beside me.

  The men were all in a standoff, and none of them looked like they were ready to move.

  “Don’t do anything stupid,” the male voice holding the gun said harshly in Spanish. “You’re coming with us.”

  I looked at Cooper, who didn’t look like he was ready to back down.

  In fact, his expression was murderous.

  Dammit! Everything had gone so well over the last few days.

  Even though I’d been apprehensive at first, I’d relaxed pretty quickly once I’d gotten on the riverboat in Iquitos and realized how many people were there to protect my ass.

  Our trip down the river had been uneventful and our hike into the jungle to reach the indigenous tribe had taken most of the day, but the results had been everything we’d hoped they would be.

  I was reunited with the fisherman who had saved my life, and I’d been able to deliver all my gifts of thanks to the tribe.

  We’d also been able to explain about Last Hope, the situation with the pirates, and the possibility of future kidnappings. The tribe had been cooperative and had promised not to interfere in the future if members of Last Hope needed to enact another rescue in their area. We’d even figured out a special item of clothing Last Hope volunteers could wear so the tribe could identify them.

  The native people had invited us to dinner in their little village and had taken Cooper and the two men who had hiked in with us to a site where they could pitch their tents for the night.

  Since it would be a day hike the following day to get back to our riverboat, Cooper had gratefully accepted.

  I suddenly squeaked as the pirate holding my braid yanked on it harder.

  What the hell? Had the indigenous people betrayed us?

  I immediately discarded that thought. The tribe had absolutely no reason to do that. More than likely, the river rats had seen us hiking on our way to the village.

  “I don’t think they can speak or understand English or they would have given us orders we could understand,” Cooper said, his voice coarse. “I could probably get two shots off and kill them both before they could shoot, but I can’t take that risk, Torie. He could very well pull the trigger even if I shot him first.”

  I listened as the pirates exchanged words, both of them speculating about what Cooper was saying.

  “They don’t understand you,” I told Cooper. “They also don’t know why we’re here, but it sounds like they think we’re investigating the kidnapping of their last victim that Last Hope rescued. The tribe knows nothing about this. The pirates have been watching us since they saw us hiking in earlier today.”

  Cooper and I were silent as the two men talked, but Cooper didn’t move a muscle. Maybe he wasn’t going to be able to shoot because the pirate had a gun to my head, but he wasn’t backing down his stance at this point, either.

  I finally asked, “Do you think I should scream to try to wake up the others?”

  The two men who had come with us were in tents not that far away.

  “No,” Cooper said sharply. “They both look pretty nervous. It could startle them or they could shoot just to shut you up. I don’t want them pulling that trigger.”

  “They didn’t expect you to have a weapon. They don’t know what to do,” I translated to Cooper.

  “Fuck!” Cooper cursed. “I have zero room to maneuver in this tent. I can’t take the two of them down without the risk of that gun going off.”

  “They’re talking about two more guys outside, so there’s four of them here,” I told Cooper. “The two outside are keeping watch on the other two tents in case one of our guys wakes up.”

  The pirates became more agitated because they couldn’t understand what Cooper was saying.

  They didn’t like him talking when they could decipher what he was planning.

  “Put the gun down,” the pirate with the gun spat out at Cooper in Spanish as he tapped the barrel of his weapon against my head.

  “They’re losing it,” Cooper rasped as he slowly put the gun down on the top of the blanket. “Whatever happens, stay calm, sweetheart. If they wanted us dead, they would have already tried to shoot.”

  “It sounds like they want a hostage to take the place of the one who was rescued. I don’t think this group is highly organized or sophisticated. I think they’re a new group and not affiliated with some of the others that are more established. They’re just desperate for money,” I relayed.

  The pirate without the gun reached out and retrieved the one Cooper had just given up. He lifted it toward Cooper and my heart sank.

  Stay calm, Torie. Stay calm.

  A heated discussion ensued between the river rats as they tried to figure out a plan.

  Did they want to take both of us?

  Did they want to just take me and leave Cooper behind?

  They decided that wouldn’t work because Cooper would probably come after them immediately.