resolute. I want eyes like that, just a touch of the unshakeable granite like nerve that I sense from this strange man.
He folds his arms across his wide chest. “I will pay you five thousand American dollars to get me out of this hotel.”
My stomach hit s the floor, the thought of so much money, more than I could earn in a year and a half was outrageous. It was like that publisher something house we’d often seen advertised but had no hope of entering much less winning. A deep pang of want assaults me like a starving wretch who spots a succulent, unprotected feast in the distance.
I quickly lower my gaze to hide my raging need, it lands unerringly on my clean but shabby white sneakers, mandatory footwear. I could actually purchase new shoes with a tiny fraction of that money. Hell, twelve pairs!
I swa llow down a truckload of materialism, and I accept with a pang of shame that I am no better than Donald.
But I can try.
I take in several dollops of moist, clean air, hopefully enough to give me back some courage. I firm my chin, look him in the eyes. “No.”
I catch a glimmer of a fearful temper just percolating beneath the hard surface, but he does not hide the determination in his face. I swallow and keep his level stare with difficulty, “I won’t break the law for you.”
He is beside me in an instant, long strides having devoured the few feet between us.
I squee ze my shoulders into a protective curve, he stops, I deliberately lower my gaze, I can feel his gaze burning through the thickness of my bun. I have moaned incessantly about the thickness of my midnight hair but today I am thankful I haven’t lopped it off as I usually itch to do once a month. Today it is protecting me from the fiery glare of this crazy guest.
I lift my head with tremendous difficulty. “I’m not afraid of you,” the words are stammered and I wince at the transparency of the lie.
He pauses right in front of me , I have to crane my neck back and transfer my glare nearly two feet upward to reach my target, he lets the silence stretch out between us. It is a taunt, an intentional bullying tactic if ever I saw one and I’ve seen plenty.
He clears his throat roughly. “I don’t want to hurt you,” his voice sounds reasonable, almost repentant, “In fact that is the furthest thing from my mind. I just need to get out of this blasted hotel and unto the island.”
There is frustration, anger and worse yet a whiff of fear that I catch in his voice. What could possibly scare this man?
Who is he, What was he? Why was he so intent on getting unto an island whose only beauty was actually sitting just outside this room’s window, lapping against the shoreline?
Was he a … a … the thought wouldn’t form. Somehow I just couldn’t feel it, didn’t sense it inside my bones. He was no murderer running from the law. I would have known it the moment he touched me just like I had sensed the cruelty inside my stepmother the first time we’d met.
He is waiting, letting me sort out my hesitation.
Finally I remember something, someone, I stare beyond his massive shoulders, seeing nothing, feeling the shame stain my cheeks. “I will help you.”
Chapter Four
Nate
We are the last one s to go through the checkpoint. She has followed my plan exactly. I am hiding behind the rough bark of a fat dwarf coconut tree, watching her distract the grinning idiot who is trying his utmost to look through the high collar of her demure cotton uniform. An instance of quick fury bludgeons me out of nowhere, I grimace at the mess this has already become, though the tense anger I’m experiencing is not foreign to my recently vacated profession, given its unpredictably perilous nature, I have learned over the years to be in complete control of it, but that is not the case now, I actually have to make myself stay behind the coconut.
I hate the way the man is watching her, walking
He folds his arms across his wide chest. “I will pay you five thousand American dollars to get me out of this hotel.”
My stomach hit s the floor, the thought of so much money, more than I could earn in a year and a half was outrageous. It was like that publisher something house we’d often seen advertised but had no hope of entering much less winning. A deep pang of want assaults me like a starving wretch who spots a succulent, unprotected feast in the distance.
I quickly lower my gaze to hide my raging need, it lands unerringly on my clean but shabby white sneakers, mandatory footwear. I could actually purchase new shoes with a tiny fraction of that money. Hell, twelve pairs!
I swa llow down a truckload of materialism, and I accept with a pang of shame that I am no better than Donald.
But I can try.
I take in several dollops of moist, clean air, hopefully enough to give me back some courage. I firm my chin, look him in the eyes. “No.”
I catch a glimmer of a fearful temper just percolating beneath the hard surface, but he does not hide the determination in his face. I swallow and keep his level stare with difficulty, “I won’t break the law for you.”
He is beside me in an instant, long strides having devoured the few feet between us.
I squee ze my shoulders into a protective curve, he stops, I deliberately lower my gaze, I can feel his gaze burning through the thickness of my bun. I have moaned incessantly about the thickness of my midnight hair but today I am thankful I haven’t lopped it off as I usually itch to do once a month. Today it is protecting me from the fiery glare of this crazy guest.
I lift my head with tremendous difficulty. “I’m not afraid of you,” the words are stammered and I wince at the transparency of the lie.
He pauses right in front of me , I have to crane my neck back and transfer my glare nearly two feet upward to reach my target, he lets the silence stretch out between us. It is a taunt, an intentional bullying tactic if ever I saw one and I’ve seen plenty.
He clears his throat roughly. “I don’t want to hurt you,” his voice sounds reasonable, almost repentant, “In fact that is the furthest thing from my mind. I just need to get out of this blasted hotel and unto the island.”
There is frustration, anger and worse yet a whiff of fear that I catch in his voice. What could possibly scare this man?
Who is he, What was he? Why was he so intent on getting unto an island whose only beauty was actually sitting just outside this room’s window, lapping against the shoreline?
Was he a … a … the thought wouldn’t form. Somehow I just couldn’t feel it, didn’t sense it inside my bones. He was no murderer running from the law. I would have known it the moment he touched me just like I had sensed the cruelty inside my stepmother the first time we’d met.
He is waiting, letting me sort out my hesitation.
Finally I remember something, someone, I stare beyond his massive shoulders, seeing nothing, feeling the shame stain my cheeks. “I will help you.”
Chapter Four
Nate
We are the last one s to go through the checkpoint. She has followed my plan exactly. I am hiding behind the rough bark of a fat dwarf coconut tree, watching her distract the grinning idiot who is trying his utmost to look through the high collar of her demure cotton uniform. An instance of quick fury bludgeons me out of nowhere, I grimace at the mess this has already become, though the tense anger I’m experiencing is not foreign to my recently vacated profession, given its unpredictably perilous nature, I have learned over the years to be in complete control of it, but that is not the case now, I actually have to make myself stay behind the coconut.
I hate the way the man is watching her, walking
Similar Books
All the Land to Hold Us
Rick Bass
Murder in Focus
Medora Sale
Spying on Miss Muller
Eve Bunting
The Murder of the Century
Paul Collins
Crystal Keepers
Brandon Mull
Zlata's Diary
Zlata Filipovic
Saved by Scandal
Bárbara Metzger
Don't Cry for Me
Sharon Sala
Tarot's Touch
L.M. Somerton
Sandstorm
James Rollins