Illusion (Swept Away #1)(22)
Author: J.S. Cooper

“At least we know we’ll survive one night at least.” He ran back toward me and I nodded in agreement. He stopped in front of me, his azure eyes sparkling with genuine excitement, and I knew at that moment that whatever the reason Jakob was here, it wasn’t to kill me. I also knew that I was going to find it very hard to resist him, if he continued giving me looks that turned my limbs to jelly.

Four

“So tonight we’re just going to sleep on the beach?” I looked at Jakob with horrified eyes.

“Sorry, princess. There won’t be any eight-hundred-thread-count Egyptian cotton sheets.”

“I don’t care about luxurious sheets. I don’t even have luxurious sheets at home.” I ignored his surprised expression and continued. “What if a wild hog comes and tries to attack us?”

“Wild boar.”

“What?” I looked around.

“A wild boar might attack us. Not a wild hog.”

“Do you think I really care about the semantics of the situation?!” My voice rose, and he laughed gently. I watched as his face transformed from its more natural mature look into a lighter, more boyish expression. I couldn’t stop myself from smiling back at him. “It’s really not that funny,” I continued softly.

“Don’t worry, Bianca. I’ll protect you.”

“Uh-huh.” I stared at his bare chest and bulging biceps and then looked away. “How do you intend to do that?”

“I’ll watch out for you”—he shrugged—“in case anything tries to attack.”

“Thanks,” I muttered softly, then sat down on the sand, lay back, and closed my eyes. I heard Jakob lie down as well, and we drifted off to our own thoughts.

The sound of silence is deafening, especially to someone like me, who’d grown up with the constant buzz of traffic and sirens in New York City. The sand was coarse and hard, and I was incredibly aware of how close Jakob and I were to each other. I shifted in the sand a few times and sighed.

“You can’t sleep either?” he whispered, and I considered pretending I was asleep. He didn’t wait for me to respond but continued talking. “When I was younger, all I wanted was silence. Now I wonder why.”

“I used to want silence as well. Silence made me feel safe. I mean, yes, sometimes, the silence makes you feel all alone,” I responded, and stared at the clear, dark sky. “But sometimes you want that quiet space to just be with your thoughts. Other times—times like this—well, you don’t really want to be alone with your thoughts, do you?” I paused and then attempted to change the direction the conversation had taken. “I’ve never seen so many stars before.”

“Neither have I.” His voice was gruff. “The sky is beautiful tonight.”

“I feel like we’re in a whole new world.” I nodded as I stared up. “A whole new beautiful but completely desolate world.”

“Why didn’t you read to me everything that was in the note?” His tone changed, and I froze.

“What note?” My breath caught.

“The note you read earlier.”

“I don’t understand,” I mumbled, as he sat up and looked down at me with questioning eyes. How could he know there was another line? I’d watched as the note had blown down the beach.

“You didn’t read all of it, did you.”

“How did you know?”

“I didn’t until just now.” He leaned back. “I had a feeling that there was more to what you read. It was the way you read it and then paused and said that was it. I was pretty sure that that wasn’t all there was.”

“Yeah.” I made a face. “Sorry.”

“So what did it say?”

“Something about our two bodies being one, but we might not always be so united.”

“You didn’t have to hide that from me.” He shifted closer to me and ran a finger down my cheek. “I want you to trust me, Bianca.”

“I want to trust you, too.” I stilled as his fingers brushed my lips gently, and then he withdrew his hand and ran his fingers through his hair. I wanted to reach over and touch his lips and see if they were as soft as they looked.

“You have a thing about intimacy, don’t you.” He changed his line of questioning, and I looked away from him and frowned. “Humans are such funny creatures.” His voice was soft.

I looked back toward him. His face was illuminated by the moon, and there was something inscrutable about his expression.

“I’m not sure what you mean.” I shivered.

“In the trunk, you made a comment about us being intimate. Then you were so agitated by us being tied together.”

“Who wouldn’t be agitated?”

“I’m just saying that I noticed. You have intimacy issues.”

“I don’t have any issues.” My voice dropped, and my hands lay like wooden blocks at my side.

All of a sudden, I became aware of just how little I had on—and how little he did. I wanted to cover myself but didn’t want to prove his point any further. I knew that part of this game we were playing was mental as well as physical. He was trying to test me and push me, to see if he could break me by making me uncomfortable. He wasn’t sure if he could trust me either. I wasn’t going to let him see any weakness. I couldn’t. Not when I didn’t know what his agenda was. I was attracted to him in a way that I’d never been attracted to another man. The animal magnetism I felt toward him made me want to push him down on the sand and kiss him. I had to keep reminding myself that I didn’t know why he had been put on the island with me. If the reasons were nefarious, I was going to have to be on high alert. I couldn’t allow my body to fool me into trusting him too much. Not yet.

“You look naked.” His voice grew husky as he gazed down at me. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were a siren trying to seduce me.” His voice drifted as he looked out to the water. “Or a nymph. You could be a water nymph.”

“I’m not trying to seduce you.”

“I know.” He scratched his chest. “What would you say if I touched you right now?”

“I wouldn’t say anything.” I moved away from him slightly. “I would slap your hand away.” I took a deep breath, trying to calm my nerves.

“There’s no need to be scared.” His voice dropped. “I only touch women who want me to.”