Her Wild Hero

The panicked look on Tanner’s face was painful to see. Angelo swore under his breath. Great. Just what we need out here. Another guy who’s distracted. He had to get Tanner’s head back in the game, and quick.

“Okay, I’m not sure how much this will help, but if I were you, the first thing I’d do when I got back would be to show up at her door with a gift of some kind,” Angelo advised. “Flowers. Chocolates. Hell, I don’t know—a plush tree sloth if you can find a store that sells them. Anything like that. Then make sure the first words out of your mouth are, I’m sorry for making you worry. Women like a man who can apologize when he’s wrong.”

Or so his mom had always told him.

Tanner thought about that. “You really think it will work?”

“I have absolutely no idea. I suck pond water when it comes to charming women. But on the bright side, if this rescue goes south, we’ll probably all get killed and you won’t have to worry about what to say to her.”

It really wasn’t that funny when Angelo said it out loud, but Tanner grinned anyway, the worry disappearing from his face. “I’ll use that as my backup plan. Until then, I’ll keep my eyes open for a plush tree sloth.”

***

Declan lay on the sand-covered cave floor with nothing but a poncho separating him from the ground, and decided it was the most comfortable place he’d ever slept. Of course, the beautiful woman draped over his chest probably had something to do with that. Kendra had spent the whole night on top of him—first making love to him like a vixen, then sleeping like an angel, and he’d loved every second of it. Actually, he’d loved her more and more every second of it. Further resistance was futile. He was completely, one hundred percent in love with her.

Discovering Kendra felt the same way about him was what had finally pushed him over the edge. Okay, so maybe the word love hadn’t come up last night, but there was no mistaking the fact that Kendra cared for him. Right now, that was enough.

He grinned at the rock ceiling. To say last night had been incredible didn’t even begin to cover it. He’d never dreamed sex could be so good. He realized now that what he used to consider great sex had been barely average compared to what being with Kendra felt like. It almost hurt to think how hard—and how many times—he’d come. He was already dreaming of how much better it was going to be when he got her in a nice, soft bed.

A moan from beneath his chin let him know that his princess was finally waking up. Kendra lifted her head and gave him a sexy smile that made his cock start to harden. Or maybe it was simply the fact that she was naked.

He brushed her hair back. “Morning, beautiful.”

She wiggled up his body to kiss him, nudging even more life into his sleeping cock. “Morning, my hunky teddy bear.”

Declan laughed and pulled her down for another kiss, only to freeze when she suddenly looked around in a panic.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, trying to sit up with her on his chest.

Shit. Had the hybrids found them? He didn’t hear anything.

But Kendra pressed a hand on his chest. “Stay. I just need to…um, how far back does this cave go?”

He frowned, trying to figure out why she wanted to know. Then it struck him. She had to go.

“It keeps going back about twenty more feet,” he said. “The ceiling dips down in a couple of places and it’s dark, so take a flashlight.”

She was off his chest and digging through his pack in a flash. She came out with her flashlight, her canteen, and the small hygiene kit she’d saved from the last hybrid attack. Then she was running for the back of the cave, giving him an incredible view of her perfect ass.

Declan groaned. Maybe doing something mundane like checking to see if their clothes were still wet would distract him. Their T-shirts were just about dry. Their uniforms and boots, on the other hand, were still damp. It was probably about as dry as they’d get in here, but he shook everything out and flipped them over so the back side could dry some more. Of course, the moment they left the cave, their clothes were going to get soaked all over again. Or at least his would. He could carry Kendra and keep her out of the worst of the water.

While he waited for her to come back, he looked out of the cave opening, using his nose as well as he could to verify there weren’t any hybrids nearby. He was back on the poncho eating an energy bar—sex with Kendra had made him hungrier than running around the jungle and fighting hybrids—when she materialized out of the darkness, naked and beautiful. The sight of her damn near took his breath away.

She shoved her hygiene bag back in his pack. “Sorry for the unsexy dash to the back of the cave.”