Dangerous Curves by Karen Anders

situation here is starting to rattle me.” She held his gaze steadily. “I should have been more thankful for your timely intervention.”
    “You’d have done something about it, taken action, whether I’d shown up or not.”
    “Probably,” she agreed. “But I don’t think I’d have put it all together as quickly. And that might prove to be the difference in getting out of here alive.”
    She was such a paradox. Here she was, admitting she needed him, that she was grateful for his help, the same woman who’d just about undone him…and yet there was still a wariness about her that had him wondering what it was going to take to win her over completely.
    Which was insanity. Because winning her over was not the objective here. Solving her problem was the only goal that needed achieving, and when that was accomplished, he’d go home. And she’d go back to work. So there was no point in winning anything. He’d tried to tell her that last night.
    And yet, he couldn’t manage to find any regret for what had just happened between them. Sure, it wasn’t going to end well. Shit happened in life, and some of it was no fun. But being with her was giving him something he’d never had or felt before. Sometimes when shit happened, it was good.
    Max finished his bar and his water and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “So here’s the plan, then. We need to find a place where I can make a phone call.”
    “Why?”
    Rio took his empty bottle and wrapper and slid them into her pack. Smart not to leave any evidence they were here.
    “Remember the guy who saved you in Colombia?”
    “Right. Drew Miller.”
    “I told you he’s marrying my sister.”
    “Right.”
    “He’ll lend us a hand and I know I can trust him.”
    The snap of her voice told him her feelings. “How? Get us tickets on a commercial flight? What good will that do?”
    “No, he’s a pilot. He can fly here and get us off Maui and back to L.A., where we can try to figure all this out in relative safety.”
    She rose and paced away from him, scouring the ground to make sure they hadn’t left anything behind. “You’re going to involve someone else in this?”
    “We can trust Drew.”
    “I don’t care whether or not we can trust him. I don’t want anyone else at risk. I will figure something out.”
    He went to her and grabbed her shoulders to turn her gently so she would look at him. “How, Rio? Western Maui is less populated and we’re in the middle of this vast forest preserve. There’s no one around for miles. There’s no way off this island that isn’t being guarded by the Ghost’s men. We have to get some help from someone else.”
    “Can’t we just steal a boat?”
    “That will show up in a police report and if we’re caught on open water, it’ll all be over.”
    “Bribe someone to take us.”
    “Then we’re relying on a stranger. I know I can trust Drew.”
    “I don’t like it.”
    “That’s beside the point, Rio. It’s the best and only plan we have, short of shooting our way out of here or trusting law enforcement. I’m not keen on that.”
    “I’m not, either,” she agreed. “My luck is shot to hell both here and in Colombia.”
    “Have you been fooling around with your karma?”
    She gave him a startled look as if that question really hit home. “Karma, that bitch.”
    “It can be,” he said, enjoying that combination of wary amusement he saw on her face. He liked that she fought her attraction to him, or at least questioned it. It meant she was taking this seriously. He didn’t examine why that part was so important to him. “But we have something on our side that beats out karma.”
    “We do? Enlighten me.”
    “Good old-fashioned training and experience.”
    Rio nodded. “True.”
    “We get some rest, wake an hour before dawn and then find a phone.”
    She leaned in to him. “Okay.” She paused, sighed and then seemed to pull herself up a little. “We don’t do the expected and head for