I'Ve Got You (9 page)

Reliant on Kabe's sailing prowess, life was temporarily out of her control, except for one thing, and, damn it, she wasn't going to miss out on this perfect opportunity to fulfil a dream. But she'd need courage to grab what she needed from the first-aid kit without Kabe seeing.

Chapter 6

With their gear stowed in an inflatable rubber dinghy, Kabe headed down the ladder and waited for Belle. Waist-deep in water, he called out, ‘Come down and hop in.'

‘No, I can help you push.'

He gave her a grin. ‘You're almost dry, keep the towel around you, there's no point in both of us getting wet.'

‘Oh, all right,' Belle huffed, climbed down the ladder, and just as Kabe helped her step into the dinghy; her towel came undone and fell in the water.

He fished it out, wrung it out and handed it to Belle. The deep shimmer in his eyes was back and so was the flexing muscle above his jaw. Okay, he'd copped another eyeful of barely-there underwear. He let her go, and kind of growled—at least that's what the noise sounded like. But what the hell did he mean by it? That he made a mistake and now he has to push her and the gear? She's heavier than he thought? What!?

‘Your underwear is driving me insane.' Kabe pushed and swam at the same time.

Oh!
Belle eyed the wet towel and draped it over herself. The dinghy bounced and Kabe spluttered. She didn't move a muscle until they were back on shore.

She helped Kabe haul the dinghy up the dry sand. He straightened and told her, ‘I'll get some firewood.'

‘I can help!' Belle offered.

‘Sure, but I'll get the bigger stuff; got to make sure we don't carry little critters off in a lump of wood and set them alight.'

Belle pulled a face. ‘Oh no, that'd be horrible.'

Kabe swiped excess water off his body, grabbed his T-shirt out of the dinghy and dragged it on as he strode off along the beach.

‘Be careful,' she told his retreating back as it disappeared up the shady track.

Belle gathered her shorts and the top she'd left on the sand earlier, and pulled them on. She dropped her camera into the dinghy and went off to search for kindling. Happy with her pile of twigs and larger branches, she looked down the beach for any sign of Kabe. She could hear the occasional loud crack of breaking timber, and then all went quiet. Five minutes turned into fifteen. Finally, she saw him emerge from the forest. He walked towards her along the shoreline cradling an armful of thick branches and old logs.

Now there's a picture: a hunky man with forearm muscles bulging and broad shoulders straining his T-shirt, bringing his woman firewood.

Kabe suddenly stopped. His look of pleasure turned to one of horror. With a yelp and mighty heave, he let the logs fly. Astonished at his reaction, Belle thought he was lucky that at least one log didn't find his head on the way down and knock him out cold.

‘Aagh!'
he cried out. ‘Fuck, no!' He jumped about, as if doing a crazy jig might help for some reason that Belle couldn't fathom. Then he began to kind of yodel, which was interspersed with more colourful language.

‘What are you doing?' she yelled, running to his aid. ‘Cut it out—you're scaring me!'

‘Don't come near! They're vicious, the bastards bite!'

Belle saw ants crawling all over Kabe. ‘Oh shit.' She began to smack every black crawly ant she could find. ‘They must've been in the logs you were carrying, they're all over you.'

‘Ouch!' Kabe complained. ‘I don't know which is worse, you smacking me—or the ants. I told you to keep away!'

‘Shut up and take your shirt off—take your shirt off!'

‘That's the best proposition I've heard all day.' He Frisbee'd his cap and, grabbing the back of his t-shirt, hauled it over his head.

‘Get in the water—get in the water!' Belle urged.

‘Bloody hell, they're in my hair!' he shouted, throwing his shirt onto the sand.

‘For God's sake, you idiot, get in the water!' Belle hollered, pushing him at the same time. ‘What a brainless thing to do anyway. What happened with your careful selection of firewood?'

‘Brainless?
There are no lizards or furry critters, just fucking ants,' Kabe complained as he took off like a man possessed. Legs pumping, he waded through the shallows, then threw himself in, rolling and twisting, hands everywhere on his body and through his hair. He surged out of the water with a smile, lifted his index finger, as if saying
hang on a sec
, turned his back to her, and whipped his shorts off. Belle had a lovely view of his arse. She would never tire of looking at his beautiful body. If she were a teenager, she'd have a poster of him on her bedroom wall. A teenager? Hell, she'd put one up today.

Muttering and swearing, he bent over to inspect his privates. Belle brought her hand up to cover her mouth, but her smothered giggles quickly turned to outright laughter. She also had a strong urge to yell out,
Can I help with that?
As a useful distraction, she picked up his shirt and inspected it carefully for any ants that may still be lurking in the folds.

‘Ooh yeah,' Kabe muttered, with a sheepish look at her over his shoulder. ‘Okay, think I've got them all.'

‘Oh,' she said, her voice wobbling with amusement, ‘let's hope so.'

Kabe waded through the shallows towards her, his soaked shorts sagging to sit very low on his hips. She'd seen him naked under the mast light, but this was so much better, she didn't have to squint through the rain. The afternoon sun glowed on his tanned body, defining the muscles, sinew and veins that ran down his arms. He was hot and pure male.

A fine trail of hair led from his chest to his abs and slowly disappeared into his unbuttoned shorts.

Filled with longing, Belle sighed.

‘Are you okay?' Kabe asked.

‘Hmm?' She gazed into his gentle face, and slowly brought herself back to earth. ‘Um … yes, yes I'm fine, thanks.' She blinked a few times and wondered, were her eyes playing tricks, or was it water droplets? She ran her hand down his arm. ‘You're starting to look a little strange,' she said eyeing his skin while handing him his T-shirt. ‘A little like the son of a friend of mine, who came down with a mysterious rash.'

He flung his shirt over one shoulder. ‘Oh?'

Belle watched him stride in front of her, blotchy welts erupting all over his back. He was a mess. She couldn't stop the image that flashed in her mind of Kabe lying naked, flat on his back, while she dabbed calamine lotion all over him. She tried to control her amusement, but a grunt-giggle-snort popped out.

Kabe eyed her over his shoulder. ‘Did you just snort?' He suddenly stopped to jiggle a leg and did a quick inspection down his shorts.

Laughing hard now, Belle nodded. Her face hurt and her sides ached. Kabe had done it again. Though the bites must itch like mad, he joked and made fun of his situation.

‘See, it takes a special person to rise above …' he said, grinning.

Sobering, Belle leant in for a closer look at his skin. ‘Don't tell me you're allergic and need a hypodermic needle full of adrenalin jabbed into you?'

‘No. I might look a little lumpy later, that's all.'

‘Later? You look a little lumpy now!' Her voice sounded panicky.

‘Don't look so worried, I'll be fine. I've got antihistamine in the first-aid kit,' he said, waving off her concern. He handed her his T-shirt and waded into the water up to his hips.

Kabe's shoulders and arm muscles bunched, working, pulling him through the water, his rhythm and relaxed swimming style beautiful to watch. His low-rider shorts were dragging further down revealing the top of a rounded tight arse that jiggled, and occasionally broke the surface with a flash of lighter skin. Belle shook her head and sauntered off, dropped his T-shirt in the dinghy, then turned just in time to see Kabe climb the rope ladder, his arms and back muscles rippling as he hauled himself up.

‘Wow!'
she mumbled on a sigh, turned away and busied herself collecting more dry wood. A few minutes later, she heard splashing and thought,
no, not looking anymore
.

Her exercise in restraint worked until Kabe surged out of the water and called out to her. ‘I've had a dose of antihistamine and I'm feeling better already,' he announced.

She eyed his blotchy skin and said, ‘That's good.'

Back at the dinghy, he grabbed a couple of rolled-up sleeping bags and tossed them onto the sand. ‘Here, thought you might like this. It's a single, won't take you long to inflate,' he said, handing her an airbed.

‘Thank you … where's yours?'

‘Don't need one.' He bent over, rummaging through his supplies, and handed her a foot pump.

‘Thanks,' she whispered, taken aback and feeling guilty because she would have comfort while he would have to sleep on the hard sand with lumpy, itchy skin. She connected the pump's nozzle to a valve and started pumping. It slowly inflated and unfolded, spreading out on the sand. Hands on hips, Belle studied the bed.
Hmm.
Didn't look like a single, more like a large double. Kabe's welts may have eased, but nonetheless, she didn't want to feel like a spoilt rock star. She was happy to share, and waited for the right moment to tell him so.

Kabe had made them a fire pit and already had a blaze crackling. He stood and handed Belle one of the sleeping bags. ‘You need to drag it out and give it a shake.

She untied the drawstring, shoved her fingers in the tight circle, pulled it open and with effort shoved the cover down. Like a lazy creature, her sleeping bag unfolded over the sand. Belle unzipped her bag and found it opened into a large quilt. She shook it out, covering the airbed, and then did the same with Kabe's.

He looked up from throwing wood on the fire, and his eyes took on a lazy, I'm-so-going-to-seduce-you look, while trying hard not to grin flat out.

‘Kabe,' she said, swiping perspiration from her forehead, ‘this is not a single airbed … it's only fair that we share.'

‘Hmm, okay,' he said, eyeing the open sleeping bags. Hands low on his hips, he didn't move for what seemed like forever.

‘Okay then … I'm going to cool off under the waterfall,' Belle huffed out, disgruntled with his inability to act for the first time since he saved her life. With jerky movements, she ripped off her shorts and T-shirt, threw them in the dinghy and marched off in just her underwear. And so what, he'd seen them before … wet … and they drove him crazy. Good. Suddenly, when confronted with the possibility of having sex, he was lost for words.

She yanked off her undies and bra and dropped them on a low boulder, then climbed over it and stood under the cascading water. The force splattered over her head, massaged her shoulders, made her breasts jiggle and nipples stand out, but even with all that going on it did ease the tension out of her body. Tilting her head back, she opened her mouth for a drink, hoping the cool water sliding down her throat would douse her enflamed body.

Big, strong hands on her skin curved around her waist and pulled her out from under the waterfall. She slammed into Kabe's fantastic naked body, her breasts, nipples already pebbling, flattened against his hard chest. His erection pressed into her belly. Just when she was ready to curl her leg up around his hip, he held her back and stepped under the cascade. Her eyes dropped to his erection, pointing straight up: the cool water had no effect on his arousal. God, he was virile. He stepped out, and with a toss of his head, drove the water out of his hair. Eyelashes spiking wet, he blinked a couple of times. She caught his heated, dark gaze. God, the emotion swirling behind his eyes confirmed he wanted her. Surely he could see that she was so ready for him, she was about to explode. He pulled her into him, arms wrapping around the small of her back. Hands flat against her skin, he pressed his fingers in, and drove them up either side of her spine to her shoulders, her nape and into her hair. Slowly, not losing eye contact, he angled his head. The moment his mouth touched hers, his lids eased closed and he let go a deep rumbling moan. Belle closed her eyes and opened her mouth to him. Hungry, and impatient for more, she stood on her toes, dug her fingers into his shoulders and pressed her belly hard against his erection.

He lifted her, tucking her deeper into him. ‘Belle?' he said, his voice rough, his cock twitching against her. ‘Fuck, I want you …'

‘Yes … please … now … do it now!' she demanded.

‘Babe,' he moaned, before his mouth took hers again, nipping her lips, his tongue sliding in, toying with hers. He fisted her hair and gently pulled her head back. ‘You sure about this?' She nodded. His hand moved down to her hip and around between them, then further to her sex. His fingers slipped between the folds and found her clit. ‘Oh yeah … you're so wet,' he growled against her mouth.

She rocked her hips, sliding her sex over his fingers; she arched her back and urged, ‘More … give me more!'

‘Look at me, Belle.' His voice was urgent, husky. As soon as she did, he slid a finger inside her, then out again, drawing her silken wetness over her swollen nub. Then slid two fingers in, pumping back and forth, cupping her, his thumb circling.

She licked her lips and whimpered, ‘Kabe …'

‘I know, you're close. Come for me, Babe,' he murmured, ‘let it go. I want to feel you clutch my fingers as you climax. Do it for me.'

The first wave hit. Belle cried out, again and again, her body jerking against his hand. His fingers pushed inside her, giving her as much pleasure as he possibly could.

‘Fuck yeah,' Kabe grated, just before he kissed her mouth hard, urgent, taking her moans, helping her feel it all. As her breath slowed, his kiss gentled, easing her down through the prolonged ebbing waves of her orgasm.

‘Oh God,' she cupped his face. ‘I just took everything and look at you, you're still rock hard.' She wrapped her fist around his cock and slowly pumped him.