Read Online Love In The Jungle by Ann Walker - Free Book Online Page B

escape… So, if we’re talking selfish, then you’re looking right at
her.”
    I gestured to myself as Grant laughed, the skin around his
eyes crinkling in a way that suggested he’d be riddled with laugh-lines when he
was older. Cute.
    “Oh, come on, it can’t be that bad,” he stated, raising an
eyebrow at me. “What are you escaping from, if you don’t mind me asking?”
    Now it was my turn to shrug. What harm would it do to spill
some of my more shameful secrets to the handsome stranger I’d had a one-night
stand with? He didn’t strike me as the judgmental type, but I couldn’t say the
same for Henri, who I’m sure was listening intently from the front seat.
    “I got fired from my corporate PR job,” I told him after a
moment’s hesitation. He gave me a knowing nod, his eyes kind, and I felt some
of my fears fade. It had been hard to tell people I’d been fired. I mean,
everyone wants to hear a good quitting story, but when you were forced to
leave, when it wasn’t your idea to become unemployed, everyone gets
weird about it. “I guess I just needed a break from everything. I wanted to do
some good for others, since our company was the farthest thing from charitable,
and I wanted to travel a bit too… So, really, if anyone’s selfish, it’s me.”
    We hit a particularly rough pothole suddenly, and I let out
an undignified squeal. Henri laughed from the front seat, and I felt my blush
worsening. It had been a long time since I’d seen any signs of civilization on
either side of the van, much less another vehicle. The road had gone from
mostly to sparsely paved, with the bright red dirt taking up the majority of
the lane. The scenery hadn’t changed: still beautiful.
    “In my experience,” Grant told me quietly, leaning in as if
to share a precious secret. “People volunteer for their own reasons. You’re far
from selfish, Clara.”
    I tried not to shiver at the way he said my name, and we
both exchanged somewhat shy smiles. Before I said something to make an even
bigger idiot of myself, I turned away and busied myself with the landscape.
There was always something to look at beyond the window pane. Chatting about
trees was safe, easy. Pointing out monkeys and birds and the occasional
gazelle-like creature was fun—and less dangerous than failed jobs and
selfishness. He didn’t need to lean in close to me in order to chat about our
surroundings.
    Though I wished he did.
    ****
    “Those are officially the coolest
houses I’ve ever seen,” I informed my fellow van riders, pointing at a cluster
of round, but oddly tall, mud huts with straw roofing. Henri chuckled, and I
noticed Grant smiling at me, but not in a way as if to humor me. I felt secure
in my giddiness, my sense of wonder, and it was a miracle the van’s window
wasn’t covered with my nose prints as I strained to keep the cluster of houses
in sight.
    “You’ll have one of your own while you’re here,” Henri told
me. We’d slowed since entering the village limits, and I could have sworn I’d
seen a few curious faces poke out of the scattered buildings as we passed. “It
will be on the other side of the establishment with the rest of the volunteers.
Smaller than those… those are for families.”
    Past the first cluster of small homes, we entered into what
I could only assume was the central meeting place of the village. With the sun
still high in the sky, people moved to and fro, many of them women, carrying
long branches and baskets of plants with them. The children clustered around
the van, tapping on the windows and smiling, and when I waved back, many turned
to their neighbor and laughed. There were no frowns, no narrowed looks. It
seemed they were all accustomed to volunteers cycling in and out, and I’m sure
Henri’s white van was a familiar sight.
    “I guess this is it,” I heard Grant murmur, and when I tore
my eyes from the kids, I found him fiddling with his sunglasses, a hesitant
smile on his lips. Without