I’m awake before the dark even starts to thin. I lie still for a moment, listening to the jungle below the overhang, letting my senses range out into the trees, and the undergrowth. Nothing moving that shouldn’t be there. There’s nothing close. Then for just a moment, I savor the feeling of this…of her.
There is a part of me that is happy we have longer together, even though being in the jungle is risky.
I pull in a nose full of her, getting the musky scent of sex. My cock stirs, but I ignore it, easing my arm out from underneath her and getting to my feet.
She doesn’t move.
She’s face down on the fronds, her hair spread wide, one arm thrown out toward the empty space where I was. She looks young like this. Soft and beautiful. I stand there for a beat longer, and then I get my head straight, leaving the overhang.
Carla isn’t for me.
She never was.
I quickly climb down to the jungle floor. The air is thicker than yesterday, and there’s something in the smell of it that tells me rain is coming.
I move through the trees to the river, keeping close to the root systems and the thicker canopy where the undergrowth is densest. I do a sweep of the bank before I go back for Carla.
She’s awake when I get there, sitting up on the fronds with her hair pushed out of her face, still looking half-asleep but dressed in her meager clothing.
“Morning,” she says.
“We need to get going, but I thought you might like to wash up first.”
She’s on her feet before I finish the sentence. “I would love that.”
We make it to the bank without incident. I do a second sweep while Carla waits at the tree line.
“It’s clear.”
She walks past me and starts pulling at the knot of her skirt, and I face upriver and let her handle it. A moment later, I hear the sound of her stepping in.
I step into the shallows on my side. The water is chilly but very manageable. The humidity is already high. It won’t be long before it’s sweltering, even in the shade of the trees.
We wash. I keep my back to her and my eyes on the upriver stretch, my hands moving over my skin on autopilot while my ears do the real work.
I manage not to look at her, but only just. There is no time for fucking. It doesn’t matter how much I want her.
She doesn’t take long. A few minutes and the sounds of her moving through the water get closer as she comes back to the shallow edge.
It’s only when she’s dressing that I risk a glance.
She’s so damned sexy. She reaches down and pulls up her panties and then slowly pulls on her bra, cupping her tits and pulling them up into the cups. My balls start to pull tight, so I look away.
“Done,” she says as she knots the fabric.
I wade out and sigh.
“The castle is further out than I thought.” I watch her face. “I miscalculated. We’ve covered good ground, but we’re looking at one more night out here at a minimum.”
Her expression doesn’t crumble, but I see the effort it takes. She drops her arms and straightens. “Another night?”
“Yes.”
She breathes out once through her nose. “I had hoped to reach it today.”
“I know that’s not what you wanted to hear. I’m hoping we might make it there before dark tomorrow.”
“This is terrible.” She looks at the water for a second, then back at me. “But okay. I take it we need to pick up the pace?”
