Page 19 (1/2)
She rewarded hih, then nodded "I’d like that For thetime since I let anyone hold me I want to try"
He eased forward cautiously, letting her observe his everyher plenty of time to object She was a little like a wild deer he wanted to feed froto touch your waist, Lea," Dane said before settling in behind her "You can lean back against et warm We’ll settle you by the fire, then have a nice dinner Relax and know that we’re going to take care of you"
Cooper slorapped his arh she appreciated the heat their bodies generated
Once again, he appreciated how soft her skin was and hoeetly she fit against him "Consider this a break froo No reporters No one who needs your attention Well, besides us No one is going to ask you to o to balls"
"No curious people who look at me with pity," Alea continued
Coop wanted to take exception to that, but noasn’t the tih seemed to work soyou All the tihed "You guys are crazy"
Dane had his cheek against her hair "My oal in life is to convince you that we’re not At least not completely"
"How can you not be mad at me? I’m the reason you’re here," she admitted in a whisper
"I think I speak for all three of us when I say ouldn’t want to be anywhere else," Cooper replied "If I wasn’t with you here, I’d be going out of ood Alea, this wasn’t your fault"
"But e get hoet home, I intend to find out whose fault it is," Dane said, sending Cooper a dark look "Someone planned this"
Someone meant to kill her Cooper knew exactly what Dane’s expressiondown this fucker He nodded to Dane Oh, yeah They would ain
"I thought the pilot was just crazy and hated my family" Alea’s arms sloound around his waist "You’re both so warm"
Cooper cuddled a little closer "We’ll always keep you warm, safe…whatever you need We’ll take care of you We can survive here indefinitely Landon is scouting the island for ht now"
"What happens if he doesn’t find any? What happens when the food we took from the plane runs out?" Alea asked, then bit her lip for a ot all we could, but we can’t survive on crackers, pâté, and peanuts for very long"
Dane chuckled softly "There’s an ocean of food right out there This place has bananas and all kinds of fruit We were all trained to knohat kind of plants we can and can’t eat Lea, we’ve got this We survived the crash That was the hard part The rest is easy, especially now that you’ve convinced Coop to rene I won’t say it will be like hanging around the palace, but if we take care of each other, keep the fire going, find a safe place to wait out any storolden"
She nodded against his chest "I want to help Just tell me what to do"
"Really?" Dane asked
"Yes Of course"
"What we need most now is your trust You have to rely on us Take this tiet to know us better Let us have an actual chance to please you and make you happy" Dane laid a small kiss on her te up off Cooper’s chest He wished Dane hadn’t pushed yet, but everything his buddy described…yeah, he wanted that, too "Just a chance, Lea You don’t hate this, right?"
"I’ hard She was tense, but not rejecting It was a step "Can we agree to go slow? I don’t knohat I want and I don’t have any idea what I’ll be able to handle It’s going to take a while to get used to the idea that you guys could actually wantit to hurt me"
There was a low shout as Landon e and back into ca, which he’d appropriated earlier when he’d left on his quest to gather coconuts But it was dripping wet
"Hey, I found a bunch of conches!" Lan held up the bag and looked at it proudly "That’s so and--holy shit"
Lan had obviously caught sight of Alea’s half-naked state because it put a truly sizzling stare on his face Then he lost his usual athletic grace as he walked closer, jaw hanging around his knees, stued into camp earlier He tripped in an epic pratfall That would make some popular shit on YouTube
Alea broke free and started running for Landon
"I’ beside hie to stare right at her boobs
Dane slapped Coop on the back "Let’s shore up for the night We’re all tired We can cook up those conches and talk aboutbase camp more comfy Toirl"
Coop nodded "Aive Landon a hand with the conches, whistling as he walked
It was the happiest he’d seen Dane in a long tilance at him over her shoulder and shot a sht be the happiest any of the while
Alea shivered a little and wished that her clothes had dried during dinner But they hadn’t yet The fire Dane had built was roaring, but she still trembled Even so, the stars awed her They wove a brilliant canvas across the dark sky She’d never seen so htly
"Beautiful, huh?" Lan sat beside her, his shoulders rubbing against hers