Trial Run: Addicted To Love Romance Collection (11 page)

By morning, Amelie’s feet were almost completely healed, though she still claimed they were sore. The blisters were just about visible, but the redness had disappeared. Rob didn’t question her motives when she declined to go exploring with him. If she thought staying put would tempt him to stay back, too, and run around her like a lackey, she didn’t know him all that well. Other scheming women had trapped him that way before, and he’d sworn he wouldn’t make the same mistake again. It was time to give the little princess her first lesson in living on her own.

He took advantage of the clear morning and swam to the capsized boat. After a decent meal and a good night’s sleep, Rob didn’t find diving as strenuous as before. Soon, he was swimming back to shore, the two bags he’d spotted during his first expedition looped over his shoulder and the last of the bottled water grasped in one hand.

Amelie cheered when she saw her bags, though her face soon scrunched up at the state of the clothes inside. Rob left her to it and began his hike, making his way around the opposite way they’d trekked the day before – north, he estimated by the position of the sun.

The north side of the island was covered in mangroves, just like the south. In places, he found he couldn’t even get to the shore, so he followed the water’s edge as much as he could while staying on solid land. He spent a couple of restful hours lounging on the eastern beach, enjoying the peace. After the sun had passed the spot directly overhead, he went for a swim. Obviously, the ocean floor dropped suddenly somewhere close by, judging by the different types of fish he spotted.

Early afternoon, he turned his steps directly westward, pretty sure he’d get ‘home’ in a short time. On the way, he collected a few more gourds and some of the love vine the island seemed to be swamped in. He didn’t have a use for it yet, but surviving in the wilderness was all about being one step ahead. Sooner than expected, he broke through the last line of sea grapes and stepped onto the beach.

The first thing he noticed was the double line of vines stretched between palm trees, on which a large selection of Amelie’s clothes hung fluttering in the gentle breeze.

The second thing he noticed was the absence of the water bottle. It no longer sat behind the shelter, where he’d left it in the relative shade. Had Amelie brought it inside? Had she run out of the water in the first container? He counted the days – it would be three days sometime tonight since they’d landed on these shores. The water shouldn’t have run out.

The third – was Amelie herself. She walked out of the shelter dressed in a little black number that tightened his stomach and sent a punch of liquid heat straight to his loins. Her perfect pins ended in dainty little feet that were encased in a pair of bright red fuck-me shoes completely unsuitable for the beach but sexy as hell. She wore make-up, and her fingernails sported a shimmery layer of bright red lacquer, the same color as her lipstick. Her hair was half-up, half-down, soft wavy tendrils of it coiling around her neck and collarbones, exactly where he pictured his lips would be in a few minutes’ time.

He blinked and shut his mouth, and then dropped the vines and gourds by the side of the construction so he could welcome her properly.

“Wow, what a wonderful being you are, my sweet, sweet Amelie,” he whispered, placing a quick peck on her cheek. She smelled divine, her perfume subtle and feminine, drawing him toward her cute earlobes. He sucked and nibbled on them, his face buried in her soft hair.

“Ah-ah-aaah!” she sang, stopping him from going any further. “I’ve spent the whole day getting ready for my man. The least he can do is take a shower.”

She pointed to a cluster of trees, and there, resting on its side in the crook of some Madera tree branches, was the water bottle. More vines dangled down from the narrow neck of the bottle to provide easy reach for tilting it. Rob’s eyes traveled back up the vines to the tree above, and that was when he made the most important discovery: the bottle was almost empty.

All thoughts of kissing and frolicking on a beach with a willing female, even one as drop-dead gorgeous as Amelie, flew out of his mind as his brain attempted to reject what his eyes saw clearly enough.

Unaware, Amelie kept chatting.

“I don’t have shaving cream, but you can borrow this if you promise to treat it right.” She pressed the handle of a shaver into his hand.

“Please tell me that isn’t what I think it is,” Rob pointed at the shower with the shaver. He caught himself and lobbed the darned thing as far as it would fly toward the sea.

“Hey,” she said in protest. “That’s a quality item, you know?”

Rob felt his eyes pop out of their orbits. “I don’t give a fuck what you think that is,” he gestured toward the discarded shaver. “That,” he shouted and pointed to the almost empty water tub, “is what was going to keep us from dying of dehydration. Did you not think of that before wasting the best part of eight gallons of drinking water on washing your hair?”

Amelie turned scarlet, and it was clear she hadn’t looked at things that way. The woman was unbelievable! He’d never seen such crass stupidity.

At a loss of what to say, he bellowed, “What is wrong with you?”

Amelie’s eyes filled with tears and she covered her ears with her hands.

“I… I… I’m sorry.”

“Sorry? That’s all you have to say? Sorry that you may cause us to die of dehydration? Sorry that you couldn’t think logically for one minute? What does it take for you to act like an adult, Amelie?”

Her tears spilled over. “I was lonely, and I thought… I mean, I didn’t think there was any risk, really. Look at all those coconuts. We won’t die of thirst. Tourists will return soon, now that the storm has passed, and we’ll get rescued. And… and there is some water left.” She flapped her arms around at the remains of their drinking water. Her brow creased when she really saw how low their stocks were.

“It won’t be long and we’ll be back to civilization, you’ll see. Have faith, Rob. You said… you asked me to trust you, you said that I would be safe with you. That you would look after me. You promised my brother… And I did. I mean, I do. I trust you. I-I-I’m sorry I didn’t think…”

“You didn’t think… Hah!” Rob huffed. “Why didn’t I just drag you along with me, I don’t know. You just can’t be trusted.”

“Please, Rob,” she cried, tears cascading down her cheeks. “Please forgive me. I said I’m sorry. I don’t know what else to do. I don’t know what you expect.”

Rob looked at her coldly, and there was nothing about Amelie that touched him at that moment. Not the tears, not the dewy blue eyes she had fixed upon him, not her pretty lips or her cheeks, now smeared with mascara and blotchy from distress. She was a woman, first and foremost, and women were manipulative and ruthless when they wanted something. Nothing like a straight-talking man.

So, maybe she really hadn’t thought of the consequences of her actions, but how did that make their situation any better? A stupid team-member was as likely to get you killed as a vicious one. Screw Jason. Screw the deal. Right now, Rob reckoned his best chances of survival would have been to throw himself into the ocean and keep swimming.

“I don’t know what I expected,” he said calmly. “All I wanted to see was that you could stay out of trouble for just a few hours. I must have been blinded by lust. You got me good, Ammy, but it’s okay. I’ve snapped out of it now.”

“No. Please, Rob, don’t say that. Please. Let me help you. Let me show you I can be mature. You said we’ll be all right. I believed that. I still do. I’m not all bad. I-I-I can help…” She was crying so hard, her whole body was shaking, and she started to hiccup.

Rob shook his head. “I can keep us healthy and… alive without your help, but not if I am going to be sabotaged at every step. At the moment, you’re a liability, Amelie Watts. The best thing you can do is stay out of it. That way we may stand a chance. And while you’re thinking about that, get your stuff out of my sight.”

Amelie collected her belongings without saying one word. She dragged them all to the overhang which had been Rob’s shelter during their first night there, and stuffed them all in. Then she sat by the nearest rock, put her head on her knees and rocked herself gently on the spot.

By the time the sun was beginning to set, Rob had cooled down considerably. Leaving Amelie alone had backfired. It hadn’t been a lesson for her as much as for him. If he’d taken the time to explain about the bare necessities, maybe she wouldn’t have acted so thoughtlessly. It was as much his fault as hers, losing all that water.

He’d caught some grouper, over by the reef, using his clandestine fishing line and hooks, and now the fish was barbecuing slowly over hot coals. Two coconut halves were set by the side, awaiting their turn to be used as plates, and a sea grape infusion was cooling in a gourd – the drink for tonight.

Amelie hadn’t moved from her spot by the rock, and she hadn’t even looked his way all afternoon. Rob couldn’t bear to be angry with her, and he couldn’t bear her silence. It wasn’t her tears that had swayed him, he told himself, it was having the time to think in peace, without the distraction that her smile, her eyes, her whole womanly figure represented.

Ten minutes before the fish was going to be ready, he walked over to her, dropped to his knees in the sand by her feet and took her hands in his. She lifted her tear-streaked face to look at him, and her sad eyes began leaking anew.

Rob pulled her to his chest without another word and just rocked her gently. She sobbed loudly, relieved to be in his arms, and circled his neck with her hands. He waited her tears out, stroking her hair. When she quieted, he pulled back.

“Come. Let’s go eat. Don’t make me waste all that effort. Okay?”

He stood and pulled her to her feet. Amelie’s smile was hesitant, but she let him tow her two steps down the beach. Then she resisted. He was about to ask what the problem was, when she pulled off one shoe and lobbed it into the water, and did the same with the second one.

Sweet Amelie. Maybe his lesson was getting through to her after all.

Dinner improved their moods no end, and the spectacular sunset helped, too. It was far too hard staying angry when the whole tropical setup conspired to lift the mood and make them happy.

They finished up by the water’s edge, sitting on the sand with the surf tickling their toes, and watching the sun’s last rays send streaks of color running into each other across the sky.

“Somewhere over there is home,” Amelie said, pensive.

“Do you miss it?” Rob asked.

“Yes. No. I don’t know.”

Rob shook his head and smiled at her girly answer.

“What I mean is, I really wish I had the chance to do what I set out to do. You know, gather all the info so I could prove to Jason once and for all that I really do know what I’m talking about. So, yeah. I wish I could have done that.”

“This whole business thing is important to you, isn’t it?” he asked, suddenly feeling awful for allowing himself to be drawn into Jason’s plot. He should have at least listened to her side of the story, too, before he’d made up his mind.

“Yeah,” she said, and nodded. “I just want to be allowed to live on my own, make my own mistakes, grow old the way I want to, with whom I want, or alone, if I so choose. It’s my life. Jason is too… Well, I guess his heart is in the right place. But I… I just feel stifled.”

She was smiling, but her expression told him so many other things. There was a trace of hope there, but it was swamped by a thick layer of defeat, uncertainty and anxiety. Her eyes were sad, but she still held her chin up. Resigned, yet proud. Still confident she would have succeeded. When had the scrawny eleven-year-old grown up into such a strong, beautiful woman?

Rob sighed, his thoughts in turmoil. He surprised himself by how much he wished he could smooth out all those worry lines on her brow. Just a minute! His loyalty was toward Jason, surely. The whole point of going through this exercise had been so that Amelie would stop behaving like a spoilt brat. But would a spoilt brat look so worried?

He was pretty certain she wouldn’t be worrying about staying alive; he could look after her, and she knew it. She’d said she trusted him to look after her. What else would a young rich girl be worrying about? Money? Nah; she’d have access to plenty of that when she got back. A boyfriend? Rob bristled at the notion, then relaxed. Jason would have known about him, if there was one. There wasn’t much that got past Jason.

So then, she must be telling the truth. She must be genuinely concerned about not being able to prove to her brother she was capable of running her own business. And from what he’d seen already, she had the head for it. The figures on her laptop did add up. In fact, they looked damn good. He would have had no problem whatsoever investing some of his own money into any of them.

“We could still do it,” Rob said, suddenly determined.

This stupid game had gone far enough. He would get her back home now… as soon as he could. To hell with Jason’s brotherly strategies and hidden schemes. Maybe he was the one who needed a good talking to. He was just being stubborn and suffocating the life out of his little sister. That was not brotherly love; it was manipulation and control. Hell, if Jason couldn’t see it, he’d lend Amelie the start-up capital himself. It would mean he’d have to sign up the soft porn contract, but maybe that was just what the fates had in store for him. Why fight it?

Amelie’s eyes lit up at his words. “We can? How do you suggest we do that? We can’t use that boat,” she pointed to the upside-down hull still trapped between rocks.

“We don’t know how bad it is, do we?” Rob countered. “We could tow it over here, see if we can fix it. You said you did a course –”

“That was car mechanics,” she interrupted. “But I guess there’s no harm in taking a look. Maybe I can improvise.”

“Good. We’ll take a look at it tomorrow.”

A few minutes passed in silence. Even the birds were quiet.

“I’m really puzzled, though,” Amelie started.

“About?”

“Why haven’t we seen any leisure craft? Not even fishing boats – nothing. Why is that? Do you have any clue where we may be?”

“Last map reading I saw, we were heading straight for New Providence. We missed it, so I would guess we overshot it by a bit. I’d say we’re on Shroud Cay, or maybe Hawksbill. That general area.” At least he hoped that was where they were. That was where Jason would be looking, in just over a week’s time. Not that it mattered, if he could find a way to take them back home earlier.

“From what I could tell, this island is a little smaller than I expected, and the wrong shape for Hawksbill, but I haven’t been all the way around yet. Maybe we should do that, too.”

Amelie nodded. “There should be a lot of traffic between Nassau and Exuma. I would have expected to see some of it, even if only in the distance… Maybe people are still worried about storms. Or maybe there is some bad weather warning, and we just don’t know about it. That would be bad… And good in some ways.” She looked at him, then quickly averted her eyes, focusing instead on the graying horizon.

Rob wound his arm around her shoulders and drew her closer. “We’ll get back soon. You’ll see. I’ll get us there. How hard can it be to point west and keep going? We’d bump into some piece of the United States, wouldn’t we?”

Amelie grinned, excited by the glimpse of an adventure. There was so much life in her eyes, he wished he could have her gaze back at him with that light in her eyes every day of his life.

Whoa! That was fast, even for his standards. He was not into long-term relationships. What he and Amelie had was fun, but it was due to come to an end soon. She had business to do, and he had… His thoughts choked up and stuttered when he pictured his own behind pumping against some obscure plastic Barbie for the entertainment of porn addicts everywhere. Ugh! There had to be a way to avoid that.

Hours later, when the sky had turned a velvety indigo blue and stars shone like pin-pricks of hope above them, Rob had finally figured out what was important to him. It was shameful, really, for a man of his age, that it could take that long to see it clearly. Amelie had already worked out what mattered to her, and she was seven years his junior.

What he valued most was friendship, but not just the old-time friendship he had with someone like Jason. That was nice, but Rob wanted more. He wanted companionship, a family of his own, to love and be loved without the fear of being used. He wanted a wife, someone like Amelie, a woman who knew her own mind and wasn’t afraid to go after the things she wanted in life. And he wanted children, when the time came. A whole houseful. Gardens, ponds, dogs, fishing trips and holidays. And he had one person to thank for showing him what really mattered: Amelie.