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Interesting. I suppose they didn’t report my room being unused. Probably people room-hop on these cruises all the time, and it’s nothing they haven’t seen before.
Even so, that’s strike two for anyone caring that I went missing.
Suddenly, I’m bone-tired. I set my bag on the desk in a cascade of sand.
This makes me laugh. Why not keep it? I take a moment to collect it into one of the crystal glasses.
What a wild two days. Sun, surf, and sex.
As I head to the bathroom, there’s a knock at the door. Dr. Jarvis already?
I peer through the peephole.
It’s a crew member with a tray.
Food. Yes.
I eagerly open the door.
“Hello, ma’am. I’ve brought you a wide selection of items in case you are hungry after your ordeal. Let us know if you want anything at all. Our chef will make whatever you like.”
He sets the tray on the desk. “Can I assist you with anything else?”
“No. Thank you.”
When he’s gone, I try to decide, shower or food first?
But when I lift the metal dome from a plate of eggs, bacon, sausage, and hash browns, I literally can’t stop myself. I shove food in my mouth so fast that I almost choke.
Finally, I back away, afraid I’ll be sick if I eat any more.
In the shower, I let the warm water fall over me, and only then do I allow myself to revisit the moments on the island with Rhett.
Sex in the water. By the fire. On our makeshift mattress.
His face. His arms. His chest. His laugh.
When I close my eyes, every vision is of him. I clutch the silver bar on the wall, trying not to cry. I feel like a piece of me got left behind on that beach.
And it’s silly. I can go to him. He won’t hate me now.
But I’m afraid.
I’m afraid that I will look at him and he will look at me, and it won’t be the same. That the intensity of what happened in those two days was only part of the experience of being left behind, caught in a storm, left to fend for ourselves.
I’ve never deserved someone like Rhett Armstrong. I’ve never deserved a job like I had. I’ve never earned anything, other than maybe my degree.
The only way someone like me gets a man like Rhett is when there is literally no competition.
Like on an island in a storm.
And now we’re going home.
30
RHETT
Ihave to make an appearance before my staff. They need to see me after leaving me behind.
