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For once, the name didn’t make him angry. Instead, it made him laugh. Belinda was trying to twist around, to give him her back. Beast was having none of it. He pulled her into his side, took her hand, placed it back on his chest and kissed her hair.
“Sleep, Hollywood. You need your rest.”
“You need some too,” she grumbled, but she didn’t try to pull away from him again.
His heart clenched at her protest. His life hadn’t exactly been overflowing with people looking out for him.
“We’ll both go to sleep,” he said through a throat that felt tight.
As he felt her muscles relax and sleep take her over, Beast smiled into the darkness.
Chapter 14
They woke with the birds. Belinda opened her eyes to see the trees around her filled with colour. A flock of noisy, screeching macaws had taken up residence. The large red and blue parrots didn’t care that Belinda and Beast were asleep. All they cared about was breakfast.
The warm early morning light filtered through the canopy above, giving their tiny clearing a hazy glow. The upbeat singing of the waking birds and the all-encompassing hum of the crickets had replaced the threatening sounds of the night hunters. Already the day’s heat was building, and the glasshouse scent of the plants surrounding them was heady, a perfume to tease the senses.
“Stunning,” she whispered.
“Yeah.” Beast’s word rumbled through her body, making her realise that she was, once again, draped all over the man. When she glanced up at him, he wasn’t watching the birds—he was watching her. Everything within Belinda stilled. Their surroundings faded as she became acutely aware of the man beneath her.
“Sorry.” She tensed her arms, ready to push away from him. “I’ll get off you. Guess it’s just more comfortable sleeping on top of you.”
“Isn’t like we have a lot of space.”
“No.” The sheet hammock wrapped tightly around them, making it difficult to move.
She struggled and wobbled, brushing her body over his, feeling every hard inch of him. At last, she was up on her hands and knees over him as the hammock swung gently from the trees. Beast’s jaw clenched tight and his pale grey eyes had turned dark.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m trying to get off you as quick as I can.” She moved again, rocking their bed.
John grasped her hips and she stilled. They were face to face, their bodies barely an inch apart. Everything within Belinda paused as the world faded to the man beneath her.
“You’re killing me here, Hollywood.” The husky rumble of words went right through her, making her blood fizz and bubble in its wake.
Her gaze slid from his eyes, over the masculine planes of his face—complete with a day’s growth of hair—to his soft, sensual lips. Her breath stuttered as the memory of their kiss slammed into her. Suddenly, all she wanted to do was feel his lips on hers again.
“Belinda?”
She shivered as his tone went lower still. All night long, she’d lain besid
e him, their bodies entwined. She’d listened to his heart and felt the ripple of his muscles under her touch. All night long, she’d pretended she wasn’t hyperaware of how he felt against her. Pretended she wasn’t desperate to let her fingers explore, caress, tease.
All.
Night.
Long.
“This is a bad idea,” he mumbled, making her look back into his eyes.
What she saw there robbed her of any reason that remained. Because Beast wanted her, just as much as she wanted him. Her thoughts stilled and narrowed. The jungle faded around them. The anxiety and fear from being kidnapped and hunted was wrestled into submission under the stark awareness of the man in front of her. There was only one thought in Belinda’s head—want.
“Belinda?”
She shivered. His fingers were a brand on her hips. His thigh muscles flexed against hers. His chest was a hard wall beneath her, tempting her to press her aching breasts against him, seeking relief. Even this early in the morning, the heat and humidity meant there was a sheen to his skin. A tempting sheen that seduced her to touch.
“This is a brilliant idea,” she whispered as her eyes rested on his lips again.
