CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Zane
The storm raged on throughout the night, but it didn’t bother us. All that sex had exhausted us. I woke feeling refreshed. The curtain had been left open, and even though it was still dark and rainy, the sun was up there, behind the dark clouds, lending us some light.
I got up and went to the window, leaving Sloane in bed sleeping. It was still raining, but the winds had let up. It looked like we had survived the worst of it. There was some flooding from what I could tell from this distance, but things could have been much worse.
Climbing back under the blanket, I wrapped my arms around Sloane, nuzzling the back of her head as she slept on her side. She stirred, and I pressed my lips to her neck, then shushed her back to sleep. No reason to wake her up yet.
Holding her quickly calmed me down. It felt like nothing bad could possibly happen to us as long as we were together. I couldn’t see myself ever letting her go. I wouldn’t rush things, but I wouldn’t let things get stale between us either. For the first time in my life, I had something to work on. A relationship.
I’d buy us a home in Washington, D.C. when we went back to America. Should I surprise her with one, or should she and I pick out a home together?
She moved a little, stretching her arm out from under the blanket and yawned. “What time is it?”
Picking up my cell, I checked the clock. “Nine. It’s still raining, but the wind is better. A little flooding but it’s not too bad.”
She rolled out of the bed. Fists rubbed sleepy eyes as she padded over to the window. “That looks like more than a little flooding if you ask me.”
“I’m sure the water will recede once the rain completely stops.” I stayed calm, cool, and collected for her as I joined her at the window.
“How long will that take?” She ran her arms around me, hugging me as she continued to look outside. “How long will we be trapped like this?”
Taking her by the chin, I ran the pad of my thumb over her cheek. “I could stay trapped with you like this forever. Haven’t I made the storm fun for you, baby?”
Her eyes glistened with the memories of all we’d done. “You have, but don’t you find it incredibly frustrating that we have no news telling us what’s going on?” She snorted. “Looters my ass. They just don’t want everyone asking twenty questions.”
“You’re cold. Let’s get back under the covers.” I ushered her back to bed, and we crawled into its warm embrace.
I could see her mind needed to be taken elsewhere. With a brush of my lips over her cheek, I tried to move my body over hers to get down to something that just might help her. But she wasn’t having it. She was in full-on Sloane mode.
I groaned. “Come on. Let’s take advantage of being cooped up. Besides, this will take your mind off things.”
“Maybe our minds need to be on things. Maybe we need to be thinking of a plan to survive, Zane. Damn.” She wiggled out from underneath me and got off the bed, taking a candle into the bathroom. “I’m going to get cleaned up and dressed.”
I propped my head up on my hand and grinned. She was so cute when she was getting frantic. “And then what will you do?”
“I don’t know yet. But something. We have to do something. Having sex won’t save us from Smith and his cohorts, and now that the storm is almost over, they’ll be coming.” She closed the door, and I laid back down, knowing there wasn’t a damn thing we could do but wait.
I heard the shower come on and couldn’t believe the woman was going to take a cold shower when she was already shivering. I got up and went into the bathroom, finding her teeth chattering as she stood under the water.
“Are you crazy?” I stepped into the shower too, wrapping my arms around her.
“I need…” She shuddered. “Dammit. I just need all this to be over.”
Hurrying to grab the soap, I quickly washed her off from head to toe. Then I washed as she dried off. I hurried to get out of the cold water and grabbed a towel, wrapping it around me.
She looked in the mirror. “God, I look terrible.”
Moving in behind her, I stroked her long neck with my fingertips. “You look gorgeous. Come on, let’s change the sheets, get something to eat and drink. You’ll feel better in no time.”
I pushed my hand through my hair, making it fall into place. She shook her head, apparently disgusted that it took me only two seconds to get ready.
“I’m putting some clothes on. I feel vulnerable without them on.”
Well, the honeymoon was over, apparently. “Okay.”
“I don’t want to get shot while I’m naked.”
What the hell?
“You’re not going to get shot, Sloane. Stop thinking like this.”
She pulled a dress and some underwear out of her suitcase, then she rummaged through the drawer my things were in and tossed me a pair of underwear, some shorts, and a shirt. “Put those on.”
“I prefer to stay naked.” I tossed the clothes back at her.
She caught them and her eyes narrowed. “No, put them on. I want to be ready to go if the hit man comes calling or if a boat arrives to deliver us somewhere that hasn’t become part of the Indian Ocean.”
My girl was riled. Just to make her happy, I pulled the clothes on then pawed through the baskets of fruit and found a small bag of bagels. “How about bagels with cream cheese and fruit?”
“Sounds good to me.”
She changed the sheets while I made our meager breakfast, and the act of doing something, anything, must’ve calmed her because she started to hum as she went about finishing the simple chore.
“Sorry for being so bitchy before. I’m not used to being with someone else so much, and I usually get to keep my displays of supreme anal panic in private.”
“Act however you need to act. Everyone deals with stress differently and we’ll get used to each other, learn how to navigate times like these.”
She wrinkled her nose. “Am I ever going to be able to stay mad at you?”
I grinned. “Nope.”
She sighed. “I didn’t think so.” She looked out of the window again. “How long do you think it will take for the water to recede and the airport to open back up?”
I lifted a shoulder. “A day? I’m not sure. Can you call your contact and find out?”
She glanced the clock. “It’s late evening back home. If he had an update, Matthews would have called.”
I took the last bite of my bagel. “So… how do you suggest we spend our day?”
Sloane just grinned and pulled her shirt over her head. “I guess we just get naked.”
I grinned. “Yes, ma’am.”