Authors: Judy Angelo
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.