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My throat clots. “What happens if I stay too long?”
A sad smile tilts his lips. “You’ll get trapped.”
It’s those three words that are still haunting the inside of my skull ten minutes later, when we’re standing on the warm side of the French doors, watching Raphael’s men load up the small craft.
Matt sighs. “Odds on me getting thrown overboard before we get back to Devil’s Dip?”
Griffin looks up and glares at me through the glass. I sigh too. “Pretty high, I’m afraid.”
“If I die, tell Anna I loved her.”
“You don’t love her, idiot.”
He grins. “I know, but it sounds kind of romantic, doesn’t it? Anyway—” He turns and grabs my wrists. “Repeat my three tips back to me.”
I bite back a smile. “Be sure of what I want, make sure he’s on the same page, and…” My smile dims a few watts. “Don’t fall in love.”
He looks down at me like a proud father. “You’re not as stupid as you look.” Before I can fight his insult with a better one, he pulls me in for a hug, his chin coming down on my head. “And most importantly, relax and enjoy yourself. Suck some dick, get your pussy eaten—”
“Matt!”
His laugh vibrates against my cheek. “In all seriousness, don’t take it too seriously, all right? Men fuck without feelings all the time. Women can too.”
I pull back, flushed from his vulgarity. “You’re a pioneer for the feminist movement, Matty.”
He winks. “Yeah, yeah. I’m a pioneer for whatever will get me laid.” Griffin raps an angry knuckle on the door, making him flinch. “Fuck me,” he grunts, tugging on a beanie. “Way to ruin a moment.”
“You’re increasing your chances of getting chucked overboard by the second.”
“Yeah, I better get going,” he says, zipping up his jacket. “Listen, I’ve put some snacks in your suitcase. Those peanut butter ones you don’t think I realize you’ve been stealing from my cupboard.”
I frown. “That’s oddly nice of you.”
He chucks me under the chin. “Yeah, well when I packed them, it was six a.m. and I thought you’d been kidnapped.”
I laugh. “Well you can’t take them back now.”
“I suppose not. Oh—one more thing. Be home for Christmas, all right? I banked on you also being a loser with no family. Got a turkey in the freezer and I’ve already bought us those silly Santa hats.”
The pit of my stomach warms. “Wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
Matt blows me a kiss from the shuttle, just before he shrinks to a small dot on the horizon.
With my fingertips on the window, I watch until he disappears entirely, partly because I’m worried he truly willget tossed overboard, and partly because I miss him already. He’s shaping up to be a good friend, although I’d rather claw my eyes out than tell him so.
Once there’s nothing on the Pacific but sea foam, I turn around, press my shoulders against the glass, and take a deep breath. Matt’s three tips have lit a fire inside me; kidnapped or not, I’m going to hunt down Raphael and lay down the law.
Anewcool-headednesschasesme through the yacht. It pushes me through closed doors and down empty corridors, but promptly disappears when I burst into the library and see Raphael in the middle of it.
With a hammer in his hand and a nail tucked into the crook of his mouth, he doesn’t look up from the pile of wood at his feet. My pulse slows with my movements, and suddenly, I’m not really feeling the whole sassy independent-woman thing anymore.
I drop my clammy hands to my sides and curl them into fists, then watch as he tugs the nail out of his mouth and drives it into a wooden board with the loosecrackof the hammer.
He doesn’t look up. “Did you get your clothes?”
“Y-yeah.”
His gaze skims up from the floor to my thighs and darkens. “You going to put them on?”
