Ransom (Benson Security 4)

“See, no water.” He stepped back and glared at her.

“Do it again,” she ordered as she unscrewed the tops of their bottles. “You need to keep going until you make a hole that goes through to the centre.”

“This is a huge waste of time.”

“I hear lots of whining but no chopping.”

With an irritated grunt, he hit the bamboo stalk again. A hole appeared and water started to trickle down. Beast stood there, gaping at it. Belinda elbowed him out of the way. If he wanted to think he was seeing things, then that was fine—she wanted a drink. She put the empty bottle under the flow and let it fill. Once it was full, she handed it to him and put the other bottle under it. She didn’t even bother to throw an ‘I told you so’ at him. It wasn’t worth the effort.

“How?” Beast stared at the water in his bottle.

The crystal-clear water that Belinda had found for them, thank you very much.

“Each segment of bamboo contains a couple of litres of water. Well, bamboo this big does. Drink up and we’ll refill.” She brought the bottle to her mouth and took a long swallow. The water was cooler than she’d expected it to be, and it tasted better than the finest champagne. She gulped until her bottle was empty. Better. So much better. She grinned at Beast, who was staring at her like she’d suddenly grown an extra head.

She didn’t have time for his disbelief. She had water to mine. “Do you have any condoms on you?” Belinda asked him.

He choked, sputtering water everywhere. He bent over as he coughed, holding a hand up to stop her when she moved towards him to helpfully thump him on the back.

“What the hell?” he snapped at her when he’d finished coughing.

She knew exactly what he’d been thinking, and it was so far from reality that it was laughable. “We can use them as water containers. I have a couple. I was wondering if you had more. You didn’t think I meant something else, did you?” She batted her eyelashes at him.

“You have an evil streak a mile wide, Hollywood,” he told her as he fished his wallet out of his back pocket. “I have two condoms.” He tossed them to her.

Surprise, surprise, they were extra-large. “Do you think any man, on the face of the planet, ever walks into a pharmacy and buys extra-small condoms?”

“I can’t talk for other men. I buy what fits.”

She snorted. “Sure you do.”

He ignored her, obviously confident that he had nothing to prove. Which in itself was intriguing. Belinda shook her head to clear it. That wasn’t a safe direction for her thoughts to follow.

Beast cleared his throat, as though he knew what she was thinking. “I’m not sure I like the thought of drinking water out of something that usually goes on my dick.”

“I like the thought of dying of dehydration less.” She pointed at the bamboo and arched an eyebrow at him.

With a shake of his head, he clutched the machete and set about getting the water out of some more bamboo segments. It didn’t take long to repeat the process and refill the bottles before filling the condoms Beast had given her.

She reached into her tiny bag and pulled out the two she carried.

Beast winced when he saw them. “Green?”

“Mint-flavoured, too.”

“But green?” Seriously, what guy wants to walk around with a green dick?

She shrugged. “A girl has to get her fun wherever she can. Now fill the minty green condoms with life-giving water.”

Watching Beast cringe while they filled the green condoms turned out to be even more fun than Belinda had thought she’d have with them. A few minutes later, they had two full water bottles and four water balloons. Belinda made a cross-body bag out of the sheet she’d nabbed and put the water balloons into it.

“I’ll carry them,” Beast said.

“I was going to suggest exactly that, caveman. With those excessively large muscles of yours, you won’t even notice the extra weight. Now turn around and bend so I can strap this on you.”

He did as he was told, crouching in front of her, to allow her to tie the sheet diagonally across his body and over one shoulder. Belinda fought not to notice the way his muscles rippled and tensed when she touched him. She had a vision of the two of them topless and her pressing her breasts against his back as she tried to wrap her arms around him. The urge to act out the pictures in her mind was almost overwhelming, and her hands shook with the effort it took not to succumb.

“Done.” Belinda stood back and found her eyes drifting down to his beautifully round backside. Something else she shouldn’t be thinking about. Or touching. Her fingers itched, and she took a step back. No. Touching.