“Are you in the fucking mood now?”
Danika’s eyes popped open. Without a great deal of surprise since she’d instantly recognized both the voice and the question, she discovered that Basil was lying on his side beside her, his head propped on his fist. Irritation wafted through her, but she was too mellow from her bout with Niles to feel like blasting him with her temper. “Basil,” she said a little testily and then stopped, uttering a huff of irritation. “Yes.”
He stared at her blankly for a moment, as if he was confounded by her response. Before she could urge him to do it and be done—which she felt like doing, ungracious or not, since she most definitely wasnotin the mood having been thoroughly satisfied by Niles—Basil crashed over her like a tsunami.
And he made it clear very quickly that he was far more interested in being thorough that swift, regardless of the obvious signals he gave off of hunger to the point of desperation. With her skin already excruciatingly sensitive, his ministrations had her clawing at the crushed grasses, and then his back. She hadn’t thought he could arouse any warmth let alone heat, but she’d begun to pant, moan, and finally growl at him before he finally got to the point.
She grunted, letting out a low, animalist groan when he speared into her, sheathing himself deeply before he set a frantic pace that sent her over the edge within a matter of minutes. Her climax crashed over her in waves so intense that she found herself gasping out hoarse little screams of mindless pleasure and finally hit a high note that echoed through the forest. Basil curled tightly around her as he hit his own peak, squeezing her until she began to think, vaguely, that he was going to crush her.
She was too far gone to worry about it overmuch.
He nuzzled his face against hers and her throat when he’d caught his breath. “You are so beautiful,” he murmured a little drunkenly.
Danika found herself smiling—mostly with amusement, although it was certainly nice to know the guy was half-blind! “You’re so sweet!” she grunted a little breathlessly, patting his shoulder. “Do you think you could get off now? I’m having a little trouble breathing.”
Dragging in a shuddering breath, he obligingly rolled off. When he did, Niles, who apparently had returned as promised, kicked him in the belly, adding enough impetus to help him roll several more times.
Danika jackknifed upright. “Niles! You’re back!”
He was glaring at Basil, apparently waiting to see if he would get up and continue the fight. Basil glared back at him, seemed to consider it, and finally merely sprawled out tiredly, rubbing his belly.
Niles transferred his attention to her. Holding out his hand, he helped her to her feet and steadied her when she staggered slightly. “I have brought bathing supplies.”
Danika pasted a bright smile on her face. “Great! Let’s bathe and get back. I’m dead on my feet!”
* * * *
Danika realized when she woke that it had been four days since Reuel had left. Unless he’d returned during the night and she’d slept through it—which wouldn’t have surprised her considering how exhausted she was after her romps with Niles and Basil—he hadn’t returned and wasn’t likely to. It seemed inarguable that he and his group had run into trouble and Reuel had told them he wouldn’t lead trouble back to them.
When they’d eaten, they gathered up all of their supplies wordlessly and headed toward the abandoned village. Danika was preoccupied with speculations regarding the missing group through the first part of their trek. It wasn’t until she emerged that she discovered that hostility radiated from every male.
Feeling both dismayed and defensive, she examined their stiff postures, hoping she’d been mistaken. Niles’s expression lightened when he caught her glance. A faint smile curled his lips. Before she could relax, however, he flicked a narrow-eyed glare at Basil. She followed his gaze and discovered Basil was returning it … and then some. Noticing she’d turned to look at him, he grinned at her, waggling his brows.
Danika bit her lip and looked away.
He tripped and sprawled out with a grunt. Startled, Danika whipped a look at him and then Seth, who’d been directly behind him. The satisfied look on Seth’s face was enough to arouse the suspicion that he might have had something to do with Basil’s ‘clumsiness’, but he wiped the look from his face immediately and gave her a bright smile.
She found herself smiling back at him despite her suspicions, but she couldn’t dismiss the undercurrents she thought she’d felt even though Basil picked himself up without a word, brushed himself off, and merely glared at Seth.
Her defensiveness rose another notch. She didn’t recall that any of them had objected when she’d told them point blank that she’d taken all of them as lovers—or at least intended to. She’d expected that to bring some sort of peace. Apparently it hadn’t—not altogether anyway.
But maybe her guys were just resentful that she’d included Basil when they still considered him an outsider and not really a part of their squad?
She recalled abruptly with a mixture of dismay and uneasiness that Niles had told her he loved her—well, not in exactly those words, but words to that effect. It had warmed her when he’d said it because she cared about him, too, but although she knew the guys behaved as if they cared about her, she also knew that they’d been programmed to take care of her.
She hadn’t actually believed he did. She still wasn’t convinced, but taking them all as lovers was certainly going to cause more friction, not less, if they did. They were going to be more territorial, and not as a group that excluded Basil since he hadn’t yet been accepted.
But maybe she’d simply misinterpreted their tension? Maybe it was simply a matter of being disturbed that Reuel hadn’t returned and all of the ramifications of that?
That was certainly enough to make everyone tense and on edge!
They weren’t too distracted to approach the village carefully. Once they’d determined that it was still abandoned, they set about making themselves at home. After checking out all of the huts, Danika settled on the largest one that seemed to have been constructed best.
Leaving their supplies at the base of the tree, she opened all of the window openings and propped the shutters up to allow it to air out and she and the men hauled water up to scrub it down. “It would make things a hell of a lot more comfortable if we could figure out some way to bring the water up that didn’t include hauling it up with vines,” she muttered after the fourth or fifth pitcher.
Seth, who’d been working with her, paused, studying her for a long moment. Or maybe he was just thinking?
“Water will not flow up hill,” he responded after a moment.
