After bringing Kara to her third climax, fuck, he loved watching her come, and filling her with his cum, Max lay beside her, both panting. The hotel bed’s comforter was soft and fluffy, inviting him to snuggle in and stay a while. But the bedside phone clanged loud enough to wake the fucking dead.

Just to stop the damn sound from ringing again, he jumped up and answered it. “Hello,” he said, heart racing from sudden exertion.

“Is this Max Richards?” a deep voice asked.

“Yes,” Max replied. “How can I help you?”

“I am Norman Lynam with the American consulate here in Panama.” Max’s thumping heart stopped for a beat.

“Yes,” Max chocked out. He took a breath and relaxed. He didn’t need to worry about the Americans. The local police were the problem. He’d heard horror stories of people locked up in foreign countries and never heard from again. And if you messed with the drug cartels you were royally fucked.

“Mr. Richards, in ten minutes, there will be a car outside your hotel. You and Ms. Masters please come down immediately with all your belongings. I will meet you soon.”

As Max formed his first question, the man hung up. Well, okay then.

Kara rolled over and asked, “Who was it?”

“The American embassy here.”

“What?” Kara sat bolt upright on the bed. “What did they want?”

“They are sending a car to pick us up in ten minutes,” he replied.

Kara threw off the covers. “Shit. Ten minutes? It’s after eleven o’clock. Can’t this wait till morning?”

“Apparently not.” He pulled his travel bag from the closet and tossed in the few things he’d taken out.

“At least I get to put clean clothes on,” Kara said.

“Yeah, let’s make this sorta fast,” he said. “The guy on the phone sounded concerned.”

Kara glanced at him, worry on her face. “Is something wrong?”

“Nah,” he replied, “I’m sure everything is fine.”

He double-checked the bathroom, the closet, and under the bed to make sure nothing was left behind. Grabbing his and her bags, he headed for the door while she put her hair into a ponytail. Even with no makeup and hair up, she looked gorgeous. She’d look even more radiant with his child in her womb. All he did was throw on a baseball cap and he was ready to go.

Whoa. He’d never had that thought before. Did that mean he wanted to keep Kara? Wake up in the morning with her and go to bed at night with her? The same woman 24/7? His heart said yes while his brain said hold on a second.

“You ready?” he asked her.

“The best I can do in ten minutes,” she replied. “Do you mind if we go down a couple floors to the vending machine? I can’t believe they don’t have one on every floor.”

“This isn’t the States, sweetheart,” he replied.

“Yeah, tell me about it. In the US, they don’t call you at eleven in the freaking night.”

He put an arm over her shoulder and guided them down the hall to the stairs. “We’ll be home in no time and you can sleep all you want.”

Kara slumped under him. “That sounds so good.”

As the door to the stairs closed, the ding of the elevator reached his ears. That damn thing was so slow, he was growing a beard by the time it reached the bottom floor their first time going up to their floor. It would figure that the one time they take the stairs the elevator was right there.

A couple floors down, they nearly unpacked everything looking for a crisp dollar bill they could insert. Seeing that the hotel was part of an American chain, the machine accepted US money.

Still over ten stories up, Max walked Kara to the elevator. Hopefully, it was still close by. He pushed the call button and the ding almost came immediately. He let a sigh of relief.

“That was quick,” Kara said. “The last time we had to wait forever.”

The doors reeled back to reveal two men in black suits. One wore sunglasses. Max gave them a nod. The one with the glasses acknowledged him. The other man narrowed his eyes, staring at him. They rolled their bags behind them and stepped in.

The two men talked in Spanish and he translated in his head. “What are we telling the boss?”

“The truth, idiot. The two were not in their room and their luggage was gone, but the bed was messed up.”

“Yes, okay,” the other said. “Should we worry about these two hearing us?”

“They’re Americans. They don’t have a clue how to speak our language even in our own country. It’s below them.”

“I sure like the money that comes with their heads. My wife is too worried to use the American bills. Says it will make her look suspicious.”

“You let your wife talk to you like that—”

The elevator doors opened, and he grabbed Kara’s hand and hauled her forward, to her protest.

“What the hell, Max?”

“Shh.” He looked back at the men standing at the reception desk, talking to the guy behind the computer. The same one that narrowed his eyes at him turned. He must’ve heard Kara call out his name. Shit.

“Excuse me, sir—” The suited man walked toward them.

Max kept walking through the doors. A black car sat in the portico, which he took for granted was their ride to the embassy. A second later, the glass door he pushed on shattered into pieces.

Instinctively, Max ducked but there was nothing to hide behind between the car and the man shooting at them. “Go. Go.” He pushed Kara toward the car then got between her and the man holding the gun, Max’s hands up. Max saw a shadow at the end of an aisle connecting to the lobby.

The man in the suit smiled at him. Max stepped back hearing Kara yell his name.

From the side aisle the man just past, a lady popped out and beat him with the wooden stick of a toilet plunger. She erupted into angry Spanish, rattling a mile a minute. Max understood her first words “You owe me for the door, dick head—” then he was in the car closing his door. A bullet ricocheted off the tinted window. Boy, was he glad for bulletproof glass.

The car sped out, squealing the tire in the process. Kara had hunkered down on the floorboard.

“You okay?” the driver asked, looking in the rearview mirror. The driver shot out of the parking lot, fishtailing onto the street without stopping, and maybe not even looking, Max thought.

Max asked, “Do you know who those guys were?”

The driver shook his head. “Probably cartel thugs coming to kill you or kidnap you to torture for information.”

Kara slapped her hand over her mouth, keeping her screech under wraps. He collected her from the floor into his arms. “It’ll be okay, sweetheart. We’re safe in the protection of the US, now.”

They rode in silence the rest of the way to their destination which was a deserted airfield. It looked like a ghost town with all the buildings locked up and dark. Going around the side of the main structure, he saw a jet the size of his sitting on the tarmac, lights shining.

“Hell no,” Kara shouted, looking out the windshield. “I am not getting on another plane.”

Max laughed. “I’m sure this one will be much less exciting.”

She frowned but said nothing. He opened the door when the car stopped at the side of the jet. A man he didn’t know stood by a portable staircase. Max hesitated to step out of the shielding the car provided. The suit-clad man smiled and walked toward them. Max had to wonder if the man slept in a suit then got up and went to work.

“You must be Mr. Richards.” They shook hands and he acknowledged Kara with a nod. “I’m glad you are both safe. I apologize for doing this at such a late hour. But I just got word that you two were found and brought to Panama.”

“Not a problem,” Max said. “If you hadn’t called, we’d be red stains in the sheets.”

The man’s face morphed from happy to disturbed. “Let’s not dabble then. Please board the plane. It will take to you to New York City.”

“Wait,” Kara said. “What’s going on? Why the big rush?”

Norman looked around as if someone might be listening to their conversation. “I was informed of where you were rescued and what had happened to the production house.”

“You mean the scum stuffing dolls with drugs,” she said.

“Yes,” Norman replied. “The cartel running that spot is rather nasty—”

“Wait a minute,” Kara chimed in, “You know about the operation and you didn’t stop it? What the hell?”

Norman grimaced. “Ms. Masters, there are many undercover jobs trying to root out the highest scum in the organization. That takes time and perseverance. Knocking out the bottom people won’t help us in finding the bosses.”

Yeah, whatever, she thought. She understood his reasons but wasn’t happy with them. “That’s why those men were after us?”

“Who?” he asked.

Max said, “The driver thinks it was a cartel coming to abduct us.”

Normal let out a breath. “Then let’s get you on the plane.”

They climbed the steps to the interior of the plane. The inside was as he expect, opulent and stocked with food and drinks. Ambassadors flew in luxury, for damn sure.

He settled Kara next to him in a large leather chair. From a cabinet on the back of the cockpit, he grabbed a few blankets and pillows. He was going to sleep and knew Kara would also.

He hoped he was right when he said the trip would be less exciting.