Page 86 of The Cinnamon Bun Book Store

‘It’s not actually that bad of a storm. I mean, I’ve sailed in worse.’

‘Noah!’ She pulled away, filled with righteous indignation. ‘You. Saved. Us.’

He shrugged, his smile growing. ‘I mean, if you want to tell people that I saved you, I won’t be mad.’

‘I’ll be telling everyone this story.’

He huffed a quiet laugh. ‘Okay, Haze.’

‘Okay.’ She glanced around. ‘Now what?’ The wind was less on this side of the island but it was still lashing rain against the sides of the boat and soaking its occupants. The boat still rocked beneath her feet.

‘Now we ride it out.’

Hazel’s brows rose. ‘Here? On the boat?’

Noah grinned. ‘Yep.’

‘But ... isn’t anyone here? To help us?’

‘Nope. This island’s been abandoned for at least a decade. Island living is rough out here. Most people can’t hack it.’

‘Oh. Shit.’

‘The worst of the storm is past us. Look.’ He held up his phone, showing her the weather satellite he’d been checking all day. ‘That’s the storm. And we’re here-ish. This thing is moving fast. We’ll be all right.’

‘Hmm.’

He chuckled and grabbed her hand and she realized it was freezing cold and had been for some time but she’d been too preoccupied with not dying to pay attention. Now that they were relatively, sorta safe, she was cold and stiff.

‘Come on, let’s warm you up.’

Noah opened the sneaky trap door he’d shown her earlier and gestured down the few steps into the living space below deck.

‘After you.’

Hazel didn’t love the idea of going further into the boat while the waves tossed them about but she also didn’t love the idea of staying above deck and freezing her butt off, so she went down the steps.

There was about two square feet of standing room in the cabin. The rest of the space was taken up by a bed that was the shape of the front of the boat, sort of like a triangle with rounded sides, two small benches at the foot of the bed, and a small cabinet with the one burner stove on top.

‘Just strip that wet stuff off and toss it under the bench. Open the other bench up and there’s some dry clothing in there you can put on,’ Noah instructed, his head poked in the doorway and then he closed it to keep the rain and wind out.

Hazel quickly changed into a pair of sweatpants that she had to roll five times just to be able to stick her feet out of the bottom, an equally large T-shirt and a sweatshirt. She kicked her wet clothes under the other bench and then crawled onto the bed to make space for Noah to come down.

He peeked his head in a moment later. ‘All good?’

‘Yeah, get in here. You’ll catch your death.’

He stepped down, laughing as he closed the hatch. ‘Okay, that sounded like an old lady.’

Hazel managed a small laugh even as the boat swayed in the water. ‘That’s what I was shooting for.’ There was a skylight above her on the bed, but she couldn’t see anything besides the rain pelting the outside of it. A few small lights glowed around the tiny cabin.

Noah shucked his wet shirt, he’d already left the wet coat he’d been wearing above deck, and Hazel barely had time to catch her breath before his jeans were gone, too. He stood at the end of the bed in nothing but his boxer briefs and the braided bracelets around his wrist. His hair was wet and looked dark brown in the low light. He grabbed a towel from the storage bench and ran it over his hair, leaving it standing up in places.

She watched the muscles in his arms and back bunch and flex as he moved, remembering how he’d moved to get them here, to keep her safe.

She swallowed hard. ‘I’m wearing all your clothes.’

He sent her a lopsided grin. ‘Guess you’ll have to keep me warm.’ He crawled up onto the bed next to her and she quickly lifted the blanket to let him underneath. His skin was cool to the touch when he wrapped his arms around her and she hugged him back, nestling her face in the crook of his neck.