“We’ll manage.” I captured his mouth with mine and moved slowly, my soft noises of need escaping with gasps. His groan vibrated in his chest, and I felt it in every part of my body. It scared me how much I wanted this man and how easily I could lose myself in him. I tried not to think of the future and only focused on this moment. On us. And how good he made me feel. How much he wanted me. How much I wanted him. Our kiss went from hard to soft, then back to hungry. Hunter tasted of salt and citrus, and his heart pounded against mine when I looped my arms around his neck and began working him faster.
“You feel incredible,” Hunter said breathlessly. He sucked and bit the base of my throat.
His word spiraled through me, making me want to change my mind. To stay with him. To trust my heart that it was what I needed. I rocked back and forth with a slow rotating movement, dragging my clit against his pelvis, its coarse hairs creating a perfect sensation, sending waves of pleasure at our contact.
“Let me get behind you,” he whispered.
“No,” I insisted. “I want to be in control.” I squeezed tight around him and a rugged exhale rippled through his throat. Hunter pressed his head back on the tree, closing his eyes.
My thighs grew tired in a few minutes, and I was getting out of breath, but I needed to chase my relief and help Hunter to reach his. I was so close. We were so close.
Hunter sensed my exhaustion, and his left hand snaked between our joined bodies. His fingers massaged my clit, his hips rhythmically driving into me deeper again and again. His mouth found my ear, and he demanded in a seductive whisper, “Come around my cock, sweetheart.”
Maybe it was him calling me by nicknames he hadn’t before, or maybe it was his goddamn command and the way he growled it, but that was enough for me. My inner muscles tightened, gripping him, and with a muffled cry into his mouth, I unraveled. And so did Hunter, with low curses mixed with my name. My body slacked against Hunter’s, and I smiled into his shoulder, totally happy, totally in love, and totally not sure if returning home was the right decision.
Later, Hunter assumed the first watch while I attempted to fall asleep. It wasn’t easy. Pesky bugs buzzed (and crawled in places of my body they shouldn’t), not letting me relax. Perhaps it was how I sat: my knees were drawn up to give Hunter more space at my feet, as he watched the beach. By now, Tom had had enough time to reach Avarua, gather whoever he needed to bring, and return to Teaku at any minute. So rest was the last thing on my mind, even though I knew I needed it.
Today felt like the longest day of my life. My overstimulated brain overthought everything that happened: Tom’s visit, Hunter admitting he loved me, uncertainty about what would happen to us when this was over, us hiding in the bushes, the dead trunk looming above, my back against its alive twin. I slapped a pestering bug on my shoulder.
Strong but hollow alive but dead inside.
The last riddle kept flashing in my mind like the lightning of a passing storm in the distance. You smelled rain, felt an electric charge in the air, yet you couldn’t feel wet fat drops, but you knew it was coming your way. The answer to the riddle was within the reach of my fingers. Still, I couldn’t grasp it.
The gold statue was seven feet tall and Captain William Thomson would’ve needed a gigantic space to store it. On the printout the illustration showed it was slim. It could have been lowered into an opening in the mountain because the rock was strong and dead, but the trees on the top were alive. Well, damn it. There was a lot of the mountain here. It had to be something a bit more obvious. Something that was here two hundred years ago but already big and strong. The giant. It was far from the beach, well hidden from view and weather elements. It could be dead for years and never bothered by storms and strong gusts. It could be the answer to the riddle if it was also hollow.
“Hunter,” I said. “What if the last riddle means the giant tree near the bat cave?”
“You’re supposed to be asleep,” Hunter said without looking at me.
“No, listen.” I straighten up. “It looks alive, but it’s ancient, and for all we know, it could have been half dead when Captain Thomson found it. He probably stuffed the statue into its trunk. It is so huge he could hide two statues inside if he wanted.” What little energy levels I had flared to life. “I want to check it out.”
Hunter twisted to look at me, his forehead wrinkled. “Now?”
“Yes. It’s still light outside. I’ll check it out and come back.”
ChapterTwenty-Eight
Leaving Hunter to monitor the bay, I skittered through the jungle, tripping over a root once and suffering a minor heart attack when Tuesday darted out from under bushes. Dumb cats. When I reached the tree, I quickly realized getting to the top wouldn’t be as easy.
“Crap,” I muttered, eyeing the tree limb about ten feet off the ground.
I circled the trunk once and then again, debating how to climb it. The distance between the tree and each side of the mountain was too far for me to climb by spreading my limbs like a starfish. The trunk’s width prevented me from wrapping my arms or thighs around it, and the bark, while ridged, didn’t provide enough grip for my toes or fingers. There weren’t enough manageable-sized stones to move and build a stepping base. I needed a ladder.
The sound of someone moving quickly over the rocks sent my mind into a panic, rooting my bare feet to the ground. Hunter appeared, and immediate relief flooded my ribcage but then a new panic hit me.
“Fuck. Are they here?”
“No. But we shouldn’t separate. If we do something, we do it together.”
It sounded romantic, but we were on borrowed time. I sized Hunter up. He was six-three and built like a gladiator. Iwas five-five. If we made a human pyramid, I could reach it. The only question was if I could climb once he lifted me. About six years ago, Tina secured two passes to a new state-of-the-art indoor climbing facility and dragged me along with her. She made it to the top—twice—whereas I fell off the wall after making it a quarter of the way—in my defense, it was still high. The highest point was a hundred feet. When I landed, I twisted my ankle, and that was the end of our fun. Well, it wasn’t the end of the fun per se; we just moved it to a much safer place. A margarita bar next door.
I took a deep breath. “I need to stand on your shoulders to reach the first branch.”
Facing the trunk, Hunter crouched and held out his good arm to me. I placed my right foot on his shoulder, grabbed his hand and placed my other foot on his left shoulder. This was a bad idea.
“Don’t get up just yet. I need to be stable.” I rested my palm on the tree for balance. “Okay, you can get up now. Slowly.” Hunter’s body shook under my weight. “Hunter?”
“One sec. My thigh muscle is cramping up,” Hunter said through clenched teeth, then gingerly rose. I wobbled and let go of his hand, pressing my other palm on the tree. My hands walked its trunk as I got higher and higher, and my legs trembled, finding stability.
