Blooming in the Wild Page 0,57
in the cave with everyone else? And with him. What if someone had heard them? Heard her? Had she made a noise? And was she a total slut because knowing others were sleeping only feet away had been all twisted up in her incredible arousal and two orgasms?
She wanted to blame it all on Joel, absolve herself of responsibility for her wanton behavior. That she couldn’t just pissed her off.
“Can’t believe I let you do that,” she muttered as his arm brushed hers, his skin still hot and damp.
Her body felt wonderful, still soft and pulsing with pleasure, her clitoris tender where he’d massaged it with his calloused thumb. And yet needy, somehow. Face it, she wanted much more than his fingers inside her.
“Yeah, well, you can hate me in the morning. Go to sleep.”
“Oh, right. There’s a wet spot on my sleeping bag.” She blushed in the darkness. This was the kind of conversation one had with a boyfriend, a lover, not a casual acquaintance on a camping trip. Although there hadn’t been anything casual about the feelings he stirred in her from the first moment they met.
“All right, here.” He moved away and came back with another T-shirt, which he smoothed out on her bag, managing to get his hands on her several times while he did it.
She shoved his hand away from her ass. “Mahalo, now go away.”
“Can’t help it, Nani. You feel as pretty as you look.” But he moved away and lay back down on his own sleeping bag with a long sigh. “Night.”
And that, she supposed, was that. Bella lay down, gazing sleepily into the night.
The trees swayed quietly outside the cave, their leaves whispering as if they were laughing. Of course they approved of what she’d done. They wanted her to take it even further. They wanted…
With the thought half finished, she fell asleep.
The first thing she saw when she opened her eyes at dawn was Joel. He sat on his sleeping bag, wearing only a pair of shorts and looking out into the morning. He looked big and tough and dangerous, with his muscled arms locked loosely around his knees. In the morning light, she noticed that his arms and legs were lightly dusted with reddish hair, and he had an old scar above his near elbow, a streak of white across his smooth, tanned skin.
She imagined slithering across the short space between them and nuzzling her face against the long line of his spine, following it up with a trail of kisses, inhaling his scent while she smoothed her palms over the broad curve of his back, learning those long muscles. Her hands clenched on her sleeping bag.
As if he felt her gaze, he turned his head and looked down at her. His hair was flat on one side, his cheek creased from his pillow, and he had a morning beard shadow on his wide jaw. But he still looked good enough to eat, and his eyes were full of a look that made her insides melt and the modern woman in her bristle. It said very clearly—mine.
One corner of his mouth kicked up. “Too late for second thoughts, Princess,” he murmured. “The deed’s been done.”
Rebellion flared inside her. “Huh. Wasn’t much of a deed.”
He raised a brow at her. “You came twice, so I’m not sure what you’re complaining about. And you know damn well the rest is gonna happen, sooner or later.”
She sat up, tossing her hair back. “Malia paha, hotshot. Maybe—if I say it will.”
His eyes narrowed. He braced his near hand on her bag and leaned toward her, close enough that her body reacted, swaying forward to meet him.
A shadow fell across their faces. They jerked apart to see Frank standing in the mouth of the cave, the dawn gilding his outline. He wore shorts and a Tshirt, and a fearsome scowl on his face. He held up a finger for silence and beckoned sharply to them.
Joel was off his bedroll in one smooth motion, gliding out into the morning after Frank. Her good mood dissipated like a popped bubble, Bella hastily grabbed her shorts from on top of her bag, stepped into them and yanked them up, the sibilant hiss of fabric loud in the quiet cave. One swift look around showed three still humps in the sleeping bags at the back of the cave. She grabbed her shoes and tiptoed out after the men, pushing her hair back out of her eyes.
It was a lovely