Page 33 of Love in the Wild

“Must keep going. Lion is not dead.” Thorne continued to jog through the jungle with her at his back. He didn’t stop until they reached the waterfall close to his tree house. Only then did he pause at the edge of the falls, breathing hard. He still held her hand and finally looked down at her.

“Come into the water with me.”

The more time she spent near him, the more she felt her instincts sharpening. If she came into the water with him and let her adrenaline and her heart rule her, she would make a choice that could not be undone.

Yet this choice had been decided long ago, before she’d ever set foot in Africa. From the first moment she’d seen the solemn faces of the gorillas in a zoo as a child, she’d been set on this path. She’d never given much thought to fate or destiny—until now.

Eden pulled her hand free of his and knelt to remove her boots and socks. Thorne unfastened his deerskin loincloth and let it fall to the ground before he set his crown next to it. Then he walked into the water and stopped when he was chest-deep. He had his back to her. The blood from the lion’s claw marks drifted down into the pool, but they didn’t seem that deep. Eden removed her clothes and waded into the pool behind him until she was neck-deep in the cold water. As if sensing she was ready, Thorne turned around and moved closer to her.

“You are safe,” he said softly. “I willalwaysprotect you.” He cupped her face in his large, strong palms as he gazed into her eyes.

“Why didn’t you kill the lion?” she asked. She was glad he hadn’t, but she would have understood if he’d needed to.

“I kill when there is no escape. Today I could escape. All life has a purpose. All creatures have a purpose. From ants to elephants, we all belong here, we all fight to survive. If I can save a lion’s life, I will. He will find food elsewhere. I do not hate the lion because it hunts. We do what we must to survive.”

Eden trembled as a chill traveled across her skin.

“Are you cold?” he asked.

“A little.” She moved in closer to him, and his focus drifted from her face down to her naked body.

Eden put a hand on his chest and stroked the hard-muscled front of his body.

“I like when you touch me,” he murmured, closing his eyes. “No one except Keza or Akika has touched me with love, and not like this.”

Eden swallowed hard. She wanted to show this beautiful, kindhearted, brave man what it meant to be loved, to be cherished. In that moment she made her decision.

“Touch me, Thorne.”

She curled her fingers around his wrist. His hand moved down to her neck, his fingers gentle as he touched the hollow of her throat with one thumb. Then he ran the backs of his fingers over her collarbone. His lips parted as his hand moved below the water to cup one breast. His eyes were full of fire and innocence, a mix that called to every part of her.

“You are beautiful,” he said. His voice held a roughness that heightened her excitement that much more. What would he be like when he lost control and took her with his primal roughness? She shivered at the thought, but it was one of those deliciouslygoodshivers.

“Take me to the cave behind the falls,” Eden said.

She had made her choice. She would show him what it meant to make love, and she vowed she would have no regrets about it. Not here. Not with him.

8

Thorne’s heart pounded wildly as he and Eden swam toward the rock ledge that would lead them behind the falls. He wanted to nest, to build her a proper spot for whatever came next, but he was too nervous to focus on anything except getting behind the curtain of water.

He climbed in first and turned to help her up. The light hit her body, baring her to him, and his heart stopped. She was exquisite, beauty beyond words. Her breasts were full and soft, her nipples a lovely dark-rose color that made his body stiffen all over. The full flare of her womanly hips, so different from his own, called for his hands to touch. He wanted to feel her body pressed to his, feel their skin touching everywhere at once.

Eden stood up on her toes and kissed his parted lips. The heat of her in his arms was so unexpected and wonderful that he sighed against her mouth.

Thorne wrapped his arms around her, his hands sliding down her back to cup her bottom. She moaned against his lips, and her breasts rubbed against his chest. His cock was hard—too hard. It was actually painful. He pulled away, ashamed. Maybe something was wrong with him.

“What’s the matter?” Eden asked.

“I hurt,” he confessed with humiliation.

Her hands stilled on his shoulders. “Your back?”

“No, here.” He guided one of her hands down to his cock.

“Oh ...” She gently touched him, wrapping her hand around his shaft. “Sometimes there are good hurts, when mating.”

She had said it.Mating. Had he proven to her that he was a worthy mate? His heart leapt with hope.

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