But she didn’t stop there. Like she wanted to taste every inch of his skin she quickly loosened the buttons of his shirt, tracing her lips over his chest as she went, going lower then across where she covered his left nipple with the soft velvet of her tongue.
Bold as brass she threw his shirt open as he lay back on the leaves but thankfully she didn’t divest him of his buttons this time. Not pausing, she kept kissing his chest then his abs, moving lower until her breath was tickling the hairs just below his navel.
Ridge tensed, feeling himself grow even harder in his trousers, his stiffness calcifying into solid rock. He wanted to reach out and hold her but, not wanting to break the spell, he clenched his fists at his sides and waited for her to make the next move.
To his chagrin, her next move was one that made his body give an involuntary jerk. As Lani’s lips slid lower still to graze the skin just above his waistband his h*ps jerked up, almost as if to meet her caress. He had to grit his teeth and slowly, deliberately, lower his butt back down to the ground.
She didn’t even give him a chance to recover. Her hands moving quickly, her fingers deft and sure, Lani pulled the trouser button then had the zipper down in no time.
Shock ran through Ridge when she slid her hands inside and pushed down, leaving him with no option but to lift his h*ps again, this time to facilitate her goal of removing the bottom half of his clothing.
She pulled his trousers down, almost to his knees, leaving his loin area covered by nothing but the thin cotton of his underpants. Not that the darned thing was doing much good in concealing his state of arousal. His dick was so hard it formed a tent in his boxers, one that would send a weaker woman running.
But not Lani. To his surprise, she didn’t stop there. In another second she curled her fingers over the waistband of said underpants and was pulling it down slowly, inch by inch, teasing him like she was intent on driving him crazy. And as if that weren’t bad enough, with every inch the fabric moved down his hips, her tantalizing lips followed.
His h*ps jerked again. Jesus, he couldn’t help it. His body was anticipating a caress he dared not imagine. His eyes clenched tight now, his head pressing back into the leaf bed, Ridge was breathing hard, dying a slow death as he waited.
And, God help him, if some animal showed up just then he probably wouldn’t be able to move a muscle. He had to stay there. He had to know what she would do next.
And then, like she could guess the intensity of his torment, she made her move, pulling the shorts all the way down, exposing his hardness to her gaze.
He’d thought she would drop her eyes, maybe even pull back, but she was staring at him, her look surprisingly bold and unashamed.
She leaned forward again, making him suck in his breath, and it was at that moment that he heard it, a soft hiss that made his body go rigid.
Before Lani could move another inch Ridge’s hand shot out to grab her upper arms and lift her off him then in one smooth move he was up, taking her with him, lifting her high off the ground. His free hand flew to his back and he grasped the handle of the knife still stuck in the back of his boxer shorts. “What are you doing?” Lani squeaked, clinging to his neck. “Put me down.”
“Not yet.” His arm locked around her waist, Ridge peered down at the leaves beneath their feet. “I thought I heard something. A snake, maybe.”
Lani gasped. “A snake? Jesus.”
“My thought exactly.” Ridge grimaced. “Hold this.” He passed the knife to her, freeing his hand so he could drag his trousers up over his butt and pull up the zipper. He had one more quick look down and then he was striding out of there, making a quick exit before he put Lani in any danger.
At the sound of his footsteps approaching Aurelio jerked up, looking surprisingly alert for a man who’d been wakened from a deep sleep. And, like Ridge, his first reaction was to reach for his knife.
“You guys okay?” he asked, quickly jumping to his feet.
“We’re good,” Ridge said, not wanting to scare the fellow, then just so he could help them be on guard he said, “I thought I heard a snake back there.” By this time they were close to the fire, safe enough where he could lower Lani to the ground. “Didn’t see anything, though.”
Aurelio made as if to go check but Ridge stopped him. “No need,” he told their guide. “We’ll be right here by the fire. Chances are, it won’t venture this close.”
Aurelio looked relieved and sank back down onto his mat. Then, muttering something in another language he lay back down, curled up on his side and promptly went back to sleep. Or so it seemed. He’d closed his eyes and was breathing softly and deeply like he was in the comfiest of beds.
Taking Lani’s hand, Ridge led her over to the other side of the fire and helped her down onto her mat. She tried pulling him down with her but he resisted.
Ridge shook his head. “I think we’ve had enough excitement for one night.” He could see the disappointment on her face but as much as he would love to finish what they’d started he would not change his mind. They would just have to wait until they got back to an environment that would hold no surprises of the tropical-jungle-animal kind.
And so, slightly annoyed with himself for being so sensible, Ridge trudged back to the bed of leaves on the ground – alone.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Next day the travel party made much better time on the trek back to their campsite. While Ridge was not one hundred percent back to normal – a slight headache persisted – he was good enough for them to pick up pace and by nightfall they’d covered twice the distance they’d done the day before.
Aurelio gave them a satisfied smile. “Tomorrow we will see our tents by noon.”
Ridge cocked an eyebrow. “Wishful thinking, don’t you think?” he muttered to Lani. “Didn’t he also say we have another twenty miles to go?”
Lani nodded. “Yeah, and if we hit the road early and pick up our pace just a little bit we can be there by lunchtime.”
Ridge looked at her askance. “Just how early?”
She shrugged. “We could head out about four.”
“While it’s still dark? I don’t think so.”
So the next morning they didn’t head out quite as early as Lani had suggested which meant they didn’t get to their camp quite as early as Aurelio had planned. Still, three o’clock in the afternoon was pretty good as far as Ridge was concerned. He drew in a deep breath of air and spread his arms wide. “Back to semi-civilization,” he said. “I never thought I’d be so glad to see our tent."