“I’ll say,” I agreed as I braided my hair down over my shoulder.
“I’ve never been on a plane before,” he said, still gazing around with interest.
“Really?”
“I always traveled by boat.” His hair was waving around his face, not tucked behind his ears today. It looked soft and it still flipped up at the ends.
“Wanna see the cockpit?”
“Yeah.” He followed me into the front of the plane with the large windows and the controls. It was messier up here because we didn’t bother to clean up as much, knowing this part of the plane wouldn’t get much use.
“Wow,” he murmured, sitting down in the pilot’s seat. “Look at all these controls.” He pointed at one. “Wonder what this one did.”
I couldn’t see so I stepped forward, and my clumsy butt tripped over the crap on the floor and I fell forward.
Right into Duke’s lap.
“If you wanted to drive, you should have just said so,” he quipped.
I couldn’t help it; I laughed.
To my surprise, he settled me into his lap, both of us facing the window, and looped his arms around my waist.
“Do you miss home?” I asked him softly.
“Every day.”
“Have you tried to get off the island?”
“More times than I could count.”
“Maybe with three of us, it will be easier. Maybe we can figure something out.”
“Maybe,” he said. He leaned his forehead against the back of my shoulder.
“We will.” I corrected him. “You, me, and Nash.”
“Are you two together?”
“What do you mean?” I asked, even though I knew what he meant. I had no idea how to respond to that. The answer was no, Nash and I weren’t together.
A strong man always makes sure his woman is provided for.
But we weren’t exactly not not together either…
I think I just confused myself.
“I mean, like, is he your man?”
Was he? I opened my mouth, interested in what was going to come out, but I never got the chance to see.
Nash chose that moment to walk in. His eyes went right to me… in Duke’s lap. It was completely innocent… but I wasn’t sure he saw it that way.
He stalked over and held out a coconut to me. I started to stand to take it and tripped again. Nash’s hands were full. But Duke’s weren’t. He caught me and eased me up on my feet, his hands lingering on my waist. “Careful,” he murmured as he pulled away.
“Here,” Nash said, handing the second coconut to Duke.
“Thank you,” he said, accepting it.
Nash reached for my arm and held me steady as I walked through the debris and out of the cockpit. Then he handed me the last coconut. “What about you?” I asked, frowning.
“I’ll open another one,” he said, turning his back and going to do just that. I stared after him, feeling like I should have said something… but I didn’t know what he wanted me to say.
“Let’s go down to the beach,” I said to Duke.
When he stood, I couldn’t help but notice his gaze lingering on my legs. I realized then that my long shirt made it look like I wasn’t wearing pants.
Crap. I wasn’t.
“Would you mind holding this outside while I change?”
He took it and disappeared. Quickly, I yanked off the shirt and pulled on my bikini and a yellow cotton sundress I had in my suitcase. It made a good cover-up.
Duke was waiting for me beside the plane, and when I came to the edge, he moved forward to help me down. He glanced down at his full hands and scowled.
“It’s okay.” I laughed. “I jump down all the time.”
He shook his head, but I didn’t give him time to react and try and help me. I jumped down, landing lightly beside him. The last thing I wanted was for Nash to happen to see Duke with his hands on me again, helping me down.
“Let’s go down to the beach,” Nash suggested from somewhere beside the plane. His voice was close by and I felt some relief knowing that my decision to avoid Duke’s touch was a good one.
I tried not to think about why I cared so much what Nash thought.
The three of us wandered down to the sand. My eyes went right to the bonfire pit and my cheeks heated with the memory of what we did there last night. Nash caught my eye and I knew he was thinking the same thing by the way his gaze traveled my body. His stare felt like a laser beam, retracing the path his tongue had made just hours before.
We all sat quiet for a moment as we drank the sweet juice from the fruit. My thoughts turned to the gunshots we heard and the warning Duke gave us just before he left.
“We heard gunfire last night,” I said. I didn’t bother looking at Nash. I knew he wasn’t keen on asking Duke about what we’d been hearing, but I didn’t care anymore. We were stuck here, like it or not. We needed to know what we were dealing with.
Duke nodded. “It’s on the other side of the island.”
“Have you been there? Are there people? Civilization?” Hope swarmed up inside me like a tidal wave, thinking this could be our way off this island, that this could help us get home.
“It’s not safe to go there,” Duke said tightly.
“Why not?”
He pinned me with his dark eyes. “It just isn’t. You won’t find help there. Stay on this side.”
“But won’t they come here eventually?”
Duke just gazed off across the ocean, almost like he was lost in thought. Or wistful for home.
“You okay?” I asked him, reaching out and laying a hand on his arm. He looked down, almost like he was startled by the contact.
His eyes slid to mine. “Yeah, I’m good.” So much emotion swam in those eyes of his. They had to be the most expressive I had ever seen.
We sat there frozen for long moments, my hand on his arm and his eyes memorizing every angle of my face (at least that’s what it felt like).
“You gonna tell us what’s out there or what?” Nash said.
I gave him a hard look because he was being rude. He should be nice. This poor guy didn’t have anyone. For months.
Duke hesitated.
Nash sighed and stood, sand sticking to his still-damp shorts. “If you won’t tell me, I’m damn sure going to find out.”
“What does that mean?” I asked, alarmed.
“It means we’re going to the other side of the island. We’re going hunting.”
13