Tempt (Take It Off #3)(16)
Author: Cambria Hebert

I forced my stare away from him. This was no time to be having make-out thoughts about Nash. We were experiencing an emergency here. We needed a plan. We needed action. We needed coffee. I closed my eyes, wishing the tasty brew would magically appear in front of me. It didn’t.

The grouchiness I’d been fighting came back full force. With a sigh, I moved quietly to the place I’d been marking the wall to help us keep track of the days. We were already on day three. Actually, more like day four or five, depending upon how long we both lay here after the crash. The tally read four because I was being optimistic that we hadn’t lost more than one day.

Nash was still sleeping when I folded up my blanket and glanced longingly at the protein bars. My stomach rumbled loudly and I silently shushed it. I knew I couldn’t eat one of those bars right now. It was probably better if we started splitting them in half instead of each eating a whole one.

It made me depressed, and it also made me worry. How long could someone of Nash’s size go without food? I couldn’t imagine how hungry he felt. It had to be far worse than the empty weakness I was feeling.

That gave me an idea. This was a semi-tropical climate. There had to be some kind of fruit growing on this island.

Yes, but fruit might not be the only thing on this island. I reminded myself. Going out there alone would be reckless. I might be blond, but I wasn’t stupid. Okay, I tried not to be stupid. Sometimes I wasn’t very successful.

I should just wake him up. We could go out in search of food together.

I watched his chest rise and fall with his even breathing. I could wait a few more minutes. He looked so exhausted. I glanced out the back of the plane at the growing plants. Maybe there was some fruit close by, right outside the plane. Maybe I could find some and bring it back here to surprise him. I pictured the way his green eyes would light up when he saw the food.

That decided it. I was going. I would stay close, within yelling distance. If I didn’t find anything, I would wake him and together we could search farther out.

I found my sandals and slipped them on, not wanting to be barefoot in the forest. I moved quietly toward the back of the plane, actually quite impressed with the stealth of my movements. Maybe when I got home, I should be a superhero.

Okay, maybe just a sidekick to a superhero.

I was about to leap out into the lush landscape when a strong arm snaked around my waist and pulled me back. “Where do you think you’re going?” slurred a voice thick with sleep.

“To the bathroom,” I lied.

“I’ll come with you,” he countered.

“I’m a big girl. I know how to use the bathroom.”

“Maybe I need help,” he said and shifted. Once again, I was met with the thing that lived inside his pants.

I gasped. “Does that thing ever go down?” I blurted out.

He threw back his head and laughed. He laughed so hard I felt his belly rumble against my back.

“I can’t help it. It’s my morning wood.” He said it like he was proud.

“Your what?” I said, trying to turn around to look at him. He wouldn’t let me go. If anything, he pressed it farther against me. Dammit if my body didn’t start to respond. I felt the rush of liquid heat between my legs.

“My morning wood,” he said again.

Should I know what that means? I guess when I failed to respond, he realized I had no clue what he was talking about. He spun me around, pinning me with that penetrating green gaze. “Have you ever spent the night with a man before?”

I acted like I was offended. “That’s none of your business.”

“That’d be a no.”

I glared at him.

He released me. “It happens in sleep, sweetheart,” he explained. “All men wake up with a hard on.”

So it wasn’t just me. Well, damn, there went my ego. “So that is natural?” I couldn’t help but glance down at the massive lump in his shorts.

“In the morning, yes.”

“But what about the other times?”

A slow smile spread over his scruffy face. “Those times were all you.”

Oh. Oh my.

I wanted to pat my broken vagina on the back. If it had one, that is.

“Well, I’m going to go do my business now,” I said, turning away.

“I’m coming with you.”

“Why?” I demanded.

“Because I have to pee,” he offered.

“Fine.” My shoulders slumped and I hopped out of the plane.

“What’s wrong with you?” he asked.

I heaved a sigh. “I wanted to go look for fruit for you before you woke up.”

“You wanted to find me breakfast?”

I nodded. It sounded stupid when he said it.

He caught me around the waist again and tugged. I tumbled right against his chest. His very bare, shirtless chest. His lips swooped down, but his kiss wasn’t like the impassioned one we shared yesterday. This one was softer, lighter. It caused a fluttering sensation inside me that made my heart stutter. I could literally feel it bouncing around beneath my ribcage.

Before he pulled away completely, he bestowed several brief kisses one right after the other, ending with one on the tip of my nose. “Thank you.”

My hands rested over his chest against him warm skin. “I didn’t do anything,” I grumbled.

“I don’t think going off on your own is a smart idea, especially after what we heard last night.”

“I wasn’t going off alone. I was just going to look right here, outside the plane.” Why did saying that out loud make it seem like a dumb idea? I wondered if I dyed my hair brown would I get smarter…?

“Why don’t we go look around for fruit together?” he suggested, making me forget my home makeover ideas.

I didn’t answer because my stomach growled loudly, replying for me.

“I actually have to go to the bathroom. Don’t go anywhere,” he said, giving me a hard look.

Seconds later, he came back and disappeared into the plane to get some shoes and reappeared with all the empty water bottles, including the empty can of Coke. “Maybe we can find a freshwater source,” he said, motioning to the bottles. “If not, we’re going to have to start boiling some sea water.”

I took a second to grab my messenger bag and slide it over my shoulders, slipping the bottles inside. I really hoped we found some food. I was so hungry I felt lightheaded.

“Stay close to me,” Nash murmured as we traveled deeper into the florae. I gave him a sidelong glance, wondering if he was ever going to put a shirt back on. ‘Course if he did, I would totally miss the view. The way his shorts hung low on his hips displayed his long, solid torso, and I think I might have started to drool a little.