Chapter 20

“Where have you guys been?” Daniel bellowed out as they emerged from the jungle. He came running toward them and pulled Joss into a hug, squeezing her tightly. She winced from the pain, awkwardly wiggling out of his embrace.

Charles close on his heels, witnessed her discomfort, and stared skeptically at Grant. “What happened?” he asked apprehensively, doing his best to keep his tone flat.

“Nothing, Charles,” Joss said, quickly jumping to Grant’s defense. “I got hurt yesterday. I’m still in a little pain.”

“Hurt? How?” Daniel asked, stepping back from her. He looked her up and down, as though searching for injuries.

“I fell out of a tree. I was careless,” she downplayed. She cast a glance at Grant, hoping he would back her up. He smiled weakly at her, and shrugged.

“Yeah, gave us a bit of a fright. It happened just before dark. We thought it best to hunker down for the night, allow Joss to feel a bit steadier on her feet. Sorry we worried ya, mates,” he offered lightly, meeting Charlie’s eyes. Charles met his gaze sternly, assessing the level of truth.

“We were worried,” he shrugged, as though satisfied with what he saw. “We were planning a search and rescue mission if we didn’t see you by mid-afternoon.”

“We would have been here sooner, but it took awhile to make the trek. I’m moving a little slowly,” Joss admitted, offering Charles a hug. “I’m okay, though. Honest.”

“Are you sure?” he whispered, for her ears only. She leaned back and nodded.

“Let’s get Joss off her feet,” Grant suggested, handing a heavy bag of water to Daniel.

“Here, give me the rest,” Charles stepped in, slipping the second bag off Grant’s back.

“We’ll have to go back tomorrow,” Grant said, relieved for the weight to be gone. “We left the rest of our provisions back there. Joss was in no condition to carry anything.”

“Not a problem,” Daniel agreed, smiling at Joss. “We’ll take care of it. Come on, I think that Willie saved some lunch for you guys.”

Together they strolled back to their camp, Joss focusing every effort to steady herself. She didn’t need them worrying about her any more than they had been. Although she was not a hundred percent, she felt a whole lot better than earlier that morning. She was no longer nauseous, and her headache was almost gone. She got lucky.

She and Grant had quietly packed up soon after their soul searching exchange. They were in a much better place after purging their truth, one might even say friends. She felt drawn to him in a way she couldn’t quite articulate. The confession had energized her, like when the power comes on after a long black out, every cell anticipating the charge, heightened by the sudden, shocking transformation. It was a strangely curious sensation.

The rest of the day was uneventful. The men insisted that she take things easy. They waited on her hand and foot, refusing to let her even lift a finger. As strange as it felt to do nothing, she had to admit it felt good to be pampered. What woman wouldn’t love being treated like a queen by five sexy, adoring men?

They gathered after their evening meal, just relaxing and laughing around the fire, happily reunited. The men were like brothers, one minute teasing and chirping, the next minute reassuring and cheering each other on. They were quickly growing into a family. She loved listening to their chatter, each of them boasting a unique perspective on life. Joss’ love for them was blossoming too, her heart making space for each one of them, for very different reasons. She had never been in love, not really, and now she was falling for five men.

“So what do you think, Joss?” Daniel asked, including her in the conversation. “Hmm?” she replied, shaking off her silly, romantic thoughts.

“Do you think you’ll feel up to going? If we delay the trip another day?” he asked, not even hiding his concern. All the men looked at her, as though assessing her well being.

“I’d like to try,” she admitted confidently. “Maybe tomorrow we can all go back to the waterfall for more water, then pick up the supplies that Grant and I left behind. Many hands make light work. We can set out on the raft the day after tomorrow.”

“No, you’ll stay here and the rest of us will go,” Charles insisted. “You’ll need to rest so your body can heal.”

“I’ll be fine,” she assured, appreciating his concern. She looked to Grant for support but he was clearly on Charlie’s side.

“I think we’ll all feel a lot better if you take one more day to rest, Joss,” Grant said, drawing nods of agreement from the others.

“And do what?” she smirked, knowing the boredom would probably kill her.

“I don’t know, book a manicure,” Grant teased, tossing her a wink.

“Ha ha, very funny,” she laughed.

“I’ll stay back with you, Joss. I want to make some improvements to the raft and start loading it. You can keep me company,” Daniel suggested, “that is if the others don’t object?” He looked around, accepting the agreeable nods from the others, then allowed his eyes to land on Joss. She was smiling sweetly at him, a curious expression on her face. He quickly dropped his eyes, hoping his blush wasn’t too obvious.

He liked Joss, very much. They had a very flirty relationship, but had never taken it beyond the teasing phase. She was unlike any woman he’d ever met, and while he found her wildly intriguing, he couldn’t seem to summon the nerve to tell her how he felt. He was so turned on by her and couldn’t stop fantasizing about her. He adored her tenacity as much as her curves. She was smart, beautiful, and adventurous. They had so much in common, the two of them, aside from the fact that she was more in her element in the jungle.

But the island was changing him. The longer they were there the more comfortable he felt. The truth was, he didn’t mind so much that they had not been rescued. He had everything he needed right there, and none of the things he didn’t. He didn’t miss the stuffiness of home, his life scheduled for him from morning till night, everyone thinking they knew what was best for him, expecting him to meet every expectation. He was free to come and go as he pleased, work with his hands, explore his surroundings, do what made him happy.

He’d made some true mates too, brothers for life. He loved them all and would do anything for them, and for the first time in his life he felt accepted just the way he was. They didn’t care about his privilege, where he went to school, or whether or not his family had a title. They’d not even asked.

There was no roof over his head, and no promise of a meal every night. Funny, those were the things he used to really worry about, the worse case scenario, and yet he had no fear. He had to rely on his own wits and had no doubt that he would thrive. That was empowerment. Under the open sky he could really breathe, really suck in air, and it was glorious.

“Sure, Danny-boy, I’ll keep you company,” Joss flirted playfully, flattered by his boyish blush. She enjoyed teasing him because it always seemed to undo him a little, make him squirm, but in the best way possible. She had a feeling that Danny wasn’t the English gentleman he presented himself to be, that underneath all that blushing, the innocent accent, and the shy demeanor, was a proper beast. He had a dirty, dry sense of humor and could entertain them for hours with his wit, but that wasn’t what intrigued Joss about him. It was the way he watched her when he thought no one was looking, like he wanted to eat her for breakfast. It made her wonder what naughty fantasies were floating around under that polished, clean haircut.

When she first saw Daniel, she’d described him as Clark Kent, but after a month on the island with him, she was certain he was more like Superman. The man could do just about anything. The first time she saw him shirtless she nearly swallowed her own tongue. He was damn fine. Not in a gym-rat sort of way, just strong, sleek and well put together. He loved practicing yoga and it showed. But what surprised her the most were the tattoos! She never saw that coming! Danny had beautiful art on his chest and back. When she’d asked him about it he told her that nothing in his life had ever been his choice, not really, and the ink was his “fuck you” to the world.

He was the epitome of never judge a book by its cover. She liked the way he peeled the layers back slowly, piquing her fancy. If Grant had been a diamond in the rough, then Danny was a rough in the diamond. There was way more to him than met the eye and she was excited to learn more.

“Well it’s settled then. Daniel and Joss will stay at camp tomorrow and the rest of us will head out right after breakfast,” Charles concluded, clearing his throat. He looked at Joss and smiled, grateful she wasn’t going to be stubborn about hiking with them. As much as he appreciated her tenacity, she didn’t know when to slow down. Sometimes he was glad he wasn’t the only man stranded with her. There was no way he could ever keep up with her, his island queen. “So good night all, I’m turning in. I didn’t get much sleep last night.”

Joss soon followed him, anxious to curl up beside him. There was something about Charlie spooning her, his body cloaked so perfectly behind hers, that made everything okay. She liked ending her day that way.