He laughed for real this time. It was kind of charming. But not as charming as when his steel blue eyes met hers and twinkled. That kind of charming caused her heart to forget to beat.
God, he was good-looking. She almost didn’t want him to shave the stupid beard anymore. It might be too much to take.
“Don’t worry. I won’t get us lost.”
“What, are you some kind of expert navigator?”
“Something like that.”
She looked up. “I don’t see a lot of stars around.”
He nodded toward his bag, which he’d pulled out of the dry storage box. “I have a compass and the boat’s navigation maps. We’ll be fine.”
She must not have looked convinced.
“You don’t believe me?”
This time it was her turn not to answer. Her eye had caught on something. The plastic handle she’d been holding on to had pulled away from the boat, and one of the seams had started to split. “Look at this,” she said.
Dan glanced over and swore. He moved over from the helm to inspect it. “Whoever rented this boat to your friends”—seeing her expression, he corrected—“your former friends didn’t inspect it very well. This entire seam wasn’t glued correctly.”
“Is it leaking?” Annie asked warily.
“Not yet. I have some duct tape, but I’m not sure how long it will hold.”
Great. Just what she wanted to hear. “You carry duct tape with you?”
What psychopath didn’t have that in his torture bag?
“Not usually, but I had a tear in my bag and needed to improvise.” He reached down into the backpack and retrieved the tape, letting her see the patch he’d done on the bottom.
He gave her a sidelong look as he worked. “You don’t have to look so nervous. I’m not going to hurt you.”
Embarrassed at being caught out, she blushed. “You might be right. But let’s just say my judgment in men has taken a beating the past couple of days.” Not to mention that he’d liedto her about not being American and clearly didn’t want a run-in with the police. But, even though she hadn’t forgotten how Mr. No Sugarcoat had torn into her a while ago—some of which was admittedly deserved—and then had tried to abandon her, she owed him her life. “I’m sorry. After all that you’ve done I should be thanking you. I’m grateful—truly I am.”
He nodded, turning back to the repair work as if her gratitude made him uncomfortable. When he was done, he sat back and looked at her. “You don’t have anything to worry about, Annie—I’m harmless.”
She blurted a nervous laugh. “Right. I saw exactly how harmless you are a little while ago. How did you learn to do that?”
He frowned, all signs of amusement vanishing. “They deserved worse. When he held that gun to your head...”
He stopped, and she wondered what he was going to say. Had he been more affected by the strange connection she’d sensed between them than he let on?
Maybe so. She sucked in her breath as he reached across to swipe a few windblown hairs from her cheek, letting his fingers linger on her face.
There was a softness in his eyes she’d never seen before and a huskiness to his voice when he spoke. When they were combined with that sexy drawl, she had to admit it made her feel a little tingly in areas that she shouldn’t be thinking about right now. “You are safe as long as you are with me.”
She wasn’t sure that was true. The way her heart was beating in her throat didn’t feel very safe at all. It felt dangerous. It felt intense and a little scary. It felt as if she were on the edge of a precipice about to jump with nothing to catch her.
This man could hurt her, all right, although not in the way she’d been imagining.
Physically, at least, she knew she could believe him: he would keep her safe.
He leaned forward and just for a moment she thought he might kiss her. She was surprised to realize how much she wanted him to, and how disappointed she was when he dropped his hand instead.
It was so sudden that she wondered if maybe the moment had been too much for him as well.
“The tape won’t last forever—especially in the rain.” He indicated the skies that looked a few minutes away from unleashing. “We need to find somewhere to put in and wait it out.”
