Page 38 of Ship Wrecked

“It doesn’t have to be serious, Peter, and it doesn’t have to be public.” Thoughts fuzzy with her own arousal, she tried to think through his possible reasoning, then find the right phrase in English. “We could be costars with secret benefits, if you wanted.”

Because she was giving up, at long last. She’d burned like an inferno for him from the moment they’d met, and now she alsoknewhim. Liked him. Trusted him, at least a little. Enough to offer that much of herself, even if he couldn’t offer her everything she needed in return.

When they were done, it might crack her heart around the edges, but she’d try her best to keep the core intact. And maybe she’d fail. Maybe she’d grow too attached. That was a risk she was willing to take, as long as she got to takehimin the bargain.

“Shit, Maria.” He scrubbed his hands over his face, then lowered them to his sides again and twisted his upper body toward her. “You know I want you. I couldn’t hide it if I tried.”

Without thinking, she dropped her gaze to his lap.

His laugh—no longer bitter, merely rueful—sounded tired. “And to be clear, Ihavetried. My need to fuck you isn’t the issue here, though, and neither is my... uh, affection. How charming and smart and funny and talented I think you are, and how much I just—likeyou.”

Absently, she rubbed at her chest, which seemed to be... melting somehow?

“Okay.” After such lovely compliments, now shereallydidn’t understand. “So whatisthe issue, then?”

Those dark eyes of his were solemn and steady. “If we got involved that way, and things went sour between us, we’d have nowhere to hide. Nowhere we could lick our wounds until we got over whatever happened. Instead, we’d be forced to confront each other day after day, week after week, no matter how angry or hurt we were. It would be terrible for us, and it would be terrible for everyone on the crew forced to endure the awkwardness and tension alongside us.”

He wasn’t wrong, of course. But wasn’t it worth a gamble?

She opened her mouth to ask that very question, but he wasn’t finished.

“Maria, we may spend years together on this island.Years. We’re the only two actors on the set, and we both know you’re the center of everything here. You’ve made us a team. Hell, you’ve made us a goddamnfamily, and you’re what holds our family together. But if things went bad between us, the community you’ve built, all the camaraderie you’ve nurtured, could disappear”—he snapped his fingers—“like that.”

He’d never strung so many words together at one time in her presence.

Funny. After months of wishing he would talk more, express his thoughts and feelings more clearly, she now wanted him to shut the hell up, because his words hurt.

“It would be unbearable.” Gods above, he was still fuckingtalking. “And the work would suffer too. You know it would. All the strain off camera would bleed into the footage, and I’d have ruined this once-in-a-career opportunity for what? Sex?”

For me, she wanted to tell him.You’d have risked everything forme.

Instead, she swallowed past the burn in her throat and pointed out the obvious. “Peter, you’ve already endangered your career for me. Today, as a matter of fact.”

“That was potentially a matter of life and death.” With a decisive shake of his head, he dismissed the only good argument she had left. “The state of my dick isn’t.”

If this was just about his dick, he probably wouldn’t be so worried.

But that didn’t really matter, did it? He’d said no.

And despite the faint prickling in her sinuses, everything was fine. She and Peter might have fucked, but they’d never been lovers. Now she guessed they never would be.

That was fine too. Or at least it would be, once her stupid chest stopped aching.

After all, she’d still have him as a valued friend and colleague, and nothing he’d said changed what he’d done for her today. For a man like him, risking his career even that much was a testament to how deeply he truly cared about her.

So she would make things easy on him. She would make things easy on them both.

“Very well,” she said. “Friends?”

Her hand rock-steady, she extended it toward Peter. But because he truly was a fuckingskitstövel, he didn’t shake it. Instead, he raised it to his mouth and brushed a kiss over her knuckles before letting go.

The brief, glancing contact might as well have blistered her.

She needed to get the hell out of his suite.

The soft curve of his lips was bittersweet. “Good friends.”

“The best of friends,” she confirmed with an answering smile that stretched her cheeks painfully, then hopped off his bed.

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