Chapter Twenty-Three
Now
Piper had been prepared to harass Wyatt if he prematurely sprang back into action the following day, but he’d slept in late,
content dozing in the shade as long as she stayed close by, napping or reading with him. Not that she minded. Peace had settled
over Piper like a weighted blanket, Wyatt’s confession last night unlatching a gate that released her final strands of resentment.
The morning would have been perfect except for the nagging thought that she should check the radio. They hadn’t heard from
anyone since yesterday, and no planes had sounded overhead. She had believed Rosie when she said they’d find them soon, but
some confirmation would make her feel better.
“I’m going to test for a radio signal down the beach,” she announced, bringing Wyatt a water bottle and a block of cheese.
“Can I trust you’ll still be lying here when I get back?”
Wyatt wrinkled his nose. “I’m not sure how much longer I can stay horizontal, P. Besides a very minor headache, I feel fine.”
Piper looked him up and down. Healthy color stained his cheeks, and his eyes appeared bright and focused, a vast improvement
over yesterday. “Promise me you won’t overdo it.”
He sat up. “Define overdoing it.”
“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”
“Act like Captain Energy Conservation, got it.” He gave her a cheeky salute.
She rolled her eyes at him with a smile. “Just behave, please.”
“I’ll do my best.” He pressed a kiss on the back of her hand, his stubble tickling her delicate skin. “Hey, be careful.”
“I always am,” Piper reminded him, her voice wavering from his kiss.
Last night had been the best sleep she’d had in ages, drifting off to the gentle rise and fall of Wyatt’s breath. What that
meant, and what their kiss might mean for their future, she didn’t know. And she couldn’t afford a meltdown by overthinking
it now.
Puffy white clouds dotted the horizon, offering patches of shade as a respite from the blazing sun. The beach greeted her
with the sounds of a new day as she walked along the shoreline, leaving fresh footprints in the sand. Overhead, tropical birds
warbled bright foreign songs, and the swish of trees swaying in the breeze answered their calls. Waves lapped the shore, their
rhythmic slapping like a balm to her ears while salt sprays filled the air with a humid pungency.
Unfortunately, the sound she was hoping to hear, Rosie’s voice, never poured through the speakers, her radio mission yielding
nothing after hours of turning the dial.
Though she’d hoped Wyatt would take her advice, it didn’t surprise her to see him attempting to fish when their strip of the
beach came into view as she walked back. Getting Wyatt to take it easy was like expecting a cat not to follow a laser pointer.
He hadn’t noticed her yet, and Piper admired him from a distance, the sun reflecting off his broad shoulders like a halo.
Maybe it was the lack of human contact, but every time she saw him, Wyatt looked even hotter than the time before.
He wobbled, a larger wave almost knocking him over in the water. Why did he insist on pushing himself to the limit all the time? The urge to throttle him for acting recklessly accompanied an even greater desire to kiss him again until his pain melted away. She set the radio back in their shelter, kicked off her shoes, and shimmied out of her sundress to the black-and-white-striped bikini underneath. Like the ocean tides drawn by the moon’s gravitational pull, Piper walked into the water toward Wyatt.
The cool water soothed her hot, achy skin, and she waded in quickly, finding the waves friendly. Wyatt heard her splashing
and turned around with a sheepish smile. At least he had the good sense to look guilty that she’d caught him away from his
assigned spot on the beach.
“Did you get a signal? Any new updates?” he called out.
Piper shook her head, moving closer. “Nothing, but I’ll try again later. How’s your head?”
“It’s good! I’ve been out here for thirty minutes and almost caught a fish,” he boasted. “Give me another thirty, and I’m
sure I will.”
Of course. The idiot would make his recovery much harder than it had to be, and she needed him to be okay. “Sounds like you’ve
done enough for one day then, huh?”
The annoyance must have been visible on her face because Wyatt raised an eyebrow in her direction. “Is there something else
you’d like to say?”
“Wy, I need you to take care of yourself, and it looks like you’re not.” Her words caught in her throat, and she swallowed
over the burning sensation of tears. Seeing Wyatt go under the waves and not resurface had wrecked her. She couldn’t go back
to that place of despair again.
Wyatt tucked the fishing hook into the back of his swim trunks and was by her side in an instant, pulling her against his
bare chest. “Hey, hey, hey. I’m sorry I’m stressing you out. I’m shit at resting, but I’m doing the best I can.”
Piper collapsed into his arms, the waves pushing her closer to him with every oscillation. “It’s okay,” she murmured into
his chest. “It’s just been a long few days.”
“That’s the understatement of the year.” Wyatt rubbed her back in soothing circles. “But I’m perfectly fine, I swear. Everything’s going to be okay. We’ve made it this far, and we’ll be home soon. I promise.”
She tilted her head up, vividly aware of how close his lips were to hers. One medium-size wave would send them colliding.
“You scared me yesterday.” She wasn’t berating him but wanted to explain why she was so emotional.
He twisted the end of her braid through his fingers. “By getting hurt or by kissing you?”
She met his gaze, relieved he was addressing the potentially life-altering unspoken moment between them. “Both.”
“Will it scare you if I kiss you again?” He bent his head, floating his lips above hers.
“Let’s find out,” she whispered.
When he closed the gap between their lips, it was more intentional than last time, less frantic but every bit as passionate.
Fire flamed deep in her belly, stoked higher by his teeth grazing her sensitive lips. She melted into the kiss. Then, fisting
her hands in his wet locks, she dragged him closer. Wyatt sank into the water and hiked her up, his hands slipping under her
butt, and she wound her legs around him.
Supported by the water and Wyatt’s strong arms, Piper felt weightless, carefree, all concerns driven from her mind by his
devilish mouth.
She’d spent so many years furious at him, constructing iron-clad walls around her heart, but this whole time he’d been building
a bridge. Brick by brick, finding his way back to her. Letting her guard down frightened her, but shutting down Wyatt and
his heady kisses would require fighting against the current—literally and figuratively. She gave herself over to the heat
of Wyatt’s mouth, the delicious caress of his tongue. Before long, they were both panting for air.
Eventually, Wyatt set her down, moving an arm’s length away, still waist-deep in water.
“Listen, Piper,” he started.
Piper stiffened, bracing for a statement about how they were playing with fire, how they’d been down this road before and
it hadn’t worked out. How they were better off as friends. With a piercing certainty, she found she didn’t want to be just
friends with Wyatt. She wanted all of him.
Wyatt put his hands on her hips, steadying her. “I know I was the last person you wanted to see, and you have every reason
for feeling that way. But I’d be lying if I said I haven’t enjoyed every minute with you these past few days.” He chuckled.
“Well, maybe not every minute, but way more than I have a right to.” His graphite eyes found hers, his expression serious.
“If you let me back into your life, I won’t walk away again.”
Piper sucked in a breath, grateful that Wyatt held her upright because her legs quivered like jellyfish. She ricocheted through
fear, wild delight, hesitation, then back to joy.
Finally, she squeaked out, “Okay.”
Wyatt studied her face, brows furrowed. “Do you mean ‘Okay, great speech’ or ‘Okay, you’re cool with me sticking around’?”
“Okay, I’d very much like you to stick around.” She beamed up at him.
His responding grin split his face from ear to ear. “Okay.”
He tucked a stray tendril of hair behind her ear and traced his thumb over her lips. Her heart whirred at the taste of saltwater
from his touch, heat growing in her core. His hungry gaze locked with hers, his gray eyes swirling with stormy desire. She
would have gladly complied if he’d wanted to take her right here in the water, but he let the electricity crackle between
them without distilling it with a kiss.
The ocean flowed around them, but time stood still.
Beside them, a silver-bellied fish leaped out of the calm water, its sleek body glistening in the sunlight before it landed with a splash.
Wyatt threw his hands up in the air, releasing Piper. “Argh, the universe is taunting me with these damn fish, I swear. I
can’t believe you reeled in a freaking cooler full of food, and I can’t even catch one fish when they’re practically throwing
themselves at us.”
Another fish followed, flinging its body out of the ocean like an aspiring Olympian. They reminded Piper of hours spent fishing
with her granddad at Lake Hyco. He used a reel and rod but gave her a net to scoop up the fish that surfaced when the water
was calm. Even with her limited fishing skills, she usually walked away with at least one decent catch.
“Let me see what you’re using to catch them.”
Wyatt handed her his homemade fishing reel—bent wire he’d torn from Piper’s bra tied to a shoestring.
She turned it over in his hand. “Maybe the fish know you hijacked this hook from my best bra, and they’re boycotting you.”
He laughed. “Maybe so.”
“What if the universe isn’t taunting you but trying to tell you something?”
“Uh-oh, are the fish talking to you now?”
She punched his arm. “I’m serious. What if you had a net?”
“Sure, that’d be great, but unless I overlooked the fishing net you packed, I don’t see how it matters,” Wyatt grumbled.
Piper held up a finger, signaling for him to wait a moment. She waded to shore, strode to their shelter, and inspected the
once-lavender bridesmaid dress—now bleached a dismal shade of khaki—complete with four layers of tulle that resembled her
granddad’s delicate fishing net. Without hesitation, Piper ripped the tulle from its seams, enjoying the satisfying sensation
of tearing apart the monstrous dress.
Apologizing to Allie under her breath, Piper ran back to the shoreline where Wyatt waited. She proudly handed him the large swath of tulle. “Do you think you could make a net with this?”
He frowned, confusion wrinkling his forehead. “Wait, you did pack a fishing net?”
Piper shook her head, a small smile tugging at the corners of her lips. “No, this is tulle from underneath my bridesmaid dress.”
After he’d studied the material for a moment, Wyatt’s face lit up. “Piper, I think this could work!”
He busied himself fashioning a net, twisting the wire from his homemade fishing hook into a circle, hooking strands of the
tulle as he wound his way around. When he finished, he waded back into the water, taking care not to startle the fish. Wyatt
stood motionless with his net poised, ready to catch whatever he could. For several tense minutes, nothing stirred above the
ocean’s surface. Finally, a fish threw itself out of the water right in front of him, but he wasn’t quick enough and swore
under his breath when the net came up empty.
Piper couldn’t bear watching. She squeezed her eyes shut, only peeking out from under her fingers. After a few more misses,
he caught one, staring at the flopping fish in disbelief. From her spot on the beach, Piper let out a cheer. He’d done it!
“Did you see that?” He ran over and deposited the fish next to her on the sand. “I’m going back for more!” He practically
skipped back into the water, slightly favoring his unhurt leg.
Piper smiled after him, thrilled to see him so alive after yesterday’s near-drowning debacle. Within the hour, they’d lined
four slippery fish in a row on the beach and were staring at them in awe.
Wyatt wrapped his arms around her shoulders and kissed her head. “Piper, you’re a genius.”
She leaned against his chest. “You’re the one that caught them.”
“We’re celebrating tonight with a feast. Take that, universe!” Wyatt shouted up at the sky.
He turned her in his arms, scooped her off the ground, and spun her around in a hug, his warmth enveloping her like sunshine.
His happiness flooded her senses with unbridled joy. Setting her back down, he leaned in and kissed her, his pillowy lips
parting hers as their wet bodies pressed together.
When they parted, Piper wasn’t sure what had made her dizzier, the spinning or the kiss.