Pleasure Bound - Complete (57 page)

Now at least one of them was wandering around in a cesspool of a swamp that gave, if what Jarod had said, feverish sex dreams. She could be injured, and she was all alone.

She wished she should feel if Kinley was alive, but they’d never had that unique bond that some twins shared.

“I am sorry I could not bring back more fruitful news. I do plan on searching another section in the morning. I did notice your skin is pale and not used to the sunshine. I assume you are one of the few women who prefer to wear clothing, so I retrieved some for you.”

He opened the knapsack and she saw what looked like clothes inside.

“Clothes! I could kiss you,” Piper laughed, as she settled onto the bed and stuck her hand into the knapsack.

“I wouldn’t stop you,” Taylor chuckled. “Unfortunately, Jarod would not approve.”

The tiniest zip of curiosity and excitement prodded Piper to ask, “Why not?”

Taylor shifted uncomfortably and stared at his feet. “He enjoyed you many times while you were in your fever sex dreams, trying to cure you and bring you back to the land of the living, and I’m sure he’s enjoyed you since I’ve been gone. I believe despite his not wanting to, he has grown attached to you.”

Piper’s cheeks flamed.

Exactly how often
had
Jarod enjoyed her while she’d slept?

Soft glimpses erupted into her memories. Visions of the one-eyed man brushing his lips against her fevered face—of tender touches between her aching legs.

“By the way your face is red, I presume I am right about Jarod enjoying you.”

He said it so matter-of-factly, as if the topic of sex between them was purely natural, that Piper could only stare at him in astonishment.

“I’m glad he is finally interacting with a woman. He says he hates them for what they put him through. But a male should not blame all women for what a few did to him. Besides, we males were not meant to live without a woman’s pleasure.”

He turned around giving her an awesome view of the whip scars on his broad muscular back as he limped toward the door.

“There are sandals inside the pack to protect your feet. Please put them on and then come down below. I will make us food.”

To her surprise, her stomach growled with hunger. “Okay. Thanks, I’ll be down in a minute.”

Why couldn’t Jarod be as handsome and sweet, and easygoing as this guy? On the other hand, maybe she’d rather Jarod be the way he was, rough-looking with animal magnetism, because as she’d just discovered, she wasn’t as sexually attracted to sweet guys like Taylor.

So, Jarod had saved her life. That was strange behavior from a man who hated women. It accounted for his gruff attitude toward her and why he didn’t trust her. And why he thought she was on a mission to destroy her brothers.

But if Jarod hated women so much as Taylor claimed, then why would he “suck” the poison out of her?

Maybe she’d ask him someday, if she hung around long enough to get the nerve.

Returning her attention to the knapsack, she pulled the items out one by one. Her enthusiasm dropped quickly.

Taylor called these things clothes?

There were two pairs of tiny thong thingies that were virtually see-through, and would most definitely show off her ass cheeks to Jarod, and give him a bird’s eye view of her pussy. Not to mention these silky see-through tank top-like cloths would give Jarod an eyeful of her breasts and nipples.

She didn’t know whether she should be excited or sad.

Sad that she couldn’t seem to shed her sexual inhibitions even millions of miles from Earth. She should just cut herself loose and enjoy the sexual freedom on this planet while she was here.

She giggled as she held up the tiny tank tops and shivered with excitement upon remembering the scorching lust that had burned deep inside her at the intense way Jarod’s fingers had twisted and tweaked her nipples the other day when she’d awakened.

She’d already come out of her so-called fever sex dreams. He’d had no reason to touch her. So why had he?

Piper smiled, and hugged the clothing close to her chest. Oh, yes, she sure wanted Jarod’s hot hands touching her again. Wanted to have his head buried between her quivering thighs, his tongue teasingly flicking against her clit and so much more.

What better way to tease Jarod than to wear these? What better way to give him ideas that she wanted to have wild liberated sex with him?

Abruptly her thoughts returned to her missing sisters and brothers.

She frowned.

Time to stop her silly fantasizing and pump Taylor for more information. If what he said was true, and he was heading out tomorrow to look for Kayla and Kinley then she wanted to go with him.

Quickly she donned the white see-through thong and a sheer, pretty pink tank top that did nothing to hide her sexual assets.

Gosh! She’d kill for a mirror.

Sliding her sore feet into the comfy shoes, which were apparently made of some sort of soft, brown leather, Piper headed down to meet with Taylor.

She found him feeding some sticks into a small smokeless campfire in the middle of a clearing not too far away from the tree house village. Sizzling on a stone-like grate were three thick slabs of what looked oddly similar to beef jerky and a handful of miniature sunny-side up eggs.

Piper’s mouth watered at the tantalizing aroma.

“Food will be finished in a moment. Have a seat, there is water in the bucket for you to drink.”

Piper noted two wooden mugs next to the pail.

“Actually I’d prefer the NASA mugs my brothers gave you, or did you steal them?”

His shoulders stiffened at her remark. Obviously, he knew what she was talking about.

“Those mugs were given to Jarod. He does not steal,” he said without looking at her.

“I’m sorry but I don’t know if I can believe you. There’s no proof my brothers are even alive. Jarod isn’t saying anything, so it’s up to you to make me believe that you two didn’t murder my brothers in cold blood and steal from them.”

Although she was accusing him of murder, deep down she didn’t think they would have hurt her brothers. Taylor’s warm brown eyes were not that of a cold-blooded killer. And the protective way Jarod had reacted when she’d inquired about her brothers wasn’t the way of someone trying to hide a murder.

Taylor turned from the fire he’d been tending. Disappointment gleamed in his eyes, and the severe frown he toted made her think she’d just offended him.

Too bad buddy, but it was time to get tough in her quest for answers.

“Yet you believe me when I say I found footsteps in the swamp. I could be lying. I could have found those two women and killed them.”

Sweet mercy! Had he killed them? Fear for their safety just about ripped her heart apart.

“I do not lie,” he said. “I did not harm them and your brothers are safe.”

Piper sagged with relief, and he turned the sizzling jerky to the other side.

“As I said, at least one of your sisters is alive. I suspect both of them are.”

“Then please tell me where I can find my brothers so we can go and find them.”

“It will be up to Jarod to tell you where the Heros are.”

Son of a bitch
!

“Forget Jarod. You tell me!”

He shrugged his shoulders. “I cannot. I have always been blindfolded when I go there. You must ask Jarod to lead you. He is the only one who knows.”

Piper groaned her frustration. “He doesn’t trust me. He won’t tell me anything. He thinks I’m here to kill them.”

“Are you?”

“What is it with you two paranoids? Why would someone want to kill my brothers? They’re sweet. They would never hurt anyone. They don’t have a mean bone in their bodies.”

“This is the reason we cannot put their lives in jeopardy. They are too innocent of the ways of the women here.”

A twinge of compassion zipped through Piper as Taylor winced when he sat down on the ground and stretched his bad leg out in front of him.

“Besides, they are male and they speak,” he continued. “Two good reasons for a woman to want them dead. The three males also have death bounties on their heads, as do Jarod and I.”

“Death bounties!”

What kind of a planet was this? Obviously NASA had made a big mistake in naming this place Paradise.

“Am I to understand you come from the same place as these other males?” he asked as he began to massage his upper thigh. A very muscular thigh that might have turned her on if she wasn’t already sexually attracted to Jarod.

Piper blinked in shock.

Heavens! She was not attracted to Jarod!

“Of course we come from the same place. Now do you mind telling me how I can get to them?”
So I can get the hell out of here before Jarod comes back
.

Her tummy hollowed out with sympathy as Taylor grimaced and kept rubbing his upper thigh.

“What’s the matter? Did you twist something in your leg? I noticed you limping earlier.”

“It is not twisted,” he snapped, pain evident in his voice. “It just bothers me sometimes when I walk too long.”

Guilt washed over her. He’d walked too long because of her request to search for her sisters.

“Oh…well…let me try and help. I took a couple of courses in erotic-massage, maybe I can bring you some relief.”

Erotic massage courses with her boring ex-boyfriend who she’d had to drag to the courses, and he hadn’t even wanted to practice on her when they’d finished the classes. Not even once. At least on this planet, she was getting some hot and heavy sexual attention. No wonder she was responding so violently to Jarod.

Piper sighed, and plopped herself on the ground in front of him.

Ignoring the surprised look on his face, she grabbed his injured leg’s foot and pulled his leg forward between hers. When her hands slid to the area of his thigh where he’d been rubbing, she immediately noted the tenseness in his muscles there.

“Your leg is all tied up in knots. Obviously, your problem has been going on for some time. Jarod shouldn’t have asked you to go look for my sisters.”

“Jarod is useless in the swamps,” Taylor groaned, as she began to rub against a particularly large knot.

“This is a trigger point, that’s why it hurts,” she explained, as she eased off the pressure a little. “What you need is a professional massage therapist.”

“Massage? Only women are allowed massages.”

“That’s crap. Men have muscles, too.”

A shocked look flashed across his face at her words, and Piper realized her mistake. She was giving away too much by showing him compassion. Obviously, he wasn’t used to it. If she wasn’t careful she’d screw NASA’s protocol about them having to keep a low profile on this planet. But NASA didn’t know they were here. Their trip had been privately funded by her brothers’ astronaut friends who’d been sworn to secrecy about this mission because as far as NASA was concerned, Paradise was a deadly planet, and was now off-limits because of her brothers’ video reports that came back to Earth with the abandoned spaceship.

“So why don’t you just tell me where my brothers are? I’ll go get them and they can help us to look for my sisters.”

She lifted a cup of water from the bucket and splashed it on Taylor’s leg making it slippery so she could increase her pressure. Taylor grimaced, and then sighed as she felt a knotted muscle disintegrate in his thigh.

Her fingers stilled on his warm flesh. “There’s more relief like that if you tell me what I want to know.”

“It is too dangerous for you to travel there alone. You will wait for Jarod.”

“I don’t know when he’ll be back, and like I’ve said, he’s made it quite clear he won’t help me. Why don’t you just tell me and I’ll strike out tonight.” She picked up a nearby stick and handed it to him. “Please, draw me a map of how to get there. At least that’ll give me an idea of how long it would take.”

“You are a determined woman,” he smiled, and accepted the stick then groaned as she began to knead against the next trigger point higher up on the inside of his thigh.

“Sorry. It will feel better when I’m finished.”

“It feels better already. You must do this to Jarod. Especially to his cock.”

Oh, God!

“He would most appreciate it, especially since he has gone without a woman for over two years.”

Two years!

Piper swallowed back the excitement at this newest bit of information. The man hated women and hadn’t been with one for over two years, except for the other night when she’d gone down on him. Now she understood his anger. It hadn’t been directed at her, but at himself because he’d allowed himself to be pleasured by a woman.

Not just any woman, but her.

Piper shivered with excitement.

Just imagine the restrained sexual energy burning inside him!

Whew! It sure was getting warm out here.

With the stick she’d handed him, Taylor poked a small circle into the dirt beside where she sat. “We are here,” he said, and then moved the stick through the dirt weaving a couple of dips.