IT RAINED for three solid days.
Madison checked in with Professor Hampton and learned the rest of the group had never left camp because of the inclement weather. Dammit, why hadn’t she checked the forecast? She and Jake were out here all alone.
To keep their hands off each other, they’d spent the time talking about their childhoods, their pasts, their likes and dislikes. They’d played twenty questions and truth or dare, and when they tired of that they resorted to the childhood game, I spy.
I spy with my little eye something very sexy, Madison thought as she looked at Jake.
She told him about orchids, why she loved them, why she’d spent her life collecting them—moth orchids and lady’s slippers and vanda and cattleya and Burana Sunshine. Jake spun stories about the places he’d been. South America, South Africa, Australia, Europe, the Orient.
They discovered they had much more in common than they would have ever suspected, given their divergent backgrounds—Madison was working on her PhD and Jake had gotten a GED instead of finishing high school. She was scientific and analytical while he trusted his gut and acted on instinct. She liked time to think things through, he was fast-paced and action-oriented. But, they both loved roller coasters and in-line skating. Both of them were night owls, preferring to sleep in and stay up late. They agreed that while it was noble to be politically active, neither of them had ever bothered to vote. Their favorite comfort food was macaroni and cheese—the kind that came in a box. They preferred the same brand of beer, chose corn chips over potato chips, and thought kettle corn was just plain weird. They learned that they shared an obsession with reality TV and they enjoyed old B monster movies. They’d each been to the International Spy Museum in Washington D.C. on several occasions and realized to their surprise that on one occasion they’d both been there on the same day.
By the time the rain stopped on the third day it was as if they’d known each other their entire lives.
They woke from their sleeping bags to the sound of birds chirping and sun flooding in through the boards of the hut. Jake yawned and stretched as Madison put on her glasses and finger-combed her hair.
“Ten o’clock,” she said, strapping on her watch, and yawned. “How late did we stay up last night?”
Jake shrugged. “I’m not one for keeping to a schedule, but I think it was pretty late. I was having a lot of fun trying to guess where your birthmark is.”
Madison rolled her eyes. She should never have told him about the heart-shaped birthmark. When she’d refused to show it to him, he’d started trying to guess where it was. Teasingly whispering, “Breasts? Belly? Thigh? Tushy?”
That little game had heated her up quick as his gaze had caressed every body part he called out. But it’d ended when Izzy phoned her to declare, “Either do him or don’t, Madison. This foreplay business is going on too long and it’s rude to keep waking me up in the middle of the night.”
Remembering, she raised her head, saw Jake giving her the once-over. Was he remembering, too? A hot rush of sensation passed through her and she quickly ducked her head.
“You’re a beauty, Maddie, even if you don’t know it,” he said.
Where had that come from? Madison caught his gaze and cleared her throat. She wasn’t accustomed to men complimenting her for her looks. For her expertise, yes. For her intelligence, sometimes. Brainy girls, she’d discovered, intimidated most guys. Even the brainy guys, because they were afraid of the competition.
But not Jake. Jake seemed genuinely impressed with her.
“Better get a move on,” she said. “Today might just be the day we find the amore.”
The muddy traipse through the jungle quickly grew hot, sweaty and tiresome, and they were down to their last canteen of water. Madison kept checking the map and her coordinates. They were so near the amore, she could taste it.
But when they reached the area where she was certain the flowers would be—where the soil nutrients and the rain levels and the amount of sunshine was absolutely perfect for orchid growing—there was nothing but more jungle fronds and tall dark trees and mud, mud, mud.
Disappointment swept through her like a snowstorm dusting across the plains. Hampton had been right and she’d been wrong. “Dammit,” she muttered, startled to realize she was very near tears. Madison didn’t cry. It took a lot to make her weep. But she’d been so sure…so certain that this was it. She’d been passionate about orchids for most of her life, and the amore in particular had captured her imagination. What was she going to do about her dissertation now?
She only had one option. Go back to Hampton with her tail between her legs and beg his forgiveness.
“What’s wrong?” Jake asked.
She shook her head. “This is where the amore was supposed to be. I was convinced.”
Jake scratched his head. Had he bet on the wrong pony? Had he let his attraction to Madison sway his decision to throw in his lot with her instead of sticking with Professor Hampton? Yeah, probably.
But oddly enough, he didn’t really care. Yes, he still wanted to save Joe’s Bar and Grill, but these last few days with Madison had been among the best in his life. Even if they hadn’t had sex. Maybe precisely because they hadn’t had sex. He’d gotten to really know her before sleeping with her. Sort of a first for him. He couldn’t regret having spent time with her. Even if that meant he’d lost out on his chance of getting his hands on those orchids.
In fact, being with her, hearing her talk about the importance of orchid conservation, listening to the pure passion in her voice when she spoke of the beautiful flowers, brought home the message that his goal was corrupt. Stealing and smuggling orchids wasn’t the way to save Joe’s place. He got that now. Before being enlightened by Madison, he’d been very cavalier and he was ashamed of himself.
Now, all he wanted to do was help her find the orchids. Not for him, but for her.
He watched her shoulders sag and her eyes mist as she fought back tears and Jake felt something inside him shift, change. She had worked and strived and struggled for years to get here and it was slipping from her grasp. Jake didn’t really understand what that was all about. He’d never put that much effort into anything. He skated by, having fun, following his whims, doing as he wished. His fear of deprivation and his need to keep himself entertained had prevented him from searching for deeper meaning.
In her, he saw the value of slowing down and taking his time, of being deeply invested in something. Of doing more than skimming the surface before flitting off to something new. He was always on the look-out for adventure, always chasing the next thrill. He’d believed staying busy, focusing on happy things was the key to navigating life’s bumps and potholes. For him, stealing the orchid had been about more than looking out for Joe. It was a challenge, a caper, a great big game just to see if he could go for it.
But Madison had made him realize something extremely profound, and to Jake, who was not prone to profound thoughts, it was an earth-shattering insight. As long as he was in a tunnel-visioned pursuit of happiness and satisfaction, he would never obtain it. Fulfillment was not the result of anticipating the next adventure waiting around the corner. It was based on appreciating what you had in the moment.
And right now, he had Madison.
“I’ve been kidding myself.” She groaned.
“Now I wouldn’t have expected that from you.”
“Expected what?”
“Self-pity.”
“I’m not feeling sorry for myself.” She paused. “Okay, yes, yes, I am. I’ve spent three years searching for this orchid only to be foiled again. I think a little self-pity is allowed.”
“C’mon,” he said, taking her hand. “We’re not giving up yet. Let’s keep looking.”
“It’ll be getting dark soon. We need to make camp for the night.”
“Just a little longer,” he coaxed.
“All right,” she grumbled. “But it’s no use.”
“What’s it gonna hurt?”
She shrugged and followed where he led.
They pushed through the heavy vegetation, fighting the plants thwarting their progress. Their backpacks might as well have been lead weights. Jake’s shoulders ached, his calves ached, hell, everything ached. They scaled a small rise and walked through a tunnel of trees where the setting sunlight flickered in long yellow rays as they entered a small clearing.
Madison suddenly pulled back on his hand. “Jake,” she whispered. “Look.”
WHAT MADISON saw stole all the air from her lungs. She stood there, mouth agape, heart thumping, mind spinning, senses buzzing.
For there, growing on the surrounding trees, were hundreds of amore orchids stretched out before them, comets of deep midnight blue tangled up among the jungle vines. Madison had seen many orchids in her life, but none like these. They possessed enormous long stems and delicate petals that resembled female sex organs.
A slow smile spread across her face and her eyes narrowed in delight. Here lay paradise.
“Damn,” Jake said. “Will you look at that?”
Simultaneously, they breathed in, inhaling the incredible fragrance of orchid. It was a merry-go-round of smells—a rose-like scent combined with jasmine, rye bread, musk, wintergreen, cinnamon, cloves. The odd but enticing chemical combination sent a rush of heat through her nose and into her lungs, warming her blood, sending red-hot waves of desire radiating straight to the tingling spot between her legs. Amore orchids.
She twirled in a circle, arms outstretched, dizzy, happy. This then was the scent of love.
The smell was immediate and undiluted. It needed no words to translate. It smelled like sex.
Madison caught her breath, spun around. Jake was watching her with heavy-lidded eyes and she knew he felt it, too. This urging, the yearning to be joined.
The look he gave her said, I can turn your insides into chocolate pudding, and the cocky tilt to his head left her airless and addled. A deadly combo. This smell. That man.
There was no nerd here. No matter what he pretended, this man was a rebel through and through. A good-time bad boy who wasn’t good for her. Another ne’er-do-well. And she knew he was going to lead her into temptation and beyond.
His eyes danced with naughtiness and when he dropped his backpack, she dropped hers, too. Then he slowly stripped off his black T-shirt, and when she got a good look at his honed, muscled chest, her heart slammed into her ribcage, a car wreck of chaotic sensation.
“C’mere,” he murmured in a husky, dusky voice as ripe as the orchid scent. His expression said he knew her right down to the depths of her soul.
Jake held out his hand.
In a dreamlike state, she moved toward him, pulled by a force she didn’t understand but could not resist.
Languidly, he removed her glasses and tucked them into his backpack for safekeeping. He dug around for a condom and when he found it he held it up like a great prize.
He stalked back to her, slipped his arms around her, tugging her down onto the grass in the clearing, kissing her tenderly as if she was as rare and precious as the orchids.
They finished undressing each other. Shoes flying, pants sliding, chastity belt unlocking, until they were totally naked before each other.
Madison’s cell phone rang, the sound echoing in the forest.
“Your friends,” he said.
She crawled across the grass, fumbling for the phone in her backpack. She answered it by gasping, “I’m out.”
“Wh—” Bianca’s voice said on the other end, but Madison never heard the rest because Jake took the phone from her, tossed it over his shoulder and pulled her down again.
He kissed her hard and long and hot. They lay on the slick, wet grass, the sleepy sun filtering through the tree branches. All around them the orchids, heavy and sweet, glowed in that dying light. Under his deft fingers, her aching body bloomed, as spectacular as the flowering plants, and she shivered against his rousing touch.
Lust swamped her. She had to have him. Had to have him or she would surely die. She pulled his bottom lip up between her teeth and he made a noise of pure enjoyment.
He cupped her face in his palms, dipped his head and kissed her with a soul-stealing, grade-A, world-class kiss that curled Madison’s toes. The moment was brilliant. He was brilliant. It was her most brilliant fantasy come to life.
She burrowed into him, her breasts pressed flush against his muscled chest. He ran his palms up and down her arms. She threw back her head and he tracked kisses over the tender areas of her throat, nestling and nibbling.
Experimentally, he rubbed his thumbs over her nipples and they beaded up tight. “Ah,” he said. “So you like that?”
“Uh-huh.” A hazy hotness draped over her, thick with sexual urgency. She wanted him so badly she couldn’t speak.
“What about this?” He laved his tongue along her collarbone.
She shuddered against him.
“And this?” Lightly, he stroked circles on the inside of her arm.
“Beast,” she gasped.
“Exactly.” He grinned.
The force of his desire caused her to tremble and sweat. Her knees quivered. Her heart pounded.
He tunneled his fingers through her hair. She felt his presence in every cell of her body.
He loved her with his mouth, tonguing her with amazing tenderness, a slow glide from the sensitive spot behind her knee, around to her kneecap and up her inner thigh until she was rolling in ecstasy.
She floated, body-less. She was total awareness, her entire being a giant throb of sexual energy.
He kissed lazy circles of heat and she was transfixed. Finally he edged to the spot where she wanted him to be, at the sweet V between her legs.
His wet tongue teased, slowly licking her outer lips. Inhaled her. Then caressed her with the sensuous sweep of his tongue.
He sucked at every fold, lapped at her ridges and lifted her buttocks to devour his meal. An electric flash of brilliant energy lit the inside of her head and all the air was drained from her lungs.
She surfed his tongue, owned it. She hovered on the brink of orgasm but he would not let her fall over. A steady strumming vibration began deep in her throat, emerging as a wild moan.
She thrust herself against his mouth, gripping the sides of his head with her thighs, letting her juices flow.
He released her but didn’t remove his tongue from her twitching clit. His tongue danced with it, wriggling nimbly.
Her skin was incredibly sensitive, her body tingling and tender. She tried to push him away, it was simply too much pleasure, but he stayed put, pushing his tongue deep inside her. Then out and down to the region beyond.
This new sensation drove her into a frenzy. Her muscles flexed. Blinding flashes of light. A rushing sound like ocean waves in her head. Uncontrollable spasms rattled her body.
Her world quaked.
His fingers touched and tickled and tingled. Her butt, her inner thigh, her clit. He slid one finger deep inside her wetness, while his tongue continued to strum the feminine head of her.
She didn’t know where she was or who she was with. Who was she? Woman or creature?
His hands were broad and warm. His mouth an instrument of exquisite torture. Time spun, morphed, as elusive as space.
She was spellbound, mesmerized, entranced. Embraced by a longing so precious and severe she couldn’t breathe. In delicious anguish, she cried out her delight.
He rocked back on his heels, clasped her to his chest and held her tight, hands threaded in her hair, until her crazy thudding heart calmed.
Then when she had rested, he made love to her again, sinking his flesh into hers. He wanted her as desperately as she wanted him, with the same high-octane intensity.
As their bodies joined and hotly fused in the moonlight—at some point the sun had gone down and the moon had appeared—orchid pollen travelled on the air, floating on the night breeze. The petals rustled, their minute fluttering as primal as the heavy breathing Madison and Jake shared.
Scent drenched the air—orchids and mating—combining, fusing, part of an ancient dance as old as the sun and the moon and the stars.
The entire time he was buried inside her, he stared into her eyes, as if he was lost in her gaze and could not find his way out. Did not even want to find his way out.
Two became one.
A single being.
Trembling and clinging.
His cock filled her up, pushing far inside her until he could go no farther.
Then he pulled back. In and out, he moved in a even tempo that rocked her soul. He rode her and she rode him until they both came in a blazing, blinding light.
AWHILE LATER, Jake awoke and listened to Maddie’s soft breathing. Her head was resting on his chest and it felt so good he smiled into the darkness.
And then he remembered why he was in Costa Rica in the first place.
He had a secret to confess to her. Something he should have told her before he made love to her, but he’d been so caught up in the moment, so under her spell, so excited for her over the discovery of the amore orchids that he’d followed his instincts and not his head. Like always.
Except everything else was different here and his usual behavior no longer applied. Not with Maddie. With her he wouldn’t have to look for adventure or scout out the next thrill. She was the adventure, being with her the thrill. He just prayed she’d forgive him when he told her the truth.
“Jake?” she whispered into the sultry darkness.
“Uh-huh.”
“Do you have any more condoms?”
“Yes.”
She walked her fingers up his chest. “Could we um…go again?”
Now’s the time, speak!
He was going to. He intended to, but then she was touching her hot, sweet tongue to his nipple, and all conscious thought flew right out of his brain. He searched for the condom, found it, got it on somehow, then rolled over, taking her with him, cradling Madison in his arms.
She let out a soft little moan and opened her legs.
He held his weight on his forearms and slid into her welcoming wetness. Overhead, the moon shone down on her face. He stared into her bright, trusting eyes and moved his body over hers, fitting perfectly against the curved hollow of her hips.
Maddie caressed his face with her tender hands, murmured endearments in a lyrical tone. But soon the hushed whispers turned to gritty groans and heated gasps. She made him feel like the best lover on earth.
He loved hearing her sexy sounds. In fact, he was pretty sure he could listen to them for the rest of his life and die a happy, happy man.
And when her release came, he twined their hands together above her head and rocked into her with one fierce thrust. She arched her back, eager to meet him, and wrapped her legs around his waist, pulling him in as deep as he could go. Their fingers were locked, their gazes welded as they came in one shattering shudder.
“Wow,” she breathed a few minutes after they’d come spiraling down. “Just, wow.”
“That doesn’t begin to cover it.” They were lying on their backs, their eyes directed up at the vast field of stars, wrapped in a cocoon of amore-orchid scent.
“That was the best ever,” she whispered.
“For me, too,” he confessed.
“It was…you were…you make me feel so…”
He waited for her to finish, wondering how he made her feel, when the steady sounds of her breathing told him she’d fallen asleep. He smiled. He’d worn her out.
He marveled at how he could be so connected to someone he’d only known for four days. It made no sense, but he couldn’t deny it.
Could he be…was he possibly…falling in love?