Green in New York always seemed like, at most, four shades. They were beautiful shades, each one heralding spring or pronouncing the glory of summer. I thought I knew green. I didn’t.

The rainforest canopy expanded as far as I could see, a variety of leaves, arboreal plants, parasitic flowers, and any number of random bits of vegetation. Green—it was no longer a color. It was life. A never-ending river of shades that tinted every part of my world.

I reached forward, working my small shovel around the roots of a bromeliad that had grown in the crook of a tree about a hundred feet above the forest floor. The leaves wavered as I scooped and dug. After a careful excavation, I gave a gentle tug at the plant’s base and pulled it free, bits of dirt cascading to the forest floor below. I stowed it in my expedition bag, then kicked back from the tree and let out my rope to lower myself to the ground. I eased downward, spinning slightly until my feet hit the leaf litter. I unhooked my carabiner and struck off toward the small camp we’d set up nearby.

“Have you seen this frog?” Sebastian’s voice startled me, and I stopped and peered through the fronds and leaves until I caught movement. He stood just off the path, his eyes trained on something in the greenery in front of him.

“Let’s see.” I walked up beside him and followed his gaze. “Yep.” A bright blue frog with swipes of black sat on a wide leaf, its wonky eyes watching us from two different angles.

He reached out toward it. “I almost caught it a minute ago. I was going to bring it to you.”

I slapped his hand. “No.”

“You know I love it when you get frisky.” He pulled me close. My favorite shade of green stared down at me.

“I don’t love it when you get dead.” I glanced to the leaf. “That particular frog is in the Dendrobatidae family.”

He kissed my throat and ran his hand into the waistband of my shorts, cupping my ass. “Keep talking that science stuff to me.”

I sighed. “It’s a poison dart frog. One touch would make you violently ill, and depending on what the frog has been eating lately—usually toxic insects—could potentially kill you.”

“You’d save me.” He kissed to my mouth. “Again.”

I laughed against his lips. “If I recall correctly, you’re the one who saved me.”

“You recall wrong.” He glanced around. “Let’s take this conversation to our tent.” He bent down and slung me over his shoulder.

“Hey!” I clutched my bag. “Watch my sample.”

“I want to watch other things.” He trudged through the trees, striking straight toward the small set of tents. It was an offshoot of my much larger field school about fifty miles away. Students from Trenton worked there during the summers, studying the rainforest and conducting experiments right alongside me. Then, once school was back in, we returned to New York and continued our research. I’d used the funds Bill had given me in trust, plus a generous investment from Sebastian, to establish the entire science initiative. Later in the summer, we’d accept students from other high schools, and were well on our way to becoming a prestigious international teaching institution.

Mint and Jenna, summer field school instructors, passed us as we approached. Mint’s home situation had cleared up shortly after I’d returned to Trenton, his parents recommitting to their relationship and Hal stepping out of the picture. It verged on miraculous, but I didn’t question it.

“Not again.” Mint shook his head. “Keep it down or you’ll scare the students.”

I blushed and pounded on Sebastian’s back. “Let me down. This looks terrible.”

“Mrs. Lindstrom fell.” Sebastian half-yelled in a transparent attempt to cover. “No one worry. I’ll doctor her right up in our tent.”

Jenna snickered, and she and Mint joined hands and walked farther down the path and out of sight.

The sound of a zipper cut through the air. I glanced to the right, and Timothy exited Gregory’s tent. He smoothed his shirt down and hurried away, not meeting my eye. Walk of shame in progress.

“Did you see that?” I whispered.

Sebastian smacked my ass. “I’m focused on one thing and one thing only.”

“Brute.”

“Here we are.” He deposited me inside the tent, the dappled light creating interesting patterns against the thin, taupe material. “Now, I’ll need you to strip so I can inspect your injuries.”

“I’m pretty sure you don’t need to continue the ruse.” I set my pack to the side as Sebastian knelt between my legs.

He unbuttoned my shorts and slid them and my panties down my legs and over my boots. “Tell me where it hurts.” He kissed up my thighs.

I ran my hands through his hair. “You’re almost there, doctor.”

He smiled. “I knew it. You need treatment.” Pressing a kiss to my pussy, he growled low in his throat. “Shirt off.”

I yanked it over my head as he licked my clit. Cupping one breast, he pushed me to my back and spread my legs wider. My body hummed with heat and need as he slowly licked and sucked my hot flesh.

“How’s this?”

“Perfect.” I lifted my hips and stared down into his eyes as he devoured me.

“Perfect what?”

“Perfect, doctor.”

He grinned and sucked my clit between his teeth. The fire inside me rose higher, and I wanted every stroke of his tongue. I bit my lip to keep my moan to myself. He squeezed my nipple between his thumb and forefinger, driving me wild. I lifted onto my elbows and pulled his hair. “I want you.”

He kissed up my stomach, lingering on my breasts, then sucking my throat. I reached to his pants, unbuttoned them, then pulled his thick cock free. It pulsed in my palm as I stroked it long and slow. The need to have him inside me blotted out everything else.

Groaning into my mouth, he pressed his head to my entrance and eased inside. I clawed his shirt up his back. He stripped it off and tossed it, his strong muscles flexing beneath my hands as he sank all the way.

Our mouths met in a torrent of passion, kissing and biting as he started a hard rhythm, each thrust jarring me and sending sparks through my clit.

“Me. Let me.” I pushed his shoulder.

He rolled so I was on top. I spread my palms on his chest, anchoring myself on him as I rode his cock.

“That’s it. Let me see it.” He palmed my breasts, squeezing as he watched where our bodies joined.

I gripped his wrists, leaning on them as I worked back and forth on his cock, every stroke deep and hard. Leaning up, he captured a nipple in his mouth and pulled a hand away to slap my ass. I moaned, no longer able to keep it quiet. He slapped again, harder this time, and I sped my pace. He switched to my other nipple, sucking and biting as I ground my pussy against him, each movement of my hips growing smaller, more concentrated as my thighs shook.

He leaned back and slapped both sides of my ass. “It’s yours. Take it.”

I threw my head back and rode him. He bore down on my hips, increasing the friction as sweat slicked my body and I slid against him.

“Fuck.” His cock stiffened, thickening even more. “You’re too much.”

I dug my nails into his abs. “Wait for it.”

“Can’t.” He grunted and slapped my ass hard enough to make me cry out. The pain was perfect, sending me plummeting into a strong orgasm.

His named rolled from my lips as my hips seized, and everything inside me centered on the delicious sensation, then burst outwards, sending shards splintering in every direction. He groaned and thrust up hard inside me, his come coating me as my walls squeezed him, taking every last drop he had. I rode the waves of release until I was spent and collapsed onto his chest.

He kissed my forehead and rubbed the spots on my ass he’d lit on fire. “So fucking sexy.”

I rested my cheek on his chest and tried to catch my breath. “You know what that caveman thing does to me.”

He laughed. “I do. That’s why I’m rather fond of it.”

I bit his pec, and his cock pulsed inside me.

“You know what biting does to me.” He flipped me onto my back and kissed me, his mouth owning me as his hips moved at a slow pace.

I answered, my tongue warring with his as our bodies slid against each other, my nipples hardening again. My sensitive clit buzzed with each touch of his skin, each delectable bit of pressure. His cock came back to life, hitting me in all the right spots as he took it slow.

Breaking the kiss, he stared down at me. “Do you have any idea how much I love you?”

“I think I do.” I wrapped my arms around his neck. “So much that you went psycho and kidnapped me and made me love you despite myself.”

He smirked. “I can’t make you do anything. I think the day I realized that is the day you finally started loving me back.”

“Maybe.” I pushed my hips up and wrapped my legs around his back.

He kissed me again, his lips soft and sure as he made love to me.

“Do you remember when you were in psycho training with your dad?”

He bit my lip. “Yes. It made me the fine, upstanding citizen I am today.”

I wrested it free. “Were you in class the day the birds and bees were taught?”

“Of course.” He thrusted a little harder. “I like to think I mastered that particular lesson.”

I nodded. “You did. In more ways than one.” I smiled up at him.

“You lost me.” He cocked his head to the side, his quizzical expression making me giggle.

“Never.” I kissed his nose. “I’m yours, and so is the baby.”

He froze, his eyes wide. “You mean you’re…right now…you’re…” He lifted off me, but I grabbed on tighter and pulled him back.

“You can’t hurt it. It’s early. But it’s true. I’m pregnant.”

When he smiled, pure joy writ large on his handsome face, I hugged him close. He stilled as I dotted kisses on his shoulder.

Pulling back, he stared down at me, tears glimmering in his eyes. “But what if—” His voice cracked with emotion. “What if they’re born like me?”

How could my heart threaten to break when it was so full of love? I pulled his face to mine and pressed our foreheads together. “Then they’ll be perfect, as far as I’m concerned.”

His tears met my own, and he kissed me.

Our souls melded and once again danced in the dark…and the light.