Javier loves his job, but he's even more in love with his fellow scientist, Dr. Rashawna Reese. When they're granted an opportunity to visit the Amazon Rainforest, it is a dream come true for both. Yet, Javier has more interest than just discovering possible new species or cures for cancer.
He's determined to help Rashawna discover his long hidden love for her. An erotic local, the thrill of research, and a beautiful woman--perfect. One thing Javier knew for sure--they wouldn't return to the United States without her knowing exactly how he felt about her. He would find a way to wrangle her wild heart.
Facts About Javier:
1. Doctorate in Microbiology
2. Has worked with Rashawna for ten years.
3. Attended Yale University
Excerpt from A WILD HEART.
Javier held his breath as
the squall continued to fall. He secretly praised the research director for
sending them together to gather samples from the rainforest’s tens of thousands
of plants. The rainforest had been starving off a drought, and this new
precipitation came as a welcomed relief. Every since their research expedition to
the Arctic Circle a year ago, Rashawna had avoided him—not physically, because
they worked together—but emotionally. She only spoke to him when it pertained
to work, nothing more.
Now, he had her at a place where he could at least
pose the question. Whether she would open up to him or not, he did not know,
but he wanted her to trust him as she once did. He knew about her wild heart.
Like the Amazon, Rashawna had so many undiscovered secrets. Despite their ten-year
professional relationship, she kept so much hidden beneath her canopy,
protecting what he guessed was a vulnerable, but wild, heart underneath. But he
knew, a wild heart strained against the binds of whatever hurt she had
experienced. That night, one year ago, she had let him explore her forest, her
trees, her plants, her everything.
And he had wanted re-entry ever since.
Once morning came, a co-worker had come to Rashawna’s
cabin and had discovered them. The co-worker had not told anyone, but Rashawna
hated that the woman knew about their relationship. This other co-worker
continued to make sly comments about Javier and Rashawna when the two were
alone. It had so unnerved Rashawna that she pushed him back, far back, just out
of reach.
As if that would stop him.
“Tell me, mí amor,” he said. She turned her head,
lifting it from his fingers. “Why you do not let me tame your wild heart?”
“I do not have a wild heart.”
“You said you do remember…”
“I do!” she shouted and bolted to her feet. At five
feet, two inches tall, she could stand inside the tent with her head barely
touching its top.
“I had not meant to upset you.”
“I’m not upset!” she shrieked.
She
jerked away, her arms folded, her body rigid. She wanted no parts of him, but
he had heard her scream. Something had shaken her. Despite the comfortable temperature
of the tent, Rashawna trembled. So petite and so powerful, she had no idea of
the effect she had on him. In their field of biology, she was a renowned
expert, but in the matters of the heart, in love, she was as savage as the many
creatures in the rainforest. That fierce, untamed emotion had already began to
seep out along her usually well placed edges. Javier wanted to help those doors
open completely.
Perhaps,
then she would smile more and allow love in.
She
spun around to face him and stalked right by him to her sleeping bed. Flopping
down onto the cushy fabric, she sighed deeply.
He
twisted around to face her heart-shaped face. The worry and anxiousness in her
voice had betrayed her.
“It
isn’t you, Javier. It’s this place. It’s so, so…”
“Wild,”
he finished.
“Yes.
There’s so much we don’t know…”
“Is that not why we are scientists? Attempting
to answer those unknowns? Are we not explorers, pioneers, and the seekers of
knowledge not yet dreamed or discovered?”
She
willingly met his eyes. He held her gaze. Such wonderfully gorgeous eyes, they
seduced him the first time he saw her. He had to admit to himself, it was her
small, hourglass frame that stole his composure. He had spilled his coffee all
over his shirt because he completely missed his mouth. He had to go home and
change his clothes. Even a scientist had desires and he had pinned his on hers
at that moment. Once he heard her speak about the potential for a cure for
cancer being inside of the Amazon Rainforest, so passionate, but accurate, she
had him hooked.
“Yes,
that is why I became a scientist.” Rashawna nodded. “We’ll hit it hard tomorrow
after this rain ends.”
He
nodded. She had successfully switched the topic and avoided answering his
question. So she thought.
“You
would not put me out into the streaming rain, would you?” he asked and removed
his shoes and rain suit. Lying down beside her sleeping bag, in only his
tee-shirt and boxer briefs, Javier leaned up on his elbow. Rashawna had opened
her mouth to disagree, but he had already stripped out of the one-piece rain suit
before she could utter a syllable. He liked how she fought not to look at his
crotch.
“You
came over here, so you clearly have no issue with rain. I think you can make it
back to your tent just fine.”
“I
would physically, sí. But my heart
will not make it.”
“Javier!
You have a Ph.D. in microbiology. Surely you can come up with better lines than
that.”
He
smiled. Loved her spitfire nature. That sassiness made him want her all the
more. She had been so shaken earlier, so nervous, but now, now that he had
refocused her on her job, she seemed more like her old self.
“I
do not have lines. I am not an actor!
What I say is from my love, Rashawna.”
He
put an emphasis on the R in her name on purpose. She shuddered, making him
smile. Goodness, he loved when she responded to him in a manner that was
genuine. When he said her name, she could not avoid that little shimmy—even
when she did not want to admit it. He knew she wanted him as much as he did
her. They had been together the last five and a half years on various global
research assignments. After the Arctic expedition, they had not been alone
again until now.
She
cocked her head to the side and drew her knees up to her chest. “You’re
serious.”
“I
have always been serious with you and my love for you.”
End Excerpt. Check out the full story. Get a copy at Amazon, ARe, or SharaAzod.com
RaeLynn, your stories are the best way to heat up a cold winter night.
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