60. Chapter Fifty-Nine
Chapter Fifty-Nine
Scarlett
It doesn’t take long to locate my purse. It’s right where I left it, next to the tree I was leaning against when we were sitting on the beach.
Trick picks it up and passes it to me.
He’s such a gentleman.
I had no idea I was into that.
I guess when it’s the right guy, anything goes.
“Thanks,” I murmur, rewrapping the strap around it and tucking it under my arm.
My eyes wander slowly over his pale, toned, bare stomach, moving up his chest and neck to his sharply angled face, with his dark-rooted red hair hanging down over one eye.
He smiles wryly back at me. “I guess we won’t be getting much time alone from now on.”
“Yeah, that sucks,” I admit, as he starts to look at me the same way he did back at the lake.
“It does,” he agrees.
All I can think about is how good it felt to be wrapped around him in the water.
The urge to push onto my toes and kiss him comes and goes.
I know where that impulse would lead.
And as aroused as I am right now, I also know I’m not quite ready to take his mark.
I perfumed for the first time ever while we were alone together.
It’s gonna take me a minute to process that.
I really wish we could have had more time to be with each other after that happened.
It feels so right that he’s meant to be mine.
If we’d had more time, I think, maybe, I’d feel less freaked out about the whole fated mates thing. He’s pretty good at calming me down.
“Xane doesn’t usually make this kind of mistake,” Trick says. “I mean, it’s not like him to get important details wrong.”
“Everyone makes mistakes sometimes.”
“Yeah.” He smiles wryly. “Try telling him that.”
“Maybe I will.” I smile back, still fighting that urge to kiss him.
He feels a little bit conflicted, too. I think we both know it’s bad timing.
Trust me to fall for a guy right before we need to spend days hiking through the jungle.
That is so not going to be pretty.
Three or four days of sweating our asses off, getting blisters on our feet and bug-bites on our skin. It’s got to be one of the least sexy scenarios I could imagine ending up in.
The fantasy of being stranded on a desert island with the band that made me want to be a musician sounds incredible, but the reality of it is kinda brutal, not gonna lie.
“I’m sure once we get to the resort, Xane will quit being so bossy.”
The resort. Right. Once we make it through those torturous jungle days, we get to a luxury hideaway for celebrities.
“He can be as bossy as he likes once we get there,” I start, realizing it sounds like I’d be into that as I’m saying it. Lucky for me Trick doesn’t seem phased. I clear my throat. “You and I will be finding a quiet place to finish what we started in that lake.”
“I think I can handle a few days in the jungle if that’s what’s happening after,” he admits, leaning in and giving me the softest, most teasing nothing of a kiss, before he moves back swiftly.
It barely feels like he touched me. It was more like his breath tickled my lips for a tenth of a second.
He’s probably trying to be careful, like I am, but the tease leaves me even more desperate than I already was.
“Get back here,” I mutter, reaching up and tugging him back down. “If you’re gonna kiss a girl, you need to make it count.”
He gazes at my lips, before he leans in that last inch and presses his mouth to mine.
Oh, you asked for it.
I most certainly did, and I don’t regret it one little bit.
The height difference is way more obvious on dry land, but I doubt we’d have much of a problem if we were lying down …
He breaks the kiss and stays close. “Does that one count? Or do you need more?”
“It definitely counts,” I admit once I’ve caught my breath.
“But?” he asks, as if he’s just waiting for my signal to keep going.
“But if kiss me again, we’re gonna do more than just kiss, and I’m not sure we want Xane and Kian to find us in that kind of … embrace.”
He laughs. “Damn. I think you just killed my mood.”
I know I didn’t. He’s still practically drowning in lust.
But we both know this isn’t the time to get lost in our urges.
“We should head back before Xane sends a search party.”
He nods, and then moves back, straightening up.
“Right. Sure. Just give me a second to check on Riley.”
“Sure,” I murmur.
He moves past me, taking quick steps across the sand toward his drunk bandmate, who’s sitting in the shade of a tree, staring out over the water, with a bottle of the dwindling beer supply in one hand.
If nothing else, Riley’s determined to be on vacation.
It’s kinda crazy that he seems so relaxed, though I’m guessing that’s an act.
If I was afraid to fly, and I woke up during that bumpy landing, I’d probably be looking for a way to forget about it, too. Then I remember what Kian said about his drinking being a problem, and I wonder if there’s something else he’s been trying to forget.
That’s probably none of my business.
But it’s not gonna stop me thinking about it.
I move over to the cooler that’s still sitting in the sand by the side of the trees, where Trick left it.
The lid is already locked in place, so the food inside should still be fresh.
I doubt it’ll last for long once we start our journey, but I’m sure I can handle a sparse diet for a few days. It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve had to space out meals, though it would be the first time that’s not down to my inability to budget money the way most people do.
Responsibilities suck.
It’s actually kinda freeing to have all the decisions on someone else’s shoulders out here.
I don’t have to think about the tough choices. All I need to do is follow Xane’s directions.
That must be nice for these guys, to have a leader who’s willing to take on that mental load.
I turn to see Trick is already starting to walk back toward me.
I guess he’s done checking on Riley.
He dashes across the sand until he’s at my side.
It makes me smile that he’s so eager to get back to me.
“How’s Riley doing?” I ask.
Trick shrugs. “He’s well on his way to being wasted. It looks like there’s maybe four bottles of beer left in the cooler though, and I don’t know how he’ll cope once he realizes there’s nothing else around here with alcohol in it.”
“Hopefully, he’ll be passed out by then.”
“Yeah. I don’t know if we’re gonna get that lucky, but it’s the best case for sure. I don’t know what tonight’s gonna be like if he’s drunk and mad about the shortage.”
“He’s never run out before?”
Trick shakes his head slowly. “Never. But we’ve never been in this situation before, either.”
“It would be kinda crazy if this wasn’t the first time you’d been stranded on a desert island.”
“It would, but I’m glad it happened.” He smiles and then sighs. “I just hope he’s not acting like an asshole when we need to get moving tomorrow. The trek through the jungle’s gonna be hard enough.”
“Yeah. I’m definitely not looking forward to that.”
He puts an arm around me. “I bet you handle it better than I do. I’m gonna be the color of a cooked lobster by the time we get to the resort, no matter how much sunscreen I’ve got on.
I also attract bugs like some kind of insect magnet in the wild so I’m not getting out of there without a few nasty bites. ”
“Well, I’ll do my best to keep you covered in sunscreen, and I’ll swat away any bugs that come close,” I promise. “You know, it might even end up being fun.”
“With you at my side, I think I can believe that.”
I smile back at him. All I can think about is dragging him back to that lake.
My perfume is spiking. It’s done that a few times since it first happened, and I just know this entire island is gonna smell like candy apples by the time I figure out how to control myself.
If I ever figure it out, I mean.
I know Trick triggered it, but Xane made it spike once, too.
I don’t know if that means anything, and I’m gonna have to work that out before anything more happens between Trick and I.
“We should get back to the jet,” I tell him, not ready to think about it now.
It’s not like I can just ask how he’d feel if I was into the rest of his bandmates.
If he’s into monogamy, that kind of question will only hurt him.
That’s the last thing I want to do.
“Yeah,” he says with a sigh. “I’ll grab the cooler.”
I glance over at Riley, and I feel a stab of guilt.
I’ve been so into all four of these guys.
Now that my perfume is in, that’s gonna be obvious.
It feels greedy to want all of them, but I can’t help how I feel.
Being out here with no one else around, there’s no real way to hide anything.
And with my perfume spiking all over the place, it’s like I’m a man trap, ready to spring shut on whoever gets closest first.
I’ve always thought if I had to be mated to anyone, it would be these guys.
All of them had my heart before we even met.
I don’t know what’s going to happen now that I’ve started something with Trick.
I can only hope no one gets hurt.