A couple of the mollusks fell from her grasp, plopping back into the rock pool she’d worked so hard to remove them from. Her hands were too full to carry them without dropping some. She needed something to carry them in.
Screw it, she thought. Quickly, she placed the remaining shells on the rock and whipped off her shirt to carry the mussels in. Maybe people would think she was using the opportunity to show off her body, but she was being practical, something she’d been accused of never being. At the end of the day, she still had her shorts and bra on. It wasn’t like she was naked. In fact, she was wearing more than she normally did lying by the pool, and plenty of paparazzi had snapped her in her bikini in the past.
Something moved in the rock pool to her right, something much bigger than a regular whelk or mussel. Automatically, she jerked back, and her heart lurched.
What was that?
As she stared into the clear pool, a huge crab, twice the size of her fist, scuttled across the sand and stones beneath the water.
“Oh!”
The image of dressed crab served with a spring of parsley and a squeeze of lemon came to mind, and her stomach rumbled again. She didn’t have the guts to pick it up ... did she?
She lifted her head and looked back over to where Tyler still stood in the sea. He would probably come back with a whole ton of fish, while all she had were a few crappy shells.
Yeah, but if he’s got loads of fish, you’re not going to need the crab.
The thought made her pause, but this wasn’t just about wanting crab for dinner. It was about not looking like a useless girly-girl in front of Tyler, and all the people at home sitting in front of their televisions, willing her to fail.
Suppressing a very girly-girl squeal in the back of her throat, she plunged her hand into the water and grabbed the crab from behind. The creature was surprisingly heavy, more so after she pulled it from the buoyancy of the water. The large claws tried to snap at her, its spindly back legs scratching at her wrist.
The squeal escaped her throat as she threw the crab onto her shirt and scooped up the edges, creating a little cloth bag with her holding the top shut.
Yes, I did it!
Triumphantly, she walked back across the beach, toward the fire and place they’d picked out as their camp. Tyler must have seen her on the move, as he left the ocean and headed up the beach to meet her. She scanned his empty hands—except for the stick spear—and wondered where all the fish were. Perhaps he had some clever way of storing them—stringing them up beneath the ocean to keep them cool or something?
Catching sight of her wearing only her bra and shorts, she noticed his sharp intake of breath, and his gaze flicking across her body before he fixed his eyes on her face.
She glanced down at his empty hands and raised her eyebrows.
For the first time, Tyler gave a sheepish smile, an expression that made her heart lurch and her stomach tighten. “Umm, the fishing didn’t go so well,” he admitted.
Her mouth dropped open. “You didn’t catch anything?”
He glanced down with that small smile and looked back up from beneath his dark lashes, still wet and stuck together from the seawater. “I guess they weren’t biting today.”
Still gripped in her t-shirt, the crab struggled, the shells clacking together.
His line of eyesight moved down to the makeshift bag. “You look like you did better?”
“I caught it, so you need to do the rest.” And with that, she dropped the shirt on the beach.
Instantly, the crab made a run for it, scuttling sideways across the sand, its legs leaving tracks in the fine grains. Standing in its path, the crab ran over Tyler’s bare foot. He let out a yell of surprise and jumped back.
Quickly, he recovered and spun on his heels, surprisingly fast for such a large man. Using his bare foot, he flipped the crab onto its back. He drove down the sharpened stick he’d taken fishing, spearing the crab near the creature’s head. He lifted it up on the stick and after a couple of wriggles of its legs, the crab fell still.
Charlie tried not to grimace.
“Grab the big tin can you found earlier,” he told her. “Go and fill it with water from the sea.” He grinned. “Looks like boiled crab is on tonight’s menu.”
She trotted down to the surf, her feet cooling in the water, enjoying the sensation of the waves lapping against her ankles. Then she bent and scooped some of the clear seawater into the can. Carrying it carefully back up the beach, she watched Tyler through squinted eyes as he sorted through the rest of the shellfish she had collected. He turned his head as she approached and smiled at her. Her heart tightened. This man could change her mood with the simplest expression.
He took the water from her and placed it in the center of the fire. “We’ll have to give the can a good wash before we use it to boil fresh water, but it’s big enough to cook the crab and the rest of the shellfish in.” He smiled at her again. “You did good, Charlie. We’d be dining on yet more coconut if it wasn’t for you.”
With the crab squashed inside the can, he rinsed out the other shellfish. Before long, they were sitting on the sand, sucking sweet flesh from the claws and picking small pieces of salty meat from inside the shells.
The sun going down created a thin ribbon of red on the horizon. Charlie sneaked a glance at the man on the sand beside her. His expression was serene as he gazed out over the ocean, and something in her chest clenched. For the first time in as long as she could remember, she was content.
Chapter Seven
Charlie’s sense of tranquility didn’t last long.
As soon as the sun went down, insects came out in force—bugs bigger than she’d ever seen. Even the smoke and occasional sparks from the fire didn’t keep them away. They buzzed and whined by the side of her face, soft wings flicking her skin, making her squeal and flap like a mad woman.
Plus, though the idea of sleeping on the beach, to the lullaby of waves gently crashing on shore, had seemed like a novel idea when the sun was up, now night had fallen and all she had was a few palm leaves to lie on, it wasn’t so much fun. Thankfully, the scorching heat of the day had waned with the setting of the sun, but it was still a balmy night, causing her now filthy clothes to cling with perspiration. She was torn between not wanting to be anywhere near the crack and pop of the fire because of the heat, and wanting to get closer for the insect repellent and light. The stink of old fish rose from her fingers, and now the thought of dressed crab turned her stomach rather than made her mouth water. Her skin tickled constantly, and she brushed and slapped at herself, certain giant spiders crawled across her as she tried to sleep.
Annoyingly, Tyler didn’t seem to suffer from the same bout of insomnia. He lay on his side, facing away from her, snoring gently. She had to resist leaning over and shoving his smooth, brown shoulder, just so she’d have someone to talk to.
How much of this were the viewers at home getting to see, she wondered. She guessed cameras were hidden in the trees, high up to get a good view. She hoped people at home were at least feeling a little sympathetic. Surely no one would want to be in her position right now.
Charlie rolled onto her back and sighed.
This is the longest night of my life.
Despite the incessant buzz and whine of the insects, exhaustion from the day’s events took hold and her eyes slipped shut. Her thoughts grew jumbled and confused, and she began to give herself in to sleep ...
A blood curdling screech came from deeper within the island and Charlie bolted upright, her heart pounding. What the hell was that? She froze, listening hard, unsure what to do. From a slightly different direction, another scream sliced through the darkness. Her head darted toward the noise, her eyes wide, peering into the night. The absolute black contained within the trees now held her worst nightmares—crazy people, monsters from the deep.
She reached over and shook Tyler awake.
Instantly, he became alert and sat up. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
Her voice came out as an urgent whisper. “Something is out there! Something is screaming in the middle of the forest.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Screeching!”
He frowned, his features barely made out in the dimming firelight. “You mean like an owl?”
She shook her head. “It was worse than that. It sounded almost ... human.”
While she really didn’t want to hear the sound again, part of her willed it to repeat so she didn’t look like she was making stuff up or losing her mind.
They sat poised together, ears straining.
Within a few minutes, the scream came again, cutting through the night and turning her blood to ice water. Automatically, she reached out, her hand wrapped around Tyler’s bicep, instinctively scooting closer to his side.
But Tyler didn’t seem to share her fear, and to her surprise he laughed, a deep throaty sound.
“It’s a monkey, Charlie. That’s all. They’re calling to each other, marking out their territory.”
“A monkey? Seriously?” She shivered, despite the heat. “It sounded like someone being murdered.”
“I promise you, there’s no crazed axe-man in the forest killing people. From the search I did earlier, there aren’t any people to kill—except us, that is.”
The isolation of this place fell over her in a blanket, how the sea stretched on without a soul in sight, the forest at their back devoid of human life. “You’re not making me feel any better.”
She realized she still sat by his side, her fingers wrapped around the hard swell of his bicep. Though she knew she had to, she really didn’t want to let go.
“Now are you going to let me get back to sleep?” he said. “This whole thing will be a lot harder to deal with if we’re sleep deprived on top of everything else.”
Reluctantly, she traversed the small patch of sand between his sleeping mat of palm fronds and her own. She lay back down and placed her hands beneath her head to create some kind of pillow, even though she knew her limbs would be numb within an hour.
She’d never be able to sleep with so much noise and movement going on. Every little sound made her muscles tighten, her heart rate tripping with anxiety. Something tickled across her back, between her shoulder blades, and she shook herself in a way that was close to a shudder, reaching back to try to brush whatever it was off. Tyler had begun to softly snore again, and she hated him in that moment—hated his easy way of fitting right in with his surroundings when she felt like a jabbering wreck.
Her eyes filled with tears, but she blinked them away, angry at herself.
Pity-party for one, Charlie?
She’d never wanted to do this stupid show, but she’d still believed she was stronger than this. Despite everything, she’d wanted to prove to everyone, and to herself, that she was more than just a pretty face and an expensive closet.
Something big, with sharp claws and a tail, ran over her leg.
Charlie screamed and yanked her arms and legs into her body. In the flickering light from the fire, she caught sight of a sleek, furry body, a little larger than fist-sized, which ran away, nose to the ground.
She jumped to her feet. Oh, God. A rat!
Tyler gave a sigh of exasperation and rolled to face her, half-sitting. “What is it now?”
“No,” she said, putting her hands up in a ‘stop’ signal. “That’s enough already. I am not sleeping with rats. I refuse.”
His eyebrows arched. “What do you suggest I do? Call the local motel?”
“Yes, exactly. Tell your producer I’m out of here.”
“Charlie, considering no one has found us yet, I think we need to seriously consider that the plane went down. Assuming that’s what happened, Harry would have gone down with it. I’ve no idea if he’s even still alive.”
“Stop saying that!” She rounded on him, tears blurring her vision. “Why do you keep saying that? I get it; you’re supposed to play along. But I just said I quit, so you can stop the whole ‘survival’ bullshit. Okay?”
He got to his feet and folded his arms across his chest, squaring his shoulders. “You can’t quit this, Charlie. I’ve already told you this isn’t some survival setup. It’s real.”
“No.” She shook her head. “No, no, no.”
“Do you really think the show could fake the plane’s engine failing? Do you think they would have left us in the ocean hour after hour? We could have died!”
“No, we wouldn’t have. Someone would have been watching us the whole time to make sure we were okay.”
He tilted his head to one side, searching her face with deep brown eyes that appeared almost black in the firelight. “Think about it, Charlie. Did you see anyone else while we were out there? Any boat nearby or helicopter hovering over us? We were alone. We’re still alone! And it’s about time you faced that fact.”
“Why are you doing this to me?” She finally gave in to the tears she’d fought earlier, and an alarming bark of a sob burst from her mouth. Tears spilled, hot and salty, down her cheeks.
He must have seen the state of her, because his features softened and he reached a hand out toward her. “Come on, Charlie. Come and lie back down. Things will look better in the morning when we’ve both had some rest.”
What else could she do? She didn’t exactly have any other options. She didn’t want to face up to the possibility what he was telling her was real.
Tyler gathered up the fronds she’d been lying on and scattered them directly beside his own. “Don’t worry. I’ll keep off the rats.”
She sniffed and lay down on her side, still angry with him, but so torn. With a huff, she turned to face away from him. His arm found its way around her waist and he pulled her closer, so her back pressed against his stomach. She froze at the proximity of their bodies, but then relaxed. His other arm lifted her head and slipped beneath, creating a pillow of his bicep. He sheltered her with his big body, keeping away at least some of the fears of what lay in the dark. Tyler was all rock hard muscle, even softened in sleep, and his body heat burned through the thin material of her t-shirt.
Eventually, sleep claimed her.
Chapter Eight
The next morning, Charlie woke to bright sunlight and the cheery tweets and calls of birdsong.
She sat up to find Tyler gone. Her hair was filled with sand and she ran her hands through it, trying to shake the fine grains out. She winced as her muscles seized, needing to be stretched out after a night on the relatively hard sand. Rolling her neck and stretching her arms, she squinted through the bright sunlight toward the beach.
Where was Tyler?
Her throat was so dry she struggled to swallow. One of the coconuts they’d carried back from the pool sat, propped up against the tree. Getting to her feet, she headed over and picked it up. A little of the fresh water remained, but a couple of decent sized mosquitoes floated on top, drowned after having tried to get a drink for themselves. Was she desperate enough to drink it anyway?
Charlie wrinkled her nose. Her parched throat hurt as she tried to swallow once more. Her tongue felt swollen and stuck to the roof of her mouth, her lips glued to her teeth. Yes, she decided. She was.
She hooked a finger in and scooped out the dead insects, flicking them away and then wiping her finger on her shorts. Then she lifted the makeshift cup to her lips and gulped down the remaining water. The water was warm, bits of grit sliding over her tongue, but at least it was liquid.
Her clothes stuck to her body, and she felt clammy and dirty. She looked out over the ocean and her mind immediately conjured up how cool the water would feel upon her skin. Perhaps she could have a paddle, splash her skin a little?
She remembered her middle of the night argument with Tyler about how all of this wasn’t a setup, and she glanced at the trees lining the beach behind her. He’d seemed pretty insistent. She couldn’t see anything that might be a camera hidden in the trunk, or in the branches and fronds. But they were supposed to be hidden
cameras—wasn’t that the whole point? The production company wanted to catch her doing something that would make good television, catch her when she wasn’t thinking about what she was doing. They wanted to film her when she’d let down her guard and forgotten about the cameras.
Well, she’d stripped down to her bra yesterday, so she didn’t think her bra and panties would make any difference. What she really wanted was to take the whole lot off, wash out her clothes and let both them and herself dry in the sun.
But you can do that if this is real ...
Small comfort, and anyway, she reconfirmed in her mind, this isn’t real. It’s all a stage, you signed the paperwork yourself. They’re just trying to mess with your head.
They’ve gone an awful long way just to get some good television, a little voice spoke up in her mind.
She pushed it away.
Charlie left the shelter of the trees and headed down to the shoreline. Even this early in the morning, the sand was already hot from the sun and she had to do a strange running hop to get down to the waves without burning her feet.
She let out a sigh of pleasure as she stepped onto the damp sand and the first small swell of waves broke over her feet. The water was cool, but not enough to make her tense with shock. She couldn’t wait to get in.
Charlie turned her head and glanced back up the beach. There was still no sign of Tyler. She hoped he was all right. The idea of being stuck here without him was close to terrifying right now. But no, he was a strong, practical man. He was just out doing something useful, she was sure.
Quickly, she stripped off her t-shirt and shorts, throwing the items away from her, so they landed on the dry sand, out of reach of the waves. Self-consciously, she glanced around again, her arm across the front of her body. Then she reminded herself that she’d appeared on the front of magazines not wearing much more. A bra and panties was basically the same thing as a bikini.
She turned from the beach and headed deeper into the swell. The ocean was completely clear, tiny, colorful fish darting around her feet. The water reached her thighs and then her stomach, until it was deep enough for her to swim. Charlie took a deep breath and dived beneath the waves.
Dangerous Encounters: A Romantic Suspense Boxed Set Page 28