Oh yeah, definitely famished here.

She hadn't eaten since...well, the women who'd locked her in that cage had given her loads of food. Fruit mostly and some raw vegetables, but fruit and veggies only took a steak-and-potatoes kind of girl only so far. And evidenced by her not-so-trim figure, she'd certainly had her share of eating out at fast food restaurants since she couldn't cook worth a d.a.m.n.

Not that she'd never tried. Both her mom and dad were avid cooks. They'd loved teaching their kids the art of cooking. Unfortunately Kayla never shared their pa.s.sion. She preferred to eat out. Especially since her obsession for studying veterinary medicine kept her in her dorm room most of the time.

Going out to eat and having occasional s.e.x with a guy were the only times she pretty much left her room.

Kayla closed her eyes when another wave of worry threatened to turn her into a washer full of tears. Hers was a tight-knit family. They'd always looked out for each other. Had been raised that way. It was an inbred instinct to find her brothers and bring them back home. And if she was to carry out the mission of reuniting the family, then she'd best get her a.s.s in gear, eat that fish, find that hunk and get moving.

From out of the nearby forest of waving green branches and towering ferns, Mr. s.e.xy Tarzan stud made an appearance. Immediately that insanely beautiful stab of longing crashed into her.

His lithe, fit body moved gracefully as he strolled along the sandy river sh.o.r.e toward the fire. His every step was sure and confident as he padded barefoot, his muscular arms laden with sticks for the fire. Her crash course in survival training had taught her certain types of wood caused less smoke than others, and he must have known this too as the fire was virtually smokeless.

But Taylor was anything but smokeless. The guy oozed fire and s.e.xuality with his nicely tanned, nearly naked body, and she couldn't get enough of looking at him. The craving for s.e.x shifted through her again. An almost overpowering need for skin-to-skin contact with him. A wicked desire that stretched into her b.r.e.a.s.t.s and deep into her p.u.s.s.y.

She shivered as he dropped a few sticks onto the fire and lifted his head. He caught her gaze and, for a moment, she swore she had an entire body o.r.g.a.s.m as he studied her with his stormy brown eyes. They seemed filled with both a restlessness to keep moving and a wild desire to f.u.c.k her again.

Heat flamed through Kayla as she dropped her stare to his c.o.c.k, only to find it covered by a green, apparently fern-woven breechcloth, which truly only increased her urge to have his c.o.c.k free so she could look at it again. And, of course, have him sinking deep inside her. Oh yes, she certainly wanted to send out "f.u.c.k me now" signals. His eyes narrowed slightly as if he'd read her mind.

Oh boy, talk about being dropped into a sensual inferno. Her body was tight and tense. Her heart was hammering away like a battering ram and d.a.m.ned if her b.r.e.a.s.t.s weren't swollen and her p.u.s.s.y creaming, readying for him.

Wow, she needed to get a grip on herself. She needed food and to find her brothers and sisters. Not more scrumptious s.e.x with him.

"I thought males weren't allowed clothing?" she blurted.

Taylor stiffened for a second, and then the tips of his lips curled upward in an amused grin. She couldn't stop the flames of embarra.s.sment licking her cheeks.

"I'm wearing this so I have at least one or two seconds of hesitation before I f.u.c.k you again. Perhaps the extra moments will prevent it from happening."

Kayla blinked in stunned shock. Had f.u.c.king her been so bad?

She turned her head from his intense gaze so he couldn't see the hurt screaming through her. Why had he f.u.c.ked her? She'd been like an animal in heat in the river. Had her s.e.xual arousal frightened him away? Or maybe he didn't want to use his s.e.x slave-lovemaking skills on her?

Maybe he'd done it because of what he said about drinking water from the Fever Swamps? And he'd simply been administering first aid?

Before he'd taken her, she'd lost control of her mind and her senses. Her brain had shut down, and when he'd entered her all she'd wanted to do was lose herself in his powerful thrusts and the awesome o.r.g.a.s.m that had followed.

The s.e.x between them had been totally different than the mellow, ho-hum s.e.x she'd experienced with guys in her previous relationships. On Earth, she'd always prided herself in maintaining control in s.e.x and not becoming wild and mindless as the creatures she tended in her veterinarian clinic. Now she understood why her female patients needed to be mated when they were in heat. She needed to be mated!

What was going on with her? Whether it was the tainted water she drank, the fresh air or this hot stud, something instinctual had been unleashed. Some animal l.u.s.t deep inside her craved Taylor.

She was so deep in thought, she hadn't noticed the cooked fish on a piece of wood dangling in front of her face. It was the tantalizing scent that made her mouth water and her tummy growl.

"You must eat, gain your strength."

Gain your strength for some more hot and heavy f.u.c.king, his brown eyes announced as his heated look pierced her with electrical, animal magnetism.

He'd squatted on his haunches right in front of her. His body was tense and alert as he studied her. "Come, take it. Eat."

Oh she'd love to eat him again. Kayla smiled inwardly and accepted the stick with the fish.

"We will stay here only until we finish eating. Then we must leave."

Kayla's face must have reflected the disappointment crashing through her.

"I do not think they will capture us, so you need not worry. We will not go at such a quick pace. But I will need to leave you alone many times to cover our tracks as we go."

Leave her alone? Now was her chance to find out what he knew about her brothers.

"You mentioned the Hero brothers when..." Okay, she couldn't verbalize what they'd been doing at the time. Her face went hot. "Earlier you spoke of my brothers. How far to them? Are they with Piper?"

Her hopes were dashed when he shook his head. "They are apart. The three brothers are farther away. They are with their women in the Outer Limits. We can get to it by water quicker than by land."

"Are they well?"

Taylor smiled and nodded eagerly. "Very well."

Was he really taking her to Piper? For all she knew he was just making up that he knew her sister as he went along. Would she be better off not believing him and separating from him? Using one of those opportunities of him being away from her to escape? Not that he was holding her against her will. s.e.xually yes, physically no. But seriously, was there a difference?

Enough thinking of the s.e.x, Kayla girl. Get a grip and ignore those gorgeous muscles lacing his arms.

"How far away are my brothers?"

His broad, naked shoulders bunched up. "It depends."

"On?" She slid one of the cooked fish off the stick. The scent of wild onions and some unidentified herbs drifted into her nostrils. They smelled delicious.

"The storms," he answered.

Kayla followed his gaze to the gray sky.

Yep, it did look like rain and the sticky humidity made her skin clammy.

"It is not laced," he replied softly as she inspected her meal.

"Laced? What?"

He nodded to the fish. "It is not laced with any drugs, if that is what you fear. I may have lived with the Death Valley Boys, but I did not adapt nor agree to their ways."

Whoa. This was nuts.

"You lived with the Death Valley Boys?"

"Jarod and I. Yes."

"Jarod...that's the guy Piper is interested in, right?"

He nodded and bit into his fish. The crunch of his chewing and the succulent scent wafting off the warm fish made her mouth water some more.

"And these...Boys, they laced the food with drugs?" What kind? Why?

His full lips dipped into a frown and his eyes glittered with intense seriousness.

"Many of the women taken during the Slave Uprising were...uncooperative. The males used the same techniques on the females as were used on the males. Eat your fish."

Kayla couldn't wait any longer. Taking a bite, she gasped in surprise at the moist explosion of flavors against her taste buds. Outside the fish was crispy and savory. Inside the white meat literally melted in her mouth. Okay, so she didn't hate fish anymore. She took another bite, and then another.

Gosh, it tasted good and she was famished. Within minutes, she had devoured the two fish.

d.a.m.ned if she didn't want more. She eyed the one fish left on Taylor's stick.

"Go ahead, eat it. I have more on the fire."

More? Heaven! There is a G.o.d!

They ate silently and Kayla helped herself to three more fish as Taylor brought them over to her one by one. Oh yeah, she liked this treatment of him serving her. Liked it a lot.

"Where in the world did you learn to cook like this? You should be a chef in some exotic restaurant," Kayla gushed as she licked her fingers, wishing for an ice-cold beer to wash down the wonderful flavors tingling on her tongue.

"What is a chef?" he asked, one eyebrow c.o.c.ked in question.

"A cook, someone who gets paid a lot of money for their services."

"Servicing females is done for free. Always has been. Unless you are a.s.signed to Brothel Town. Then your owner gets the payment."

"Were you in Brothel Town?" Kayla asked. She wanted to know everything there was to know about this man.

"Yes, many times," he admitted and gazed up at the sky, acting totally at ease with the conversation.

"And I suppose you serviced many women?"

"That was what the females wanted." His gaze darkened to what she surmised was anger as he lowered his eyes from the sky to study her. "I do not do what females require of me anymore. I am a free man. I intend to remain free. I would die before I accept captivity with a female again."

Okay, no relationship with this guy.

He suddenly stood. Yep, he was p.i.s.sed, if the way the muscles in his cheeks twitched was any indication.

"Go to the river and drink as much as you can. We need to travel."

Sweet need ripped through her as she followed his command and on extremely tender tootsies headed down to the creek. The cool sand sifted like heaven through her toes and the heat of their earlier s.e.xual tryst rose though her as she stepped into the water.

She remembered every hard thrust, every pleasure grunt of his-as well as her whimpers of arousal-along with the intoxicating way he'd held her hips as he'd f.u.c.ked her.

Think about drinking the water. Don't think about the creamy wetness between your thighs or the fantastic way he filled you.

Cupping her hands, she dipped them into the water and drank as much as she could. Her heart twisted in disappointment when she turned around and found him kicking sand into the fire. She'd hoped he would join her, f.u.c.k her again.

Well, he'd certainly made it clear he wouldn't do what a woman wanted him to do, so no use asking him to put her out of her s.e.xual misery. Thankfully though, the need for s.e.x wasn't insane as it had been earlier. The need was more pleasant...kind of like a s.e.xual attraction should be.

After drinking her fill, she forced herself to get out of the river. When she met up with him at the covered campfire, the bed of ferns had disappeared along with their tracks in the sand.

"We will follow the river. Stay in the water. I will meet with you as soon as I make sure all the evidence of our meal is gone. Then I will track back a little and set a false trail. Go that way." He pointed to her right and then rushed off into the nearby woods.

She stared at the area where he'd just disappeared. Dark and spooky. No way was she going back in there. The water looked much more inviting.

She stepped into the river and began heading the way he'd instructed. She'd forgotten to ask him if-after he took her to Piper-he would then take them to her brothers. Come to think of it, he really hadn't said much else about her brothers and had steered the conversation away from that subject.

She thought about calling out to him, but then a nasty low grumble of thunder roared far off in the distance. The ominous warning made her pick up her speed.

Chapter Five.

Stunned disbelief wrapped around Kinley's neck like a hangman's rope. How could she not realize he was real? He'd just finger-f.u.c.ked her again for G.o.d's sake. How had this happened? And he was smiling down at her! A confident, smirky, I-caught-you smile.

Well, screw him! There was no way this guy would lay another finger on her.

Rage unlike any she'd ever experienced roared through her. Rage mixed with l.u.s.t. She'd had fantasies of this moment, of him capturing her. But it had always been fantasy fun. This was not fun.

If she hung around, he would overpower her. Just as he had when he'd previously captured her. But this time was different. Even as she struggled to get up in order to make a run for it, he was already leaning over her. His big body gently guided her to the ground, his heavy weight pushing her deep into the fern bed she'd made for herself. She swallowed at the panic when the hard knot of his arousal pressed intimately between her thighs.

She was trapped and something snapped inside of her. She didn't want to be in this position. Didn't want it at all!

Lifting her arms, she pounded her fists against him, targeting the knife wound she'd sliced into his arm. But it was bandaged and, to her frustration, he didn't so much as flinch as she hit him. She quickly moved to attacking other parts of his body, but her blows merely bounced off his hard, lean muscles. His powerful legs were tangled with hers, making them useless. A head b.u.t.t was in order, but when she tried to get into position, he merely moved his chest a bit off her and his face farther away.

d.a.m.n him! He'd thought of all the angles of escape, hadn't he? Smug b.a.s.t.a.r.d.

She was caught. Caught! Dammit!

"You belong to me," he growled. His black eyes glittered with triumph and Kinley held her breath as he dipped his head and brushed her lips with his. It was an erotic, featherlight touch. Ever so gentle. Ever so teasing. Very nice though.

Stop it! This is serious s.h.i.t!

If he kissed her again, she would bite his lips and bite off his tongue.

He chuckled but didn't attempt another kiss.

G.o.d, could this guy read her mind?

"I will let you watch. The next time I do it," he murmured softly.

The next time...what was he talking about? And then suddenly she understood. He knew she'd been watching him when he'd m.a.s.t.u.r.b.a.t.ed. Of course! He'd been waiting for her last night. He must have been waiting, and then he'd followed her back here.

He'd let her come closer to him over the past couple of days. He'd let her get comfortable so she could sneak into his camp and grab some food. Then he'd followed her. And she'd fallen for it.