Page 19 of Voyage with the Reclusive Billionaire

Still, he’d been holding me a lot more since then. As if unwilling to have any space between us when I was near. And while I hadn’t been particularly clingy with Adam, and he hadn’t been with me… I certainly don’t mind having Corvan so close.

We’ve already finished our burritos and tossed the aluminum wrappers they’d come in into the trash when we finally slip into the lush green forest bordering the town.

It’s almost strange how at ease I feel with him. How easy it is to forget about all my problems, about watching my step or making sure falling rocks aren’t heading straight for me.

Because I know he’ll be right there if something happens. That I’ll be tucked safely in his side before the danger even reaches me.

I’ve never felt that way before. Felt so completely, utterly safe.

I look up at Corvan, ready to tell him exactly that, when I notice the frown on his face. “Hey,” I murmur. “What’s wrong?”

He flicks his gaze to me and smiles. “Nothing. Just… a little worried, is all.”

“About?”

“About the woman who’s been following us. I think someone sent her here to follow me. I just don’t know who.” I’m about to press him for more information when he casts his gaze up to the sky and grimaces. “Looks like it might rain. Do you want to head back to the ship?”

I shake my head. “No. Not unless you do, anyway.”

“Definitely not,” Corvan says. “Out here, you and I are safe.”

“Just the two of us,” I say, grinning up at him.

He nods with a smirk and pulls me to his side. “Exactly,” he says. “Just the way it should be.”

It’s clear, when rain is coming down in heavy sheets through the trees, when lightning arcs across the sky and thunder booms so loud it rattles my bones, that we should have gone back to the boat.

Corvan keeps me pressed tight against him, giving me as much of his warmth and as much protection from the weather as he possibly can, while we search through the forest for somewhere at least mildly protected from the weather for us to wait it out. I don’t know how he sees anything at all. Everything over three feet in front of me is nothing but a blur hidden behind the pouring rain.

Eventually, Corvan leads me to the right, weaving us past trees until I can finally make out what it was he somehow saw: a cave.

“Are you sure it’s safe in there?” I call out to him.

“Don’t worry,” he says back, shouting so that I can hear him over the wind and rain and the crack of thunder that sounds. “I’ve got you.”

I know, I think to myself.

God, it’s so fucking scary to have this much faith in a single person. But I do. With my body and my soul, I know that Corvan would never let a single hair on my head be harmed.

So into the cave we go.

It’s much quieter, and certainly far less wet, inside. There’s enough light for me to see him beside me, but not enough to know for certain how deep the cave is. Shadows slowly take over the deeper it goes until it’s nothing but a black void so dark that I would literally rather face a serial killer with nothing but a Q-Tip than go deeper inside it.

Let’s just hope it doesn’t come to that.

I shiver as the coolness of the cave seeps into my soaked clothes. Corvan frowns at me, worry creasing his brow. “You’re cold.”

“Aren’t you?”

He shrugs. “I have a… high metabolism. I run a little warmer than most do.” He molds me into his side and rubs a hand over my arm. “I don’t like that you’re cold, Eliza.”

“I’m fine.”

He shakes his head. “I don’t know how long this storm is going to last. You won’t be fine if we’re in here for hours on end.”

“Don’t worry about me,” I insist. “I’m sure it won’t last that long.”

Corvan stares at me for a long moment.

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