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The fingers wrapped too tightly around her wrist for her to break the hold felt like tentacles. If she felt this repulsed just by his hand touching her, how was she going to feel when he did so much worse?

Come on, Jake.

Now.

Please.

Apparently, this time her plea was heard by the universe, because the other man who was watching her with almost bored light brown eyes, suddenly howled and let go of his weapon as his hands went under the water, and he hunched over as though in pain.

Relief hit her hard.

Jake.

He was alive and making his move.

Unsure what she should do that would be the most helpful, Alannah yanked hard on the arm that was still being held by the other man.

Distracted by his friend’s howl of pain, she was able to break her hold this time, and since the last thing she wanted was to be used to manipulate Jake in any way, Alannah threw herself overboard and into the water.

It was cold on her skin, and her clothes were immediately soaked through, reminding her of the fear of those hours spent at sea, wondering if they would survive.

Fighting through the memories, she kept under the water and swam herself a small distance away from the boat. She didn't want to be in the way, and when she came up for air and turned to look, she was amazed at what she saw.

Like he was Triton or some other god like sea creature, Jake had gotten his hands on the weapon that had floated off when he must have hit the bored man. He rose out of the water, which streamed down around him, and lifted his weapon, firing at bored man and hitting him several times.

Bright red blood bloomed on bored man’s chest, and he seemed to hover in place for a moment before he collapsed into the water, which immediately turned red around him.

Blue eyes let out a frustrated roar and lifted his weapon, aiming it at Jake.

Fear for her best friend chilled her more than the water ever could.

Despite her intentions of staying out of the way, Alannah couldn’t help a small scream falling from her lips before she could stop it from happening.

Her strangled scream had blue eyes turning in her direction.

That one moment of distraction was all Jake needed.

A few more shots echoed through the air, and the next thing she knew, blue eyes dropped down into the water as well.

Was that it?

Was it over?

Were the two men dead?

As much as she wanted to believe they were safe now, Alannah was having a hard time trusting what her eyes had just seen. What if the men were faking death? What if they were going to pop back up and start shooting? Blue eyes still had his weapon even if Jake had bored man’s.

And what if there were more of them on the island?

Or in a boat nearby?

Even if these two were dead, it wasn't like she and Jake were safe. At best, they’d had a reprieve, but she wanted the threat against them to be gone completely not just temporarily.

“Sunshine.”

Another scream fell from her lips when she blinked and saw a figure standing before her. It took her shock-addled brain a moment to process what it was seeing and realize that it was only Jake.

Throwing herself at him, when his arms closed around her, she finally felt a semblance of calm wash over her. Jake was there so she was okay. Jake, her hero, had just killed two men and given them at least a chance at surviving.

How many times did that make now that he’d saved her life?

“Are you okay? Did they hurt you?” he asked, and she could hear the worry in his voice. It grounded her and reminded her that she had to stay strong. Jake was counting on her to be able to hold it together.

“You stopped them before they could hurt me,” she assured him. “Are you okay?”

“I'm fine.”

“Are you sure? For a moment, I was worried one of the bullets had hit you for real and you weren't faking being dead,” she admitted, tightening her hold on him to assure herself that he was there and real.

“I didn't get hit, just had to wait for the perfect moment to strike.”

“What did you do to him?”

“Got him where no guy wants to be hit,” Jake said with a smirk.

“They’re both dead, right?”

“Both dead.”

“And we have the boat.”

“We have the boat.”

“Which means we have a way off this island,” Alannah said, excitement shoving away most of the shock. Sooner or later, she was sure they would have discussed building a raft to try to leave, but this was so much better.

“We sure do.” Jake’s smile had her smiling back and relaxing further. “I’m going to put you in the boat, then I’m going to get the bodies and hide them in the trees. Don’t want anyone to see them too quickly when someone comes in search of them.”

Carrying her through the water along with him, Jake paused at the boat and lifted her up, setting her inside. Then he set the gun beside her. Its presence made her feel a little better, because now they at least had a way to protect themselves.

Jake retrieved the other weapon and passed it to her, then he found one of the bodies and dragged it out of the water and along the sand to the trees. Alannah felt a moment of panic when he disappeared into the woods, but he was out of her sight for barely a few seconds before returning.

After locating the other body and dumping it along with the first, Jake was back in the boat with her, and they were finally ready to leave.

The memories she had of the island weren't all bad, in fact, some of them could be considered to be the highlights of her entire life, but she was still glad to leave.

Alannah wanted to get back to civilization.

She wanted clean, dry clothes, a warm bed to sleep in, and a nice hot meal of comfort food.

Then she wanted to join the rest of the Charleston Holloway family.

As badly as she needed to keep her business going so she could support herself after this mess was finally cleared up, the cost of staying close and putting her gym above anything else was too high.

Risking Jake’s life wasn't an option.

He’d been ready and willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for her, and she would never forget that.

If she had to rebuild her livelihood from scratch once the threat was eliminated, she’d find a way to do it.

She’d much rather do that than lose the very best friend anyone could ever ask or hope for.

“Ready to get out of here?” Jake asked as he leaned over to get the motor started.

“More than ready. I can't stop thinking about how amazing a steaming hot shower will feel, and wearing clothes I haven’t worn for days that are all filthy and salty. And the food … mmm … I don’t even know what I want to eat first, I just know I'm going to eat way too much, and when I finally climb into a cozy bed, I'm going to lie awake for ages because I'm too full.”

As wonderful as sleeping in a bed with soft pillows and warm blankets sounded, she couldn’t deny she’d miss the feel of Jake’s body snuggled against hers. When you compared the two, maybe sleeping on the hard ground with Jake won out a little above the cozy bed.

“Why aren't we going?” she asked, looking over at Jake, confused as to why he hadn't got the motor running so they could get moving.

“Because the motor must have been hit by a stray bullet and won't start. Looks like we won't be going anywhere after all.”