22. ALEX
22
ALEX
W hen I opened my eyes, I blinked against the silvery light that fell through the windows on the far side of the room. It took me a moment to figure out where I was.
Charlotte’s naked body curled against me as she stretched in her sleep, and with a contented sigh, she melted against me again.
Her honey hair was spread over my arm around her shoulders, and her skin was soft and warm against me.
Last night came rushing back. The storm, the boat, the lighthouse. Our bodies pressed against each other, two becoming one as I lost myself in her over and over again.
God, Charlotte was everything I’d never thought I needed in my life.
She fluttered her eyes open and lifted her head, her body tensing up as she came back to reality from whatever dream she’d been lost in.
“What time is it?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” I admitted.
Our phones were in the bag she’d brought with her, and I wasn’t sure they worked anymore—they’d both gotten wet in the storm last night. We’d just made sure we kept everything together, worrying about replacing things later.
Being safe had been more important.
Charlotte sat up and rubbed her eyes. Her hair was a wild mess, and she was adorable.
She stretched her body out again, and I let my gaze fall to her breasts.
“God, you’re a beautiful woman.”
She blushed lightly and lowered her arms, but she didn’t move to cover up. I loved that she was so comfortable around me, that there was nothing between us.
In the back of my mind, a little voice reminded me this wasn’t how it would always be—it was because here, the rest of the world didn’t exist. As soon as we went back to reality, everything would change. We would go back to a world where we weren’t this connected, where we were people with different lives, different duties to fulfill, different people to please.
I didn’t want this to end.
I wanted more of this. I wanted as much of Charlotte as I could get. I’d never felt this alive and this at home with someone before, and I was addicted to the feeling. Just thinking about going back to the mainland, the lives we’d created for ourselves, made my heart sink because it meant going back to a life without her.
Charlotte stood and walked to the railing where we’d hung our clothes. She was a naked vision as she touched the different fabrics.
“Did you know that you can’t actually feel wetness on your skin?” she asked.
“What?”
“Hmm. Okay, I’m saying it wrong. Your skin can’t actually feel something wet. You feel the wind that blows on the wetness, or the cold that comes with the wetness, or the heat…” She shook her head. “I’m not saying it right.” She chuckled at herself.
“I get what you’re saying. And I didn’t know that.”
“I don’t know if these are wet or just cold.”
I stood and walked to her and didn’t miss how her eyes slid down my body for a moment. I was semi-aroused, not completely flaccid, and she noticed.
For a second, I entertained the idea of scooping her up and carrying her back to our makeshift bed for another round of everything that was delicious, but I forced myself to stay in control.
“I think they’re just cold,” I said.
“Good,” Charlotte said. “Then we don’t have to go out there and head back to the real world in wet clothes. That’s what I hate the most—getting into clothes when they’re still wet. Ever had to get into wet swimming trunks after already getting out of them?”
I laughed. “Yeah, as kids. These days, no. I have people who dry everything for me when I need them dry.”
“Of course you do,” she said, but a smile played around her mouth, and her eyes danced with laughter.
I snaked my arm around her waist and pulled her closer, planting a kiss on her lips. It was just a quick kiss, but when I pulled back, her eyes had softened, and the smile was still there.
“We should get dressed and get back,” I said, hating my own words. “They’ll start to wonder where we are soon.”
“Yeah.”
We reluctantly pulled apart and got dressed. I watched Charlotte as she put her clothes back on, ran her fingers through her hair, found a hair tie and pulled it back in a ponytail.
“I wish we had a mirror in here.”
“You don’t need one. You look fantastic.”
“Bedraggled, I’m sure,” she said with a laugh.
Sexy as hell. “Not at all.”
She smiled, and I finished getting dressed.
She opened her backpack and tried the phones.
“Yeah, I don’t think they made it. It’s either water or the battery, but they’re both dead. Shit.”
“We’ll figure it out,” I said. “I’ll replace it.”
“You don’t have to do that. This was as little your fault as it was mine.”
“I want to.”
It was the least I could do to look after her.
She nodded and handed my phone to me. It really was dead.
That was fine. I had no one I needed to talk to right now. The world could go on without me for a little longer.
Probably for a lot longer.
We walked down the spiral stairs to the bottom room. The rain hadn’t driven into the room too much, and save for a few wet patches, it looked untouched by the storm.
We stepped outside, and the island was a vibrant green, the gray rocks a beautiful divide between the lush ground and the impossibly blue water.
The sun shone brightly, and gulls squawked as they circled lazily above the water or sunbathed on the beach.
Debris had washed up on shore, pieces of driftwood and broken bits I couldn’t identify from this distance. It was the only proof the storm had happened at all.
“I can’t believe it looks so beautiful out there,” Charlotte said. “You’d think we were making it all up last night.”
I chuckled. “We know it happened.” I winked at her, and she blushed. Was she thinking about the sex and not the storm, too?
When I walked to the boat to inspect it, it seemed okay. The warm sun had gotten rid of the water that must have filled up inside of it last night. I tried to start the engine, and after a few tries, it sputtered to life.
“Well, look at that,” Charlotte said. “It looks like we’re going home, after all.”
“And I don’t have to row.”
She laughed. “I would have helped.”
“I wouldn’t have let you.”
“You know I can take care of myself, right?” Her eyes were dark and determined, the laughter fading a little.
“I know,” I said. I stepped closer to her, cupping her cheek. “Your independence is part of what makes you so incredible.”
She blushed, not knowing what to say to that. She’d wanted to challenge me.
“I like taking care of you, though,” I added.
Out here, alone, the truth kept tumbling from my lips, and I didn’t even regret it. I wanted her to know how I felt about her. I needed her to know that she was… everything.
“Alex…” she started.
“I don’t want this to end,” I said quickly before she could say anything else.
She blinked at me.
“I’m serious. I can’t get enough of you, and I want to see you. Not just by accident or when we get stranded on an island. I want to court you, and take you out, and buy you flowers.”
“Who says court anymore?” Charlotte asked with a giggle.
“Men who are serious about doing right by their woman.”
Her smile faded again a little when she realized how serious I was.
“Alex, we can’t. My brother—”
“I’ll talk to Gabe,” I said. I’d already thought about this. It wasn’t my fault I’d fallen hard for my best friend’s sister. So, it wasn’t exactly the right thing to do, and he would probably lose his shit, but I wasn’t going to let someone like Charlotte slip through my fingers without fighting for us to be together. Surely, Gabriel would understand. He’d been in love before, hadn’t he?
“I don’t know how happy he’ll be about it,” Charlotte said. “He’s always been very protective of me. Especially when we were growing up, you know, given everything… but even while I was away studying. He would check in with me all the time, ask me who I was seeing, what I was doing… and now that I’m in the same town as him again—”
“I’ll talk to him,” I said again. “We’ll figure it out. I want to be with you.” I cupped her cheek, and Charlotte looked up at me with those dark eyes I could fall into forever. “That is, if you want this, too.”
She nodded. “Yeah.” Her voice was breathy. “I do.”
My stomach did a little flip.
“Then it’s settled.”
“I think he just went out of town,” Charlotte said.
“Then I’ll talk to him as soon as he gets back.” I would do it face-to-face—this wasn’t something I could do over the phone.
Charlotte shook her head, which wasn’t what I’d thought she’d do.
“What about work? My campaign, your company. Or is that not something people care about?”
“We’ll just have to keep it quiet for now,” I said. “I have big plans for the company—I told you I wanted to run some new ideas by you—and your campaign won’t last forever. But even if it does, we’re on the same side here.”
“Are we?”
I nodded. “We are. I’m on your side.”
She considered it for a moment, and then her face broke into a beautiful smile.
“I think we can make that work.”
I slid my hand behind her neck and kissed her again, sliding my tongue between her lips. She kissed me back, and heat grew between us. When I broke the kiss, she was breathless.
“And then you do that just before we have to go?” Her pupils were dilated, lips parted.
“I just had to kiss you properly before we get back and the world will be looking again.”
She nodded.
We worked together, pushing the boat back into the water. I lowered the engine and started it. It started without a hitch this time.
A part of me had hoped it wouldn’t so that we could be stranded here a little longer. I could take her back up to that lighthouse and have my way with her…
But things were going to change from now on. I would talk to Gabe. I would see her more often—as often as I could—and we would see where this went. I wanted to explore the future with Charlotte.
For the first time, I was optimistic about the way forward, and not only when it was about business.
For the first time, I was excited about my personal life, a relationship, and for the first time since I could remember, the little voice at the back of my mind didn’t scream that I wasn’t good enough.
Because maybe, just maybe, I could be.