“Charlie, what are you talking about? We could have died out in the ocean.”
Waggling a finger at him, she said, “Uh-uh. That’s what you want me to think.”
She marched past him. He put out a hand to catch her by the forearm, but she shook him off. She began to run around the trees, peering up between the fronds of the tall palms.
“Where are they?” she demanded.
“Where are what?”
“The cameras. I know there are hidden cameras here.”
“Charlie, stop it. There are no cameras here. I don’t even know where ‘here’ is.”
She shook her head. “No! I don’t believe you. You’re in on it. You’re all just trying to make me look as stupid as possible.”
“I swear to God, this is as real as it gets.”
Her anger blinded her to all rational thought. Though the cameras were hidden, she took a good guess at where they might be positioned and yelled up at them. “This is a step too far! I could have been seriously hurt. Don’t think for a moment that you people are going to get away with treating me like this—I don’t care how good your ratings are. I’m not getting paid enough to almost die!”
Tyler reached out and grabbed her by the wrists, pulling her toward him so her body was only an inch from his. She looked up into his face, her lower lip trembling, her eyes wide.
“This isn’t some kind of crazy setup, Charlie. The plane was going down, so I did the only thing I could. I jumped. There are no cameras here. It’s just you and me.”
Her voice came out as a whisper. “I don’t believe you.”
“I wouldn’t lie to you. I promise.”
But what he was telling her was just too much for her to comprehend. It would mean accepting her situation, and the possible deaths of all the people who’d been on the plane with them. As much as she’d butted heads with Agatha, the idea of her agent no longer being in her life filled her eyes with tears. A hard, painful knot tightened at the base of her throat.
No, this was all just a setup. A realistic one, perhaps, but a setup nevertheless. What was it she had signed in her contract? Oh, yes. The production company may set up ‘survival’ situations for the celebrity in order to increase the realism of the show. True, Tyler did seem to be the world’s best actor, but then perhaps that was the reason the production company had hired him.
She pushed the discomfort of her sore muscles and chapped lips away from her mind, and forced a smile. Fine, if Tyler wanted her to go along with this charade, she would. “So what’s our first task then?” she asked.
He looked at her as if she were mad. Perhaps she was?
“Task?” he echoed back at her.
“Yes, to ‘survive’ this. What’s the first thing I need to do?”
She coughed—a dry, painful sound.
He studied her face. “You’ve gotten too much sun and you’ll be dehydrated. First thing we need to do is get some fresh water.”
“I’ll be dehydrated? What about you?”
“There’s a fresh spring coming out of the rock face toward the center of the island. I spotted it when I was trying to find some sign of this place being inhabited, and I drank from it then.”
“What about germs and stuff?” she said, alarmed at the idea of drinking water straight from the ground, though the way her throat was feeling right now, she’d probably have scooped dirty water out of a puddle.
“It’s safe. It’s coming from deep inside the rock, so it’ll be clean. I wouldn’t drink it otherwise. I’d tell you to wait here and I’d bring you some back, but I don’t have anything to carry water in. Also, it’s best that you know the location yourself, in case anything should happen to me.”
She cocked an eyebrow. “And I guess you just going and fetching water for me wouldn’t be very survivalist, would it? Is this my first ‘survival’ test? Finding water so I don’t die of thirst? Or though I guess the jump from the plane, and then bobbing around in the middle of the ocean hour after hour was my first real test. If I’d known the production company would go such a long way to make this real, I’d have thought again. Seriously, I hope the makers of Celebrity Survivor have some good insurance.”
His handsome face creased in confusion. He already had sunburn across the bridge of his nose and cheeks, giving him a younger appearance, somehow.
“Charlie—” he started.
But she put up a hand to stop him and turned on her bare heels to march across the sand to the line of pine and palm trees he’d broken through not so long ago. Whatever he had to say, she didn’t want to hear it.
The sand burned beneath her bare feet, and she hopped from the toes of one foot to the other, keen to get under the much needed shade of the palms. Her t-shirt and shorts had dried out a long time ago, but the salt had left the material hard and crusted.
She reached the longed for shade, but as the density of the trees grew thicker, the sand gradually became covered in a mat of fallen fronds and sharp spiky things which seemed insistent on stabbing her feet and legs.
“Ouch!” Glancing down, she discovered her left foot and leg were covered in huge red ants, and they’d decided to make a meal of her. “Oh, God,” she cried, swiping away at them with her hands. A couple managed to cling on to her palms, and she crushed the bugs against her shorts, crying out in disgust.
She sensed Tyler watching over her. Her eyes burned with unshed tears, her nostrils flaring, her throat constricting. But she didn’t want to cry.
“What?” she demanded. She noticed the walking sandals he’d been wearing were still strapped to his feet. “You try walking across this in bare feet.”
He bent to loosen them. “I know they’re too big, but you’re better off with something on your feet.”
“I’m not wearing your shoes!”
He lifted his face to her, still poised in the act of removing his shoes. “Then you’re going to keep getting stabbed and bitten.”
She chewed her lower lip, considering his point. “Okay,” she conceded, “but I’m giving them right back to you as soon as we get out of this jungle bit.”
One side of his mouth turned up in what she assumed to be amusement. “Sure thing.”
Not wanting to sit down with the ants, she hopped up and down while she slid his huge sandal onto her tiny foot. Like a bizarre anti-Cinderella, she thought abstractly, and then wondered once again if she was losing her mind. The world seemed to swim away from her, and she reached out and grabbed Tyler’s arm, her hand barely circling his huge bicep.
“You okay?” he asked, a frown on his face.
She shook her head, bringing herself back to the moment. “Just a little dizzy. I guess I really need that water.”
“Let’s go then.”
Tyler led the way, Charlie following after, his sandals slapping against the bottoms of her feet. They were far too big, but, despite needing to be extra careful to make sure she didn’t catch the fronts in anything and catapult herself forward, she felt more comfortable than going barefooted. Not having any shoes didn’t seem to inhibit Tyler. He strode on, sure-footed. If things were spiking and biting him, he showed no sign of discomfort.
He’s got thicker soles than you, Charlie told herself. He’s probably never had a pedicure in his life. She found herself smiling at the idea of Tyler getting a mani-pedi, and hurried after him.
The terrain had a distinct slope to it, growing steeper the deeper into the island they got. Sweat poured down her back and chest, soaking into her cleavage. Salt stung her eyes, though whether this was salt from her own sweat or from the sea, she didn’t know. She hoped they’d reach the water source soon. She genuinely thought she might collapse otherwise. The whole time they walked, she kept an eye out for any hidden cameras, though she knew she wasn’t supposed to see them. The whole idea was that they were hidden. She suspected there were bound to be some at the water source.
Her thighs burned from the strenuous walk so soon after kicking in the water for hours. The ai
r was so hot and thick, she felt like she couldn’t inhale any oxygen into her lungs.
Just when she didn’t think she could go any farther, though she didn’t want to admit so to Tyler, the air began to cool and she heard the faint trickle of running water. She’d never heard anything so beautiful. They cleared the trees, onto a pool of clear, blue water. A rock face overhung the pool, a gap in the rock allowing fresh water to trickle down into it.
“Oh!” She’d been imagining a hole in the ground. This was gorgeous. Like landscaping she’d find in a five star hotel, only created by nature instead of man. A need to get some of that cool water into her body climbed inside her like a craving for a drug. She’d never been so thirsty in her life. Quickly, she rushed to the edge and bent down.
“Wait,” came Tyler’s voice. “You don’t want to drink from the actual pool.” Deep down she wanted nothing more than to jump, fully clothed into the water and drink her fill. “It looks clean,” he continued, “but if any kind of rodent or bird has drowned in there, you’ll find yourself with a sore stomach, and worse.”
The idea of drinking from the pool suddenly didn’t seem so great, though she almost hated Tyler at that moment for denying her water for even another minute. Managing to control herself, together they traversed the edge of the pool and climbed onto the rock to reach the spot where the water left the rock face.
“The water coming out of the rock will be fine, though.”
Charlie went to lower her face to the small waterfall, but Tyler’s hand on her shoulder stopped her. “Always bring the water to you, instead of leaning down to it.”
She scowled at him. All she wanted was a goddamned drink and he seemed intent on telling her how to do even that. This was going to get tired very quickly.
“Why?” she snapped.
“You don’t know if there are any large predators on the island. Bending down to water will only make you look like easy prey.”
For the second time in a matter of minutes, she realized he had a point.
Instead, she reached down, first washing off her filthy hands and then using her cupped palms placed beneath the ice-cold flow to bring handful after handful of icy water to her mouth. The water cooled her burning throat, and she gulped it down until it sat loose and uneasy in her belly.
A fresh wave of heat swept over her, only this time it was an internal heat, and saliva filled her mouth in a rush. The world swayed around her, and she knew with a sudden horrifying certainty that she was going to be sick.
Turning away from the pool, she managed to take a few staggered steps before she fell to her knees. The water she’d just consumed rushed from her mouth like a torrent, and her whole body surged with the force of it.
Finally, the sickness passed, and she was left panting, her eyes streaming tears. She wiped a hand across her mouth and tried to catch her breath.
A warm hand on her back made her jump.
“Are you okay?” Tyler asked.
She shook him off, too embarrassed to take any sympathy. “Do I fucking look okay?”
“Your stomach just wasn’t prepared for all that water. It’s my fault. I should have warned you to take it more slowly. I let you down.”
She shook her head and risked a glance at him. His mouth was thinned into a line, a crease of concern between his thick, dark brows. “I’m fine,” she said, letting him off the hook. “I’m not a child. I think I could have figured that out for myself.”
Getting to her feet and pushing past him, she made her way back to the pool. She’d already felt horrible, before the sickness, and now she just felt gross. Crouching at the side of the pool, she splashed her face and wetted her hair. Self-consciously, she washed the sweat from her chest, the cool water dribbling down into her bra, causing her nipples to tighten.
She lifted her face to catch Tyler watching her, an intense expression in his dark eyes. She smiled awkwardly, trying to shrug off the sudden nerves fluttering in her stomach.
His eyes flicked down her chest, and she realized she’d wetted her top through, the thin cotton soaked and molding perfectly to her breasts, the nipples poking through like two pebbles. Quickly, she pulled the material away from her skin and angled her body away from him.
“Aren’t you going to drink?” she said, trying to hide her embarrassment. “You must be thirsty, too.”
He took a ragged breath and nodded, but his gaze remained on her for a fraction too long before he glanced away. A spark of excitement jolted through her. He’d been looking at her in that way—the way that made her wonder if he’d been thinking about what was beneath her clothes, rather than the suitability of what she wore. But she’d been wrong about that before. Besides, she wasn’t exactly looking her best, and he’d just watched her throw up. And after all, she felt sure he wasn’t supposed to be having those kind of thoughts about the celebrities he was looking after.
In a moment of mischievousness, she wondered how he’d react if she stood up and stripped off and dived straight into the water, naked.
But no, she reminded herself. There were cameras, guaranteed to be here more than anywhere. It was the perfect setup spot. No wonder Tyler had been embarrassed. In fact, she thought, remembering her own little ‘wet-t-shirt contest’ display, she should probably be pretty embarrassed herself right now. But she’d been so caught up in cooling herself down, she’d completely forgotten about the cameras.
That’s just what they want you to do, she thought. She wouldn’t let her guard down like that again.
She watched Tyler lift water to his mouth, trying not to admire the way his biceps bunched as he did so, or how his khaki shorts glued to his ass as he squatted, the legs riding up to expose thickly muscled thighs. There was no getting away from it. This guy was built like an image of male perfection.
Charlie forced her thoughts away and cleared her throat. Though the small area around the pool was shaded by palms, she could still feel the thick, intense heat of the sun. Insects buzzed noisily in her ear and she waved her hand around her head, trying to shoo them away. With no mosquito repellent, she was going to be bitten to death. Mosquitoes had always loved her.
“So, what now?” she asked, when Tyler had finished his drink.
“We need to get back to the beach.”
She frowned. The temperature was much cooler here. “Why can’t we just stay here? Isn’t it better to be near a fresh water source?”
He twisted his neck to look around at her, squinting his dark eyes slightly in a way that made the edges of his eyes crinkle. “Normally, I’d say yes, but we’re most likely to be rescued from the beach. There’s too much tree coverage here for anyone to spot us from above.”
Oh, right. He was still going for the ‘stranded on a desert island’ thing.
“I thought all I needed to do was ‘survive.’ I didn’t realize I’d need to prove I could get myself rescued as well.”
Tyler frowned in a way that sent a stab of alarm through her. “You do want to get rescued, don’t you?”
Just play along! “Yes, of course.”
“Well, we need to figure out a way to take water back with us to the beach. We’re going to need it.” He thought for a moment and glanced above his head. “Wait here a minute,” he said, getting to his feet.
Fresh unease spiked through her. She didn’t want to be left on her own again.
“Where are you going?”
But he was already trudging away. “To get some cups,” he called back over his shoulder.
Charlie sighed and scooted down the little rock face to come to the water’s edge. She sat down and pulled off Tyler’s sandals, then dangled her feet in the pool. He should have taken his shoes back. She sighed with bliss as she submerged her feet, ankles and calves. The cold of the water not only cooled her feet and eased all the scrapes and itchy ant bites, but also seemed to cool the rest of her as well. I could quite easily just stay here, she thought. The strenuous swim, followed by overheating and the hike through the island
, had left her exhausted.
She started to drift, at that point between wakefulness and sleep, on the verge of dreaming. A sudden image filled her head— the silence of the engine, the screams of the other women on board, the plummet through the sky. Real, so real, so real ...
The crunch of footsteps jerked her awake. She blinked, disoriented for a moment, then turned to see Tyler walking toward her, his arms filled with the green spheres of young coconuts.
He dumped them down beside her. “One thing you can pretty much always depend upon finding on a tropical island.”
She looked at the coconuts doubtfully. “But how are we going to get them open?”
“Hang on.” Tyler started to hunt around the edge of the pool until he found what he was searching for. He lifted up a sharp, flint of rock, a good size, and heavy. “I’m going to need two hands. Here,” he picked up the sandals which she’d left sitting on the rock beside her. “Put these back on and put one of the coconuts between your ankles to hold it steady while I hit it.”
She widened her eyes. “Seriously?”
“You can trust me, Charlie. You do trust me, don’t you?”
She remembered being held against his chest as they bobbed up and down for what seemed like hours in the ocean. How she’d been certain that if he ever let her go, she’d drown. But it’s all been staged. She didn’t trust anyone, really. Not a single person in her life. Even her father had proven himself untrustworthy.
But she couldn’t say that to Tyler, so instead she just shrugged. “I guess.”
He knelt at her feet and placed the rough husk between her ankles. “Squeeze,” he said, and so she did, locking the big nut between her feet, the weak part at the top. She braced herself, squeezed her eyes shut in anticipation. The rock Tyler held was big and sharp. If he missed or the stone glanced off the nut, he’d probably break her ankle, or at least gouge out a piece of flesh.
He brought the sharp stone down with a crack, the sound impossibly loud in the otherwise still air.
“Quick, Charlie. Drink this.” He lifted half the coconut to her lips, cold sweetness pouring down her throat, dribbling from the sides of her mouth and down her chin. It was delicious, and settled in her stomach far easier than the water had. He pulled the half shell away from her mouth and then reached inside the coconut and used the sharp stone to scoop out the flesh.
Dangerous Encounters: A Romantic Suspense Boxed Set Page 26