Jayde finished eating and walked over to the waterfall. Sticking her hands under the cool clear liquid, she washed the remains of the sticky juice from her skin before she splashed more on her face to clean off her mouth. Glancing around the clearing, she noticed Tyson had yet to return; with a heavy sigh, she walked back over to the rock that had her clothes laying out on it.
They weren’t completely dry, but it was enough. Jayde slipped on her clothes with remarkable speed, not feeling at all comfortable being alone and naked now that she wasn’t swimming. As she was sitting on the rock strapping on the knife, she saw Tyson emerge from the jungle.
He was carrying more fruit in his shirt, which he’d removed, showing off his hardened chest muscles and corded arms. Under the pretense of tying on the sheath, she watched him walk towards her. The man was just gorgeous, tanned all over to perfection; he was eye candy and she was a candyholic.
He moved like a predator and she could see the potential for danger flowing off him. This man was completely different from the stranger she met on the boardwalk. His whole body was alert for prospective trouble, but there was no fear on his face, just a calm acceptance.
She stared at him through the hair that loosely covered her eyes. The closer he got the more intense the burning hunger grew inside her. He was her absolute definition of sex. He didn’t strut. It wasn’t his way. There wasn’t even an arrogant swagger in his walk; it was just he and his fluid movement. Tyson screamed confidence, and she knew if she managed to meet another with a walk like his, she would think of him—Tyson Randolph Kincade, her assumed husband.
Tyson could feel her eyes on him as he approached. While he was glad she’d put on her clothes, it did nothing to quell his desire for her. Regardless, he tried ignoring it. He stopped at the bag next to her and knelt down to pack it, putting the fruit inside with the rest of their things. He kept his gaze down as her shadow fell over him.
“I can do that,” she offered.
Tyson looked up and saw she’d refolded the blanket she’d been wearing. He breathed in her scent as she knelt down beside him. “I got it,” he said a little brusquely.
“No, you got the food; at least let me do this.” Jayde flashed him a slow smile as if she understood what his problem was. “Consider it me doing a wifely duty.” She winked.
You are my wife and I will not let you go. Tyson gave in and handed her the pack. “Maybe I will just clean up a bit then.” He took the blanket she’d used and brought it to his bared chest. “I’ll use this one.”
Tyson smiled as he saw her flush. He stood and walked off towards the water, chuckling at her obvious positioning her back to where he would be.
He stripped down to his boxers and dove in the water. “God, this does feel good!” he shouted to her rigid back as he surfaced. “You were right!”
“Glad to hear it!” she yelled back without turning around, pouring extra concentration into packing the bag than necessary.
Tyson just laughed and scrubbed his head. While swimming, he popped up and drawled, “Can you bring me my shirt? I want to wash it out.” He chuckled as he noticed her less than subtle shiver.
“Sure,” Jayde responded. She picked it up and Tyson would have sworn she sniffed it. “Here you are.” She tossed it in his general direction.
“Thanks.” When she started to turn away, he stopped her with a word. “Stay.”
Tyson moved easily through the water as he watched her pause briefly then climb on the rock and sit cross-legged upon the sun-warmed surface. Every one of her motions was elegant. She tipped her dark face up to the sun and allowed its warm rays to grace her skin. A willpower he didn’t know he possessed reared its head, preventing him from taking her against the rock like a couple of primitive animals.
Jayde swallowed hard; watching him wash his hard body was not going to be good for her waning sani-ty. She trembled from the tips of her hair to the end of her toes. This man had way too much raw sexuality. But the silent challenge in his eyes had made the decision for her since she wasn’t a quitter.
She allowed herself a brief moment of insane dreaming as she felt the sun on her face. This would be the perfect setup if they weren’t alone on a mountain with murderous people after them. She knew without a doubt if Tyson made a move towards her, she wouldn’t be able to resist him. His pull on her grew by the minute.
“When do we have to move on?” Jayde asked, not entirely sure she wanted to know.
Her gaze began to swelter as she watched his muscles effortlessly pull himself out the water and up on-to the rock next to her. Rivulets ran down his body and over his defined muscles, making her mouth as dry as cotton. Dear Jesus, look at the muscles on this man!
His hair was slicked back from his head and his tan seemed even darker as the sun shone on it. His box-ers were plastered tight to his pelvic area, and it was with great difficulty that Jayde looked away.
“Just as soon as I get dressed.” He moved in close. “Care to help me?”
Her brown eyes flew open to see his smiling face looking at her as he finished drying himself with the blanket she’d used earlier. Jayde was eyelevel with his crotch and saw him twitch in his boxers. Then she blushed and he smiled all over again. “I think I will make sure the bag is packed,” She mumbled, scrambling off the rock and back over to the pack.
He shrugged nonchalantly. “If you’re sure….”
Jayde made a big production of organizing it. “Damn him for making me want him so much,” she mut-tered. “I have more important things to focus on, like getting the hell out of this damn jungle alive, not fantasizing about how good Tyson Kincade looks in nothing but a pair of wet boxers. Or how flippin’ fine he looks fully dressed! Not to mention how he is in bed!”
“If it’s any consolation, little rose, I feel the same way about you.” His deep voice sounded right in her ear, making her jump and squeal. Tyson’s strong grip steadied her so she wouldn’t fall.
Jayde felt the blush race up her cheeks. “You heard me?” She hadn’t heard a thing that would indicate he had been coming close to her.
“Oh, yeah,” he purred in her ear. His breath teased the back of her neck. “Every word that came out of your luscious mouth. And as much as I would love to thank you proper like, we do need to get moving.”
She began trembling at the image. Jayde turned in his arms and slid her brown arms around his neck, pressing her body up against his still-damp one. Unsure of where this boldness came from she just went with it. “And I would love you to do so.” Her eyes were dark with passion as she put her lips upon his.
Tyson groaned as she sucked his lower lip into her full mouth. Jayde kissed him until she felt him hard-ening against her belly.
She pulled away, her chest rising and falling with every breath she inhaled. There was unrestrained lust in her eyes and she let Tyson see it. “Let’s get going, then,” she said.
Tyson shook his head. He was glad one of them could focus. “Right.” He shouldered the pack and ad-justed the straps while she checked her gun and returned it into the back of her waistband. “We are going to stay up here and go in this direction.” He pointed off into the distance.
“How will you know if we are still following the river or not?” she asked while into the thick foliage.
“I will be guessing. I want to remain on higher ground; it will give us the advantage. And since this is their terrain, we need every one we can get,” Tyson responded and checked his own gun.
“But the goal is still to find a town?” Jayde watched him carefully.
“Yes, if we can find one, I will go and see if anyone has some form of modern communication. If peo-ple do, then I will send a message off and we will just have to wait for them to get us. The problem with sending a message is that whoever is after us will be monitoring the airwaves and could pinpoint where the call came from.”
“Meaning?”
“They will also send someone, and since they are closer, we will have to play cat and mouse until our ride gets here,” he told her.
“Okay.”
“Okay?” Tyson asked. “That’s it? Nothing else to say?”
“What good would it do me to get angry? It won’t change the situation any. Besides, I know you wouldn’t put me through this unless absolutely necessary,” Jayde said with a small shrug of her shoulders.
The surprises kept on coming. Tyson grunted his approval as they maneuvered through the jungle. She fell behind him, walking where he did and staying silent. He held the gun close and listened to each noise the jungle shared with him…and listened for the ones it didn’t.