Jungle Inferno

by Desiree Holt

  “I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” he murmured.

  So slowly she was barely aware of it, he danced her out of the room and through the French doors to the patio outside. Away from the ballroom he took her hand and led her down the broad, stone steps to a secluded area among some trees. The night air was crisp and sharp, the music like a faint symphony serenading the stars overhead.

  “This is more like it.”

  Mark cupped her face with both hands and lowered his mouth to hers. They’d kissed on and off over the years, tentative, exploratory kisses but nothing as sensual as this. Mark’s tongue danced along the seam of her lips, pressing lightly until she opened for him. When his tongue swept inside her mouth, heat spread through her body. Her nipples tightened and her panties dampened. Pulses she didn’t know she had began an erotic drumbeat.

  God. What’s happening here? This is Mark. My best friend Mark.

  This was far from a friendship kiss. He held her head firmly in his palms, plundering her mouth, the kiss one long, sensuous mating. She felt his tongue everywhere, tasting the roof of her mouth, the inside of her cheeks and her lips. Tentatively she pressed her own tongue against his and the jolt of electricity that shot through her ignited every inch of her body.

  At last he lifted his head and looked at her with heavy-lidded eyes. She saw desire there, heat and…something more. Then it was gone.

  “Mark…”

  He silenced her with another kiss. This time his fingers slid down the bare skin of her arms, touched her waist, then moved up to cup her breasts through the silky material of her dress. His hands, large and warm, held the weight of her flesh in his palms and his thumbs brushed across the tingling nipples.

  “You are exquisite,” he breathed when he broke the kiss. “So beautiful. Jesus, Faith, when did you grow up like this? I’d love to strip you naked right here and feast on your body. You have no idea how many nights I’ve dreamed of just that. Of the things I’d love to do to you.”

  She flushed at his words, a tiny drop of arousal trickling along the inside of her thigh. “Y-you have?”

  “Oh, yeah.” He blew out a long breath. “But my God, you’re only eighteen years old.”

  She scowled at him. “Oh and you’re such an old man? You’re only two years older than me, Father Time.”

  He grinned. “Nearly three.” His face sobered. “Not only that, I’ve known you most of my life.”

  She wiggled her arms up through his and clasped her hands around his neck. “What does that matter? If we feel this way about it, why should we deny ourselves?”

  He shook his head, a rueful smile twisting his lips. “Because you’re still so naïve. So innocent. I can’t take advantage of you this way. Though God knows I want to.”

  “We have tonight,” she told him. “I know you have to leave tomorrow, but let’s at least have this.” She closed her eyes and leaned her head against his shoulder. “You say you’ve dreamed about me? Well, I’ve done the same. I think I’ve loved you since we were kids.”

  “You aren’t much more than that now,” he chided.

  She looked up at him, trying to put everything she felt into her eyes. “I’m a woman. And I know what I want. Every female wants the first time to be with someone special. I want mine to be with you.”

  “Shit,” he groaned, and his entire body tightened.

  “You aren’t going to make me beg, are you?”

  “What about your folks? Won’t they expect you home? And I’m damn sure not going to do this in the back seat of a car. You deserve far more than that.”

  “Prom night is traditionally an all-nighter. You know that.” She looked up at him and grinned. “Besides, I’m with you. They trust you.”

  “Jesus, don’t remind me.”

  For a long minute she thought he was going to refuse again. Then the music stopped and instead of taking her back to the table where they’d been sitting, he led her to the door and out into the parking lot.

  “Where are we going?” He was walking faster now and she had to hurry to keep up with him.

  “The cabin.” His folks had a cabin in the Hill Country where his father went to hunt. And Mark, when he’d gotten older.

  They said little to each other on the drive. When Mark pulled into the copse of trees next to the cabin and shut off the engine, he turned to her.

  “Last chance to change your mind, Faith.”

  But she was so sure of this. She shook her head. “I won’t. I don’t want to.”

  Inside he turned on a small table lamp and the ceiling fan to stir the stale air. Faith stood in the middle of the room, unsure what to do next. Then Mark came over to her, put his big hands on her shoulders and bent his head to kiss her. His lips were warm and firm, soft and rough at the same time. He traced the seam of her mouth with the tip of his tongue and she opened for him willingly.

  When he plunged inside streaks of heat shot through her body and the crotch of her thong became suddenly very damp. The pulse in her womb set up a low beat that echoed in every nerve and muscle. She opened her mouth wider, eager for more, and Mark took everything she offered.

  He spent a long time on the kiss, seducing her, teasing her, rousing feelings in her that she’d tried to ignore for so long. Lightning sizzled through her, making her weak with a desire unfamiliar yet so strong she wanted to cry out. All the nights she’d dreamed of this, all the times she’d masturbated herself to completion with Mark‘s face in her mind—none of it could compare to his actual touch and to the responses he was coaxing from her body.

  When his hands slid down her back to the zipper on her dress, a tiny thrill ran through her and the little sensitive nerves in the walls of her pussy sparked in response. The dress was strapless with built-in support so she hadn’t needed to wear a bra. When the fabric fell to her waist she was naked to his touch.

  It excited her to hear the intake of his breath, and then to feel his hands on her bare skin. Long, lean fingers each imprinted their individual brand until there was no mistaking who she belonged to. He stroked her back, the same fingers dancing along her spine and the line of her shoulder blades, before moving to her sides. He never broke the kiss, his tongue everywhere inside her mouth, licking and tasting. She dared to thrust her own tongue at him and the thrill of contact raised her heat level even higher.

  When he cupped her breasts, weighing their fullness in his palms, the throb of her pulse kicked up another notch and her legs trembled. His thumbs rasped her nipples, chafing them into hard points. Sending streaks of fire straight to her cunt. And still he kept kissing her.

  Desperate to feel his bare skin against hers, she grabbed the lapels of his jacket and tried to wrestle it from his shoulder. He laughed into her mouth and took a step back.

  “I’ll do it.” His voice was deeper and rougher.

  He shrugged out of the jacket and tossed it onto a chair. His shirt and tie followed. Then he pulled Faith back into his arms.

  The instant contact of her breasts against his chest, the hard wall of muscle covered with a soft pelt of hair, made her quiver, and the spasms that rode through her when she pleasured herself—always thinking of Mark—raced through her now, only stronger. She clutched at his arms, barely able to stand. And when he lowered his head to take one nipple in his mouth she moaned in pleasure. She could do nothing but hang on while his mouth and tongue and teeth pleasured each taut bud until she was screaming for more, more, more.

  It was almost a relief when he tugged her zipper the rest of the way down and pushed the dress to the floor. She stepped out of it, kicked her shoes to the side, and stood before him naked except for the tiny thong.

  “Jesus,” he breathed, his voice filled with awe and something close to reverence.

  His eyes were so dark they were almost opaque. She knew it was desire and it filled her with a sense of power that she could make it rise in him like that. He kept his eyes on her while he unfastened his trousers, then they were gone along with his box
ers, socks and shoes. She couldn’t take her eyes away from him, from his lean, muscular body, strong thighs, and most of all his incredible cock rising proudly from the thick nest of curls.

  “I want you.” His voice was almost unrecognizable.

  “I want you, too.”

  “You should have candlelight and roses and soft music,” he told her.

  “As long as I have you, that’s all I want.”

  Then she was lying on the bed beside him and he was kissing her again, his hands learning every inch of her body, all the dips and curves and crevices. When he slipped his fingers into her thong and traced the line of her slit, tiny explosions burst everywhere in her body. Mark captured her mouth again, his tongue both soothing and arousing.

  He took a long time with her, using his mouth and his fingers on her nipples, the swell of her tummy and at last her cunt. She was trembling when he stripped away the thong and put his hot mouth over her wet pussy. And when he licked her, flicking at her clit with the tip of his tongue, she screamed and another mini-orgasm gripped her. Everything fell away except this man and the things he made her feel.

  Mark knelt between her thighs and held her while small tremors shook her. Then he began again, using his tongue and his teeth everywhere on her pussy, driving her higher, arousing her more. At last, when she was screaming with need, he pulled a foil packet from his trousers and sheathed himself.

  “This will hurt a little,” he warned in a soft voice. “I’ve tried to arouse you enough to make it easier and you’re very, very wet. That’s a good thing. But after that first pinch of pain, I promise it will get better.”

  And he was right. Faith held her breath as he entered her slowly, not daring to breathe as he pressed against the thin membrane inside her, biting her lip at the pinch of penetration. And then she was floating on black velvet, suffused with a sensation that invaded even her pores.

  “Okay, Tidbit?” Mark brushed his mouth against hers.

  “Yes,” she whispered. “Don’t stop.”

  And he didn’t. He paced himself, his big body taut with the obvious effort at control. But he took his time, building her again, bringing her to where she needed to be, holding her gaze as he increased his tempo. The steady in and out pumping of his cock sent every nerve into orbit, driving her body to a level of pleasure she hadn’t even known existed.

  When she didn’t think she could wait a moment longer, when she was hanging right on the edge of the cliff desperate to take that leap, he finally gave her what her body was begging for. Thrusting into her again and again, he took them both right over that edge. She exploded and spun out, everything falling away except the unbearably pleasurable spasms gripping her. The walls of her cunt clenched and clenched, and if she was aware of anything it was of Mark’s swollen cock filling every inch of her greedy cunt.

  A long while later, when reality slowly returned, Mark eased gently from her body. She lay there in the dim light, heard him in the bathroom, disposing of the condom and running the water in the tiny sink. Then he was back, cleaning her with a warm cloth.

  She reached for him and drew his head down. “I love you, Mark.”

  He kissed her, a butterfly touch. “I love you, too. Faith.”

  * * * * *

  She was drifting somewhere between dreaming and wakefulness. The memories of the dream still clung to her and she swore she could still feel Mark’s lips on hers, his hands on his body. Neither of them had really expected that the attraction hovering around the edges of their friendship would turn out to be something so much more powerful.

  Head resting on her arms and her eyes still closed, she called up the image of him that night, overwhelming in his tux, his eyes heated with desire for her. And the long hours in the cabin, where he’d pleasured her over and over until she didn’t know if she’d ever be able to move again.

  “Take a long, hot bath when you get into the house,” he ordered, before giving her another of those drugging kisses.

  She’d done just that, lying in the tub with the feel and taste of him still on her body. He’d gone back to A&M to finish college, and while they’d emailed all the time, there hadn’t been another opportunity for them to be together. A situation that dogged him as much as it did her.

  “We’ll keep in touch,” they’d told each other.

  “I’ll always be here for you,” he’d told her.

  “Me, too.”

  “One of these days the time will be right and we’ll be together again.”

  They didn’t need a phone to send each other messages, only their minds. And some of his messages made her blush. Then right after graduation he’d left for basic training. She was a junior at Texas Tech University and hot to graduate. To pursue her career. There’d always be time. Later.

  But they’d never stopped their messages. For the four years after that, when she least expected it, his voice would echo in her head and he’d be there. It was better than Instant Messenger or a telephone, because they could be anyplace and still communicate.

  Even when he was first deployed they’d managed to keep the thread in place. It was like an invisible pipeline, immutably intact.

  Trying to hold on…

  The words pierced her foggy brain like a knife.

  Was she still dreaming? Faith sat bolt upright, shaking off the images that had danced through her mind. She had fallen asleep dreaming of Mark, then thinking about the night of her prom. So did she now just imagine his voice or was he sending her a message again?

  You there?

  There! She heard him!

  The sound was sharp and his voice had a painful edge to it. The unexpected white-hot pain in her leg slammed her again, taking away her breath. She grabbed her leg, rubbing it and tried to still her pulse. I’m here, Mark. Please tell me where you are. Silence.

  She shook off the heavy tentacles of the dream and forced her mind to focus.

  Come to me, Mark. Answer me.

  Can’t…

  Mark? Can you tell me where you are? I know you’re in pain. Her throat tightened. Please give me more.

  Silence again. Her stomach knotted with fear and anxiety but she knew she had to block her emotions or she’d never get a message through.

  Help!

  The word was almost a scream and an intense feeling of pain racked her entire body.

  I will. Oh, Mark. Help me find you.

  But instead of hearing his voice a sense of menace swept over her, of unrestrained evil. Fear pressed down on her with a heavy weight.

  The other telepath. The menace. Whoever he was, he knew Mark was reaching out to her. He was not only blocking her but sending her his own message. Malevolence and death. Suddenly she felt as if hands were squeezing her throat, choking her.

  She leaped up, the chair crashing to the floor, sweat pouring from her in rivulets. Her heart raced and she shook all over. Then, as suddenly as it came, it was all gone and she collapsed in a heap on the nearby armchair.

  God. What horrible things were happening to Mark? She had to find out where he was. And quickly. Her inner senses were telling her loud and clear there wasn’t much time left.

  Faith swallowed two aspirin and dragged herself off to bed. She finally managed to fall asleep but it was fitful and anxiety-ridden. She tossed and turned, now awake, now barely asleep. One minute she recaptured bits and piece of her dream about the prom. She could almost feel Mark’s mouth on hers, his hands on her skin. The whisper of his breath against her mouth.

  But then that awful scream would intrude and a red mist would hover over her, carrying evil and danger. Her mind would be invaded by such visions of horror they’d frighten her awake. A warning, she was sure but one she had to ignore if she were to find Mark.

  When she finally pulled herself out of bed, her body ached as if she’d been pummeled and her head throbbed. She stumbled into the kitchen, brewed a pot of lotus tea and dialed Aunt Vivi’s number.

  “I need help.” She failed to keep the trembling
from her voice.

  “Oh, sweetheart.” Vivi’s warmth reached out to her through the phone connection. “I was afraid of this. Come right over. I’ll call Sarah and Emily to come at once.”

  Faith showered only enough to wake herself up, threw on jeans and a t-shirt and headed for Vivi’s. The women were waiting when she arrived.

  “The stranger is assaulting your mind,” Vivi guessed.

  Faith nodded. “Not with words but with…his presence.”

  Vivi sighed. “We never taught you to build shields because we never thought you’d need them. The connection was only between you and Mark so it wasn’t a problem. But now, if other people can attack you…” She gave Faith a reassuring smile. “We’ll see what we can do.”

  The session was energizing. Faith couldn’t believe how much better she felt when she finally left. During the process she’d visualized building a wall brick by brick to block out the intruder. At once she’d felt the pressure ease. And the energy that flowed from the other women had strengthened her determination. She would get this done. She would.

  “Oh Mark. I know Delta Force is your life, but I’m going to be part of it, too. We can make it work. I know we can.”

  The thought popped into her head unbidden. Even when they’d had their long weekend together they’d never talked about the future, what might have been or what might be. The danger was what brought it all to a head, made her take an honest look at her feelings for him.

  South America…terrorist camp…moving…

  Faith swerved the car, jolted by Mark’s voice. Steadying herself, she pulled off onto the shoulder of the road.

  Í hear you, Mark. I’m right here.

  She waited but nothing else came through. The feeling of evil returned bringing the same pressure on her chest as the night before but she closed her eyes and brought up the image of the brick wall. The menace began to recede.

  Mark?

  Then Mark’s voice came through to her again. Mission…all killed, except…