Page 25 of Stranded with a SEAL

“I don’t know. Like I said, I’m not sure how far we drifted from where the boat was. We couldn’t see that island from the boat, so the storm probably carried us farther than you think.”

She sniffled, realizing he was right. If they couldn’t even see this island before when they were fishing, they must be really far from where they’d started. Which meant the rescuers would be searching in the wrong place, too.

“Hell, don’t cry,” he said, reaching over and roughly swiping a tear off her cheek. “This is good news, sunshine. We can get there in an hour or so. Rest. I’ve got protein bars, some bottled water, even a couple of MREs.”

“Why’d you back so much?” she asked, her voice shaking.

Noah tugged her close, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and briefly kissing the top of her head. “Just prepping for a worst-case scenario. I didn’t expect the storm and for you to be tossed overboard, but all kinds of things could happen. The engine could stall. We could run out of gas. Any number of things. When you’re out in the ocean, you want to be prepared.”

“And here I thought this was just a fun little fishing trip,” she said as they began to swim to the island.

“Here, hang onto my waist,” Noah said. “Now that I don’t have to worry about holding you up above water, you can grab onto the back of my swim trunks. I’ll pull you along that way.”

“Aren’t you getting tired?”

“I’m good,” he assured her. “Like I said—an hour tops, and we should be there. This weather is a hell of a lot better than earlier.”

“I still can’t believe you brought all that stuff. I had a towel and sunscreen in my bag.”

“Mason and I had everything covered,” he assured her. “No one expected you or Taylor to know what to do out at sea. That’s why we were here.”

“God, this is the worst fishing trip ever,” Bailey said with a small laugh.

Noah glanced over at her, his green eyes flashing with amusement as he realized she was joking for the first time since they’d been out here “Aww, it’s not that bad, sunshine. I’ve been stuck treading water in the freezing cold under a dock in the middle of the night before. Jumped out of a helo into dark waters. The rain wasn’t fun, but now that the sun’s out? Just pretend it’s part of the vacation. An adventure”

“Part of the vacation, right. I was promised freshly grilled fish and relaxing on a boat. Not treading water in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.”

“I’ll tell you what, sunshine. When we get to dry land, I’ll let you get first pick of the MREs.”

“All tempting options, I’m sure. And I’m not sure if I’m quite as adventurous as you, to be honest. Going on a spur of the moment fishing trip was adventurous to me. But this?” She wrinkled her nose, causing him to chuckle.

“It’s cute as hell when you do that,” he said with a smirk.

“It’s not cute.”

“Disagree,” he said matter-of-factly, his gaze scanning over her face. “Hopefully the fish won’t see your eyebrow ring and think it’s food.”

“What?” she shrieked, smacking at the water.

“I’m just teasing you.”

“That is so not funny,” she warned.

“It’s a little funny.” He looked back at her, his lips quirking.

“I knew I shouldn’t have agreed to go on this trip,” she grumbled.

Noah chuckled, wrapping his arm around her waist to pull her close. “You’re doing amazing, sunshine. Hell, fit for SEAL duty after this.”

“No thanks.”

“Yeah, I can see how you wouldn’t want to be stuck with me and the guys longer than necessary. We’re like brothers though—we train together, fight together.”

“Vacation together,” she quipped.

“I think this’ll be the last vacation I take with Mason for a while,” he said with a low chuckle. “He hasn’t had good luck with R&R recently.”

“What do you mean?” she asked, taking position behind him again. She was cold and tired of being wet. Not to mention hungry. Noah was doing more work than her though. She’d just have to suck it up, she thought as she grabbed onto the back of his swim trunks.

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