Chapter 30
SHEP
OKAY, THE SPIDER thing was pushing it, even for me, but it was what Theo said that had my attention.
A date? Did he think this was a date? Did he want it to be?
“You coming?” Theo looked over his shoulder, and my cock jerked at the picture he made: skin glistening, sweaty t-shirt clinging to his muscles—even the damn muddy boots had him looking really fucking good.
I’d wanted to get him out for some fresh air and great views, but I had to admit I wasn’t looking at anything but him now.
Something he caught on to when I didn’t stop staring.
“Oh, I see.” He walked back to where I stood, curled his finger into the front of my shorts, and pulled me toward him. “You’re so impressed by my heroic actions, saving you from certain death, that you want to thank me with your dick. Right here, right now.”
His smirk would’ve been insufferable on anyone else, but Theo wasn’t just anyone. He was uncontained and confident and too fucking much, but somehow that was all part of his charm.
And it was winning me over.
“You think I planned this hike to get you all hot and bothered?”
Theo dipped his fingers into my pants, grazing them along my skin and making me forget we were standing in the middle of a fucking jungle.
“I was already hot and bothered this morning. You just wanted to see me sweat.”
Those full lips were tempting, and as I leaned in to take just a little taste, my eyes caught on something up ahead that altered my plans. “Actually, I want to get you wet.”
“Fuck, consider it done,” he said, angling his head toward me, but I pulled back before he could kiss me.
“Look.” I pointed behind him at the waterfall peeking through the trees. “Care to go for a dip with me?”
“Uh—”
I didn’t wait for his answer before grabbing the hand he’d been trying to stick down my pants and tugging him along behind me.
“Wait, you’re serious?” Theo said. “Is that a good idea?”
“Is a waterfall ever a bad idea?”
He didn’t have an answer for that, and as we stopped along the edge of the crystal-blue water, it looked so inviting that I kicked my boots off.
Theo’s eyes darted around us, scanning everything as if danger was going to pop out any second, but when I pulled my shirt up over my head, he swallowed.
“Come on. It’s gonna feel great.” I folded my shirt and placed it on top of my boots, but Theo was still standing there with his arms crossed.
“You’ve, uh, done this before? Here?”
“Have I swum at the bottom of a waterfall? Yeah. Many times. I’ve jumped off them, too.” I waggled my brows and squinted up at the rocks above, figuring a rough estimate of its height in my head. “Wanna try?”
“Eh, I think I’m good right here.”
“Theo, don’t be a chickenshit.”
“You do know I’m still carrying the knife.”
I laughed and walked to the rock’s edge, where the water was deeper and darker, and then did a shallow dive. It was freezing, but it felt amazing after the heat and humidity soaking through my clothes after hiking awhile.
I broke through the surface to see Theo shaking his head at me, his boots still on, not looking at all like he was joining me.
“How do you know it’s safe? Aren’t there anacondas in there?” he said.
“Just mine.” I grinned, and when Theo groaned, I sent a splash of water his way. “You look like you’re about to stroke out from heat exhaustion, so will you just get in already? Unless you’re scared your crown will slip.”
“I’m not scared. I’m enjoying the view.”
“You could enjoy more than just the view…”
Theo’s eyes turned heated at my offer, and then he cursed. “You’re a pain in my ass.”
“Good. Now you know how it feels.”
I didn’t know what he was muttering in French, but it sounded an awful lot like he was cursing me, cursing the jungle, and cursing the fact he couldn’t help wanting to join me in the first place.
He lost the boots, the weapons, but not the shorts. As he slowly lowered himself in, he held up his middle finger at me.
I laughed and began a slow backstroke out to the middle of the water, doing my best to encourage Theo in past his waist.
“I’m going to make you pay for this,” he grumbled, but the second he lowered himself into the water, he groaned at the immediate cool-down. The humidity out here was no joke.
“See, don’t you feel better?”
Theo swam over to where I was treading water and slicked his hair back from his face. “This gloating side of you is really not attractive.”
“Is that right?” I reached for his waist and drew him in close, then leaned in and said by his ear, “Well, this pouting, scared side of you is kind of adorable.”
He pulled back to glare at me. “I’m not scared.”
“No? So what was the holdup, then?”
“I was surveying the danger.”
“Of the water?”
Theo relaxed into me again and wound his arms around my neck. “The water, the reptiles…the man.”
That was interesting. “You think I’m dangerous?”
Something flickered in Theo’s eyes as he thought over my question and I moved my hands down to cup his ass.
“I think you could be.”
“In general?” I pushed, knowing I had zero right to. But I had him here, and he was feeling vulnerable. “Or to you?”
Theo threaded his fingers up through the wet strands at the nape of my neck, and just as he was about to answer me, his entire body stiffened.
“What was that?”
“What was—”
“That.” He shoved out of my arms so hard I had no choice but to let him go. “What the fuck, Shep?”
“I don’t— Oh.” I started to laugh as something long and slippery brushed up against me. “It’s probably just an eel.”
Theo’s eyes widened. “Just an eel. Have you lost your mind?”
He turned so fast that a spray of water hit me in the face as he kicked toward the edge of the watering hole.
“It’s likely an American eel—they’re generally non-aggressive to humans.”
“Generally?” Theo shook his head as he slipped and slid his way up onto the rocks where he’d left his clothes. “Until one bites your dick off.”
I chuckled but followed, knowing this little respite was over for now. “At least you didn’t get an electric shock. Electric eels are known to swim in these freshwater lakes and rivers too.”
Theo’s hands froze as he glared down at me. “Are you fucking serious?”
I nodded as I climbed out of the water and reached for my shirt. “Relax, would you? Most eels prefer murky waters, and as you can see, this is crystal clear.”
Theo started cursing in French again, but this go around was much more biting in tone. If I had to guess, he was likely cursing my existence and wishing me straight to hell. But as he turned away from me and went to grab for his tank top, any other assurances I had for him vanished.
Instead, I grabbed his arm and stilled him.
Theo immediately went to wrench it free, but when I said, “I don’t mean to alarm you,” he froze.
“News flash, I am fucking alarmed.” He went to spin around and face me, but I halted him with a firm hand.
“Hold still,” I ground out, and studied Theo’s…new little friend.
“Shep?”
“Hmm?”
“What the fuck is going on?”
“You, ah”—I slowly bent down and reached around him for the knife he’d placed beside his clothes—“picked up a friend just now.”
“A friend?”
I straightened behind him, knife in hand, and Theo craned his head to look over his shoulder. When he caught sight of the fat, black, slimy sucker on his shoulder, he balked.
“Is that a… Is that a…”
“Leech?” I nodded, concentrating on its body as I worked out the best way to remove it from his skin. “Yeah, um, they don’t like when you stand still. Especially on the rocks here.”
“You think you could’ve fucking told me that before I put my clothes here. Before you brought me out here. Mon Dieu. Get it off me.”
“I’m trying,” I said, trying my best not to laugh. This wasn’t funny, really. Except it kind of was.
“Just pull it off.” Theo reached up to do just that.
“No!” I barked. “If you squeeze it or pull it, it might…” I trailed off, deciding it was probably best I didn’t tell him what it could do as a result of his doing that.
“It might what?” Theo demanded, and I shook my head, glaring him straight in the eye.
“Just stand still, would you? I need to slide the knife under its head and get its hooks out of you.”
“Putain, je vais te tuer,” Theo said, and when I frowned, he said, “I’m going to fucking kill you.”
“Okay, but do it after.” I slowly slid the knife under the body and down to where the leech was attached. Theo looked away just as I reached its suckers and flicked the fat, plump body to the ground.
Theo shuddered at the sight of it and jerked away from me. “Are there any others on my back?”
“Nope,” I said, biting on my lip to keep from laughing. Then I ran my eyes down to his shorts, just to fuck with him. “Not that I can see, anyway.”
All the color drained from Theo’s face as he pulled out the elastic waist of his shorts and gave his dick a thorough inspection.
“Want me to check your ass?”
“Fuck you, Winchester,” he bit out as he snatched the rest of his clothing and shook it vigorously. “Don’t think I’ll forget this.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it,” I said as I gave myself, and my clothes, a quick once-over. “Ready to check the rest of the perimeter?”
“If you think for one second I am going anywhere other than back to the house and away from anything that crawls, slithers, or bites, you’re out of your damn mind. And that, for the record includes you. Slimy, underhanded bastard.”
“Aw, come on,” I said, and finally lost the battle not to laugh. “Don’t be like that. I mean, I did just save you.”
“Non,” Theo said, and marched forward. “You saved yourself because if I were still holding that knife, you would be gutted right now.”
“Liar. You like me too much to gut me.”
Theo narrowed his eyes, but instead of responding, he spun on his heel and marched off into the jungle, where he proceeded to curse me out in French all the way home.