Page 71 of Nowhere to Hide

A shiver skittered down my spine.

“You good?”

“Yes,” I said quietly. “Just thinking what if you hadn’t been there?”

His fingers cupped the tops of my shoulders and stroked down my arms briefly before returning to the railing. “I’d bet on you.”

I swallowed down the lump forming. I wasn’t so sure about that one.

We slowly drifted around the natural bay. A few ships were out enjoying the same view, but everyone kept their distance. The waves crashed along the heavy base of the lighthouse. With each spray of white foam, it revealed the lichen and barnacle-ridden concrete. The salt of the water pitted the concrete over time, giving it new grooves for the sea life to latch on to and grow.

Its own little symbiotic relationship of wear and tear and growth.

Much like the both of us.

I couldn’t begin to know what demons Locke was dragging around, but he made me feel safe.

I didn’t want to break the moment, but fatigue pulled at me.

I listed to the right, compensating as my muscles began to lose their fight. He slid an arm around my waist and turned me around. I couldn’t see what was going on behind the mirrored glasses and his face was devoid of any emotion. He lifted me up and headed back to where my nest was.

I gritted my teeth against the throbbing pain.

“Sorry,” he said quietly as he adjusted my hips to take the weight off my left side. His muscular arm brushed along the side of my breast, and I had to bite back a groan. Of pain or reaction, I wasn’t quite sure.

He quickly backed off and climbed out of my little oasis. Suddenly a shade unfurled from the captain’s area and cut some of the midday sun. He came back a few minutes later with a bottle of water and my pills.

I sighed. “I don’t want to take them.”

“Too bad.” He shook them out and transferred them to my fingers.

I dutifully swallowed them down and collapsed back on the cushions.

“Get some rest,” he said curtly. “We’ll be sticking here for the afternoon. Plenty of time to see what you want.”

I watched him shimmy around the boat until he was well hidden.

I draped an arm over my face.

The attraction was probably one-sided, but it was more intense than I’d felt with anyone. It had to be the hero angle. It would dissipate soon. It had to.

For now, the simple act of standing exhausted me.

The next thing I knew, the water was lazily lapping at the sides and the sun had slipped far lower in the horizon. I sat up and he seemed to have been watching for me since he came out as soon as I started moving.

He crouched beside me. “Feel better?”

“Not sure. Just feel beaten up overall.”

“Well, you were.”

I huffed out a breath. “Yeah.”

“We’ll stay out here for the night. See how you do.”

I nodded. “Okay.”

“Hungry?”