I’m taking shaky breaths, trying not to panic, but I don’t know what I’m going to do if he doesn’t come up soon. And that’s when the rain starts. It comes down in sheets and the waves get choppy enough that one of them crashes over the stern. I glance behind me, and there’s water on the deck.Oh my god, I don’t know what to freaking do here.
How did this beautiful day turn into this so quickly?
When I glance back at the bow, the anchor is sitting on it, and then the chain is thrown up onto it as well. And then Danny must swim around to the back of the boat, because the stern dips down and when I glance back, he’s on the deck rushing to the front. “Give it a little juice to move us away from this island while I roll the anchor in,” he calls as he rushes past.
I do as he says, feeling instantly relieved and a whole hell of a lot calmer now that he’s back on board. He reels the anchor in quickly, and then he’s back next to me, pulling the Bimini back and securing the blue canopy behind us.
“What are you doing?” I call out, annoyed that the one thing that was sort of blocking the rain is now gone and I’m being pelted by it.
“This thing would be ripped off the boat by the wind the minute we start moving if we left it up,” he says, as he comes upbehind me, putting an arm around each side and covering my hands with his. “All right, we’re going to drive this together.”
“What?” There’s panic in my voice, becausewhy?“This seems like something I should leave to a professional.”
“So you can sit there by yourself and freak out? No way. C’mon.” His words are practically a growl. I lean my head back against his chest, reminding myself that this is a very inopportune time to find this bossy man so damn sexy.
He guides us out into the harbor, away from the rocks, and I can feel him turn his upper body to the right, back toward the marina, and then to the left, toward the private beach we just came from. “I don’t want to chance going the distance all the way to the other end of the harbor with the waves picking up like this,” he says. “I think our best bet is to go back to the point, and beach the boat. There was that smaller cave right on the beach. We can get some shelter there until the storm passes.”
“Okay,” I call out over the wind. “Will you put a life vest on?”
“Will it make you feel better if I do?”
“Absolutely. If anything happens . . .”
“It won’t,” he says, but he drives the boat a little farther out and then holds the wheel steady with one hand while slipping the extra life vest off my arm with his other. “You’re driving while I get this thing on.”
“Do I just...” I ask, but before I can even finish the question, he’s already got his hands back over mine.
“All right, let’s see what this single engine can do.” With a rumble of laughter, he opens it up and we’re speeding across the short expanse of water at a far faster rate than we traveled before, which makes me realize just how slow he was going earlier to keep me comfortable on the boat.
Now, though, the speed is the thing keeping me comfortable, because with each moment that the beach comes closer, I feel safer. Even with the loud howl of the wind, the rain lashing atmy face and arms, and the boat bouncing in the choppy water, I feel safe because his arms are around me and he’s taking me to shore.
My skin stings from the elements, but as he slows the boat near the beach, I feel a palpable sense of relief. On the ride over here, we watched several windsurfers leave their boards on the sand and hop into a larger boat that arrived to pick them up. There’s no one else there now though, nor have we seen any other boats on our ride over. We are well and truly alone out here.
A huge crack of thunder has me startling, but Danny curls his body around mine protectively. “I’m going to slow us down so we can beach the boat. We can’t risk putting the anchor down and swimming to shore with thunder in the area.”
No sooner do the words leave his mouth than a huge, forked bolt of lightning streaks across the sky on the other side of the point. It’s out in the ocean, but that doesn’t mean we’re safe in the harbor.
The minute the bow hits the sand, he tells me to jump out and get away from the water. Then he drives the boat up a little farther, moves to the back of the boat, pulls the motor up, and returns to the bow. I watch from ten feet away as he pulls the anchor out and drags the chain up the shore. “Best not lose the boat,” he yells over the wind, “you never know what the ocean will do in a storm.”
He stalks toward me across the sand, grabs my hand, and pulls me up the beach toward the small cave we barely bothered exploring before we ate lunch. It’s not a large space, nothing like the one off the water that we watched the fish in, but it’s dry and just a bit quieter. From here, the sound of the rain and the wind is comforting, not terrifying.
“Holy shit,” I say, pushing my hair off my face as he steps up in front of me. I lean forward, resting my head on his chest andwrapping my arms around his waist. My heart is beating so fast that I swear I can feel it against my rib cage.
He brings his hands to each side of my neck, and I can feel my pulse pounding against his palms. “You’re trembling,” he says, his voice quiet and concerned.
“That was . . . terrifying.”
Chapter Thirteen
MORGAN
Ifocus on slowing my breathing, but as he tilts my head back and looks down at me, his eyes studying me intently, everything in me kicks up a notch—my pulse, my breathing, my lust.
Nooooo, I tell myself.You just had a near-death experience. This is adrenaline, nothing more.
But the way he’s looking at me, the naked longing I see in his gaze, has me convincing myself that this could be a good idea.
“The only thing scary about that was the fear that something might happen toyou.” The second the words leave his lips, his mouth crashes into mine, and I don’t pull back. Instead, I wrap my arms around his shoulders and push up on my toes, parting my lips and letting him invade my mouth.
