Authors: Judy Angelo
No response.
“Ridge. Please, honey.” Lani pressed her fingers to his neck,
desperate to find his pulse.
“He is not conscious, Miss. He cracked his head on the ground.”
Aurelio laid his flashlight on a rock so it would shine down on Ridge and then
he reached out to loosen the collar of the prostrate man’s shirt. “We must let
him breathe,” the elderly man said. "Give him air so he can come back to
us.”
Lani began to help Aurelio, loosening buttons like he was doing, and
as she did she drew in a shuddering breath. It was all her fault. She should never
have let Ridge come on this trip. Worse, she should never have let him hike
deep into the jungle with her and Aurelio. If she’d made him stay back at the
camp none of this would have happened.
Her heart quaking at the sight of him lying there hurt, Lani leaned
down to press her ear to Ridge’s chest. She drew a breath of relief when she
heard his heart beating a slow, steady rhythm. And then she heard him groan and
it was the sweetest sound she could have heard right then. Ridge was coming
around.
“Ugh. What happened?” His words were followed by a moan and he
lifted his hand to his head.
“You slipped,” Lani told him. “You fell and hit your head.” She
reached out a hand and pressed it against his shoulder as he shifted. “No,
don’t get up. Not yet.” Sitting back on her haunches she stripped off her
jacket and rolled it up into a ball then, ever so gently, she lifted his head
and slipped the makeshift pillow beneath. That done, she looked back at his
face. “How are you feeling?” she asked anxiously. “Are you in pain?”
Ridge groaned again. “Outside of feeling like a boulder just slammed
into the back of my head, no, I’m fine.”
Lani’s face broke into a smile, albeit a tentative one. “The fact
that you still have a sense of humor tells me you’ll survive.” Relief began to
loosen the vice of anxiety that had gripped her heart. She was so focused on
Ridge that she didn’t even remember their travel companion until he dropped to
his knees beside her, a bottle of water in his hand.
Aurelio held the bottle to Ridge’s lips. “Sip,” he ordered. “It will
settle your head.”
Ridge groaned again but he didn’t resist. He’d taken only a few sips
when Aurelio pulled the bottle away.
“No, not too much,” he said. “We wait a bit and then I give you some
more.”
With a sigh Ridge settled back against his balled-up-jacket pillow
and closed his eyes.
Lani threw Aurelio a worried glance. “What if he falls asleep?” she
asked. “Is that safe? If you have a concussion you’re supposed to stay awake,
right?”
“Con…what is that?” Aurelio gave her a puzzled look.
“Never mind,” she said, reaching a hand out to touch Ridge. “I’ll
keep him awake.”
“No, he is not sleeping,” Aurelio said, shaking his head. “He is
resting. Let him rest. Very important." Now Lani didn’t know what to do –
listen to Aurelio who had years of experience behind him and should know a
thing or two, or go with her gut?
In the end the gut won out. Ignoring her guide, wise though he might
be, Lani leaned down again, this time to whisper in her husband’s ear. “Wake
up, Ridge. Open your eyes. I want you to look at me.”
The only answer she got was a deep sigh.
Wanting to waken him but in the gentlest possible way, Lani dipped
her head to touch Ridge’s lips with hers.
Immediately, she got the reaction she sought. Like her touch lit a
spark within him Ridge gave a soft moan, his lips parting to receive her kiss,
his arms sliding up to wrap around her, pulling her down on top of him.
Before she knew what was happening Ridge was the one in control,
capturing her head with his hand, deepening the kiss. And it didn’t seem to
matter that they had an audience. Ridge was kissing her like a man drowning,
drawing from her the air he so desperately needed.
When he finally released her, allowing her to draw back and away from
him, he was panting slightly, like the kiss had been enough to drain him of his
energy. But he was smiling. “Thank you,” he whispered. “I needed that.”
And just seeing him like that, still on his back but more
importantly, with a smile on his face, made Lani smile right back. From the
look of things he was going to be all right.
Wanting to give Ridge time to recover from his injury they didn’t
leave the cave until a couple of hours later and even then they moved at
snail’s pace. Not wanting to take any chances Lani insisted that Ridge get down
on hands and knees and crawl along the ledge to safety. She couldn’t risk him standing
upright then getting woozy and toppling over the edge. Just to make sure he
would comply she led the way, dropping to her hands and knees ahead of him and
crawling out of the cave and along the length of the ledge with Ridge close
behind. This time it was Aurelio who brought up the rear but he didn’t join in
with the knee crawl. He just waited until they’d crossed and then he walked
across, as easy as pie.
Now came the hard part. Ridge had been the one carrying the bulk of
the gear but with the crack he’d taken to the head there was no way he could
manage that. Lani tried to get the bag onto her back but it was too bulky. In
any case, Aurelio had given her such a sour look when she’d grabbed Ridge’s bag
that she could guess he never would have allowed her to hike back to camp with
it.
They ended up having to go through all the bags, ditching as much as
they could survive without, and then with the bags half as light as they’d been
on the way up Aurelio took Ridge’s rucksack, Lani took Aurelio’s and Ridge took
hers. She didn’t have the heart to tell him how comical he looked with her
little bag on his back.
It was slow going even though Ridge insisted he was fine. Neither
Lani nor Aurelio wanted to push him too much so even when he trudged on ahead of
them they hung back, forcing him to slow down. Eventually he got the message.
When the sun set that evening they were only a third of the way back
to camp but that was the best they could do, under the circumstances. After
refreshing themselves by the stream that was the tail end of the waterfall
they’d left far behind they settled down for an early night.
Lani curled up beside Ridge and long after she could hear Aurelio’s
snores she just lay there, holding her exhausted husband in her arms.
He’d had a rough day. Although he’d played brave she’d seen the
strain on his face and heard his labored breathing. It must have taken all his
strength to keep going.
And so she lay there on the bed of leaves, his head nestled in the
curve of her shoulder, and as he slept she stroked his hair, knowing that he
wasn’t even aware of her caress but happy she could do it, anyway.
And maybe it was a good thing he slept, giving her the freedom to
explore him to her heart’s content. Maybe if he’d been awake she would have
hesitated. But now, with him lost to the world, she let her fingers curl in the
dark silk of his hair then slip down to caress the curve of his jaw, now rough
and sexy with unshaven hair. She let her hand slide down to stroke the strong
column of his neck then steal inside his shirt where she splayed her fingers
over his heart, feeling the reassuring thump and reveling in his warmth.
She began to draw her hand out, her fingers brushing his nipple on
the way, and it was when she heard his gasp that Lani realized that Ridge was
wide awake.
Her gaze flew to his face and she saw that he was looking down at
her, his face all but hidden in the shadow of night, his eyes blazing with a
fire so intense it made her shiver with awareness.
Lani didn’t move her hand any farther. She didn’t get the chance.
Ridge reached up and covered her hand with his, pressing it into his
chest like he was branding it into his skin. Then he reached down to capture
her arms and pull her up his body until her face was level with his. “I want you,”
he whispered, his voice urgent. “Now.”
Lani sucked in her breath, her eyes widening in surprise. “But…
Aurelio,” she whispered back.
“Then we’ll go,” he answered, “far enough where we’ll be alone.” He
made as if to rise but Lani pressed her body down on his, trying to hinder his
movement.
“But is it safe?” she asked then looked around at the thick, dark,
mysterious bushes that surrounded them. “This is the jungle, after all.”
“We won’t go far,” he whispered. “Just far enough.”
“I don’t know,” she began, but that was as far as she got because he
was up on his feet before she’d even gotten the words out and he was pulling
her up beside him.
“Come.”
That was all he said and then they were tiptoeing away from the fire
Aurelio had built, away from their temporary safe haven.
And although Lani wanted him badly she couldn’t help wondering if
they were being the worst idiots in the world. Even as she felt her heart quicken
in anticipation, the thought did cross her mind - was sex with Ridge really
worth the risk of being found by a jaguar? She guessed she would soon find out.
***
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.