“And I’d totally let you kiss me right now,” he said softly, leaning in so close that I could feel the heat of his skin against my own.
“You would, huh?” My pulse thrummed in my body, attuned to his presence. I moved a little closer to him. Our bodies were now just inches apart, and I was keenly aware of my - and his - nakedness.
“Just on the mouth,” he whispered. “Caress your lips with mine, and then taste you with my tongue to see if you taste as good as you look.”
I shivered again.
Abruptly, his expression changed. He examined me, and his hands briskly rubbed my goose bump-covered arms. “You cold? You’re always shivering when I see you.”
“Well, I don’t know if you noticed, but we are naked.”
His mouth crooked into a smile. “Should be a cool one tonight. I hope Kip’s keeping you warm in that shelter.”
I grimaced. “I’m lucky if I get any shelter.”
Jendan continued to rub my arms. I didn’t know if it was because he thought it was warming me or if he just wanted to touch me. “So…what do you do if you get cold?”
“Um, huddle under a leaf and wait for dawn?”
He thought for a moment longer, then said, “Do you want to stay out here with me tonight?”
I frowned. “Won’t Sunnie be worried?”
He shook his head. “She never wonders where I’ve gone. Half the time, I don’t think she even notices other people are on the island. She thinks it’s her own private TV show.” Jendan chuckled and rubbed my arm again. “I’ll drop the roots off with her and come back with a blanket, and we can bunk down. I hate the thought of you freezing and Kip being no help.”
“Are you sure? I don’t want to be a bother.”
“It’s no bother at all,” Jendan said softly. He leaned in, and for a brief moment, I thought - hoped - that he was going to kiss me. I tilted my face up, half hopeful, half afraid. At the last moment, though, he only tweaked a lock of my stringy, salt-water tangled hair. “Be back in about an hour.”
“I’ll head to camp and boil water and then be back, too.”
“See you soon,” he told me, and then turned, heading back to his camp.
I waved, pushing down the ridiculous giddiness I felt. I was going to cuddle with Jendan tonight. Jendan and a blanket. This was my lucky day. With that happy thought in mind, I headed back to my own camp.
The fire was nothing but embers, Kip curled up in the shelter. Swallowing my irritation at his uselessness, I stoked the fire again, gathered some wood, and then put the water on. I tapped my feet impatiently as the sun went down and I waited for the water to boil, but it was finally ready. I poured it into our two canteens - okay, so I was having a weak moment - and then headed to the lean-to and put Kip’s newly filled bottle next to his leg. “I’m going to go and see if I can find more taro roots,” I told him.
He rolled over in the shelter, taking up more room. “It’s dark.”
“Yeah, but I’m hungry. Don’t wait up.”
“Whatever,” he said, brushing sand off of one of my woven palm frond mats again. “Did you fill my water?”
“I did. Back later.” I headed off without giving Kip another thought. Why think about that guy when there was sexy Jendan with a blanket waiting for me in the jungle?
Mind you, it was a sexily platonic sort of relationship, but I’d still take it.
When I returned to the waterfall safely after stumbling through the dark, Jendan was sitting at our normal meeting rock, the blanket folded in his arms. He looked over at me as I approached, and the sleepy smile he gave me in the fading light made my heart do a crazy little flip. “You came back.”
“Of course I did. You have a blanket.”
“Figures. I find a pretty girl on the island, and she only wants me for my linens.” Jendan got to his feet, shaking out his blanket. “Story of my life.”
“That’s not entirely true,” I said lightly. “I also want your body heat.”
“Well in that case, come over here.” Jendan said, heading a short distance away from the falls, to the base of the forked tree.
My heart skipped a beat as he approached it. Had he figured out that I’d already found Pandora’s Box and dug it up? Was he bringing me here to confront me? Did he want me to share it with him? What if that compromised my game? I realized I was using Jendan’s attraction to me and still not being completely honest with him on my end, but I wasn’t ready to expose myself (ha, the irony) and risk being voted out.
But he sat at the base of the roots, right where they came together and formed a cradle, and then patted the ground next to him. “Come on.”
Oh. Well, now I just felt stupid. And overly suspicious of him, when I was the one being the sneak. “You sure your partner won’t be mad?”
“Nope. She’s already asleep and will be until dawn. I went back and the fire was out.” He grimaced. “Don’t suppose you’d share some water with me while you’re here?”
I giggled. If I thought my camp was dysfunctional, it was nothing compared to poor Jendan’s. At least Kip would tend the fire. Sometimes. “Of course. As long as we’re sharing blankets.”
He lifted one edge of the blanket like a cape, indicating I should get under his arm. His na**d silhouette was revealed, all lean muscle and tanned skin. God, that looked inviting. It wasn’t just cuddling with Jendan - though that had a lot of appeal all on its own - it was the warmth he offered. I hadn’t spent one warm night since I’d gotten to the island. Being constantly na**d was chilly, especially at night. Today had been overcast all day, and the wind was up, and I’d never felt truly warm. The offer of that blanket was more than I could resist.
So I slid in next to Jendan, sat down, and let him put his arm around my shoulders. The blanket was long enough that I could tuck around my front, and then we were both cocooned in warmth and shared body heat.
And man, it was nice.
I closed my eyes for a moment, just enjoying the warmth coming off of Jendan, warmth that the blanket trapped against my skin. “This is heaven.”
“It is pretty damn nice.” I felt him shift against me, his arm flexing. “You warm enough?”
“I think so,” I told him, giving the blanket a little tug to pull it closer. “I can’t thank you enough for sharing your blanket with me.”