I'Ve Got You (6 page)

His helplessness tore at him.

Not Belle … not his Belle.
Shit!
Old feelings he thought buried long ago exploded in his chest and robbed him of his breath.

Fists clenching, he sat up in bed and rubbed his face trying to wipe away the image burned in his mind. ‘It didn't happen—it didn't happen,' he repeated. Despite the heat a cold shudder ripped through his body.

Bloody hell,
Kabe thought,
that was a bit rough
, and wondered how vocal he'd been. He quietly made his way to the galley and poured himself a glass of water. On his way back to bed, he stopped by Belle's cabin door, listening, but there wasn't a sound. Hopefully she wasn't curled up in a corner scared to death. Determined to get back to sleep, he stretched out on his bunk, calmed himself, and closed his eyes.

Chapter 4

Kabe woke with sunlight streaming in through the little cabin window hitting his eyelids. His groggy mind tried to come to grips with a strange cramped sensation. Legs tucked under his chin, he craned his head to survey his surroundings. ‘Bloody hell.' He stretched the kinks out of his long limbs, grunting with the aches and stiffness of sleeping curled up like a pretzel. During the night,
The Ondine
had dipped stern down and listed sideways with the outgoing tide.
‘Shit!'
he growled. He needed to get on deck and check out his yacht. Movement was like trying to get up a slippery playground slide without using the ladder. He flung his legs over the bunk and promptly fell off. The thud of elbows, knees and hip hitting the deck boomed through the cabin.

He clung to the makeshift drying line, smiled at Belle's underwear, unpegged his shorts and dragged them on, an interesting exercise at this crazy angle. He slapped on his favourite baseball cap to shade his eyes, gritted his teeth, let go of his support and slid through the cabin. He clambered up on deck; the sun's glare bouncing off the water made his eyes ache, and he quickly shoved his cap's peak further down. He peered over the side. More than half his boat was out of the water.

‘Well,' he chuckled, idly scratching his stomach, ‘It'll look better after breakfast.' Using the handrails, he slid down the short steps into the main cabin.

Kabe eyed the angle of the kitchen and decided bacon and eggs on toast was a little foolhardy, so had cheese on rye instead. He took his sandwich to the cockpit, and radioed Marine Rescue.

‘Yeah we're stuck, but no damage,' he told them, ‘should be able to get
The Ondine
off at the next high tide.'

‘Don't hurry unless you have to,' the voice said. ‘The storm really ripped into Luna Bay, it's a mess.'

He signed off and radioed his business partner. ‘G'day Dan, are you and the
Geminis
okay?'

‘Yeah, mate, all's good. Hear you ran into Pop's girl out on the wild seas. You're a legend mate.'

Kabe laughed. ‘Nah, it's my skill and accuracy. You just haven't learnt enough from the master.'

‘Stop shittin' me, I'm the master.' Dan chuckled. ‘Just wasn't out there. Don't think I'd be stuck on a sand bar, mate … then again, heard Pop's girls are lookers, so I may have arranged that for a bit. Hope you're dealing okay, cos one of these days we're gonna meet a babe who'll knock us sideways and we'll be delirious mate. We won't know what hit us.'

‘You're not wrong.'

‘Need help gettin' back? I can get the launch fired up. What d'ya reckon?'

‘Nah, don't do that. We'll be okay.' Besides, he was looking forward to an uninterrupted day on the island with Belle.

‘Gotta go!' Dan called out. ‘Hot chick headin' this way, looks desperate.'

‘She would be desperate, heading your way.'

‘'Scuse me!' Kabe could almost see him doing what he called the turkey head-wobble. ‘They'd go for me just on looks alone, mate.' A full-bellied roaring laugh crackled from the speaker. ‘Christ, she's hot!' Kabe heard Dave whisper on a chuckle, and then he was gone.

Kabe looked at the mike and, shaking his head, hung it back on its holder. He heard movement below and excitement tightened his gut.

Belle was awake.

A cry of
‘Bugger!'
followed by thumping noises drifted up from below.

Kabe suppressed a grin as he peered down the companionway to see Belle slide into view.

‘Whoa!'
she cried out.

‘Good morning,' he laughed.

‘Is it?' she said sleepily, shading her eyes as she squinted up into the sunlight. Her other hand tugged at the sheet wrapped around her body, keeping it from slipping off her breasts as she tried to untangle it from around her legs.

‘The view sure is good from up here … looking down …' Kabe trailed off and couldn't keep the humour from making his voice wobble. He'd like to wake up to that view every morning.
Fuck!
Did he just think that?

‘I heard voices; is there another boat here to tow us out?'

Damn, she sounded hopeful, and he almost felt like a heel for wanting to stay—almost. ‘No one here but us. I contacted Marine Rescue; Luna Bay is a shambles and it'll take some time to sort it. If we can't get
The Ondine
off with the next tide we'll send for help.' He grinned down at her lovely face as steamy images of what they could do together bombarded his mind. ‘Help yourself to breakfast,' he said, voice strained.

She slanted her head as if curious about something, then shrugged and said, ‘Thanks … How bad are we beached?' Belle let the sheet go with one hand to run her fingers through her wild hair.

God, there weren't many women who looked that good straight out of bed, especially after sleeping on a sloping bunk. She had a red dent in the middle of her forehead probably from having it pressed against something during the night
. Shame it wasn't him.

‘Difficult to say,' he said, tightness in his chest still affecting his voice. He cleared his throat and continued, steadily. ‘You'll have to see for yourself.'

‘I was afraid of that. Damn,' Belle muttered. ‘I'll help myself to a bowl of something, if I can manage the milk.'

‘I'd go for bread and cheese.'

‘Okay …' She eyed him questioningly.

He shrugged, ‘What?'

Belle groaned, sounding unhappy about something, Kabe just wasn't sure what. She grumbled some more, swung around and tripped over the sheet. He watched helpless as she fell back against the steps. ‘Shit!' she cried out in pain, clutching her side.

In a flash Kabe was down in the cabin on his knees next to her. Ebony hair hung like a curtain covering her face, as Belle's forehead rested on the cabin floor, but what alarmed him was that she was making shallow gasping noises.

‘Your ribs,' he said gently. ‘Let me have a look.'

‘No!' Belle told him and tried to gather the sheet closer around herself.

‘No time for modesty, lift the sheet,' Kabe ordered, losing patience.

She lifted her forehead off the floor and turned to face him with a look that would make a lesser man baulk. Under less serious circumstances, her glare would have made him smile.

‘Fine … but don't look!' she warned.

‘Okay, I'll keep my eyes shut and just feel around,' he teased.

Belle sighed, cupped her breasts and eased the sheet away from her side.

Kabe bent down to get a better look. ‘Good, at least it's not on the same ribs you hit yesterday. Only another red mark and you'll have another nasty bruise,' he said and tenderly traced his fingers over her skin. Damn, but he wanted to kiss it better.

‘I suppose it could've been worse,' Belle said, peering down.

‘I'll get your things and you can pull them on here.'

‘No! It's fine, I'll make it back to my cabin. Go, so I can do this without an audience.' She sounded pissed off.

‘You got it.' With a last glance over his shoulder, Kabe mounted the steps up to the deck while keeping an eye on her. And just before she pulled the sheet up he noticed an edge of bright blue at the top of her bottom: her too. Then she clenched the sheet firmly between her teeth and scrambled out of view. He heard her muttering through a mouthful of cotton, ‘I'd sell my body for a double-shot latte.'

‘I have lots of great coffee,' Kabe quietly chuckled.

‘That wasn't an offer! It was merely
… Ugh,
never mind!' Belle shouted from somewhere deep within the cabin.

Her spitfire retorts amused him. Kabe was ready with another wisecrack, but decided, for the moment anyway, to keep further comments to himself.

‘Women,' he murmured. ‘Belle,' he smiled.

Kabe left the cockpit to sit on the sloping deck. Back resting against the mast, he called out, ‘Come up when you're ready, we can go for a walk … clear my head …' he trailed off, determined to control his wayward mind … and body.

Grunts and curses floated up through the hatch and, after a while, Belle appeared munching on a cheese sandwich. She wore his tracksuit pants and one of his T-shirts, which hung in folds like a loose dress. It had slipped and revealed the lovely swell of her breast. Kabe sucked in a long breath.
Fuck … no bra, soft, rounded, ripe for tasting.

‘Oh-my-God!' Belle exclaimed, peering over the side of the yacht. ‘This is awful.' She turned and, clinging to the safety line, padded up the sloping deck towards him. ‘I didn't realise we were so close to the forest; I can almost touch the trees. What do we do now?'

She wasn't quick enough to hide emotions that flickered across her face like a readout at the stock exchange. Worry, up 65 per cent; frustration, up 80 per cent; stress, being alone with him, up 95 per cent. Maybe with careful handling, he could bring those numbers down.

‘We wait.' He shrugged. ‘I'm sure we can get her off with the next tide.'

‘Of course we can.' She nodded and turned away towards the beach. ‘I can hear the waterfall gushing.'

‘Yes, we'll never be out of fresh water.'

* * *

Belle took another bite of her sandwich and found it difficult to swallow. She moved her neck from side to side trying to loosen the knots in her stiff neck, which had given her a headache to boot.

‘Had an uncomfortable night?' Kabe asked.

Belle nodded, shaded her eyes and turned away from him to admire the beauty that surrounded them. The deep blue bay became aqua in the crystal clear shallows. The sun sparkled on the water. Wavelets crept up the pure white sandy beach that curved away from them. To her left the hillside rose sharply, scattered with hoop-pines and palms which soared above the native shrubs. Dotted among the lush green where flowers of brilliant red and yellow shining brightly in the early morning sun. Belle spotted a morning glory vine, a weed that had crept up a couple of trees, smothering their canopies. She wondered what her Pop might do about the infestation, if he even knew he had one. A loud splash caught her attention and she turned to see a flash of silver as a large fish broke the surface. Excited, Belle pointed at the disappearing fish and glanced over her shoulder at Kabe, pain instantaneously shooting through her neck.

‘Ouch! Damn!' she cried out grimacing; she clutched her neck, and with a sigh quickly faced the water again.

Strong, rugged hands were at her neck, pulling her fingers out of the way. Belle hadn't heard him move; the moment he touched her nape she flinched.

‘What're you doing?' she whispered, body stiffening.

‘Just relax,' Kabe murmured close to her ear as he began to massage the knots out of her muscles. ‘Relax,' he repeated, his tone firm, but kind.

Belle tried to do as he asked, but just the feel of his skin against hers made her lightheaded. Slowly, she closed her eyes and let herself go. With every push to her neck, she swayed forward. His fingers moved down to her shoulders, thumbs digging in, releasing the tension. His hands on her felt fantastic. Then his arm came around the top of her chest, his hand at her opposite shoulder holding her to his side. With his free hand he massaged down between her shoulder blades then further to the small of her back, and up again. Her belly whirled, the sweet spot between her thighs ached to be touched. A bit more rubbing to her neck and he let her go.

Belle staggered, almost losing her footing on the sloping deck.

Kabe caught her around the waist. ‘Steady,' he said, his voice husky, his half-closed ocean-blue eyes studying hers.

As if she'd just woken out of a dream, Belle blinked several times at his gentle, smiling face. Her eyes followed the contours of his jaw, down his neck and across to his bare, broad shoulders. ‘Thank you,' she said quietly. Stepping back out of his arms, he let her go, and she immediately regretted that he did.

‘My pleasure. Finish your sandwich and we'll go for a walk.' Then with a couple of strides, Kabe was sitting, just as she'd found him, with his back against the mast.

She took a bite of her cheese sandwich and tried to ignore the fact that she was feeling wired, turned on. She tried to hide it by babbling. ‘Pop's island is magical. Hope it never changes.'

‘You can help him make sure it doesn't,' Kabe told her quietly.

‘Yes, but as long as Pop owns this island, nothing can happen … right?'

‘Yes … and no,' Kabe said, crossing his arms.

‘Of course it won't change, Pop owns it.'

‘Nothing
ever
stays the same,' Kabe told her. ‘Shit happens.'

Belle swung around, mouth open on the verge of asking what shit, when she met his that's-just-how-it-is expression. She couldn't deny he had a point.

‘Ready for a walk?' Kabe asked.

‘Sure, can we trek across the spit to Pop's place?'

‘Don't see why not.'

She could do this: a cosy walk on a hot steamy island with Kabe, the object of her teenage crush. ‘A walk would be better than staying here on your tilted boat … sorry, yacht.'