“You know. A trick? Also known as a prank.” He shrugged.
“Who were you at the resort with?” I frowned.
“My wife.” He paused, and I could see something going through his head. I was almost certain that he was lying—I was pretty confident he wasn’t married. He wore no wedding band and there was no tan line on his wedding finger. The way he stared at me was also too interested. I mean, I understood that there are married men everywhere who still have their eyes open to other women, but this felt different. I was almost positive that he wanted me, in a very obvious way.
“Have you been married long, then?”
“No, this is our honeymoon.” The lie slipped easily out of his mouth and I wondered why he would make up such a story.
“I’m sorry your wife played a prank like this on your honeymoon.” I replied smoothly, and I saw the expression in his eyes change slightly. He knew that I wasn’t swallowing his story. I stretched my arms and yawned. “You’ll have to excuse me. I think I’m going to go lie down again. See if I can catch some more sleep before Jakob wakes up.”
“He’s lucky to have a girl like you.” Steve called after me as I walked away. “There aren’t many things I wouldn’t do to call someone like you my girlfriend.”
My pace increased as I walked back to Jakob, and I lay down next to him with my heart beating fast. What had Steve meant? Was he threatening me? I shivered as I cuddled up next to Jakob and closed my eyes. I could feel that Steve was watching the two of us and so I gave Jakob a quick kiss on the cheek before wrapping his arms around me. Even though I was wary of my attraction to Jakob, I still knew in my heart that, of the two men, he was the one I’d much rather be aligned with.
Six
There’s a certain hollowness you feel when you’re all alone in nature. It’s an empty feeling that rattles in your head as you realize that you’re all alone, even if you’re with someone else. It’s that feeling that pops up in all of us sometimes. The feeling that makes us ask the ultimate question—what’s the point of it all? That’s how I felt as I stared out at the ocean in her ominous glory. For while she was beautiful, she was still treacherous. The crashing waves against the rocks told me that if I were to swim out too far, I’d get stuck in her currents and washed out to sea. Not even Jakob could save me then.
Not that I wanted him to save me. I still wasn’t sure how I felt about him. There was something in his blue eyes that reminded me of the ocean—seemingly so open yet so deep and dark that it couldn’t be trusted. That didn’t mean that I wasn’t attracted to him. How could I not be? He was gorgeous. There was something so primal and raw about him, though I suppose that came from being on a deserted island. I started laughing then. I was surely going crazy. I’d been close to tears just a few moments ago, and now all I could think about were Jakob’s muscles.
“Bianca!” He shouted my name as if he knew I was thinking of him.
“Yes?” I answered, glad to be away from my thoughts.
“Where are you?” he called, his voice sounding closer.
“I’m at the shoreline!” I shouted back, staring once again at the ocean.
“What do you think you’re doing?” he ran toward me and then hissed, annoyed. “You can’t just disappear like that.” He slowed his pace as he walked up to me, and I could see the displeasure in his stern face.
“We’re on a deserted island.” I rolled my eyes. “I wouldn’t worry so much.”
“We don’t really know where we are.” He grabbed my hand roughly and pulled me toward him. “Steve came out of nowhere; we don’t really know if anyone else is here with us. We need to be careful.” His fingers dug into my skin and I glared up at his face. I could see that his stubble was thicker today. Without thinking, I reached up and ran my fingers across his jawbone. His hair was prickly beneath my fingers, and he stilled as I touched him. He released his hold on my other hand, and I reached my other fingers up to touch his lips. I gasped as he opened his mouth slightly and sucked my finger in like a vacuum. He bit down on my finger and then nibbled it gently, his eyes never leaving mine. My other hand moved from his jawline up to his hair. I pulled my finger out of his mouth slowly, and he grabbed my head and tilted it up to him.
“Taste me,” he grunted, and I looked up at him with a perplexed expression. Then he nodded toward my finger. I looked down and suddenly understood his comment. I reached the finger that had been in his mouth up to mine and slowly parted my lips and sucked on it. We stood there staring at each other as I sucked on my finger slowly and intently. I was mesmerized by the look of lust in his blue eyes. I took a step back from him, hoping that a little distance would stop my legs from trembling and my heart from beating so quickly. After a few seconds, I removed my finger from my mouth and then licked my lips slowly.
“The tide’s coming in. You could have gotten stuck.” He finally spoke and grabbed my arm again and pulled me toward him. “And I have no idea where Steve is. I was worried about you. Don’t just disappear like that again. Are you stupid?”
“Let go of me.” I looked up at him, annoyed, and tried to ignore the burn on my skin where he had touched me. “I’m not a little kid.”
“You could have fooled me.” He stared at me lips. “I ought to kiss you and show you that you can’t go around just doing what you want.”
“Did you come to harass me?” I sighed and crossed my arms. His eyes fell to my chest and lingered there, and I could feel my insides burning up at his stare. “I woke up, and you weren’t there. I thought we were going to get up early so we could explore before Steve woke up. But I woke up, and both you and Steve were gone.” I gave him an accusing look. “So I decided to take a walk.”
“You should have waited for me.” He crossed his arms. “What if something had happened?”
“What’s going to happen?” I rolled my eyes. “At least we know where the rocks are.” I shivered as I stared at the sharp treacherous rocks as the waves crashed into them. The water definitely was not as calm down here.
“For the record, when I woke up, you were still asleep. I didn’t want to wake you, because you looked peaceful.” He sighed and his eyes narrowed. “And Steve was already gone when I woke up.”
“What?” I frowned. “Gone where?”