EXTRACT FOR
Jungle Fever (Jessica's Seduction #4)
(Darren G. Burton)

Chapter 1





Bright sunlight filtered down through the tree tops, creating erratic patches of light and dark on the ground. The shadows moved as a breeze caused the branches to sway.

Jessica wiped a light sheen of sweat from her face with a small towel. Technically it was only mid-Spring, and maybe the temperature was unusually high for this time of year, but it sure was hot and humid today.

Looking through a gap in the trees she could see the ocean. Dark clouds were starting to form on the horizon and they looked rather ominous. The breeze stiffened a little, sending a shower of dead leaves to the grass below.

Her attention was diverted from the distant storm when she heard the shutter on Preston's camera. Looking in his direction she saw he had the lens pointed up into the tree branches. He was snapping off some frames of a pair of birds that danced from limb to limb.

"I'm not sure whether these are native birds or not," Preston said without taking his eye away from the viewfinder. "Can you check the book?"

Jessica squatted down and put her own camera down on the ground. From a small backpack she took a hardcover book and opened it up.

They were situated on a small island in the Hawaiian Islands, just off the coast of Maui. The book was filled with photos and information on all wildlife native to the area. Jessica thumbed through the pages until she found the section on native Hawaiian birds. After having a good look at the two birds Preston was photographing, she perused the list of birds and made a match.

"Yep, they're native," she reported. She looked up at the birds again. Their heads and breasts were yellow, with a white underbelly and grey back. The wings were grey and white with flecks of yellow through them. "It's the Palila Bird, one of the endangered species. According to this book they shouldn't even be found in this part of Hawaii."

"Maybe they're starting to repopulate," Preston mused and fired off another couple of shots. He took the camera away from his face. "Spreading their wings and broadening their horizons."

"I guess you must be right," she agreed and smiled. "Very apt analogy by the way."

He returned her smile. "I thought so."

"If you're finished with those birds I suggest we move on. We've been in this spot for quite a while."

They were on top of a hill, which dropped off sharply down to the beach below. Way too steep at this point to risk traversing the slope. They'd end up tumbling down to the water rather than walking down to it if they attempted to try. Preston went the other direction, deeper into the tropical forest in search of more wildlife to capture on camera for National Geographic. So far Jessica had mainly played assistant to Preston. She was yet to photograph anything other than the scenic landscape.

As they travelled deeper into the jungle, the humidity increased and Jessica found herself repeatedly towelling the perspiration from her face and dabbing drops from her sunglass lenses. She stopped when she heard something just above her and it took her eyes a moment to find the little yellow bird. It was different to the ones Preston had been photographing, so Jessica got her camera ready, adjusted some settings, put it to her eye, zoomed in and focused on the cute little bird. She took several photos, then checked the results on the LCD screen. The first shot looked a touch blurred as the bird had moved, but the second was nice and sharp with a good view of its face.

She nodded with satisfaction, then strode out to catch up with Preston, who hadn't bothered to wait for her. Or hadn't noticed she'd stopped.

The jungle became thicker the further inland they went. With all the dense foliage around that sea breeze couldn't penetrate and the air was dead still. Jessica paused to clean some drips of sweat off her sunnies again as Preston fought his way through some unyielding undergrowth.

"Almost need a machete in here," he grumbled.

"Use your muscles," Jessica ribbed him. "That's what they're for."

"Smart arse."

He managed to make a way through the undergrowth and they continued their search for fauna.

"Probably scared them all away with the noise you were just making." Jessica glanced around the ground carefully, looking for anything lurking in the grasses that might want to bite her. "Do they have poisonous snakes here?"

Preston shrugged. "I'm not sure if they have any snakes in Hawaii."

"Really?" Jessica couldn't believe it.

"Don't quote me on it, but I don't think they do. I'm pretty sure I read it somewhere. I know they have sea snakes, but not land-based ones. Except maybe something called a Blind Snake. I don't believe it's any threat to people."

"Cool. That means I don't need to keep my eyes open for them any more."

"Is that what you've been doing?" He shot her a grin over his shoulder.

"Pretty much. You can't blame me with all this long grass and scrub around our feet; especially when I didn't know there were no snakes here."

"Well now you know, so you can put your mind at ease."

The strangulating jungle and long grass opened up a little into an area where the trees were more spread out and the breeze could penetrate. Jessica immediately felt cooler. She took a moment to rest and sat down on a rock at the base of a palm tree. The grass here was relatively short and a rich shade of deep green. Preston sat down beside her, his butt just on the edge of the smooth stone.

"What else are we searching for?" she asked.

He shrugged. "Anything, really. I'd like to get some shots of something other than birds, though. That's all we've got so far."

Jessica grinned. "You could get some shots of me."