Chapter 16

 

The alarm went off. Julia startled. A second. That was all it took. And then she was falling. Joe shouted. Hands grabbed at her. She saw the fence spikes come at her. She twisted to the side and fell, barely missing the deadly points.

There was a ripping sound and then Julia’s descent jerked to a sudden halt.

“No blood. No blood.” She felt Joe’s hands on her body through the fence. “No damage. You’re okay. You’re going to be okay.” She could hear panic turn to relief.

And then she realised his hands were on bare skin.

In one crashing second, her predicament came into startling focus. Her dress had caught on the spikes and she was now hanging from the fence like a coat on a peg. Her dress was up around her armpits and the lower half of her body was on view for everyone to see.

“Joe?” Julia frantically waved her arms as she tried to cover herself. It was impossible. They’d been pulled up and to the sides by her dress.

“It’s okay, baby, it’s okay. We’re gonna get you down from there.” His voice had turned husky and kind of strangled.

Julia squeezed her eyes shut. This was not happening. It was a dream. A nightmare. One of those ones where you’re naked in public. She opened her eyes and stared straight into the face of a grinning Ryan.

“Nice underwear,” he said.

She froze, well aware that she was wearing beige granny pants. Although her gran wouldn’t be caught dead in them. Julia had picked the underwear for comfort. Cotton, for the heat. Beige because… Oh, drat, there was no excuse. Her underwear was only fit to be burned. But to be fair, she didn’t think anyone would ever see it. Let alone most of her team.

“Joe!” Julia began to thrash around, trying to get off the fence.

“Shut your eyes,” Joe snapped at Ryan.

“How am I supposed to help you if I can’t see?”

Joe growled, sounding half feral. Ryan shut his eyes.

“Hurry up,” Callum shouted through the open window of the car. “Ed says the mall cops are back in the house, but they won’t stay there long.”

“This isn’t happening…this isn’t happening…” Julia chanted.

Her boss could not see her waist-high beige knickers. Her—yeah, she couldn’t even think of a word for what Joe was to her—her Joe wasn’t staring at her backside. It was all just a nightmare.

“The travel website said to pack practical cotton underwear.” She was blathering excuses for her terrible knickers. This is what her life had come to. She was stuck on a fence, flashing her underwear to half of Bolivia.

“Calm down, baby.” She felt the brush of fingertips over the curve of her hips. “Although I like the words on your rear. Cute.”

She’d forgotten about the words!

“I didn’t know they were there. I bought the underwear in a five-pack and I didn’t see the rear until I unpacked them.” Yes. She’s just told them that. This was now beyond mortifying. The words Sweet Cheeks were emblazoned across her behind, and Joe could see them.

“Words?” Ryan’s eyes sprang open and he stared at her underwear. “What words?” Something snapped inside Julia, and she did something she’d never done in her life before—she kicked him.

“No looking,” she said.

Ryan stared at her in astonishment as he rubbed his knee. “Julia Collins, you are becoming wild.”

“Shut your damn eyes,” Joe ordered, sounding ferocious.

“I’m sorry I kicked you.” Now Julia’s emotions were overloading her with humiliation and guilt.

“He deserved it,” Joe said.

“He’s right.” Ryan shrugged. He was still grinning.

“I can’t get you off—” Joe started.

Ryan interrupted, his grin even wider. “I bet I could. I’m younger and I have more stamina.”

“As soon as I’m over this fence…” Joe said.

“Hurry the hell up!” Callum shouted.

There was shouting in Spanish behind her. Joe shouted back. Ryan’s eyes opened again. This time, they weren’t looking at her. They were looking behind her. She craned her neck and got a glimpse of the man in the garden they’d cut through. He was wearing overalls and holding a rake.

“Don’t shoot him,” Joe said. “He’s the gardener.”

“Who’s calling the cops,” Ryan pointed out as the guy ran for the house.

“We’ll be gone by then. Julia, we can’t lift your dress off the fence to unhook you. I have to cut it.”

She whimpered and felt Joe stroke the bare skin on the small of her back.

“Ryan, put your hands on her waist and take her weight. Don’t. Touch. Anything. Else.”

“Bloody hell, you think I’d molest her?” Ryan took a step forward, and she felt his big, hot hands on her skin. His wide grip almost spanned her waist.

His face was almost level with Julia’s, and she could feel the warmth of his body. Suddenly, she was wedged between two extremely hot men. If it hadn’t been for the fence at her back and the fact she was almost hysterical, the experience might have sent her imagination into overload.

Ryan’s muscles flexed. Her body was raised slightly, and the tight hold her dress had on her, under her arms and breasts, eased. There was a cutting sound.

“Okay, lower her to the ground,” Joe said.

Ryan did as he was told, but his hands lingered. Once she was on her feet, he leaned into her, lowering his head to speak against her ear. “If you get fed up with this guy, give me a call.”

She gasped. Ryan stepped back, letting what was left of her dress fall to below her knees. He opened his eyes and winked at her. Julia stood there, stunned. She felt a rush of air, heard Joe land on the ground beside her and then watched in shock as he punched Ryan on the jaw. The younger man staggered back, but when he righted himself, he was rubbing his jaw and grinning.

“I deserved that.” He jogged to the car.

“That and more,” Joe called after him. He turned to Julia. “Let’s go.” His voice had softened.

She couldn’t move her feet. “How bad is it?”

He glanced up at the material still hanging from the top of the fence and then back down at her. “It depends on your perspective.”

She felt behind her, and her fingers touched skin. Her dress was missing from her shoulder blades down. Her backside was bare for the world to see.

“Get in the car!” Callum revved the engine.

Police sirens joined the wailing house alarm. Joe grabbed her hand and ran for the car. They squeezed into the back seat beside her grandmother, who was hugging a dead person.

Patricia reached out to pat Julia’s hand as Callum sped down the street.

“Julia love, women who want to have sex don’t buy their underwear in multipacks. They wear silk. Or lace. And never have messages written on their backsides.” Patricia groaned. “I need to have a serious talk with your mother when we get back. I blame her.”

Julia hung her head as Ryan laughed raucously from the front passenger seat.

Joe wrapped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her into his side. He kissed the top of her head. They zoomed through the back streets of La Paz, until they hit the main street leading up to their hotel.

“I need something to cover this,” Patricia said as they pulled up at the hotel’s main entrance. “I can’t walk through the lobby with a stolen mummy.”

“Ryan, give her your shirt,” Callum ordered.

“Why me? That means I have to walk into the hotel half-naked. This is a classy hotel. I don’t think they’d like that.”

“Give her your shirt.”

“This is my favourite T-shirt.” He stroked a hand down the Grateful Dead logo.

“Give. Her. Your. Shirt.” It sounded like Callum was about to explode.

Ryan stripped off his shirt and tossed it to Patricia, who pulled it over the mummy’s head.

“He’s not the only one half-naked,” Julia said to Joe. “I can’t walk in there like this. You’ll have to go up to my room and get me something to wear. I’ll wait here.”

“Nobody’s waiting here. We’ve got half of Bolivia chasing us after that screw-up. We need to get inside, get packed and get out of here.” Callum looked back at Patricia. “You need to read the dead person and get us a location, because we’re leaving La Paz within the hour. I don’t care where we go, but we’re getting out of here. Now, everybody, stop whining at me and get out of the damn car.”

Ryan and Patricia scrambled out. Julia sat frozen in place.

“Don’t worry,” Joe said. “I know what to do. I’ll cover your back. Stick with me.”

Having no other choice, she followed Joe out of the car. As soon as they were out, he stood behind her and wrapped his arm around her body, beneath her breasts. He was plastered against the length of her, his front to her back.

“Okay,” he said. “Step with me. You ready?”

No! she wanted to scream. She wasn’t anywhere near ready. He took her silence as assent.

“Right foot, left foot,” he said as they moved forward.

The bewildered doorman held the door for them as they passed him. A shirtless man, followed by an old woman carrying a mummy who was wearing a Grateful Dead t-shirt and then a couple who were joined at the hips—literally.

“Right, left, right, left,” Joe said against her ear as everyone in the lobby turned to watch their procession to the lifts.

If Julia could have died from humiliation, it would have happened at that exact moment.