other, and she smiled shakily at him.
“You l-look pretty good even with a black eye, hotshot.” And he did. He looked dashing and dangerous, with one eye swollen half shut and a livid bruise across his temple.
“You look damn hot in nothing but a pair of bikini bottoms and a lei,” he said. “What’s left of one, anyway.”
She yanked the lei over her head, tossing it into the water, and then stepped off into his arms. He pulled her close to him, her bare breasts against his chest. “I’ll buy you a lei when we get back,” he promised. “One that really means aloha.”
She kissed him. And as his mouth met hers at last, warm and firm and soft, opening to sup at her lips, tasting the wetness of her inner lip, then pressing hard, his breath mingling with hers, she believed they would make it happen.
“For God’s sake come on,” demanded Tanah from the beach. “We’ve got a crazy woman after us, in case you two have forgotten.”
“Coming.” Joel stepped back, but he kept Bella’s hand in his as they hurried up to the cave.
Chapter Fifteen
To Do: A skilled tour director will use advance knowledge to make sure her clients see the best each site along the tour has to offer.
Frank was not in the cave, nor did he answer Joel’s calls as they trekked up across the camp.
Bella pulled on a brown tank top, and everyone rifled their bags for shoes. Then Bella climbed the fig trees, Joel close behind her. The weapon was gone. Joel only hoped Frank had it and not Kobe and Eddy, or whoever the hell else Camille had crawling through the forest.
“I’m trying my cell phone again,” Tanah said as soon as she’d pulled a Tshirt over her wet bikini. She plopped down on a camp chair.
“Good. Try mine too.” Joel handed her his phone.
Bella and Joel searched the tunnel and even called Frank’s name into the echoing black depths but heard no answer.
“All right,” Joel said as they walked back out into the main cave. “He’s gone—somewhere. We have to go too.”
“We have to find him,” Bella said.
“We can’t help him if we’re dead,” Matt said, already headed outside. “Let’s get the Jet Skis, and get out of here.”
“Anything on either of our phones?” Joel asked Tanah.
She shook her head, her shoulders slumping. “What are we going to do, Joel?”
“We’re going to find Frank,” Bella said. “And then we’ll—”
“Nani,” Joel said firmly, fixing her with a look from his good eye. “We have to get everyone safe. Camille’s men will be back. She’s a psycho bitch, and she’s not going to give up this easily. Come on, we’re leaving.”
“I’m ready,” Cassie was already at the cave door, huddled in a cover-up and broad-brimmed hat. Her pale hair straggled around her sunburned face.
Bella opened her mouth to protest and cocked her head, almost as if she were listening to something only she could hear in the rustling of the fig trees outside the cave. The hair stood up on the back of his neck.
“What?”
“They’re coming,” Bella said.
Matt burst back into the cave, breathing heavily. He was pale and pressed one hand to his side. “I don’t think…we can make it to…the Jet Skis. They’re…coming back…in the raft.”
“Hell. We’ll head up into the forest,” Joel decided quickly. “Okay, everyone, move. Get your bags, and get to the trail.”
Bella and Joel grabbed two extra provision bags and dumped them out.
Bella opened the nearest cooler and quickly chose a few Tupperware containers. Barbecued pork, bread and something that looked like rice. Joel reached into the other cooler for bottles of water and juice. He threw in a few cans of soda and beer into each bag too. It was all liquid.
Shouldering the bags, he strode over and grabbed his duffel and went to stand in the mouth of the cave. “Come on,” he ordered, peering out at the sea. “I can see them, about halfway here from the yacht.”
Bella grabbed her bag and followed him out of the cave. “Wait—a sleeping bag.”
Joel turned on her. “Damn it, woman, come on.”
She trotted back out in a second, sleeping bag under one arm, her duffel over the other.
“Bella, you lead the way. Matt, you three go next,” Joel said grimly. “That way I won’t outdistance you, and I can watch our back trail.” And he could grab Bella if she got another great idea about something they “needed”, like the tent hanging in the trees on the other