Free Entwined: Jane in the Jungle (The Erotic Adventures of Jane in the Jungle: Part 1) by Colette Gale Page B

chest. “Woman.”
    He grunted, his breath unsteady, and nodded. As if he didn’t trust himself to speak.
    Jane smiled in the dark, feeling a little of her own pride and anticipation flooding her. She could feel him fairly quivering, like a dog waiting for permission to seize his treat. She didn’t intend to hold him off any longer, but there was comfort knowing that, unlike Kellan, he wasn’t about to force himself upon her, no matter how badly he might wish to.
    She flattened her hand over his chest once more, feeling his skin leap and shiver beneath her touch.
    Just as she was about to reach for him with her other hand, he stiffened and edged back. Surprised, she froze, her heart thudding violently. He lifted his nose, sniffing the air, then tilted his head as if to listen.
    Confused and startled, Jane waited…and then she heard it too. A soft sound, like breeze slipping through rushes…a quiet slither . It was coming from the direction of the open window, and she turned in time to see a long, slender shadow sliding through.
    It was as thick as her arm.
    Jane screamed, but the wild man was already moving. He lunged and feinted, drawing the snake’s attention to him, leaping away from the bed.
    She watched helplessly as he danced about, teasing the snake. Then all at once, he leaped up, grabbed a rafter, and swung above and behind the snake, landing on the ground behind the arm-thick creature. Jane cried out as he dove toward the beast, but the man was fast and sure and he caught the snake behind its head.
    Man and beast grappled on the floor, the wild man’s hands firmly around the reptile’s body. Its tail slapped and whipped, knocking into the table leg and spilling it and it contents in a loud crash.
    Jane pulled herself out of her stupor, remembering the pistol she’d commandeered to ward off snakes. She dashed across the chamber, narrowly missing being slapped to the floor by the wild, undulating creature. The man held on, and she could see him fighting to subdue the reptile, bit by bit tightening his grip on the beast’s throat.
    Its movements were slowing, but still powerful, and Jane now had her pistol in hand. Just as she heard sounds from below—shouts, the creaking of a ladder—she positioned herself in front and to the side of the snake’s head.
    Its eyes blazed furiously at her, bulging from the grip of the wild man, but still glowing with evil and hunger. She was aware of her breathing, faster and frightened, and prayed that her aim would be true.
    “Jane!” someone shouted from beyond her door.
    She aimed the pistol as close to the snake’s head as she dared, looking at the wild man as he struggled to hold it in place, and taking a deep breath, she pulled the trigger.
    “Jane! Are you all right in there?” Kellan shouted from beyond the door. He was pounding on it now. “Jane!”
    The snake jolted as the bullet went through its head, and collapsed in a long, black river on the floor.
    “Jane! Jane! ”
    Her door was rattling in its place, and now Jane could hear her father and Efremina calling after her. She spun uncertainly toward the door, then back to face the man…just in time to see him disappear out the window.
    “Jane! Are you all right? Did you shoot something! Jane, answer me!” The door made a soft splintering sound as the bamboo began to give away under Kellan’s battering.
    Heaving a breath, her knees weak, her hand slick and trembling where it held the pistol, Jane managed to call back, “I’m safe. It was a snake. It’s…dead.”
    There was silence for a moment, and then Efremina’s voice came muttering through the night. “And didn’t I tell you to beware of them creatures?”

— VIII —
     
    After all of the excitement the night before—most of which Efremina and her father were unaware of—Jane slept late the next morning.
    When she awoke, it was to the sounds of shouting and excitement below. Groggy, half-asleep from a range of hot, sensual dreams, she