Part 21 (2/2)

Annabelle wasn't in the mood to argue. ”I suppose you're right.” She lifted the strap of the binoculars over her head and stood on tiptoe to put it around Lincoln's neck.

”Mo-om. I can do that.”

”I don't want you to drop them. No doubt they cost a pretty penny.”

”I'm sure he'll be careful,” Matt murmured.

Annabelle felt the two males closing ranks on her, which made her feel out of place. She began to wonder if that had been another reason she hadn't wanted to invite a man into the family. When it was her and Genevieve and Lincoln, the females had the advantage. Well, she hoped she hadn't been that unsure of herself.

”Go ahead and sit here and take the wheel,” Matt said.

”I do believe I will.” Annabelle settled into the driver's seat and immediately felt better. She'd always been one to steer her own course.

At Gen's suggestion, Jack sat on the beach towel and soaked his feet in the salt water.

”I'll pick us some guavas and be back,” she said.

Jack watched her go, glad he'd kept the gla.s.ses so he could enjoy the free way she walked around this beach without a st.i.tch on. When she reached up to pick guavas off the tree, she could have been Eve in the Garden of Eden.

Yeah, but once Adam had eaten the little treat Eve had brought him, things hadn't worked out so good. Jack wondered if Adam had enjoyed the kind of amazing s.e.x with Eve that he'd just had with Gen. If so, being booted out of the Garden must have been a real b.u.mmer. Jack could relate.

Gen came back toward him holding three guavas in her cupped hands. Her b.r.e.a.s.t.s swayed gently as she trudged through the sand. Jack wondered if this was the picture he'd superimpose over Gen the next time he met her coming from the copy machine with a stack of papers.

She dumped the guavas on the towel beside him. ”This time we'll use my manicure scissors to peel them. I'll be right back.”

”Okay.” Turning to watch her walk up to the hideaway would definitely be ogling, so Jack faced the ocean instead.

Some kind of seabirds soared overhead, but he'd never learned their names. He'd bet Gen would know. He loved that she was so tuned in to the natural world.

Sunlight sparkled on the water, but there were no fins. That didn't mean the shark wasn't out there like a submerged submarine, though.

Jack shuddered every time he thought of the times he and Gen had tempted Fate by splas.h.i.+ng around in that water. Why the shark hadn't grabbed one of them when they'd swum in from the plane was a puzzle. So far they'd been incredibly lucky. Jack knew from his statistics cla.s.s that the odds couldn't keep going in their favor.

He caught Gen's scent before he heard her steps in the sand behind him. She'd put on some more of that coconut suntan oil. As he turned his head to smile at her, he discovered that wasn't all she'd put on. She was wearing a light-colored bikini.

”Now I feel underdressed,” he said. He wondered if the bathing suit was a signal that they wouldn't have s.e.x anymore. If so, it wasn't a very good signal, because those litde sc.r.a.ps of material would come off in no time. He'd always thought that was the idea of a bikini-gift-wrapped s.e.x.

”I put this on for a reason. I have a plan, but first you need some more of this lotion on your back and shoulders. You're starting to get a little red.”

”Okay, thanks.” He wasn't about to object if she wanted to rub her hands all over his back. ”What's the plan?”

”Well, I've been thinking.” She knelt on the sand behind him, snapped open the lid, and squeezed out some lotion. The slurping sound made him think of s.e.x, and the strong scent of coconuts made him think of s.e.x. When she started smoothing the cool lotion over his back, he had to casually splash water over his p.e.n.i.s to keep it subdued.

”About what?” He listened to her breathe, trying to tell if she was the slightest bit turned on. He couldn't tell.

”About what you said before, that they wouldn't look for us down here.” She re-capped the lotion, and gave a couple more swipes over his back; then she swished her hands through the water before sitting cross-legged on the towel beside him.

”They might not.”

”I agree with you.” She picked up a guava. ”They'll be down around Maui, because that's where Nick was supposed to be headed.”

”I'm afraid so.”

”Then we need to do something to get a lot of attention if we expect to be noticed.” She licked the guava juice from her hand.

”Probably.” Jack thought Gen in a bikini licking guava juice from her fingers should do the trick, or at least it would for him.

”I think we need to climb to the top of this rocky cliff and use my clothes, and whatever you can spare, to make a big X that a plane could see.”

He'd been considering the same thing, although the thought of scaling that cliff turned his insides to water. But as scared as he was to make the climb, that wasn't the worst part. Once they left their little section of paradise here on the beach, they wouldn't climb all the way back down again. Their interlude would be over. That was the worst part.

She handed him a juicy piece of guava. ”What do you think?”

He knew exactly what Adam had felt like when faced with that apple. The poor sap had known he was screwed, but he'd had no choice. He was going to be kicked out of paradise. ”I think you're right,” he said, and took the dripping piece of fruit.

Chapter 16.

An hour later, Gen stood beside the hideout with Jack. Leaving this spot felt a lot like leaving the Hollow. In many ways being marooned here had been like a trip back home, and she was glad for that. The girl who had left Tennessee at fifteen still lived inside her, and Genevieve wanted to renew the acquaintance. Maybe she wouldn't go back to being a hillbilly, but she wouldn't be so ashamed of her roots, either. They'd helped her survive.

”We did a pretty good job of making a hideout,” Jack said.

”I wish I had a camera to take a picture of it. If we ever come back here, it will probably be gone.”

”You never know. It's pretty st.u.r.dy.”

”It's a wonderful hideout, Jack.” She could tell he was proud of having built it and hated to leave it to the elements, as she did. But if they ever hoped to be rescued, they had to climb to a high spot and concoct a signal that a plane would see. ”But it's served its purpose and now we have to go.”

He gazed at her for a long, silent moment.

She wasn't as psychic as her mama or Lincoln, but it didn't take a psychic to read what was going on in Jack's genius brain. He was thinking of a very specific purpose the hideout had served. They still had one condom left, packed into her pink suitcase along with six guavas, their clothes, and the last of the rainwater. They hadn't discussed it, just packed it in with the other stuff.

All in all, she thought they'd made good use of the materials at hand. They'd rinsed out her shampoo bottle and funneled the water into it using Jack's cupped hands. Because she'd ripped the original handle off the suitcase, she'd had to come up with a way for Jack to lug it along with them. She'd cut the cord off her curling iron and put that through the holes made when the handle had pulled out.

The cord was long enough to loop over Jack's shoulder and across his chest so the suitcase sat against his right hip. While they'd rigged that up, she kept thinking about how he'd hog-tied her with the cord. From the look in his eyes and the jut of his fly, he most certainly remembered it.

He cleared his throat. ”Guess we'd better get started. Sure you don't want to use the gla.s.ses first?”

”No, you first. You're leading the way.” He looked like such a manly man right now, if you didn't count the pink suitcase attached to him by the curling iron cord. She'd made cutoffs out of his pants, and although he was still wearing his belt, he'd decided against a s.h.i.+rt. The women at Rainbow wouldn't recognize him now. If she could take a picture of him looking like this, without the suitcase, of course, he'd have about a million dates in no time.

He gazed up at the rocky cliff. ”Yeah, like I know how to do this.”

”You don't?” So maybe he looked more manly than he was. Once again, she'd made the mistake of thinking he'd had a normal childhood. She'd a.s.sumed he'd want to lead this expedition. ”You've never climbed a ledge before?”

<script>