Page 8 of Hunted (Desert Island Duet #2)

Chapter seven

Darla

I plop another slice of pear into my mouth, my eyes catching Bower’s as he smirks. I quickly look away, but my cheeks heat… again.

“Are you feeling okay?”

“Hmm?” I turn my head to Kingsley, who’s sitting beside me on the beach while the other three sit a few feet away on a fallen palm tree trunk.

“You look really warm.” He places a hand on my forehead and frowns.

Realizing he’s talking about my heated cheeks, I feel them redden even more and my eyes bounce to Bower in embarrassment.

He hides his laughter and looks down at the pear he’s eating as my eyes move back to Kingsley.

His eyes are bouncing between us as he frowns.

“Did something…” he trails off, whispering quietly. “Did you two—”

“Was that wrong?” I ask, suddenly worried about how this relationship is supposed to work. Would he or Weston be upset that I took things further with Bower?

My face pinches with worry as I search Kingsley’s bright blue eyes for any sign of anger or sadness. But instead, I see shock, which quickly drops away, leaving him the way he usually looks at me, with a tenderness that I feel down to the depths of my heart .

“Sweetheart.” He cups my cheek and smiles, his thumb softly stroking my heated skin. “Of course, that wasn’t wrong. You’re in control here. You can take your relationship with each of us at whatever speed you are comfortable with. There is no right or wrong when it comes to that, you understand?”

I nod my head, and he gives me a soft kiss on the cheek, making my face heat again, which in turn, makes his smile grow wide.

He releases my face and goes back to eating.

When I glance up at Bower, he winks at me again, a smirk on his handsome face.

I throw a mock scowl his way, feigning annoyance while trying not to smile.

“Just ignore him, Darla. I do.” I glance up at Kingsley as he passes me another slice of pear.

In some ways, I do feel behind in my relationship with Kingsley, compared to the other two. I hadn’t told him the true extent of my feelings yet. I didn’t feel any less strongly about him than I did the other two, I just hadn’t had the right moment to tell him yet.

And then there’s Reece. He’s so intense I don’t know how to act around him.

Even now, he can barely take his eyes off me.

Part of me loves his attention, knowing that he never got over losing me…

I assumed he’d be married with kids by now, living some happy life.

I never, ever expected him to be as messed up as I am about the loss… just in a different way.

I find it so hard to believe that he wants to just jump back in where we left things.

Of course we can’t, we can never get those missing years back.

We’ve both changed and need to learn how to be around each other again.

I’m glad we’re starting as friends, because I have an idea that when he finds out all the horrible things that have happened to me…

that he wo n’t look at me the same way anymore.

And I don’t know where that will leave us all.

“So, what do we do now?” Reece asks, breaking me out of my internal struggle.

“Normally we’d—”

“Eep!” Kingsley is cut off by the high-pitched trill of Mo-Mo, who comes swinging in and lands in the sand right in front of Reece, waving his arms wildly and chattering nonstop.

“What the fuck?!” Reece jerks so quickly, he topples off the trunk and lands in the sand flat on his back. This causes Mo-Mo to get louder, jumping on the log and continuing to chastise Reece… for a reason unknown to the rest of us.

Bower starts laughing and Weston just watches with an amused smile on his face.

Sighing, I stand up and move towards them. “Mo-Mo! That is no way to treat a friend!” I tell him as I lean down to pick him up.

“Darla, don’t—” Reece, still on his back, reaches towards us, but I scoop my lemur up and turn towards him.

“Mo-Mo, meet your namesake, Maurice. We call him Reece now, though. Reece, this is Mo-Mo.”

His eyes widen as he stares at my furry friend, who’s gone silent in my arms as they watch each other. Silently, he gets to his feet and steps over the trunk, stopping only two feet in front of us.

“You named this little guy after me?” he asks, his voice turning soft.

I nod my head and smile down at Mo-Mo. “Yeah, well… he quickly became my best friend here, and, well you know…”

“No, say it.” When I don’t speak, he prods me. “Say it, Darla.”

“Because I missed you! Alright? Is that what you wanted to hear? I was all alone out here, and this little guy found me and kept me company. Mo-Mo was the perfect name for him.”

I risk a glance up at him, and he’s looking at me with such piercing intensity it feels like he’s seeing straight into the deepest parts of me.

“Eep.” Mo-Mo breaks the moment between us as he lifts his little fist towards Reece, who looks at it in confusion.

“What does he—”

“He wants a fist bump!” Bower says from where he’s seated, watching our interaction with obvious amusement.

Reece lifts his fist and gently taps it against Mo-Mo’s.

The action makes him trill, and he leaps from my arms onto Reece's shoulder, startling him. He freezes with both arms out to the side, like he has no idea what to do. Everyone laughs as Bower tells him, “Relax, he’s not going to hurt you. He was protecting Zee. That’s why he yelled. ”

He lowers his arms slowly and stands up straight, turning his head to look at Mo-Mo.

“Is that true, Mo-Mo? Are you protective of our girl?”

Our girl.

The two words send a bolt of… something coursing through my body. I like hearing him call me that.

“When she hurt her foot, he and his family brought her fruit every day,” Kingsley tells him.

Reece’s lip quirks up in a small smile. “You don’t say? You’re one special little lemur, aren’t you, Mo-Mo? I mean, you’d have to be with a name like that.”

That pulls a laugh from me and Reece smiles.

It’s a real, true, genuine Reece smile. One I haven’t seen in a very long time.

Seeing it makes my heart leap in my chest with a rush of emotions.

I feel joy at seeing it again, sorrow for how long it’s been, fear that I might lose it once more, and a quiet ache for everything we’ve missed.

“What do you say we go for a swim?” Weston says, breaking the tension.

“Yeah, I’m starting to sweat my ass off out here,” Bower grumbles as he stands and starts removing his pants.

“I’ve been meaning to ask you guys,” Reece says, glancing at each of them. "Why are you still wearing your jeans? I thought you’d be walking around in the bare minimum by now.”

“Why are you still wearing your dress pants and shirt?” Weston asks, pulling his own shirt over his head, and making my eyes go wide at the sight of his naked chest. Even though I’ve seen it several times before, the sheer mass of him never gets old.

I wonder how long it would take me to lick every inch of his exposed skin?

My eyes widen at the sheer intensity of that thought. Shaking my head, I listen to Reece’s answer. “It seems weird to walk around in boxers.” His eyes flick to me before moving back to the guys.

“There you go,” Weston says, as if that explains everything.

“Wait—” I frown, stepping towards them. “What do you mean? Are you guys doing that because of me?” I glance around and they each look at each other, avoiding eye contact with me.

“Have you been uncomfortable and sweating all this time because… what? You don’t want me to see you like that?” I shake my head, knowing that can’t be the reason. I’ve seen all of them shirtless and none of them are shy .

“We didn’t want to make you uncomfortable,” Kingsley says, answering my question as he scratches the back of his head, looking slightly nervous about my response.

“Make me uncomfortable? What about you guys?” I ask, getting worked up and frustrated at the unfairness of it. “That is so not right! I demand you all only wear boxers from now on!” I tell them, crossing my arms over my chest as I glare at them all.

They exchange glances for a moment before Bower shrugs, pulling off his shirt. He plants his hands on his hips and gives me a huge smile.

My mouth goes dry as I try to swallow. Good lord, I’d just had sex with him, but still the mere sight of his body has me heating up all over again.

Movement has my eyes turning to Weston who’s now in the same state of undress. He glances at the rest of us. “You guys coming or what?”

“I’m… Uh… I’m good right now,” I tell him, worried about what I’ll do in the water with them all looking so delicious.

“I’ll stay here. Reece, why don't you join them?” Kingsley asks, just as Mo-Mo jumps on my shoulder, nuzzling my neck.

Reece’s eyes flick between us before he nods. Then he proceeds to remove his own pants and shirt. I saw him like this last night, but it’d been really dark in the hut. Now I was seeing him for the first time in full daylight.

His body is lean and muscular and as my eyes scan over his back, he turns to face me.

And that’s when I see it. The tattoo over his heart.

I gasp, which startles Mo-Mo into jumping back to the trees and scampering away.

But I don’t even look in his direction. No, my eyes are glued to the elegant cursive inked into Reece's chest.

I step towards him, my fingers reaching out to touch it. It feels just like the rest of his skin as I trace the letters of my own name - Darla .

“Why?” I whisper, confusion and awe surrounding me.

He reaches up, grabs my wrist, and places my palm over it. I turn my eyes up to his as he gives me what’s becoming his signature intense stare.

“You feel that?”

I take a moment to figure out what he means. “Your heart,” I whisper.

“It beats only for you, Darla.”

He releases my wrist, and I slowly drag my fingers down to look at it again. I can’t believe he did this. He permanently etched my name into his skin. I knew I meant something to him, but this… this solidifies what he’s been saying.