The best part was when he came back to shore, rising out of the water like a mythical Aquarian god reborn in flesh. Now she wanted her camera. But the shot disintegrated as he dashed to the blanket, dripping and grinning from ear to ear.
“Don’t take this the wrong way,” he said. “I’ve had a blast with you. But I got some bars. Rescue is on the way.”
“That’s great!” It was. It totally was. If she kept repeating it, she might actually believe it. Somewhere along the way, she’d starting wishing she and Fitz could just stay in this fairy tale dream world where nothing else existed but the two of them.
The intrusion of the thing called Real Life was most unwelcome.
He picked up a spare blanket that they hadn’t needed because his body heat had been more than enough for her and toweled himself off, then got dressed. Which meant she had to as well.
Suddenly self-conscious, she pulled on her clothes. “How did you know to try your cell phone?”
“Cruise ships have cell towers.” He nodded at the horizon, where the ship had nearly disappeared. “So happens I’ve jacked the signal from one a couple of times. We were lucky. It was nearly out of range.”
They busied themselves with putting out the fire and gathering up all of the evidence that humans had slept on the beach, and far too fast, an orange and white boat rounded the island at a brisk clip. She closed her mouth before it started gathering flies.
“Are we that close to civilization?” she asked.
Fitz shrugged. “Nah. They were looking for us already. I had like forty-seven messages from Jack and a few from some unrecognized numbers. The second that cruise ship came in range, my phone went live and they triangulated our position.”
“Um… that’s a little high tech. They can do that with a phone?” It was like she’d been dropped into a spy movie without a script.
“Welcome to my world,” he said with a small smile. “I’m a little bit valuable to some people in Washington, so I get all the cool toys.”
Good thing it had taken so long for that to kick in. Otherwise they might have been rescued yesterday, and that would have been… sad. Look at her. Twelve hours ago, she’d been one panic attack short of meltdown over their situation, and now her heart hurt to wade into the surf rushing across the beautiful beach. Tiny black fish darted away from her steps as she slogged toward the vehicle that had shattered her fantasy.
They didn’t get a chance to talk again as the Bahama Search and Rescue set up a tow on their boat and settled them in with life jackets. Fitz didn’t hold her hand or reassure her or anything because why would he? All of the danger had passed.
They were being rescued thanks to his quick thinking and apparent elite status with the government. Which really made her wonder exactly how far out of her league he was. Maybe he was more spy than she’d imagined if he’d prevented enough ambushes in his life to be so upset over the one he hadn’t.
The rescue boat took them to Freeport, where medical professionals checked them out and released them. Jack and Thora met them outside the nondescript building near a marina, and the moment Thora saw Lilah, she threw her arms around her.
“I was so worried,” Thora said as she squeezed the life out of her.
“I was fine. I was with Fitz,” she said as if that explained everything, and it did. Being stranded on a deserted island with him had been the highlight of her life. Scary at first, but he’d made it seem like something she could do, no problem. It had been exactly the adventure she’d needed.
And now it was over. Back to the real world. Crying wouldn’t fix any of that.
“You look better,” Lilah commented around the hitch in her throat.
“I’m fine.” Thora rolled her eyes. “I told Jack that yesterday, but did he listen? No.”
Good thing he had a hard head. If he hadn’t insisted on taking Thora to the hospital, she never would have had last night with Fitz.
“I checked us into a hotel here in Freeport,” Thora informed her as she linked arms to walk along the wooden planks of the marina toward the street. “We can stay tonight and get our tickets changed to fly home tomorrow if you want. I figured you were done with the Caribbean after being stranded. I’m certainly done with Jack acting like the world’s most annoying babysitter.”
“That’s fine.” Home. It didn’t sound as appealing as it should.
What was wrong with her?
She glanced at the brown-haired angel strolling along beside Jack, talking with his hands as he described what had happened with the boat. Those capable hands had been all over her not too long ago, and she wasn’t at all confused about whether she’d like a repeat of that experience.