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"Not as far as we're going. " He took her out the back door and down the steps. "We've got you a ride. "
The light fresh breeze of morning in the islands touched her skin, bringing her the smell and sound of the ocean. Sunlight filtered over the tree tops, lighting the activities of the many island bird species. It was going to be a beautiful day, and her heart swelled with hope for new beginnings, cleansing, and forgiveness. Her grip tightened on Josh's neck, reflecting the sudden constriction in her throat, her reaction to the abrupt touch of happiness.
They turned the corner, and Lauren saw Marcus standing with Isabel. An oversized beach towel had been doubled and laid across the white elephant's shoulders to form a sitting area. Lauren grinned with pure delight, a reaction that dimmed somewhat as Josh carried her toward the elephant. Isabel eyed Lauren with at least a degree of the apprehension Lauren was beginning to feel as they approached and Isabel's much greater size became apparent.
"Now," Josh said smoothly, "she's a lot like a New York taxi driver. You can tell her where you want to go, and she'll eventually get you there, but she may take the circuitous route to get a better fare. "
They reached the elephant and Lauren shrank back against Josh as the large pachyderm raised her head to give her a better inspection.
"Isabel, this is Lauren," Josh said seriously. "I'm supposed to take care of her, which means you have to help me. "
"Josh, I don't know - "
"It's okay, Lauren," he looked down at her, tightened his hold. "You can trust Isabel. "
He held her gaze for a moment more, and Lauren felt an unexpected peace steal through her. He wouldn't let anything hurt her. It was a dangerous, naive thought, one she was far too experienced to be having, but there it was, filling her, calming her.
Marcus stepped on Isabel's offered knee and swung up. Josh set Lauren with her weight on her one good foot on the elephant's provided step. He set his shoulder behind her knee, told her to reach up to Marcus, and then he laid his hand on her thigh, pressed on it to get her to sit on his shoulder. He straightened, and a gasp and a moment of weightlessness and she was there, seated before Marcus.
Josh swung up in front of her, ready with a peanut as Isabel lifted he
r trunk up to him to retrieve the expected treat.
"If it pleases the lovely lady," Marcus observed, "we might go to the beach first. Mornings are the best swimming times. "
"It pleases me," Lauren agreed, running a fingertip along Josh's bare spine and enjoying the reaction of goose pimples along his flesh.
God, she had locked down her hormones for nearly a year, since Jonathan, and now she couldn't keep her hands off this man. Maria had warned her that celibacy for one of her sexual nature would result in an explosion of "felonious proportions". Lauren had laughed at her, until now.
However, Josh didn't appear to be objecting to her attentions. She recalled with a flush of heat the impressive evidence beneath her hand, matched by the heated steel of his eyes.
"Beach, Isabel," Josh requested. The elephant agreeably started down the steep drive to Lisette's home.
Lauren laid her hands on Josh's waist just above the line of his jeans and observed that she had an excellent view of his ass because of the way they rode low on his hips. Definitely not the gross exhibitionism of an overweight plumber. More like the provocatively loose "modesty" drape around the hips of a young Roman god.
Isabel reached the bottom of the drive, but instead of continuing down the slope, she went right and onto a narrow trail that began to climb upward.
Josh's shoulders lifted in a sigh. "New York taxi driver," he reminded Lauren.
"I almost prefer her to take the circuitous route," Marcus chuckled.
His voice came from somewhere below her, rather than under her ear as she expected. Lauren twisted about to see him lying on his back, his long legs bent and swinging just behind hers to keep his balance.
Lauren considered the way his posture strained the twill of his shorts over his groin and then, in the leisurely manner of a true sensualist, let her eyes graze up the equally appreciable ground of his bare, muscular chest. He was bronzed, not quite as dark as Josh, but still a nice compliment to his dark silky waves of hair.
He glanced down the line of his body at her, making it clear he knew what she had been doing, and grinned. He extended a hand. "Come down here. See why Isabel is smarter than the rest of us. "
Lauren agreeably lay back; letting his hands on her shoulders guide her. She giggled as he snorted, caught her under her armpits and hauled her back about half a foot. "It may feel like a comfortable cushion at the moment," he said sternly, "But that's not the best place for your hard head. It makes a better neck rest. "
Lauren nestled the back of her skull into the lower part of his abdomen, still smiling. She settled her hands on the armrests his thighs provided and followed the direction of his pointed finger.
A canopy of vines stemmed with broad leaves wove above her in various shades of green, from mint to a rich dark color that was almost grape. Spreading branches displayed splashes of color, the exotic blooms of a jungle environment. The rising sun sent streaks of light through the foliage to illuminate the pockets of light morning mist in the close air of the forest. One moment the early breeze shivered across her skin, and a breath later, a sunbeam stroked it away.
There was noise. No, that was wrong. Noise meant chaos, jobs, streets, cars, and too many people, all wanting something. This was a rhythm, like the movement of waves, a serene pattern expressed audibly, in the conferences of birds, the rustle of the tree dwellers, creatures foraging and chattering. Beneath the sounds, there was a hush, a cavern of noiselessness that Lauren associated with a Presence, something that lived quietly in Nature, but spoke only through its creatures.
It was like being in a church, she realized. It was spiritual.
"Come down here," she reached for Josh. He obliged, adjusting forward, so when he lay back between her spread thighs, his head rested just below her breasts. His hands, like hers with Marcus, slid down to rest on her thighs for stability. The base of his neck pressed against her crotch, and that pressure sent a pleasurable spiral through her belly beneath his head. She raised one hand from Marcus's leg and laid it on Josh's shoulder, stroking his hair and the side of his throat as Marcus did much the same to her.
