From behind, his arms wrapped around her waist and he lifted her from the sand to hold her against him. Her back pressed into his chest, the backs of her thighs on top of his. He stayed held within her body as the initial tremors of their orgasms trembled through them, leaving them slack-limbed and exhausted. Heat poured from their skin, their combined sweat leaving them slick.
Tyler kissed the spot where her neck met her shoulder. “Are you okay?”
Too stunned to speak yet, she simply nodded.
“I’m sorry,” he continued. “I don’t know where that came from.”
“Don’t be. Don’t be sorry.”
He kissed her again, leaving goose bumps in his wake, despite the heat. “I guess we should both get cleaned up.” He helped her to her feet, but didn’t let go of her hand.
Stupidly, she felt self-conscious of her partial nudity, despite knowing no one else was around. And after what Tyler had just done to her, the last person she should be shy with was him. Even so, she was relieved when they strode into the water and she was able to hide, in part, beneath the waves. The cool water felt amazing against her flushed skin, though the salt stung slightly on her spanked bottom, but she figured it would probably do it good.
God, she’d allowed him to spank her! She’d never done anything like that before.
She glanced over as Tyler dived beneath the waves and resurfaced, water glinting off his dark hair and eyelashes. Her heart tightened. Had she ever seen such a beautiful man? And he was hers.
He’s not yours, a harsh, inner voice chided. You’re the only woman for miles. What else is there to do here but screw? It doesn’t mean he gives a shit about you.
It was true. She could just imagine the headlines when ... if ... they ever got off this island.
‘It-girl daughter of shamed billionaire in sex and spanking desert island fun ...’
Charlie inwardly cringed. It wouldn’t be the first time a guy had sold his sex story about her.
Tyler strode up to her, water swishing around his narrow waist, and dripping from his long eyelashes. “Hey, are you okay?”
“You don’t need to keep asking me that.”
“You just looked, I don’t know ... Distant.”
She gave him a weak smile. “Just thinking about what will happen when we get off this island.”
“Let’s worry about actually getting off before worrying what happens after.”
Her heart sank. Of course he wasn’t going to want to talk about them as a future. He was an alpha male, and he probably hated the idea of having a ‘little woman’ around. He was hardly going to start discussing them as an item. Besides, he was right. First they needed to get to safety.
“I’m going to dry off,” she said, wading away from him, out of the ocean. She hurried back up the beach, suddenly feeling exposed. She wanted to cover herself up.
When she picked up her clothes and turned back around, she found Tyler standing in exactly the same position.
He’d watched her the whole way.
Chapter Sixteen
The atmosphere remained tense between them as they went about the chores they needed to complete to survive. Tyler collected the oranges she’d dropped, and brought them back to camp. He peeled one and ate it slowly, placing each segment between his lips and chewing. Charlie found herself focused on his mouth, her body almost vibrating with the need to kiss him again, and then, when he sucked the juice off each finger, she had to glance away to prevent herself from doing it for him.
He looked up at her with a smile. “That was the best orange I’ve ever eaten.”
Did that mean she was forgiven for wandering off?
“Thanks,” she said.
Tyler got to his feet. “I’m going to try and catch another fish. Can you get some more water on to boil?” He glanced over at the bottles that had already been boiled. They were almost empty. “We’re going to run out soon.”
She nodded. “Sure.”
Charlie got to work, boiling up the last of the water in the large canister she’d found on the first day.
Tyler stood in the ocean where the waves broke. He was looking out to sea, one hand shading his eyes.
Charlie’s stomach lurched. Had he spotted another boat? But when she squinted to stare out to sea, she saw dark clouds banked on the horizon, rising like small mountains to reach into the sky.
Tyler turned to wade back into shore, and then jogged back up the beach toward her. “I don’t like the look of that.”
She frowned. “What? It’s only a few clouds and they’re miles away.”
“Things can change pretty quickly in this climate.”
The sun still beat down on her skin, the sky above their heads a vibrant blue. She found it hard to believe the clouds were more ominous than they looked.
“Listen,” he continued, “I’m going to try and make our canopy more solid. If my instincts are right on this, I think you should use this time to collect as much driftwood for the fire as possible.”
“Do you think it’s going to get cold?”
“No, but if we don’t get the wood undercover and it rains, none of the wood is going to be any good for burning.”
“Oh, right,” she said, feeling a little stupid. Still, the sun was bright and warm, even though they were headed into late afternoon now, and it certainly didn’t feel like it was going to rain any time soon. But she didn’t intend on arguing with him again, not over this.
Tyler had already turned back to their makeshift camp, using some of the larger pieces of driftwood to create further props for the canopy, using vines to attach the material to the wood. Then he began to collect more palm leaves to place across the top of the canopy and create another layer of shelter. His movements were deft, strong, and confident. He was clearly used to working with his hands, knowing exactly what he was doing and what he was trying to achieve. Wearing only his shorts, his skin tanned from the last couple of days in the sun, his muscles lean and perfectly defined, he was a pleasure to watch. He must have sensed her standing, staring at him, because he cast a glance over his shoulder and lifted his eyebrows as if to say ‘well, what are you waiting for?’
With her cheeks heating, she turned away and walked down the beach, staying near the high tide line to scout for wood. Tyler had already scavenged most of the decent sized pieces for structural wood, so she ended up picking up small pieces which she knew would only burn for an hour at most.
She glanced back out to sea and straightened in shock. Almost half of the previously clear blue sky between here and the horizon was covered in thick, dark cloud. Had the clouds really come in that fast already? Or was it just because her position on the beach had changed that the difference appeared so dramatic?
Tyler was still working hard, layering palm fronds like tiles across the canopy, the struts holding them up.
Charlie frowned and picked up her pace, working faster and harder, filling her arms with wood until she could carry no more. She didn’t want Tyler to think she wasn’t pulling her weight. By the time she hurried back to him, the clouds hung heavy above them and the air had a distinct chill which sent goose bumps racing up her arms.
Tyler looked up as she approached, but the smile he gave her was grim. “We need to prepare ourselves,” he said. “We could be in for a rough ride. At least the bed is off the sand, and with the canopy, it should stay dry. Anything else we want to stay dry needs to go on the bed.”
She nodded and dumped the armful of wood on the end of the bed. “What about the fire?”
“We’ll have to see how bad the downpour is, but it’s probably not worth trying to keep it going. If it gets wet, we’ll be fighting a losing battle. You’ve got dry wood here, so we’ll keep that dry and start a new fire when the rain stops.”
She realized the loss of the fire meant no hot food for a while. It would be coconut and banana until then. At least she’d already boiled the water they had left so it was safe for drinking. “How long do you think the b
ad weather will last?”
“Hopefully no more than a couple of hours. But you can never really tell.”
Feeling more desperate than she had since finding Agatha’s body, and realizing all of this was for real, she began to pick up her bag and the few items of clothing she’d left around the camp. She hung a couple of t-shirts off the struts holding up the canopy, and dumped the rest on the end of the bed.
Once everything was off the sand, she climbed up onto the bed and sat with her knees up to her chest, her arms wrapped around her legs. In the distance, bright forks of lightning suddenly speared down from the sky, lighting the horizon. She gasped in surprise at its almost supernatural beauty. Within minutes, thunder cracked right above them and then the heavens opened up. Great, fat droplets splashed in the sand, leaving tiny craters.
Tyler made a few final adjustments to their shelter and then got onto the raised platform bed and sat beside her. To her surprise, his big arm wrapped around the back of her shoulders and he pulled her against him so their hips pressed together as they sat side by side. He turned toward her, resting his chin on the top of her head.
“It’ll be all right,” he said. “We just need to wait it out.”
She shivered and nodded, not trusting herself to speak.
The rain pelted onto the leaves and material of their roof, impossibly loud. There was nothing more they could do, except sit and watch the majestic lightning show dancing across the horizon. If they stepped out from beneath the canopy, they’d be instantly soaked. The fire struggled on for a few minutes, before starting to smoke, thick and grey, and eventually going out. Her heart sank at the sight. Something about the fire had made her feel safe, and she clutched tighter to Tyler.
A crack appeared in the canopy, water only dripping at first, before turning into a steady stream.
“Shit,” said Tyler. He used some extra fronds to try to block up the hole, but the moment he succeeded, another one appeared right behind where they were sitting. They wriggled farther down the bed to escape the cool splash of water.
She was grateful for them being off the ground. Already, pools of water had appeared on the sand, and the ocean had crept closer and closer toward them, swallowing the beach. The rain felt like it would never end, and she lost track of time as they sat waiting, only moving to avoid new holes in the canopy, or try to patch them up again.
She stiffened under Tyler’s arm as a different sound filtered to her ears. With a frown, she turned toward it—away from the ocean and back into the center of the island. She felt Tyler grow tense beside her, and she frowned.
“Do you hear that?” She’d already had to speak loudly above the thrumming of the rain on the canopy, and the occasional crack of thunder, but this new sound grew louder, causing her to shout. It was a rushing noise, that of running water, as though a waterfall had sprung up around them.
Tyler frowned as well, his brow furrowed in concentration as he also twisted his torso toward the sound. Suddenly, alarm rippled across his face. “Move, Charlie!” He scrambled to get off the bed.
“What?”
But he was wide-eyed, staring behind them, toward the center of the island.
“Quickly, we need to get up a tree.”
Before she even realized what was happening, he’d dragged her off the bed and pulled her out into the rain. Instantly, she was soaked through, the rain pummeling down on her head and shoulders like thrumming fingertips. “What the hell are you doing? Are you crazy?”
“We have to get off the ground!”
He ushered her to one of the pine trees part of the canopy was tied to. “You need to climb up. Get into the branches.” He crouched, his fingers linked together to give her a boost up. “Now, Charlie!”
Frightened and confused, she didn’t know what else to do other than what he was telling her. She’d never climbed trees before, not even as a child, and found herself scrabbling and clawing to pull herself into the center of the branches. The rushing grew louder still, and she glanced over the top of the canopy, her higher vantage point allowing her to see deeper into the island. Things seemed to be moving, though she struggled to see through the dark and the sheets of rain. She squinted, her forehead furrowing in a frown. Things seemed to be moving. A whole swath of foliage traveling toward them. No, surely the combination of the rain and her confusion was making her see things, creating an illusion. But the noise escalated into a roar, and she felt sure she could see trees and bushes rushing toward them...
Charlie suddenly understood what was happening.
“Get up here!” she screamed, having settled herself in the spiky branches. “Tyler, now!”
Strong and agile, despite his size, Tyler threw himself at the tree, grabbing a branch to haul himself up. Just as his feet left the sand, a flood of water swept beneath him, carrying with it huge amounts of debris—the bushes and trees she’d seen moving. In the tumbling water, she even caught sight of the granite rocks they’d crossed near the cliffs in the center of the island. The reason for what was occurring dawned on her. All of the rain had washed down from the middle of the island, not soaking into the rock face, causing the flood.
Their shelter and bed gave way with a resounding crack, the middle collapsing. Water and more debris caught in the center of the parachute silk, acting like a giant net and building up weight and force. The structure Tyler had built snapped and the canopy was gone. Before long, the water loosened the structure of the bed, small pieces at first and then bigger chunks giving way. With that went all their belongings—the small amount they had—rushing down with the water into the ocean.
Charlie was too shocked to cry.
The deluge continued.
She lost track of time. They managed to position themselves so Tyler sat with his back to the trunk, and Charlie sat between his legs, with her back pressed against his chest, his arms wrapped around her. The pine needles above their heads did little to keep off the water. Even held in Tyler’s arms, misery sucked at her soul, everything weighing upon her with inescapable despair. They were stuck here on this damn island, with no hope of getting off any time soon, and everything they’d worked for had just been washed away in a matter of minutes. What were they going to do now with no dry clothes, no fire, no shelter?
Finally, she gave in to tears.
Tyler’s arms tightened around her, and his mouth touched the top of her head. “We’ll rebuild,” he told her. “We have to be strong. We don’t have any other choice.”
“I know, I know,” she said, biting back tears and nodding. “It’s just so hard.”
She was so grateful for his strength, his warmth, the feel of his arms around her, holding her tight. If Tyler wasn’t here, she didn’t doubt for a moment that she wouldn’t be either.
The rain continued. Despite herself and the horrendous conditions, exhaustion got the better of her and she found herself dozing, only to be jerked awake as a particularly heavy shower of water hit them, or something else broke and snapped, or a large rock hit the tree. The rain didn’t feel like it was ever going to end, and the torrent of water rushing beneath them didn’t seem like it was going to stop. At least the water level didn’t appear to be getting any higher. Their lives would be in danger if they were swept from the branches of the tree. They would probably be washed out to sea and drown.
After several hours, the rain finally stopped. Another hour passed before the torrent rushing below them began to lessen and then finally stop. By this time, the sky had begun to lighten, dawn approaching, and bringing with it a seemingly miraculous clear blue sky. If not for the devastation below, Charlie could almost pretend as though the storm had never happened.
Both weary from misery and exhaustion, Tyler helped Charlie down from the tree and then jumped down after her. The moment her feet touched the sand—what was left of it—water squelched between her toes. A lot of the beach had been washed away, the tide level far higher than it had been the previous evening. There was no sign of any of their b
elongings.
“Damn it,” Tyler swore, his face rigid with anger, his hands balled into fists. He stormed across the remains of their camp, kicking out at the debris. “I should have thought about this. I should have known!”
She tried to reach out to him, but his sudden fury frightened her. “How could you have known? It was a flash flood. It happened within minutes!”
“It’s my job to know,” he growled. “I should have seen the signs—the dry grounds, the cliff face, the angle of the island.”
“It looked like a perfectly normal part of the beach,” she insisted. “You’d have to be psychic to have predicted this.”
He spun toward her, towering over her, intimidating, possessive. “I’m here to take care of you, Charlie. That’s my only job and I failed you. I can’t let you get hurt. I can’t go through that again.”
She frowned in confusion. “Can’t go through what, Tyler? What aren’t you telling me?”
“Nothing,” he brushed her off. “Just let me do my job.”
Was that all she was to him, even now, after everything they’d been through? Still just a job—albeit one that went very wrong.
Yet she knew he wasn’t telling her something. If he didn’t want to tell her what was bothering him so much, she couldn’t pressure him. Tyler had a way of closing down that was like storm shutters crashing down around his defenses. Perhaps it was none of her business anyway, yet somehow she felt like how he reacted around her was affected by whatever secret he held that he refused to talk about.
“So what do we do now?” she asked, looking around at the gully that had been their makeshift home.
“There’s nothing to be saved here. We need to find a different spot, and start from scratch. First, we need to get water to rehydrate. We’ve been without water all night, ironically. There will be water caught in the leaves, but insects get caught in those pretty quickly, and they won’t be much good within a couple of hours. The sun will be as hot as ever and they’ll dry up.”
“Okay.” She was relieved for him to be in control once more and coming up with a plan. “So we need to go back to the pool?”
Dangerous Encounters: A Romantic Suspense Boxed Set Page 36
