The Stars Trilogy (47 page)

His words were enough to comfort her. If he would speak to her like this all the time, she won’t ever be afraid of anything.

“Where are we?”

“I don’t know yet. But the compass coordinates say we’re still in the south of Thailand. Probably in a rainforest. I just don’t know which. Phuket has mountain ranges. But my guess is we’re as far as Khao Sok in the Surat Thani region. We could be in the middle of the Khao Sok rainforest.”

“Oh! Then we can easily find our way back! Most rainforests have trails for tourists, right?”

“I hope so. We’ll explore in a while. We need to eat first.”

He let her go and took out his knife. He sliced a banana and gave it to her.

“Thanks.”

“This is the only fruit I can find in abundance in the area.”

She peeled the banana. “We have plenty of this in the Philippines.”

She finished two bananas and he, four. She’d never appreciated bananas until now. One of those things she took for granted.

There was that weird sound again. She jumped to his side. “What’s that?!”

“Probably a baboon.”

“Are they hostile? Do they eat people?”

“No. It’s me that eats people.”

She smacked his back.

He chuckled and hoisted the cluster of ripe banana on a tree branch.

She looked up at the tall trees covering them like giant umbrellas. Mist still hovered above them even during daytime. Thousands of light shafts filtering through the dense leaves cast the jungle interior in mysterious shadows speared by sun rays. It had both a scary and exciting feel.

Vines hung from the huge branches and the plants growing under the trees had huge leaves with various shapes the kind she had never seen before. She could see no traces of human civilization anywhere. “This looks like a virgin forest.”

“Not as virginal as you.”

He cheeks flamed. “Must you talk about that?”

He shook his head. “I still can’t believe you deliberately made me think you’re Ben’s mistress.’

“I told you, I did not. You’re just judgmental. You think all women are after a man’s money.”

He sighed. “Are you sore?”

“Dare!”

“I was rough last night. If I knew that you’re...I would have...” his  words trailed off.

“I’m fine!” She went to sit on the plane’s wing. She winced a little when her butt hit the flat metal surface. She was indeed sore down there. “What do we do now?”

“We’re going to find civilization.”

Her face lit up. “Great! This is so exciting! I’ve never done mountain trekking before!”

He threw her an amused look. “Celine, we crashed. It was hardly exciting.”

“But we survived!” she replied cheerfully.

He shook his head again. “You’re weird. Aren’t you supposed to be hysterical?”

“What? Like in that movie you did with Alana where she did nothing but bitch and harass you while you found your way to civilization? She was ridiculous. But fun to watch.”

“She was acting.”

“Do you want me to bitch like that?”

He grinned. “Sure, so I’d have a reason to smack your booty.”

She rolled her eyes. “They must be looking for us now.”

“We lost all radio contact. There’s no cellular signal in these parts.” He gestured to the plane. “That thing is of no use to us but temporary shelter.”

“What do you think happened? This is a new plane, isn’t it?”

“Bought it two years ago brand new just for my Thailand vacations. It’s permanently stationed here. I used it six months ago. It could be a number of things. Obviously, the engine died up there. Never happened to me before and I’ve flown lots of miles.”

“Thank God for that parachute!” Some remains of the CAPS were now draped over the plane, extending outward, the edges tied to tree branches. Dare had made a makeshift tent. Large pieces of the chute were left hanging from branches.

“Yeah. I’ve never had to resort to using the CAPS before. Thanks to that indeed, otherwise, our corpses are now snacks for the wild animals.”

“You’re so morbid!” She shuddered.

He removed his belt and gave it to her. “Here. Will keep your dress together.”

She took the belt and fitted it around her waist. “Thanks.”

He went to the cockpit and pulled out his backpack. “You stay here. Get in the plane and lock the door.”

“Why?”

“I’m going to check the surroundings.”

“I’m not staying here!” she protested strongly. “I’m coming with you.”

“There are no trails here. Everything’s wild.  You have no proper shoes for hiking.

“That’s because you dragged me into this plane without prior notice.”

He sighed. “You’ll be safer inside the plane. Lock the door. I won’t be long.”

“I have an idea!”

She went to collect some tattered pieces of the chute. “I’m gonna wrap my legs and feet with these!” She sat back on the plane’s wing and bent to cover her leg with a long silk strip.

“Alright, that might work, girl scout.”

He rummaged inside the cabin and found a  roll of nylon rope. He knelt before her and secured the cloth around her legs with the rope. “You’re not wearing panties.”

She smacked his shoulder, pulling the gaping hem of her dress to cover her upper legs.

Grinning like the devil, his hand moved along her inner leg. She tried to close her limbs but his hand was trapped there. “What if something will creep in here?”

Despite her embarrassment, she giggled. “I hope it’s not as scary as the one that crept in there last night.”

He chuckled. “It won’t be as scary next time, promise.”

“I doubt that.”

“Let me take a look.”

“No.”

He gave her a hard look. “I need to see, Celine,” he said in a tone that brooked no arguments.

Biting her lip, she ceased resiting when he pried her legs open. She wanted to melt in shame at the sheer intimacy of this act, but what could she hide from him now? They were already lovers in the true sense of the word. They had made love last night, their bodies fusing in the most intimate way a man and a woman could be joined, but this kind of intimacy was different. Dare was looking at her most private part with a worried expression on his face.

His fingers were so gentle as he skimmed over her nether lips. Her breathing became ragged.

“It’s a bit inflamed,” he murmured and looked in her eyes. “Does it hurt when you walk?”

“Just a little. I can handle it.”

He bent his head and kissed her mound. “I’m so sorry, baby,” he whispered and nuzzled her lower belly. “I was wrong in thinking…” he sighed deeply. “You should have smacked me in the face when I said those nasty things to you.”

Oh, how she loved him. Even more so now.

She threaded her fingers in his thick hair and bent to kiss his head. “You’re forgiven.”

He looked up at her. His eyes were even bluer now. “I want you.”

She smiled. “Okay...but we need to practice...”

He grinned. “Practice?”

“How to put that...your...in...” She blushed.

He chuckled and kissed her lips lightly. “Yes, we will need to practice, indeed. You need to start training how to take all of me because we’re gonna be doing this a lot. You understand?”

She nodded.

“Come on.”

He stood up and helped her on her feet.

“Wait. I don’t want anything creeping in there but me.”

Giggling, she watched as he fashioned a loincloth out of the hem of her sun dress. Then he surveyed his handiwork with a lecherous grin. “There. Ole Hef would love this for a Playboy centerfold. You might get promoted as his favorite bunny. Who knows, he might even want to marry you.”

She smacked his shoulder. “You’ve learned a lot of nasty things from hanging around the Playboy mansion too much, haven’t you?”

“No. On the contrary, I taught ‘em bunnies a lot of nasty shit.”

She smacked him again. “Perve!”

“Oww, woman, you’re gonna be a great domme!”

“Huh?”

Chuckling, he held her hand. “Come on, let’s go look around.”

Using a compass, Dare decided they would go north, hoping to find higher ground or a clearing where they could watch out for rescue choppers. But one hour of  trekking and they hadn’t encountered any clearing or higher ground. It seemed to be a plateau of giant trees for miles ahead.

“We should stop here and go back. We will do a radial reconnaissance from the plane. Until we’ve found a running water, we won’t go off course. The plane will be our shelter at night. We don’t know what kind of animals roam the jungle at night. It’s safer if we are surrounded by metal.”

“Hey, you must be enjoying this! I’ve read that you do this with your adventurer friends. You went to climb the Himalayas once, right?” she said cheerfully.

On another occasion, Dare would have been thrilled to explore this virgin forest but he was not in one of his expensive recreational expeditions with professional mountaineers. He was on his own in the wild with a woman who didn’t seem to fully realize how dangerous their situation was. They were lost in the fucking mountains with no means of communication whatsoever. They could die up here in a lot of ways unimaginable. The worst was being attacked by wild animals. He didn’t know what kind of untamed species inhabited these jungles of Thailand. Hopefully not the Amazonian kind.

And it was all his damned fault. He dragged her into this.

He sighed. He would do the self-blaming when they were back in civilization. Right now he needed all his wits to get them out of here in one piece.

“It’s alright,” she said quietly beside him when he didn’t answer. “I’m having fun! I’ve never been to the mountains!”

He grunted and pushed a branch aside so she can pass by, thankful she was not one of those females who’d freak out in situations like this. Her positive attitude was contagious. He was freaking out inside and he didn’t need a hysterical female in his hands to aggravate his predicament.

They stumbled on a small clearing. “I think we should rest here.”

She sat on a rock and started fixing her long hair, holding the tresses away from her neck. She looked earthy sitting there, a pagan goddess.

He fished out a bottle of mineral water from his backpack and handed it to her. Clearly thirsty, she drank heartily from the bottle and then paused. “Do we still have water left?”

“It could last us a few days. Great thing the staff stacked the plane with some canned goods, too. But we gotta find a running water.”

“Yes. It will lead us to a river.”

“Yes. All rivers go downhill and will eventually lead to a small settlement somewhere in this jungle. Natives build their homes on the riverbanks.”

“Natives?”

“Headhunters.”

“Dare! You’re pulling my leg!” she whined.

“Who knows what lies in these jungles?” he said in an innocent tone. Teasing her seemed to come second nature to him now. She was as cute as a cupcake when she was scrunching her face like that.  But truth be told, he wasn’t totally sure if there were no savages in these parts of Asia.

“Do you have another gun?” she asked.

His brows arched. “No. Do you know how to use one?”

“Sure.”

His lips twitched in a skeptical smile. “Seriously?”

“I do all the stuff my brother does. He’s a gun aficionado.”

Okay…this was a tidbit about her he didn’t like. “Your brother...”

“Yes, I have an only brother who’s older than me. About your age. His name is Jordan.”

“Are you close?”

“Yes but he’s very strict with me. Even stricter than our parents. But I really love him. I hope Rocky won’t inform them yet about what happened. I don’t want to worry them. My parents will definitely freak out. They might think I’m dead and they’d be devastated....” her voice trailed off.

He fell silent. Her folks might be indeed feeling devastated now and he had to get them to civilization fast before the world started mourning them both.

So, she had a brother who would likely kill him when they reached civilization and parents who loved her to bits. Great. He wasn’t looking forward to meeting them.

“Come on, let’s go back to the plane. I’ll try to fix the radio system again.”

Celine was heating up instant noodle soup in two small metal cups sitting on top of a metal fragment from the plane’s body. Dare fashioned a makeshift stove made of three stones. He put dried twigs between the stones and made a fire.

Dare was still tinkering with the radio system in the cockpit. He’d been working there for the past two hours already, to no better result.  She could hear his grumbles and cusses every now and then.

She smiled as she remembered what happened yesterday while the plane was going down. Even now, she still couldn’t believe it. Dare didn’t leave her. He could have saved his life by ejecting from the plane but he didn’t.

He chose to stay with her.

He had no way of knowing if they’d survive the crash or not. But he took the risk.

It meant everything to her.

My God, her Dare was a true knight, after all. Very rough in some parts but deep in his core, he was the man she had always known he was, brave, selfless and chivalrous.

Now, she had no more doubts and fears. This was the man she loved. From hereon, no matter what,  she would walk to the ends of the earth with him.

She went to check his progress on the  plane. “How is it?”

“Not good. This plane is electronic. I think, the transmission system is toast.” He whacked the plane’s control panel in frustration.

“I’m going to look for the black box later.”

“What’s that?”

“The Flight Data Recorder. It contains the data of the main system of the plane. It will help the investigators figure out why it malfunctioned.”

She caressed his arm. “Take a break. Soup’s ready.”

Dare got out of the cockpit and joined her. She had made a picnic mat on the ground out of the tattered parachute. She squatted there as she tended to their lunch, sexy as hell even with uncombed hair tumbling wildly down her back.

He sat down beside her. She was holding a cup of soup, blowing on it then she passed the steaming cup to him. The sweet, simple gesture touched a cord in him. He couldn’t remember a time when a woman he was intimate with did him a small favor like that. His celebrity life had been nothing but high-flying adventures with zero depth and no room for game-free pleasures.