Read Online Camouflage Heart by Dana Marton - Free Book Online

try to shoo it away, she would fall.
    She blew at it gently as it got within a few feet and stopped. It didn’t seem to notice. She blew harder.
    The fighters were still talking down below. Never a better time to take a break, for heaven’s sake. The beast meandered forward a few inches as if trying to figure out what she was.
    Eating grubs was one thing, but if Gargantua came another spidy step closer, she was going to get seriously freaked out. No way could she take it if the spider crawled on her face. She needed to think of something else. No matter what happened, she couldn’t make a sound, couldn’t let go of the branch.
    Then she saw Brian’s arm come into her field of vision and she looked up just in time to see him scoop up the beast. He placed it gently on a cross branch a good distance from her, and gave it a gentle shove in the opposite direction. Gargantua obeyed.
    She was weak from relief, a wet noodle draped over the branch. She owed him. She owed him big.
    Then finally the guerillas moved on. Brian waited a couple of minutes before starting to climb down, helping her descend after him. The job required patience, since her knees were still shaking. Her heartbeat was as labored as a marathon runner’s.
    He slid to the lowest branch with ease. As difficult as walking seemed for him, up in the canopy he moved like the lord of the jungle, having enough upper body strength to spare, allowing him to pull himself up, or lower himself from branch to branch with ease.
    He held his hands out, and she thumped down next to him, right in the circle of his arms. She put one hand on his shoulder to steady herself, aware the instant they touched of the muscles beneath her palm, his darkening gaze on her face, his lips a few inches from hers. His eyes really were extraordinary. Fire leapt in them, but she didn’t pull away.
    She kissed him.
    Â 
    B RIAN FROZE .
    Her soft, warm lips pressed against his and short-circuited his brain, sending an electric charge through his body that had sparks buzzing over the surface of his skin. He wanted more, he wanted all of her, with an urgency that stole his breath, but he also recognized the kiss for what it was—a gesture of gratitudeand relief. And he would have had to be the worst kind of bastard to take advantage of it.
    He pulled back and saw surprise flicker in her eyes before he looked away. Surprise at her own spontaneous gesture, or at his reaction? It didn’t matter. He wasn’t going there. He couldn’t.
    He stepped aside and turned, scanning the forest, forcing his brain to focus on finding a path. “We better go.”
    â€œI’m sorry.” Her voice was small and edged with embarrassment. “I don’t know what that was.”
    He glanced back at her, the touch of pink on her cheeks affecting him as much as the kiss had. “Fun,” he said, and made his lips stretch into a semblance of a nonchalant smile he would have given her had they met four years ago. “It’s just not a good idea.”
    â€œNo. No, of course not.” She busied herself with brushing off her clothes.
    He liked the way she moved. Even in the smallest tasks she managed to seem efficient and purposeful. He couldn’t help but remember the long, slim limbs that had mesmerized him when she’d washed herself in the creek. His body responded enthusiastically to the memory.
    To punctuate another corporeal need, his stomach growled, reminding him how little they had eaten. She had to be hungry, too. “We should be able to findsome more food if we keep our eyes open. If not sooner, then when we reach the river.”
    She nodded, her features taking on an expression of steeled determination. She was obviously way out of her comfort zone, but no one could ever tell that by looking at her. Her clothes were soiled with dirt, and marred by a couple of small tears left behind by the thorny vines. But she had zeroed in on their goal