Touch of Danger (Three Worlds)

by Strickland, Carol A.

  “Thanks.” She found two tablets, double-checking to make sure they really were aspirin and not just marked that way. For some reason she didn’t trust those mercenary soldiers with their poison pills. Her guides assured her they were okay.

  They sat there for a few more minutes. Nothing moved in the jungle below. “C’mon, get a drink and we’ll start down again,” Lon said as he reached for the bag on top of his shirt. Instead, he knocked it over and before he could grab, the bag tumbled down the side of the rock. The water bottle, insect spray, and other luxuries of home spilled out of it as it went, raising tiny rackets of clinks and clunks against the rustling forestland. Lina reacted quick enough that her foot stepped on Lon’s shirt, holding it in place.

  They stared at the path of their survival kit. “I’m not going back down to get it,” Lina finally declared.

  Londo heaved a sigh of surrender, shaking his head at his own clumsiness. “Neither am I. D’accord, our target will be to find clean sources of water on our way to the north side of the island. Maybe we can pick up a canteen along the way.” He slung the rifle back up on his shoulder

  Lina picked up his shirt. Hoping that it would keep some of the mosquitoes off her bare back, she tied it around her neck. It was certainly too warm to wear it.

  They edged around the butte, kept to what vegetation had managed to anchor itself to the rock, and were finally rewarded with a view that included a wide ocean bay cutting into the island from the east. Above it lay a strip of green stretching to the horizon.

  “The north side of the island,” Londo announced.

  Chapter 7

  The journey to the bay took four hours, ending at bluffs that overlooked a wide, rock-strewn shore. Tall blowing grasses and the edge of the palm forest surrounded them. Down the beach a half mile were at least twenty soldiers and their equipment spread out on the sand above the high-tide level.

  Lina said, “Twenty here, a lot in the forest and in helicopter crews. What would you say that leaves us? About twenty-five or so unaccounted for? Less?”

  She set their canteen on top of the pile of other things Lon had taken off that last soldier: compass, another knife, more packs of ammo, a walkie-talkie, first-aid kit, blanket, some plastic. It was a good thing they’d gotten the backpack, too. Her left nightgown strap had given out, and although Londo didn’t mind that a bit, she was wearing his shirt over the gown now instead of using it as an equipment sling.

  “More. The two hundred was only infantry, remember?” Lon gestured to the land beyond the water west of the garrison here at the end of the bay. The stiff salt breeze barely rifled his sweat-matted hair. “I don’t see any of ‘em beyond about there. North seems to be clear.”

  “Just one little problem...”

  “How do we get over there? They’ve got the forest blanketed at this point.” Lon scowled as he considered the problem. He kept eying the bay, sparkling in the late afternoon.

  Lina regarded that, too, the cool expanse of blue. The air was fresh with ocean spray. A bath—that’s the one thing she wanted in this world, after a long, cold drink of water that she didn’t have to worry about saving some for Lon or for later. She felt as if she’d been rolling in dirt all day.

  She pulled out a new mat of spider webs from her hair. At least there weren’t spiders in them this time! She used her other hand to pull the webbing off her fingers, back and forth, until it separated from her skin and she could toss it to the ground.

  She was literally covered in dirt, her very cells outlined in black. The same black traced her wrists and knuckles in deep lines. Her fingerprints stood out as if she had inked the finger pads herself. Absolutely filthy! The shower from earlier was long forgotten. She didn’t know how Lon could stand to look at her. Of course he was the same way.

  It didn’t happen like this in the movies. Action Hero X would stomp into the jungle and when he stomped out he was clean and fresh-looking, maybe with a few spots of someone else’s blood spattering his pressed camo outfit. Lina guessed people didn’t want to see other people dirty, much less stinking like she and Lon were.

  Reality wasn’t pretty sometimes. Every breath of sweat, every sting from where some thorn had scraped her, reminded Lina that this was as real as it got. She scratched at yet another mosquito bite. Did she have any blood left?

  Lon squinted into the sun’s reflected glare. “How good of a swimmer are you?” he asked.

  “In the ocean, not much. A past life of mine, a World War II guy—he committed suicide by drowning himself. His sub was about to boarded by the Japanese. He was terrified.” She winced at the past-life workshop memory that had taken so long to retrieve, and then had arrived in a spine-chilling flash of knowing.

  “How interesting. And that’s relevant because—?”

  “I’m not too cool about waves breaking over my head. I have a lot of fears, I guess.”

  “Can you rise above this one?”

  “Oh, I’ve been in the ocean lots of times. I just don’t like doing anything besides jumping waves. Short waves. Now, swimming pools—I do pools very well. How good are you, without your powers? I keep seeing you looking far out to sea. You’ve never claimed to be related to the merpeople.”

  Londo paused. “I can do it.”

  “Are you sure?” Lina gestured at the moon on the horizon. “We’re at low tide now. The last I heard, last night, Typhoon Whatsherface—”

  “Xandra. Ah oui. Shit.”

  “Typhoon Xandra was a few hundred miles off the coast. Not close enough to endanger the island, but close enough to stir up rip currents. They’re sometimes fatal for even experienced swimmers. They were warning the tourists.”

  “Lina,” he tried to be reasonable with her, “the only way I can see for us is to go by sea, and so far out they don’t spot us. Do those guides of yours have any suggestions?”

  Her green eyes unfocused. “Wait a while, they say. Let the waters return. I think they’re showing me rip currents that will go away when the tide comes back. Keep closer to the shore; Londo can’t do as much as he thinks he can.” She looked over to him apologetically. “Sorry, that’s what they said.”

  “So how are we supposed to remain unnoticed if we cross right under their noses?”

  “Let’s wait a while and see what happens, an hour or so. Any fruit trees around here? I’m a little hungry.” The last soldier they had pilfered from had had only a candy bar left of his rations. They’d split it. Half a candy bar didn’t go far.

  “Just all these coconut palms. I don’t see us creating a scene just to get some coconut.”

  Londo stifled a groan of frustration as Lina nodded agreement. All the downed coconuts they’d found along the way had been previously investigated by the rat population of the island, or were moldy. If they were going to eat coconut, they were going to have one fresh from the tree.

  “D’accord, we wait one hour. What can we do in the meantime? We don’t want to sleep with these guys so near. I know. We have some retraining to do.” As they lay together in the grass Lon touched the middle of her back and rubbed a soft circle there.

  “Londo—”

  “Don’t complain until you actually don’t like it. You opened your mouth as soon as I touched you. If you can hold my hand, you can take this much.”

  “All right.” She looked at him out the corner of her eyes as he began to massage her back. He used two hands now, and bent low over her to escape notice.

  “How’s that?” he asked, but it was obvious. Her hands clenched in the beach grass and her shoulders moved away whenever his hands came near them. The muscles resisted his touch. “Relax. It’s a massage.”

  “I’m trying,” she said. “It’s just not working. It’s not going to work.” A sudden thought came to her and she laughed once in spite of herself.

  “What was that?”

  “I was just thinking, ‘Oh god, I’m stuck with Pepé Le Pew.’”

  Londo harumphed at that. “I’m not that bad,
am I?”

  “Mais oui. You seem to have a one-track mind on certain things, Pepé.”

  The humor seemed to relax her; at least she wasn’t fighting him now. “So ah’m a skonk...” he used his French accent to its fullest, “an’ yu are ze leetle poosy cat. Don’ be afraid, chérie.”

  “The... intensity is a little daunting, Londo,” Lina said. His hands had started to slide down her back to her buttocks. “Don’t.”

  “Pepé never had the deadline I have.”

  “And those cats never had a phobia. I don’t think this is going to work at all.” She pulled his hands from her, shivered and then rolled away from him onto her side.

  “I thought you said we were supposed to talk positively about the future.” Lon settled himself right behind her, almost touching her with his body. He gently swept her hair out of his way. “Let me talk positively about tonight. Tonight, under the light of the almost-full moon in some perfectly safe clearing with a lovely spring and fruit trees all around us...”

  Lina shook her head at the wishful thinking. He used that as a signal to massage her shoulder gently, but she clenched and pulled away.

  “This is just your shoulder. I want you to visualize. I’m not doing anything. Let your imagination take over.” He used the soft, deep voice of persuasion and she nodded, though she was still tense and tight with fear.

  Lon pitched his voice as compelling as possible. “Tonight I am going to make love to you, Lina O’Kelly. It’s going to be like nothing you or I have ever imagined. It’s going to be gentle and wild; it’s going to be magic.”

  “Please...”

  “Oh yes, I’m going to please you, don’t worry about that.” He nudged her hair back from her ear, though she jumped even at that.

  He whispered right next to that ear, “Visualize; don’t feel me here. Tonight, Lina, I am going to kiss your warm mouth until you’re dizzy. Until you’re hot.” He nuzzled the outside edge of her ear, moving down its short length and then along the back, tickling her with the very tip of his tongue where her ear met her head.

  “Don’t, Lon.” Her hand reached back to brush him off, but he caught it and kissed it, then placed it on her hip.

  “What was that? ‘Don’t stop’?”

  She was trembling.

  “This is all in your imagination, chérie. Just imagine. I’m going to move down to those beautiful breasts of yours—you thought I’d forgotten about them, hadn’t you? Just because you’ve got ‘em covered up now. I haven’t. I’ve been thinking about them all day. I’m going to lick my way down to them and then I will worship them with my mouth and my hands. And you’re going to beg me for more.”

  She squirmed, but he held her shoulder steady and bent to suck lightly on her ear lobe. What an intriguing texture. Londo took a moment to savor his new senses—and to shift slightly, to get more comfortable without distracting her. He needed to adjust his pants.

  He hoped she was beginning to feel similar sensations.

  “That’s your nipple. Feel it, Lina.” He sucked again. “I’m sucking them, licking all around. Can you feel me tonight? Feel the pleasure. Only the pleasure.” He gave her ear a long lick and whispered, “Can you feel my mouth on you?”

  Her voice was almost inaudible as she hunched her neck to keep him farther away. “Yes...”

  “That’s good, baby,” he purred at her. He muttered words of encouragement, sighing to relax her as he moved his hand down her arm. Then he dared to stroke the top of her hair with one hand as he let the other outline her down to her hips. He painted a word picture of the night to come, of flowers blooming in the moonlight all around them. He felt her trembling ease. Time to move on.

  Now Londo gathered the hem of her shirt. He inched it up. His fingertips brushed so close to her thighs. Feeling through the thin material of her nightgown and running up just under the edge of the panty there, he could sense her skin turning cooler as she tensed. She eased away from his hand only to be restricted by him in back of her.

  “Picture it in your mind. I’m not doing anything here. You can let yourself imagine anything. You’ll enjoy this. Visualize it. Feel it. I’m going to taste you between your legs.”

  He licked the folds of her ear, then came back and did it again slower. He finger-traced the tiny hem of her panty, just enough to draw her attention down there. Did she shiver? Did she ease closer?

  “I’m going to run my tongue up and down you until you come like you’ve never come before. You masturbate, don’t you?” He got no answer. “C’mon, you’ve masturbated, right?”

  “Yes,” she said so quietly the surf almost drowned the word.

  “This is going to be ten times better. You’re going to shake under my mouth, under my fingers. And you’ll ask me, you’ll plead with me, ‘Oh, Londo, take me now.’ You’ll be all wet and ready for me, won’t you? Won’t you? You can allow yourself to feel it. The hunger, the passion—it’ll take you over. You want me inside you. Spreading you out and entering you. Gently. Slowly. It feels so good. Oh god, Lina, you want it.”

  Damn, he wanted it bad. Now. Lon ground his teeth against the primal urge that he’d held in for so many years. His body was making his priorities known as it pressed against her backside. How much of a trance was she in?

  Not enough. She was trying to curl into a little ball. He kept his mouth at her ear, just touching her there, just brushing her leg and her hair when he wanted to grind himself against her. “‘Take me, Londo.’ ‘Oh, Lon, you feel so good.’ ‘Lon, I’m coming. Make me come...’”

  Easing forward, he lay spooned against the length of her. Let her feel his arousal. His breath took in the forest fragrance of her hair. She shifted to roll away, and he caught her gently on the stomach, holding her in position. She didn’t resist.

  “We’ll ride for the rest of the night, just you and me.” Between his hand and his hips, he rocked her gently. “You’re going to moan with pleasure and I’m going to enjoy hearing you do it. And I’m going to come a hundred times inside you. We’re going to make up for years tonight. The world’s never seen the likes of what we’re going to do. Me in you.” He nuzzled her neck. “I’ll fill you up. I’ll give you sensations you’ve never dreamed of. Tell me, Lina. Tell me.”

  He rolled her over to crouch above her, gazing into her wondering eyes. Were they dark with anticipation? It was difficult to tell in the bright sunlight. Heaving breasts might merely be a sign of panic.

  No. She had to be aroused. “Tell me you want me,” he ordered her, an expectant smile playing on his face.

  Her mouth opened and nothing came out. Her hands made fists and then opened; fists and open. She tried to edge away from him, pushing against his thighs before she realized where her hands were.

  “Say it,” he whispered. “They’re just words.”

  She shook her head. Her long fingers swept across her mouth, covering it and then uncovering. Covering.

  “Repeat after me: ‘I want you, Lon.’”

  “I... I...”

  “Good enough.” He pulled her up and guided her lips to his. Wonder of wonders, she kissed back. He slid one arm down her spine, rolling her over as he rolled, bringing both of them down to the ground and out of sight of anyone. One hand secured her butt, the other kept her head in position. Her lips were hot and moist over his.

  She started to tense up.

  “Don’t even think about doing that,” he told her between kisses. “You like this, and it’s too late for your body to tell you you don’t.” He explored the taste and feel of her lips, but she held back. No arms wrapped around his neck, yet her kisses were real enough.

  Londo eased her onto her back. Give her a sense of freedom. Open her up so he could better feel his way down her neck.

  “Oh no. No no no no.” This time the pushes away were real, but she pushed like a girl—ineffectually. Still, he retreated.

  “Off,” she ordered in a tight voice. “Get off me. Please. Off. Get offgetoff!”

 
; Immediately he rolled onto his side and watched her come up to panic speed, then try to calm down as she panted and pulled the beach grass with her fists. She shook her head angrily at herself. “I’m sorry,” she said. “Look, I—”

  “You did great. We can do this. We need to keep this new reaction going until it’s a learned reflex. Concentrate on the pleasure. Our plan of action is to neck here for twenty-five more minutes.”

  Lina gaped at his audacity. “Just, just kiss?” There was a sharp note of doubt in her voice, and more than that of distress in her eyes.

  Londo looked a little sheepish. “Well... maybe a little feeling up, too. You’re a very tempting morsel, chérie.” He paused. “If I go too far or too fast, just say no. I’ll stop.”

  “You’ll stop.”

  “I promise; I swear. Twenty-five minutes. Maybe a half-hour.”

  “Are you wearing a watch?”

  “Has anyone ever told you you talk too much? I’ll know.” He pulled off his vest. With satisfaction he noted the way Lina gave his chest the once-over and came back for more. “Why don’t you take the shirt off? I think you’ll be more comfortable. It’s awfully hot today.”

  “This sounds a lot like lines a good girl is supposed to be on the lookout for.”

  Still, she slowly unfastened the non-velcro velcro and eased the shirt off, trying to ignore the way he gazed at her left breast with the gown riding so low on it. She pulled the bodice up even as he put his arm around her, drawing her to him. Automatically she defended herself with the palms of her hands on his chest.

  “Maybe this isn’t going to work after all,” she said. “I really don’t think—”

  “So don’t think. Just kiss, sweetheart, twenty-five minutes.”

  “Your arm. Do you have to touch me?”

  “Yes, I have to. Otherwise we’d look like kissing fish.” He stuck his lips out to cartoonish proportions and made kissy noises. As he’d hoped, she laughed, but still looked beyond doubtful. She squirmed in his embrace.