Just a little give. That was all he needed. "Your panties and bra will dry a lot faster if you strip out of everything else."
She turned around, and for a moment he thought he was going to lose. Then she tossed the first aid kit his way. "All right, damn it. Don't expect me to be gentle."
With jerky, slightly nervous motions, she tore into the buttons of her shirt. Once she'd undone them all, she shrugged the garment off and settled the heavy fabric over the clothesline before she shoved at the waistband of her skirt. She was wearing a plain white cotton underwire bra and panties, but plain didn't begin to cover just how gorgeous she was.
Fuck. She had curves for miles. She was built to please a man, and he damn straight wanted to be that man. Well, one of three. Somehow the whole near-death experience was making it way easier to realize that they might not have time to waste. Tomorrow might be now. If they wanted her, they were going to have to find just the right way to take her.
And they'd do it together. Coop knew he wouldn't have survived without his brothers. Without the three of them, Alea would have died or she would have been stranded alone. They wouldn't have the bounty of supplies they'd gathered without Dane and Lan. And god bless him, Lan had fought that vicious current to bring all of those necessities to the island. They could survive quite nicely for a while because everyone had done their part, including his sweet Alea. She'd calmed quickly and figured out their coordinates, then settled into the cockpit to help him land, and he was in awe. She seemed to soak up and retain most everything that anyone had ever taught her.
The four of them made a damn good team. If they were lucky, they could make a fine family.
Alea turned, a blush high in her cheeks. "Fine. Now I'm almost naked."
"It covers more than most bikinis."
"I don't wear bikinis," Alea said.
Dane was suddenly at his side. There was a happy, hungry look on the big guy's face that only happened when he got around Alea. "I just thought I should help."
Yeah, right. Dane wanted to get as close to the candy as he could. Not that Cooper blamed the guy, but he'd been the one to unwrap the treat.
"Your help isn't required, but thanks for playing." Coop made a sound like a rude game show host's buzzer. Then he turned back to Alea. "Did you learn to swim as a kid?"
She frowned. "Yes."
"Did you swim as a teenager?"
"Sure. I was as rambunctious as any other kid. Bezakistan gets too hot in the summer to play outside much, and I didn't like being trapped indoors all day. My aunt and uncles took us to the shore at least once a year, so swimming was a necessity."
"But you don't swim now?"
Alea got on her knees in front of him and opened the little kit. With an air of "whatever," she started digging out the instruments of his torture-little cotton balls and packs of antiseptic. "Not much anymore."
"It's good exercise, and you're right about the summers in Bezakistan. So why did you stop?" Cooper asked.
"I don't know." She seemed to want to look everywhere except at him. She focused intently on dabbing the cleaner on a cotton ball.
"When exactly did you stop?" Dane asked in that deep voice, his Dom voice. Cooper knew his buddy meant business. "No lying."
Alea shrugged. "A couple of years ago. Hold still."
She pressed the cotton ball to his cut, and he nearly came out of his seat. Damn it, that burned. He cursed, and Alea's lips turned up.
"Really, you big baby?" she mocked. "You're a SEAL?"
Yeah, he got that a lot. He touched the tat on his left arm. It was a SEAL tattoo of an eagle clutching a rifle, anchor, and trident. "I even have the tat, baby. But I'm out of the Navy now. I don't have to suck it up anymore."
Dane huffed. "You didn't suck it up then. I was with you in Kandahar. You took one measly knife to the gut and whined about it for hours."
Alea gasped. "Someone stabbed you in the stomach?"
He pointed to the nice little scar on his right side. "Yep. And I was very heroic. I saved three kids and stitched up some soldiers before I finally lost consciousness in a very manly fashion."
"He face-planted on the street," Dane clarified, then turned his attention back to Alea. "So you stopped swimming after the abduction. Why? The warm water and solitude should have been relaxing. Did you quit so you could avoid bathing suits and hide your body?"
Crap! Cooper bit back a protest. He'd just gotten Alea to strip down to her skivvies and he'd been trying to make her nice and comfortable. Did Dane really have to push her now?
She paused, hesitated, then very cautiously continued to clean his wound. "I suppose so."