Tropical Tryst: 25 All New and Exclusive Sexy Reads

by Nicole Morgan

  After all she had suffered beneath Roger's violent tyranny, her social isolation, and long string of relationship failures, she wasn't sure if she could ever fully trust again.

  Jackson had claimed that he loved her. He’d asked for her to forget all of the times he’d shunned her, all of the times he'd hurt her, to trust him. But was she just setting herself up for another betrayal?

  If she opened her heart to him, she was only begging for more pain. She didn't know if she could survive another mistake like that.

  She’d wanted Jackson for as long as she could remember. Now that she'd had a taste of him, she wasn't sure she could ever desire anyone else. But it also meant that his betrayal would hurt her more than anything she’d experienced before. And right now, as she trudged through this tropical nightmare, bleeding and bereft of all hope, she just wasn’t sure if she could risk anymore.

  So why couldn't she stop thinking about him?

  Why was it the memory of his smile that kept her feet moving forward long after her vision began to blur?

  She wasn't sure how long she'd been walking, but the rising temperature suggested it was drawing close to noon. The thick, muggy heat of the jungle made it even harder to go on.

  She hurt all the way down into her bones. Every step was torture on bruised, bleeding feet.

  The frightful shrieks and cries of unseen jungle creatures merged together in her ears, to drown in the thunderous pounding of her heart.

  It was all she could do to just keep moving forward. She had no direction. No path. No idea where she might be or where she was going.

  Fighting to concentrate through the pain in her head and increasing dizziness, due to exposure and dehydration, she just tried to focus on putting one foot in front of the other.

  Just one more step.

  Now one more.

  On and on.

  The trees and vines surrounding her abruptly blurred and tilted. It took a moment before she realized she'd fallen down.

  Slowly, she tried to push herself back up onto hands and knees, but her limbs had gone numb and refused to obey. She collapsed face first, scraping her chin on a thick tree root.

  A brilliantly colored butterfly landed on the jungle floor, just a few inches from her nose. It flickered enormous, rainbow-colored wings, and Jenn felt hysterical laughter bubbling up from somewhere deep inside her.

  Of all the ways she'd ever imagined death might someday take her, she’d never once considered that she might die lost and alone in the Amazon rainforest.

  CHAPTER 17

  J ackson was exhausted. His entire left side was on fire, and he suspected the stitches the village doctor had sewn into him were tearing. But if he was tired, how must Jenn feel? She might be in pain as well, but she was alone and afraid out there in the wilderness.

  Large predators, like the jaguar, usually stayed deeper in the rainforest, far from human paths, but Jenn was heading into some pretty remote territory.

  Of course, panthers weren't the only danger out here. Poisonous snakes, crocodiles, and a lethal assortment of other creatures existed. In the jungle, even something as small as an ant could have a sting powerful enough to knock down a full-grown man.

  Jackson had felt the sting of a bullet ant during his first visit to the rainforest a few years earlier, and it wasn't something he'd care to experience ever again.

  He caught sight of Remi just a few yards to his right. Her hair was tied up into a fierce bun on top of her head, but a few damp strands had escaped. The wild hairs clung to her sweaty forehead and cheeks, but Remi was oblivious to her appearance. Her red-rimmed eyes were intensely focused upon the surrounding underbrush, searching for any sign of her best friend.

  He knew that Remi blamed herself for bringing Jenn to South America, where she would be made vulnerable to her stalker.

  With tears streaming down her cheeks, she'd admitted to Jackson that she really hadn't believed there was any real danger. She’d known that Jenn would never lie to her about anything important, but a stalker who sent dirty messages and took a lot of pictures, just hadn't sounded very scary to her.

  If Jenn were seriously injured – or worse – his sister would never forgive herself. But this wasn't Remi's fault. It was his. Jackson had left Jenn alone, defenseless, after he'd sworn to protect her.

  He'd give anything for a chance to go back in time and fix his mistakes. All of them. Starting with the night he'd taken Jenn to the prom.

  God, she'd looked beautiful!

  The dress she'd worn had clung to her curves in a way that begged for his touch. Just looking at her had been enough to make his teenage body ache.

  He could hardly breathe, much less speak. Especially when she'd tucked her delicate hand into his arm and looked up with those huge eyes, so full of hope and excitement. His damned knees had nearly buckled underneath him!

  But Jenn was Remi's best friend, so he'd done everything he could to push her away. The whole night had been the sweetest and worst kind of torture.

  When Jenn had asked to leave the dance a little early, the gut-wrenching mix of disappointment and relief had nearly killed him.

  She'd led him out to the old pickup truck, which he'd bought using money saved up from mowing lawns every summer, and waited patiently for him to unlocked her door.

  Then she'd ambushed him.

  He had still been reeling from her request to leave early, so his defenses were down. Shock left him standing there, like a deer frozen in the headlights, as she slid her arms around his neck and stood up on her tiptoes to kiss him.

  The moment her lips met his, primal instinct took over. His hands seized her waist, greedily pulling her closer.

  He had devoured her mouth, years of denied longing finally released in an almost savage need to take as much as she was willing to give him.

  The intensity of his desire had scared the hell out of him, and by some miracle, that surge of fear had shocked him back to reality before his trembling hands could shred that pretty dress right off her sweet little body.

  He'd shoved her away so fast she'd stumbled backwards into the side of truck and nearly fallen down.

  "What's wrong?" She'd gasped, quickly looking around for cops, teachers.... bigfoot... some reasonable explanation for his sudden rejection. But there wasn't one. He only knew that if he spent one more minute in her presence, he'd lose the fear which had stopped him, and with it, his ability to resist her.

  He would have taken her, right there in the school parking lot, spread eagled on the bench seat of his old truck.

  So, he'd run.

  He'd jumped into the truck, slammed it into gear, and raced the hell out of there as fast as he could go, squealing the tires in his haste to escape. He'd left her standing in the parking lot, all alone, in the amber glow of an ancient streetlight.

  And he'd regretted it ever since.

  Remi had been furious when she'd arrived home, after she and her prom date had found Jenn crying and taken her home.

  Jackson knew he deserved a lot worse than the outraged lecture his little sister had given him, but he'd kept telling himself that it had been the right thing to do. That he would have just broken her heart and harbored even bigger regrets.

  Now that he'd finally taken her to bed, he knew he'd been lying to himself all along. He'd been scared, because he'd felt it even then - how right they were for each other - and he'd been afraid of how that would completely change his life.

  If he hadn't been such a fool, he could have saved them both a lot of pain and failed relationships. Because Jenn was his woman. She always had been.

  Once he had her back in his arms, he was never going to let her go again.

  Just hold on, baby. I'm coming.

  Sweat dripped into his eyes and he scrubbed it away, the motion bringing a fresh spike of pain from his injured side.

  Shoving a hand into his back pocket he pulled out the small pill bottle the village doctor had given him. He'd been taking only half of the dos
e the doctor had prescribed, because he didn't want the painkiller to cloud his judgement and potentially hurt his ability to find Jenn.

  Once she was safe, he'd surrender himself to a real medical facility. Until then, her life was the only one that mattered.

  They'd tracked Jenn's path from the backpacker's hostel, where that hijo de perra, Peter, had been keeping her. It had followed a fairly straight shot away from civilization for the first two days, then started to weave. She was clearly getting tired.

  Exposure to the elements, dehydration, and hunger, could all take a heavy toll in the jungle.

  Another spike of pain shot up from his side. It was getting worse. He was pushing himself to hard and he knew it. But Jenn could be injured too, and she was out there, all alone.

  A shout from the tracker snapped Jackson's full attention to the jungle ahead.

  In an instant, his pain was forgotten, as both he and Remi darted forward. Ducking tree limbs and vines, they raced to where a half-naked Amazonian native was crouching.

  With his dark skin and short stature, he blended into the surrounding underbrush. In contrast, the pale body of the woman lying nearby, was jarring. Motionless and deathly white wherever her skin was not marred by dirt or stained with dried blood.

  Jackson felt his gut wrench and his heart stop, yet his momentum carried him forward. Falling to his knees beside her, he pulled her limp body into his arms, only vaguely aware of the tears on his cheeks and Remi’s harsh sobbing beside him.

  “Jenn. Wake up, baby. I'm here now. It's okay. You're going to be okay. Please, baby. Please be okay.”

  He cradled her against his chest, rocking with her, begging for her to respond. Swearing over and over that he would keep her safe, that nobody would ever hurt her again, if she would only open her eyes for him.

  The rest of the search team arrived and were unfolding the portable stretcher, but Jackson couldn't let go of the woman in his arms. He fought against the hands which attempted to take her from him.

  “Don't touch her! Don't you fucking touch her!”

  “Jackson, they've got to get her to the hospital.” Remi's voice was torn by grief as she caught his face in her hands and forced him to look up at her. “She needs help. She needs a doctor.”

  The words reached through the black fog of grief he was drowning in, forcing him to move, to keep fighting.

  He couldn't give up yet. Jenn still needed him.

  “I'll carry her.”

  “It's at least an hour's hike back to where we were forced to leave the ATVs,” someone was arguing. “Through some really bad terrain…”

  “I said, I'll carry her!”

  The lethal tone of his voice had the men backing up.

  “You heard him!” Remi snapped. “Get moving and cut a fucking path for this idiot!”

  With machetes swinging, the team moved out fast, cutting the shortest path to wear they'd been forced to leave their ATVs and go on foot.

  Jackson followed right on their heels, cradling Jenn to his chest.

  “Hold on, baby. Just a little longer. Stay with me. You're going to be okay. Just stay with me, sweetheart.”

  CHAPTER 18

  J enn woke with a start, thrashing against the vines which held her. The darkness sought to swallow her once more, but she couldn't give up, she had to keep fighting!

  Then a bright light sparked beside her and a familiar voice filled her ears.

  “Jenn! Jenn, it's alright. You're safe now. You're going to be okay.”

  She turned towards the voice, and discovered that she was no longer in the rainforest at all. She was in a clean room, wearing a hospital gown, with a concerned figure hovering beside her.

  “Remi? You found me?”

  “It was kind of a group effort,” Remi tried to smile.

  Her hair was a tangled rat's nest and her eyes were bloodshot, with dark circles underneath. She looked as if she hadn't seen a bed or a mirror in a at least a week, but at that moment, Jenn thought her best friend was the most beautiful person she'd ever seen.

  In an awkward lurch, she sat up and grabbed Remi into a huge bear hug.

  “You're really here,” Jenn sniffed back tears of relief when her arms closed around a warm body, and not a hallucination. “I'm so glad to see you!”

  “You scared the he’ll out of us!” Remi admonished through tears of her own. “I'm so sorry, Jenn. I never meant to put you in any danger.”

  Jenn snorted, and swiped at her eyes.

  “I know that, silly! Besides, I'm the one who let that psychopath…” She abruptly remembered that Peter was still out there, looking for her. “Remi! Go get Jackson! If Peter finds out I'm here, he'll come for me. He's crazy! He drugged me! He might hurt you too. You need to find Jackson and bring him here. Hurry! Go!”

  Jenn was attempting to crawl out of the hospital bed and force her friend to go find protection, but Remi fiercely held her ground, pushing her back down onto the mattress. She must be even weaker than she'd thought, if Remi could push her around so easily.

  “Stay down!” Remi ordered, but Jenn kept struggling until she caught sight of the door opening at the other end of the room.

  For a moment, time stood still.

  Peter had found her. He was going to kill her this time, and if Remi tried to stop him, he’d kill her too.

  Jenn was too weak to run away, but maybe she could stall him long enough for Remi to escape. Only it wasn't Peter who walked into the room. It was Jackson.

  Disbelief and relief rushed through her, mixing with the adrenaline that had flooded her system… and something else. Something that felt warm and good, like bring wrapped in one of her mother's freshly laundered blankets as a little girl. She felt joy and pleasure. She felt safe.

  Love.

  This wasn't simply desire or a craving for his body. Her heart actually felt lighter, just watching him walk into the room.

  “Jackson.”

  “Hey beautiful, it's sure good to see you awake.” He smiled at her as he moved to the side of the bed, and that warm, snuggly feeling roared up into the familiar wash of desire. That felt good too.

  Remi gave her brother a sour look, but there was concern hidden beneath, and Jenn followed her friend's gaze to Jackson's waist. She could tell by the stiff way that he moved, that something was wrong.

  “You should still be in bed,” Remi scolded. “But I'm guessing the doctor has already told you as much.”

  Jackson ignored her, offering Jenn his full attention.

  “How are you feeling? You've been delirious for a few days now. The doctor said you had a bad reaction to the drugs in your system.”

  As he reached out to brush his fingertips across her forehead, Jenn gripped a handful of his shirt. Before he could move away, she lifted the material to reveal thick layers of bandaging underneath.

  Jackson caught her hand before she could withdraw it, his expression unreadable.

  “That hijo de perra, Peter, shot him before Jackson could knock his ass down,” Remi chirped, before Jenn could ask and Jackson explain. “The village doc put a bunch of stitches in him, but he tore it all up again carrying you out of the jungle.”

  Jenn never broke eye contact with Jackson.

  “You carried me?”

  A dark shadow flickered across his eyes as he gave a small nod, his grip on her hand tightening just a fraction.

  Jenn finally glanced towards her best friend, who was now standing with her fists on her hips, as if she were gearing up for a debate.

  “Remi, do you think I could talk to Jackson for just a minute? Alone? I promise I'll put him back to bed asap.”

  Remi's eyes narrowed suspiciously, then she threw her arms up with a dramatic sigh.

  “Fine! You should both be sleeping. Alone. Separately. But I know you're not going to listen to me. You have about five minutes before that big cranky nurse with the sailor arms comes back to check on you, so you better talk fast.”

  As soon as the door clos
ed behind Remi, Jenn scooted to one side of the bed and patted the mattress beside her.

  “I told her I'd put you back to bed,” she reminded the shocked marine. “Don't make me a liar.”

  Jackson hesitated for one terrible moment, then he carefully lowered himself onto the mattress beside her, audibly holding his breath as she snuggled up to his chest.

  “Can we start over again?” She asked, clearly surprising him again. “I don't want this - whatever this is - to be over yet. You claimed to love me. So, I'm calling you out. If you really love me, let's try again.”

  Jackson reared up onto one elbow, so he could look her right in the eye, his strong body partially blanketing her, sending alternating waves of pleasure and warmth radiating all the way down to her toes.

  “I have a better idea,” he murmured, his breath feathering over her cheek. “Let's get married.”

  It was Jenn's turn to be shocked.

  “What?”

  “Marry me,” he urged, lowering his mouth to brush along the sensitive skin below her ear.

  He knew she couldn't think straight with him doing that, but she didn't want him to stop either.

  “Are you serious?” She asked, breathlessly. “This isn't the sort of thing you can joke about, Jackson.”

  “I'm serious,” he purred against her neck. “I should also warn you, we're getting a dog. The next time you're mad at me and send me to the couch, I’d like an extra set of eyes in the room, to keep you safe.”

  Jenn braced both her palms against his broad chest, and pushed. Jackson gave a soft groan as he was forced to abandon his sensual exploration downward, and leaned back to meet her gaze once more.

  “What about Remi? Your job, here? This is really sudden, Jackson, are you sure you've thought this through?”

  “Trust me, sweetheart. I haven't thought about anything else for days. Maybe years. The moment I saw you again, I knew I wasn't going to let you go.”

  He gave her a quick kiss to silence the protest she was preparing.