Jill Shalvis - The Trouble With Paradise

They all sat on a large rock. Dorie set down her purse and ripped off the sleeves of the tee, then after a few more strategic tears began using her handy needle and thread.

“Oh, yes,” Brandy said when Dorie tied her into her new halter top. “Very nice. You really ought to do this for a living, hon.”

Yes. Yes, she should.

When they came out of the forest, Christian was dragging more wood to the fire. He nodded to Dorie, who didn’t have it in her to just nod back. So she smiled. “Need help?”

Moving wood, taking off your clothes…

“I’m good.”

Code for “don’t talk to me.” Got it. Luckily, Ethan had breakfast waiting, because nothing worked for awkward moments like a pile of food.

“This is the last of the meats I had frozen,” Ethan told them, gesturing to the sausage and bacon, which he’d cooked over an open flame. “It all defrosted, so eat up.”

Unsettling thought, eating the last of the protein. While they did, Denny stood up at the head of the group. “I thought I heard an engine this morning.”

Everyone stopped eating and gaped at him.

“So we’re going to divide and conquer. I’m going east. Ethan to the west, while Christian stays on the beach to keep the fire going for the smoke signal and to look after you.”

“But what if we want to help explore?” Cadence asked.

“No. Your only job is to sunbathe, rest, and relax.”

“What if we don’t want to?” Cadence asked. “Relax, that is.”

“Yeah. I’d like to explore,” Brandy pitched in.

“Oh, no.” Denny shook his head. “Too dangerous.”

“No offense, Denny,” Brandy said, “but you’re not in charge of us on land.”

From across the fire, Christian dropped an armful of logs, and locked gazes with Dorie, giving her a little zing of sexual awareness.

Damn it.

Swallowing hard, she turned her attention back to the conversation at hand.

“Sitting on the beach waiting to be rescued seems so passive,” Cadence said to Denny. “I think we should all go, if we want.”

All? Dorie wasn’t in a hurry to hike/climb in the rain forest. “Maybe we should think about this-”

“We want to go,” Cadence said. “All of us.”

“Cadence, listen to me,” Denny said. “It’s going to be hot, sweaty, hard work-”

“We’re going.” This from Brandy, in a voice of steel.

New society, new rules, Dorie thought. Or maybe no rules at all… Fact was, they were all operating on sheer nerves at this point. And no matter how much she wanted to think otherwise, she was alone.

Once again her gaze collided with Christian’s.

He looked back, his expression shuttered, but she could see past that, to the man beneath. No matter that they’d knocked their good parts together, no matter that they’d decided not to knock those parts together again, she could trust him.

Which meant she wasn’t entirely alone after all.

Andy used a large stick to beat the branches away from his face as they walked. Ahead of him, Ethan did the same as he led them higher and higher up the rocky volcanic precipice.

Behind them both, Dorie gasped for breath and tried to keep up.

Andy slowed, and smiled at her. “You okay?”

“Terrific.”

Denny, Brandy, and Cadence had gone in the opposite direction, with Denny determined to find the source of the engine he thought he’d heard.

Christian remained back at camp, manning the fire and watching for boats. He hadn’t wanted to, but Denny had insisted. Dorie had wanted to stay, too, but if she had, the condoms in her purse would be calling her name about now, so she’d gotten off her tush, telling herself the exercise would be good for her. “I hope the other group is okay. I’m worried about them.”

“I’m worried about us,” Andy said.

“Why?”

“Because we’re on a deserted island. Because rescue hasn’t come. Because one of us is dead.”

Her heart clutched. “We don’t know that.”

“Do you really think he hung on this long?”

“Maybe he was rescued.”

Andy’s face said what he thought of those chances.

Dorie swiped a scary-looking bug away. “What exactly are we looking for?”

“A lux hotel, darlin’. With all the amenities of a real vacation.”

Dorie huffed out a laugh, then tripped over a fallen tree, managing to catch herself before she fell. “I’ve got to get better shoes.”

Ahead of them, Ethan kept walking, the distance between him and his two charges getting bigger and bigger. “Go at your own pace,” he called back.

Her own pace would be on her butt on the beach, which she could have actually pulled off now that she was splinter-free. Thinking about how Christian had removed it by flashlight brought a surge of renewed embarrassment.

Andy looked at her and stopped. “You’re awfully red. Let’s sit a moment.”

“No, I’m good.” Pulling away, she walked backward, smiling at him, thankful he couldn’t read her thoughts-still on Christian, and how he’d kissed the spot. “Let’s just keep-”

Andy’s worry turned to alarm. “Dorie-”

“Going-”

“Dorie, watch out-”

Too late.

She tripped over another fallen log and tumbled backward over the huge stump.

She was on an island with a cabana boy leaning over her, the sun so bright she couldn’t see his face as he offered her a cool drink-

“Dorie, wake up!”

No, thanks. The cabana boy shifted out of the sun, and turned into… Christian.

Her heart warmed. Not just her good parts, but her heart. Huh.

“Dorie, damn it, open your eyes.”

She did, becoming aware of two things. One, she had a sharp pain in her head, and two, the face floating in front of her was blurry, the voice foggy because her ears were still ringing, but she smiled anyway because this made three times Christian had rescued her.

“Dorie? Darlin’, say something.”

Wait. No French accent. No low, husky voice that gave her warm fuzzies, but Andy, and his adamantly hunky smile and sweet eyes. Only… she blinked to make sure… his eyes weren’t looking so sweet at the moment, but… uh-oh . “Grandma,” she said weakly, “what big eyes you have.”

He smiled tightly. The better to see you with, my dear.

She swallowed hard. “And what big teeth you have.”

The better to eat you with, my dear.

With a gasp, she sat straight up, then cried out at the dagger of pain between her ears.

“Jesus, Dorie, are you all right?” His hands settled on her shoulders.

To hold her down and eat her with. Those big fangs would help, too. With a little scream, she scrambled backward, cringing at the quick movement.

“Darlin’, don’t. Don’t move.”

“What did you say?” she asked hoarsely.

“Uh… don’t move?”

“Before that. The eating me part.”

The look on Andy’s face defied description. “Nothing about eating you.”

When she blinked again, he looked the same as always. Too cute for words, his eyes normal, teeth normal.

“You cracked your head,” he said, clearly worried. “Let me-”

Unable to dispel the nightmare, she batted his hands away.

Stymied, he sat back on his heels. “Dorie? Do you know who I am?”

“Depends on whose teeth you’ve got at the moment.”

“Uh-oh,” he said.

“My head.” She clasped it between her hands. “I think it’s going to fall off.” She touched her neck, to make sure it wasn’t severed.

It wasn’t.

Unwilling to keep sitting on the ground, she stood, then cringed. “Oh, dear,” she whispered, her head spinning. Worse, so was her stomach, prompting her to go very, very still.