Chapter 14

 

They woke with the birds. Belinda opened her eyes to see the trees around her filled with colour. A flock of noisy, screeching macaws had taken up residence. The large red and blue parrots didn’t care that Belinda and Beast were asleep. All they cared about was breakfast.

The warm early morning light filtered through the canopy above, giving their tiny clearing a hazy glow. The upbeat singing of the waking birds and the all-encompassing hum of the crickets had replaced the threatening sounds of the night hunters. Already the day’s heat was building, and the glasshouse scent of the plants surrounding them was heady, a perfume to tease the senses.

“Stunning,” she whispered.

“Yeah.” Beast’s word rumbled through her body, making her realise that she was, once again, draped all over the man. When she glanced up at him, he wasn’t watching the birds—he was watching her. Everything within Belinda stilled. Their surroundings faded as she became acutely aware of the man beneath her.

“Sorry.” She tensed her arms, ready to push away from him. “I’ll get off you. Guess it’s just more comfortable sleeping on top of you.”

“Isn’t like we have a lot of space.”

“No.” The sheet hammock wrapped tightly around them, making it difficult to move.

She struggled and wobbled, brushing her body over his, feeling every hard inch of him. At last, she was up on her hands and knees over him as the hammock swung gently from the trees. Beast’s jaw clenched tight and his pale grey eyes had turned dark.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m trying to get off you as quick as I can.” She moved again, rocking their bed.

John grasped her hips and she stilled. They were face to face, their bodies barely an inch apart. Everything within Belinda paused as the world faded to the man beneath her.

“You’re killing me here, Hollywood.” The husky rumble of words went right through her, making her blood fizz and bubble in its wake.

Her gaze slid from his eyes, over the masculine planes of his face—complete with a day’s growth of hair—to his soft, sensual lips. Her breath stuttered as the memory of their kiss slammed into her. Suddenly, all she wanted to do was feel his lips on hers again.

“Belinda?”

She shivered as his tone went lower still. All night long, she’d lain beside him, their bodies entwined. She’d listened to his heart and felt the ripple of his muscles under her touch. All night long, she’d pretended she wasn’t hyperaware of how he felt against her. Pretended she wasn’t desperate to let her fingers explore, caress, tease.

All.

Night.

Long.

“This is a bad idea,” he mumbled, making her look back into his eyes.

What she saw there robbed her of any reason that remained. Because Beast wanted her, just as much as she wanted him. Her thoughts stilled and narrowed. The jungle faded around them. The anxiety and fear from being kidnapped and hunted was wrestled into submission under the stark awareness of the man in front of her. There was only one thought in Belinda’s head—want.

“Belinda?”

She shivered. His fingers were a brand on her hips. His thigh muscles flexed against hers. His chest was a hard wall beneath her, tempting her to press her aching breasts against him, seeking relief. Even this early in the morning, the heat and humidity meant there was a sheen to his skin. A tempting sheen that seduced her to touch.

“This is a brilliant idea,” she whispered as her eyes rested on his lips again.

His reply was a pained groan that made her smile slightly. His fingers flexed on her hips, and slowly, Belinda lowered her mouth to his. Electricity shot between them, increasing in intensity the closer she came to his lips. They sparked. Sizzled together. One touch would ignite them. Anticipation made her heady as she prolonged her journey towards him.

“The hammock,” he whispered, and she felt the words against her lips. His air became her air in a teasing intimacy. “You said be careful.”

“Mmm, let’s make it swing.”

She closed the distance, and her lips touched his. It was an explosion of sensation, one that overwhelmed her rational mind. There was no thinking anymore. Only feeling. And what she felt was out of this world.

Beast splayed a hand on the small of her back and pressed her against him, joining them. Skin to skin. Body to body. Heart to heart. She felt his heart beat right through to hers. An intimate joining. She gasped into his mouth as she felt his hard length press against her. It wasn’t close enough. She needed to feel him inside her. No barrier between them.

The kiss was ferocious, a meeting of intense need. Of overwhelming desire. She wanted him deep and hard. She wanted to taste all of him. She wanted to lose herself in his strength and in the animal longing he built within her.

He growled against her lips, wrapped his fingers in the hair at the back of her head and angled her mouth to suit his desire. Belinda’s nails dug into his shoulders as she moaned into his mouth. More. She needed more. Her tongue went searching for his until they tangled together, dancing around one another, tasting and teasing and tormenting each other.

She felt Beast’s hand slide from her back, over her hip, to cup her behind.

Yes!

She pressed back into his touch, delighting when he massaged her flesh. She pressed her needy core against his erection, seeking relief. Her hips moved, rocking against his length, making her whine with desperation.

His kiss turned feral. Desperate. Commanding. He was taking her over with his desire, making her fly out of control in a fierce tornado of bliss. She felt a touch at her back, and her bra fell loose. She shivered as his hands ran up and down her spine. The rough callouses and scars on his hands, presumably from fighting, set her nerves on fire wherever they went. She undulated under his touch, following the heat of his hands. Wanting more. Needing more.

It was almost too much. Her head was spinning and she could barely breathe. She broke their kiss, digging her fingers into his shoulders as she threw her head back, gasping for air. Her whole world had become his hands, as they caressed her behind and followed the line of her panties down to her wet and needy core. She arched her back, lifting her hips in invitation, silently asking him to touch her where she needed it most.

He didn’t leave her wanting. She felt fingers trail down towards her clit, brushing back and forth over her damp panties, making her moan with longing. One strong hand held her tightly in place, while the other brushed her most sensitive flesh with the barest of touches.

“You already wet for me, baby?”

Her only reply was a moan as his finger slipped under the leg of her panties. He teased her tender flesh, stroking in long circles, but never touching her desperate clit. She looked down, dazed and desperate, to see John’s head lift. His dark gaze captured hers as his mouth latched on to her oh-so-sensitive nipple. He sucked hard. The contrast between his brutal suction and the teasing soft touch of his fingers was almost too much to bear.

“Yes,” she moaned. “Please, John, please.”

He stilled for a second, leaving her dazed. And then his hand captured her nape and he made her look him in the eyes.

“To you, I’m always John. You hear me? You don’t call me anything else.”

His intensity made the words cut through the fog in her brain. This was serious. He was serious. She nodded as she pressed her breasts into his chest. Oh, yes, that was good. So, so good.

He let out a dark chuckle and his mouth was on her throat. She felt his teeth nip, and she shivered. Her body wasn’t her own anymore. He owned her. With each touch, he wove a spell around her, until she was lost in a maelstrom of sensation. There was no thought. There was only need. Only John. The centre of her universe was now the desperate teasing touch of his fingers on her swollen folds. He teased her, dipping inside her only to retreat just as fast, to lazily circle around the tiny bundle of nerves that needed him so desperately.

“John,” she gasped.

He chuckled against her breast, and she felt the sound vibrate throughout her body. She writhed against him, pleading for relief with every move. A thick finger slipped inside her, while his other hand cupped her nape and pulled her mouth to him for a punishing kiss.

She couldn’t stop moving. She was desperate for him. His hard length was a tease, promising paradise that was just out of reach. The whole world moved with his touch as the hammock swung with their passion. The added sensation of flying built the pressure within her until she was a bundle of oversensitive, desperate nerves.

“Please, please, please…” she chanted against his mouth.

She needed him inside her. She needed him to stop the ache that was a tidal wave pulling her under. She needed the release that only he could give.

He withdrew his finger from her, making her wail her objection. He circled her clit. Once. Twice. And then he pinched it. Belinda’s world stopped entirely. One second. Two years. A lifetime. And then it exploded. A keening wail escaped her as her whole body clenched and spasmed. The earth was moving. Swirling, swinging, shifting as she clenched on nothing when she desperately wanted to clench on him. She was empty. Needy. Desperate to be filled. Soaring without him when she needed him closer. As close as he could get.

“John,” she moaned against his neck as she came back down, “need you. Need you now.”

He growled, low and rough. His hand slid down her stomach as it moved between them. And there was a loud ripping noise. Belinda smiled, knowing he was desperate enough to rip off his underwear, to get rid of the barrier between them. There was another rip, louder this time, and Belinda’s dazed brain began to register that something was wrong.

John let out a low curse and his arms wrapped tight around her, pulling her flat against him. With one last ripping sound, the soft sheet gave way beneath them and they were falling. They landed with a thud and a groan on the jungle floor.

“What the…” Belinda was still dazed, her body shaking from the high she’d experienced. It took her a few long seconds to realise what had happened. She looked up. The underside of their hammock was swinging above them and had split in two.

All around them, screeching birds flapped, taking to the air en masse, jarred into flight by the noise Belinda and Beast had made. Slowly, Belinda looked down at the man beneath her. She was still straddling him, only her knees had hit the earth. John had taken the brunt of the fall.

He lay there, his eyes closed, not moving an inch. Belinda scrambled off him.

“John?” She pulled up her bra and fought to hook it behind her back as she leaned over him. “Beast? Are you okay? Did you break anything? Please, don’t let it be your back!”

His eyes cracked open. “I should have cleared the damn ground last night.”

Her gaze shot to the clearing, which, on reflection, wasn’t that clear. There were a few branches scattered beneath them, some rocks and lots of twigs. That had to have hurt.

“Have you broken your back?” She needed an answer to that question before she dealt with anything else. She was panicking. How was she supposed to transport him out of the jungle if he was injured? The guy was a massive block of solid muscle. He had to weigh as much as a small car.

“No, but I’m probably bruised to hell.” He frowned at her. “What did you say? Don’t bother clearing the area. It won’t affect us.”

“Are you blaming me for this?” She couldn’t believe her ears. She glared down at him.

“Hollywood, your exact words were ‘let’s make it swing.’”

She frowned as she racked her brain. Nope. Nothing. “I didn’t say that.”

“Yeah, you did. It came right before ‘Please, John, please.’”

Her face burned, and not in a good way this time. “You’re making this up, because I don’t remember telling you to make the hammock swing. I do remember telling you to be careful. That the sheet might rip.”

“You didn’t tell me that I’d end up on my ass on the ground.”

“That part was a given!”

“One sheet for a hammock,” he grumbled. “I shouldn’t have listened to you. There was no way that thing was going to hold both of us.”

“That thing?” Now she wanted to stomp on his stomach. How could one man make her desperate to caress him one minute and desperate to hurt him the next? “That thing kept us safe all night long. If we hadn’t been in that thing, then you would have been trampled by a tapir in the middle of the night. And who knows what else would have crawled all over you. You should be grateful I thought of making a hammock. And you should have respected the damn thing. Now look at it. Where are we going to sleep tonight?”

“Yeah, because this is my fault. You jumped me. I was being a gentleman. I kept my hands to myself. But you just had to crawl all over me.”

“Crawl all over you?” She wanted to kick him now. Sure, he was sore and grumpy, but did he have to be an arsehole about it? “It takes two to tango, mister.”

“But I didn’t tango, did I? Only you tangoed. I got dropped on top of a tree trunk.”

She put her hands on her hips and glared at him. “Is that what this tantrum is all about? You’re upset because you didn’t get off?”

“No, Hollywood, I’m upset because I fell through your brilliant idea and landed on my back in the middle of the jungle.”

He looked from side to side, proving that at least his neck wasn’t broken. “Looks fine down here. Might even have been comfortable, if I’d been allowed to clear it. And guess what? There would have been no falling if we’d been asleep on the ground.”

Belinda had opened her mouth to tell him what she thought of his comment, when something big and black caught her eye. She froze in awe. A Goliath birdeater—the biggest spider on the planet. It was the size of a small cat and it was making its way across the log beside them—straight for John’s head.

“Uh, John?” Belinda pointed to the spider.

“I don’t want to hear any more excuses, Hollywood. We both know you were happy to risk the hammock while you were having fun. Now you’re done, you’re looking for somewhere to put the blame.”

Belinda watched the spider stomp its eight huge, hairy legs towards John. It seemed mad. The kind of mad you get when your neighbour is still partying at two a.m. and you have work at six.

“John, there’s—”

“What?” John snapped.

It was too late to warn him. The spider launched itself straight off the log and right into the middle of his chest. He let out a roar that shook the trees. A split second later, he was on his feet. He moved so fast that Belinda wasn’t even sure how he went from lying flat to standing. She watched in stunned horror as he danced around the clearing, as though the ground were a bed of hot coals. The spider clung to his chest hair, holding on for far longer than Belinda would have thought possible. Maybe it was disorientated with the way Beast was spinning and jumping. Maybe it was scared of the lunatic man who was slapping at it. Maybe the way he squealed like a baby pig was confusing for the creature. Eventually, it fell to the ground and scurried for the underside of the log.

John stood, rubbing his chest in the spot where the spider had clung. His hands shook as he backed away from the log with the spider under it. His eyes were continuously scanning the ground, looking for more man-eating insects that were waiting to jump out on him. Belinda watched, open-mouthed, as he fought to get himself under control. His jaw was tight, his naturally tanned skin was pale and she could have sworn his hair was standing on end.

When he caught sight of her staring at him, his shoulders went back and his hands dropped to his sides. Although, she noticed the hands became fists and his eyes moved restlessly, keeping a lookout.

“That was a Goliath birdeater spider,” Belinda said. “They’re nocturnal and tend to stay in their burrows during the day. I think you pissed it off when you fell on its house. They’re big but harmless, and they don’t actually eat birds. They eat frogs and grubs. As far as I know, they’ve never eaten a human.”

He pointed a finger at her. “We will never speak of this again.”

She gave him an angelic smile. “Of course. How about we talk about the hammock being a bad idea instead?”

He let out a strangled growl and stomped over to the hammock. He pulled out his clothes and got dressed in record time as he kept scanning the area around them.