Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 68509 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68509 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
A lava lizard.
Little insect-eating natives to the islands. While they weren’t dangerous or anything, they weren’t usually so… friendly.
“You’re pretty cool,” I told him. “You, ah, got any ideas on what I can use to skin those cactus pads? No? Well, it was worth asking.”
“Talking to the local wildlife?” a voice asked, making my heart fly up into my throat as it pounded so hard I was pretty sure it might actually break free.
I mean, the first initial panic was that of a woman who was supposed to be alone, then found herself very much so… not.
But it only took a split second for me to recognize that voice.
“Wick?” I said, turning to find him walking barefooted across the ground toward me, his shirt off, but held in front of him, looking like it was weighed down with something.
I would love to claim that I didn’t let my gaze slip down, that I was oblivious to the tanned skin of his torso and how it stretched over some very impressive abdominal muscles, that my eyes didn’t trace the deep indents of his Adonis belt to where it disappeared into the waistband of his shorts. Or that I didn’t find myself impressed with the corded muscles of his arms that said he picked up and put down heavy things on the regular.
But, damn, yeah, I noticed it all.
I even noticed the way the real life of him somehow surpassed that sweaty dream fantasy I’d conjured up.
“Miss me, duchess?” he asked, shooting me a smirk that was entirely too laissez-faire given the fact that we were stranded on a damn uninhabited island.
“Where the hell is the boat?” I asked as he drew nearer.
To that, all I got was a shrug.
“Where were you?” I asked, my tone a little more accusatory than I’d intended.
To that, I got another shrug. “Exploring. I meant to make it back before sunset, but…”
“Dude, why are you still here?” I asked the little lizard who’d decided to not only stay on me, but perch himself on my damn boob.
Wick’s lips twitched as his gaze slid down. “He was probably drawn to your body heat overnight. And, I mean, can you blame him?” he asked, waving toward my chest.
It wasn’t a compliment, dammit. So there was no reason for my body to warm like it did.
There was no way in hell I’d let him know I was affected by the words, though. So I changed tack.
“What do you have?” I asked, half suspecting him of, I dunno, looting the island or something.
“Breakfast,” he said. Finally getting to my side, he dropped down on his knees and put the shirt down on the ground.
Inside was an impressive amount of oranges and slightly green bananas.
“There’s fruit growing here?” I asked, so relieved that I needed to blink the wetness out of my eyes.
“Of course there is.”
“You don’t have to say it like I’m an idiot,” I grumbled as I reached for an orange.
“Think you’re listening for something that isn’t there, duchess,” he told me, dropping down onto his butt and reaching for one of the bananas.
Honestly, he was probably right.
I was just annoyed with him in general, even though he’d really been nothing but decent to me.
And, well, the needy desire from my steamy dream was still pulsing between my thighs, so that wasn’t helping my sour mood.
“Is this all the food that grows on the island?”
“There’s some soursop, tropical plums, and wild tomato that grow naturally around here.”
“How do you know that? Have you been here before?”
“A few times.”
Was I just looking for things again, or was there something cagey about what he was saying? Or, maybe, not saying?
He scrambled my instincts.
I didn’t like it.
“We can drink from the cactus, right?” I asked as I peeled my orange.
“Yeah. It’s not pleasant, though.”
“Why not?”
“Tastes something like a cross between okra and green beans.”
“Ew.”
“Not a fan of vegetables?” he asked, shooting a surprisingly open smile at me.
“I like them just fine. Chopped up and served with fried corn chips. Or sprinkled on top of tacos. Maybe mixed into a burrito…”
“Eat,” he said as I held my peeled fruit in my hand. “You haven’t had anything but that blueberry muffin, have you?”
“Well, you haven’t exactly given me a chance to have a nice, sit-down meal, have you?” I popped a piece of juicy orange in my mouth. My eyes closed, savoring the taste. “Or even a damn cup of coffee.”
“There was some amazing coffee back in Guayaquil.”
“Shut up.”
To that, his lips curved up, but he had the good sense to keep his chuckle to himself as he finished his banana and reached for an orange.
“Where’s your backpack?” I asked, my gaze watching his hands work the peel off the orange. Which was totally not a sexy thing to do. So why was my sex clenching hard enough for me to have to press my thighs together to ease the ache?