Blooming in the Wild Page 0,35

rock face— simple deduction or a hunter’s intuition.

His gaze, piercing golden-brown under his heavy brows, met hers. The bandanna tied across his forehead only enhanced the masculinity of his face, like a kalaunu, crown of her ancestors. Electricity arced through the still air between them—awareness and something else.

Something that made her body contract, every muscle poised to retreat from his threat. Not sleazy, as Kobe’s had been, but sheer masculine power against a smaller, slighter feminine creature. It caused other changes too, deep in the pit of her belly. Changes she was unused to and certainly was not going to suffer for this arrogant alpha male.

She raised one eyebrow, staring down at him. She might have kissed him on the rocks, but she wouldn’t allow him to become the aggressor, to take the lead in their sensual duel. He might have routed her during the photography session, but he would not do so here, in her forest.

His eyes narrowed, his broad jaw hardening subtly.

“Go away.” Her voice was soft, breathless in her own ears. Her heart thundered in her breast, and she clenched her hands into fists in a desperate denial of the other voices that whispered in her ears, in her blood. “Take him, little sister. Keep him here with you.”

He stared up at her, and then gave her a quizzical look. He shook his head once.

“You really do have some control issues, don’t you? Relax, Princess. Frank asked me to keep an eye out for you, that’s all.”

Bella stood where she was as he jogged easily on up the trail.

She took a deep, shaky breath, willing away the urge to leap after him, to make him listen, make him understand she was just trying to stay in control of this expedition, and of herself…and of something else so powerful she had the terrifying notion she’d only begun to explore the edges of what she was capable of doing.

She swallowed hard and closed her eyes, letting the comfort of the forest close around her once again. Akamâli’i wahine, a princess? Indeed, here she felt like a beloved one returned to a place she should never have left.

Which was crazy, as she’d never been here before, but it didn’t matter. She was going to revel in her freedom for as long as she could. Which was only—she pulled her phone from the waistband of her shorts and checked it—another hour. Time for a long run and a stop on the way back for a swim.

Using the vine, she slipped back down the embankment. Once on the trail, she paused long enough to smile with dawning delight at how easy and smooth it had been to climb up and then back down, as if the vine had helped her, pulled her. She’d always been active, but here she felt as if she were a little more powerful somehow.

Joel Girand’s footsteps had long since faded, so she jogged around the bend in the trail, confident he was gone.

After a few moments, the trees thinned on the right. Through them she could see a sunlit grotto with a pool of fresh water surrounded by greenery. A waterfall poured into the pool from the mountainside above, and lava rimmed the bank.

It was a beautiful spot, but it was too close to camp. Any of the others might come here, and she didn’t want to be caught naked. She looked up at the waterfall. It was large enough it had to be coming from another pool above.

She ran up the steep trail and then on instinct slipped from the path into the forest. She had to scramble over downed logs to get there, but there was indeed a second, smaller pool. A narrower waterfall splashed down over the wet black rock into the pool, spray wafting in the still air, a rainbow arching in the sunshine. Red flowers hung heavy over the water, and birds called in the trees, a poignant cry of welcome.

Best of all, the small bowl of rock commanded a view of the shore, the sea and the camp below, and yet no one in the pool below or on the trail would even know she was here.

Bella stopped and let her small backpack slip to the ground beside the pool. She took a deep breath of the damp, perfumed air. It was one of the most beautiful places she’d ever seen. She would be back soon to bathe, after she finished her run.

The lava trail she’d been following headed up the