Page 28 of Return to the Island

16

Juliet

I didn’t know where the sudden rush of desire came from, but it gnawed at me, telling me to take him.

The power lies within you. It was as if the island spoke to me, encouraging me to take from him, and then he told me the same thing.

Take what you need. Take everything. I wanted it all from him, and I didn’t even know what that would include. My lips pressed to his chest, my mouth infusing the words—I love you—directly into his heart. I didn’t think he was ready for such emotion after such a short time. We’d only been reunited for three days. It wasn’t like he was asking for a lifetime.

With that thought, I released him slowly, removing my lips from his damp chest and sitting up. He slipped out of me, and his moisture seeped from my core. He could have gotten me pregnant. I hadn’t given it a thought when we were on the island before. He’d had no need of condoms, not expecting a woman to be on the island with him. When we did make love, I never considered it, until I missed my period. It was another reason I had gone to see him at Corbin Industries.

I looked down at him, under me. His eyes had closed, and his chest heaved. I had no idea what type of father he’d be. It hadn’t mattered. My period was simply late, an adjustment to the return to civilization. I’d been taking pills to stave off the flow, like they give women in the military, and my body hadn’t adjusted to the end of the supply. This time, we had no preventative protection.

“Baby, you okay?” he asked, snapping me out of my reverie.

“I’m exhausted,” I laughed, surprised at my lack of endurance for sex. Suddenly, I was drained, as if all the blood leaked out of me. He sat up and tugged me to him, holding me pressed against his chest. A strange tension floated around us, as if there were words to be said, but couldn’t be formed yet. He kissed my shoulder.

“How about some sustenance?” he muttered, and I giggled into his neck at the formality of the words. The tension dissipated and I slipped off of him.

“I need a shower.” The statement hung between us, and we both laughed. There was no shower here. This was not a resort. This island had been redemption, and it would be it again.

“How about a dip?” He nodded toward the water, and I followed his nakedness as he sprinted for the salty sea. Eventually, he dove like an expert, disappearing under the darkening water as evening had taken over. Darkness was coming, and I noted the midnight blue chasing the lighter-colored sky. It had been a long time since I’d noticed the sky as much as I had the past few nights.

Unlike Tack, I simply walked into the water and lowered to my shoulders, tipping my head back to wet my sweat-laden hair and rinse it in the sea. The salt would cling to us as we dried, but the water was refreshing after rolling in the sand, sweaty bodies attached to one another. I had a strange sensation that something was watching me, but the feeling disappeared when Tack popped out of the water before me. Reaching for my jaw, he tugged me to him, kissing me before playfully dunking me in the water.