by Black, Tasha
Sunlight flashed on the surface of the water, half-blinding her and making it more difficult to navigate around the rocks that seemed to be everywhere.
But she didn’t care if she was winded and squinty-eyed when she arrived, so long as she could catch up with the boat, find Wayne, and make things right with him.
A monkey swung down from one of the trees above and shrieked at her.
She looked up, wondering if it was Wayne’s… friend.
But she couldn’t really tell.
The monkey squealed again and swung lower as if it were trying to tell her something.
Now you’re as crazy as he is, Olivia told herself. Pull it together and row like hell.
She paddled on, the oars seeming to drag in the water. she was getting tired.
But she was getting closer to the boat.
No one had spotted her yet, but she hoped they would before much longer. She didn’t know how much more rowing she had in her.
Olivia felt something cool against her toe and looked down.
An inch-deep puddle had formed in the bottom of the canoe.
“No, no, no,” she murmured.
She rowed faster, hoping that the leak in the canoe would continue slowly, so that she could make it to the big boat.
She’d already gone too far to turn back. The banks of the river were steep and muddy. It would be difficult to scramble out. And of course she had no idea where she was.
But the water was coming in faster now, she could feel its coolness around her ankles.
“Help,” she shouted, hoping the crew on the boat would hear her.
But she was still too far to be heard over the big boat’s motor.
The monkey swung down over her, just in front of the boat, and blinked at her with limpid, dark eyes, as if in concern.
Something slid out of the water and snapped at the monkey.
Olivia barely had time to register what was happening.
The monkey screamed and swung back up.
Something pale-bellied with a mouthful of razor-sharp teeth snapped its jaw and hit the water again.
“A-a-alligator,” Olivia whimpered.
She peered around, realizing that the dark lumps all around weren’t rocks.
She was paddling a sinking canoe in a river full of alligators.
She could feel the back of the boat tugging downward now, too full of water to stay buoyant much longer.
Desperately, Olivia continued to row, praying that she wouldn’t inadvertently hit one of the monsters in the water with her.
The monkey cried out one last time as if in farewell, then swung upward and away through the trees, leaving Olivia alone with her certain doom as the water slid up to her calves.
24
Wayne
Wayne listened to the crew argue about who was carrying what as the boat set down anchor at the base of a waterfall.
He was lost in memories of Olivia, the tenderness of her smile, the scent of her hair, the satisfying sound of her laughter.
He listlessly followed the others as they got out of the boat and climbed the stone stairs through the jungle.
A picnic was going to be spread out in the meadow above the falls. They would have an incredible view over the trees as they celebrated the end of another successful television program.
Then his brothers would go home with their brides to begin a new adventure.
And Wayne would…
Well.
He wasn’t sure what he would do.
Not knowing exactly what the future held hadn’t been a problem when he had thought he would be going where Olivia went. He would happily accompany her to her next production, whatever it might be, and help her as best he could.
Now he felt unmoored.
Without a mate he was not only heartbroken, he was without a purpose.
He was attractive, but with no mate to attract. He was strong but had no one to protect. He felt a bottomless capacity to learn and to become useful on this strange new planet.
But with no one to teach him, there was no point to any of it.
Every step up the stone stairs felt like it was carrying him a thousand miles from his own soul.
He longed more than anything to go back to her, to beg for her forgiveness.
But she had told him what she wanted. As her mate, it was his duty to honor her wish. It was the only thing he had left to give her.
The shriek of a monkey roused him.
He looked up.
His fuzzy friend hung upside down from a vine, staring at him intently from two inches away.
“Hello,” Wayne said softly.
The monkey blinked once.
Then it screamed bloody murder.
Wayne nearly jumped out of his shoes. “What is it?” he asked.
The monkey screamed again.
“I can’t understand you,” Wayne told him.
The monkey leapt onto Wayne’s shoulder. It smelled like bathrooms, but its fur was soft again his cheek.
It chattered at him and waved its long arms.
“What?” Wayne asked.
The monkey leapt to the stairs and began to scuttle downward.
Wayne turned and then he saw it.
In the pool beneath the waterfall, far below, he could see Olivia’s familiar blonde head. She was in a blue canoe.
A blue canoe that was sinking rapidly.
And the crocodiles were circling.
His mind flashed an image of that final tarot card - the man about to step off the cliff into the jaws of the crocodile below.
The Fool.
But there was no time to think about that.
“Thank you,” Wayne yelled to the monkey as he dove off the side of the stairs.
The air whistled past and he wondered how deep the water was and whether he would break this new body or survive long enough to help his mate.
The water rushed up to meet him and he entered it in a sea of bubbles and a shock of cold.
There was no jolt of pain. The water was deep.
He surfaced and searched for Olivia.
“Wayne?” she whispered.
The canoe was out of sight now and the water was up to her chest.
Olivia’s green eyes were wild with fear.
“What are you doing here?” she whispered. “The water is full of alligators.”
“Actually, they’re crocodiles,” he told her.
For the first time, he thought of the animals in the water with him and looked around. They were smaller than he was, but viciously strong.
They hung in the water, one opened wide its toothy maw.
Reptilian eyes peered back at him.
“Hello,” Wayne said politely. “My friend did not mean to intrude on your home. Her boat is broken. I will take her from the water now.”
The creatures gave no indication that they had heard him.
He moved toward Olivia at a steady pace.
They watched him, unblinking.
It was only when he wrapped his arms around her that there was a flash of movement.
The largest croc, the one with the open mouth, was headed their way.
“My mate,” Wayne bellowed, putting himself between Olivia and her lumpy assailant. “Mine.”
This time the crocodile jerked its head backward in an annoyed way, snapped its mouth shut, and slipped back into the deep.
Wayne wasn’t sure if the creature understood that Olivia was his mate, or if it had known what he meant by “mine” and didn’t want to start a turf war.
In any case, he wasn’t going to stick around long enough to challenge the others.
He wrapped his arms around Olivia once more and swam with her to the edge of the pool.
They crawled up the muddy bank and fell in a heap on the grassy shore.
Then Wayne began to laugh.
“Why are you laughing?” Olivia asked him, still panting.
“This reminded me of the cartoon movies of the famous rabbit
and his many opponents,” Wayne explained. “You sank in a rowboat. And I jumped off a cliff.”
“You jumped off a cliff into a pool of alligators,” Olivia said sternly. “That was unbelievably stupid.”
Wayne sat up and ran a hand through his wet hair.
Now was his chance.
“Crocodiles,” he told her as he crawled closer. “And I would jump into a pool of anything to get to you, Olivia Fontaine. I love you with all my heart. How can I change your mind about me?”
A strange expression flitted across her face.
“Why do you think I was rowing that canoe?” she asked him.
“I don’t know,” he admitted. “But it was lucky I was nearby.”
“I was coming after you, Wayne,” she told him. She was blinking, her eyes dewy. “You don’t have to change my mind. And you don’t have to jump into any more rivers. I’m yours. I know that now. Everything else is just details.”
“Say that again,” he told her, a growl in his voice.
“I was coming after you,” she said.
“No,” he said. “Tell me you’re mine.”
She smiled, a rainbow after a storm, and he didn’t even need to hear it again.
He pulled her close, pressing his lips to hers.
It was an incredible kiss. She seemed to melt under him as his heart thundered in victory.
He wasn’t even surprised to hear applause - it was the perfect accompaniment to the way his heart felt.
“What the heck?” Olivia asked, pulling away.
Wayne looked up.
The whole cast and crew were standing in the clearing above, cheering for them.
“Olivia, I’m sorry,” he said, stricken.
“I’m not,” she told him, leaning in for another kiss.
Their audience above whooped and whistled as Wayne tasted her sweet lips again.
25
Olivia
A few hours later, Olivia sat in the ornamental hot tub of the resort’s honeymoon suite.
The water was warm. It lapped against her skin - soothing, fragrant with rose petals.
The lighting was soft and romantic.
The only sounds were the cries of the birds in the jungle outside.
And the rush of the shower.
After the boat incident, their friends had joined them on the bank and urged them to head back to the resort. Margot had pressed her key card into Olivia’s hand and whispered that she had already called the staff ahead to swap their belongings so that she and Wayne could take the honeymoon suite.
The rest seemed to have gone in a blur - the boat ride back, the driver whisking them off to the tiny mountaintop resort that was beginning to feel like home.
Before she had time to take it all in, they were alone in this incredibly luxurious space together, the lighting and the flowers feeling like more than a hint at what should happen next.
Olivia had felt oddly shy.
She had scurried off to take a shower. After all, she hardly wanted river mud in this incredible hot tub.
And when she’d come out of the bathroom, Wayne had gone in to do the same.
Now she was waiting with a mixture of patience and nervousness.
This wasn’t a run of the mill first experience together. They were going to be mated. It was going to be forever.
The shower turned off.
She nearly gasped.
Calm down, Olivia.
She sank into the warm water, trailing her fingertips along the surface, swirling the rose petals.
She had been with men before. She’d even had a pretty serious boyfriend right after college.
But this was different.
If her friends were to be believed, after tonight things would only get more intense between them, not less so.
And the need she felt for Wayne was already nearly unbearable.
The door opened and he was there, his huge body almost too big for the frame.
She feasted her eyes on him.
Water beaded on his skin, sliding in rivulets down his muscled chest, over his abs, to where the towel hung low on his hips.
She swallowed.
He moved toward her, slowly, eyes fixed on hers.
When he reached the edge of the large tub, he dropped the towel on the floor.
Olivia moved backward instinctively, needing to see him, all of him.
He was magnificent.
Whereas Olivia’s short list of exes had looked a little like half-plucked chickens with their clothes off - all tan-lines and scrawny limbs - Wayne was broad and beautiful all over.
“Don’t be afraid,” he murmured, confusing her awe with fright.
“Come in,” she said softly. “It feels good in here.”
He slipped into the water, never taking his eyes off her. His gaze was smoldering.
For a moment she almost was afraid.
“There is no rush,” he told her softly. “We have all our lives to seal the bond.”
But the hunger in his eyes and in her own core told her differently. This game ended tonight.
She moved toward him, slid her hands up his chest, enjoying the smoothness of his skin, the warmth of the muscle beneath.
He gasped at her touch and she wondered if he felt the same hum of electricity she did.
Then his arms were around her and she forgot all conscious thought as he bent to claim her mouth.
The warm water, the fragrant petals, and the birdsong all disappeared as she lost herself in his embrace.
26
Wayne
Wayne’s heart threatened to burst.
He held Olivia in his arms, her soft, warm, naked body pressed to his.
The water lapped at his hips as if it were urging him on.
He prayed for the control to take this slowly.
Olivia moaned against his mouth, demolishing his resolve.
He pulled her closer, cupping her bottom in his hands, pressing her against him as his cock throbbed to be inside her.
Olivia sank her nails into his shoulders.
The slight pain brought intense pleasure with it.
Hands around her waist, he stood, lifting her out of the water, nuzzling her breasts and suckling her nipples.
Olivia whimpered but didn’t struggle.
A wave of satisfaction washed over him.
Mine.
He placed her on the ledge at the edge of the tub and moved between her legs.
“Wayne,” she murmured.
He pressed his lips to her inner thigh.
“Ohhh,” she sighed, knowing what was coming next.
He smiled against her tender flesh as he kissed his way closer to paradise, glad that his mate was already primed for the pleasure he would give her. He wanted her always to be secure in the knowledge that his touch would soothe her cravings.
Her thighs trembled around his head as he nuzzled her tender opening.
Her fragrance was sweeter than the rose petals. He stroked her with his tongue, reveling in the soft sounds of her surrender.
He lost himself in her, tasting, teasing, bringing her to the brink and then teasing her even more.
Olivia moaned and twisted his hair in her hands, driving him wild.
When she tilted her hips up for closer contact, he knew it was time. He gave her one last swirl of his tongue, then pulled away.
Olivia looked down at him, her lips parted, eyes hazy with lust.
“Are you ready?” he asked her, his voice husky.
“Yes,” she told him. “Please.”
He leapt out of the tub and lifted her into his arms.
She let out a surprised little laugh as he carried her over to the bed and laid her down.
“You’re really strong,” she confided.
“Yes,” he told her. “Somehow I avoided doing this until I was sure you were ready.”
Her cheeks went pink. “I meant physically strong.”
“Are you trying to buy time by complimenting my body?�
�� he asked.
“No,” she breathed, holding her arms out to him.
He fell on her, unable to believe this moment was upon them, unable to believe she was about to be his.
27
Olivia
Olivia waited with bated breath as Wayne crawled on top of her, caging her head in his arms.
Her whole body trembled with desire. He had pushed her so close.
She needed him desperately.
“Olivia,” he groaned.
She could feel him guide himself against her.
She closed her eyes, anticipating both pain and pleasure.
Both were so intense they took her breath away.
He stilled when he was fully inside her, as if he knew she needed a moment to accommodate him.
What he couldn’t understand was that it wasn’t just a physical stretching. Her heart and her very soul were expanding, absorbing him, taking him in. He was a part of her now, he always would be.
When he began to move at last, the pleasure was exquisite.
She sank her nails into his arms again, trying desperately to prolong her climax, wanting to stay in this heaven with him.
But he began to move again, slowly at first, each stroke sending her whole body quivering, waves of pleasure practically lifting her off the bed.
She cried out, desperate for more and he slammed into her, pinning her to the bed with each thrust.
“Please,” she wailed.
He slid a hand between them, thrumming his fingers against her until the pleasure sent her soaring, breaking into pieces as she convulsed around him, stars bursting behind her eyes.
He roared and she felt him explode inside her as the air seemed to go still around them.
The pleasure rolled on and on between them.
At last he collapsed on her chest, panting
“Olivia,” he murmured, nuzzling her breast.
“Wow,” she breathed.
“You are incredible,” he told her, lifting his face to gaze at her, his dark eyes filled with wonder.
“What was that?” she asked. “It felt like time stopped for a second.”
