Show No Fear by Marliss Melton

breath.
    “Wild grape. It has antiseptic properties.”
    “No shit,” she breathed, wincing as it stung the open wound.
    “Memorize the shape of the leaf,” he said, snapping off another for her inspection. “See how distinctive it is? It grows all
     over the place. Do this every time you take a potty break, and the wound should heal.”
    “Got it,” she said, growing annoyed with his detailed instructions. Her stomach growled again. “Can we find something to eat
     now?” she pleaded.
    He swept a discerning eye around them, pulled her toward some rotting fruit on the ground, then pointed up into the branches
     of a tree, where whitish globes dangled among dark leaves. “There.”
    “Are they edible?” Lucy asked, her mouth watering already.
    “Yes. Search the ground. You may find some you can eat.”
    Lucy snatched up a spiked ball and turned it over in her hands, looking for bugs. “It looks like lychee,” she commented.
    “Same fruit family. It’s called garcinia.”
    As she pried off the prickly skin and popped the white globule into her mouth, Gus struggled to climb the tree, but the branches
     were too high and the trunk too slippery to get a firm grasp. Enjoying the fruit’s pulpy aromatic taste, Lucy hunted the ground
     for more, but there weren’t any.
    “I’m not going to be able to climb this,” Gus apologized, giving up.
    “I’ll stand on your shoulders,” she offered, unwilling to take no for an answer.
    “No. You could fall.”
    “So, if I fall you’ll catch me, right?” she reasoned. “Please, Gus. I’m starving. Now, give me a hand up.”
    With an unhappy grimace, he planted his feet apart and held up his hands. Lucy wiped her sticky fingers on her jacket, grabbed
     his hands, and stepped from his thigh onto his shoulders.
    From there she managed to reach a higher branch and pull herself onto the lowest bough. Fruit dangled enticingly overhead.
    “Careful,” he cautioned as she groped for them.
    The slickness of the bark beneath her feet was daunting. But hunger compelled her to lunge for a branch just out of reach.
     She caught it, shaking it furiously to dislodge several garcinias.
    Thump, thump, thump.
Even as they hit the loamy soil, Lucy lost her footing. Swallowing a scream, she fell backward, crashing into Gus, who rushed
     to catch her.
    Together they hit the earth with a squishy
thud.
Gravity lassoed them, pulling them down a near-vertical slope, over a slick layer of rotting vegetation.
    “Hold on!” he cried as they crashed through the under-growth together. A sapling flashed by, and he seized it, bringing them
     to a jarring halt.
    Lucy dug her toes into the loam to keep them there.
    For a minute, neither of them moved. She heard Gus drag air back in his lungs. She bent her right leg to make certain her
     kneecap, which had struck a root, wasn’t shattered. Then she slowly sat up and realized she was straddling him. If she tried
     to clamber off him, she’d slip.
    Catching Gus’s eye, she found him regarding her intensely. His hands flexed on her thighs. “You okay?” he rasped.
    “Fine.”
    She hadn’t straddled him like this since she was twenty years old and Gus was her playground. Remembered pleasures made her
     inner muscles clench with sudden longing. The realization that he was growing hard against her crotch prompted a rush of liquid
     heat. Suddenly, she wanted more than anything to feel him buried deep inside her.
    No! Lucy Donovan didn’t need that distraction. She couldn’t let the promise of pleasure sweep her astray.
    Summoning all her willpower, she dragged herself off him, only to start sliding again. He caught her wrist just in time to
     keep her from sliding out of sight and sound.
    “Hold on!” he ordered harshly.
    Keeping a firm grip on her and using the sapling as a crutch, he hauled himself off the ground. Then he pulled her firmly
     against him, banding her to his side with an arm around her waist. In spite of herself, Lucy