by Kelli Walker
“And you really are something else, Valencia Bouchard.”
Then, as if the gods of the island had bestowed upon me all the luck in the world I could ever need, Val held her hand out for mine. Her fingers wiggled like mine had last night at dinner, and I chuckled as I slipped my hand against hers. Her skin felt warm to the touch. Soft against the calluses I had quickly developed on the deserted island. She led us out of the shop before we started walking down the road, ducking into shops left and right to take a look at what they all had to offer.
And for the rest of the day, she didn’t once let go of my hand. A sensation I thoroughly enjoyed.
Valencia
“Silas! Hold on!”
“Val. I’m not going to make it.”
“Don’t you dare give up on me.”
“You’re going to get hurt. I can’t let that happen.”
Silas dangled in the mouth of the cavern that had opened up underneath him. Lava flowed beneath him, hissing steam up his back. He cringed at the feeling. I watched his skin bubble with the heat. Sweat dripped down his brow as his hand slipped down my arm, so reached down and grabbed his shirt with my fist.
“Damn it, Silas. Come on. I can save you. You know I can.”
Suddenly, the lava took a turn. Instead of flowing underneath him, it began creeping up the walls. It took on a life of its own, and I watched it creep closer to Silas’ feet.
“What, Val?”
I saw Silas turn his eyes down and I gripped him tighter.
“Don’t look down! Silas, keep your eyes on me,” I said.
“What is it, Val? What’s going on?”
“Me saving your ass.That’s what’s going on. Now come on. Climb up me.”
“What?”
“Just do it, Silas!”
He sank his nails into my skin and I watched as the lava climbed faster. It’s pulsing orange tendrils crawled up the walls, like an animal trying to fetch its meal for the night. Skin tore and Silas groaned, hoisting himself up my body.
“Come on. You can do it,” I grunted.
Then, the lava tendril reached out for Silas’ leg.
“Aaahh!!” he roared.
“Silas!” I exclaimed.
The scent of burning flesh filled my nostrils as the lava slid up his leg.
“Come on, Silas! Go faster!”
“I can’t.”
“Don’t you dare. Silas. Come the fuck on.”
“I’m sorry, Val.”
“No. No. Silas? Silas!”
“Silaaaas!”
I sat upright in bed, bolting up from my sleeping position as sweat dripped down my face. My chest panted. My eyes blinked rapidly. Where was I? What was going on?
I gripped the comforter around my body, trying to root myself in reality. I closed my eyes and shook my head as sweat dripped down my back. The dream fell to the back of my mind, but the fear kept slamming my heart against my chest.
I’d almost lost him.
I’d almost lost Silas.
I slung my legs over the side of the bed and put my head in my hands. I drew in deep breaths, trying to rid myself of the anxiety shaking my entire body. There had only been one other moment in my life when I had been that terrified. One other moment where I had allowed the fear of a situation to override my ability to think logically under pressure. And that was when my father caught me trying to run away from home for the very first time.
He had caught me that night and beat me within an inch of my life with the buckle of his belt. An incident that was forever seared into my skin.
Just like the scars Silas’ nails would leave behind from the wilderness.
Light flashed around me, jerking my head up from its position in my palms. And before I could react, thunder crashed above me. I jumped to my feet, my hands shaking as my eyes whipped around the room. The storm. It was back. Haunting me like it had on the island.
“Silas!? We have to get--!”
Lightning filled up the room again and I saw what was around me. My bed. A dresser. An opened closet full of clothes. I curled my toes into the carpet below my feet, trying to ground myself back into the present. But my mind kept ripping me back into the past, and with each clap of thunder came a stark realization I couldn’t shake.
Something was wrong with Silas.
I picked my black sheer wrap from off the floor and pulled it onto my arms. I slipped into my flip flops and raced for the front door. I had to get to Silas. My mind kept chanting that something was wrong. The ocean waves crashed against the legs of the balcony as the sound of pouring rain hit my ears. It came down in sheets. I ripped open the front door and ran out into the storm. I slammed the door behind me and raced down the walkway. I stumbled in the wet sand as my hair stuck to my face, my clothes drenched in seconds from the tropical storm pounding the coast of St. John’s.
“Silas!”
I ran up his walkway and began banging on his front door. I prayed for him to open up. For him to be alive and okay and well. Images flashed in my mind. The ground tearing open. His body disappearing. Those tendrils of lava rising up his leg and burning into his flesh.
I had to see for myself.
I had to prove to myself that it was only a dream.
My fist came down hard upon the door as I close my eyes. My nightgown stuck to my skin as the black wrap hung off my shoulders. Everything was soaked. And the ocean roared with its mighty anger. Flashes of the jungle clouded my vision. The caves. The brook. The rain pounding on top of our fires. I could still taste the stingray meat from the tips of his fingers. I still felt the throbbing of his cock in the palm of my hand.
What if we were still there?
What if he had frozen to death and I was really lying next to his dead body?
“Silas, please!”
“Val.”
The front door ripped open and a shirtless Silas stood there. Breathing. Pulsing. Coursing with life through his veins. Relief poured over my body and my shoulders began to shake. Oh my gosh, Silas was alive.
“Get in here. You're going to get sick,” he said.
His arm reached out and wrapped around my waist, pulling me into his cabana. Water dripped in streams from my clothes as he pulled me down the hallway. His grip was strong. Warm. Veins bulged from his skin. His heavy footsteps sounded on the hardwood flooring as he tugged me into the kitchen. Into his bedroom. Into his bathroom.
It wasn’t until he grabbed a towel and wrapped it around me that I threw my arms around his neck.
“You’re alive,” I whispered.
“Of course I am. I’m right here, Val.”
“You’re alive. You’re alive, Silas.”
“I’m alive, and I’m here. We’re safe, Val.”
“You almost died,” I said breathlessly.
I felt his hands sliding my wet clothes from my body as I buried my face into his neck.
“You almost died. You almost died. Holy hell, you almost died.”
I felt my clothes piling into a wet mound at my feet. My nightgown slid effortlessly from my body as the sheer wrap fell to the floor with a plop. A warm, fluffy towel graced my skin as Silas wrapped me up tightly. His arms blanketed my body as I pulled him closer. I felt his heart beating against my chest as my hands slid up and down the nakedness of his back.
“You’re alive, Silas.”
“I am, Val. I’m right here. We’re both right here,” he said.
I couldn’t contain myself any longer. The dream that scared me so badly had been proved to be nothing but a fantasy. A fantastical nightmare designed to keep me on my toes. Tears fell from my eyes as I drew in ragged breaths, and as quickly as he could Silas scooped me up into his arms. My wet clothes were left behind in his bathroom as he carried me to his bed, his knees hitting the mattress before settling me down.
I was wrapped in nothing but a towel, and I didn’t give one measly shit.
“You’re alive,” I whispered.
My fingers traced the outline of his strong jaw as his beau
tiful green eyes hooked with mine.
“I’m okay, Val. You're okay, too. We made it out of the jungle because of you. We aren’t where you think we are. I promise,” he said.
His lips came down onto mine and the rest of the world around me faded away. The nightmares locked themselves back in their little box and the storm started to subside. The rain didn’t batter as hard against the windows and the ocean didn’t seem to scream out as loud as I once thought it had. My body trembled as my arms snaked around his neck, drawing him nearer to me as he held himself up on his forearms.
“We’re alive,” he murmured against my lips.
It was the final straw dealt to my flashback.
Everything crashed and faded away, and nothing but Silas remained. Silas and his beautiful, thick black hair with his dazzling, worried green eyes. I pulled him down on top of me, needing the security of his strength. The comfort of his warmth. The ecstasy of his presence. He slipped his arms around me and fell off to the side, pulling me into him with nothing but a towel and his boxers separating us. His hand ran through my wet hair, untangling it as it dried. My cheek pressed against the swell of his chest as his heartbeat pulsed against my ear.
“Try to get some sleep,” he said.
“Will you be here in the morning?” I asked.
I felt him kiss the top of my head before his arm tightened around me.
“I won’t move until your eyes open, Val.”
And the promise was enough to release my body back into a deep slumber.
Silas
My eyes fluttered open and I felt something warm in my grasp. Something soft. Something strong. I shifted in bed and felt the source of the sensation move with me as something tightened around my hips. I craned my neck down and my nose fell into a pile of blonde hair. The smell that emanated from the person was sweet. Succulent. Decadent. Like the heated humidity after a rainstorm.
Val.
The events of last night crashed back over my mind. How frantic the knock at my door had been. How wild and scared Val looked. How much she had been trembling from the cold. I pulled her closer into my body and felt her clamor for me. Her hands dug into my skin and her leg wrapped tighter around my hips. I breathed in the scent of the top of her head. I felt her nuzzle her cheek into my chest.
I couldn’t let go of her.
I didn’t want to.
As I laid there with the hot sun rising through the windows of my cabana, I thought back over the last week and a half. I thought back to everything that had happened. Everything that had changed. And I still couldn’t figure out how in the world this woman worked her way underneath my skin. In such a short amount of time, I felt responsible for her. Drawn to her. Enraptured by her and entranced with every detail of her existence. From the way she walked to the way she talked to the knowledge she had of the world around her. From her experienced to the sway of her hips and even down to the fight she had in her spirit. All of it culminated into the woman that laid in my arms.
The woman I refused to let go.
Our four-day rest on St. John’s was quickly coming to an end. I knew that the two of us had to get back to New York City. I knew we both had lives to get back to. But I had to make sure I knew where she was. I had to make sure I knew how to get in touch with her. I needed access to her. I needed to be able to reach her.
For those moments when I wanted to be in her presence.
Val groaned and shifted, falling away from my body. She rolled over onto her back, her head falling into the crook of my elbow. I turned her way and nestled onto my side, then my free hand came up and stroked her bare skin with my fingertips. She was still wrapped up in her towel from last night and her breasts almost spilled out of the top. Her wild blonde hair was mussed in her face and her lips were slightly parted while she continued to sleep.
I danced my fingers up her naked arm before I traced her cheek with my thumb.
I thought back to last night again. The terror that had been written all over her features. It was like she had experienced a flashback she couldn't pull herself from. She kept repeating that I was alive. That I had almost died. And that moment came flooding back to my system. My eyes took in the gauze around her forearms as my memories ripped me back. Suddenly, I was dangling again. Grasping onto nothing but her skin and praying for my end to be swift and quick.
She had given everything she had in that moment to save my life.
I owed her everything for that one specific moment.
Val rolled back over into my arms and slid her leg between mine. Then, I watched her eyes slowly flutter open. Her head fell side to side as she tried to work herself awake, so I brought my had to her cheek to help. Smoothing my thumb over her skin, I watched her eyes graze up my body. From my chest to my neck to my lips. And finally, to my face. My gaze. My watchful eye as she stretched her arms and popped her back.
“Good morning,” she groaned.
“Morning,” I said.
She sighed and returned back to her curled position beside me before I reached over and pressed a kiss to her forehead.
“Care for some breakfast?” I asked.
“Mmm, does that mean you leaving?” Val asked.
“It does.”
“Then, no.”
“But you’re hungry.”
“How do you know I’m hungry?”
“I can feel your stomach rumbling against mine.”
“That’s not my stomach. That’s--.”
Then, in true Val fashion, her stomach growled out so loudly it made even her pause for laughter. What a wonderful way to wake up in the morning. With her in my arms and her laughter in my ears.
I could do this every morning with her.
“Okay. Maybe a little breakfast,” she said.
“You stay here and wake up. Help yourself to anything. I’ll whip us up something quick,” I said.
“You’re not going to order some chef to do it?”
“Believe it or not, the rich man can cook,” I said, grinning.
“Is there anything you can’t do?”
Give you up.
“I’ll guess you’ll have to stick around and see.”
I slipped from bed and headed straight for the kitchen. I knew if I stayed next to her while she wore nothing but a towel, I’d be in trouble. The two of us would never leave the bed for sustenance if I didn’t put some space between us. I stood at the stovetop and whipped us up some eggs, then filled the scrambled mess with vegetables before putting in some toast. I prepared the coffee pot and pulled out some orange juice, then cooked up some ham just to make sure there was enough food. By the time I was done setting it all on the table, I heard Val’s small footsteps falling over the kitchen tiles.
And when I turned around, all of me wished she would have stuck with the towel.
Her beautiful curves were encased in my clothes. In a pair of boxers she found and a button-down shirt she pulled over her head. She fluffed her hair out from the collar as the clothing practically hung off her body, and the top two buttons were undone just enough for the outline of her bosom on either side to be seen.
Holy fuck, she looked good in my clothes.
“Sorry. This was all I could find,” she said.
“You look good it in. Come on. I’ve got food ready,” I said.
“It smells wonderful.”
“Eat however much you want.”
I slid her chair out for her and ushered her to sit. And when she did, I caught a whiff of my cologne on her skin. Fucking hell, this woman drove me nuts, and judging by the look on her face she had no clue what she was doing. She reached for the creamer and sugar to doctor up her coffee as I sat down, and it took all I had to not stare at the way her breasts were framed in the fabric of my shirt.
“So, a little update,” I said.
“Hit me with it.”
“Grant and Angel are flying back into the city this afternoon. They’re getting ready to board my jet now.”
“Your jet? D
idn’t that crash?” she asked.
“It wasn’t my only jet.”
“Oh. Okay. Makes sense. It wasn’t your only luxury private jet.”
She shook her head as a flabbergasted smile crossed her cheeks.
“Rich people,” she said.
“You know you enjoy it.”
“Oh, I never said that.”
“Once we make our trip back to the city tomorrow, you will.”
“So we’re heading back tomorrow? Not today?”
“Right. Grant’s got some things to take care of with regard to our newest attempt at acquiring a failing banking institution.”
“The Brazil thing.”
“Yes, the Brazil thing. Apparently, Angel’s been working in her laid-up state, so her and Grant have been keeping track of things while on the island once they were flown out. They’re both going back to keep oil in the cogs of the machine until I get back tomorrow afternoon,” I said.
“Then it sounds like they’re doing well.”
“They are. Well-rested, well-fed, and Angel’s ankle is on its way to healing just fine.”
“That’s good to hear,” Val said.
“I’ve got a couple of video conferences after breakfast, and then I’ve got the day free. And I was wanting to ask you about it.”
“Video conferences? Is everything okay?”
I picked up my coffee and took a sip before I gathered my thoughts.
“The families of the pilots that died haven’t been notified yet. I’m calling their families personally to deliver the news and offer my condolences.”
“I’m so sorry, Silas.”
“Not as sorry as I’ll be to tell them that their loved ones didn’t survive the crash,” I said.
“Do you need anything?”
“No. I’m a little upset that they weren’t notified the second they could have been. It’s been an entire week and a half with their families in limbo as to what happened.”
“Why haven’t they been notified yet?” she asked.
“Still trying to figure that out. And when I do, the party or parties involved will be fired. I’m concerned that people were too busy searching for us to talk to them, and that doesn’t sit right with me.”
