Billionaire's Blackmail Bride: Billionaire Brothers Kent - Ridge's Story (The BAD BOY BILLIONAIRES Series)

by Judy Angelo

  ***

  Ridge was no fool. He wanted Lani so bad he could taste her but he didn’t want her so bad he would put her life at risk. As he was rising he’d slipped his hand under the backpack he’d tucked under his head, sliding the Bowie knife out, and then as he took her hand to turn her away he slid it into the back of his trousers. In the darkness she wouldn’t have seen his move. No need to scare her unnecessarily.

  Then, silent as a snake so as not to wake Aurelio, he led her away from the clearing and into the grassy alcove he’d found earlier that evening. Unnoticed, he’d slipped away from his travel companions soon after they’d taken their dip in the stream and upon finding the secluded spot he’d immediately thought it would be the perfect place to get away. The vines surrounding it formed a net of leaves so dense it would be hard for an animal to break through. At the same time, the section facing their camp area was sparse enough to give him a good view while hiding them from sight.

  As soon as they stepped into the nook Ridge dropped to the grassy forest floor, pulling Lani down with him, his main intent to recapture her lips.

  But she was having none of it. Instead of melting into his arms as he’d expected she would do, she resisted, letting him sink to the floor by himself. She shook her head. “You’re not up to this yet,” she said. “I can’t let you.”

  Gazing up at her, he chuckled softly. “It’s probably exactly what I need,” he told her.

  She shook her head again. “You stay right there,” she said. “Let me do everything.”

  Ridge smiled, liking the sound of that. He was hot for her but if she would take the lead he didn’t mind at all. And there would be one other plus to that. With her paying attention to him he could settle back and enjoy and still keep an eye on what was going on around them. You couldn’t be too careful in the Amazon jungle.

  Ridge lay back on his cushiony bed of green as Lani came to him. The subdued light from the faraway fire was like a halo to the back of her head, giving her a look so surreal that for just one moment it was like he was in the presence of an angel. He dared not take his eyes off her in case she disappeared like a figment of his imagination.

  With the golden glimmer behind her Lani leaned down, her hair shiny-black and glistening in the light, and in answer to his silent plea she pressed her lips to his. He responded greedily, molding his mouth to hers, sucking hungrily on her lower lip. Too soon she was pulling away but he expelled a soft sigh of relief when she drew the satiny petals of her lips down his neck, sending sweet shivers running up his body.

  But she didn’t stop there. Like she wanted to taste every inch of his skin she quickly loosened the buttons of his shirt, tracing her lips over his chest as she went, going lower then across where she covered his left nipple with the soft velvet of her tongue.

  Bold as brass she threw his shirt open as he lay back on the leaves but thankfully she didn’t divest him of his buttons this time. Not pausing, she kept kissing his chest then his abs, moving lower until her breath was tickling the hairs just below his navel.

  Ridge tensed, feeling himself grow even harder in his trousers, his stiffness calcifying into solid rock. He wanted to reach out and hold her but, not wanting to break the spell, he clenched his fists at his sides and waited for her to make the next move.

  To his chagrin, her next move was one that made his body give an involuntary jerk. As Lani’s lips slid lower still to graze the skin just above his waistband his hips jerked up, almost as if to meet her caress. He had to grit his teeth and slowly, deliberately, lower his butt back down to the ground.

  She didn’t even give him a chance to recover. Her hands moving quickly, her fingers deft and sure, Lani pulled the trouser button then had the zipper down in no time.

  Shock ran through Ridge when she slid her hands inside and pushed down, leaving him with no option but to lift his hips again, this time to facilitate her goal of removing the bottom half of his clothing.

  She pulled his trousers down, almost to his knees, leaving his loin area covered by nothing but the thin cotton of his underpants. Not that the darned thing was doing much good in concealing his state of arousal. His dick was so hard it formed a tent in his boxers, one that would send a weaker woman running.

  But not Lani. To his surprise, she didn’t stop there. In another second she curled her fingers over the waistband of said underpants and was pulling it down slowly, inch by inch, teasing him like she was intent on driving him crazy. And as if that weren’t bad enough, with every inch the fabric moved down his hips, her tantalizing lips followed.

  His hips jerked again. Jesus, he couldn’t help it. His body was anticipating a caress he dared not imagine. His eyes clenched tight now, his head pressing back into the leaf bed, Ridge was breathing hard, dying a slow death as he waited.

  And, God help him, if some animal showed up just then he probably wouldn’t be able to move a muscle. He had to stay there. He had to know what she would do next.

  And then, like she could guess the intensity of his torment, she made her move, pulling the shorts all the way down, exposing his hardness to her gaze.

  He’d thought she would drop her eyes, maybe even pull back, but she was staring at him, her look surprisingly bold and unashamed.

  She leaned forward again, making him suck in his breath, and it was at that moment that he heard it, a soft hiss that made his body go rigid.

  Before Lani could move another inch Ridge’s hand shot out to grab her upper arms and lift her off him then in one smooth move he was up, taking her with him, lifting her high off the ground. His free hand flew to his back and he grasped the handle of the knife still stuck in the back of his boxer shorts. “What are you doing?” Lani squeaked, clinging to his neck. “Put me down.”

  “Not yet.” His arm locked around her waist, Ridge peered down at the leaves beneath their feet. “I thought I heard something. A snake, maybe.”

  Lani gasped. “A snake? Jesus.”

  “My thought exactly.” Ridge grimaced. “Hold this.” He passed the knife to her, freeing his hand so he could drag his trousers up over his butt and pull up the zipper. He had one more quick look down and then he was striding out of there, making a quick exit before he put Lani in any danger.

  At the sound of his footsteps approaching Aurelio jerked up, looking surprisingly alert for a man who’d been wakened from a deep sleep. And, like Ridge, his first reaction was to reach for his knife.

  “You guys okay?” he asked, quickly jumping to his feet.

  “We’re good,” Ridge said, not wanting to scare the fellow, then just so he could help them be on guard he said, “I thought I heard a snake back there.” By this time they were close to the fire, safe enough where he could lower Lani to the ground. “Didn’t see anything, though.”

  Aurelio made as if to go check but Ridge stopped him. “No need,” he told their guide. “We’ll be right here by the fire. Chances are, it won’t venture this close.”

  Aurelio looked relieved and sank back down onto his mat. Then, muttering something in another language he lay back down, curled up on his side and promptly went back to sleep. Or so it seemed. He’d closed his eyes and was breathing softly and deeply like he was in the comfiest of beds.

  Taking Lani’s hand, Ridge led her over to the other side of the fire and helped her down onto her mat. She tried pulling him down with her but he resisted.

  Ridge shook his head. “I think we’ve had enough excitement for one night.” He could see the disappointment on her face but as much as he would love to finish what they’d started he would not change his mind. They would just have to wait until they got back to an environment that would hold no surprises of the tropical-jungle-animal kind.

  And so, slightly annoyed with himself for being so sensible, Ridge trudged back to the bed of leaves on the ground – alone.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Next day the travel party made much better time on the trek back to their campsite. While Ridge was not one hundred percent
back to normal – a slight headache persisted – he was good enough for them to pick up pace and by nightfall they’d covered twice the distance they’d done the day before.

  Aurelio gave them a satisfied smile. “Tomorrow we will see our tents by noon.”

  Ridge cocked an eyebrow. “Wishful thinking, don’t you think?” he muttered to Lani. “Didn’t he also say we have another twenty miles to go?”

  Lani nodded. “Yeah, and if we hit the road early and pick up our pace just a little bit we can be there by lunchtime.”

  Ridge looked at her askance. “Just how early?”

  She shrugged. “We could head out about four.”

  “While it’s still dark? I don’t think so.”

  So the next morning they didn’t head out quite as early as Lani had suggested which meant they didn’t get to their camp quite as early as Aurelio had planned. Still, three o’clock in the afternoon was pretty good as far as Ridge was concerned. He drew in a deep breath of air and spread his arms wide. “Back to semi-civilization,” he said. “I never thought I’d be so glad to see our tent."

  Lani smiled. “Me, too. It’s like our home away from home.”

  Aurelio spent the afternoon catching wild game then roasting the birds over a campfire. That evening they had a cooked meal for the first time in days and it left them all licking their fingers.

  “Tomorrow we head back down to the village,” Aurelio said. “But today we rest.” And, as if taking his own advice, he wandered off to disappear inside his tent.

  That left Lani and Ridge to their own devices and it was only six o’clock. “So what do we do now?” Lani asked.

  Stupid question. Of course Ridge had a ready answer for that one. “I can think of one thing that’s sure to keep us entertained,” he said with a wicked grin.

  She only chuckled and shook her head. She wasn’t going to go there with him, not at this early hour. And definitely not while Aurelio might only be half asleep. “Want to take a dip in the river?” she asked. “I’ll race you.”

  “Nope,” he said from where he lounged on the ground beside the campfire-cum-barbecue pit.

  “Oh, stop being so lazy,” she chided. “Let’s go take a swim.”

  “Seeing that I don’t wish to be eaten by alligators I’ll just skip the river run and stick to the little stream we used last time.”

  Lani gave a snort. “Coward.”

  “Mmhmm,” he conceded. “A coward who plans to live to see another day.”

  Well, since you put it that way…” She got up and ducked into the tent then came out with a towel and a change of clothing. “Come on, then. What are you waiting for?”

  Minutes later they were by the stream and although Lani had played brave, at the last minute she chickened out and told Ridge they would have to bathe separately.

  Shaking his head, Ridge went off to sit behind the rock, as instructed. “You are so weird,” he mumbled, looking none too pleased that he’d been banished until she finished her bath.

  Little did he know that it had nothing to do with her being shy about him seeing her naked. Quite the contrary. It had everything to do with her seeing him in the nude. She was so turned on by his body that she was liable to jump him right there in open air. And she couldn’t afford to do that, not with the possibility of Aurelio walking over and seeing them in an intimate, not to mention very embarrassing, position.

  Lani bathed and changed clothes in quick time then she called Ridge who came from behind his rock and began stripping before she even got the chance to take up her position in the spot he’d just vacated. “Hey, gimme a chance, will you? I’m not at the rock yet.”

  In answer, he shrugged out of the sleeveless undershirt that clung to his body, outlining every ripple and cut of his abs. “I’m not shy,” he said. “I don’t mind if you take a look.” And then he laughed like he knew exactly what he was doing when he hooked his thumbs in the bottom of the undershirt and whipped it over his head in one smooth move, exposing his glistening, perfect abs to her view.

  That was Lani’s sign to get the heck away and off to her rock. They’d already had a scare out in the wild and if she didn’t take herself away she’d be all over him and they would probably find themselves right back in that unsafe, lust-laden situation.

  Ridge had been at his ablutions only a few minutes when there was a sudden crack of lightning. Lani jumped, so startled she leapt from behind her safe spot. And then she remembered something that made her race back to the stream, shouting Ridge’s name.

  “Get out of there,” she yelled. “That was lightning. You shouldn’t be in water when there’s lightning.”

  Obviously Ridge didn’t need to be told twice. In a flash he was out, giving her a full-frontal view of his nakedness, the sight she’d been trying so hard to avoid.

  But now, in the urgency of the moment, it didn’t matter. She just wanted him out of the water and safe.

  “Let’s get back to camp,” he said, dragging on his clothes, but before he was done there was another lightning flash then the sound of a tremendous crack and the sky broke right open and gigantic drops of rain began tumbling down.

  “Come on,” Ridge yelled. “Let’s get back to the tent.” He grabbed her hand and ran, practically dragging her along with him. With his long legs it was hard to keep up so she wasn’t surprised when he got frustrated and swung her up and into his arms then picked up speed as he barreled toward the safety of the tent.

  They got back pretty fast but it still didn’t make any difference. By the time they scrambled into the tent they were both soaking wet, their clothes clinging to their skin, hair pasted down on their faces.

  And they were laughing.

  “Goodness, that was scary,” Lani said, shaking the raindrops from her arms. “I thought you might get electrocuted.”

  Ridge wiped the back of his hand across his forehead, pushing the wet strands off his face. “Thanks for the warning. It happened so fast I didn’t even know what was going on.” Then he caught his shirt between thumb and index finger and pulled the dripping fabric away from his skin. “This is no good,” he said, and without ceremony he began to peel it off his body. In quick time his damp trousers were gone, too, leaving him in nothing but his shorts and even that didn’t look too dry.

  He looked over at her. “Is that how you’re planning on going to bed? Soaking wet?”

  Lani shook her head. She’d been so busy watching him that she hadn’t even been paying attention to her own sorry state. Still kneeling by the sleeping bag she grabbed the edge of her blouse and pulled it up and over her head. And since she hadn’t bothered to put on a bra that left her breasts open to his unwavering stare. That did not deter her. Like Ridge, she shucked off her pants so she was soon kneeling on the ground in nothing but her panties.

  And then as the rain pounded on their tent Lani and Ridge stared at each other, the one kneeling on the left side of the sleeping bag and the other on the right.

  Ridge was the one who broke the spell. “What say we finish what we started in the mountains?”

  Lani smiled. She had no objection to that. She never took her eyes off him as she climbed on top of the sleeping bag and even when she pushed her panties off her hips her gaze still held his. With the coming of the rain and the clouds blocking out what was left of day, inside the tent was pretty dark but that did not stop her from seeing the desire plain as day on his face. Ridge wanted her bad and that knowledge was enough to turn all her burners on.

  But he still hung back, which Lani could not understand, but just in case he’d suddenly turned shy she rolled across the sleeping bag and reached up to drag him down on top of it and on top of her.

  “Wait,” he muttered. “Are we going to do that withdrawal thing again? Because I don’t think-”

  “Shhh.” She put her lips to his ear and began to nibble the lobe. “Don’t worry about it.”

  “Listen,” he said in a low grumble, “I don’t want you to stop me in the middle
of it. You’re my wife. I want to enjoy you to the fullest.”

  “And I want you to shut up,” she said and gave him a sharp nip to the earlobe as punishment. “Just shut up and enjoy.”

  He was still on top of her but at her words he relaxed against her, giving her free reign to explore the inner curves of his ear then slide her tongue to taste the rain-flavored skin of his neck.

  When Ridge sighed she shifted beneath him and he took her cue, taking his weight off her and rolling over onto his back so she could explore him fully.

  Lani didn’t hesitate to take him up on his invitation. Climbing on top, she straddled his hips then leaned down to capture his lips in a kiss that stole all his air. Then when he was sufficiently weakened she moved down, letting her nipple graze his chest, taking pride in the way she was making the goose bumps rise up on his skin. Tonight, though, she wasn’t going to linger. As the thunder rumbled outside their nylon tent and as the rain pelted its surface she went straight for her goal. She slid down Ridge’s body and grabbed fistfuls of his boxers and dragged them off him, all the way down his legs and off his feet.

  His final garment gone Lani was just about ready to climb back up his body but then she changed her mind. Why not take the scenic route?

  And so she paused to plant a soft kiss on top of his foot, smiling when he did a little squirm in response. Next she moved up his legs, the soft hairs tickling her lips as she covered his shins, his knees and then his thighs with butterfly kisses, his soft sighs giving her ample reward.

  She moved up along his side over the smoothness of his hips and up to his waist and then she reached up to capture his nipples between her fingers, pinching and taunting them until she had him writhing from the pleasure of it all.

  Before he could recover she was back on top of him, straddling his hips but never releasing his stiff buds and as she felt the heat of his hardness pressing up against her moistened core she sank down onto it, impaling herself.