by RaeLynn Blue
A is for Amazon - A Wild Heart
A Wild Heart
by
RaeLynn Blue
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
A Wild Heart Copyright© 2011 RaeLynn Blue
Cover Artist: Shara Azod
Editor: Lacynda Hill
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews. This is a work of fiction. All references to real places, people, or events are coincidental, and if not coincidental, are used fictitiously. All trademarks, service marks, registered trademarks, and registered service marks are the property of their respective owners and are used herein for identification purposes only. eBooks are NOT transferable. Re-selling, sharing or giving eBooks is a copyright infringement.
A is for Amazon - A Wild Heart
1.
“You know you really like it when I do this,” Dr. Javier Martinez whispered. His warm breath brushed the outer shell of Dr. Rashawna Reese’s ear, conjuring chills and making her entire being tremble. He waited half a beat before tracing her ear with his tongue. Softly, he tasted the curve of her ear before latching his kissable lips around her earlobe. She heard her diamond stud earring gently tink against his teeth as he nipped and toyed with it.
A moan escaped her mouth, forcing her to acknowledge, at least non-verbally, that he had been right all along. She did love it. When his lips drifted over her skin, down her neck, along her collarbone, barely touching, teasing her with hints of spearmint and cocoa butter, she nearly lost all kinds of control. With her eyes closed, she could feel him behind her, like a tempting treat just out of sight. She spied him from the corner of her eyes, smiling at her responses to his manipulations.
As if demanding more, Rashawna lolled her head back into his strong chest, resting it there. Funny, it seemed to be crafted just for her head. Javier’s hands caressed her waist, rubbing small invisible circles along her blouse before sneaking underneath the sheer fabric. Despite the crisp, picture postcard sky, and the bright, sunny, yellow sun, Rashawna thought she heard the faint drumming of heavy rain. The Amazon Rainforest was renowned for its diversity, and it wasn’t impossible for there to be a rain shower in another part of the immense jungle.
But still…
“Are you all right?” Javier’s deeply accented voice glided over her neck, soothing her worries. “It is nothing, but a small storm.”
Rashawna’s eyes had begun to close, relaxing into Javier’s caressing strokes across her waist and her thighs, but at the word storm they flapped wide open.
“Storm?” she broke his embrace and turned to look at him. “We need to get indoors before it arrives…”
He shook his head. His long, curly, dark brown hair brushed his strong, muscular shoulders clad in a white linen shirt. With a small frown, he placed his finger against her lips, silencing her doubts.
“I do not like it when you worry. Come, let me hold you.”
With a small tug on her arm, he drew her back into his arms again, wrapping himself around her. Despite how comforting he felt, the stirring emotions, and the heat of desire, anxiousness crawled into her stomach. She couldn’t shake the feeling that despite how beautiful the day, how serene, and how wonderful Javier’s kisses felt along her collarbone, something awful approached. Lush, green vegetation surrounded them. The canopy above allowed puddles of canary yellow to warm the floor.
Still, something just seemed off.
“Relax, Rashawna,” Javier breathed, rolling the R of her name right off his tongue. “Let me love you.”
“Yes, Javier, love me,” Rashawna replied dreamily. She closed her eyes and forced her nervousness deep down inside.
The clap of thunder made Rashawna bolt upright in her bed. Her heart threatened to explode from her chest. She searched the darkness and tried to slow down her racing heart. Squinting against the darkness, she croaked out. “Computer! Lights.”
A series of small LCD lights ran along the inner seal of the tent. The artificial intelligence running the tent’s systems turned them on. They flickered as if the A.I. hadn’t been fully awake either. Above her head, the squall’s downpour drummed hard and consistently on to the tent’s multiplex canvas.
Hugging her legs against her chest, she shivered. Outside the tent, the Amazon’s humidity made the air damp and heavy. Inside, the system kept the environment at a set 73 degrees with 20 percent humidity. Nevertheless, Rashawna felt cold and she hugged herself.
She had to admit the temperature didn’t make her shiver. Remnants of the dream had left her shaken. Now, wide awake, she took deep breaths to calm her still galloping heart. Her dream Javier had told her to relax and let him love her. No way. She pushed back the covers and climbed out of the sleeping bag. Another clap of thunder roared through the rainforest.
“One Mississippi, two Mississippi,” she counted softly. Right on time, the flicker of lightning came next. She didn’t like thunderstorms. Something about being Southern, just made her feel uneasy around God doing his business.
“Dr. Martinez is requesting entry, Dr. Reese,” the computer announced.
“What?”
“Dr. Martinez is requesting entry, Dr. Reese,” the computer repeated just as patiently.
Rashawna was already on her feet and tucking her thick curly hair behind her ears. “Um, hold computer.”
“Request honored.”
She yanked on her tee-shirt and took in a deep breath. Dressed in black pajama bottoms and a tee-shirt she summoned her courage.
“Enter.”
The force shield flickered and vanished. Rain soaked and luscious, Javier crawled into the tent.
“I thought I heard you screaming.” He swept the hood of his rain suit back and sat back on his heels.
“No, that wasn’t me.” She hugged herself and tried not to stare into his deep, chocolate brown eyes. Truly windows to the soul, Javier’s eyes had been the first thing she noticed about him. The second thing she noticed was how much he allowed just what he felt to shine out from them.
“I see.”
Avoiding his gaze, she pushed the last remnants of the dream away.
“Good, so now you can go,” she said. It came out more harshly than she intended, but at this point, Javier’s scent, something masculine and raw, permeated the air. She was breathing him in, and if he kept standing there, she was going to have more than that inside her.
“Why do you continue to deny what is between us?” he asked. The rolling R of her name made her clit tingle. As if his delicious tongue had rolled all over her love button, humming out that R in her name as he did so.
She shuddered. Before she knew it, Javier had closed the distance between them. He sat beside her, infiltrating her personal space with ease.
“Was I not a good lover?” he asked quietly. Using his finger, he hooked it under her chin. He lifted her chin to the point where she had to look at him. “You remember, yes? Our joining…”
“Yes, I remember…”
Even if she fell out of a tree, was stung nearly to death by fire ants, and was given amnesia, she wouldn’t ever forget the one time she let her guard down and allowed Javier to make love to her.
That was precisely why she couldn’t ever let it happen again.
A is for Amazon - A Wild Heart
2.
Javier held his breath as the squall continued to fall. He secretly prai
sed the research director for sending them together to gather samples from the rainforest’s tens of thousands of plants. The rainforest had been starving off a drought, and this new precipitation came as a welcomed relief. Every since their research expedition to the Arctic Circle a year ago, Rashawna had avoided him—not physically, because they worked together—but emotionally. She only spoke to him when it pertained to work, nothing more.
Now, he had her at a place where he could at least pose the question. Whether she would open up to him or not, he did not know, but he wanted her to trust him as she once did. He knew about her wild heart. Like the Amazon, Rashawna had so many undiscovered secrets. Despite their ten-year professional relationship, she kept so much hidden beneath her canopy, protecting what he guessed was a vulnerable, but wild, heart underneath. But he knew, a wild heart strained against the binds of whatever hurt she had experienced. That night, one year ago, she had let him explore her forest, her trees, her plants, her everything.
And he had wanted re-entry ever since.
Once morning came, a co-worker had come to Rashawna’s cabin and had discovered them. The co-worker had not told anyone, but Rashawna hated that the woman knew about their relationship. This other co-worker continued to make sly comments about Javier and Rashawna when the two were alone. It had so unnerved Rashawna that she pushed him back, far back, just out of reach.
As if that would stop him.
“Tell me, mí amor,” he said. She turned her head, lifting it from his fingers. “Why you do not let me tame your wild heart?”
“I do not have a wild heart.”
“You said you do remember…”
“I do!” she shouted and bolted to her feet. At five feet, two inches tall, she could stand inside the tent with her head barely touching its top.
“I had not meant to upset you.”
“I’m not upset!” she shrieked.
She jerked away, her arms folded, her body rigid. She wanted no parts of him, but he had heard her scream. Something had shaken her. Despite the comfortable temperature of the tent, Rashawna trembled. So petite and so powerful, she had no idea of the effect she had on him. In their field of biology, she was a renowned expert, but in the matters of the heart, in love, she was as savage as the many creatures in the rainforest. That fierce, untamed emotion had already began to seep out along her usually well placed edges. Javier wanted to help those doors open completely.
Perhaps, then she would smile more and allow love in.
She spun around to face him and stalked right by him to her sleeping bed. Flopping down onto the cushy fabric, she sighed deeply.
He twisted around to face her heart-shaped face. The worry and anxiousness in her voice had betrayed her.
“It isn’t you, Javier. It’s this place. It’s so, so…”
“Wild,” he finished.
“Yes. There’s so much we don’t know…”
“Is that not why we are scientists? Attempting to answer those unknowns? Are we not explorers, pioneers, and the seekers of knowledge not yet dreamed or discovered?”
She willingly met his eyes. He held her gaze. Such wonderfully gorgeous eyes, they seduced him the first time he saw her. He had to admit to himself, it was her small, hourglass frame that stole his composure. He had spilled his coffee all over his shirt because he completely missed his mouth. He had to go home and change his clothes. Even a scientist had desires and he had pinned his on hers at that moment. Once he heard her speak about the potential for a cure for cancer being inside of the Amazon Rainforest, so passionate, but accurate, she had him hooked.
“Yes, that is why I became a scientist.” Rashawna nodded. “We’ll hit it hard tomorrow after this rain ends.”
He nodded. She had successfully switched the topic and avoided answering his question. So she thought.
“You would not put me out into the streaming rain, would you?” he asked and removed his shoes and rain suit. Lying down beside her sleeping bag, in only his tee-shirt and boxer briefs, Javier leaned up on his elbow. Rashawna had opened her mouth to disagree, but he had already stripped out of the one-piece rain suit before she could utter a syllable. He liked how she fought not to look at his crotch.
“You came over here, so you clearly have no issue with rain. I think you can make it back to your tent just fine.”
“I would physically, sí. But my heart will not make it.”
“Javier! You have a Ph.D. in microbiology. Surely you can come up with better lines than that.”
He smiled. Loved her spitfire nature. That sassiness made him want her all the more. She had been so shaken earlier, so nervous, but now, now that he had refocused her on her job, she seemed more like her old self.
“I do not have lines. I am not an actor! What I say is from my love, Rashawna.”
He put an emphasis on the R in her name on purpose. She shuddered, making him smile. Goodness, he loved when she responded to him in a manner that was genuine. When he said her name, she could not avoid that little shimmy—even when she did not want to admit it. He knew she wanted him as much as he did her. They had been together the last five and a half years on various global research assignments. After the Arctic expedition, they had not been alone again until now.
She cocked her head to the side and drew her knees up to her chest. “You’re serious.”
“I have always been serious with you and my love for you.”
How could she think he had been kidding?
“There has only been you for me.”
“I wondered why you hadn’t married or dated when we were back at Yale the last three years,” she said softly.
“There is no other woman for me.” He could not believe she did not know this. How could she not? “There has only been you. I explained this, yes, in the North Pole?”
He got on his knees and took her hand in his.
She nodded. “You tell me lots of things, but…”
“But you do not believe my love is true. What can I do to prove it, Rashawna?”
A is for Amazon - A Wild Heart
3.
That was a damn good question. Although Rashawna could name over 200 of the 10,000 insect species living in the Amazon rainforest, she could not answer this seemingly simple question. Part of the reason lay in the way Javier’s fingers kept brushing the knuckles of her hand—distracting her. In a way, that should have made her tell him to leave, if she wanted to be free of him.
But she knew she didn’t want him to go.
His smile brightened his entire face. He had roseate lips so sensual she wanted to gently bite them, and then run her tongue over the injured flesh. Afterward, she would suck them a bit. Sighing, she leaned closer to him, closing the distance between her face and his.
What could he do to prove his love? What hadn’t he done? He had done so much already.
“I know you mean what you’re saying,” she said.
“What are you afraid of?”
She opened her mouth to tell him that she did not fear anything, but she stopped. Had he not come over here when he heard her scream? Instead of going on the defensive, she decided to try facing her problem. Here she sat, in the Amazon Rainforest, surrounded by so many undiscovered possibilities outside the safety of her tent. And she was scared of Javier’s love.
Why did she fear this singular man and what he offered? Sure, she had experienced her share of heartache, disappointment, and morons, but really, Javier didn’t fall into any of those categories.
“Nothing,” she whispered back.
“Liar.”
She smiled, because she was lying.
Another clap of thunder snatched her to the present and she leapt into Javier’s lap before she’d realized it. He wrapped those strong arms around her and fastened her there. Without pausing a beat, he kissed her neck, sending a bolt of lust directly down to heat the triangle between her legs.
“Tell me why you will not let me love you? Once this job is over, what will you have? No husban
d? No children? Nothing but retirement.”
“You say that like it’s bad thing. I am perfectly happy.”
“Liar!” he said and nipped at her neck again.
She yelped playfully and wiggled around his lap, not really making any earnest attempt to get up. The hardness of his phallus felt so good. It reminded her how fantastic a lover Javier had been. It had taken nothing short of pure, unadulterated will to not allow him back in her bed again. She had to prove it to her co-workers that she wasn’t just some whore who rolled into bed with anyone. They had to see her as a professional. All of her hard work seemed to unravel when Laura found Javier in Rashawna’s bed.
“You’re right. I’m not happy,” she said soberly.
Javier halted his kisses.
“I am a scientist, and I felt about you the way I did this research mission. Hesitant. You have all of these unknowns, like this rainforest, mysterious with a slight edge of dangerous.”
He nodded. “You did not let me come close. You treated our lovemaking the way the farmers do the land here. They burn it, discard it, like it does not matter.”
She heard the hint of hurt in his words. Swallowing to moisten her dry throat, she nodded. “I did. I’m sorry. I have my career to focus on.”
“Yes, I do also,” Javier agreed. “But work does not warm you. It does not come over when you scream at the thunder. It does not hold you tight, like this.”
He squeezed her and made her giggle. Unable to stop the flood of warmth rushing through her body, she had to concede that Javier had a point. Solid points.
“No, it doesn’t. I can see that now,” she said. “I have been living my life like I am the one under the microscope.”
“And I have been watching you,” Javier said. He inched closer to her, as his hand glided into her hair. He drew her to him and she didn’t resist.
She had refused to run from her emotions, him, and his love anymore. They needed to be released, or else she would never be happy. Javier’s words echoed in her memory. Are we not explorers, pioneers, and the seekers of knowledge not yet dreamed or discovered?”