ROMANCE: SPORTS ROMANCE: Bad Boys of Sports: A Complete Collection (Alpha Male, Football, Hockey Secret Baby Romance) (Contemporary Sports Romance) (30 page)

Chapter 4

Wetness. Pain.

The first two sensations she felt. With a groan, her hand fluttered to rest on her head and then she immediately regretted the movement. A throbbing ache shot through her forehead and she hissed violently. Her ears perked at the sound of waves crashing. It was like in her dream, except this was reality.

And it was a nightmare.

She slowly brought herself up. Her entire body felt bruised and beaten. Her eyes adjusted to the blinding sunlight to regard her surroundings. There she spotted the wreckage on a sandy shore of clear, turquoise water. One of her suitcases was torn open, articles of her clothing were strewn about the shore and in the sea. Her heart plunged into a panic as realization slammed into her body like a tidal wave.

They had crashed.

Jack
! Her lungs squeezed as she whirled to the side. He wasn’t anywhere in sight. She felt a hot rush of tears to her eyes as she tried to struggle to her feet. When she was upright, a wave of nausea attacked her, and she retched into the water. She looked up with teary eyes, her throat burning.

Where could he be? Was he alive?

Her stomach twisted in excruciating pain. She held back a cry of terror as she regained her balance. The searing pain shooting through her head seemed to fade ever so slightly as she wobbled down the shore.

“Jack!” Her frantic cry earned her a snort from behind her. She turned to see her pilot, in one whole piece, bent over a piece of metal from the plane. “What happened?”

“Don’t you remember? Someone decided to send us crashing,” he said with a hard look at her. “Now, we’re effectively stranded with no way out. There’s absolutely nothing. We don’t even have one of those emergency rafts.”

Stranded
. She didn’t believe him even when after he’d said the word five times. He repeated it over and over as she blinked with a dazed expression.

“Hello? Did you hear what I said?” Jack waived his fingers in front of her.

“What?”

He let out an exasperated sigh. “It appears you may have had a concussion–you should sit down. I said we’re completely screwed. Our plane’s been destroyed and we’ve landed on an island that hasn’t even been mapped yet.”

Her stomach did a flip and her headache returned with a vengeance. A sudden hysterical urge to cry hit her, but she kept her lip firmly shut even as it quivered. Jack sank against the trunk of a palm tree, dragging a hand over his face with a shattered groan.

“We should make a fire,” Allison said, trying her best to keep her voice level.

He was quiet, but nodded. His irritation at her seemed to be fading, but he still crossed his arms.

She continued, “We have to find fresh water.”

“Do you know how to do either one of those things?” he asked with a raised eyebrow. Her cheeks reddened, the burn from the beginnings of a sunburn was already causing her grief. She hoped she could dig out some sunscreen from her partially ruined luggage.

“Sure I do.” That was a lie, but she was determined to be useful. It was her clumsy accident that got them stranded in the first place.
Stranded
. Her mind was still processing the word. “I’ll go look around.”

He grunted something under his breath and didn’t turn to look at her as she walked off. She frowned, feeling a sinking sadness in her chest. She surveyed the area as she walked. It was wild, filled with tropical life. Birds squawked noisily as she walked past. Her eyes grew excited at the presence of fruit in the trees. A cluster of brown coconuts hung beneath the large palm leaves of a tree next to her.

Maybe if he put her on his shoulders she might be able to...she shivered before she could finish the thought of the space between her thighs hitting the back of his neck. She’ll figure out a way to get them herself, she decided.

Wouldn’t he be sorry when she came back with delicious treats? Her smile grew as she approached the tree. She reasoned the different possibilities: shake them, poke them, or climb up and grab them. Her legs tried to get a step up on the tree by climbing, but the spiky edges of the palm sliced into her. She scowled and decided that a stick was her best bet.

After searching for ten minutes, she finally found one thick enough to knock something out of a tree with. She gripped the rough end of it and leaned up to knock one of the coconuts down. It refused to budge. She huffed and swatted at it. It shivered slightly, but it refused to plummet to the sand.

“Why are you swatting at that tree like it’s a piñata?” Jack’s accusing voice sounded behind her. She squeaked and nearly hit him in the face with her new instrument. At that moment, the coconut she’d been pushing to fall finally loosened. His eyes flew upward as he yanked her into his chest. The fruit fell to the ground with a loud thunk.

“That could’ve been your head.”

She frowned. “Well it wasn’t, and now we have something to drink, so you’re welcome.”

He shook his head, but was quiet. His hand scooped up the coconut while giving it a once-over. “Doesn’t look poisonous.”

He opened his hand and beckoned for her new tool. She handed it over and with one powerful strike, he swung the stick to hit the base of the leaves. She furrowed her brow, wondering how that would be helpful when suddenly, what seemed like every single coconut dropped from above. He laughed as she took cover, but they all landed on the other side of the tree.

“Let’s have a drink then,” he said and gathered as many as he could in his arms. She took the last three and they walked back towards the makeshift camp.

“My knife has a bit of saltwater in it, but it still works,” he said and pried the knife open. It must’ve been in his pocket, she decided, since none of his belongings had washed up.

He dug a hole into one and offered it to her without taking any for himself. Her eyes softened as she grabbed it and mumbled a barely audible thanks.

He snorted. “Don’t get the wrong idea, I’m not being nice. I’m seeing if it’ll make us sick.”

She scowled, but drank from it anyway. Her tongue danced in delight and she smacked her lips. “Mm, that’s good.” She brought it up to her mouth again and drank greedily from it, the liquid spilling out one side of her mouth and snaking down to dip into her cleavage. A miserable blush spread across her cheeks. The juice felt sticky and warm between her breasts.

He eyed the trail and calmly dragged his finger just above her generous orbs to catch some of the liquid. With a smooth quick move, he brought the finger to his mouth and licked it with relish. She felt a tremor of excitement rush through her and sputtered that she wanted to keep looking for water. He grunted something under his breath, but she was already rushing as fast as possible away from him.

By the end of the first night, he’d effectively built them a small tent using stripped materials from her suitcase and some large palm leaves, complete with a roaring fire to keep the bugs away.  He affectionately called it the “shagwagon,” which made Allison roll her eyes at his pompous presumptions. 

She hoped that the rescue team would spot their smoke during the light hours and find them. She wouldn’t admit to herself that her resolve not to lay claim to his seduction was dissolving slowly but surely with every wave that crashed on the shore.  She went to sleep on her makeshift bed made of leaves, facing away from him. It had rained in the evening, and well into the night, and though the
shagwagon
had a makeshift roof of leaves woven above her, the wetness dripped down onto her body relentlessly.

The rain had long put out the fire, and she shivered in the cold, trying hard not to think about Jack’s ever-heated body just inches away from hers. When her teeth began to chatter, she felt Jack wrap his large arms around her shoulders, spooning her back to warmth. She thought about pushing him away, but exhaustion and relief flooding into her veins had her body traitorously snuggling deeper into his. Finally comfortable, she dozed off to sleep, ignoring the ache that flared between her legs.

Chapter 5

The next day, Jack was off, busy doing who knows what–hopefully trying to repair the radio on the plane–and Allison was determined to make herself useful. Luckily, as a perpetual over-packer, she’d brought a lot of clothes in her luggage. She set to work ripping some T-shirts into thin strips. She was going to attempt to hand-knit them together into a small net to catch fish.

She looked out over the turquoise sea. It was teaming with bright, tropical fish–she could almost see them from where she sat. Maybe she could roast one of them on a skewer over the fire Jack had going again. The thought of sinking into the soft, juicy flesh of fish meat made her stomach growl in yearning. She sighed, and worked earnestly at her project.

The situation was dire, to be sure. But as she looked at the beautiful beach, the sunlight beaming down on her bare shoulders, and a slight breeze waving through her hair, she thought there could be worse places for her to be marooned on.

And worse people to be alone with
, she thought as she remembered the warmth of Jack’s body pressing against hers the previous night. She shook herself out of her reverie and quietly chided herself. Yes, he was easy on the eyes. Yes, he’s even better in bed. But she’d be a fool to think that he wouldn’t go back to his womanizing ways the minute they got back to Brisbane.

Still, she couldn’t help but wonder if they’d find themselves snuggling up again tonight. For body heat, of course.

Speak of the devil
, Allison looked up to watch Jack walking toward her in the distance. Her eyes were glued on his already tanned naked torso. Even from afar, she could see the outlines of his washboard stomach and hard biceps, as he moved like liquid, his smooth signature gate, along the beach. She felt a little dazed and hypnotized just watching him come toward her.

He was dangling some long rope in his right hand, and a long walking stick in the other. No, it wasn’t a rope. As he came nearer, Allison squinted her eyes.

It’s a
snake
! She abruptly got up, terror in her eyes. She absolutely
hated
snakes.

“Don’t get any closer!” she demanded as Jack came into plain view.

He paused where he stood, watching her steadily. “Don’t tell me you’re scared of snakes?”

“Who
isn’t
scared of snakes? They’re the creepiest, slimiest nasties on the planet.”

“Well, this ‘nasty’ is about to provide us with some much-needed sustenance,” he said as he passed her, causing her to leap back like a scared kitty. Jack snorted as he sat himself down next to the fire that was still lit. He got to work making a spit of the stick he held.

“Jack, there’s absolutely no way I’m going to eat that,” Janie said, shuddering at the thought. “Couldn’t you just go fishing or something?”

“I tried to this morning without any luck. Guess fishing isn’t my specialty,” he said. “Hunting land animals, on the other hand, is well within my domain.” He skinned the legless beast, causing Allison to gag before she turned around to avoid further unintentional glimpses of the carnage

“Yeah, well, have at it, land hunter. I’m going to see if I can gather some berries.”

“You sure you don’t want any, Alli? It doesn’t look like much, but it’ll just taste like tough chicken.”

“I’d rather die of starvation,” she muttered as she bounded away. She couldn’t get away from there fast enough.

It wasn’t long before she was able to locate some red berries as she walked through the thick foliage of the island’s interior. She gathered as many as she could, using her long skirt to hold them.

“Ouch!” She pulled her hand away after pricking herself on the thorns of the plant. A tiny amount of blood poked through her skin, and she sucked on her finger to stop the bleeding.

There was a rustling of leaves behind her, and she turned around in a fright, her heart pounding violently in her chest. She looked around wildly, but didn’t see anything alarming, so she went back to picking berries, trying to be more careful this time.

When she gathered enough of berries to make a meal for two, she headed back to their beach camp, tasting the tiny juice-filled fruit along the way. They were a little sour and bitter, but the slight sweetness made up for the lack of flavor. It was all she’d had to eat since their crash landing, so she was glad she was able to find them so quickly.

Of course, Jack was none too impressed.

“I wouldn’t eat those if I were you,” he said, as he munched on his snake meat. It sounded rather crunchy in his mouth. “They could be poisonous.”

Allison rolled her eyes. “You’re just mad that I’m not having any of your ‘catch of the day.’ I’m sorry to disappoint you, but I don’t need your help. I’m perfectly capable of feeding myself.” She grabbed another handful of the berries and stuffed them into her mouth pointedly.

“Fine, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

“Fine, I won’t,” she said with her mouth full of berries. They were beyond being polite around each other at this point. “Mm, sweet, delicious berries. My
favorite
. They’re so much better than
snake
.” She wasn’t beyond taunting him like a child. She stuck out her tongue at him for the full effect.

Jack sneered in response, then wouldn’t stop watching her, holding his gaze. The sensation of his honey-colored eyes on her sent heat up her neck. She chanced a glance in his direction and instantly regretted it because his stare had turned sensual, like he was undressing her with his eyes. She gulped as her cheeks burned.

“Do you know how sexy you are when you eat like that?”

“Eat like what?”

“Like an
animal
.”

Allison glared at him and walked away.

“I meant it as a compliment,” he called after her.

Allison rolled her eyes in contempt, determined to ignore the heat and ache that had bloomed in the space between her thighs once again.
I need to cool down
, she thought as she walked right into the clear blue sea with her skirt and tank top still on.

***

Hours later, she ran between the jungle and the sea again and again, with a bad case of diarrhea. When it wouldn’t stop after several hours, she started feeling extremely weak–so weak that she couldn’t bring herself to do anything else other than lay on her bed of leaves. She even needed Jack’s help to sit her up so she could retch a few times.

As she lay back down with a whimper of pain, she croaked to Jack, “Don’t say it. Don’t say ‘I told you so.’”

“I am going to say it,” Jack said through bared teeth. “I’m going to say it over and over again until you stop being so stubborn.
I told you so
, Alli. I hope you’ll listen to me from now on.”

She shook her head weakly. “No, I’m done listening to you, you asshole. I know all you do is lie. You’re nothing but a liar, and you have no business being so sexy.” She was deliriously mumbling nonsense at this point, her vision going blurry as she sweated profusely in her bed. “You cheated on me, you good-for-nothing bastard. I thought I loved you, you know. You were supposed to be the one…the one that got away. No, that’s not right…I’m the one that got away, so ha!”

“Here, drink this.” Jack lifted her head to fill her mouth with a warm liquid that tasted like grassy herbs. She slurped hungrily, as she was in dire need of water.

“You…you think I wouldn’t find out about the other woman? There were probably lots of them, for all I know. I’ll never trust you again. Never…trust…”

For the entire night, she was in and out of consciousness, talking nonsense and having vivid dreams. Dreams of attacking Jack and forcing him to bend to her every will. His limbs tangled in hers, their mouths locked onto one another. The sensation of his tongue on her body seemed all too real, and she panted helplessly in her sleep, moaning insensibly. Now and then she’d open her eyes to see a blurry vision of Jack feeding her a warm liquid, only to see him again in her dreams, touching her where she wanted–no,
needed
him most. Stroking, sucking and relentlessly grinding her to a feverish oblivion.

“Jack…” she whispered between moans. “Jack.”