“Okay.” It wasn’t a lot, and she was on her own, but it was something at least. It gave her some peace of mind.
She did stop wondering about the one question that had been on her mind since almost the beginning. Sasha didn’t even have to ask Dr. Cutchin if they were the baddies. The answer couldn’t be clearer.
Chapter 17
Catalina
It was strange, after all the running, panicking, screaming, and crying that had occurred for most of the day, to then experience a moment such as this. One that was calm, peaceful, and almost normal.
Catalina didn’t know how Trey talked her into taking a break, a breath to relax and get their bearings, when everything in her insisted they needed to return to the resort before they ran out of water and food. Except Trey had pointed out that, even though the whole traveling-by-seagull-in-an-empanada had been the most terrifying moment of her life, the one good thing was it had taken them closer to their destination. So, in the end, it saved them a bunch of walking time. Taking a much-needed break wasn’t going to change anything of significance, and they’d still come out ahead of his original estimation. So she tried to relax while sitting on the beach with Trey and occasionally brushing her shoulder with his. They stared at the ocean while splitting a bottle of water and a banana and watched wave after wave kiss the white sandy beach as the sun traveled lazily across the sky. Itreally was a gorgeous country regardless of her size.
When Trey suggested they should always travel by seagull, she couldn’t stop herself from laughing. She didn't know when or how or if it was just out of survival, but things had changed. She no longer had this constant simmering agitation toward him. The feeling had been pushed aside to make room for kinder emotions because this was what she needed at the moment. Catalina wanted the comfort of his touches, for him to put his arm around her. She even wanted him to kiss her again, to really kiss her and not stop. Catalina was beginning to ache for it, to crave it—something she hadn’t experienced for a long time.
She offered him the last bite of banana. “Here, you can have it.” Reveling in a reason for their fingers to brush together regardless of how brief.
“You don’t want it?”
“No, I’m okay. My stomach is still a little queasy from our earlier flight.”
His smile in response was as warm as the day. “Thanks.”
“Yeah, well, thanks for always looking out for me.” She was nervous to turn the conversation into something sentimental, but, at the same time, she wanted to push for something more, hoping for sweet rather than sour.
Trey released ahmmwith a cryptic, amused expression before saying, “I have to.”
It wasn’t the response she expected, and her emotions flipped back to irked. “Wow, okay. Well, I don’t want you to feel obligated or anything.” Sheshoved her arms through the dirty cover-up dress. It didn’t help her mood to not have cleaner clothes to wear and having to put it on again. Catalina moved to get up.
He grabbed her arm, keeping her seated beside him. “Where are you going?”
“Where do you think? We’ve wasted enough time sitting here, and the sun is going down soon. What are we going to do when it’s time to sleep and—”
“Fifteen, Cat.” The hand on her arm slid up, and his look pinned her to the spot, and she was unable to move. “I’m going to do whatever I can to be with you, and that means keeping you safe. Because if something happens to you, I’ll probably lose it. And that’s why I don’t have any choice. I have to look out for you for my own well-being.” His hand trekked upward until it came to the final resting spot on her neck.
“Oh.” Catalina swallowed hard, slowly coming to an understanding. “That’s reason number fifteen, the one you were saving, on why I should love you?”
“Yeah.”
“Why couldn’t you tell me before?” she asked.
He stared off into the ocean and gave a slight shrug of his shoulders. “And let the universe know my biggest kryptonite. Feels a little risky.”
“How do you know if the universe is listening? Or maybe it already knows.”
He leaned in close, softly touching the shell of her ear with his lips. “It’s just you and me here now. None of that outside world stuff can touch us. It’s what I’ve been trying to tell you all along. So if wecome across Buddy or a tiny divorce lawyer, I’m warning you right now that I’m going to have to fight them. I’d fight them. I’d fight giant seagulls. I’d fight anything for you.”
She clutched the torn, dirty sleeve of his shirt. “You didn’t actually fight a seagull. We just ran away from it.”
He pulled back from her in order to stare into her eyes. His deep blue gaze, like the ocean, sparkled. “Shut up. You just wait for the next one. I’m going to do a Hadouken at the bird, right in its toenail. Maybe it just takes a while for that Ant-Man strength to kick in, and then they’ll all be sorry for taking that empanada away from you.”
She would have laughed at this, the giddiness wanting to rise and spill out of every cell in her body, but then he kissed her. This was a much better outcome. Trey might not have always known when she needed kissing, but he did know how to kiss her. It was deceptively sweet and soft, enough to make her want to weep in its perfect simplicity. This was just where it started, but where it ended made her want to melt down to the same consistency as a jellyfish. He nibbled on her lower lip, groaning like he was completely satisfied with only a taste before swiping his tongue inside her mouth and acting as though he was about to devour her, his grip on her tightening. Catalina did her best to give as good as she got because, by then, she wanted to be ravaged, even if it was on a public beach with danger surrounding them. She was past the point of caring, and no one could see themanyway. The possibility may have excited her.
But, as with the previous kiss, he stopped short of devouring her, ending with his forehead pressed to hers, breathing deeply. “Ready to get moving again?”
“Seriously?” was all she could say becauseDamn youwasn’t an option when all he was doing was sucking her back in with his kissing and his sweetness and his ridiculous reasons why she should be with him. What an enormous tease, one that left her nerves twisted in frustrated knots.
“We should cover as much ground as possible before the sun goes down completely,” he added, getting up and reaching a hand toward her. She let him help her up, holding the bag to her chest with one hand.
“It’s funny how the sunset looks the same no matter how small you are.” He took her free hand, holding it as if they were on a romantic date night on the beach instead of in the absolute day from hell. She let him, sliding her own fingers in between his.
