Luck Be Delanie

by Shelli Stevens

  Her jaw tightened. “That’s a little crude, but then I guess I should’ve expected that coming from y—”

  “Was that him?” he asked suddenly, cocking his head as he walked back towards her, his eyes lit with anger and frustration. “Was that him calling?”

  She folded her arms across her chest. Why lie? “Yes.”

  His body went rigid and his mouth became a tight, straight line.

  “You know, you seemed so damn innocent that night we met at the bar.” He shook his head.

  “Why do you keep bringing up that night?” she muttered and turned away, staring back out at the water.

  “Because I’m trying to merge the girl I knew that night and the woman you are now. You were so genuine that night.” His voice softened. “You laughed at my jokes and acted as if I were the only guy in the bar. We had so much in common. We went to the same university, had some of the same teachers…”

  His voice trailed off abruptly and he didn’t speak for a moment. Then, “It wasn’t random, was it? You meeting me at the bar that night? You were looking for me.”

  She clenched her teeth, refusing to answer. Her stomach rolled with the shock that he’d put it together.

  “Was it part of your plan? Flirt with me at the bar. Go to bed with me. And then steal the coin in the morning?”

  She spun around and snapped harshly, “Going to bed with you was never part of the plan!”

  Grant’s head jerked back like he’d been slapped, his eyes widening.

  The color drained from her face. How easily he’d maneuvered that confession.

  “But stealing the coin was.” His words were low and icy. “You were a good fuck, but you weren’t that good. I want it back.”

  Chapter 5

  She flinched. “I don’t have it.”

  “Like hell you don’t—”

  “I sold it years ago,” she lied. You were a good fuck, but you weren’t that good? God that had hurt. Her gut twisted and her throat grew tight.

  She heard the air leave his lungs. The anger in his gaze still remained, but now mixed with disappointment.

  “You sold it. Well…to sell such a rare coin you must have really needed the money.” He gave a bitter smile. “Congratulations on earning it on your back.”

  He turned and walked back up the beach, away from her. Her mouth gaped as she tried to blink away the tears in her eyes.

  If she weren’t so averse to any form of violence, she would have slapped him. Her hand had even started to rise instinctively, before she’d realized what she was about to do and jerked it back.

  Screw this. She was not going to spend another minute on this island with him, or the resort. She turned and ran back toward the boat.

  It was all too clear. He’d only invited her out here, made the job offer and donations to her shelter to get the coin back.

  She gave the boat a hard push off the beach so it bobbed farther out into the water, then climbed into it. Walking to the back, she tried to remember how Grant had started it.

  “Lanie? Lanie!”

  His voice resonated down the beach. She glanced up and saw him running back towards her.

  Tears blurring her vision, she pushed the button she’d watched him push and then tugged on the cord on the motor.

  The boat started to rock wildly and she glanced up to see Grant splashing out towards her.

  “Lanie, what the hell are you—?”

  The motor roared to life, drowning out his question. The boat jerked forward and put more distance between them.

  “Jesus Christ!” he screamed and slapped his palm against the water. “Do you know how to drive a boat?”

  “I’ll figure it out.”

  “There’re huge rocks underwater that you could hit—”

  Wood cracked as the boat slammed into one such rock. The blades on the motor ground against it next and the engine sputtered one last time before dying.

  “That didn’t sound good,” Grant called from shore. “Enough already. Start the boat and come back to shore.”

  “I don’t know how I started it the first time,” she snapped, but went to work pushing buttons and pulling on the cord.

  Cool water slapped against her foot and she looked down and her stomach dropped.

  Water seeped into the boat, rapidly coating the floor of the boat.

  Shit. Shit. And shit!

  “Did you hit something?”

  She nodded dumbly, unable to tear her gaze from incoming water.

  The tone of Grant’s voice changed from irritation to alarm. “Is there water in the boat?”

  She nodded again, her stomach churning with the realization she was in a boat that could very well sink. And she’d brought this on herself. Why had she thought it a good idea to try to drive a boat back to the resort when she had zero experience? Idiot.

  “Listen to me, Lanie. I need you to grab the oars and row the boat back toward shore,” he said, his voice calm and coaxing, as if he were talking to a child. But then, her behavior pretty much warranted it.

  “Oars?” She looked around, not quite sure what kind of oar would fit in such a small boat, but pretty sure there were none here. “I don’t see any oars.”

  “They’re the long wooden things on the floor. I…” He trailed off. “Forgot to put them in the boat, didn’t I?”

  “It kind of looks like it.”

  Water swirled around her now numb feet and the boat seemed to be lower in the water.

  “Of course I did.” Grant cursed, pacing back and forth on shore, his fists clenched. “This damn bad luck streak will never end.”

  “Umm, can we deal with the bad luck part later?” she yelled, her voice shaking. “Because I’m starting to have Titanic visions here, and not the fun ones with Leonardo drawing me naked.”

  “Okay. How fast is the water coming in?”

  “I think pretty fast. I mean there’s an awful lot of water in here. It’s above my ankles.”

  “Shit.”

  To say the least. Panic clawed her belly as she noticed the shoreline grow farther away with each passing second.

  “Grant, what should I do?”

  “Okay.” Grant waded out into the water. “Lanie, I want you to jump from the boat and swim back to shore. You’ve still got your life jacket on.”

  “Swim?” she croaked.

  “You can swim, can’t you?”

  “Yes, but—”

  “The longer you wait, the farther away from the beach you’re getting. You’re almost in the current and then it’s going to be damn hard to swim,” he shouted. “I’ll meet you halfway. Jump in now, Lanie!”

  She dove off the boat, the fear of God instilled in her.

  The icy water ripped the air from her lungs, incapacitating her as she sank an inch lower in the water. Her hat floated off her head and got swept up into the current.

  Shit. It had sure looked pretty, but this was so not the same temperature as the California coast.

  “Swim, for God’s sake, swim, Lanie!” he yelled again.

  With a shake of her head, she forced herself into a crawl stroke. Every inch of her body burned from the frigid water as she swam against the current back toward the beach.

  Something began to buzz nonstop against her thigh. Her cell phone! Oh God, her phone was in her pocket!

  There are more important things than your phone, you fool, now swim for Pete’s sake! She pushed harder, digging deeper with each stroke.

  When she looked up toward the beach again, Grant was wading out to her. He dove under the waves and brisk strokes brought him right up to her.

  He makes it look so damn easy.

  Strong arms wrapped around her waist, offering support. It took all her power not to just go weak against him and let him carry all her weight.

  “Almost there, baby.” His voice was rough and warm against her ear. A beautiful contrast to the numbness that spread through her body.

  She couldn’t feel the cold water anymore. She
couldn’t really feel her hands either, but that was beside the point.

  “You made it, Lanie.” He staggered up the drop-off and into the shallow water. “Come on, walk with me, baby.”

  Her legs wobbled right before her knees buckled.

  “I gotcha.” Grant scooped her up, carrying her tight against his chest.

  *

  His heart pounded in his chest; his throat raw with emotion. The panic had hit him like a truck when she’d told him the boat was filling with water. And again when she hadn’t been able to start the engine and the boat had visibly sunk a few inches down into the water.

  The fear had been instantaneous. Thank God he’d been able to keep a clear enough head to convince her to jump in and swim to shore.

  Even soaked to the bone, she was light in his arms. Her arms wrapped around his neck as her body pressed snug against chest.

  “Y-y-your boat,” she muttered through chattering teeth.

  Would be at the bottom of the strait in no time, but he didn’t have the heart to tell her that yet. He alternated between being pissed off that she’d been so impulsive to try to steal his boat in the first place, and feeling guilty that it had been his words that had made her run.

  He shook his head. “Don’t think about the boat right now. Let’s just get you up to the cabin where we can get warm.”

  “Th-there’s a c-cabin here?”

  “Well, a half cabin.” He adjusted her in his arms. “It’s not all the way built.”

  He stepped into the trees, moving deeper onto the island—which, in reality, was not very big at all. It was only four acres.

  The frame of the cabin lay just beyond the trees. He inwardly cursed himself, wishing like hell he’d gotten back here sooner to complete the small building.

  He stepped up onto the floorboards, thankful that there were at least walls up, even if there still wasn’t a roof. It would at least shield them from the wind.

  “Here we go, baby. Just sit here for a second while I run back to the beach to grab the blankets and the cooler.”

  Lanie scooted back against the wall the minute he set her down. Her full lips had a faint blue tint to them and still shook, her expression a bit vacant.

  He leaned down and gave her hand a quick squeeze. Damn. She was like ice. His body was pretty damn cold, but he hadn’t been in the water nearly as long as she had.

  Turning, he sprinted back toward the beach. He needed to get them under the blankets and warming up. He glanced up at the sky. The sun had disappeared between a block of gray clouds.

  Roberta might have been right about that rain, though the last thing they needed was for the sky to open up on them right now.

  He grabbed the blankets and the cooler, which he’d dropped on the beach when they’d first arrived.

  Lord, he’d really screwed things up. If he hadn’t spit out those poisonous words, she wouldn’t have fled in the boat. Now it looked like they were stuck on the island together until someone figured out they were missing.

  He returned to the half cabin to find Lanie clutching her cell phone. Relief spread through him. They had a way to call for help.

  He dropped the items to the floor and hurried over to her. His stomach sank. Or maybe not. Water dripped from the cell phone and the screen remained black, no matter how many buttons she pushed.

  “Was it in your pocket?” he asked, taking it from her cold fingers.

  “Y-yes.”

  “It’s all right. They’ll find us.” He gave a brisk nod and set it down on the floor. “Come on, you need to get out of those clothes.”

  “N-no. Too cold.”

  “Lanie.”

  She shook her head again, and he sighed, reaching for her top. He tugged it up and over her head, grateful when she didn’t protest.

  Don’t look at her breasts. He averted his gaze from the pink bikini top and reached behind her to untie it. Once undone, he tugged the scrap from her body and tossed it aside.

  This time, averting his gaze was impossible. The slope of her breasts shone with salt water, her nipples were dark pink and puckered tight from the cold.

  His cock jumped against his wet jeans, but he resisted touching her. Instead he unsnapped her denim shorts and tugged down the zipper.

  “Lift your hips,” he ordered gruffly.

  She didn’t argue, just lifted her hips off the floor, her bare feet planted on the ground. She must have lost her sandals in the water.

  He grasped the shorts and her bikini bottoms and tugged them off her body in one smooth pull.

  Already reaching for the blanket, he tried and failed not to look down. His gaze lowered, over the slight rise of her stomach and then below. The plump mound of her sex appeared smooth and bare below a strip of light brown curls.

  His chest grew tight, the blood in his body pounded toward his dick. He tucked the blanket over her body, wrapping it around her almost twice before lifting his gaze back to her face.

  Her full lips were parted, now holding a healthy pink color instead of the worrisome blue they had been a few minutes ago.

  Dragging his gaze higher, he stared into her eyes. The hesitant desire there was almost his undoing.

  “I’m so sorry about your boat, Grant,” she said, her words husky. “I should never have gotten into it. I didn’t think about what I was doing. I just…” She lowered her gazes, her lips trembled. “Of course I’ll pay you back.”

  “The boat needed to be replaced anyway. That thing was a relic.” His stomach clenched with regret, and he rubbed his thumb across her bottom lip. “I’m sorry I said what I did. I didn’t mean it.”

  She lifted her gaze again. “I kind of deserved it.”

  “No, you didn’t.” He stood up and jerked his T-shirt over his head. Cool air brushed his naked chest as he unsnapped his jeans and pushed them down and off his body. “That comment was undeserved no matter what you did.”

  He grabbed the second blanket and threw it around his body, holding it closed at the neck since it barely covered him.

  When he sat down, he noticed Lanie’s gaze locked on his crotch, her eyes round and her teeth worrying her bottom lip.

  He watched the muscles work in her throat as she swallowed hard. Apparently, she wasn’t immune to seeing him naked any more than he was to her.

  Her body still shivered visibly beneath the blanket. Just a couple of inches separated them, but all of a sudden it was too much.

  His jaw clenched. Before he could analyze whether it was a good idea or not, he reached for her.

  Opening his blanket, he pulled her unresisting body onto his lap and then wrapped it back around them. He adjusted her blanket to also surround them, creating a soft shield of warmth. Naked, skin to skin, their body heat merged.

  “Grant.” Her body curled against his and she pressed her cheek to his chest.

  An unexpected surge of protectiveness rushed through him, and he tightened the arm he had around her waist, fanning his fingers across the slight curve of her stomach.

  She sighed and snuggled closer, her hot breath rushed across his chest in a soft tease.

  His abdomen clenched and his cock jerked against her hip. As if she’d just realized his state of arousal, she tensed, lifting her head to stare at him.

  Meeting her gaze, he ran his thumb down the curve of her neck, massaging out the tension he found there.

  Her breathing grew uneven and she turned in his lap, until she straddled him.

  The tips of her breasts brushed against his chest, the heat of her sex left a brand of her desire for him against his thigh. The knowledge that she wanted him, even after he’d spouted off such hateful words, sent a rush of regret and relief through him.

  “Lanie…” He trailed his thumb from her neck down her back, following the trail of her spine until he reached the cleft of her ass.

  Her back arched, thrusting her chest up toward his mouth. “Touch me, Grant.”

  He slid his hands down to grab her ass and pulled her har
d against him. Her legs wrapped around his waist and a tight nipple brushed across his lips.

  With a growl, he opened his mouth and drew the tip inside. Silky and textured, she tasted of woman and salt from the water.

  Lanie’s fingers delved into his hair, pulling at the strands when he sucked harder. He drew his teeth over the tip, her answering whimper setting his blood on fire.

  So sweet and responsive to his touch. She felt so damn perfect in his arms.

  He released her with a groan and buried his face between her breasts, dragging his tongue up between them. His nails dug into her ass cheeks, squeezing the soft flesh as he drew the opposite nipple into his mouth.

  “Oh God,” she gasped, squirming against him.

  His cock rose in response, pressing against the softness of her ass.

  “Kiss me,” she whispered, lowering her mouth to his.

  With his hands already occupied, he let her take control.

  Her lips brushed his in a light caress. Once and twice, entirely too lightly. Then she pressed her mouth harder against his, and her tongue ran along the seam of his lips before plunging inside.

  Dear God, the taste of her. So lush and sweet. This woman drove him mad like none had before. His tongue rubbed against hers in a slow, sensual stroke.

  He rose to his knees and slid his hands up to her waist. Not breaking the kiss, he eased her onto her back, with the blanket still beneath her.

  With her body now supine beneath his, he tugged the oversized blanket up to cover them, leaving them in a hot, intimate cocoon.

  He angled his mouth against hers to deepen the kiss, bracing his weight with one arm. He explored every crevice of her mouth, always returning to tease her silken tongue.

  Her fingers, so soft and delicate, wrapped around his cock, drawing a choked groan from him. Her hand tightened around him, up to the head of his cock in an obvious maneuver to test his length and thickness.

  Her thumb stroked over the tip, catching the bit of pre-come that had escaped, before moving back down his length. Her soft sigh against his mouth indicated her approval.

  She pulled her mouth away and he lifted his head. Breathing hard, she met his gaze. Her eyes took on a mischievous light, and then she lifted her thumb to her mouth and licked it clean.