Staying away was going to be hard, but I knew we could do it. I had faith that whatever we had was strong enough to stand the test of time. It had to, because right then, I couldn’t see myself with anyone else.
* * * * *
The next morning, Nicole’s back was pressed firmly against my chest. In her sleep, she snuggled close to me. I nuzzled her for a second; the movement felt like the most natural thing in the world. I glanced over her shoulder to find that we were alone in the tent. I wrapped my arm around her and tightened my hold as I nuzzled her again.
“Mmm, good morning,” she whispered, turning her head toward me.
I kissed her, a quick peck. “Morning. Time to get moving. We’ve got a lot of ground to cover today.” I pulled away, even though every synapse in my brain told me not to and forced myself out of my sleeping bag. I unzipped the tent and stepped out, stretching to my full height. My body was tense, my muscles tight. I also had a raging hard on, but that was tolerable, at least. I looked around camp for Tyler, who appeared from the woods.
“Morning,” I greeted him.
“Hey.”
He didn’t invite any more conversation, so I zipped the tent back up and went into the woods to relieve myself. When I returned, Tyler sat on the log, staring at the ashes from the previous night’s fire.
“You look deep in thought,” I said, taking the seat next to him.
He glared at me. “Yep. Maybe you should leave me alone.”
“What’s crawled up your ass?”
“I woke up to find your arms around Nicole this morning. What happened after I went to sleep?” He was pissed.
“Nothing,” I lied. As far as lies go, it was a tiny one.
“Liar. What did you do to her?”
It was my turn to glare at him. “I thought you didn’t want her.”
“I don’t. But I know you, Dallas. I’ve seen you treat even the nicest women poorly and Nicole is better than all of them. I know what someone like you will do to her.”
“Someone like me? What are you implying?”
“You’re a sleaze ball,” he muttered. Something about the way he said it caught my attention.
“What are you two, related?”
He turned away, his silence saying everything his voice didn’t.
I shook my head, surprised I didn’t see the resemblance. They couldn’t be too closely related, but it was there, plain as day. I couldn’t believe I was such an idiot.
“As soon as this trip is over,” I told him, “we’re through. All three of us.” I had to fight the urge to deck him. How could my best friend not tell me something so important about the woman we were spending so much time with? No wonder he was pissed to see us together. He probably thought of her as a sister.
“Good morning,” Nicole called, sticking her head out from the tent.
Tyler mumbled a reply and I glared at him. I paid no attention to Nicole, despite how much I wanted to. I kept up ignoring her until she sat between Tyler and me.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, throwing herself into our business.
“Not a damn thing,” Tyler said, not even looking at her.
“Ah, so that means you know,” she said, looking at me. “Dallas, Tyler and I are cousins. I begged him not to tell you. So don’t be mad at him. I thought if you knew I was related to him, you either wouldn’t give me a chance, or the only reason you gave me a shot would be because of him. I wanted to earn the internship on my own merit.”
There was that blunt honesty again. She made it damn hard to stay mad at her when she confessed everything. Instead of hiding from the truth, she exposed it, and herself. I wanted to be mad, wanted to hate her, but I couldn’t. I felt something akin to hatred toward Tyler, but I knew it would fade. He was only doing a favor for his cousin. And if what Nicole said the night before was true, he was the only person she had in her life.
“I get it,” I allowed, still somewhat angry, but mostly kicking myself for not seeing the resemblance.
“Tyler?” she asked, nudging him with her shoulder.
“What do you want from me?” he growled. I didn’t particularly like his tone, but she put him in his place before I even had a chance to say a word.
“Don’t you talk to me that way. I didn’t spend the last three years pretending not to be your cousin so that you could just toss me aside when it matters.”
“Yeah, I know. I’m sorry, okay? I’m just pissed off at Dallas and I took it out on you,” he admitted.
“Well, I don’t know what was said, by either of you, but you girls need to work it out. Meanwhile, I need to pee,” she said, standing up and shuffling off into the woods.
We both watched her walk away, prancing. When we both laughed, I knew the tension between us was gone. “Sorry I was a dick,” I said, extending my hand.
He grasped it. “Me too. And sorry I let you think I was interested in her.” He made a grossed out face and we laughed again.
A minute later, Nicole returned. “All better?”
“Yeah, we worked it out,” I explained, happy that the trip was finally getting back on track, and if things kept up the way they were going, I would get the girl, too.
Twelve
Nicole
Instead of dwelling on the negative, I learned a long time ago to embrace the truth and get over it. My dad used to tell me that the only way to get over something was to barrel through it. His words were how I lived my life. I hated lying to Dallas about who I really was, but now, he knew, so I wasn’t worried he would find out at some point.
When he woke me up that morning, kissing my neck, I knew I couldn’t continue to lie to him. I was better than lies. I made it my goal to tell him that day, but then I overheard him talking to Tyler and I knew something so big and secretive could ruin their friendship, so I wanted to take all the blame. I changed my clothes quickly and popped out of the tent, ready to embrace the truth.
Once the guys had changed, the tent was packed away, and we were on our way, I pulled my camera out. I wanted to get more than just the leopards, although I was sure they would be the best pictures. I needed as many photos as I could get for my portfolio. If Leanne’s promise to hire me didn’t work out as planned, I needed to have a backup plan. And with Dallas and me kind of seeing where things led, I wasn’t sure Leanne’s offer would stand, anyway.
I had to take care of myself, look out for my own future, even though I really wanted a job with the magazine. It didn’t matter, though, so long as I got what I needed for myself. It was a selfish thought, but my happiness had been put on hold for so long, my needs secondary to everyone else around me; I was finally living for me. And seeing what happened with Dallas was just a small part of the new me, the girl who put herself first. I wasn’t about to be walked on, but I wasn’t going to walk away without good reason, either.
Dallas informed us that our trek wasn’t going to be nearly as long as it was yesterday. Instead of twelve miles, we only had about four to go. Four miles was still a long haul, but a much more manageable one. Just past three miles, Tyler asked to stop.
“I’m dying, Dallas,” he complained.
Every muscle in my body screamed in pain, but I kept silent, grateful for the rest. I sipped my water and tried not to draw any attention to myself as I snapped a few photos.
“Okay, enough rest. Let’s get going,” Dallas said after only a few minutes.
The look on Tyler’s face was comical as Dallas turned away and I lifted my camera to get a photo of it. When he caught me taking a picture, his eyes turned angry, but I just stuck my tongue out at him and continued to follow Dallas. It was a break neck pace, but eventually, we made it.
The clearing was smaller than our camp had been the night before, but the jungle was alive with sound. Animals of all different kinds could be heard. It was frightening and exciting all at the same time.
“Where are the leopards?” Tyler asked, looking around.
“You think they’re going to come t
o you like a domestic cat? No way. What we need is a lure,” Dallas replied, shucking off his pack and then dropping to one knee to rummage through it. I wasn’t sure what he had in there, but it was packed full.
When he pulled out a Tupperware container of meat, I nearly attacked him. “You have beef in there and we ate grass for dinner last night?”
“The meat is for the leopards. You’ll survive on grass for a few days.”
I started at him but Tyler grabbed my arm, keeping me from a physically attacking Dallas. Instead, I just glared at him, wishing my eyes were laser beams. I continued staring daggers at him while he set the food out on the ground.
He gestured for us to take our packs off. “We’ll need to be fast once the mama cat comes for this. She’ll be bringing it to her young and I don’t want to lose her.”
We removed our packs. “So we’re going to chase her? How do you even know she’ll come?”
Dallas sighed. “Her tracks are all over,” he said, pointing to the obvious paw prints in the dirt. “She’ll come through. And then we follow her. Actually, it might be better if I follow her alone. We won’t be taking any photos until we figure out where her den is. Then we’ll get close and play photographer.”
“So what are we supposed to do while you go chase after a cat? You realize that you won’t catch her, right? She’s too fast.” Tyler looked pleased with himself.
“She won’t run too fast unless she thinks she’s being chased. Which means yes, I’ll go after her alone and you guys can wait here. She wouldn’t travel too far from the cubs, so her den is close by. I’ll be back quickly.”
I worried he would get into trouble, but I remembered he was the professional, not me. Especially when it came to the wild. I might know some great photography techniques, but in the jungle, I was lost.
“Fine. We’ll wait here,” I agreed.
“Good. Get up in the tree.”
“Huh?” I glanced at the tree behind us Dallas was pointing at. I wasn’t afraid of heights. Tyler, I knew, had some hang ups. “Can’t we just hide behind it?”
Behind Dallas, Tyler closed his eyes, obviously trying not to freak out. “Yeah, we’ll stay out of the way.”
Dallas turned to look at Tyler, trying to figure out what we were up to. It didn’t take him long to put it together. “You’re afraid of heights?” He glared at Tyler.
“No, I am,” I blurted, thinking it would help.
Dallas tilted his head at me, smile tugging at his lips. “I watched you climb at least twenty feet in the air yesterday. There’s no way in hell I’m going to believe you’re scared of heights. Tyler, on the other hand,” he said, glancing back at my cousin. “Well, I’ve never seen Tyler so much as get on a step stool, let alone climb anything.”
Tyler gulped. “Nope, not afraid. Not a fan, but not afraid, either. We’ll just get in the tree.” He made his way to the lowest branch, lifting himself up with ease.
“You don’t need to get high. Just ten feet or so off the ground. That’ll keep you guys off her radar while she gets the meat and then I can follow her from the other side of the clearing,” Dallas explained while I followed Tyler.
I nodded, still unimpressed. I didn’t want to get in the big ass tree, but I worried more about Tyler freaking out and falling or something. Granted, it wasn’t that high, but I knew how deep his fears ran.
Once we were both positioned, Dallas put our packs behind the tree and then raced across the clearing, ducking low behind a bush. We waited an hour before Mama Cat made an appearance. She entered the clearing slowly, sniffing the air. She circled the Tupperware, and then made a grab for the meat. She lifted the steak from the container, paused to sniff the air again, and then she took off in a run, as if she knew she was being watched.
My eyes darted to where I knew Dallas was hiding and I didn’t see him. There was zero movement from the bush as the cat left the clearing. Worried, I looked at Tyler. He nodded toward the far side of the clearing, refusing to let go of the branch he clung to. Less than ten feet from where the leopard had been just seconds before, was Dallas. He ran at full pace, jumping over a tall bush like a hurdle before he disappeared into the jungle.
I held my breath as I waited for him to come back. Minutes later, he appeared in the clearing, a triumphant smile on his face.
He waved at us. “All clear.”
I climbed down slowly, offering to help guide Tyler down. He shook his head but made a descent even slower than mine. When he finally had both feet firmly planted on the ground, he noticed how close Dallas stood to me.
“Can we go now?”
I laughed at my cousin. “Will you relax?”
“Me? You’re the one who can’t even keep yourself away from him,” he grumbled.
I wanted to argue, to disprove his claim, but even I knew better. No matter how much I fought it, I was drawn to Dallas like a moth to the flame. I wondered how long I would survive without getting burned.
We followed Dallas, staying a few feet back while he led us to the leopard’s den. When he stopped, the three of us crouched down and Dallas pulled back a low-hanging branch so we could see the family of cats.
They were beautiful. The mother was light colored, her spots a stark contrast to her coloring. The cubs, though each was different, had darker coloring and their spots almost blended into their darkness. They were adorable. I thought of the litter of kittens my cat had years ago and all I wanted to do was go pick them up and play with them. I knew better, of course and chose to pull out my camera instead.
The problem with a quiet jungle was that the shutter of the camera was a big sound, deafening almost. I clicked a few and the mother leopard’s ears perked up, hearing the sound. We were only a dozen feet away and the shots I was able to get were good, but even I knew how dangerous it was for us, so we backed up. Once we were clear of the family, Dallas shook his head.
“It’s going to be hard to get good photos here, but we can try, I guess. I’m think that if we climb into the trees, we zoom in for the best shots,” Dallas suggested.
“I’m not going in the fucking trees again,” Tyler protested.
I bit back a laugh. “I’d like to stay on the ground, if you don’t mind. I think varied shots will give us a better selection to choose from for the article.”
“Alright. Just don’t get too close,” Dallas warned. Turning away to go climb his tree.
I trudged through the thick jungle, making a path where there was none, searching for the perfect spot to take my photos.
Thirteen
Dallas
Trying not to think about where Nicole was turned out to be damn-near impossible. Once I scaled the tree and had a great spot to photograph the leopard family, I searched for her. It only took me a minute. She was hunched down, almost completely hidden by a bush, lying flat on her stomach. She had her elbows propped up to hold her camera up off the ground and as she turned her lens to focus. I watched her, noting her trim hips and long legs. I gulped, realizing exactly how much trouble I was in.
I wasn’t just attracted to Nicole; what I felt went far and beyond physical desire. I wanted to know her, to actually get to know the person behind the pretty face. She was so unlike the ditzy girls I made a habit of sleeping with. She was confident, sure of herself. It wasn’t a matter of vanity, just realistic. She knew she could turn heads, but she didn’t flaunt it. She was reserved yet passionate. I was thoroughly intoxicated by her.
As I stared, she looked up, her eyes meeting mine. She looked away quickly, but not before I saw a smile cross her lips. She wanted me to want her, even if she didn’t want to want me. She confused me.
I finally looked away, focusing on the task at hand. I adjusted my own lens, focusing it on the leopards beneath me. From that angle, my shots weren’t great. They weren’t bad, but definitely not my best work. I sifted through them after I clicked away for several minutes. None grabbed my attention as great, but I knew why. Distraction was a man’s worst enemy. And
Nicole distracted me to no end. Until I conquered her, I knew my work would suffer.
The thing was, I didn’t necessarily want to conquer her as much as I wanted us to conquer each other. I usually craved control, both in my professional and personal lives, but Nicole made me want to be controlled, if only sexually. I wasn’t used to women who knew what they wanted, but I knew Nicole would be demanding. I longed for it. Even if she only used me, I would take whatever I could get.
I sighed, knowing my distracted mind wouldn’t be able to produce any images I was happy with. I accepted it. It still pissed me off, but I knew I wasn’t going to get much done until I stopped dancing around with Nicole. We both needed to give in, damn the consequences. With that thought, I tucked my camera into its bag and climbed down the tree, careful to be as quiet as possible. I made my way back to Nicole. She was still clicking away, obviously having found inspiration in her work.
I stood back a few feet and admired the view. Her jeans hugged her ass perfectly, with just the right amount of tightness. I felt myself start to get hard and then Tyler cleared his throat behind me.
I turned to glare at him. “Didn’t realize you were here.”
“Where else would I be? I was in the clearing east of here and had a great view of the leopards with my binoculars.” He held them up, as if to prove himself.
I, on the other hand, had no excuse for staring at his cousin’s ass. Except that I wanted to. “Nice. I couldn’t get the shots I wanted in the tree. I think we may need to try to lure them out into a clearing tomorrow.”
Nicole rolled over and looked up at us. “You two girls are really loud, you know that? You just spooked Mama Cat,” she whispered.
“Mama Cat?” Tyler sounded incredulous. “You aren’t supposed to name them.”
“What do you know? I’ll name them if I want to. By the way, the runt of the litter – I decided to call him Binx.”
“Binx… Why do I know that name?” I asked, racking my brain.
Wild Dreams Page 7