15. Roni

Ididn't remember falling asleep, but it was abundantly clear that I did as I opened my eyes. They felt heavy, and I wanted nothing more than to close them again and hope that I opened them again when I was warmer. I still felt a bone-deep cold, and the sound of water filled my ears as it surrounded me.

"Hey, Roni," Diego spoke in my ear gently. "Do me a favor and keep those eyes open for me, will you?" His voice was calming, but I caught the edge of worry in them. There was just enough alarm to convince me to do as he asked.

"Are we still swimming?" I asked sleepily.

"Yes, but we're almost to shore." I couldn't see anything from where I floated on my back, so I had no idea if he was lying to raise my spirits or if he was telling the truth.

I violently shivered, and as I did I felt something below me bumping against my body.

"That's just me below you. I'm buddy swimming you to try to help you stay warm." Now that he pointed it out, I could feel his arm under my breasts as he held onto me. His front was pressed against my back, and his legs were beneath mine. I tried kicking my legs to help him but quickly gave up. They were too frozen to move.

I yawned. "Are you sure I can't take a nap?" I asked as I closed my eyes.

"I'm positive. Stay awake for me, Roni. I'll need your help when we get to shore." He sounded worried; he didn't try as hard to keep it from his voice. If he did, he was a shit actor. Much better at survival and kicking ass and stuff…

"I'm sorry." There was no way that I was going to fight off sleep. It was already pulling me under. I just hoped that I'd open my eyes again at some point.

??

I opened my eyes again, and everything was different. Was I dead? Did I wake up to the afterlife? The view of tall pines towering over my head didn't do much to give me the whole pearly gates vibe. Nor did they scream gates of Hell. So I must have survived.

I felt a tiredness that was bone deep, and I was cold—but I was dry. I pulled my arms closer to my body to trap warmth, and that's when I noticed I wasn't wearing a shirt, or bra….or any clothes, for that matter. I felt something shift behind me and recognized Diego's smell, barely there. It was covered by the strong smell of the sea. And he was naked, too. There wasn't a single layer of clothing between us. Holy shit.

I was willing to cross that line with him yesterday in the heat of the moment. But now I felt insecure and scared.

"You awake?" he whispered.

I groaned. "Depends. Are we alive? Please tell me we have dry clothes."

"Yes, we're alive. Wouldn't be if it weren't for your quick thinking and floating all of our bags. I had two emergency foil blankets in there. Those quite frankly kept us alive overnight. I couldn't risk a fire—not yet."

"And our clothes?" I pressed.

He shifted behind me. I instantly felt cold where his skin no longer touched mine.

"Let me go find out." I turned my head, even though I shouldn't have, and I saw his naked form walk across the small camp he made for us. His back was chiseled with defined muscles that made him look like a man's man, but not a steroid abuser. He had one large tattoo on his back, but I couldn't make it out at this distance. His ass—don't even get me started on it. But it should be illegal for a man to have two cheeks that were so fine. He looked like he could walk back into the ocean and call himself Poseidon.

He bent over to pick up a few of our items, and I had to turn away before I got any naughty ideas. We were beached and barely surviving; there were more important places to divert my attention and imagination to.

I heard his footsteps in the sandy gravel and looked up. He held a small pile of clothing that covered his goods. "Most of it is still wet, but some of the thinner clothes dried first. Won't do a whole lot to keep us warm, but it will protect our skin while we work to figure out our next steps."

I eagerly accepted the t-shirt, lace underwear, and boxer briefs he handed me. It was probably only forty-five degrees out, but at least it provided some modesty. I slipped them on as quickly as I could, doing my best to enjoy the strong smell of the sea. I might be stuck with it for a while, so I needed to get used to it.

"Keep the blanket while we look for stuff to make a fire. Now that the sun's up, we want to focus on getting warm, getting some substance and hydrating. Fire is a good place to start—luckily you stuck that book of matches in the MRE bag. How'd you know to do that?"

He watched me as I slowly stood up and pulled the foil-like blanket tighter around me. Sand fell off my skin and out of my hair, but that couldn't be helped at this point. I was grateful to be alive. I'd happily wash sand out of my hair for weeks if I had to.

"I don't know. Instinct, I guess. I knew jumping into that water I was going to risk hypothermia, and if by some chance I actually made it to land somewhere, I'd need to start a fire. I have a better chance of being struck by lightning than rubbing two sticks together to create a spark. I needed to make sure I'd be able to start a fire." I shrugged at the end to emphasize just how much experience I actually had—almost none.

"Well, it's going to save our asses this morning as well. I'm going to start gathering some larger logs, things that will burn for a while as we start on other priorities. Can you gather tinder—little pieces of dried sticks and grasses? It will ignite quickly and burn hot, helping the larger pieces catch."

I nodded. I could do that, even though my shoes weren't dry and my feet were icicles. The sooner I got what we needed, the sooner we'd get a fire.

"Stay close, okay? Shout if you need me, and take your knife." Diego's concern was nice. No longer would I doubt the lengths that someone would go to kidnap me, nor would I underestimate the lengths to which Diego would go to keep me safe. I needed to make that easier for both of us, and I needed to not be a burden.

I turned to the left, and he went to the right, toward some of the bigger trees. One was nearly uprooted in the distance, so there were probably usable larger pieces for him. I headed in the direction of some dead bushes. They had lots of little branches I could break off and bring back.

When my feet began to ache, I walked back to our campsite, and I tried to recall what I should be doing next. I saw on TV that most campfires had a circle of rocks around them—so I began gathering those. By the time Diego was back with a massive stack of larger logs and branches, I had a circle pit built three inches high. Half of my kindling already rested in the center, ready to go.

Diego didn't say anything, but I didn't miss the sexy smirk of appreciation that quickly crossed his face and then disappeared as he got to work. I didn't need a thank-you if it meant he'd look at me like that again. It messed with my insides, just like he did yesterday when he fisted my hair and brought my face to his—right before the boat was attacked.

He quickly got to work arranging a few pieces of the wood and my kindling beneath it. When he struck a match, I held my breath. If we actually made a fire, I knew we would be able to survive in the woods, and I'd keep all my fingers and toes.

The match lit the kindling, and it immediately began to smoke. "Get down low and softly blow into the flame," Diego directed.

I got down on my hands and knees and turned my head toward the fire. He was directly across from me, looking down. I gently created an O shape with my lips and softly blew into the flame.

"Easy," he guided. I lessened up slightly. I was rewarded by more smoke and a larger flame. "Again," he ordered. I repeated the same steps and looked up, this time not watching the baby flames, but the man causing a different flame. There was something erotic about being below him like this, with him looking down at me and guiding me. If I wasn't mistaken, there was a hunger there in his eyes. Was I reading too much into this?

The flame grew larger, and the heat on my face felt good. I closed my eyes and allowed myself to soak it in for a moment. "Good girl," he praised. I damn near soaked my underwear at the praise.

Holy shit.

My eyes snapped open and met his. I wasn't imagining it; there was definitely hunger. Was it always there, and I was too blind to see it?

"Watch your face," he warned, and then he shifted the logs again. The kindling continued to feed the flames, and soon the bark to one of the logs caught. The growing orange ember was one of the most beautiful sights I'd ever seen.

I jumped in joy and launched myself across the fire and straight into Diego's arms. "We did it! Holy shit, we've got fire!"

"Did you doubt us? It was a sure thing with your matches and the dry wood we found." He pulled back and smiled at me. I could see the same joy I felt reflected back in my eyes. Before I could even contemplate what I wanted, I leaned forward and hungrily placed my lips on his. He eagerly returned my kiss with the same enthusiasm. He nibbled on my bottom lip, wanting access. I parted my lips, and he deepened the kiss. Our tongues danced; it wasn't a battle—they worked together to give me the best kiss of my entire life. It felt just as hot as the flame at my back, and it only made me hunger for his touch more.

I moaned when his fingers fisted in my hair again, but I pouted as he pulled back. "As much as I'd love to do this, I think we have a list of things we need to do to get us in good shape. It's probably not a good idea to stay here long if we don't have to. We don't want to risk being found by the wrong people. We need to get to a town where we can choose who to interact with."

I loosened my hold on him. He was right, even if the throbbing between my legs tried to tell me otherwise. He used his large hands to turn me around so I sat between his legs and we faced the fire. "We get two minutes to enjoy the warmth before we need to get to work. We'll lay out our gear by the fire to dry out. Then we will eat and hydrate while the fire continues to dry us and our clothes out. From there, we will set up the small tent in my bag, if it's still any good, and we will get ready to hike out tomorrow."

I nodded, because I didn't have a better plan.

He took my hands and placed them together, palms touching. Then he rubbed the back of my hands as he guided them closer to the fire.

For the first time since we left Washington, I actually relaxed.