“Hilarious, Matthew.”
“I’ll walk up the riverbed and see if she’s gone to the village,” I offer. “Steven, will you come with?”
Steven raises a single dark eyebrow at me, giving him the overall look of a reluctant showpony.
“In these?” he protests, pointing down at his suede loafers. “I didn’t exactly dress for a jungle hike.”
I roll my eyes.
“I’ll go,” Caleb says sternly. I open my mouth to protest, but when I look down at the collective footwear of the group—a pair of Sperrys, two sets of loafers, and some leopard calf-hair sandals that are better suited for Bushwick than bushwhacking, I realize that I don’t have much of a choice. But somehow, Caleb and I alone in a hot, steamy jungle together seems somewhat inadvisable.
For the first time in my life, I am deeply regretting not putting on heels this morning.
“Don’t worry,” Joanna says as the rest of them head toward the lab. “It’s a small island—not many places for her to be hiding! I promise we’ll have your mother back in one piece.”
16
The group disperses and I follow Caleb up the dry riverbed towards the village, careful to stay several steps behind.
“You can go to the lab with them, you know,” he says as soon as the rest of the group is out of earshot. “I can search the village myself.”
“And deny you the opportunity to rescue me from quicksand or some flesh-eating insect? Never. We can’t rob you of your daily act of unsolicited heroism.”
Instead of turning his face into that familiar frown crafted specially for me, Caleb smirks.
“Are you always this much of a delight?” he asks.
“Are you always this exhaustingly perfect?”
Caleb nudges a fallen coconut out of the path with his foot. It’s been there long enough that a new plant is starting to grow out of the shell.
“Funny,” he says, “I don’t remember you complaining when you were wrapped around me like a python in front of that shark.”
I freeze.Or wrapped around him in the elevator.I’m glad Calebisn’t looking at me, because I’msureI’m visibly blushing. So much has happened in the last few days that I nearly forgot about our encounter in the water.
We walk in silence for a few moments, the memory playing over and over in my head like a skipping record. My hands grasping at the taut muscles of Caleb’s back. His lips on mine. The adrenaline pounding under my skin.
“Honestly,” I open my mouth before I can think of what to say. I’ll do anything to distract myself from thinking about Caleb’s half-naked body—even if it means actually talking to him. “I’m surprised you’re out here in the first place. Won’t Patricia have you drawn and quartered if you get your uniform dirty?”
Caleb snorts.
“Youreallythink I’m just some order-obsessed automaton, don’t you?” he asks incredulously, and I shrug.
“Kind of.”
I push in front of him, looking back over my shoulder as I climb over the fallen tree in front of us. I’m so busy trying to remind myself of El Capitan’s many faults that I catch my foot on a root and nearly faceplant into the mud. But HeroBot 4.0 is there behind me, like he always is, grabbing hold of my elbow to keep me vertical.
“Careful,” he says, and my face heats. “I know you’re not happy I’m on this trip, but offing yourself seems like a pretty dramatic solution.”
I look up and catch his gaze, a shiver of want twisting in my stomach. His hand is hot against my arm, his smile as genuine as it was that first day on the beach. But I haven’t forgotten our conversation on the bridge. Caleb is more than off limits.
“Maybe we should turn back,” I tell him hurriedly as I brush off his arm. “They probably found her already and are just waiting for us at the station.”
Caleb holds up his radio.
“If they found her, we’d know it.”
“Shit,” I curse, realizing how badly I’ve messed this up by bringing them here. “How long before Arthur panics and calls the Coast Guard?”
