Blooming in the Wild (12 page)

Outside, thunder rumbled, long and deep, and the rising wind clattered through the palms.

Someone shouted something from the camp, and another voice called in answer. The storm was brushing the coast.

The commotion was the perfect cover. Sidling between two old fig trees, their roots tangled together in a series of looping knots, she climbed up from one twist of roots to another, grasping branches with her free hand, until she was hidden high in the thick clusters of shiny green leaves. Then she shoved the weapon up into a notch of the tree and stood for a moment, hanging on to the branches and breathing hard from her climb.

“Keep it for me,” she mumbled breathlessly. The trees swayed slightly, creaking around her, as if grasping hold of the weapon.

Whoever had left the gun would never find it up here. And if they did, she wasn’t so sure the trees would let them have it back. Patting the smooth silver bark, Bella slipped down to the ground and into the storm.

The storm was not just brushing the coast, it was slamming down on it like an overturned bucket, a tropical downpour sheeting before the wind. The next half hour was a blur of action, but in the end, camp had been broken. The gear had been hauled into the caves and the lunch table set up near the coolers. Bella’s centerpiece sat askew in the center, and she spared a thought to wonder wryly who had decided to rescue that.

Everyone was inside, and they were all dripping wet. Frank was the last in, and he shoved a hand through his dripping hair. “Guess I was wrong about da storm,” he said to Bella. “Sorry.”

“No worries,” she replied, swiping water from her own face. “If NOAA can be wrong, I guess you can too.”

His face relaxed into a half smile. Bella was glad to see it. She knew from scraps of conversation overheard at Nawea that Frank had been a cop here in Hawaii for many years. He deserved to enjoy his second career, and if she had anything to say about it, he would take no blame for anything that went wrong on this expedition.

She needed to tell him about the weapon, but now was not the time, with everyone huddled nearby, shivering in their wet clothing and peering out at the storm.

Wind and rain lashed at the shore, the palms bowing before the wind, rain pelting down in sheets that nearly obscured the sight of the surf splashing high over the rocks on the point. Fortunately, the cave mouth was protected by the fig and palm trees, so only the tattered edges of the storm flicked at the people huddled inside.

It had been a scramble, but they’d gotten the camp chairs, everyone’s gear and sleeping bags, and the coolers. The small stove had been rescued too, and Frank and Joel had already made a place for it on the flat rock at the side of the cave.

The tents had been abandoned, as had the silver photography screens, which had already blown away, flashes of silver tumbling on the wind.

“Oh! There goes one of the tents,” Matt yelled over the storm. “And another.”

A yellow shape tumbled by, then a red. Bella winced. Those were expensive tents. After being used here, they would have been sold at a discount anyway, but she hated to lose them. Some boater would find hers floating at sea, she supposed.

“Our tent is stuck in the trees on the other end of camp,” Cassie cried, peering around Matt’s shoulder. “And I just remembered I left my new jacket in there.”

They watched the storm until after a little while it abated, the wind dying down. But the rain continued, splatting down on rocks, trees and grass. By then, Bella was shivering as the temperature dropped, but riveted to the display of nature’s fury like all the others.

Joel leaned against one side of the cave mouth, a little smile on his face, the wind tugging at his dripping T-shirt and shorts. He was actually enjoying it. So was she, she admitted guiltily. She wasn’t a bit sorry the camp had been blown apart, even if they did have to spend the night in this cave. She was tired of trying to be calm and cheerful while passion and temptation swirled around her in currents so strong they were nearly visible.

“Thank God we got the photos,” she muttered.

“Mm, good thing,” Camille agreed beside her. “Although I hope the cameras didn’t get too wet. They can be damaged so easily by water.”

Bella stared at her, dismay settling in her middle like a cold stone. She thought newer cameras were water-resistant, but perhaps Camille’s were older. In any case, if the photos were water-damaged, that meant they’d have to do this whole trip over again. She curled her hands into fists, her nails biting into her palms. Oh, Pele, what else could go wrong?

“I’m going to go change in the other cave,” she said, turning to look for her duffel. “Ladies first, guys. Then you can have a turn.”

She found her duffel at the back of the cave, underneath another bag. Pulling hers out, she lugged it into the other cave and set it back around the natural corner of the cave wall. She stripped out of her wet dress and panties and tugged on a pair of red shorts, a brown T-shirt and her hooded sweatshirt.

Cassie and Tanah appeared, lugging their bags. “At least there aren’t any bugs,” Cassie said with a shudder as she set her bag down. She was shivering, her soaked clothing clinging to her slender form.

“Didn’t see any.” Bella finger-combed her hair and bundled her wet things into a neat pile beside her bag.

“God, I want to go home right now,” Tanah said, a vicious edge to her voice as she yanked at her wet top. “I hate this.”

“I know,” Cassie agreed, pulling her wet clothing off. “It sucks the big one. Give me an outdoor shoot at an estate anytime.”

Bella glanced at Tanah’s lush, naked body. The woman certainly didn’t look like she enjoyed vigorous exercise. Here for the first time after Melia’s wedding, Bella had spent much of the time up in the forest with her cousin Zane, running trails and exploring. During an afternoon rainstorm, they’d raced down the rainslick trail, whooping with joy.

She stepped over bags and walked back into the other cave. Camille was rummaging in her bag. Matt stood watching the storm, while Frank stood outside the tunnel, drying himself off with his shirt. He jerked his head toward the tunnel. “Joel’s in there, seeing where it goes.”

“Let’s go,” Bella said. “Lava tubes are so fascinating.”

Frank gave her an odd look, but he nodded. “Sure are.”

Bella switched her flashlight on, and Frank’s footsteps crunched behind her as she walked into the tunnel. She expected to see Joel around every twist, but when they reached the spot where she’d found the gun, Bella stopped, turning to Frank.

“I was in here earlier,” she said in a low voice. “And I found a big gun, right here.”

“What?” Frank’s voice sharpened. “Where? What’d you do with it?”

“I—” She bit back her words as footsteps crunched behind them. Whirling, she squinted as the beam of a flashlight hit her in the eyes.

“Yeah, Ms. Moran. What did you do with it?”

She scowled, her heart pounding. The low, mocking voice was Joel’s. “Get that light out of my eyes,” she hissed.

He did so but moved so close she could feel the heat of his body. “You two might want to keep your voices down a little more,” he breathed. “Sound really echoes along this tunnel.”

Frank stepped closer as well. “Nani?”

“It was some kind of automatic weapon—I think,” she whispered. “Leaning against the side of the tunnel, as if someone had left it there purposely.”

“Automatic what?” Joel managed to convey skepticism even in a whisper.

“I don’t know.” She wanted to whack him in the ribs with her elbow. “I’ve only seen them in the movies. But it was the kind the bad guys always have.”

“Oh, that’s helpful,” he muttered.

Frank lifted a hand for silence, listened for a moment and then bent close to Bella’s ear. “What’d you do with it, Nani?”

“It’s up in those fig trees outside the cave.” She felt Joel lean close to hear her answer as well.

“I’d better go put it up higher,” he said instantly.

She pressed a staying palm on his broad chest, warm and hard under his wet shirt. “No one will find it, believe me. I climbed way up. You can’t see it from the ground.”

Frank moved restively. “Okay, good. But as soon as this storm lets up, we’re out of here.” He placed a hand on Bella’s shoulder. “And listen, you stay close, you hear me? I don’t want anyone wandering off. If this has anything to do with those two po’ino fools I hired, there’s no telling what they’re up to, or what lowlife friends of theirs are out there waiting. This could be about drugs.”

Bella opened her mouth to tell him that she would know if strangers approached, and then closed it, uncertainty knotting in her middle. Would she? Maybe she was completely off her rocker for thinking the forest spoke to her. Her shoulders knotted as she remembered hearing that mentally ill people often thought they were perfectly sane.

“I won’t let her out of my sight,” Joel promised. Bella jumped as he patted her on the ass, his big hand lingering in the darkness. She did elbow him this time, hard, but he merely chuckled.

When they emerged from the passageway, Camille turned to eye them. “What were the three of you doing in there? We could hear you whispering.”

Li had come in and stood near her, arms crossed over his chest. He was dripping wet and breathing hard, but his jaws worked as he chewed his everpresent gum.

“That passage goes back a long ways,” Frank explained. “Joel wanted to explore it, but I think it’s best we all stay out of it. Could be a rock fall at any time.”

“Yeah, there’s one small rock fall in there already,” Joel added. “You’re probably right, Frank. I’d love to have a look, but I’d definitely wear a helmet.”

“Are there insects in there that might crawl out here after dark?” Cassie asked nervously. “’Cause if there are, I’m sleeping on the table.”

Li laughed, a nearly silent shiver of sound. Cassie gave him a look of distaste.

“I didn’t see any,” Bella assured her. “And believe me, I looked.”

“I need some dry clothes and then a beer,” Joel said, already heading across the cave. “Anyone else?”

“I’ll have a beer,” Matt agreed, following him back to the coolers. “Matter of fact, I’ll have two.”

“Pace yourself,” Joel advised drily. “You’re in the wild, surrounded by gorgeous women.”

Matt snorted, grabbing a cold, sweating can from the cooler. “Dude, I’m always surrounded by beautiful women. I’m ready to get home to my dog. She’ll lick my hand and then curl up at my feet, and if she whines, I just put her out in the backyard.”

Joel choked on his mouthful of beer. He stared after the model as he moved away to slouch in a camp chair. Now that was one jaded guy.

He shook his head. Himself, he wanted an easygoing wahine, one who liked sex as much as he did, but with some pepper to her. He’d recently realized sparring with the right woman was just fun. Like verbal foreplay.

He turned, looking for Bella. She sat with her head bent over her little computer, her long hair falling in a damp curtain, coiling in the folds of her bright red sweatshirt. Her slender, bare legs were crossed, one swinging idly, arched daintily in its brown sandal. She looked comfortable in her surroundings, taking it as it came. She was definitely not a whiner.

He took a swig of cold beer, shivered as it prickled down his throat, and remembered he was standing around in wet clothes.

As he turned to head into the next cave, his sandal stuck to the flat lava under his feet.

He lifted his foot, angling his leg to peer at the bottom of his shoe. Damn, he’d stepped in some chewing gum. Out here? What were the odds of that?

He grimaced. He had some cleansing wipes in his bag. Maybe one of them would take the sticky goo off his sole.

To Do: In an emergency, the tour director sees to the care and comfort of her patrons first
.

In the adjacent cave, Joel stripped off his wet shirt and shorts and dropped them beside his duffel, grabbing a cotton T-shirt to dry off with. It was looking like they’d be headed back tomorrow morning, so he didn’t have to ration clothing.

Hearing a soft noise behind him, he looked over, expecting one of the other guys. Instead, to his chagrin, Tanah slipped through the opening. Her face lit up with a smile, her gaze all over his bare body. “Well, hello there. Looks like you’re all ready for me.”

“Ah, yeah, I mean—
no
.
”
Joel didn’t think he’d ever put on a pair of shorts that fast in his life. He was pulled up and fastened by the time she reached him, her hands already reaching for him. He laughed, even as he grabbed her hands in his, holding her away. “Whoa, there, darlin’. People just a few feet away, and the door’s open.”

As he held her soft hands in his, realization thumped him solidly in the groin. A decision of sorts had already been made when he wasn’t looking. Although he’d bet this woman would be willing to follow up on her earlier promise to do anything he wanted, and do a damn fine job of it, he didn’t want to just get laid.

He shivered theatrically and bent over to grab a sweatshirt from his duffel. “Just let me get my hoodie on here. I’m cold. Aren’t you cold?” She was wearing another of her tiny shorts outfits, in contrast to Bella and Cassie, who’d both pulled on sweatshirts.

“Am I interrupting?” an amused voice asked. Over Tanah’s head, Joel saw Camille standing in the opening, bag in hand. Somehow, even soaking wet, she managed to maintain her air of aloof elegance.

“No, not at all,” Joel assured her. “I was just, ah, showing Tanah here my University of Idaho gear.” He yanked his black sweatshirt over his head, and smoothed the gold emblem on his chest. “Go, Vandals.”

He stepped over his duffel and around Tanah toward the door. “I’ll just get out of here and let you ladies change. Oh, almost forgot my rain slicker.” Backtracking nimbly, he grabbed the slicker and then made his escape. Even with thunder booming overhead and lightning flickering offshore, right now he’d take the dangers of the storm over those in the crowded cave.

He was outside before he remembered his half-full beer. Damned if he was going back in for it, though. Not with Tanah on the prowl. At least she hadn’t whipped out her phone and gotten a picture of him in the raw. He’d have had to wrestle her for it, because he wouldn’t put it past her to Tweet that too.

Joel spent the next hour outside in the rain, helping Frank gather what supplies they could from the storm. After breaking into a sweat under the rain slicker, he stopped to pull it and the sweatshirt off and toss them inside the cave. The rain had dropped the temperature about ten degrees, but it was still around seventy and too warm to work in a jacket, especially in this humidity. They broke down the two tents still in camp. They’d have to be dried out later, but at least they could go back on the boat.

Frank stopped once to pull his phone out, turning his back to the wind. He scowled at the small screen and then shoved it in his pocket. “No signal. Must be the storm.”

“Let me try mine,” Joel offered. “Different carrier may get through.” He pulled his phone out of his shorts pocket.

“Huh. That’s weird.” He put his phone away and squinted out to sea, into the steady rain. “The worst of the storm seems to have passed, but I can’t get a signal either.”

“Batteries charged?” Frank asked.

“Yeah, last night,” Joel said. “I always travel with a portable charger.”

Frank scowled. “Something’s jamming the signal. I wonder if lightning hit a cell tower up on the mountain.”

Joel shook his head. “I should still be getting a satellite signal. Well, I guess we’re okay tonight, huh? We can head back in the morning.”

Frank nodded. “We’ll leave as soon as it’s light. Our luck is going to hell in a hurry, and I don’t like it.”

Joel nodded, looking around him. The forest was so beautiful, but now that Bella had found the weapon, he realized that the thick brush could hide a battalion of armed men.

“You think she really found an automatic weapon or just someone’s old hunting rifle? Can’t you hunt wild pigs here?”

Frank gave him a quizzical look. “Yeah, the feral ones are a real nuisance, killing the vegetation. But if Nani says it was an automatic, I believe her. She’s a smart girl.”

“Yeah, but she’s a city girl.”

Frank’s weathered face creased in a grin. “Not on da island, she’s not. She and her cousin Zane were up at Nawea just weeks ago for a wedding, and those two spent most of the time up in da forest, tearing up and down da trails like Pele’s wild creatures.”

“I think we should all stay close to the caves this evening,” Joel said stubbornly. He felt an unwelcome shaft of jealousy for this Zane, whoever he was. Did Bella smile at him?

Frank nodded. “We’ve just got to get the others to do that without telling them too much. I don’t want dese wahines upset.”

“No, because we’d have to listen to two of them bitch,” Joel muttered. “Bella doesn’t seem to rattle too easily.”

“Nah. She’s a real tita, tough girl,” Frank said affectionately. “But, I’d feel better if we had that weapon. After everyone’s asleep, I’ll climb up and get it, put it where we can reach it if we need it.”

“I’ll do it,” Joel offered. “No offense, but I can give you a few years.”

Frank shrugged. “Whatever. Long as we get it.”

The two men headed back into the cave, pausing at the entrance to hang their wet jackets over camp chairs.

Bella was waiting as they turned. “Frank, can I use your phone?”

Frank shook his head. “Sorry, Nani. Joel’s and mine won’t work either. Maybe in the morning, when the weather clears up.”

She nodded, but her ebony eyes held worry. “We’re okay,” Joel said quietly. “We’ve got food, water and the boat. We can head back in the morning.”

She tried to smile. “You’re right. I’m just a little nervous.”

“’Cause you’ve got a responsibility bump that’s as big as this camp.”

“Oh, I thought it was called being an adult.”

He grinned. She was back in form, a lot more fun than her brief stint as a polite person. And they’d gotten what they came for, so this storm was just a bump, not a crash on his career road. As he’d told Matt, there were worse things than being marooned in paradise with beautiful women.

They ate cold chicken, homemade bread and salads, and drank hot cocoa and coffee brewed on the little stove, and then Joel built a campfire in the mouth of the cave, and Frank pulled out his ukulele. Everyone settled down around the fire to listen, bundled in sweatshirts or jackets. The rain had indeed cooled the air several degrees, into the low seventies by Joel’s keychain thermometer.

Spotting Tanah waiting for him, he cast a hunted glance around. Bella sat on the big log, listening to Frank play a soft, slow tune. Making a lightning-swift decision, Joel swung his leg over the back of the log beside Bella. Wrapping one arm around her waist, he pulled her sideways into the vee of his legs.

He groaned silently as he gathered her close. She was slender and lissome in his grasp, and her scent, warm woman laced with that faint, tantalizing hint of flowers and sex, wrapped around him. Her firm, soft ass snuggled right against his balls, cradling his cock in feminine temptation.

Bella didn’t protest, clearly caught off guard. She tilted her head back and to the side to look up into his face. Joel smiled into her startled dark eyes.

“Follow my lead,” he murmured.

Her gaze, still bemused, dropped to his mouth, and for one wild moment, he wanted to kiss her again, right here, just plant one on those soft, curving lips. They’d be warm, and she’d taste like wild honey.

Then she blinked, and her brows started to slide together in a frown.

“Bella, do not scowl at me.” He reached up with his free hand to push her hair away from her face, brushing his fingers over her cheek. Her skin was as warm and satiny as he’d remembered. “You can ream me out later to your controlling little heart’s content, but I need your help here.”

She pasted on the fake smile that made him want to snicker. “I don’t know what you’re up to now, big shot. But go try it on someone you haven’t insulted multiple times in the last two days.” She tried to wriggle away.

“Oh no,” he whispered, wrapping his other arm around her. “I’m not letting you go until you listen to me.”

Tanah scowled at them across the fire, and the others stared. Camille watched the two of them with a little smile playing on her face. Frank gave the two of them a searching look and continued to play.

“Quit squeezing my waist so hard,” Bella said through her freaky smile. “You’re going to leave bruises, and then I’ll have to grab your lilikoi and twist.”

His grip gentled instantly, although he kept his arm around her little waist. She could move fast, and she’d fly off the log in a Honolulu minute if he let go, he was sure of it.

“Try it,” he warned softly, inhaling the warm scent of her hair, “and I’ll throw you over my shoulder and take you somewhere I can spank your ass. That will be embarrassing for a corporate drone like yourself, yeah?”

She cast him one swift, fulminating look, her smile flat-lining. “Yeah, you’re a real sweet-talker, aren’t you, Girand? No wonder you have to beat the women off with a stick.”

“Aww, I’m sorry, Princess.” He stroked his thumb soothingly on her ribs. “You’re right. That was uncalled for.”

She shrugged, folding her arms across her middle and pushing at his hand under her other arm where the others couldn’t see. “Fine, what is the point of all this?”

“Oh, I’ve got one,” he crooned, turning his face so his mouth was close to her ear. “You know how your boss told you to keep me happy? Well, I’ve found the way, baby.”

She froze, and in a nanosecond, Joel realized how that had sounded. He chuckled, unable to help the deep sound of amusement. “Not
that
. Jesus, Bella, I can get women without threatening them.”

“I’ll believe that when I see it,” she muttered.

“Take a look across the fire,” he said drily. Tanah was pouting now, curled in a camp chair by Matt, her arms and legs crossed. Beside her, Cassie held up her phone and snapped a picture of Joel and Bella, and then winked at him.

“Well, why don’t you just take her up on it?” she asked, sounding genuinely perplexed and grouchy at the same time, but she relaxed, her back curving to match the hollow of his groin and belly.

“I don’t appreciate the feeling that I’m in danger of being molested any more than you did with your buddy Kobe.”

She snorted. “She’s a lot smaller than you, Girand.”

“‘The female of the species,’” he quoted under his breath.

The soft notes of the ukulele filled the dusk as she considered. He shifted, enjoying the warm weight of her in his arms.

“So you want me to pretend that we’re…we’re—”

“That we’re hot for each other,” he finished for her, grinning against her hair. “That we’re banging bones every chance we get. Exclusively.”

“Eww,” she muttered. “So romantic. And what on earth do you mean ‘exclusively’? Does she think you’d…go back and forth?”

“Ah—not what I meant. Those two girls are a bit more sophisticated than you may think. Seems they aren’t averse to a threesome now and then.”

She gasped, and Joel chuckled again, giving her a little squeeze of amused affection. Damn, Ms. Hawaii had led a sheltered existence. She was getting a fast education with this bunch. Kink and ménage.

He stilled for a moment, wondering suddenly if she could possibly still be a virgin. The deep, visceral thrill that flamed in his groin caught him off guard as he imagined being her first, her only.

Just like that, he was hard. And from the peculiar stillness that took her, he knew she felt it. Joel gritted his teeth, fighting the urge to flex his hips, and drive himself hard into the softness of her warm, feminine ass. He’d started this, to avoid a catfight, but he also wanted Bella. To get her, he had to go a little slower. She might have kissed him on impulse, but she was nowhere near as sophisticated as Tanah, or the much younger Cassie.

“Does that turn you on, hotshot?” she asked. She didn’t look at him, but her fingers tugged at his agitatedly, pulling them up, then pushing them flat on her waist. He wondered if she even knew she was doing it. “The idea of women crawling all over you?”

He cleared his throat of the sudden huskiness in his throat. “Not me, Princess,” he said, his lips brushing the tender shell of her ear. He had to clench his jaw against the urge to put out his tongue and trace the shell of her ear, taste her. “I’m more of a one-wahine kind of guy.”

In truth, he’d tried a threesome once. He’d felt a hell of a man at first, but once they got to it, he had a hell of a time concentrating, and the two girls turned out to be more interested in each other than him.

But he wasn’t about to try to explain that to Bella. He didn’t want to use Bella as a shield from the rapacious Tanah. He wanted this wahine just for herself. Her incredibly buttoned-up, molten-hot-centered self. The next time she had that look of sleepy satisfaction on her face, he wanted to be the one who put it there.

Bella spent nearly an hour of prickly, delicious torment in Joel’s embrace. Being held by him was every bit as good as she’d imagined. His body was so much bigger than hers that leaning against him meant being surrounded by strength and heat. His heavy arm rested around her waist, his hand a warm weight on her hip, while he used his other hand to torment her.

It was all publicly acceptable. He merely enveloped her hand with his, much bigger and stronger. His were lightly calloused, the tendons and muscles firmly delineated, the mark of a man who used his hands constantly. But as they listened to Frank play, he somehow found every sensitive spot on hers. She had never realized that having another person rub her fingertips or the center of her palm could send pleasure arcing through her, tightening her nipples and making her clench her thighs together, or that when he tickled the inside her wrist with the pad of his thumb, she would want to press back against him, rubbing herself on him like a cat.