Blooming in the Wild (15 page)

Frank nodded. “Well, damn, there goes my plan to beat the shit out of you,” he said to Li. “Have to go with da next plan. Joel, help me get him out to the shore.”

“Oh, are we going to drown him?” Joel asked. He winked at Li.

“Nah, just make him wish he was nice and wet and cool,” Frank said. “He looks kinda pale to me. We’re gonna set him out in the sunshine for a couple hours, while we wait for da Ho’omalus. Time dey get here, he’ll be shark bait, nice and burnt.”

“That’s pretty harsh,” Joel said over the Asian’s head as he and Frank each took an arm and carried Li out into the sun. “This tropical sun is brutal. He’s probably pretty thirsty already.”

“All he has to do to get some shade and a drink is start talking.” They sat Li down just outside the cave, where the noon sun beat down on the flat rocks.

Then Frank dragged one of the camp chairs to the shady cave entrance and opened the cooler for a bottle of cold water. “You go swimming with Bella,” he assured Joel. “I’m just gonna sit here in the shade and enjoy the breeze.”

He sat in the camp chair, the gun across his lap. Then he lifted the big knife he had taken from Li and examined the blade. “’Course, if I get bored, I might decide to speed things up a bit. You never know.”

Joel could see no way the Asian, bound hand and foot, could cause a problem for Frank. And Camille had clearly been disgusted with her lover.

“What about Eddy and Kobe?” he asked quietly. “Think they’re around, waiting for a chance to meet up with him?”

“Y’know, I kinda hope dey are,” Frank said. “Wouldn’t mind da chance to beef dere asses, yeah?”

Joel raised his eyebrows respectfully. The older man seemed up for whatever came.

“I’ll be back shortly,” he promised. “Just want to cool off and check on Bella.”

But when he came out of the cave, Cassie, Tanah and Matt were swimming around the small bay. Bella was gone.

To Do: The professional tour director makes certain that her personal activities, especially while on tour, do not reflect badly on her company’s good name
.

Bella knew it was crazy to head into the forest instead of remaining with the others in the cove. Or so it would surely seem to Joel and Frank.

But the truth was that the moment she stepped out of the cave, she
knew
there was no danger—at least from the forest. Because the voices were calling her, beckoning her. And if she wasn’t crazy, if she was a true Ho’omalu, then she could trust them. And the final truth was, she was sick and tired of following the rules.

Clutching her wash kit and towel, she looked back at the cove, where the trio was splashing in the water. Then she looked up into the green, inviting shadows of the trail.

“
Come, little sister. Come and drink. We will watch over you.”

The first step was the hardest. For one stomach-dropping instant, it felt as if she were walking away from the safe, ordered, logical world she knew. And into the mystery of the real Hawaii. Her Hawaii.

But as the voices filled her ears, she forgot her fears, forgot Joel and the others. As she walked slowly up the path, her pace turned to a saunter as that feeling of wild, verdant aliveness swirled through her. A heady rush of arousal twined through her body, her mind, tingling on her skin, clenching in her pussy, tightening her nipples so they could no longer bear even the soft slide of her swimsuit.

She stepped into the grotto and dropped her towel and bag. Next her red and white flowered bikini top came off, and then, with a swift wriggle, the bottoms dropped to her feet.

She stepped out of them and stretched her arms up high, tipping her head back to revel in the soft kiss of the hot, damp air on her bare body. The rush of arousal was so strong it nearly brought her to her knees. Wavering on her weak legs, she grasped the trunk of a young tree arched out over the water.

With a moan, she leaned back against the tree, nearly reclining on the trunk as it leaned out over the pool of clear, shimmering water. She let her head fall back, her hair drifting down behind her. Her eyes slipped shut, her lips parted and her legs splayed open, while she felt with one bare foot for a place to prop it on the lower trunk of the tree.

Her hands moved of their own volition. She cupped one of her breasts, her fingers twirling the aching, needy nipple, while the other cupped over her mons. She moaned as she touched herself, her fingers slipping into the folds of her wet, swollen labia.

And that was when she suddenly realized she was no longer alone.

She gasped, her eyes flew open, and she stared at the man standing only a few feet away.

Joel’s face was set in hard lines, that square jaw clenched, his brows drawn together over his narrowed eyes. His big shoulders were taut, hands half-clawed at his sides, legs planted apart like a man ready for battle.

He’d found her—and this time, he really had caught her touching herself. Her face, her throat, even her breasts flushed in a scalding blush. She cupped her hand over her mons, hiding from him. For a long, agonizing moment, she gazed at him. She could not for the life of her force a word past her lips, could only wait. Her breasts quivered with the force of her agitated breath.

His eyes fell to her breasts, feasting on every quiver, and then down her taut abdomen, over her belly to the hand cupped protectively over her mound.

And as she watched, his face changed, still set in those hard lines, but his eyelids drooped in a heavy, sensual promise.

“You’re in big trouble, wahine,” he said in a voice that shivered through her like a drum. “You shouldn’t have taken off up here alone, and you and I are going to have it out for that. But first…oh yeah…first.”

She shook her head at him, her gaze never leaving his. Her breasts quivered with her agitated breaths. “Don’t…say a single word,” she choked out. “Just go!”

He finally raised his gaze to hers again, and his mouth kicked up at one corner. “I only have this to say.
Ka nani, ku’u ipo
,” he said. “You’re so lovely, sweetheart.”

Oh no, he’d been learning Hawaiian. She hated that those deep, husky words reached deep inside her and tugged like an invisible rope. And then he undid the rest of her defenses. Stepping close enough to touch her, so that she felt the heat of his body, he slowly dropped to his knees before her, and waited for her to decide if she wanted him to touch her.

“
E kipa mai
,” he urged. “Come to me.”

She let out her breath on a soft sob of need. “
’Ae. Nu no ka i’ini.
I need you.”

“I’ll take good care of you, Nani.” He leaned forward and pressed his lips like a gentle brand on the back of her hand. Then, very slowly, he nudged it aside with his face and inhaled deeply. His breath ruffled the curls on her mons, a rumble of pleasure deep in his chest. “Ah…you smell like paradise. I’ve been waiting for this.”

He reared back a little to admire her. “Such delicate black curls, so pretty on your golden skin, and that shy, pink pussy.”

He looked up into her eyes and put out his tongue. Then he licked her, a wet, butterfly caress. “I smelled you on my hand last night. Didn’t want to wash those fingers.”

Bella whimpered, a high, breathy sound that the trees echoed back to her with sibilant whispers of praise.

“Yeah,” he murmured, lifting his hands to her hips, sliding them around to cup her ass and lift her slightly, urging her to open herself to him. “Watch me, Princess. Watch me make you happy. I’m gonna make you come so hard.”

He licked her again, thrusting his tongue deep into her labia and then licking up, his eyes slitting as he watched what he was doing.

Bella had never felt anything like this. He knew what he was doing, had obviously practiced—a lot. Later she’d be jealous of those other women, but for right now, all she could do was feel. The slender, springy tree supporting her. The smooth bark of the branch she reached up to grasp with one hand for support. His hands, hot and hard, holding her in place. And his tongue, swirling around her clitoris in a wanton, slippery caress that made need coalesce under his touch, made her pussy clench harder and harder.

The silken brush of blossoms, nodding down to stroke her bare breasts, her nipples, her face. She turned her face into them and felt the soft kiss of their petals on her lips, her nipples.

It was incredibly erotic, knowing that the forest was watching her, caressing her in the most delicate way while Joel worked his magic below.

She slid her fingers into his hair, clutching him to her, desperate that he should continue. Because her world narrowed down and down and down until the knot of flesh under his tongue was the focal point, and she was bathed in pleasure. It burst, imploding through her, and she cried out to him, a high, breathy paean of praise.

“Oh yeah,” he approved. “Oh, that’s pretty. Again, baby. Let me hear that again.”

He let go of her ass with one hand and thrust two big fingers carefully up into her pussy, groaning deeply as he plumbed her still-pulsating depths. Then he hooked them, finding that magic place behind her pubic bone and pressing while he bent to kiss her again, bathing her clitoris with the flat of his tongue.

“Joel,” she heard herself plead. “Joel…yes, oh, please.”

She’d never begged before, but if he stopped she’d die. He laughed, deep in his throat, a knowing male sound, as if he knew just how good he was, but he didn’t stop until the pleasure imploded again, even harder, her pussy squeezing his fingers for long moments.

When it was over, he pressed a last kiss to her bare hip and then stood before her. She opened her pleasure-drugged eyes reluctantly, shyly, to find him gazing down at her with a strange expression.

He brushed his thumb over her cheek and touched one of the blossoms hanging around her face. “I’ve never seen anything like that. I swear these flowers are petting you. Your face, your breasts.” He looked down at her bare, pollen-dusted breasts and then cupped his hands over them, his eyes nearly closing as he fondled her with his calloused fingers and his palms, rubbing over her tight nipples, lifting her in his hands, squeezing.

“Been waiting to do this. You have the prettiest little breasts. You should go topless all the time.”

His touch was so good she didn’t want him to stop, but she also wanted to escape into the water.

“Come have a bath,” she invited, slipping away from his hands. She stepped into the water, looking back over her shoulder to see if he was following.

Without a word, he pushed his trunks off and followed her into the water, his erect penis bobbing before him like a war club. Sinking into the water, Bella stared at it, rapt. It rose from the auburn curls of his groin, flushed a deep rose, the broad head oozing a clear drop of his arousal.

It disappeared as he sank down to her level, his face appearing before her. He held up one hand with her bottle of body wash and shampoo. “I need to wash off,” he said. “And then…you’re welcome to reciprocate, Princess.”

Bella stared at him, shocked and intrigued. “I’ve never…” she began, and then flushed as he grinned crookedly at her, already swiping soap across his chest.

“That’s okay with me. I’m more than happy to be your first.”

Bella accepted the soap from him and then ducked her head under the surface to wet her hair. The water closed over her head, cool and wet, but inside, she was hot all over again. Because the idea of taking him in her mouth, of driving him crazy as he had her…excited her. A lot.

She emerged to find him washing his own hair, eyes closed, powerful arms raised and muscles flexing. He had auburn curls in his armpits, and the skin of his underarms was paler. Oh, he was gorgeous when he was wet. This view of him was strangely intimate, as was watching him wade out far enough to pour body wash into his palm and wash his groin and between his powerful thighs. He sank back into the water, clean, and then observed as she washed herself. Bella’s hands slowed as she soaped her breasts.

“Does that feel good?” he asked.

She nodded, and watched his gaze follow her hand as she slipped between her thighs to soap herself there.

“Turn around,” he ordered hoarsely. She did so and then stroked her hand into the crevice of her ass, slicking the soap everywhere, very thoroughly. She could feel his gaze on her like a touch. Finished, she dropped into the water to rinse and then turned and swam toward him.

He backed up, making her chase him until he reached shallower water, and then he stood up. His penis jutted just above the water line. He palmed it, looking down at her as she knelt before him, in water up to her shoulders.

“Do you want it in your mouth, baby?”

In answer, Bella moved closer to him. She opened her mouth and put out her tongue, delicately tasting the head protruding from his fist. He was hot and satiny, spangled with cool water. His flesh jumped as she touched him, and she put up her own hand, pushing his away to grasp his hot shaft.

Curiously, she opened her mouth and encircled him with her lips. How much of him could she take? He felt strange and exciting in her mouth. Her pussy clenched in response. She wanted this big, hard shaft inside her, thrusting. But not this time. Now she wanted to push him over the edge, make him cry out as he surrendered to her.

Sliding her hand down, she delicately cupped his sac in her hand. He was hot there too, the fleshy globes drawn up tight against his body. She combed her fingers through the wet curls on his groin, all the while sucking gently on the head of his penis.

He groaned sliding his big hand around the back of her head. “You’re going to drive me crazy, aren’t you?” he muttered. “Little forest witch.”

She tipped her head back and looked up at him. He was looking down at her, his nostrils flared, his eyes molten gold.

“Watch me,” she murmured daringly, repeating his words. “Watch me make you come.”

“Oh, believe me,” he gasped. “I can’t—can’t take my eyes off of you, Princess.”

She sucked him into her mouth, and he cupped her cheek with one big hand to show her the slide, the pull, how to use her tongue and just the graze of her teeth.

Bella held on to him with one hand and slipped the other around the back of his thigh, holding him steady. He thrust harder, breathing like a runner, his powerful thigh muscles bunched.

“Ah, Nani,” he muttered. “So good. So damned good.”

He went rigid in her grasp and then shuddered, and warm fluid pulsed into her mouth. She swallowed again and again until he was still, quivering in her grasp. Then she let him go and slipped away, moving backward in the water.

Joel dropped into the water like a felled tree and came up with his eyes closed, floating on his back. Bella watched him warily, not quite able to believe what had just happened. It was this place, she told herself. Even now, laughter, warm and gentle, echoed in the rustle of the foliage, the lap of the water on her skin.

After a moment, he lifted his head and swam toward her. Reaching out one long arm, he caught her hand and pulled her into his hard heat, wrapping his arms around her. His face was relaxed, his eyes still heavy, bright gold in his wet face. His mouth curved up in a smile, teeth flashing.

“That was amazing. But I just remembered something. How much I love kissing you.”

He cocked his head, and panic welled inside her, nearly suffocating her. No, that was too intimate, too much. If he kissed her mouth now, set those wide, firm, sensitive lips on hers here where she could see him, she might never be able to let him go. And he would go; he’d already said so. He was a rolling stone, not a solid rock on which to build the security she needed.

Bella recoiled, shaking her head, pushing at him until he released her, his brows shooting together, his smile gone.

“No,” she said fiercely. “No more.”

Flipping around, she dove under the water, swimming away from him as fast as she could.

Joel stood there, staring after her. What the hell? She’d already done the most intimate thing a woman could do for him, so what was the big deal about a simple kiss? Was she already regretting what they’d done, what she’d done for him?