18. Detonation
Detonation
Liam
Mud squelched beneath my boots as we pushed through the jungle. We’d been lost for days, with no indication of anyone nearby. Where the fuck were we? Maybe I was wrong. Perhaps we should have stayed put and waited for the search party. But it was too late now and we needed to keep going.
Luckily, we hadn’t come across anything too perilous yet. Biting flies and the abhorrent leeches that still made me shudder when I thought too hard about them. But otherwise, things were going smoother than I imagined they would. I hoped it wasn’t a sign the worst was yet to come.
As if my worrisome thoughts had triggered it, a loud crash of thunder rumbled in the distance.
“Great,” I muttered.
“Liam? Do we need to worry about flooding again?” Cerise asked from in front of me, voice panicked.
“I don’t think so. We’re on higher ground than before.”
“All right. Good.”
“Just a little further and we’ll find a place to camp.”
She nodded and kept on.
Our talk the other day about my family had me pondering. I couldn’t stop thinking about it, bombarded with memories of my childhood. And as we continued our path through the dense vegetation, my mind wandered.
“Stop running through the house and get in here!” my father boomed.
I burst into his office, breathing heavily, joy on my face from playing tag with my sister. But the moment I saw my father’s expression, I paused. At thirteen years old, I was full of energy. Of life. But he didn’t seem to like it.
“Your teacher called today. She said you can’t sit still. That you’re out of your seat all day, visiting with the other students and playing pranks.”
I remained silent, unsure what to say, tapping my foot.
“What will it take for you to learn to pay attention, boy?”
“I don’t know, papa. It’s just so boring. My teacher talks and talks and talks. It’s not fun. I want to do experiments and projects.” I continued to fidget.
“Godsdammit, Liam. Be still for once in your life. School isn’t supposed to be fun. Figure out how to follow the rules or there will be consequences.”
A bird chirped outside and my gaze immediately went to the window.
“Liam!” my father barked. “You can’t even pay attention to me. If I get one more call from your teacher, you’re going to boarding school. A strict one. They don’t put up with nonsense there.”
My heart leaped in my throat at the thought of boarding school. No. I refused.
“You must learn to be calm if you are to work for the family business one day. It isn’t appropriate for you to be disorganized and late to everything.”
The family business? I didn’t want to work for the family business. Building houses sounded like my worst nightmare.
“All right, papa. I’ll try harder.”
A flash of lightning jarred me from my memories as the rain began to fall. So much for attempting to stay dry. Another crack of thunder, the rain coming down heavier.
I groaned and cursed under my breath, scanning the woods for a possible cave or something.
I guess we can go ahead and put up the tent and hide in there.
“Cerise, we should set up the tent.”
She stopped and turned around, squinting through the rain pelting her face. “All right.”
I scanned for a flat spot higher than the rest. “There.”
We climbed a small hill, Cerise slipping in front of me in the mud.
“Oh!” she exclaimed, sliding down.
I immediately caught her, my hands landing directly on her ass, pushing her up.
“Liam, get your hands off me,” she chided through her laughter.
“I’m just catching you to make sure you don’t fall,” I said, and squeezed, unable to help myself.
She yelped.
We reached the top of the small hill and I reluctantly let go, giving her a smirk. She returned my smile, seemingly amused. I took off my pack and set it down, pulling out the tent. I began to set the poles into the ground when Cerise came up beside me.
“Not like that. Stretch it out more,” she instructed.
“I know how to set up a tent, sunshine.”
“You’re doing it wrong, though. It’s too muddy. You need to pull them tighter.” She leaned over and tried to help, grasping the pole.
My feet slipped in the mud as I tried to keep hold of the tent. “You’re making it more difficult. Step back.”
“Just let me do it,” she argued, rising to her full height.
I stood, frustrated with her overbearing behavior. “Your interference is going to make it take much longer.”
“This is a bad spot. We need to find somewhere with less mud.”
“Everywhere is mud! It’s fucking raining,” I said, stepping closer to her.
Her clothes were soaked through, making her shirt slightly see-through, revealing the outline of her breasts. Her hair was matted to her head, droplets of water streaming down her face, her neck, her chest.
We stood in silence for a moment, staring at each other. The energy shifted between us. A mix of anger, irritation and…desire. My eyes dipped to her lips before meeting her gaze again.
Shaking her head as if trying to dispel whatever thoughts she seemed to want to ignore, Cerise prepared to turn away. “Since you won’t listen to me, I’m taking the tent somewhere else.”
“Dammit, woman,” I muttered, reaching out to grasp her arm. “You are so stubborn.”
“Well, you are absolutely ridiculous,” she bit back, glaring at me.
We both lunged, our lips crashing together.
I didn’t know who initiated it, only that I never wanted it to end.
It wasn’t gentle. It was a detonation—a clumsy, desperate collision of two people who had been fighting our attraction to each other for weeks.
Cerise gasped into my mouth, her hands moving to the lapels of my shirt to pull me closer.
“Cerise,” I groaned against her lips, my hands moving to her face, tilting her head to deepen the kiss.
She tasted like salt and rain and the first thing in this jungle that made sense. She tasted like mine.
The world fell away and there was nothing but the sound of the rain on the leaves and the frantic, desperate rhythm of my heart beating against my ribs.
I ran my tongue along the seam of her lips, seeking entry. She let out a small moan as she opened, her tongue tangling with mine, and I took that as an invitation to continue.
Gods, I’d never felt a kiss like this. It was reckless, passionate. So fucking intense I could hardly breathe, could hardly think. The only thought in my mind was more, more, more.
One of my hands skimmed along her back and cupped her round ass. She whimpered into my mouth, the rain still pelting us.
I wanted to kiss every part of her. To bite and lick her soft skin. I wanted to show her the kind of pleasure I knew she likely had never experienced. To worship her. Make her whimper and beg until she couldn’t take it anymore. Make her come with my fingers, my tongue, my cock.
I broke the kiss and pulled her flush against me, running my nose along the hollow of her throat and groaning. She shivered.
Her hands moved along my chest, but then she pushed me away.
We stared at each other, gasping. Our chests heaving in tandem as we tried to make sense of what just happened.
“Liam, I—I don’t think this is a good idea.” Cerise took a step back, already closing in on herself. I could see it in her eyes. Could see her desire warring with what she deemed ‘appropriate.’
“Cerise…I’m sorry.”
But I wasn’t sorry. I wanted to do it again. I wanted to do it forever if only she would allow it.
I was about to apologize once more when a twig snapped behind us. Whipping around, we came face to face with a group of six men.
Poachers.