AllFreeNovel
Share Us
It had to be part of a dream, he guessed, but then she curled into him, snuggling her face against his chest, and he didn’t question it. He stroked her hair and pulled her closer, inhaling her sweetness. He wanted to bottle up her smell and carry it with him everywhere.
“How do you do that?” she asked.
“Do what?” He was still drifting in and out of sleep.
“Make it sound like you’re shouting at me from far away when you’re actually right here.”
“Huh?”
“Allison Randall! If you can hear me, say something!”
That was when Zane realized it was a man’s voice calling Allison’s name, and it was coming from outside the house.
Allison shook his arm. “I think someone has come to rescue us.”
Still half-asleep and bleary-eyed, Zane could see that the sun was peeking between the clouds. The storm had passed. They were alive. “What? Where?” Zane sat up and shook his head to rid himself of the mental cobwebs. “Hurry. They’re probably wondering where in the hell we are.”
Both naked, they scrambled for their clothes. As much as Zane had hoped for a sexy morning with Allison, it appeared that was not going to happen. They raced to get dressed, Zane finishing first. He stumbled for the patio door and flung it open, rushing outside. Allison was right behind him. They rounded the house on the crushed-shell path. Several hundred yards away, Marcus, the man who had piloted the boat he took onto the island, was on his way up the hill.
Allison waved. “Marcus! Up here! We’re here!”
Marcus’s vision fell on her. His shoulders dropped in relief. “Your family has been worried sick!” he shouted back through cupped hands before resuming his climb.
Zane could only imagine. He’d witnessed the way Allison’s family fretted over her. Scott was probably beside himself. “I’m sorry you had to come all the way up here,” Zane said when Marcus reached them. “We decided the highest point was the safest. We were worried about the storm surge and the water more than I was worried about the wind.”
“Smart. You probably saved yourselves. The cottages you two were staying in both had significant flooding.”
Allison’s sights darted to Zane, and it was as if he could see her heart plummeting to her stomach. Her aunt and uncle would be devastated to learn of the fate of their resort, especially on the heels of her uncle’s health issues. “Do you know how my uncle Hubert is doing?” she asked.
“He had a heart bypass, but he’s doing well. They ended up transporting him to a hospital in Atlanta. It was too dangerous with the storm to try the surgery in Nassau or even in Miami. They didn’t want to risk the power going out. But he’s recovering well. Your aunt, on the other hand, has been so worried. She said she would never forgive herself if you got hurt while staying on the island. She wanted to send me back for you earlier, but the waters were too rough.”
“I was very lucky to have Zane with me. He knew exactly what to do.”
Zane emphatically shook his head. He wasn’t about to take credit for their safety. In truth, he’d been hoping that they wouldn’t be found. He and Allison had such an amazing night. Unforgettable. Most likely a once-in-a-lifetime event, which struck him with a sense of melancholy he hadn’t thought to prepare himself for. “It was a joint effort. Allison came up with the idea to leave the scraps of her sarong to send a message about where we were.”
“It was smart. That’s exactly how I found you.” Marcus tugged the final strip of sarong fabric off a nearby shrub. “Come on. Let’s get your things and get you to Eleuthera and on the plane to Miami. Your brother is waiting there.”
Oh, crap.This was not a good development. Zane wasn’t even close to being ready to see his best friend. If Scott was worried enough to fly to Miami, he would be that much more likely to pick up on any romantic vibes between Allison and Zane. For that reason, Zane was going to have to shut it all down way before they went near Scott. The thought pained him, but it was for the best.
“Scott flew down to Miami? Was that really necessary?” Allison asked.
“Like I said. Your whole family has been extremely worried about you,” Marcus said.
Zane patted Allison’s arm as platonically as possible. They needed to get back to being friendswithoutbenefits. “It’ll be okay. We’re safe. That’s all that matters.”
Allison, Zane and Marcus forged their way back to the honeymoon villa and collected what few belongings they still had. Zane was the first inside and found himself rushing inside to make up the bed, which was pretty much a disaster. The things he and Allison had done to each other there felt like a dream. They’d been amazing in the moment, but Zane needed to get his head out of the clouds and hop back on the straight and narrow. He desperately hoped that Marcus did not have a relationship with Scott. Loose lips could sink ships, or in this case, a deeply important friendship.
It took about an hour to make it back down the hillside and across the island to the dock. There, flapping in the bright early-morning sun, was the first piece of Allison’s sarong, still tied to the metal piling. She’d been collecting the strips of fabric along the way. Zane got to it first and rescued it for her.
“Maybe you can have it sewn back together,” Zane said, thinking that if he could have anything right now, it would be one more chance to see her wearing it. But he needed to stop thinking of Allison that way. Their fling was over.
“It’d be nice to keep it as a remembrance of our time together, but we’re headed back to reality and my brother right now. I’d like to know where things stand.” Her face was colored with a seriousness he hated to see, but he understood why it was there. This was no joke. Zane had crossed a line, and he needed to return to the other side of it.
“I can’t betray him, Allison. You know that. Nothing about that has changed.” Zane could see the frustration bubbling up inside her. He knew that she was tired of this argument, but it was the truth.
“But the betrayal is done. It happened, and you can’t unring that bell. So now the question is what are you going to do about it?”
“You’re the one who said we would keep it all between the two of us. I think we stick to the plan. It was amazing, Allison. But it’s over.” If only the words didn’t sound so wrong coming out of his mouth. They certainly weren’t enough to convince him. If only they’d had a little more time...to talk all of this through, to share one last mind-melting kiss.
