“It’s impossible to follow the river.” Nick was rifling through the destroyed food stores. Broken noodles, smashed oranges, and crushed energy bars littered the ground. “We’d have to take the route created by the Huaorani but we’re not going back to the base.”
From her research she knew the Huaorani were one of the native tribes. Squatting down, she peered into the basin of the barrel. About an inch of water remained. “We’re going to wait here? For someone to notice we haven’t returned.”
He shook his head. “Hector will be watching the hiking trail and checking back in here. The man is too good to give up that easily. We’ll make our way to the second campsite. There are spare radios in the storage bunker.”
“How long will it take us?”
“Two, maybe three days.” Nick turned to her. “It’s our best shot.”
“Okay, Tarzan. Is there anything we can put this water in?” His eyes narrowed and she held up a hand. “We need to hurry before they return.” She knew if he pushed, she’d melt to the ground in a puddle of hysterical tears.
He nodded and handed her a plastic container. “Why won’t he destroy the second campsite in case we go there?”
“He might. I doubt he thinks we’d make it so he won’t waste the effort. The canned food is still good but it will be heavy to carry,” Nick stated. “We want to travel as light as possible since we’ll have to forge our own path.”
“You aren’t going to swing us from vines?” She knew she was going overboard on the Tarzan jokes but it kept the seriousness of the situation from overwhelming her. Placing the rescued water on the small pile Nick was creating, she ducked into the tent. She hoped this was one time she hadn’t neatly repacked all her things. With three days of hiking ahead of her, she really wanted to find some clean underwear, but no luck. Shrugging, she decided she could always go commando like Nick.
“We need to be heading out. It won’t take Hector long to loop around.”
That was all the prodding she needed. The thought of being here when Hector returned created something far greater than panic in her. She had no idea what it was called but she never wanted to feel it again.
~* * *~
Sweat created an abstract design on the back of Nick’s green shirt. She’d studied his broad shoulders for hours. She’d swatted five spiders and seven unknown bugs off them – not that she was counting. The sun had drifted below the canopy and the darkness she’d found so amazing last night now sent shivers of fear dancing down her spine. Where would they sleep? What creepy crawlies would they sleep with?
Just when she thought she’d lose her mind, Nick turn to her and spoke words of magic. “There is a waterfall about ten minutes ahead.”
It seemed she floated the distance.
Water cascaded gently into a small pool of indigo blue. “We can go swimming?”
“I was thinking skinny dipping.” Nick wiggled his eyebrows.
Leigh jerked her disgusting t-shirt over her head. The gnawing of hunger was squished by the joy of being able to remove the film of dirt and sweat coating her skin.
Lacing his fingers together behind his head, Nick leaned against a tree and watched her. Wiggling out of the khaki shorts, she bent over and untied her boots.
“I really do think you have a voyeur issue.”
“Only with you,” Nick’s voice had dropped and when she looked up, she could see the outline of his erection in his cargo pants. “I don’t think watching you strip will ever get old.”
Leigh paused. He had said it like he was planning to do it for longer than a few days. It had to be the stress of their situation. Men like Nick didn’t fall in love with women like her. “Are you going to join me?”
He smiled. The look in his stormy gray eyes hardened her nipples, which was crazy. She was running from a murderer, sex should be the last thing on her mind, but as of this moment it was the only thing.
Dangerous Men, Dangerous Places
Chapter Ten
When Leigh bent over to untie her boots, it took every ounce of self-control he had not to move behind her and take her. He didn’t do well in situations where he wasn’t one-hundred percent in control like the current cluster-fuck. His need to sexually dominate Leigh raged inside him.
He didn’t want to hurt her, just to see her body buck with need under his touch. To hear her beg for the release only his cock could give. But he wasn’t a total insensitive ass, so he knew she needed to be cuddled and reassured, not treated like a sex toy. There would be time––years—for that.
Leigh stood before him. A strand of her hair curled around a taut nipple. Framing it for his mouth. He had learned last night, how sensitive her full breasts were. Slowly, he lowered his eyes. Smiling, he remembered she was slightly ticklish along the left side of her ribs. Deep auburn curls hid the treasure between her legs. He clamped his jaw to keep from asking if she was wet. Of course, she wouldn’t be. She hadn’t eaten all day, witnessed two murders, and had hiked countless miles through the jungle.
“Are you going to stare at me all night?” her voice shook.
“Maybe. Like I said last night, you’re the most beautiful thing in the Amazon.” He closed the space between them, pulling her into his arms. Damn, if she still didn’t smell of strawberries. He tried to hold her so she wouldn’t feel his erection but she shifted so she was pressed against him.
His mind raced, trying to think of something to say besides “I want to fuck you.”
“Nick, I need you to make love to me,” she whispered. “Make me forget about Hector and his gun. Numb my mind with need.” Grinding her hips against him, she looked up. Her blue eyes were dark swirling vortexes he could lose himself in. He wanted to believe it was desire changing them but knew it was fear.
“It will be okay, Leigh.” Fuck, he wished he had more than simple words to offer her. “Let’s go swimming. The only way Hector can get here is by river or through the jungle and he'd be hours behind us. We're safe.”
She growled and jerked his hand off her ass. “Don’t mock me.” She brought it up to her breast. “I’m not a child and I don’t want you to spin some fairy tale. I’m a woman and if I die, I want to be sexually satisfied. Can you handle that?”
The demanding tone of her voice shattered what little restraint he had. She ran the tip of tongue over her lips in an invitation. He wanted to kiss her but knew once his lips claimed hers, there would be no turning back and he had to be sure this was what she wanted. Curling his fingers around her tight nipple, he lightly pinched it. She groaned and closed her eyes.
Sliding his hand along the curve of her ass and over her hip, he parted her legs. It was his turn to groan. She was wet and ready for him.
“First, we swim before the sun sinks completely below the canopy. Then, sweetheart, I’ll see to your needs.” He snagged her bottom lip between his teeth and swatted her ass.
“Ouch,” she squealed but her smile told him she wasn’t really hurt.
He fished the small bottle of bio-friendly shampoo out of his pocket. “Here, it may be all we have for two days.”
“There is a god.” She snatched it from him and ran down to the pool.
Removing his clothes, he picked up hers and carried them over to the water’s edge.
“I never thought soap would feel so good,” Leigh sighed.
He dove in and surfaced next to her. “Are you saying you’re no longer interested in sex?” Pressing against her, he rubbed his cock into her ass.
“Tarzan, Jane is very horny,” she muttered and started to turn but he stopped her.
Wedging a leg between her thighs, he pulled her up on it. “Jane doesn’t know horny. Soon the jungle will be echoing your pleas for release,” he whispered against the side of her throat. “Lace your fingers together behind your back and don’t move them until I instruct you to.” This gave him free access to her breasts and pussy.
Leigh groaned as she wiggled on his thigh trying to gain her balance. Cupping both breasts, he closed his fing
ers around each nipple. He scraped his teeth over the sensitive skin on her neck, knowing it would leave a mark. Her rocking motion increased as he continued to torment her stiff buds.
“Your body is amazing,” he whispered. “Never in my life have I been this hard. I want to bury myself in you every night, riding you to heaven so we can sleep with the angels. I want to know your body is available to me anytime. I want to watch our child grow inside you.”
Leigh froze at his last statement. He hadn’t meant to say that. Hell, he was freaked out by it.
“You’re having some type of stress breakdown.” She removed his hands and slid away.
“No.” He blew out a deep breath and ran both hands over his face. “I knew the minute you got off the plane that if I didn’t put you back on it, I would fall in love with you.”
Leigh turned around and looked at him. “You don’t even know me. I make the same thing every night for supper. Roaming the Amazon dodging gun-toting mad men isn’t something I do. You’d be bored within one normal day with me.”
The sun had sunk low enough there wasn’t enough light to see her clearly, but the hurt in her voice as she spoke the last sentence cut him to the core.
“What’s for Tuesday?” He reached out to pull her close then he saw the tears pooling in her eyes.
“Don’t make fun of me.” She tried to jerk free.
“I’m not. As one of seven, I grew up on routine. My mother, Maria, is an incredible woman who raised us on a zookeeper’s salary and more love than most people could imagine. Every Monday, we had meatloaf, Tuesday was soup made with the leftovers from Sunday’s dinner and Wednesday was sandwiches before we left for Mass. ” He bent down and kissed the tip of her nose. “I didn’t start Eden ’s Exploration for the adventure. As a kid, I shadowed my dad at the zoo and I knew when I grew up I wanted to see animals without restrictions.”
“But we don’t even know each other,” she whispered. “You find me sexually desirable but there is so much more that goes into a lasting relationship.”
“I thought all women were the romantics and men where the reasonable ones. Let’s get out of the water and discuss this.”
Dangerous Men, Dangerous Places
Chapter Eleven
Leigh knew Nick was having some sort of breakdown brought on by the fact they were going to die. “Where are we going to sleep?”
“In the trees.”
Clearly, he had taken her Tarzan comments and integrated them into his vacation from reality. Leigh gathered her clothes and camera as her mind raced trying to come up with a plan. Having no idea where the second campsite was or even how to get back to the first one greatly narrowed down her possibilities.
Nick snaked an arm around her, pulling against his warm, wet body. “Leigh, I’m still going to love you once we’re safe. I’m going to love you when you’re eighty. And you never answered my question. What’s for dinner on Tuesday’s?”
“Chicken.”
“Yum,” he muttered against her shoulder. “I’m talking about you. Chicken is fine too.”
“Nick, please, we need to find shelter.” She twisted trying to separate herself from him. When she would rather wrap her legs around him and slip into ecstasy. Why did she always have to be the practical one?
“Tonight, you get to really be Jane.” He refused to let her go and forced her to look up. Above them in the branches was a tree house. “We built that because we considered adding a hiking adventure but decided we enjoyed coming here and didn’t want to share it.”
Releasing her, he walked over to the base of the tree. “If we’re lucky, Carlos left canned food stores last time he was here.”
Leigh tried to say something but could only laugh. Nick pulled a small ladder from a crevice in the tree’s trunk. “Come on, woman, I believe you were demanding sexual satisfaction.” Taking her clothes, he started up the ladder.
She poked her head through the trap door in the floor. Nick was opening a storage bin. “Food, blankets, and shirts.” He held out an Eden ’s Exploration tee-shirt. “I think we should name our first child after Carlos.”
Pulling the garment on, she snatched one of the energy bars. “If there is chocolate, I’d be willing to name our first two after him.”
Nick smiled and held up a Three Musketeer bar. Kicking the trap door shut, he covered the space between them. “Two? I say we start on the first one now.”
Every nerve in her body tingled. In the pool, need had clawed though her, pushing reason from her mind. Now Nick’s hooded gaze and the smirk pulling at his lips rocketed her to the same place. “I don’t have any condoms.”
Hearing that should have doused the flames of desire like a tsunami, yet it didn’t seem to matter. He lit the small lantern and placed it on the floor. Spreading the blankets out, he sat down. “Luckily, Carlos left some from his last romantic getaway with Maria. Take your shirt off and come here, Leigh.” His voice, deep and demanding, forced her to obey.
Kneeling between his legs, she gripped his semi-erect penis. She circled the crown with her tongue.
“You read my mind, sweetheart.”
She shuddered as his fingers squeezed her nipple. Sex with David had always been very routine and vanilla. Being dominated was never something she thought about. She had always equated pain with domination, never the pleasure that now swirled through her body, igniting the area between her legs.
“Take me in your mouth,” he instructed. “A lifetime won’t be long enough to satisfy me. I should spank your incredible ass for driving me this crazy.” She groaned as his hips jerked driving him deeper into her mouth. “Enough.”
Before, she could think, Nick had flipped her on back. He sucked the nipple he’d just been tormenting with his fingers into his mouth. “Oh my God, Nick.” She arched her back and slammed the wooden floor with her fist. “I’m going to die.”
“What is it you need?” he asked lifting his head.
She looked into his dark eyes.
“Tell me.”
Never had she put her wants into words.
“Trust me, Leigh. Your pleasure is my sole focus.”
The low squawk of a nocturnal bird filled the air. “Touch me,” she whispered.
“With my fingers or tongue?”
“Tongue.” She couldn’t believe she’d just ask Nick for oral sex.
“To taste you will be a delight.”
Kissing his way down her ribs, he pushed her legs apart. His tongue ran over her clit. Suddenly, it seemed as if the air had evaporated because she couldn’t breathe. Her mind couldn’t process what he was doing just the pleasure that resulted. The flames of answered desire burned through her. In an instant, he was above her.
“Look at me, Leigh. So I can see your eyes when I sink deep inside you.”
She forced her eyes open. Nick positioned himself over her. With one powerful thrust, he completely filled her.
“I’m in heaven,” he groaned. “And you’re my personal angel.” Rolling over, he pulled her on top of him. “Ride me, sweetheart.”
Rocking her hips, she placed her palms on his chest. If she’d thought it was her turn to control their lovemaking, she was wrong. He gripped her hips, lifting her, setting the pace. Briefly, she wondered if she could survive another orgasm or if her body would shatter from the intensity.
Dangerous Men, Dangerous Places
Chapter Twelve
For almost an hour, Nick had been enjoying holding Leigh. The steady rhythm of her breathing filled the small room. He knew he should wake her. There was no way he could allow them to begin their day without having her. His dick ached with need.
After making love, they had eaten and Leigh drifted to sleep in his arms. Now the snapping of twigs broke the peace. Someone approached.
“Sweetheart,” he whispered. “Wake up.” He placed a hand over her mouth so she wouldn’t make a sound. “Be quiet. Someone is below.”
She stiffened in his arms. Gone was the euphoria of momen
ts ago. While he wasn’t a man of violence, he wanted to seriously inflict pain on Hector and his dumb ass flunky, Paul. How had they found them?
“Nick? You up there?” Raul shouted.
“Yeah,” he answered.
Leigh instantly relaxed in his arms. “We’ll name our third child after him,” she said rolling over to face him.
He gripped her ass, closing the small space between them. “If I thought he’d wait down there, I’d say let’s get busy. We have three babies to make.” He kissed her. Pouring all the love he felt into it. Gently, his tongue toyed with hers as he ran a hand up her back. “I want to start every day like this,” he muttered.
“In a tree house with your friend shouting?”
The smile on Leigh’s lips filled her eyes.
“No. You in my arms.” He kissed her nose and sat up. Walking over to the trap door, he lifted it. Raul, Carlos, and Ty stood below. The left side of Ty’s face was swollen and bruised.
“Son-of-a-bitch.” He dropped the ladder and climbed down. “You okay?”
“A headache but alive,” Ty said.
Leigh climbed down and joined them. “How did you know we’d be here?”
Nick noticed she moved several feet away from him. The smile of moments ago was replaced by a slight frown. Her brilliant blue eyes were clouded with uncertainty.
“If Hector had killed you, then your bodies would have been with the others,” Raul told her. “It only made sense Nick would head to this place.”
Nick closed the distance between them and circled Leigh’s waist with his arm. The same look of surprise filled all three of his friend’s faces. Leigh remained stiff. Unease filled the morning air.
“We need to return to the base.” Once they were safe, he would explain everything to his friends and reassure Leigh of his love. “I’ll go and pack up the tree house.”
“Carlos spotted your kayaks, but we’ll still have a full day of paddling upstream to get back to Eden ’s Exploration.”
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