Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 68509 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68509 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
“I think there’s probably a good chance, given how long we ran and how much ground we covered, that we might need to spend the night here.”
“The night.”
“Yeah.”
“In here. With the giant beetles and the bird-eating spiders and God-knows what else.”
“Afraid so.”
“Do you happen to have insect netting in that handy-dandy bag of yours?”
“I can do us one better.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
Wick
“A hammock is better than an insect net?” Violet asked a few hours later after we steadily made progress toward—I hoped—the road.
But the sun was going down.
We had to set up for the night.
I was suddenly really thankful I’d opted for the plain green travel hammock rather than the much more appealing-looking multicolored one. If I set us up in a thick enough little alcove, we would be all but invisible all night.
Neither of us had heard trackers since whenever we’d lost them on that first initial run. But I didn’t exactly want to take chances either. Especially if we would both be sleeping.
“How about here?” I asked, ignoring her question because she would see soon enough.
“By that giant old tree? Full of wood? And, likely, a whole army of giant beetles? No.”
She’d been walking clutching my bottle of bug spray to her chest since I’d sprayed her in anticipation of the mosquitoes coming out.
“We should go… hey, do you hear that?” she asked, stiffening.
“The men?” I asked.
But she crept forward, toward the sound, leaving me to gather up the hammock and follow.
“Water!” she said, shoulders sagging in relief. “Running water is safe, right?” she asked, gesturing toward the small stream trickling gently by.
“Safe for what?” I asked.
“Washing off?”
“Not necessarily, no. I mean… if you’re just rinsing and avoiding anywhere that might have any open wounds, then maybe. There could be bacteria or parasites in the water. But I have this,” I said, handing her the hammock—so it didn’t touch the ground where the bugs lived and freak her out—I dug deep into my backpack for something I hadn’t imagined I would have a lot of use for. I’d really only packed it because it was so compact.
“What is that?” Violet asked when I produced the little plastic canister with a hand pump and an itty-bitty shower attachment.
“A rainforest shower. It’s the best we can do without a nice, heavy rainfall, I think.”
Violet looked dubious but watched me as I filled it from the stream, then pumped it to filter, and, finally, hit the spray button.
“It’s a bit like hosing off a dog in the backyard, but… okay,” she said, trading me the hammock for the hose.
“I’m gonna set up back around that bend,” I told her, pointing. “To give you some privacy,” I added when she started to object, likely imagining some sort of giant bug that might be plotting her demise.
“Oh. Okay.”
“Oh, here,” I said, digging in my backpack pocket for one of the tiny little bars of eco-friendly soap. “You can use this here. It’s safe.”
“Thank God. I’m so sticky.”
With that, I made my way back around the bend, trying to force myself to think of anything but her stripping down next to that stream and rinsing her body off, rubbing soap all over her soft skin…
Christ.
It was going to be a long night.
Sharing a damn hammock.
Trying to keep my desire from being discovered.
I focused on getting the hammock hung, making sure it was extra secure, since we would be sharing it, hanging my backpack on one end of it after grabbing a few supplies, then finally making my way back to the stream.
I thought I’d given her plenty of time.
But as I walked up, I was met with her in nothing but a pair of black panties.
My foot caught a twig, making her jump and gasp as I squeezed my eyes shut.
But not before I saw a lot of side boob.
Fuck.
Even just standing there, my cock twitched to life.
“Sorry. I thought you’d be done,” I said.
“I, uh, had to change. My clothes were still wet with sweat.”
Right down to her bra too, it seemed. A fact I really, really didn’t need to know.
“Just one… second,” she said, and I could hear her stumbling as she, I imagined, got the rest of her clothes on. “Okay.”
I opened my eyes to find her in a pair of skintight black gym shorts that were hiding a whole lot of nothing, and another of her ever-present tank tops. Only now, there was way too much on display for her to be wearing a bra under it.
“I used all your soap. I should probably feel bad about that. But I don’t.”
“I’ve got like a dozen of them,” I assured her. “We might be in survival mode, but we can stay somewhat clean.”
“Are you going to shower?” she asked, reaching for her toothbrush and paste.
“Yeah.” I damn sure wasn’t going to expect her to share a hammock with me all dirty while she smelled and looked all fresh. “Use the bottled water to rinse,” I told her. “I have other filters to use if we run low on bottled water. But I didn’t check how strong of filtration that shower thing has.”