But her lips. God, they slayed him. So soft, so easy to part. So unpracticed that it was like the world’s most powerful aphrodisiac to know she had so much yet to discover about pleasure.
Not a good thing to be focusing on.
“Maybe.” Waves lapped at his knees as he fooled around with the release latch on the outboard motor until it gave, allowing him to raise the motor up out of the water. “Yeah. It’s cool.”
Except one of the blades was bent the wrong way. It would probably still work. Jack just wouldn’t get his deposit back, which was honestly low on Fitz’s list of concerns at this point.
He climbed back into the boat via the ladder at the back and hit the start button on the motor. And hit it again. Cursing a blue streak, he ran a hand through his hair and squeezed the back of his head. Which didn’t magically start the engine. God, it had been… twelve years since he’d taken apart a boat engine, and even then it hadn’t been with the intent of fixing it but to see how it worked.
“Is everything okay?” Lilah peered over his shoulder at the gauges.
“Won’t start,” he admitted candidly. No reason to lie. “And the navigation system doesn’t have a distress signal. It’ll find fish for you, no problem. But other than that, it’s pretty useless.”
Thirty minutes later, he’d raked the skin off his wrist trying to fix the propeller but hadn’t managed to actually get the engine started. He climbed back into the boat and tossed his nonfunctional phone into the cubby on the dash. The backup satellite utility wasn’t working either, which meant something was blocking it. Solar flares. North Koreans. Who knew? Regardless, they had no way to contact civilization.
And it was pretty clear that they were not at the right island, or another team would have happened along by now.
“At this point, I think it’s safe to say we’re out of the race,” he said. “I’m sorry. This is not what I envisioned happening when we left Jack and Thora at Green Cay.”
Also? Not what he’d envisioned when Jack had called him and said, “Hey, buddy. Come to the Caribbean.”
They were stuck. On a deserted island.
“It’s not your fault,” she insisted generously, even though it was, and the rising panic in her gaze wasn’t helping matters.
“They’ll figure it out when they realize they haven’t heard from us. Or maybe they have a double check against the bib numbers at each leg. Someone will be looking for us.”
He firmly believed that. This was not a permanent situation, merely a blip. No cause for alarm.
She nodded, clearly not convinced, and twisted that ring around her finger about a hundred times. Anxiety, which about put him on his knees. Because he’d messed up.
They both needed a distraction. This blip didn’t have to be bad. It could be good. Very good. And his gut said he should press this opportunity to turn a disaster into something memorable for them both.
“Hey.” He pulled her close and tipped up her chin with a clenched fist, needing to connect but not totally clear on whether it was her that could use it or just him. “Trust me, okay? I’m here. I will not let anything happen to you.”
Her dark eyes softened and she nodded again, but with far more conviction, like she believed him. Good. He could work with that.
“Look around. This place does not suck,” he said with a bit more cheer because come on. They’d landed exactly where he wanted to be. On the beach, with a sexy woman.
Half-dressed could definitely happen if he put his mind to it. He had all the time in the world to talk her out of her clothes. This stranded-on-a-deserted-island deal was looking more and more promising.
He let his arm drift around her waist, and she didn’t balk, so he pressed the advantage.
“We have plenty of food. Jack bought enough for four. The boat has a place to sleep. Or—” He waggled his brows. “If you’re feeling adventurous, we can sleep on the beach. There’s no rain in the forecast. Should be a gorgeous view of the stars.”
He’d slept in the elements plenty of times, mostly because he had no choice. This would be the first time in a long time he’d done it willingly. With a hot girl. Who needed sexing up really badly. Or was that still just him?
“What do you say?” He tightened his arm around her, infusing the deal with some honest physical contact in the hopes that would sway it. “Live dangerously with me?”
Her palms came up to rest on his chest. Tentatively. But still. And then she smiled, poleaxing him in the gut.
“You, um… had me at hey.”
Which made him laugh, and then he had to kiss her again because laughing while kissing was the best. And then things got serious the second his mouth hit hers—this was exactly where they’d been when the boat had run aground.