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… Brigit’s heart stampeded in her chest and she felt the blood drain from her face. Jac and Rachel had to be all right. Anything else was unacceptable. “You haven’t heard about two women have you?” She choked on the question.

He squirreled his face and considered her question carefully.

Brigit took a deep breath and waited for what felt like an eternity.
Please God let them be alive
. She sent up the silent prayer.

“No,
Senorita
. I have heard nothing about their deaths, but I have heard they may have encountered a fabled ghostlike magical people, who have powerful magic in their hands.”

She exhaled, hardly believing her ears. Her mind jumped to Orion and the glow in his fingers that she thought she’d imagined during sex. Could it be? “Do you believe they exist?” she asked, not sure what answer she hoped to hear.

He smiled again. “No,
Senorita
. That is only superstition talking.”

“Of course, the thought is ridiculous,” she said recalling Orion’s far-out story about other planets and space travel.

Thirty minutes later the natives packed the entire camp and loaded it onto the shoulders of fifteen stout-looking men. Brigit offered to carry one of the backpacks, but they all looked at her as if she’d lost her mind. She really wished people would stop doing that. There was more to her than an amazing sense of fashion.

She wore a pair of khaki-colored pants and leopard-print shirt beneath her net covered hat. Brigit had a fly swatter in one hand and a can of bug spray in the other. Every few feet she stopped to swat and spray anything that flew in front of her face. The jungle heat took its toll, leaving every inch of her body covered in sweat. Her feet actually made squish noises inside her tennis shoes.

Brigit broke formation and strolled up to Angel. “Could we rest a minute?”

“
Sí Senorita
.”

She walked back to her position and found a nearby log to sit down upon. Brigit sagged then slipped her shoes off before asking the man carrying her suitcase to bring it to her. She spun the dial to align with seven, seven, seven. The lock slipped and her suitcase opened, spilling the contents onto the jungle floor.

Brigit dove for the ground, shoving items back into the bag before any bugs could crawl into them. Frazzled, she finally got everything into the suitcase. She found a dry pair of socks near the left side and pulled them out. Brigit closed her bag and spun the lock, then handed it back to the man given the task to carry it.

She sighed as she slipped the clean socks onto her feet and then rose, brushing her hands along the side of her legs. “Okay, we can go on now.”

The men shot glances at each other, then continued on.

Several hours later the head guide, Angel called a halt to their sloth-like progress and ordered everyone to take a short rest. Brigit smashed a beetle, then brushed it aside with the end of her fly swatter. She’d run out of bug spray an hour ago. Obviously, she’d miscalculated the longevity of the two gallons she’d brought with her. Brigit found a fat leaf nearby and picked it so she could fan her net-covered face. At least she had one spot left on her body that the bugs hadn’t tried to eat.

One of the natives reached into a pouch and pulled out a canteen. Brigit thanked him and accepted it, moving the netting away from her face in order to drink. She’d taken one sip when the hair on the nape of her neck stood on end. Brigit dropped the canteen into her lap and spun around.

The jungle remained silent, even the leaves refused to rustle. Several of the men in her party gazed warily, motioning toward the shadows that seemed to morph and grow with each passing second. Their hands tightened on the rifles they carried.

Something was near, lurking just out of sight. She hadn’t had time to go over the flora and fauna of the area, but she knew there were predators down here. Predators big enough to eat her and a few of her guides for appetizers. Brigit swallowed the lump in her throat and rose slowly. “I think we’d better get out of here,” her eyes met Angel’s gaze and he nodded in agreement.

Brigit picked up the canteen and handed it back to the man who’d given it to her. She took her place in line, watching the jungle as she walked. Her skin prickled and her nipples tightened as whatever it was slid its gaze down the front of her. Her body’s reaction seemed a little odd to Brigit, considering it was an animal. She dismissed the strange almost sexual sensation and urged the men on.

They had a long way to go before they’d be able to make camp. With any luck, whatever was out there would get tired and go after easier prey. At least that’s what she hoped as they snaked their way along a nonexistent trail. Brigit kept a tight grip on her yellow fly swatter and continued to scan the treetops for movement. If anything attacked, she’d be ready.

* * * * *

Orion followed the small party through the jungle, his eyes drinking in every inch of Brigit’s form. She had encased the lower half of her body in tan pants that cupped her bottom and surrounded her lush hips. A spotted shirt caressed her breasts, but appeared thin enough for him to catch a glimpse of her erect nipples beneath the fabric. Orion gripped the vine in his hand tighter. Her head lay beneath a mesh covering of some sort and she wielded a flimsy weapon that she waved in front of her face with regularity.

He longed to have her remove the headpiece so he could see the rich red of her hair shining in the twinkling sunlight. The little party continued on with Brigit complaining every forty feet. Orion smiled to himself. His little demon didn’t like being out in the jungle. Perhaps, she hadn’t been properly introduced to the pleasures to be had under the guidance of the right tutor.

Orion checked the area to ensure the group’s safety and then journeyed ahead to prepare. He needed the right location to abduct his
ma—woman
. A river ran between this part of the jungle and the old Atlantean village. They would reach the area by nightfall, but would not be able to cross until the morning. It would be the perfect spot to detain Brigit.

His muscles tensed and his cock hardened as he imagined touching her once more. He could almost taste her lips and feel the stab of her nipples as they grew firm against his palms. The rings on his shaft vibrated, shooting a deep pleasure-pain along his spine. He’d gone without her body for only two days and yet it felt like a lifetime. The urge to join addled his thoughts, narrowing his focus to one thing, and one thing only—Brigit.

Orion would like to believe that he would’ve let her go if only she’d remained in New York, but he wasn’t inclined to delude himself. The need surging through his body and the pain of separation was too great. He may have managed to get the ship out of the atmosphere, but he would have turned back shortly thereafter. He picked a tree that protected him from prying eyes and waited. It was excruciating to try to keep his mind from seeking contact. Seeing Brigit only made things worse. The sun retreated an hour before the small party finally arrived.

* * * * *

Brigit slumped on the first felled tree she found, her purse and swatter slipping from her grasp. She sighed as she watched the men gather wood and build a fire. She’d never seen a place this dark before. The tents went up within minutes and she decided if she crawled she could just make it to her cot before she fell asleep.

“
Senorita
, would you like some food?” Angel asked, scooping something onto a leaf.

Brigit smiled. “No thanks! I think I’m going to call it a night.”

“You really should eat,
Senorita
.” Angel grabbed another leaf and scooped some more of the stew-like substance onto the makeshift plate and handed it to her.

“Thanks.” Brigit took it, staring at the glob of food while a bug crawled across the other end of the leaf. That was all she needed to see. She rushed the few remaining yards to her tent, so the men wouldn’t witness her gagging. When her stomach finally calmed, she poked her head out the tent flap and checked to make sure no one watched. When Brigit was sure that no one would see her, she dumped the leaf and its contents into the thick brush.

Some of the men had settled into their tents, while others lay around the fire swapping stories in their native tongue. Brigit wished she could understand enough to join in. She listened to the sounds of the jungle around her, feeling alone for the first time in the world. Her friends were gone. She’d left Orion. A twinge of pain squeezed her heart at the thought of her intergalactic dragon slayer.

Was he down here somewhere? If not, where was he? Did he have something to do with Jac’s and Rachel’s disappearance? Did he miss her half as much as she missed him?

Orion wasn’t a man she’d ever be able to control and Brigit didn’t know if she could handle that or him. She was used to getting her way, from day-to-day business dealings in the design world to dating. She avoided men who threatened her comfort zone. And Orion not only threatened it, he exploded its very foundation.

She still didn’t understand how he knew so much about Rachel and Jac or why he’d bothered to come up with that far-out story to begin with. And what about the woman she’d heard talking to him? How did she fit into this confusing picture? It was an awful lot of trouble to go through for no obvious return.

Brigit dropped her chin to her chest and closed her eyes as her body recalled the vibrating rings surrounding his cock. The way he felt when he first entered her. The drugging kisses Orion trailed over her nipples and the never-ending orgasms that left her a quivering pile of goo. She groaned and pressed her knees together to dampen the need in her throbbing clit. This line of thought was getting her nowhere. She slipped back inside her tent and zipped it shut. At least this time she’d remembered to bring her vibrator.

One hour and no orgasms later, Brigit lay on her cot covered in sweat. Her body throbbed in frustrated pain, demanding she get off. Yet, no matter how she approached her clit with her trusty vibrator it refused to cooperate.

“This is all
your
fault,” she hissed between clenched teeth. “If you didn’t have that damn vibrating cock that can make women sing my body would be floating back from ‘Blissville’ by now.”

Brigit tossed the vibrator onto her suitcase and turned to hit her pillow a couple times with her fist. How in the hell was she going to get any sleep feeling like this?

* * * * *

Orion listened to the buzzing sound coming from Brigit’s tent and her groans of frustration. The subtle musk from her skin permeated the area whetting his appetite and torturing his need. He wasn’t sure what the first noise was from, but he knew what caused the second. Any man with ears recognized a woman in the throes of heat.

His gaze zeroed in on the men around the fire. Several glanced in the direction of Brigit’s tent, but none made a move to go to her. Smart of them. Orion didn’t want to kill any of her guides, but he would if they touched her. Her soft moans died down, eventually disappearing. The men settled back into an uneasy sleep.

Orion closed his eyes, going deep inside himself until he found the link that existed between him and Brigit. He hesitated as fear gripped him. What if he was right and the link didn’t work? His chest clenched at the thought. He was no coward and couldn’t live without knowing the truth, even if it were painful. Orion followed the blue mental rope back to its source and that’s when he found her. He quaked as need devoured him. Brigit stood naked in the middle of a quiet pool of water, running her fingertips over its mirrored surface, sending out ripples to the far edges of the pond. She hummed something low under her breath. Whatever the tune, it brought a smile to her face.

For several minutes, he did not intrude. Orion watched Brigit move through her dream, reveling under the moonlit sky, her pearlescent skin glowing against the fire of her hair. Her pert breasts turned up at the ends showing off her berry-colored nipples. The vee, where her sex lay covered in a thin layer of red curls, widened and narrowed with every step she took. Multicolored flowers of all shapes and sizes surrounded the clearing, perfuming the air with placid perfection.

How could one woman be so infuriatingly beautiful?

His eyes refused to leave her. Orion stepped out of the shadows, his cock hard and curled against his abdomen. Brigit moved deeper into the water. She seemed unaware of his presence. Or so he’d thought until she glanced over her shoulder and smiled.

“I wondered if you’d come,” she said, smiling. “I’ve missed you. The pain in my heart’s been nearly unbearable.”

The sentiment pleased him, even though he knew she’d never admit as much outside of this dream. “I couldn’t stay away.”

“Come.” She held out her hand and waited for him to approach.

Orion forced his feet to slow. He would not allow her to see his need beyond the obvious. The rings around his cock glowed gold in the night as he walked the distance separating them. He reached for her. She weaved her fingers through his and pulled him into the water. The pond was unusually warm and obviously made for cleansing. Perhaps, in her dream, Brigit wished she could bathe.

He allowed her to lead him deeper into the water, enjoying the feel of the wetness lapping at his skin. They reached the middle and she stopped to face him. Orion tipped her chin and kissed her like he’d longed to do these past few days. She groaned and sunk into the kiss, releasing his hand so she could skewer his hair with her fingers. His scalp tingled in response.

Orion slipped his hands around her thighs and lifted Brigit until she could wrap her legs around his waist. He held her above his erection, feeling her feminine juices drip from her quim onto his cock. The rings vibrated so hard, they nearly buckled his knees.

“I need you so bad,” he whispered against her lips, his hunger consuming him.

“Then take me,” she urged with a roll of her hips.

“With pleasure.” His lips claimed hers as he slowly lowered her onto his shaft, impaling her until the eye of his cock nudged her womb. The heat from the water formed a thin mist over their skin. Orion lifted Brigit by her ass, then allowed her to drop back down. She gasped, her lips parting enough for him to delve inside.