Blooming in the Wild Page 0,103
out too much today.” Pain tinged her gaze. “You…you almost died, Joel.”
“So did you,” he reminded her, his voice equally quiet. “If I’d died, it wouldn’t have been that bullet, baby. Would’ve been because you scared me to death. Taking on a bunch of armed men in a crown of flowers.”
She drew her lower lip under her white teeth, leaving it wet. “Yeah. Kinda surprised myself too.”
“Did you know?” he asked, almost afraid of the answer. “Before that, I mean.”
Bella shook her head. “Not really. I began to wonder, when we landed at Na’alele.” She gave him a quick glance, and her cheeks flushed. “The…the forest speaks to me.”
Joel blinked. Then he rallied, realizing that it had been really difficult for her to share that bit of information with him. “I wondered about that,” he said as calmly as he could. “You can tell me more later. This damn place is too public.”
She nodded, looking relieved. She fussed with his hair, combing it with her fingers, and then pressed another kiss to his cheek, above his four-day beard, and rubbed her fingertips over the bristles. “Carrotty orange. Just like I remembered.”
He grimaced. “I’ll never grow a beard, for sure.” He sighed and felt the hard, light box sitting on his thigh. “You brought me a present?”
She smiled, showing all her teeth. “Yes, I did. Here, open it.”
Joel pulled off the bow, and then opened the box. He peered inside and then gave a hoot of laughter that instantly morphed into a groan of pain. She’d given him a coil of new climbing rope, in her favorite color—red.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” she crooned, fluttering over him as he lay back on the bed, wincing. “I’m sorry, Joel. Oh, I should have thought about how laughing would hurt.”
He caught her hand in his. “Bella. Nani—it’s okay. I love the way you make me laugh.”
She bit her lip, still worried. Still his princess, trying to be in charge of everyone’s well-being. “Forgive me?”
“Maybe.”
Her eyes heated, and she leaned closer. “How can I turn that into a yes?”
“Hmm.” He considered. “You could slip that little dress off and let me see what you’re wearing underneath.”
She kissed him, a quick little peck that had him lifting his head for more. “Nope. Like you said, too public here…and I’m not wearing anything but little red panties.”
“Oh, please,” he moaned. “Please, please. Just a peek.”
“Nope.” She kissed him again. “But I will show you my tattoo—one of them, anyway.”
“You got a tattoo?” He stared at her blankly. “That’s what you’ve been doing while I was laid up in here?”
She sobered and chewed her lower lip, her eyes falling to their clasped hands. “No. It’s another…Ho’omalu thing. A gift, from Pele.”
“Ah. From Pele. Like your, ah…specialty.”
“You’re not crazy,” she whispered, evidently seeing something in his eyes that worried her. “You really saw…what you saw.”
He lifted her hand to his lips and kissed it. “I know, Princess. It’s okay. I’m not gonna freak on you. I get that your family is…pretty amazing. Being a Ho’omalu means a little more than just having a big family.”
She nodded. “Yes. They are, and yes, it does.”
“Got it. I can wait. But I want to hear it all.”
She smiled. “Okay.”
He smiled back, relieved to see her happy again. “Now can I see your tattoos?”
“Just one.” With a wicked little smile, she lifted one knee onto the bed and pulled her dress up, baring her thigh clear to the crease.
Joel forgot to breathe. The delicate tattoo on her satiny, curving thigh was the sexiest thing he’d ever seen.
“Do you like it?” she asked.
“Hahhhh…” he managed.
She giggled and then whipped her leg off the bed with a little squeak as the curtain slid open behind her.
“Time for your blood-pressure check, Mr. Girand,” chirped the plump Hawaiian nurse. She smiled at Bella and bustled forward.
“You could’ve waited ten minutes,” he told her. “I was just about to get lucky.”
“You were not!” Bella huffed. Joel laughed again and then winced at the pain.
“Ten minutes,” the nurse said sympathetically to Bella. “Is that all? Poor girl.”
The two of them chortled together like best friends while Joel tried to look put out. He was pretty sure he failed, though, because the nurse patted his arm, her eyes twinkling. “Doctor will be around in five minutes. Maybe you can go home tomorrow. Then you get lucky, yeah?”
He certainly hoped so. He watched Bella wander over to the window, enjoying the compact, toned and yet utterly feminine look of her. Maybe he