Page 26 of His Hawaiian Heart
I smiled and fed McNut another macadamia nut. “He deserves every one of them. He carried not only me but you onhis back all morning. I want to show him our appreciation so he’ll carry us back.”
Sam plucked a few of the nuts from my hand but didn’t pop any into his mouth. Instead, he offered them to his horse. “What if I’d rather he lose his way so we’re stranded out here?”
“And break your promise to Papa Cookie?”
He shook his head. “When you put it that way, I have to say, hell no. That man might be a cook, but I swear there’s something about him that makes me feel that’s not all he is.”
I laughed and used the napkin to wipe the remaining crumbs from my palm and then did the same for Sam’s hand. “I’ve always thought the exact same thing. ”
Sam waited until we were once again on McNut’s back before he said, “It’s too bad though.”
“Why is that?”
“I mean, aren’t you all about research? How are we supposed to find those fig trees if we don’t take the time to explore?”
I smiled though he couldn’t see me doing so. “Then I suppose we’ll have to take a lesson from our bug friends and go au naturel.”
“You’re killing me here,” he said with a growl that I knew would never fail to cause me to tingle.
I didn’t need to speak. I simply leaned back against him and enjoyed the ride.
McNut took us away from the waterfall and into part of the jungle where the light was dimmer. Not because of the hour, but because the lush vegetation created dense barriers, and vines, some thicker than my waist, wound up trees and over boulders. Ferns clung to the cliffside where rocks jutted out like steps ofa giant’s massive staircase. There was no rainbow, no glittering diamonds of water droplets, but it was just as beautiful as where we’d picnicked.
I looked up and grinned when I heard Sam give a short curse. If he hadn’t been over six feet tall and standing I might not have been able to spot him. The vegetation was that thick.
“You okay?”
He turned my way. “Yeah, but I honestly don’t see how you get off on doing this for a living. I think I’ve found every pokey thing in this jungle but I haven’t seen a single caterpillar.”
I had to push the “get off” portion of his comment aside in order to give him a response worthy of my position. Of course, what came out instead was one word. “Pokey?” Before he could misconstrue my meaning—as my inner sex goddess was perfectly capable of picturing her idea of things that poked—I added, “What sort of scientific term is pokey?”
“The kind that means I’m obviously not cut out for this line of work.”
Poor guy. He was hot and tired and probably had a thousand better things to do, but he was here with me. Still, I couldn’t help but tease a bit. “If you want to avoid pokey things, then next time just ask Mr. Eupithecia for his actual address.” The look he shot me had me taking pity. “Come over here.”
It took a few minutes for him to disentangle himself but I was good with observing the process as he was the most interesting subject I’d ever studied. Once he was close, I brushed some leaves off his shirt and then held up two. “Tell me, which one of these leaves do you believe our caterpillar looks more like?”
He didn’t even hesitate and pointed to the bright green leaf in my right hand. “That one, obviously.”
I tossed the leaf over my shoulder. “Well, there’s your answer.”
“What?”
I shook the leaf I still held but he just grinned and shook his head. “Sorry, Doc, but I can’t concentrate on what you are saying when you’re wearing these.” He reached to carefully push the glasses I’d been using to the top of my head.
“Oh, I’m so used to wearing them, I forget I even have them on.” I could feel my cheeks heat with the thought of how ridiculous I must have looked, then remembered something. “Hey, does that mean you were lying when you called them sexy?”
“I may have a lot of flaws, but lying isn’t one of them. You can trust that I mean every word I say. They are sexy as hell.”
“Why, Sam, I believe you might have a glasses kink.”
“Baby, there is nomightabout that being one of my kinks when it isyouwearing them.”
One of my kinks.
There I go getting all tingling again. Though that might be due to the fact he’d reached for my hand holding the remaining leaf.
“Please continue.”
