Illusion (Swept Away Book 1) (18 page)

“What do you mean?”

“On the surface, the water looks calm, does it not?” He took a few steps in and touched the water. “And even here, the water is gentle.” He splashed around a little. “She is able to deceive us with her gentleness. However, if I were to go farther in, if I were to attempt to swim out in her graceful waters, I’d realize that looks can be deceiving. I’d be caught
up in her currents. The undertow would suck me in. I’d be lucky if I made it out of the water alive.”

“Well, of course you have to be careful how far you swim in the ocean. Everyone knows that. That’s why they have buoys at the beach saying don’t swim too far. You never know when the undercurrent is going to sweep you away.”

“Exactly. That’s the perfect phrase.” He nodded. “You never know when the ocean is going to sweep you away. It is much better to avoid the possibility, don’t you agree?”

“I’m not going to venture in too deep, so that’s not a problem.”

“If only it were that simple.” He gave me an odd little smile and stared at my face. “Long night? You don’t look like you slept well.”

“It’s hard sleeping on the sand.” I shrugged. “My back’s not accustomed to it.”

“I’ve slept on the floor for the last five years of my life. This feels like heaven to me.” He smiled and stretched. “Though, in the light of the day, I do have more questions as to how I got here and why.”

“So you no longer think you’re on the same island as your resort?”

“Considering how sparse this setting is, I’d say I’m pretty definitely not on the same island.”

“So what do you think happened?”

“I think that someone’s playing a sick trick on me.”

“A trick?” I frowned. Who on earth would pull a trick like this? And why was he still acting so calm as if it were perfectly normal to wake up on an island with two strangers who had been kidnapped?

“You know. A trick? Also known as a prank.” He shrugged.

“Who were you at the resort with?” I frowned.

“My wife.” He paused, and I could see something going through his head. I was almost certain that he was lying—I was pretty confident he wasn’t married. He wore no wedding band and there was no tan line on his wedding finger. The way he stared at me was also too interested. I mean, I understood that there are married men everywhere who still have their eyes open to other women, but this felt different. I was almost positive that he wanted me, in a very obvious way.

“Have you been married long, then?”

“No, this is our honeymoon.” The lie slipped easily out of his mouth and I wondered why he would make up such a story.

“I’m sorry your wife played a prank like this on your honeymoon.” I replied smoothly, and I saw the expression in his eyes change slightly. He knew that I wasn’t swallowing his story. I stretched my arms and yawned. “You’ll have to excuse me. I think I’m going to go lie down again. See if I can catch some more sleep before Jakob wakes up.”

“He’s lucky to have a girl like you.” Steve called after me
as I walked away. “There aren’t many things I wouldn’t do to call someone like you my girlfriend.”

My pace increased as I walked back to Jakob, and I lay down next to him with my heart beating fast. What had Steve meant? Was he threatening me? I shivered as I cuddled up next to Jakob and closed my eyes. I could feel that Steve was watching the two of us and so I gave Jakob a quick kiss on the cheek before wrapping his arms around me. Even though I was wary of my attraction to Jakob, I still knew in my heart that, of the two men, he was the one I’d much rather be aligned with.

T
here’s a certain hollowness you feel when you’re all alone in nature. It’s an empty feeling that rattles in your head as you realize that you’re all alone, even if you’re with someone else. It’s that feeling that pops up in all of us sometimes. The feeling that makes us ask the ultimate question—what’s the point of it all? That’s how I felt as I stared out at the ocean in her ominous glory. For while she was beautiful, she was still treacherous. The crashing waves against the rocks told me that if I were to swim out too far, I’d get stuck in her currents and washed out to sea. Not even Jakob could save me then.

Not that I wanted him to save me. I still wasn’t sure how I felt about him. There was something in his blue eyes that reminded me of the ocean—seemingly so open yet so deep and dark that it couldn’t be trusted. That didn’t mean that I wasn’t attracted to him. How could I not be? He was gorgeous. There was something so primal and raw about him, though I suppose that came from being on a deserted island.
I started laughing then. I was surely going crazy. I’d been close to tears just a few moments ago, and now all I could think about were Jakob’s muscles.

“Bianca!” He shouted my name as if he knew I was thinking of him.

“Yes?” I answered, glad to be away from my thoughts.

“Where are you?” he called, his voice sounding closer.

“I’m at the shoreline!” I shouted back, staring once again at the ocean.

“What do you think you’re doing?” he ran toward me and then hissed, annoyed. “You can’t just disappear like that.” He slowed his pace as he walked up to me, and I could see the displeasure in his stern face.

“We’re on a deserted island.” I rolled my eyes. “I wouldn’t worry so much.”

“We don’t really know where we are.” He grabbed my hand roughly and pulled me toward him. “Steve came out of nowhere; we don’t really know if anyone else is here with us. We need to be careful.” His fingers dug into my skin and I glared up at his face. I could see that his stubble was thicker today. Without thinking, I reached up and ran my fingers across his jawbone. His hair was prickly beneath my fingers, and he stilled as I touched him. He released his hold on my other hand, and I reached my other fingers up to touch his lips. I gasped as he opened his mouth slightly and sucked my finger in like a vacuum. He bit down on my finger and then nibbled it gently, his eyes never leaving mine. My other hand moved from his jawline up to his hair. I pulled my finger out
of his mouth slowly, and he grabbed my head and tilted it up to him.

“Taste me,” he grunted, and I looked up at him with a perplexed expression. Then he nodded toward my finger. I looked down and suddenly understood his comment. I reached the finger that had been in his mouth up to mine and slowly parted my lips and sucked on it. We stood there staring at each other as I sucked on my finger slowly and intently. I was mesmerized by the look of lust in his blue eyes. I took a step back from him, hoping that a little distance would stop my legs from trembling and my heart from beating so quickly. After a few seconds, I removed my finger from my mouth and then licked my lips slowly.

“The tide’s coming in. You could have gotten stuck.” He finally spoke and grabbed my arm again and pulled me toward him. “And I have no idea where Steve is. I was worried about you. Don’t just disappear like that again. Are you stupid?”

“Let go of me.” I looked up at him, annoyed, and tried to ignore the burn on my skin where he had touched me. “I’m not a little kid.”

“You could have fooled me.” He stared at me lips. “I ought to kiss you and show you that you can’t go around just doing what you want.”

“Did you come to harass me?” I sighed and crossed my arms. His eyes fell to my chest and lingered there, and I could feel my insides burning up at his stare. “I woke up, and you weren’t there. I thought we were going to get up early so we could explore before Steve woke up. But I woke up, and both
you and Steve were gone.” I gave him an accusing look. “So I decided to take a walk.”

“You should have waited for me.” He crossed his arms. “What if something had happened?”

“What’s going to happen?” I rolled my eyes. “At least we know where the rocks are.” I shivered as I stared at the sharp treacherous rocks as the waves crashed into them. The water definitely was not as calm down here.

“For the record, when I woke up, you were still asleep. I didn’t want to wake you, because you looked peaceful.” He sighed and his eyes narrowed. “And Steve was already gone when I woke up.”

“What?” I frowned. “Gone where?”

“I don’t know.” He shook his head and reached out to me. “I looked for him in the jungle, but I didn’t see him.”

“How could he just disappear?” I shivered.

“Like I said before, he seems to know his way around quite well.” He grabbed my hand and squeezed. “That’s why I’ve been telling you to stay close to me.”

“You’re the one that left me this morning.” I was indignant at his authoritative tone. “It’s not like we’re in the Twilight Zone; nothing’s going to happen. Like you said before, monsters aren’t coming and I’m sure the Last Mimzy isn’t coming either.”

“Stranger things have happened.” He looked away from me, and I gasped as I saw a cut on the side of his face, right next to his ear. There was a large bloody gash that looked like it was quite deep.

“Are you okay?” I frowned as I stared at the dried blood on his face. My fingers gingerly reached up to his face. “You’re cut.”

“I’m fine.” He stepped away from me and ran his hands through his hair. I looked at his hands carefully. They looked dirty and bruised. I shivered as I remembered his fingers touching me the night before.

“What have you been doing?” I questioned him, not wanting to think about what had happened the previous evening. “Why do you have a cut on your face? Why are your hands bruised?” I whispered. My brain was screaming the question I was too scared to ask:
Did Steve really just go on a long walk by himself or
did you do something to him?

“I was in the jungle, looking for branches. I thought you’d like to have proper shelter tonight.” He shrugged and walked away. “Apparently I was wrong.”

“Don’t tell me—you found a Marriott?” I attempted a joke to diffuse the tension in the air, but he gave me a derisive look that made me shut up.

“If it rains tonight, we’re going to get soaked.” He spoke matter-of-factly, and I stared at him silently. “I thought we could create a makeshift rooftop for shelter with some palm and coconut branches that are lying on the ground.”

“Where?” I looked over to the bushes and shivered. There was something about the jungle behind us that scared me.

“We can set it up in the sand.”

“How?” I frowned, not really seeing how that would be possible.

“Come with me and I’ll show you.” Jakob started walking away from me.

I couldn’t stop staring at his strong, muscular legs. They were so tan and hairy. The white of his boxer shorts complemented his skin tone, and I swallowed hard as I stared at his butt. It looked firm, and I wondered if it was as tan as his legs. Or maybe it was pasty white like a baby’s bottom. The thought made me giggle, and Jakob turned around and gave me a glance. He raised an eyebrow as if to say
Come on,
and I laughed even louder. It was hard for me to take him seriously as an autocrat when all I could think about was the whiteness of his ass.

“What are you laughing about, Bianca?” He didn’t look amused, and I tried not to roll my eyes. He seriously was the most annoying man I’d ever met. He just did not seem to have a sense of humor.

“Do you really want to know?”

I gave him a quick smile, and he paused for a second. I saw a flash of something pass through his eyes as he stared at me. He looked unsure of himself for one split second, and then he frowned. I could feel that I was starting to lose it. Part of me was scared to death and the other part of me couldn’t stop thinking about how sexy he was.

“What I want to do is get this shelter ready.”

“I’m coming.” I sighed and ran to catch up to him. “I was going to try to wash the sand off my body.” I mumbled as I caught up with him.

“Oh.” He looked at me, and there was a gleam in his eye. “I suppose you have sand in all sorts of cracks and crevices.”

“I’m not an old house, Jakob, but yes, I do.”

“So do I.” He grinned. “And yes, it’s a bit uncomfortable. If you want, we can go in the ocean and clean ourselves off before heading into the jungle.”

“I suppose.” I frowned. It sounded like a good idea, but I knew that I had to go completely naked to get the sand out of everywhere.

“What’s wrong now?”

“I was just thinking that it’s going to be hard to get the sand out everywhere.” I shrugged and looked away from him. I didn’t want him to see me blushing, though, I supposed it could be mistaken for sunburn.

“That’s not a problem.” He grinned and ran back to the ocean. “Just take your clothes off.” I watched as he ran and pulled off his briefs. My breath caught as I stared at the creamy-white paleness of his taut bottom. I laughed at the contrast it made against his deep golden tan. “What’s so funny?” He stopped and turned around and my breath caught as I realized he was facing me completely naked.

“Nothing.” I called back to him and stared at his face.
Do not look down, Bianca.
My brain was screaming at me.
Do not look down.
Of course, my eyes didn’t listen. I looked down and gasped. His penis was slightly erect and standing at attention. I looked back up at his face and he was grinning.

“Like what you see?” he shouted at me, with a slight laugh in his voice.

“I’m not sure what you’re talking about.” I looked down at the ground. “I didn’t see anything.”

“Pity.” He laughed and turned back and ran into the ocean. I walked up to the water behind him and watched as he jumped in the waves and splashed himself. My eyes narrowed with jealousy as I imagined how good it would feel to strip off my underwear and go into the ocean as well. I hadn’t been lying before. I literally had sand everywhere.

“What are you waiting for, Bianca?” Jakob turned around to face me. “Come on in.” I stared at his silhouette in the ocean and tried not to fall in love with him then and there. He looked like Poseidon, king of the ocean, god of the sea, protector of all waters and me. His chest was built and strong, and it glittered like gold in the sunlight. I watched the water drops clinging to his chest and felt envious. In that moment, I would have liked to be a water drop, clinging to him for dear life.

“I can’t come in.” I shook my head. “I’m not running in naked.”