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I playfully stick my tongue out at him. “You suck.”
“But you’re better at it.”
I roll my eyes, and he begins to laugh. “Ass.”
“Thought you’d never ask.”
A brief shiver ripples through me, but I push it down when I see Paxton extend his hand toward me.
“Come on. I’ll help you.”
I purse my lips teasingly. “I don’t need your damn help.”
Moving forward, I step onto the back of the little speedboat. It rocks with the sway of the water beneath us. I grip the side of the boat so hard that my knuckles turn white.
“We aren’t moving yet.” His mouth quirks with humor.
“It moved.” I glower.
“Boats do that,” he deadpans, and if looks could kill, the glare I throw at him would make his head explode.
“Mallory, you need to trust me. I’d never let anything hurt you.” His voice is softer than usual, and I know without a measure of a doubt that he means it.
He wouldn’t. He’s a protector.
Little butterflies take flight in my belly and swarm faster when he steps on and sits behind the wheel.
He slowly maneuvers us away from shore, easing into an even pace.
“Relax,” he says with a smile, holding out his hand. “You’re safe with me.”
I take his hand and relax, allowing the wind to blow my hair back, feeling like I’m soaring through the sky.
We speed off in silence for what seems like hours, but what is most likely only a few minutes. The sunlight streaks across the water. I can’t help but admire how beautiful it all is. It sparkles on the water’s surface like millions of tiny diamonds.
“It’s beautiful,” I whisper, as if speaking too loudly would break the spell.
He can’t hear me over the purr of the motor, but as if he did, he squeezes my hand gently.
Eventually, he slows the boat down. We’re far from where we started but close enough to the island to see the shore clearly.
“It’s so much bigger than I thought,” I say, staring at the large expanse of land.
“Where do you think we get all our supplies?”
“Wait, seriously? Isn’t the island empty? Or deserted?”
That makes him laugh. “No. Granted, it’s not what you think. It’s a skeleton crew, and they don’t cross over often. Stefan’s rules, but that’s where the generators are.”
“Wow, Stefan and his insane rules. That man is really bizarre.”
“He is.” He nods. “But he’s also a genius.”
“A pain-in-the-ass genius.”
His mouth twitches with amusement. “True.”
My gaze skates over the vast distance of the ocean and then back to land. The sun beats down on us from above, its rays reflecting off the surface of the ocean and creating a kaleidoscope of blues and greens.
I feel like I’m looking through stained glass out here.
“Now what?” I ask.
“Swim? Sunbathe?”
“Out here?” I gesture around. “How?”
“I’ll drop anchor. Then we can spread out up there.” Paxton points at the flat front of the boat that is a few steps down and has cushions set up.
“Won’t someone see us?”
“Who cares? I said sunbathe . . . dirty girl.”
I bite my lower lip, realizing my mind went straight to sex. I turn my focus to laying out and swimming. Sounds relaxing, which I could use after the past few days. “Okay.”
That one word is enough to set Paxton into action as he makes work of whatever one needs to do to park this thing, and I pull off my shirt and shorts. I’m not wearing a bathing suit since this was a spur-of-the-moment idea, but my thong and bra are close enough. I’ll return to the hut before heading to the set to grab something new.
“You can take that off, too.” He steps up behind me, hands making quick work to unsnap my bra while placing kisses on my neck.
“Oh, can I?” I giggle at the feel of his lips on such a sensitive part of my body.
The flimsy material falls to the floor of the boat.
My nipples pebble as the ocean air hits them.
Paxton’s hands lower. “You can lose this, too.” Then his warm hand lowers my panties down my hips and off my legs.
Once I’m bare in front of him, he places one more kiss on the back of my neck.
Then he turns me around. Our gazes lock, and just as he’s about to lean in and kiss me,
a sound of a boat has my heart lurching.
“Fuck. Quick, get down.”
Without a second thought, I drop to my knees. “What’s happening?”
The buzz of a motor dies down as whatever was approaching veers in the opposite direction.
“Shit. That was close.” Paxton chuckles.
“What was close?”
“A boat. But they’re far enough away that they couldn’t have seen you.”
“Are you sure?” My eyes go wide. “Because you told me no one was out here.”
“That’s not exactly what I said, Mal.”
I glance up at him to find an irritating grin staring back at me. “Yeah. You did.”
