Free Look What the Wind Blew In by Ann Charles

hand, Parker. What more do you need? Your binkie?”
    “How come you got to bring your smart ass comebacks along but I didn’t?”
    “Because I’m in charge.”
    “Hmmm. Normally I like it when a woman’s in charge.”
    Did he? A flurry of pulse-racing images flew through her head until she squelched them.
    They slid along in silence for a short time, the end in sight.
    “Ever thought of widening this?” he asked.
    “Dad isn’t confident the surrounding structure could handle that kind of activity.”
    He cursed. “I appreciate your honesty while I’m sardined by this ‘surrounding structure.’”
    She chuckled. When he growled in response, her chuckles grew into giggles.
    “I am so going to pay you back for this, Angélica.”
    The tunnel widened at the bottom and narrowed to a slit at the top. Pulling free of his grip, she dropped to her hands and knees and crawled through the remaining few feet, ordering him to follow. He obeyed, cursing again.
    She took the flashlight from Quint as he scrambled out of the crevice, helping him to his feet.
    Holding up the light for him to see the walls encircling them, she smiled with pride. “What do you think?” The sight before her still made her heart quicken.
    “That I should never let you talk me into squeezing through cracks again.”
    She patted his back. “I’ll make it up to you later.”
    “Yes, you will.” He wiped the sweat from his face with the bottom of his shirt, giving her a glance at his bare stomach.
    Turning away, she made a point of searching the floor with the beam of light until she was sure he’d lowered his shirt. When she looked back at him, he was studying the walls with a perplexed expression.
    “What is this place?” He ran his hand over one of the hundreds of glyphs surrounding them.
    “A tomb.”
    He moved over to the grave-sized hole she’d excavated last week. “Are there other tombs in this temple?”
    “Nope. The Temple of the Crow was not made for burial tomb purposes.” She handed the flashlight back.
    He took it. “You’re contradicting yourself.”
    No, she was having fun with him, adding some excitement to her show-and-tell presentation. “This isn’t the Temple of the Crow.”
    He frowned. “Now you’re losing me.”
    “That crack we just slid through was the outer wall to a temple built centuries before the Temple of the Crow.”
    “You mean they built over the top of this one?”
    “Yes.” She pulled a trowel and paintbrush out of her tool pouch and handed the paintbrush to him.
    “Are there other temples inside of this one?”
    “I doubt it. This temple isn’t big enough to encompass another. The Temple of the Water Witch is another story.”
    He fanned the brush. “How many are under that one?”
    “So far two, maybe three. But don’t even think about nosing around in there without me.”
    “I won’t.”
    “I mean it, Quint.” She emphasized her feelings with a pointed glare. “These temples are dangerous.”
    “Isn’t that sweet?” His hazel eyes crinkled in jest. “You being so concerned about me and all.”
    “Yeah, well I don’t need an injured photojournalist messing up my dig season schedule.” She shot him a quick grin to take the sting out of the truth.
    “Ah, shucks. I bet you say that to all of the photojournalists who sweat their asses off with you inside of these death traps.”
    “Nope. Just the ones who need their hands held while squeezing through dark tunnels.”
    His laughter filled the small burial chamber. “You know what, Dr. García? I like you.”
    “Splendid.” She hid the flame set alight by his words behind a shield of sarcasm. “I’ll be sure to write your name over and over in my diary tonight, dotting the i in ‘Quint’ with a little heart.”
    His teeth looked even whiter with his beard stubble darkening his cheeks and chin. The shadows added an aspect of ruggedness to his face that made her stomach do loop-de-loops. “I had no idea you’d be so