by Alice Ward
Gathering her closer, I just held her for the longest time, exchanging silent words of thanks and appreciation with her. It was evident that neither of us would’ve made it out of that horrible situation alone.
“You’re my hero too,” I whispered into her hair.
The way her hand moved over my stubbly cheek made my heart ache. I wanted so much with her. I wanted things to be perfect, and they were so far from that, it was laughable. I wanted her, yet I didn’t want to rush. She still wasn’t mine. I had to wait.
“We have to get to work.” She sighed and moved out of my arms. “We have wood to gather. A shelter to build. Food to find. So many things have to be done before night falls again.”
I’d been her hero in the plane, and I’d be her hero on the island too.
Kendra pointed to a tree a bit farther back. “I think that should be the base for our shelter. It has low branches we can use.”
I just stared at it and didn’t respond. “Please tell me we have a lighter or matches,” I said, looking toward the firewood I’d gathered.
She got up, wiping sand off the back of my baggy sweats. Her smile was wide as she pulled out a large, clear zippered bag that held a good-sized box of kitchen matches. “I found this in the galley.”
Matches had never looked so damn good to me. “I’ll get a fire started as soon as I finish laying out my clothes to fully dry.” Once I had everything out, I found something vital was missing.
The fucking condoms.
Then I groaned, remembering how she’d tossed them on the bed while we were looking for weapons.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. I’m going to start the fire.”
She lifted an eyebrow. “You sure? You look upset.”
“Just remembering something I left on the plane.”
Her head cocked to one side. “What?”
My love glove. Cock sock. Seventy-five-cent insurance policy.
“Nothing.”
Her fists planted on her hips. “Just tell me. Maybe I can help you find it.”
“It’s not important.”
“Just tell me!” She stamped her foot, sand flying up around her.
“Condoms,” I shouted, regretting my admission the moment her nose scrunched up.
“Well, for your information, they’re seven leagues under the sea.”
“And you didn’t think to grab them while you were gathering our things?”
She looked incredulous. “Sorry, I was a little busy trying to get things you’d actually get to use.”
Fuck.
I pointed at a pair of high heels drying in the sun.
“And I suppose those damn heels are going to get used?” I picked one up. “Planning on a little stroll?”
She glared at me. “Look, caveman—”
“Caveman?” I threw the shoe down and stomped over to her. “Only a little while ago you were calling me a hero. Now I’m a caveman?”
“If it looks like a caveman, grunts like a caveman…” she sniffed the air, “and smells like a caveman, then yeah, I’m calling you a caveman.”
She poked me in the abs, making me wince. I was still sore as all shit.
She sighed. “Look. I never planned on having sex with you while we’re still in danger. Which we are. Once we’re rescued and things are back to normal, you and I can discuss having a romantic relationship. I’m not sure that sex will be included in that at first, but we’ll see. Right now, our survival is the only thing we should be thinking about. Sex isn’t part of survival.”
All I could do was cock my head and look at her like she was crazy.
Because she was!
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
Kendra
The man was impossible!
I had no idea what he was thinking. How could he even think about sex at a time like this?
He’d figured it out all by himself, back on the plane. I was a virgin, holding out for the man I would marry. There were some fleeting moments when our lives were in danger that I did think about Eli being the man for me.
To be fair, those ideas and feelings had been induced by the intensity of the circumstances. Of course, when one is in peril, one thinks about doing things they wouldn’t normally think about doing. And I knew I’d said some things during heated moments that might’ve had Eli believing I was ready to spread my legs.
I assumed it was sexual frustration that had him going on like a jackass.
Even though I knew I was at fault, I didn’t want to talk about any of that. Not when we had so much to do. And Eli was huffing and puffing around, doing a whole lot of nothing. He was supposed to be building a fire then exploring the island. When I saw his arms were empty, I got busy on that task myself, moving the pile of wood closer to where I wanted to build our shelter.
“I’m going to hike into the interior to see what I can find.” He started walking as if he was really going to leave me there to do all the work.
Tossing a piece of wood on the ground, I put my hands on my hips, taking the stance of women everywhere who are trying to exert their authority. “No! I need your help here first. Please get the fire started then gather more wood so I can keep it going.”
He stood there, staring at me for a whole three seconds before he started toward the tree I’d pointed out to use as our shelter. Just as he got to it, he put his hand on its trunk. “This tree won’t work.”
“And why not?”
“It’s too close to the water. That’s why I want to go look for a better place inland. You don’t understand. You don’t understand anything.” He started to stomp away, but I grabbed the back of his shirt.
“Hang on.”
Spinning around, he looked at me with a smirk on his handsome face. It was odd how he could still look good with a look like that. “I need to get to walking, sweetheart, or I won’t find us anywhere to stay tonight.”
“We have to stay on the shore. If there is a rescue party looking for us, the shore is open, and that’s the best place for anyone to see us. From overhead, planes or helicopters can spot us, and boats can see us too, as they’ll be searching shorelines.”
He folded his arms across his broad chest. He had nothing to argue that point. “This isn’t a safe place to stay for the long haul. Even you should understand that.”
“And that’s the last time you’ll say a damn thing that insinuates I’m stupid.” I poked him in the chest. “I get it, Eli. You want to fuck me.”
“Ha!” He shook his head as if that wasn’t true at all. “As if.”
My eyes rolled nearly out of my head. “Anyway, I don’t want to argue with you about anything. My father, who was a—”
“Don’t! Don’t you fucking say that he was a Navy SEAL. I swear to God, if I hear you say that shit one more time, I’m going to drown myself.”
Tapping my foot as I watched this big successful man go into full toddler meltdown, I wondered if I should just have sex with him. Maybe he’d calm down, maybe even find something inside of himself that wanted to do things the smart way, my way. But then that thought slipped away as he picked up the wood I just moved and began piling it in its original position.
“What are you doing?”
“Making the fucking fire.”
I growled in frustration. “It’s better where I had it.”
“No, it’s not. I’ll make a temporary shelter under this tree, but if we see nothing in a couple of days, we’re heading inland.”
“But—”
“There will probably be fresh water inland, Kendra. Fresh water means life, or didn’t Daddy tell you that?”
He was overreacting, but he was also doing what I wanted him to. He could go about it any way he wanted, just as long as he was doing what was best for us. I sighed, deciding to call a truce. “Thank you. I’ll gather more wood while you work on the shelter.” I waited to see what he’d say, but he just went on messing with the fire pit.
When I got back, a fire was crackling happily
in the pit. I held out my hands, feeling warm for the first time in nearly twenty-four hours. I tossed more wood on the fire, then went searching again while he started on the lean-to.
It wasn’t much, and I could see he meant it to be temporary.
I wasn’t about to argue with him about it. He was right about some things. If we hadn’t been spotted within a couple of days, we should seek something that would help us survive easier. And we would need fresh water. We only had nine bottles of water left.
He weaved some of the thin lower branches together, making a bit of a wall. I watched him as he did little things here and there that were bringing it all together.
I sat by the fire and admired how he worked. He was as diligent at what he was doing as he was in business. Eli wouldn’t stop until the goal was accomplished, just like he did in the real world.
“Would you like my help?”
He looked at me for only a second then shook his head. “The sun’s overhead. Check our clothes to see if they’re dry, maybe turn them over if they aren’t.”
I got up, going to do what he said. We both had bossy characteristics. Living together wasn’t going to be a piece of cake. I hoped we’d be rescued soon, but not for only one reason. I didn’t want Eli to end up hating me. If we stayed on the island, all alone, I feared he would do just that.
As I folded the clothes and put our things away, I wondered if I should be more nurturing. Maybe if I tried to turn that part of myself on, I’d find a way we could get along better.
My father’s words about emasculating men whirled around my brain. I needed to find a balance between taking over and being a weak female.
As I picked up our clothes, I noticed how sandy and gritty everything was. We needed fresh water to wash things, or we’d have terrible rashes in no time. Even the panties I was putting away felt like sandpaper. Not a thing I wanted next to my softest areas.
Taking another bar of candy and a bottle of water to Eli, I took a seat on the ground. “Are you ready for lunch?”
He nodded and sat down without saying a thing. I handed him his half of the candy and put the bottle of water right in front of him. He took a long drink then stopped. I knew he was thirsty and wanted to drink more, but he didn’t. He made sure to leave me half of it.
I was thirsty, but he’d done more work than me and what he’d done was more strenuous. I took a drink then handed the bottle back to him. “Here, you drink the rest. I’m good.”
“You need to drink that. I don’t want you to get dehydrated.” He got back up and wiped his hands on pants that were getting pretty dingy looking.
“When we find fresh water, I’ll get our clothes cleaned up. We don’t have a thing that isn’t salty and sandy. For the record, I agree with only staying here for a few days.”
“Good.” He turned away and went back to work.
Sitting there, I watched him for a few minutes then turned my attention to the water and the birds all around. As I watched them dive into the water to catch fish, it occurred to me that we had a way of possibly catching one to eat. “If we put a bit of candy on the ground, a bird might swoop in to get it, and we can shoot it.”
Eli let out a loud sigh. “And if we miss, then we’ve lost a precious bite of food and a bullet. I think I’ll have to build a trap. Maybe one to trap fish too, since we don’t have a string.”
“I can rip up some clothes to make something kind of like string.”
“Give it a shot. You’re not doing anything else right now.”
I wasn’t happy with his tone of voice. It was snippy with a side of pissy. He was about as far away from charming as I’d ever witnessed.
Since I’d made him so growly, I thought getting away from him, leaving him to do what he was doing, would help his mood. I found a lacey top and started to unravel parts of it. I’d gotten a few knives out of the galley, so I set to work, making us a fishing pole.
When evening came, maybe I would be able to find some insects we could use as bait. I worked for a long time on that project. When I finally looked up, I saw Eli was on the last leg of his shelter building, glistening with sweat.
He wiped his brow with his arm as he looked over the work he’d accomplished. He had smears of dirt across his face. His hair was completely unkempt, and I swear to the Lord above, the man had never looked sexier.
I gasped as he took long strides from one side of the structure to the other. Even though the temperature was cool, the sun was warm and he’d taken off his shirt.
Licking my lips, I ogled the man. Damn!
He picked up a thick stick and began drawing in the sand near the shelter. It took me a second to figure out that he was writing SOS. My admiration for him grew. He was smart and handsome.
The intensity was over, and I was still finding myself not only attracted to the man but caring for him too, even when our tempers flared and we argued. I wasn’t only thinking about how hot he looked, I was thinking about if he was actually hot and needed to cool down a bit.
Maybe a little swim would be what he needed. Maybe a little bit of me was what he needed. I couldn’t take my eyes off him as he put the stick down so he could jiggle parts of the structure to see if it would give way or stay put.
The shelter was sturdy, I had to give it to him. He may not have ever had to do anything in his life as far as survival skills were concerned, but he was figuring things out. Maybe he had a little bit of Bear Grylls in him.
He was making me feel safe already. I could give him the benefit of the doubt about keeping us alive. He was doing well so far.
The condoms I’d left behind were beginning to bother me. Why did I do that?
I’d seen them on the bed but had purposely left them there.
At the time, I was keeping space for important things. Now, I was beginning to think I might have left the most important things behind.
If I was completely honest with myself, I’d admit that I had begun to care deeply for Eli, even before we got on that plane. I wanted him, and he wanted me. Yet I’d sabotaged our being together. Consciously or unconsciously, I knew I did it because I was scared. Scared of being hurt. Scared of disappointing him. Scared of him leaving after he’d had his fill.
I sighed and walked down to the water’s edge, gazing out on the churning waves.
Who the hell is grown and doesn’t think sex is a part of life?
Me, that’s who.
I was an idiot, and now we would be stuck together in a sexless existence if we were never rescued, or else risk an island pregnancy. I shuddered at the thought. I was not Blue Lagoon material. At all.
In that moment, I hated myself and the prude I’d been for so many years. A little part of me even hated my father for instilling such old-fashioned values.
He’d prepared us for survival but not life in the real world. And I’d bought his opinion — hook, line, and sinker.
Mr. Right? Wrong.
Who in the hell could ever live up to the expectations I’d set for my future husband? The poor man who’d tick all those boxes didn’t exist.
As I stood berating myself, I felt a breeze as Eli ran past me — completely naked. His taut butt cheeks flexed with each step, his back muscles bulging as he raised his hands to dive in.
God, he was beautiful. And we were alone on a deserted island. And I was an idiot of the worst kind.
I stood perfectly still as I watched him emerge, water cascading down his skin. He looked refreshed and clean, wearing only a smile and a… wow.
“Wanna kiss and make up?”
I forced my eyes north.
Yes. Yes, I did.
He kissed me on the forehead and walked away.
CHAPTER TWENTY TWO
Eli
The next day, as I was slaving over our shelter that was nearly blown apart each night with the winds, Kendra stood with her hand shielding the sun from her emerald eyes. “I wonder if anyone is on that island.”
“It doesn’t matter,” I told her as
I used a dress shoe to hammer notched pieces of tree limbs together. “What does matter is this shelter that you’ve left me working on alone for the last half hour. Maybe you could stop looking elsewhere and help me out?”
She whirled around, and I saw the hopeless expression she wore. It tore at my heart, a thing she was completely unaware of. Just as I was about to offer her some comforting words, she opened her rosebud lips. “If you’d been more diligent about who you got onto planes with, then we might be in Inverness, Scotland right now. Our hands would be wrapped around short crystal glasses, and we’d be sipping on expensive Scotch. Chances are, we’d be chatting it up with the locals and having some actual fun.”
The pain in my heart for her vanished, and irritation grew in its place. “I didn’t mean to do that, and you know it,” I said through gritted teeth. Little by little, Kendra was putting the blame for everything that had happened squarely on my shoulders. The weight was almost unbearable.
She wiped her hands on her jeans then picked up my other dress shoe and began to beat on the other side of our lean-to. With a sigh, something she’d started to do a lot, she spat, “Just because you didn’t mean to do it, doesn’t make it any less your responsibility.”
Kendra had a way with words, a bad way that could turn my good mood into a sour one in record time. “Just work on the shelter and try not to expend your energy by talking too much. I’d hate it if you wore yourself out. All we’ve had to eat in the last few days is that candy. Our energy should be conserved. We’ll have to trek into the interior of the island in the morning to find fresh water and food.”
“I know that,” she snapped as she hit the limb harder. When the shoe didn’t hit her intended target, pounding her finger instead, she shrieked like a banshee. Had there been another soul on this island, they’d have heard her. Someone would’ve either come looking to see what the hell had made that horrible noise or ran for their lives.
Her index finger was already swelling, and my aggravation turned to concern in a flash. Dropping the shoe, I went to her and held her hand. I looked at her red finger and brought it to my lips, then left a kiss on it. “There, that’s better, isn’t it?”
