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trouble. I promise. She’s a friend. I was supposed to meet her but, silly her, she forgot to tell me the name of the hotel. I’ve been to every one in town. You’re my last stop.”
    The man eyed him for several long seconds, then finally said, “I no idea where she went.”
    So she was staying here. Relief filled his chest. He nodded toward the keys hanging at the man’s back. “Got any rooms left?”
    “Sí.” The man’s whole demeanor changed. He went from standoffish and suspicious to helpful in the span of a few seconds. “You have money?”
    “Yes.” Jake pulled out pesos and set them on the counter. The hotel clerk quickly reached for a key from the wall behind him, handed Jake a registry book, and picked up his cash. “Second floor. Room twenty-two.”
    “Gracias.” Jake threw his pack over his shoulder, reached for the key, and moved to sit in the waiting area.
    “You no go upstairs?” the man asked.
    “No, I’m just gonna wait.”
    The man threw up his hand and turned for the back room. “I no care if you wait, so long as you pay.”
    Alone, Jake dropped his backpack on the floor and sat on the rattan couch. Five minutes passed before he checked his watch. It was close to ten p.m. No one had come in or out of the hotel since he’d arrived. He blew out a long breath, crossed his arms over his chest, and tapped his foot on the tile floor while he looked out the window toward the dark street.
    Nothing was open except a few seedy bars. Marley was in a dangerous city, alone, at night. What on God’s green earth was she thinking? And where the hell was she at this hour?
    Unable to sit still, Jake stuffed his hands into the pockets of his cargo pants, pushed to his feet, and paced the length of the small lobby. People passed by on the sidewalk outside the windows, but still no one turned into the hotel. His jaw clenched. He flicked the key in his pocket, raked a hand through his hair again, thought about texting Eve once more to find out if Marley had checked in at Aegis yet, then thought better of it. Eve had said she’d call the moment she heard from Marley, and, knowing how moody Eve could get, Jake knew if he kept bugging her she might not respond at all.
    Another fifteen minutes passed. Jake stopped near a potted ficus tree in the corner of the room and decided enough was enough. Nothing good happened to a single woman alone in a city like this at night. Determined to find her, he turned toward the door but only made it one step before familiar feminine laughter sounded outside.
    He stopped, looked up, then stilled when Marley stepped into the room wearing a fitted black tank that showed off her breasts and the curves at her waist, dark-green cargo pants, and a pair of hiking boots that looked as if they were brand-new.
    Relief immediately swept through him—that she was alive, that she wasn’t hurt. Her blonde hair hung in waves past her shoulder, and a wide smile split her face, warming his insides. Then she turned to glance up at a tall, buff blond guy dressed all in black stepping into the lobby at her back, and Jake’s relief morphed to confusion, then to flat-out disbelief.
    “That is not even possible,” Marley said over her shoulder as she crossed the lobby and headed for the front desk. “Now I know you’re lying.”
    “No lie,” the guy said as he followed her. “The kid was fifteen, sixteen tops.”
    Jake gave his head a swift shake, sure he was seeing things. But no, she was still there, laughing and flirting with some random guy as if running off to a dangerous country in South America was no big deal.
    She’d come all the way down here to have an affair? To hook up with this loser? And she’d used his plane to do it?
    Marley laughed again. Shuffling sounded from the back room, then the manager emerged and grinned. “Welcome back, señ orita .”
    “Thank you. Room twenty-five, please.”
    The manager reached for a key at his back and handed it to her. “Buenas