Page 62 of Stuck in Paradise with You

‘I can’t think of any better way to hear all about it.’

When I head back to the group, the second truck is arriving with the others.

‘Everything okay?’ Luke asks.

I can feel confusion in my expression that morphs into something much more contented when his arm kisses my shoulder.

‘Yeah, actually. More than okay.’

I was wrong. The water isn’t reasonably calm. It’s rough as hell.

As soon as Henry navigates us out of the bay, the waves become fierce, rocking Monique into me and me into Joe, like we’re dominoes.

The sound alone is like the ocean is angry with us for being here. Despite the number of bodies onboard and Henry’s experience driving, each rise over water brings the boat crashing down the other side.

Luke and Roy have flanked Henry at the steering wheel and I can make out above the sound of the water and the engine that they’re helping him navigate the treacherous path back to Charithonia.

I hear them without looking because my hands are glued to the bench seat either side of my hips; my knuckles must be white, my grip is so tight, and I’m immensely grateful for the life vest Luke made me wear, though I’d looked to the sky when he gave me what felt like an order.

Make sure Joe and Luke look after you, Rachel told me on the phone. Her words are the main reason I didn’t have some sarcastic retort to Luke.

My hair and body are saturated with sea spray and from wild sloshes of water coming across the bow and over the sides of theboat. I’m wearing shades, not because it’s sunny – it isn’t, the sky is dark and threatening – but to try to keep the salt water from hitting my eyes directly.

Through the fogged and wet lenses, my attention is fixed on Lola, Roy’s sister, and her newborn baby. I’m terrified for them, so I can’t imagine how Lola is feeling. She’s sitting on the opposite side of the boat, directly across from me, and I’m mentally figuring out how to safely take the steps between us to sit with her and help her, somehow. Help cradle the baby. Help pin down Lola to the seat.

With the next wave, Lola is lifted into the air an inch or two and she lets out a short scream. I don’t have time to think about the how, I just rise from my seat and try to step forward. But I stumble, the boat thrashing around in the water, and I fall back into my spot. Thankfully, Dave – big Dave, the security guy – side shuffles closer to Lola, and though it doesn’t stop her from crying, it must make her feel safer that he wraps an arm around her and tucks her and her baby into his big frame. Just the sight of it has made me feel better.

I’m so busy watching Lola, I don’t notice that Joe has switched places with Luke, not until Luke is sitting next to me and sliding his arm around my waist. Just like Dave did for Lola, Luke tugs me against him and as I reposition myself to see his face, I find wide brown eyes piercing mine, so intense and full of concern that even the unruly sea seems to still for a moment.

Where Luke’s body holds mine, there’s an undeniable connection that’s way beyond physical. A chemical reaction. A fusion by which the sum of our parts is vastly more than just him and me. He brings his hand to my sodden cheek, rubbing away soaked hair from my skin with his thumb.

‘Don’t try that again, do you hear me?’

I swallow deeply because, despite how sopping wet every part of my body is, my throat is parched.

There is no impending storm, no rough seas, no background noise. Justus. Luke and me, caught in a moment I don’t want to get out of, even if it scares me more than any of those other things.

Because there is something in his hold, in his demand and his urgency, in the way he looks at me, that’s reminiscent of the way he used to look at me. The way he could make me feel like nothing and no one else in the world mattered.

I want it back.In these still seconds, I want us back, I wanthimback.

I want it all so much, it physically hurts beneath my ribcage.

I don’t think I can breathe as I watch his Adam’s apple move when he swallows, his chest rise and fall where he should be wearing a life vest, the way he doesn’t let go of my face but his gaze falls to my lips.

And I think…kiss me, Luke. Kiss me.

The next wave lifts the boat into the air and crashes us down, turning us sideways from where we started. It throws Luke’s hand from my face to my body and he holds me down into my seat.

‘We’re nearly back,’ he reassures me. ‘You’re doing great.’

‘I’m not a novice,’ I tell him, forcing a tight turn of my lips. ‘I’ve been on a sunset sail before, I’ve been on a glass-bottomed boat, even a boat club on the Hudson. This is a walk in the park.’

But when he full blown beams at me and tugs my head under his chin, I do feel happier, lighter, less afraid.

29

LUKE

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