Savage Hunger

Chapter 9

The idea of cleaning up was all Kat should have cared about as Connor carried her out of the hut. She had really looked forward to washing in the waterfall ever since Maya had brought it up again. But the conversation that Maya and Connor had had in the jungle kept running through Kat’s thoughts, and she couldn’t quit trying to figure out what they meant by “them.”

“She cares about the jaguars,” Maya had said, but she sounded concerned.

“Observing one and being one are not the same,” Connor had responded angrily.

His response didn’t make any sense at all. Being one, as in being a jaguar? On the one hand, that’s what he had to have meant if he was responding to Maya’s comment. On the other hand, he couldn’t be saying that, so he must have been talking about something entirely different, and Kat had missed some of the conversation. And then they were talking about mates. Mates? If they had been Australian, she could have understood. But they were Texans and a long way from Australia.

The weirdest part? Maya had said she had scratched Kat. When? And why? The jaguar had, sure. But Kat didn’t remember having any other scratches that a woman might have made. Unless her long nails had scratched Kat inadvertently, and that’s what she had been referring to.

“I’m postponing my visit to see Maya in Texas,” Kat said quietly to Connor as he carried her down the steps and made his way along a narrow path through the jungle, the vines and trees and shrubs encroaching on the human-made trail. Although she imagined the jaguars probably also ran along here.

Wearing a backpack, Maya led the way. Neither she nor Connor said a word.

But Kat figured if Connor was that unhappy that she was going to visit with them further, it was best not to bother. She was surprised, though, when he didn’t respond right away and tell her how good an idea that was. Was he having second thoughts about her not visiting? Maybe he thought Maya would be so upset with him that she would be hard to live with if he didn’t let Kat visit.

Kat had never had a brother or sister to grow up with, and she admired the way the two always worked together, teasing each other with a fondness Kat had never seen between siblings. She both admired and envied their relationship.

Connor sighed heavily and looked down at Kat, frowning, his voice deep and committed. “You already agreed to go with us. To stay with us. To visit a while.”

Kat stared at him in astonishment. He hadn’t wanted her there. All along it had been very clear that he hadn’t. Why the change of heart all of a sudden? Still, she felt something more was wrong, and, well, she didn’t know anything about this man and his sister. Really. And the way they had been acting, she decided it was time to forget the whole deal. Although she would have enjoyed seeing their home, nursery, and tropical greenhouse—and observing how the cats thrived there intrigued her.

“I’ll have to take a rain check. I need to apply for a job and figure out where I’m going to go from there. I can visit later,” Kat said evasively.

Maya was listening, barely taking a breath and with her back straightening, waiting to see what Connor would say.

He didn’t hesitate to respond. “You can stay with us while you sort it out. Free room and board.”

He didn’t make it a suggestion. He was telling her what she would do.

“I have a reservation at the resort. I’m sure you and Maya had other plans until I came along. That will give you a chance to do whatever it was that you wanted to do. That will give you time to enjoy the rest of your vacation plans.”

“No,” Connor said flatly.

Her back stiffened.

“Since you never showed up for your reservation, the management at the resort will have given your room to someone else.” He shifted his gaze from watching where he was walking to her again. His golden eyes had taken on a darker cast. From the shadows of the trees or something else? “We didn’t have other plans anyway, so you’ll be welcome company.”

Why was he making this stuff up? No way would he consider her welcome company. Not after what he had said to Maya during what they had assumed was their private conversation.

She didn’t feel she had the strength to argue with him right now. She would politely pretend to acquiesce for now, but she wasn’t stopping off at their place. She wasn’t sure she would make the trip to see them later, either. Let them work out their problems on their own. Or maybe she could correspond with Maya, and when Kat had settled down somewhere, she could ask Maya to visit her instead. Sure. That’s exactly what Kat would do.

When Kat didn’t agree with Connor right away, he said, “We’ll talk about it later.” But he didn’t sound cheerful about the prospect. More grumpily resigned than anything else.

Worse, he didn’t sound like he meant for her to have a choice.

She smiled a little at that. She was the only one who made decisions about what she was going to do with her life. Ever since she was old enough to leave foster care, no one else told her what to do. Well, except for work, but she had been paid to be told what to do. Connor didn’t have any right.

They reached a nearly black, deep pool of water, and she eyed it warily. Except for a tree trunk that had fallen over the width of it, there was no way to cross it. The pond looked like it could be filled with crocodiles or anacondas waiting for the unsuspecting.

The tree trunk was mossy, wet, and slick as Connor carefully carried her over it. He slipped twice, and she clung to him with all her might, although he had instinctively tightened his hold on her. The heat of his body, the feel of his hard muscles, and the way his arms held her so close raised her own thermostat to hotter than blue blazes.

Once they had made it across the tree trunk and Connor’s boots had hit firm ground again, she sighed with heartfelt relief. Connor gave her a conceited smile as if he hadn’t been worried in the least that he would get them safely across.

The path narrowed even further, and she heard the water rushing over the waterfall long before she saw it. The path looked as though they would soon reach a dead end, but the falls beckoned to her from somewhere through the dense foliage, sounding like a river rushing over a mountain. Her concern about where she was going next evaporated as they came to the edge of a pool of water and she finally saw the beauty of the waterfall spilling over ancient rock walls. Nearly every inch of rock was covered in moss and dripping with ferns and vines on three sides, while trees towered high above, making the waterfall like an enchanted, hidden shower spot just for them.

The large pool of water was brown and muddy, but the stream pouring over the top of the rock face from high above looked clean and white. She wanted to shed her clothes at once and stand beneath the falls and scrub her skin and hair clean. She stared at the tropical paradise and was so glad Connor had brought her here now.

“A cave is directly behind the waterfall, and from the back side, the water spilling over the rocks is gentler,” Maya said. “The curtain of falling water is so dense that you can’t see through it. You can either stand up to your thighs in the lake on this side of the falls, or wash up as you stand on a rock ledge behind the falls. We have shampoo that’s biodegradable and body soap.”

“I’ll shower behind the falls,” Kat said. Even though she would probably need the rougher water to feel clean, she wasn’t sure she could withstand the pressure. She really did need to eat more to get her strength back. Standing in the muddy water didn’t appeal to her, either. What if a hungry croc or an anaconda was hidden right beneath the surface?

Carrying her, Connor ducked through the screen of a shower of gentler water to the right of the falls, and then they were behind the falls, the roar of the rushing water nearly deafening. She glanced at the shallow cave. The rock walls were covered in moss, while ferns grew nearer the outer edges where they could reach the light, like lacy green trimming. Inside, it was cooler but just as humid, the air scented with earth and rock, plants and fresh water.

“The rocks are a little slippery,” Connor said next to her ear, making sure she heard him over the noise of the falls before setting her down on her feet.

Trying to keep her balance, she clung to him. His arms wrapped around her protectively, and he seemed concerned for her welfare all over again. And something more. She wasn’t sure what was in his expression. Almost as if he was rethinking his earlier decision to keep his distance from her. His interest in her made her skin flush with heat again. She looked around for Maya, but she hadn’t joined them behind the falls. Where was she?

Then she saw the bottles of shampoo and body soap sitting on a rock ledge. She supposed then that Maya and her brother came here on a regular basis to get clean.

“I can manage,” Kat said, although she didn’t let go of Connor’s waist. She was not sure she could manage alone, as much as she wanted to show her independence and strength—which was normally how she dealt with any situation.

He was still holding her waist with a tight grip to make sure she didn’t fall. “I’ll help, if you don’t mind.” Again, he said the words with authority, as if she had no say.

She assumed that was because he could envision her fighting to prove she could do this on her own when she truly wasn’t able. “Maya—”

“Isn’t strong enough to hold you up if you slip and fall. And the pressure of the falls will tire you. Trust me in this.”

Think of him like a male nurse, Kat told herself, flushing to high heaven.

He smiled a little, and that sexy-as-sin smile warned her he wasn’t a male nurse, but a man who was looking forward a little too much to his role.

“I…”

He shook his head, but he didn’t make a move to do anything, waiting, she thought, for her acceptance.

She wanted to get clean. Another flush of heat spread across her skin. “Fine,” she said in an ungracious way.

Again, he smiled, looking amused this time.

She reached for the buttons on her cotton shirt, but her fingers were trembling and she wasn’t making much progress.

“Here,” he said, not gruffly as she might have expected, but with a gentler tone like when he had tried to make her well. “I’ll do it. Just hold on to my waist so you don’t fall.”

She didn’t know which was worse, stripping in front of him on her own or having him remove her clothes. She tried her damnedest not to feel as though this was something much more intimate, personal, and sexy.

She looked around again, wondering where Maya was.

Connor had Kat’s shirt off before she was ready, and then he worked on her pants. He hadn’t let her put on her boots before they left the hut, so he didn’t have to mess with pulling them off. As soon as her pants joined her shirt on the rock floor, she expected him to hold her hand as she moved under the waterfall. But he leaned in close as a lover and unfastened her bra! As if he was used to unfastening women’s bras—easily, no hesitation, no fumbling.

So maybe he wasn’t so shy with women after all. Just around her… for some inexplicable reason. She would have told him that she didn’t need to remove all her clothes. That she could have cleaned up nicely wearing her leopard panties and bra. She hadn’t expected him to strip her bare. But here she was, still clinging to his waist and naked as the day she had come into the world.

“Still okay?” he asked.

“I’m okay,” she said, sounding a lot shier than she wanted to.

Again, the elusive smile.

“All right. Next step. I’m going to get the shampoo and body wash, and I’m going to walk you over there to get it, so just hold on.”

What had happened to Maya that she couldn’t have helped?

Kat did as he said while he gripped her arm and moved them slowly over the slippery rock floor, the wet moss feeling like squishy velvet beneath her bare feet. Her heart in her throat, she began to slip. Connor held her tightly against his hard body, like a pillar of strength, keeping her on her feet.

Then he grabbed the bottles of soap and walked her slowly back to the falls.

A roar she barely heard beyond the waterfall reached her ears. She stared at the rushing water but couldn’t see through it.

“Maya sent one of the cats to watch over us and make sure we don’t have any unwelcome visitors,” he explained.

That’s where Maya had gone.

“Did you hear her roar?” he suddenly asked.

Concern and wariness etched his voice, warning her that knowing the truth was important to him.

“I thought I did. Although the roar of the waterfall nearly drowns everything else out. But still, the jaguar’s roar sounded different.” Which, come to think of it, she thought was odd. She hadn’t had to shout to Connor to be heard. Although initially he had spoken next to her ear so that she could hear him, he hadn’t done so the rest of the time he had been speaking with her, and she had heard him.

Now he was looking at her differently. She couldn’t say how, exactly. But it was as if he was looking at her with new eyes—as if she had changed in his estimation somehow. She wasn’t sure if that was good or bad.

“Hold on to me,” he said, his voice low.

She clung to his waist as he pulled her into the falls and doused her in the water. Every silky drop felt wondrous, and she wanted to shout her pleasure as the water ran over her face, her shoulders, and her breasts and then all the way down to her toes.

He smiled at her, and she luxuriated in the feeling of the water sluicing over her bare skin.

But then he pulled her out from under the shower of water, long before she was done with the exhilarating experience. He smiled again, seeming to understand her disappointment, and began to soap her hair. Oh. At first she was annoyed with his controlling nature, but this—oh… my… God—was heaven.

The soap smelled divine, like oranges—fresh and citrusy and sweet.

No man had ever washed her hair, and if the feel of the waterfall rushing over her body had given her a new high, this did even more so.

He was gentle, careful not to pull or snag her hair, which had to be horribly tangled from her sleeping and tossing and turning on it and not being able to wash it for several days. In fact, she had to look like a total mess.

That brought a fresh flush of heat to her cheeks and throat and chest.

But Connor didn’t seem to notice as he concentrated on soaping up her hair, massaging the scalp, and caressing her with a gentle tenderness. She didn’t know when it happened, but the next thing she knew, she had moved in closer to him. Her body pressed against his, trying to cling to him like one of the vines wrapped around the trees beyond the falls. Her bones were melting.

She figured once they were done, she would have to return to the hut and sleep for a while because she was feeling so relaxed and worn-out all over again.

“Can you manage all right?” he asked again, moving her away from him a little bit.

“Yes,” she whispered. Not sure she could, wanting to hold him tight and never let go, when she had never been a clinging vine in her life.

“I’ll try to do this quickly,” he reassured her.

Do what quickly? she wanted to ask.

But he was already taking the body wash, which smelled like tangy tangerines and just as sweet as the shampoo, and spreading it over her. He washed every inch of her, including the less sensitive parts that felt sensitive with his large hands moving over them and the very sensitive parts that swelled with eagerness at his touch.

She shouldn’t have loved what he was doing to her, should have treated this as purely a clinical task that he was performing. Yet she couldn’t help wanting this to be the real deal—making love under the waterfall in the Amazon rain forest while the colorful birds of paradise serenaded them from overhead. The mosslike emerald-green velvet carpeted their private shower, and living plants and ancient stone served as the walls. The waterfall itself was a shower curtain and shower all in one.

He was acting as though he didn’t notice that her nipples were rigid and the nub between her legs was swollen as he washed her thoroughly there, too, that her breathing was becoming raggedly aroused, her heart beat pumping harder… but he had to have noticed.

Then she noticed something else. She swore she could hear his heart beating more loudly, faster, his breathing just as ragged.

His gaze shifted to her eyes, and she wondered if her eyes looked as insanely aroused as the rest of her felt. His eyes darkened.

Yeah, he wasn’t immune to her, although she didn’t want to get too close just to see how his body was reacting to him touching hers.

Ha! She didn’t need to. One look at his water-soaked clothes, and she could see just what she was doing to his body.

Time to rinse and get back to the hut before they did anything they would both regret.

She began to take a step toward the water, slipped, and stopped, and his arm moved around her to steady her. She wasn’t sure how it happened, but the next thing she knew, they were kissing under the waterfall. The soap suds had been washed away, leaving her body squeaky clean and smelling like a medley of oranges and tangerines.

His arms wrapped tight around her, holding her against him in a hard embrace. Every muscle group outlined by his wet clothing was pressed indecently against her naked body. And damn if she didn’t want him inside her now!

His kiss was so passionate, so feral, that she knew it was only the beginning.