by Jill Myles
Salvador shook his head. “I could not carry you and cover our trail at the same time. I was sweeping my tracks clean before coming back to get you, since the terrible lizard with the short arms has a very keen sense of smell. Once your scent is in his nostrils, he follows it.”
“That makes sense, I guess,” I said, grudgingly agreeing. “But about that star...”
He turned to look at me, the small smile playing on his lips, his face guile-less. “God has sent you to me. What else is there to know?”
A chill covered my arms, and I rubbed them briskly. I wanted to tell him that it was my flare he’d seen that night, and it was nothing more than me trying to scare away an angry Tyrannosaur. Of course, who was I to shake a lonely man’s faith in God?
And what if he was right?
I stared up at the stars and made a wish of my own. God, if you’re up there, please get me – get all of us – out of here.
I included the others in my prayers, because the thought of leaving Salvador behind made my heart twinge painfully.
*** *** ***
That night, I slept alone in Salvador’s room. Since I had no place of my own, he’d graciously given me his for the time being. I suspected that he was anticipating moving back in shortly, so it was no loss to him. But he behaved himself and I woke up to find him curled up near the fire in a set of blankets that Olivia had given him.
The next few days fell into an easy pattern. Salvador would go hunting for small game, and I would help Olivia around the cave since I was too scared to go out in the jungle on my own. There were a million small things to be done, even with two sets of hands and I was glad to hang back.
Olivia was starting to warm up to me. Her instincts told her that I was the enemy because I’d driven off her brother, but remained polite. I sensed that she was starved for female company, and within days we had formed an easy friendship. I’d braid her hair while she sewed, and she’d tell me stories about island life, and how to (ugh) skin an animal and things like that.
When the days got slow and the afternoon grew hot and Harold crept back to his small room to sleep, Olivia and I would sit on the edge of the ledge and watch the jungle, waiting for Salvador or Eustace to return. I’d braid reeds for a rug – about the only skill I’d mastered so far – and she would scrape one of the small hides from the animals Salvador brought back.
“So, are you in love with Salvador?” Olivia ventured one day.
I glanced over at her in surprise. “No, why?”
Olivia gave me a sweet smile, tinged with sadness. “He’s in love with you. I can tell. Even when you aren’t paying attention, he watches everything you do.”
I blushed. Salvador had taken courting to heart. At first he would be extra courteous to me, but it was turning into something else. The other day, he’d brought home a small fruit shaped like a heart and insisted on giving it to me. Last night, as we’d sat around the fire, talking, he’d moved toward me and dumped an armful of fragrant pink flowers in my lap and gave me a hot look that made my panties go damp.
Olivia sighed wistfully, clearly thinking of those flowers.
I sighed too, thinking of that hot look. “How do you feel about him?”
Her face fell and she shrugged her shoulders, scraping the hide with small, angry jerks. “It doesn’t matter. I’m too young for him. He thinks of me like I’m his sister.”
I unraveled the small braid I’d messed up and started over again. “I wouldn’t worry about it, Olivia. In a few years you’ll be grown up, and then you’ll be beating the boys off with a stick. Wait and see.”
To my surprise, she burst into tears. Olivia got to her feet and ran inside the cave, stumbling to her room and ripping the curtain shut behind her.
I scrambled to my feet. “Olivia! I’m sorry! I know it’s hard to wait, but trust me! I’m sure we’ll get rescued in no time at all.”
She only cried harder, and wouldn’t let me open the curtain to sit with her. Guilty, I backed off and left her alone.
Salvador arrived a few hours later, and by that time my nerves were frayed enough that I met him at the base of the ladder rather than waiting for him to come up. “Olivia’s really upset,” I said, rushing out to him. “We were just talking, and then she started crying and now she won’t stop. I don’t know what I said.”
Salvador touched my cheek gently. “Do not worry.” He took my hand in his and kissed it gently, then gestured at the ladder. “Let me go up and see her. Would you like to go bathe today?”
“Would I,” I breathed, nodding my happiness. Olivia and I had to wait for one of the men to take us to the bathing pool, and since Eustace had run off, Salvador was our only hope, and we hadn’t gone for three days. I was feeling excessively grimy right about now.
“I shall return, then,” he said, and brushed a quick kiss on my forehead that made me blush. Slinging his catch for the day – two lizards and something that looked like an overgrown rat – and tossing them over his shoulder, he climbed up the ladder.
I heard him call something out to Olivia in Spanish, and she screamed back at him in Spanish, still obviously upset. He returned down the rope ladder a few moments later, his face grim.
Anxious, I watched him, trying not to wring my hands in worry. “Is she okay?”
His mouth drew into a thin line. “She will be fine in a few hours. Come, we will go to the bathing lake and talk.”
It was a good twenty-minute walk back to the pool where Salvador and I had first made out and I blushed every time it came into view. To his credit, though, Salvador left me alone as I quickly stripped down and bathed, plucking a few roots from the edge of the water and pounding them against rocks like Olivia had shown me. They foamed up and made a rough, woodsy sort of soap, and I cleaned my hair and body as quickly as I could, since Salvador was waiting on me.
No sooner had I rinsed my hair and turned to wipe the soap out of my eyes than I found myself face to face with a large, scaly head.
I screamed.
The creature bellowed at me, and something long and slimy slapped onto my head it rose to its full height, and I stared up the long neck of the animal. I heard wild splashing, and then Salvador was at my side, and I crawled onto his back, latching my arms around his neck and sobbing into his ear.
“Di-di-dino-dinosaur.” I pointed with a trembling finger at the obvious, the massive creature that had invaded the watering hole.
He reached over and plucked the long, slimy shank of seaweed off of my shoulder where it had fallen. “It is all right, Diana,” Salvador murmured. “Be calm. This creature does not eat meat.”
When I noticed that he showed not the slightest bit of fear, I squeezed my eyes open and gazed out at the creature. The head was large, the eyes small and stupid, and seaweed and slime dripped from his mouth as he chewed slowly, staring at us with vague disinterest. I stared at the long neck and tried to remember the stories of the dinosaurs that I’d read as a kid. Brontosaurs didn’t eat meat, and they had long necks. Of course. I gave a small laugh of delight at the realization, and my breath whooshed back into my lungs. “It’s a brontosaur.”
“I do not know that word,” Salvador said, grinning, “but I am glad to see that you are breathing again.”
As the giant creature lumbered away, I resisted the urge to reach out and touch the rough hide, my childhood wonder returning just a touch. “Didn’t you ever read about dinosaurs as a kid? I loved them when I was little.”
He shook his head, untangling my arms from his neck. “My childhood was very different from yours,” he said. “It is, perhaps, one of the things we should discuss.”
I realized then that I was pressed up against his back, my naked, wet breasts mashed up against his shoulder blades, and I released him to duck back into the water. “Let me dress first.”
“I find myself sad that the creature has left us,” he said in a low voice that caused me to blush. Salvador then strode out of the water and onto the banks, and it was obvious
from his wet loincloth that he was turned on. I blushed, dressing hastily.
I pulled my clothing over my still-damp body and stepped from the bushes. Salvador extended his hand toward me, and I slipped mine into his. “Come,” he said. “We will go and dry off in a special spot.”
Intrigued, I followed him through the jungle, noting that there was only the barest trace of a path where we stepped. “Special spot?”
“Si. It is a special place that I wish to take you. We will talk there.” He did not elaborate further, so I let him lead me by the hand further into the jungle. We continued through the underbrush for a good ways, my curiosity rising, when we stopped at a thick, tall tree that stood a good ways away from the others. “Are you a good climber, Diana?”
“A good climber?” I echoed, starting to feel uneasy. When he gestured at the tree, I shook my head. “Oh, no. No way am I climbing up that thing.” I tilted my head backward, trying to stare at the top of the damn tree, but it must have been at least four stories tall. Was he crazy? I hadn’t climbed a tree since I was eight.
“It is easy. Come,” he said, dismissing my fears and smiling at me. “I will not let you fall. Do you not wish to see what I am going to show you?”
“Not if it involves climbing up the biggest damn tree I’ve ever seen,” I grumbled. Despite my protests, I headed for the tree anyhow. Part of me wanted to please Salvador, but an even bigger part of me was curious as to what he could possibly show me that high up.
Thanks to the myriad branches and knots that covered the tree, it was actually a fairly easy climb. I only struggled with a few of the branches that were just out of my reach, and Salvador was there to help me with each one. A few times, he had to put his hands on my behind to give me a boost, and just the smallest touch would shoot nervous thrills of desire through my body.
As we reached the top, the canopy swayed in the breeze, and I clutched the branches even harder. Something caught my eye and I turned, staring at a dried, woven tangle of branches and dead wood. My body froze. “Salvador,” I said in a low voice. “We’ve got to get down. There’s a huge nest…” I swallowed hard, thinking of the massive inhabitants of the nest. Massive, angry inhabitants.
Possibly hungry, massive, angry inhabitants.
“Calm yourself, Diana,” Salvador said, moving up next to me. His hand slid around my waist, pulling me against him and supporting me before I could slip and fall. “The nest is an old one,” he said, his voice soothing me. “It is uninhabited.”
“How do you know?” I said suspiciously as he leapt up to a higher branch.
“Come,” he said, ignoring my protests. Salvador extended his hands down to me so he could help me up. At my hesitation, he said, “Do you not trust me, Diana?”
Of course I trusted him. Even though I was terrified of the thought of giant birds, I knew Salvador would not bring me to harm. I placed my hands in his and allowed him to pull me up. If Salvador said it was safe, it was safe.
“Last season, the birds were a delicious dinner.” He scanned the nest, then glanced over at me and smiled, a dazzling flash of white teeth that made my flesh prickle with need. “Since the nest still smells like human, the others do not return.”
“Of course,” I murmured, thinking I didn’t blame the birds one bit.
The branch we stood on was massive – wide enough that I could plant both feet and still not feel my toes curl around the edge of the bark. It didn’t stop me from clinging to Salvador as he straightened, and then forced me to straighten as well. It felt…odd to be standing so high up in the trees.
“Close your eyes, belleza.” He reached for my other hand and pulled it to his waist so he could lead me.
“Close my eyes? Are you mad? We’re in a tree!”
“But the branch beneath your feet is wide, and I am here, and you will be safe. Trust me.”
Even as I frowned, I closed my eyes. “You’re crazy, you know that?”
He laughed as he led me forward, my hands tightly gripping his waist. “Living on an island will do that to you, belleza.” Salvador led me a few more steps forward, and I felt the tree beneath my shuffling feet change to hard, straw-consistency of the nest, and then softness beneath my feet, as if the nest were padded with something else. A faint scent of flowers touched my nostrils.
“Open your eyes.”
A wonderland lay spread before me, and I gasped in delight. Hundreds of flowers, bright pink and white and tropical orange, filled the small bowl of the nest. Their scent lingered in the air like the sweetest of perfumes. The entire base of the nest was filled with flowers, so thick and so many that it must have taken Salvador many, many trips to fill it.
“For me?” I said, surprised and touched by the gesture, and my hand went to my breast. No one had ever done something so sweet for me. The most I ever got was a free drink at the local bar. “Oh, Salvador.” The dry ends of my hair whipped in my face and I pushed them back behind my ears, speechless. I didn’t know what to say.
He lifted one of my hands from his waist and brushed his lips against my knuckles. “I know you do not want to be here, belleza, but I wanted to show you that even though the island is a harsh place, it is also full of beauty.” He sank to his knees, and took my hand in his, pulling me downward.
I followed his gesture, sitting amidst the fragrant, soft flowers. They cushioned my legs and tickled them, and again I was struck at how many were here – hundreds and hundreds of flowers.
“Look down, belleza. Look down at the world around us.”
From the edges of the nest, we could see everywhere. The forest spread open before us, filled with trees of varying heights. Bright, colorful birds flew nearby, calling in the air, the tops of the trees swaying. As I watched, a tall dinosaur head poked out of the foliage a short distance away and began to eat, plucking at the leaves with its long tongue. I leaned over the edge of the nest and looked down below, where the fern-covered forest floor was littered with dried leaves, and watched as a small herd of tiny dinosaurs rushed past, chirping like the small birds they resembled.
It was wild, and strange, and oddly beautiful. At that moment, I felt more alive and more vital than I’d ever felt before. This, with all its breathtaking fear and beauty, was living. This was not driving around in my car and showing couples houses in the hopes that I might get a paycheck. This was not sitting in traffic or counting the hours between my next Starbucks fix. This was my reality, and it was amazing.
Selling real estate in the city might be safe, but it couldn’t take my breath away quite like this.
I turned to look at the gorgeous man next to me and tell him so, and lost my words again. He twirled an orchid between his fingers, his eyes hot on me, and then slowly, dragged the soft petals down the pale skin of my arm. “What do you think, Diana?”
“I think it’s all very beautiful,” I said, my voice taking on a husky note as I watched that soft, ticklish flower slide over the curve of my elbow and down to my wrist. “Thank you for showing it to me.”
The flower did slow, brushing circles against my open palm. His gaze locked on mine, his eyes hungry. “I would show you everything in my world, Diana, if you would let me.”
He was so beautiful and serious in that moment. I leaned over and closed the distance between us, my lips caressing his and my hand reaching to twine in his hair, pulling his face down to mine.
Salvador tasted of salt and fruit, his lips warm against my own. I was the aggressor, my lips hungrily pulling at his, my teeth nibbling at his mouth, pulling suggestively on his full lower-lip and sucking on it. I felt his groan against my mouth, and took it into my own. My tongue sought his, our mouths locked and sharing the sweetness of the moment.
I wrapped my arms around his neck and pressed my body against his. When he bore me down into the nest and laid me on the bed of flowers, I didn’t protest. The perfume enveloped my senses, masking all other scents, and the color, texture, and scent of flowers filled my world for a brief moment. Then,
Salvador’s mouth was back on mine, hot and hard and questing, and I gave in, opening for him and welcoming the sweet invasion of his tongue.
His body pressed atop mine, our mouths locked together. His large body covered me with a startling heat, blocking out the chill nip of the wind, and I wrapped my arms around his bare torso, loving the weight and feel of him. He felt good in my arms; he felt right. Like he was made especially for me.
I felt his hand slide down the length of my leg, caressing the muscles in my calf and moving back toward my thigh, sliding under my thin cotton skirt and kneading my flesh as his mouth slid over mine in a delicious, heady pattern. “Diana,” he breathed against my mouth. “I want to see your body.”
I kissed him again, playfully. “You’ve already seen it a hundred times.” Hell, I’d been sprawled against the man’s back not an hour ago.
He shook his head, the soft touches of his long, shaggy hair tickling my face, and he kissed my neck, my collarbone. “This time, you will be for my eyes only,” he said. “Your beauty here among the flowers, just for me.”
A ripple of pleasure shot through me at those words, and I lost the ability to think coherently. I nodded my assent, my fingers kneading and playing on the thick muscles at his shoulders.
One tanned hand slid between us, and Salvador lifted off of me, angling his body so he could unbutton my shirt and still keep me pinned beneath him. My hand slid over his chest as he slowly undid the first button, my fingers skimming on the flat disc of his nipple, and I felt his body tense at the teasing motion of my fingers. It emboldened me, and I did it again, swirling my fingertips around the sensitive nub.
The last of the buttons came undone, and he gently brushed the fabric away from my chest, revealing my bare breasts. My nipples puckered in anticipation, and I sucked in a breath at the intense gaze he gave them. He didn’t touch me, just stared with those liquid green eyes and I began to grow nervous as the slow moments passed and he did nothing.