by Lori Wilde
“Listen, I have to get my pulse rate down or I’m going to be out of the bet.”
“You want me to go outside?”
“No, just stop staring at me and talk about something boring.”
“Boring, huh?”
“Really boring. Your last dental appointment might work.”
“That would cool off anyone,” he said. “I had two cavities the last time.”
“Sweet tooth?”
“You got it.” He winked and she felt a blush heat her cheeks. Dammit. She’d never get her pulse under control at this rate.
“All right, that’s not working. I need to calm down. There’s been too much excitement for one day.”
“Wanna try yoga?”
“You know yoga?”
“Sure.”
“Okay, what do I need to do?”
“Breathe from deep in your diaphragm.” He placed a palm on his belly and inhaled deeply.
Madison followed suit and quickly felt her body relax. It was working.
“Close your eyes.”
She did.
“Put your index fingers to your thumbs.”
She did that, as well.
“Now, just keep breathing like that.”
In a few minutes a gentle peace had settled over her. Crisis averted. She opened her eyes, found Jake’s eyes on her. “What are you looking at?”
“You’ve got a little bit of banana right there.” He touched his own face just above his upper lip.
“Where?” She rubbed her face with her fingers.
“Missed it.”
She swiped her whole palm over her mouth. “How about now?”
“Still there.”
She scrubbed her face. “That get it?”
“No.” He leaned in toward her and softly brushed his index finger over the spot. His touch sent tingles racing through her body.
Their gazes locked. He was so close to her she could feel the heat of his breath on her skin. Goose bumps carpeted her arms. They stared into each other. The calmness evaporated.
Madison couldn’t say who made the first move. She thought it was him, but it certainly could have been her. Most likely it was both of them simultaneously riding the wave of attraction and going for it, but the next thing she knew, Jake’s mouth was on hers and hers was on his and her wet hair was tumbling to her shoulders and his hot arms were encircling her and they were kissing like there was no tomorrow.
JAKE sure as hell hadn’t meant to kiss her. He’d been trying not to the entire day. One minute he was telling himself, Don’t kiss her, don’t you dare kiss her, and the next minute he had her in a lip-lock so startlingly delicious he forgot to breathe. All he could do was inhale.
Maddie, he thought. Maddie, Maddie, Maddie.
He tightened his arms around her waist and she linked her arms around his neck and they were on the ground, Maddie’s soft breasts mashed beneath his hard chest muscles. She tasted like peach nectar, thick and sweet and heavenly. He kissed her as if his very life depended on it. Kissed and kissed and kissed and…
Then her damned cell phone rang.
Her friend again, he had no doubt, calling to jump on her for engaging in sexual activity.
Well, not quite sexual. Not yet.
The boner he was sporting might refute that. Instantly, Jake broke off the kiss and rolled off her, his head spinning. Somewhere along the way he’d unbuttoned Maddie’s jeans. Hell, he didn’t even remember doing that. What was happening to him? He felt shaky and breathless.
This is crazy. You can’t be falling for her. No way, no how. Wrong time, wrong place, wrong woman, wrong everything.
And yet, one look into her eyes and he was helpless. She could ask him whatever she wanted and he would give it to her.
This was crazy. Nonsensical. And he didn’t like it one bit.
Maddie was on the phone, assuring her friend she was not having sex. That wasn’t a total lie, but they’d been rushing headlong toward it.
He got up, paced to the door, shoved a hand through his hair and stared out at the downpour. Good grief, they were trapped here until it stopped raining. He scanned the sky, which seemed to be growing darker and wetter with each passing moment, and tried to ignore the ache in his rock-hard penis. He could smell Maddie on his skin, taste her on his lips. She was an amazing woman.
If they weren’t in Costa Rica and she wasn’t a conservationist and he wasn’t an orchid smuggler, well… But he was an orchid smuggler, and she was a conservationist, and even beyond that was the whole footloose and fancy-free motto that defined him. He wasn’t changing for any woman, even one as compelling as this one. Even though whenever he looked at her he felt something click inside him as if for the first time everything was right with the world.
“You okay?” Maddie asked, coming up behind him.
Jake blinked, glancing over his shoulder at her. Clearly she was off the phone. “I’m fine.”
“You don’t look fine.”
“Well, I am,” he lied.
She squared her shoulders. “I’m fine, too.”
“Good.”
“Great.”
“You out of the bet?” He nodded at the phone.
“Not yet.”
“Haven’t quite crossed the line?”
“No,” she said, “and I’m not going to.”
“That’s good. You probably really need that five hundred dollars.”
“Not as much as I need my sanity.”
They looked at each other and he could see in her eyes she was as unnerved as he was. He blew out his breath, then said what he’d dreaded telling her. “It looks like we’re going to be stuck here all night.”
4
IT RAINED for three solid days.
Madison checked in with Professor Hampton and learned the rest of the group had never left camp because of the inclement weather. Dammit, why hadn’t she checked the forecast? She and Jake were out here all alone.
To keep their hands off each other, they’d spent the time talking about their childhoods, their pasts, their likes and dislikes. They’d played twenty questions and truth or dare, and when they tired of that they resorted to the childhood game, I spy.
I spy with my little eye something very sexy, Madison thought as she looked at Jake.
She told him about orchids, why she loved them, why she’d spent her life collecting them—moth orchids and lady’s slippers and vanda and cattleya and Burana Sunshine. Jake spun stories about the places he’d been. South America, South Africa, Australia, Europe, the Orient.
They discovered they had much more in common than they would have ever suspected, given their divergent backgrounds—Madison was working on her PhD and Jake had gotten a GED instead of finishing high school. She was scientific and analytical while he trusted his gut and acted on instinct. She liked time to think things through, he was fast-paced and action-oriented. But, they both loved roller coasters and in-line skating. Both of them were night owls, preferring to sleep in and stay up late. They agreed that while it was noble to be politically active, neither of them had ever bothered to vote. Their favorite comfort food was macaroni and cheese—the kind that came in a box. They preferred the same brand of beer, chose corn chips over potato chips, and thought kettle corn was just plain weird. They learned that they shared an obsession with reality TV and they enjoyed old B monster movies. They’d each been to the International Spy Museum in Washington D.C. on several occasions and realized to their surprise that on one occasion they’d both been there on the same day.
By the time the rain stopped on the third day it was as if they’d known each other their entire lives.
They woke from their sleeping bags to the sound of birds chirping and sun flooding in through the boards of the hut. Jake yawned and stretched as Madison put on her glasses and finger-combed her hair.
“Ten o’clock,” she said, strapping on her watch, and yawned. “How late did we stay up last night?”
Jake shrugged. “I�
��m not one for keeping to a schedule, but I think it was pretty late. I was having a lot of fun trying to guess where your birthmark is.”
Madison rolled her eyes. She should never have told him about the heart-shaped birthmark. When she’d refused to show it to him, he’d started trying to guess where it was. Teasingly whispering, “Breasts? Belly? Thigh? Tushy?”
That little game had heated her up quick as his gaze had caressed every body part he called out. But it’d ended when Izzy phoned her to declare, “Either do him or don’t, Madison. This foreplay business is going on too long and it’s rude to keep waking me up in the middle of the night.”
Remembering, she raised her head, saw Jake giving her the once-over. Was he remembering, too? A hot rush of sensation passed through her and she quickly ducked her head.
“You’re a beauty, Maddie, even if you don’t know it,” he said.
Where had that come from? Madison caught his gaze and cleared her throat. She wasn’t accustomed to men complimenting her for her looks. For her expertise, yes. For her intelligence, sometimes. Brainy girls, she’d discovered, intimidated most guys. Even the brainy guys, because they were afraid of the competition.
But not Jake. Jake seemed genuinely impressed with her.
“Better get a move on,” she said. “Today might just be the day we find the amore.”
The muddy traipse through the jungle quickly grew hot, sweaty and tiresome, and they were down to their last canteen of water. Madison kept checking the map and her coordinates. They were so near the amore, she could taste it.
But when they reached the area where she was certain the flowers would be—where the soil nutrients and the rain levels and the amount of sunshine was absolutely perfect for orchid growing—there was nothing but more jungle fronds and tall dark trees and mud, mud, mud.
Disappointment swept through her like a snowstorm dusting across the plains. Hampton had been right and she’d been wrong. “Dammit,” she muttered, startled to realize she was very near tears. Madison didn’t cry. It took a lot to make her weep. But she’d been so sure…so certain that this was it. She’d been passionate about orchids for most of her life, and the amore in particular had captured her imagination. What was she going to do about her dissertation now?
She only had one option. Go back to Hampton with her tail between her legs and beg his forgiveness.
“What’s wrong?” Jake asked.
She shook her head. “This is where the amore was supposed to be. I was convinced.”
Jake scratched his head. Had he bet on the wrong pony? Had he let his attraction to Madison sway his decision to throw in his lot with her instead of sticking with Professor Hampton? Yeah, probably.
But oddly enough, he didn’t really care. Yes, he still wanted to save Joe’s Bar and Grill, but these last few days with Madison had been among the best in his life. Even if they hadn’t had sex. Maybe precisely because they hadn’t had sex. He’d gotten to really know her before sleeping with her. Sort of a first for him. He couldn’t regret having spent time with her. Even if that meant he’d lost out on his chance of getting his hands on those orchids.
In fact, being with her, hearing her talk about the importance of orchid conservation, listening to the pure passion in her voice when she spoke of the beautiful flowers, brought home the message that his goal was corrupt. Stealing and smuggling orchids wasn’t the way to save Joe’s place. He got that now. Before being enlightened by Madison, he’d been very cavalier and he was ashamed of himself.
Now, all he wanted to do was help her find the orchids. Not for him, but for her.
He watched her shoulders sag and her eyes mist as she fought back tears and Jake felt something inside him shift, change. She had worked and strived and struggled for years to get here and it was slipping from her grasp. Jake didn’t really understand what that was all about. He’d never put that much effort into anything. He skated by, having fun, following his whims, doing as he wished. His fear of deprivation and his need to keep himself entertained had prevented him from searching for deeper meaning.
In her, he saw the value of slowing down and taking his time, of being deeply invested in something. Of doing more than skimming the surface before flitting off to something new. He was always on the look-out for adventure, always chasing the next thrill. He’d believed staying busy, focusing on happy things was the key to navigating life’s bumps and potholes. For him, stealing the orchid had been about more than looking out for Joe. It was a challenge, a caper, a great big game just to see if he could go for it.
But Madison had made him realize something extremely profound, and to Jake, who was not prone to profound thoughts, it was an earth-shattering insight. As long as he was in a tunnel-visioned pursuit of happiness and satisfaction, he would never obtain it. Fulfillment was not the result of anticipating the next adventure waiting around the corner. It was based on appreciating what you had in the moment.
And right now, he had Madison.
“I’ve been kidding myself.” She groaned.
“Now I wouldn’t have expected that from you.”
“Expected what?”
“Self-pity.”
“I’m not feeling sorry for myself.” She paused. “Okay, yes, yes, I am. I’ve spent three years searching for this orchid only to be foiled again. I think a little self-pity is allowed.”
“C’mon,” he said, taking her hand. “We’re not giving up yet. Let’s keep looking.”
“It’ll be getting dark soon. We need to make camp for the night.”
“Just a little longer,” he coaxed.
“All right,” she grumbled. “But it’s no use.”
“What’s it gonna hurt?”
She shrugged and followed where he led.
They pushed through the heavy vegetation, fighting the plants thwarting their progress. Their backpacks might as well have been lead weights. Jake’s shoulders ached, his calves ached, hell, everything ached. They scaled a small rise and walked through a tunnel of trees where the setting sunlight flickered in long yellow rays as they entered a small clearing.
Madison suddenly pulled back on his hand. “Jake,” she whispered. “Look.”
WHAT MADISON saw stole all the air from her lungs. She stood there, mouth agape, heart thumping, mind spinning, senses buzzing.
For there, growing on the surrounding trees, were hundreds of amore orchids stretched out before them, comets of deep midnight blue tangled up among the jungle vines. Madison had seen many orchids in her life, but none like these. They possessed enormous long stems and delicate petals that resembled female sex organs.
A slow smile spread across her face and her eyes narrowed in delight. Here lay paradise.
“Damn,” Jake said. “Will you look at that?”
Simultaneously, they breathed in, inhaling the incredible fragrance of orchid. It was a merry-go-round of smells—a rose-like scent combined with jasmine, rye bread, musk, wintergreen, cinnamon, cloves. The odd but enticing chemical combination sent a rush of heat through her nose and into her lungs, warming her blood, sending red-hot waves of desire radiating straight to the tingling spot between her legs. Amore orchids.
She twirled in a circle, arms outstretched, dizzy, happy. This then was the scent of love.
The smell was immediate and undiluted. It needed no words to translate. It smelled like sex.
Madison caught her breath, spun around. Jake was watching her with heavy-lidded eyes and she knew he felt it, too. This urging, the yearning to be joined.
The look he gave her said, I can turn your insides into chocolate pudding, and the cocky tilt to his head left her airless and addled. A deadly combo. This smell. That man.
There was no nerd here. No matter what he pretended, this man was a rebel through and through. A good-time bad boy who wasn’t good for her. Another ne’er-do-well. And she knew he was going to lead her into temptation and beyond.
His eyes danced with naughtiness and when he dropped his backpack, she d
ropped hers, too. Then he slowly stripped off his black T-shirt, and when she got a good look at his honed, muscled chest, her heart slammed into her ribcage, a car wreck of chaotic sensation.
“C’mere,” he murmured in a husky, dusky voice as ripe as the orchid scent. His expression said he knew her right down to the depths of her soul.
Jake held out his hand.
In a dreamlike state, she moved toward him, pulled by a force she didn’t understand but could not resist.
Languidly, he removed her glasses and tucked them into his backpack for safekeeping. He dug around for a condom and when he found it he held it up like a great prize.
He stalked back to her, slipped his arms around her, tugging her down onto the grass in the clearing, kissing her tenderly as if she was as rare and precious as the orchids.
They finished undressing each other. Shoes flying, pants sliding, chastity belt unlocking, until they were totally naked before each other.
Madison’s cell phone rang, the sound echoing in the forest.
“Your friends,” he said.
She crawled across the grass, fumbling for the phone in her backpack. She answered it by gasping, “I’m out.”
“Wh—” Bianca’s voice said on the other end, but Madison never heard the rest because Jake took the phone from her, tossed it over his shoulder and pulled her down again.
He kissed her hard and long and hot. They lay on the slick, wet grass, the sleepy sun filtering through the tree branches. All around them the orchids, heavy and sweet, glowed in that dying light. Under his deft fingers, her aching body bloomed, as spectacular as the flowering plants, and she shivered against his rousing touch.
Lust swamped her. She had to have him. Had to have him or she would surely die. She pulled his bottom lip up between her teeth and he made a noise of pure enjoyment.
He cupped her face in his palms, dipped his head and kissed her with a soul-stealing, grade-A, world-class kiss that curled Madison’s toes. The moment was brilliant. He was brilliant. It was her most brilliant fantasy come to life.
She burrowed into him, her breasts pressed flush against his muscled chest. He ran his palms up and down her arms. She threw back her head and he tracked kisses over the tender areas of her throat, nestling and nibbling.