Gage, Ronna - Paradise Mine (Siren Publishing Classic)

by Ronna Gage

  Landy must have misinterpreted her question. He returned to staring out at the rain outside. “Yes, the storm will be over soon.”

  She wanted to scream, “No, that’s not what I meant!” But the moment was too intense with mixed emotions, and she didn’t dare. “Oh.”

  Landy turned from the door way. “Go on to bed, Rae Anne. We’ve got a long day ahead of us.”

  “Yes.” She returned to her bed and settled in. She watched as he secured the door with a piece of vine, padded back to his bed, and blew out the only source of light that remained constant in the hut. Rae Anne wrestled with her comfort in the knowledge that, just a few feet away, Landy lay next to her. The advantage came with its ugly downside. The simple comforting fact also kept her awake, adding to the sexual restlessness already mounting between them.

  In the wee hours of the night, the storm ran its course and moved on. In the quiet of the hut, she heard Landy’s soft snores so close she could almost reach out and touch him. God! Would it be so bad? Would it be wrong to feel his warm skin next to mine, his hands on my body, heating me to the brink of burning with our mutual desire? Her pussy convulsed with meager contractions of begging. She cupped the aching spot with her hand, and her breath caught. Gentle pressures on the throbbing organ almost made her come. Delighted in the touch and empowered to explore, she used her hand to do what Landy wouldn’t do; stroke and coax her pussy to satisfy her body’s physical need. In silent orgasm, she curbed the building starvation of love. After one last look at Landy’s bed, she rolled over, giving him her back. The raindrops on the canvas of the tent tattooed a steady, calming noise that helped her drift off to sleep. Deep in that realm of twilight, before she fell fast asleep, she realized that it wasn’t a satisfying orgasm, but it did take the edge off and proved she could take care of herself.

  Who needs him!

  * * * *

  Landy lay in his bed rethinking the decision to have it this close to Rae Anne’s. Was it a mistake? She didn’t seem to object to my close proximity when we set up the tent earlier, or even by the doorway, but it didn’t provide the privacy she needed for such moments as the one I witness earlier.

  He pretended to sleep, but when she caressed the parts of her body he craved, he lay rapt at her boldness to give herself the release he only dreamed of doing. His cock twitched to attention as she cupped her right breast. Then, it became rock hard the instant she gathered the comforter in her hand and pushed it aside, exposing her shadowed pussy to the air. Landy didn’t dare look away. The beautiful rhythmic strokes of her hand on her private part enraptured him. The erotica, quick and silent, ended with her little gasps of air when she reached orgasm.

  The other couple didn’t notice. Thank God! The raindrops and echoes of distant thunder disguised her whimpers, but Landy had to tightly close his eyes and focus on drowning out the sensual moans of release. He could smell her orgasm and almost taste the salty pleasures in the air. Fighting the insistent call to go to her and take part in her second orgasm would wait, just as his release would go unattended. I will make you scream in ecstasy. His vow conjured images of Rae Anne’s previous doing, and he closed his eyes to the wonderfully seductive dream.

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  The sun crested the horizon, and birds chirped in the forest past Rae Anne’s wall. She woke up, looked around the sleeping room, and realized that everyone still slept. She got out of her bed and shuffled to the door, disturbing no one. Outside, the sun barely brightened the sky, leaving the camp in semidarkness. Last evening’s rainstorm had left behind a pure smell of ionic clean. She stepped outside the tent, and the soggy ground sloshed under her footsteps. “Ewwww!”

  She lit a match to the wood Gina stored in the makeshift stove and started the fire. Cheerful for no setbacks, she filled the coffee pot with fresh water and scooped a heaping amount of grounds into the filter basket, and then set the pot on the fire and waited for the coffee to brew.

  Flashbacks of Landy’s subtle touches played on her mind. Wasn’t it bad enough that sleep eluded her while the very same pictures invaded her dreams? That smirk of a smile on his face and those smoky, passion filled eyes that reflected the same yearning she felt. Of course, then the dreaded moment of lucidity when something distracted him, and he lost his nerve, or remembered his hatred towards her and snubbed her again, leaving her alone on that damn rock. Rae Anne walked to the very spot he’d left her, hoping to regain that moment in time and change it somehow. “What happened to that Landy who used to love me and treat me like a lady?” You told him to stop treating you like a child, dumbass. The more she thought about it, the more she became aware of her attraction to the man.

  The coffee pot’s hissing brought her back to the present. She took a deep breath and inhaled the strong aroma. Like a beacon in the night, it led her to its awakening powers. She poured herself a cup and strolled back to the ledge absently looking down at the old campsite. She took a sip of the coffee. It warmed the chill caused by the duel of her emotions. The tug of war between her heart and mind left her lonely and vulnerable. Suddenly, a dawning surfaced in her head. Landy is fighting these same feelings too. A new light shone on the day…optimism.

  A small sound came from behind her. She turned to find Landy standing just a few feet away, dressed in black cargo shorts and no shirt. For the first time since they were more or less reunited, she looked at his naked torso. With his broad shoulders held back, he stood straight and tall. His manly chest was covered with a great share of hair, and his waist narrowed into flared hips. So different from the younger man he used to be. What would it be like to make love to this man?

  He wasn’t guarded when he looked at her. In essence, he was conveying something to her with his eyes, but what? Was he inviting her to try this new person he’d become, to understand and love him? The allure in his eyes vanished, and in the time it her took to catch her breath, anger controlled his gaze. What happened?

  “I don’t believe this,” he snapped.

  His fast, angry approach shocked her. She refused to budge like a fearful child. A burning sensation on her hand distracted her from Landy’s charge. Her hands shook in fear, and her coffee was spilling over the top of the cup. She sucked in the pain. Rae Anne braced herself for Landy’s fuming touch of anger. How would she fight back? Get ready. If he hurts you, throw the coffee on him. She closed her eyes.

  “Rae Anne, where in bloody hell is the yacht?” he asked from behind her.

  Rae Anne opened her eyes at the odd question. Was that a joke? She had to be asleep, but her hand burned. “What do you mean?”

  She turned to face the ledge in confusion. The space where the grounded yacht stood last night was now open waters. He scanned and rescanned the ocean’s horizon. “Where is the yacht, Rae Anne?”

  Frustrated anger distorted his features. Rae Anne looked around in stunned disbelief. Her mouth opened and shut automatically. Surprise assaulted her twice—and even before she’d had her first cup of coffee! First, the missing yacht, secondly, Landy’s outrageous query that she had something to do with it. “You’re asking me?” One minute she thought of jumping his bones, making love to this crazy hot man. And now, that fantasy burned into one of confusion. She shook her scalded hand. “You really want me to answer that one?”

  “Yes, I do!”

  “It’s not in my bra.” Rae Anne pulled out her shirt. “Nope, not there.” She gawked at him, challenging him to look for himself.

  Landy took a step back, narrowed his eyes, “Are you being funny?”

  She’d never heard him use that voice before. She mulled over the gestured search of her blouse for a missing yacht. “I do realize that it probably looked ridiculous to search for a ship on my person, especially in my underwear, but it isn’t any more ludicrous than the question of its whereabouts to me by you.”

  His eyes set on her, a smile crept on his lips replacing the dour expression he had earlier. “Do you understand the ramifications of losing that yacht?
”

  Although he smiled, his question gave to that cynical tone she loathed, but if that didn’t piss her off enough, he followed with a patronizing act of crossing his arms over his massive chest. His bulging arms flirted with her psyche. Solid, warm, safe. His well-toned body muddled her mind.

  “No, I mean, yes. I mean…” She stopped babbling and calmed her taxed nerves. “What are the ramifications of losing the yacht at this point? It’s little more than a stripped shell.”

  Rae Anne couldn’t comprehend Landy’s reaction to losing the yacht today. They hadn’t been on the yacht since being stranded on the island. The necessities and the luxuries of living on the island no longer existed aboard. The food pantries had been looted, as well as the fuel reserves.

  “Without the yacht, Rae Anne”—he took a step closer, and she took a half-step back—“we have no hope of being rescued.” Landy brushed past her, an obvious effort to get away from her.

  Now where is he going? Rae Anne followed him, furious that he would talk down to her as if she were four years old or, worse yet, the dumbest woman in the world. “No way are you getting the last word on this one, Mr. Laurent.”

  He stopped in his tracks, faced her, the anger in his eyes slashed at her like virtual daggers to her heart.

  “I am not a child, Landy. Do not talk to me that way ever again.”

  Landy stared her down for a full ten seconds she’d guess—ten of the longest seconds of her life—and then he stomped inside the tent. He started grabbing things off the side table—binoculars, sunglasses, a shirt, and his cap—and then tried to walk by her yet again. Catching his arm, she slowed his progress.

  “We can’t discuss this if you insist on leaving me ever time things get heated up between us,” Rae Anne pointed out in a whispered tone. Gina stirred.

  “I don’t have time to explain things to you now.”

  His curt whisper did nothing to deter her from leaving it alone. She watched as he pulled on the chambray shirt. The bulged muscles in his arms made her insides tingle again and her heart raced just a fraction of a beat. Control yourself. You aren’t some horny, dense woman that would settle for a tap on the head and a pat on the butt. “Well, make time. And keep your voice down. You’re going to wake Kip and Gina.”

  Landy took a quick look at the sleeping couple at the other end of the tent. He rolled his eyes and stomped outside.

  “You don’t get off that easy,” she said, chasing after him, almost in a run to catch up with him.

  He scanned the ocean. She grabbed his arm and pulled him toward her. Well, that got his attention anyway. “Talk to me. What are you thinking?”

  Landy shook his head, faced her, and sighed. “The yacht stood as a visible sign of evidence that someone is on the island.”

  “Okay.” I don’t get it. She thought for a second. “What’s so important for people to see the yacht? It seems to me that if no one knows we’re here the modern-day pirates can’t find us and steal our belongings after they kill Kip and you and do God knows what to me and Gina.”

  Landy shook his head, almost defying her logic. “I’d never let anything happen to you.”

  “No, but you’d be dead.” A flicker of passion flashed in his eyes, giving her renewed hope. She didn’t act on it. He needed to come to terms with his own emotions when the time came. “Landy, this was bound to happen. You said so yourself. That’s why we had to strip the yacht in the first place.”

  “Yes, but the yacht stood as a symbol, a signal that people are on the island. I don’t know the status to this island.”

  “What do you mean by status of the island?”

  Landy whirled around back to the water. “Is it an island that is uncharted and uninhabited, or is it an island that is uninhabited but charted? I just don’t know. It’s not on any of the maps at my disposal. The storm caused us to shipwreck before I could get local maps. What it all boils down to is no one will know we’re here without that yacht. Now, no one will be curious to investigate, and, therefore, no rescue party will look for us. Is that plain enough for you?”

  “Yes, and now I understand why you’re upset. You were counting on the yacht’s unexplained presence to get attention from passers-by.”

  “By, Joe, I think you got it.”

  His disdain toward her strummed on her bravado and grated the nerve she fought to control. “Shut up, Landy.” The missing yacht had two very different reactions. To her, it was a blessing in disguise, a chance to rebuild the fragile relationship with Landy. We can at least leave the island as friends, if nothing else. By the look on his face, Landy obviously felt differently. To him, it was a source of stress and failure.

  Rae Anne frantically searched her mind for something positive to focus on to alleviate his stress. He is a strong man who has to have control of everything. Nothing can be left to chance. She rested her hand on his forearm. His head jerked to her. “I don’t care if we’re ever found. If being stuck on a deserted island with you, Landy Laurent, is the worst thing to happen to me, then so be it.”

  He stared at her, his shielded expression unchanged, almost a carving of stone. No smile, argument, or rebuttal—nothing.

  The last thing she expected in reaction to the potential endearment was his quiet. She wished he’d do something, spill what’s on his mind and in his heart…anything. Scorned again, she lashed out. “Landy, is being on this island with me that bad?” Her question softened his cold glare. “You make it sound like a price paid in hell.”

  A smile broke across his face and then became a loud boisterous laugh. He grabbed her up against him and spun around with her in his arms. She squealed in delighted surprise.

  “God, you can’t possibly know the price,” he warned with a jibe.

  He let her slide down his body, and it felt and craved every luscious inch. She fit perfectly with him, like the treasure it searched for and found on a tropical island.

  “What price is that?” she asked to get her mind on something less heated.

  “The one I’m willing to pay, my sanity.”

  The silent tension building between them erupted into a sweet enticement that they couldn’t fight. He gazed into her eyes, and in one swift motion, he took her lips in a hard, demanding kiss. At her surrender, the intensity softened, but stoked the passion. His tongue eased between her slightly parted lips. His finger glided gently down her throat, and her pulse skittered a beat. He skimmed the left side of her jaw with feathery touches of his thumb. The gentle breeze from the ocean brushed her hair back. Landy trailed hot, wanting kisses from her lips down her throat.

  The swells of her breast peeked out of her tank top. He bent slightly and wrapped his arms around her butt, lifted her against him, and held her. She rejoiced feeling him between her legs. He breathed in the scent from her chest. He gripped the tank’s edge in his teeth and, in one move, exposed her left breast, which tingled in the heat of his lips. He nudged her nipple with his nose. Soft whimpers of approval escaped her throat.

  His cock thickened and hardened like a stone instantly between her legs. The heat in her shorts moistened. To have you in me, filling me, is worth more than any pirate’s treasure. He flicked the desired bud, and she inhaled sharply, which situated the breast closer to his lips. He took it into his mouth and with enticing suckles he teased her.

  “Landy,” she sobbed. He carried her to a small tree a few feet away and braced her against it. His hands cupped her breast, greedy for her touch.

  “Rae Anne.”

  She didn’t recognize his voice, raspy with passion, but she wanted his voracious touch all over her body.

  “Landy!”

  “I’m….here….babe,” the words barely said without strains of want.

  “Hey, guys, you’re up!”

  A jolly, rested Kip greeted them. He made a direct line to the coffee pot that stood warming on the makeshift burner.

  * * * *

  Landy shook his head, hoping to shake out the vast array of emotions
plaguing him. The blood from his head drained to fill his cock and left him dizzy. That’s the excuse he made for himself to justify his loss of power. He set Rae Anne on the ground and pulled her top back in place. His eyes trained on hers as he made the necessary adjustments to both their clothes. “I’m sorry, babe. Maybe it’s not—”

  The lust in her eyes changed and, like her wrecked yacht, it floated out to sea, out of his reach, away from him.

  “No! Don’t say anything.” Rae Anne rested a forefinger on his lips. “It’s just a matter of time,” she said matter-of-factly.

  For one long, pregnant moment of unsaid feelings and ignored emotions, neither said a word. The pull on each was strong, but neither took the chance.

  “What are you going to do today?” he asked, changing the subject.

  His question caught her off guard. A new level of confusion reflected in her eyes. At least he kept her guessing. Her teary, sad, eyes looked at him. Seemingly of their own accord, his arms wrapped around her. Does she know how hard it is for me to pull myself together and ignore what’s in front of me?

  “I uhuh.” She pulled away and cleared her throat. “I’m doing laundry by the lagoon.”

  “Well, don’t fall in,” he smiled. His eyes covertly roamed over her body.

  “I’m a marine biologist. Water is like air to me.”

  Landy gave her a sideways glance. “Funny!”

  “What?”

  “I don’t recall finding gills on the side of your neck.” He saw bright and innocent cheerfulness in her eyes.

  “My gills aren’t on the side of my neck,” she quipped with a wink.

  “Hmm. I guess I’ll have to investigate further,” he said bobbing his eyes. “Perhaps another time?”