Nichols, Tara S. - Island of Three (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour)

by Tara S. Nichols

  “We aren’t making any progress,” she said feeling her panic rising.

  “Sure we are,” Blaine encouraged. “We’ve passed two islands already.”

  “Three,” Tyler corrected him.

  From what Adele could remember from the map, the camp was only two or three islands away. They could do it. They just had to stay calm and think positive. It was a difficult thing to do knowing just how exhausted she was, and the guys had been paddling for far longer.

  As they left the last island behind, Adele looked around again. An unsettled feeling formed in her stomach.

  “This doesn’t look right,” Adele admitted against her better judgment. They needed to keep their moral up, but lying about what appeared to be a serious situation wouldn’t help them either. The next island on the horizon looked to be over a mile away, but it was hard to tell through the rain.

  “I don’t remember such a large distance between the islands on the map.”

  Tyler turned to look over his shoulder, a deep crease marring his brow. “Should we stop off on the shore somewhere and wait it out?” he asked.

  “Not if we hope to reunite with our group. We’ll never find them in the dark,” Blaine answered.

  Water poured into Adele’s eyes, and she blinked furiously. The level rose higher as it accumulated in the bottom of the boat and pummeled the sides.

  “They could be just around the corner.” Blaine pointed to the closest island.

  Each of them stared dismally ahead. Their silence seemed to indicate they all knew this to be true. They had to push forward no matter what.

  Chapter Five

  When they reached the southeastern tip of the next island, Adele could see the lake widened out, and again, it didn’t look right. Three more islands stretched out in front of them, two to the left and one to their right.

  “It must be just ahead,” Adele called out, not believing it herself.

  “What number are we at?”

  “Four!”

  “One more then?”

  “I think so. If not, it has to be the one after that.”

  “What time is it?”

  The boat wobbled as Tyler raised his wrist close to his face so he could read his watch. “Just after six!”

  Adele looked to the dark sky. “What? Really? It looks as though it were more like eight or nine!”

  Tyler shrugged and returned to his task of steering the boat. Not one second could be spared as they battled with the waves. Adele could feel the rope she’d attached to her pack tangled up around her ankles, but she didn’t dare stop bailing. It swirled with the cool water sloshing as high as her ankles, scratching her skin. Her gaze fell on the sight of Tyler’s pack full of electronics. Water soaked the sides. It didn’t bode well.

  As they passed the northern point of the last island, everything changed yet again. The wind howled around the bend, and the waves slammed against them with more vigor. Now all they could do to stay afloat was to aim the nose of the canoe straight into the waves and make a zigzagging pattern across the water. They lost precious time in doing this, but they knew they would surly capsize if they tried to make a direct line.

  As it turned out, during one of their turns, a large wave unexpectedly hit the side of the canoe. The boat lifted and fell sharply, and before Adele could do anything to stop it, her body was thrown into the air.

  Hitting the water hard, she swallowed mouthfuls as she went under. She struggled madly to swim to the surface, and then something bit sharp on her ankle, tugging down hard. She quickly realized her mistake in not freeing her feet from the tangled rope. Feeling frantic, she peered through the murky green depths and strained to reach her feet but the need for oxygen was stronger.

  Thankfully, she was still wearing her lifejacket. For the life of her, she couldn’t remember if the guys had put theirs on again or not. The minute her mouth rose above the surface she gulped in air. Sputtering and coughing, she went down then up again one more time. Just as she was about to go under for the third time she felt something catch her by her hair. She bobbed to the surface and met Blaine’s dark and worried eyes.

  His hair lay plastered to his forehead, and she saw that indeed he was wearing a lifejacket. Relief flowed through her but only for a minute. It donned on her, that if he was in the water with her, then the canoe must have flipped.

  “Tyler?” she sputtered.

  “Ahead.” He indicated with a rough jerk of his head. “We’re aiming for the closest island over there.”

  She nodded, coughed, and fought to swim with her feet together. Blaine never let her go for a second, and for that, she would be eternally grateful.

  After what felt like an exhausting length of time, her foot kicked something hard, and she realized they had reached the shore. A rock shelf that gradually sloped down into the water appeared beneath her feet.

  Tyler lay on the shore sprawled out on his back with his clothes plastered to him and the rain still pouring down. He’d already removed his lifejacket, and Adele noticed he wore a nylon jacket that he must have put on somewhere along the way. Turning to look at Blaine, she saw he wore one, too. She shivered. At least they had that.

  Weary and cold, they dragged themselves up out of the water then flopped down on the granite shore beside him.

  The rain continued to beat down on them, but they didn’t care. They were already soaking wet, but more importantly, they were alive.

  After a moment had passed, Tyler looked to Adele’s legs. Scowling, he sat up then reached tentatively to her ankles. So exhausted from the swim, she hadn’t bothered to free herself from the rope that had nearly caused her to drown.

  “What the…” he said picking up the rope and giving it a pull. As he reeled the rope in they saw her backpack emerge from the water, the soggy sleeping roll hugging the bottom like a barnacle.

  “No wonder,” Blaine said, giving his head a shake. “You could have drowned.”

  “Yeah.” She sighed. “We all could have,” she said seriously then softened her tone a bit. “Thanks, by the way. If it wasn’t for you, I would still be out there.”

  He nodded wordlessly, and she could see how exhausted he was.

  “Any sign of the canoe?” she asked.

  Both men shook their heads solemnly.

  She glanced around at their surroundings. A dark line of trees rose up behind them. Everywhere else she looked was water. We are screwed. Adele felt the reality of their situation sinking in.

  To make matters worse, she noticed a stream of red fluid next to her thigh. When she looked to see where it was coming from, she saw it was actually Tyler who was bleeding. His foot had been cut. A flap of skin hung grotesquely askew on his big toe, and it poked through the top of his sandals.

  “Tyler! You’re hurt!” she exclaimed and quickly worked to remove his footwear.

  “Damn,” he said, sounding dazed. “I thought it hurt. I must have cut it on that ledge out there.”

  “Here,” she said, tearing a piece off the bottom of her cotton shirt. She tossed the shoe aside and carefully wrapped the cloth around the wound. Then, paying extra attention not to bump his wound, she put his shoe back on as best she could.

  “Do you think you can walk on it?” Blaine asked, offering him a hand up. Tyler nodded and allowed himself to be brought to his feet. He winced but otherwise seemed fine. “Then let’s head inland while we can still see.”

  * * * *

  That little trick with her shirt nearly had Blaine stumbling over himself to get a better look at that trim waist of hers. Her flat stomach proudly displayed a perfect belly button, and he imagined how nice it would feel to run the tip of his tongue around it. Despite the cold and his exhaustion, he had an erection threatening to peak out the top of his waterlogged jeans. The woman had his libido by the reins even after his efforts to take the edge off back on the other island.

  Tyler wobbled, forcing Blaine to use both hands to right him. As he moved, his jeans slipped down farther,
and he felt Adele’s heated gaze hovering over his groin.

  She smiled and didn’t say anything, thankfully, but he’d far rather be holding her in his arms at that moment rather than another guy.

  “We had better find a dry place and make a shelter as fast as we can,” Blaine said to draw the attention away from his crotch. It worked. Adele grabbed her pack and led the way up the rock beach to the edge of the woods.

  Where on earth are we going to find anything even moderately dry? Blaine looked around, but it turned out that they were in luck.

  Not far into the trees, Tyler spotted a tightly packed bluff of evergreen trees. One of the tall pines had broken off halfway down, and the top had fallen with its point to the earth. The thick boughs of the evergreens had kept all of the rain off of the ground below except for a few small rivulets of water that trickled down from farther uphill. The dead branch would act as a support beam for their shelter’s roof if they added more branches.

  He and Adele immediately got to work while Tyler sat beneath the branch with his foot up on a rock. He wove the branches into the walls as they handed them to him and soon announced no more would fit. They spread Tyler’s nylon jacket on top of that for better waterproofing, and Blaine ran to fetch the lifejackets. He knew they’d appreciate something soft under their heads.

  Adele found another large branch, which she propped out front to create a wall by the hole that served as a door. It immediately helped to block out the wind. They fastened everything together with a length of the rope and left the rest of it in a coil by the door.

  “You’ve done this before,” Blaine said, feeling new respect for their lovely companion.

  Tossing her gear aside, Adele threw herself down onto the hard earth next to it. She was soaked, covered in goose bumps, and looked weary to the bone.

  “Never anything this hardcore.” She took a deep breath, and he could see she was worried.

  She looked at Tyler who sat with his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands, then back to him.

  Blaine frowned, also concerned. “You okay, man?”

  Tyler didn’t reply at first, just rocked his face in his palms. “I can’t believe I lost everything,” he said after awhile, his voice sounding small and far away.

  Adele’s brow creased. “You mean your backpack?”

  “What was in that bag, that couldn’t be more important than your life?” Blaine stated with a snort and sat down on the other side of Adele. He couldn’t help but be impressed there was still room left over in their little hut, even with all three of them inside.

  Tyler raised his face up. “Over six thousand dollars worth of electronic equipment.” He paled at the mention of it.

  A moment of astonished silence hung suspended between them.

  “Still…” Blaine started to say. “They’ve got to understand your life is worth more than six grand.”

  Tyler shook his head reluctantly. “We’ll see when we get back to the office.” He lifted his face. He didn’t look like he was kidding.

  Blaine laughed humorlessly. “If we get back.”

  “Don’t think like that.” Adele cut their train of thought short. “We’re going to be fine. No doubt we’ll be found and rescued in the morning. We just might have to rough it for a little while.” She patted each of them on the thigh, but she didn’t look as though she believed it herself.

  “If by rough it you mean going without my smokes,” Blaine said holding out a pack of soggy cigarettes, “then yeah, it’s gonna be rough.” He always kept them in the pocket of his nylon jacket, but nothing would have kept them safe from the lake. He’d always intended to quit, just never under such duress.

  “Hey!” Adele exclaimed seeing the dripping wet box. “Would you by any chance carry a lighter on you?”

  Blaine’s expression lifted. “Hey, yeah!” He retrieved a large clear blue lighter from the package. He gave it a few quick flicks, but no spark came.

  “It probably needs to dry out.” Tyler grimaced as Blaine kept trying. The lighter continued to struggle and fall flat with each flick of the flint.

  Eventually he gave up and set the lighter on the ground. “Like everything else about us.” He shrugged sheepishly, just as a drop of water hit him on the end of his nose. Scowling, he shrugged out of his jacket and carried the garment out the small door with him. He patched the bare spot knowing the jacket would serve a much better purpose there than on his back.

  * * * *

  Adele tried to smile, but they were right. They were soaked, and she was freezing. Her teeth chattered together, and she rubbed her arms with no results. “Wearing these wet clothes isn’t helping,” she said through clacking teeth. “Every time I move, I come in contact with cold cloth. I have to admit, the thrill is definitely wearing off.”

  Blaine nodded, and then a strange look crossed his face.

  “What?” she asked suspiciously.

  “I don’t want to sound forward, but you’d feel better if you took them off. We all would.”

  She rolled her eyes.

  “What?” He scoffed. “It’s not like your flimsy white shirt is hiding much,” he said and pointed to her chest.

  She looked down at the soaking-wet, button-down blouse that clung to her body and saw that he was right. It wasn’t like she was hiding anything. Besides the large chunk missing from the bottom, which exposed her midriff, she had two erect red points that could have been used to bring in a plane. She blushed and crossed her arms over her chest.

  Blaine shrugged. “It’s up to you. In the meantime…” He tugged his wet T-shirt up over his head, exposing a tanned, toned, muscular chest. “I think I’ll stave off hypothermia.”

  Her eyes followed his every move as he continued to strip, following through with his jeans. This took more effort considering their cramped space and the heavy, wet fabric of his clothes. He grunted and cussed until he was red in the face. Eventually she helped him, tugging on his cuffs until they came free.

  “Thanks,” he said, out of breath with the effort.

  “My pleasure.” She blushed again but continued to peer at him out of the corners of her eye. He was all warrior, brawny and rugged, and she had the urge to lick him head to toe.

  “Oh!” he exclaimed and vigorously rubbed his palms over his biceps. “It feels better already.”

  It certainly looked better, she thought, noting how his close-cut, black cotton boxers accentuated his quads. A rush of adrenalin swept over her, one that had nothing to do with the cold.

  Having caught her checking him out, he arched his eyebrows at her in quick succession. She sighed dramatically and threw her hands in the air in defeat.

  “Okay, you’ve convinced me,” she groaned. Then, conscious that both sets of eyes were watching her, she shyly unfastened the trail of buttons down her front. She wore a white lace bra that didn’t leave much to the imagination, so she slipped an arm out of one sleeve and quickly used it to cover her breasts. With an effort she managed to free herself from the other sleeve without having exposed herself.

  She hesitated when she reached for the tie at her waist that held her shorts on, and gave both guys a level look.

  Tyler’s eyes went wide when he realized he’d been caught staring. “Would you feel better if we turned the other way?” he asked.

  Yes. She thought indignantly, and then, no. Sure, modesty demanded it, but she couldn’t deny the rush she felt at the situation she found herself in. “No. I can’t ask you look away for the rest of the night, now can I?” She grimaced. “No,” she firmly repeated again, having decided it was the only mature thing. “We’re dealing with an entirely different situation here. It’s not like we’re anywhere we can afford to be modest. This is about survival, animal instinct, not corner store porn.” She let her arm drop away, revealing her prominent nipples. They could be seen clearly through the intricate lace work, a hint of dark pink beneath the fine fabric. Thankfully, the impending night helped to conceal everything, and she knew
it would be very dark soon enough.

  “Is that better?” she asked, hearing her voice catch in her throat. The thrill of exposing herself to two strangers was overpowering her extreme exhaustion. Frankly, she was surprised at herself.

  “You tell me,” Blaine said, his husky voice echoing her mood.

  She smiled shyly and slipped her shorts off. “But I’m still really cold.” As though on cue, her teeth began to chatter again.

  Blaine nodded, but she noticed his eyes briefly pass over her breasts again. He was struggling with the modesty part.

  She looked to Tyler to find his eyes riveted to her as well. His face held an expression that might have been a cross between anguish and turned on.

  “Aw screw it,” he suddenly blurted, and then he grabbed the ends of his T-shirt and stripped the wet garment away from his body. Adele’s eyes went wide at the glorious site.

  Although leaner than Blaine’s muscled mass, Tyler’s body was equally pleasant. His chest wasn’t tanned, but his muscles were tight and fine, and he had a flat washboard abdomen with the sweetest treasure trail she’d ever seen.

  “Ugh,” he said, completely unaware of her scrutiny, focusing only on the feeling of the cool night air against his skin. “I think you both lied!”

  Adele giggled. “Give it a second.”

  Blaine shifted as though he were uncomfortable. She could tell something was on his mind. He seemed to hesitate a moment longer and then he blurted, “What would you say to a huddle? You know, to preserve body heat?”

  Adele smiled judiciously. Clearly it was an attempt to press his nearly naked body up against hers. She paused. And what was wrong with that?

  “What?” he continued with a playful grin. “It’s a good idea. We’ll freeze otherwise.”

  Adele considered it for a minute longer, and then the need for warmth won out. She nodded and shifted over. Their naked thighs brushed against each other, and she fought the urge to pull back. With a steady breath, she remained still and took it for what it was, a chivalrous gesture. And even if it was a lame attempt to seduce her, at least she was going to be warm.

  She turned to Tyler. It was getting harder to make him out in the growing dark. “Well, are you going to join us?”