Sweat dripped down her spine, but she refused to complain. After the amazing way they celebrated being alive, she wasn’t going to turn into a wimp and protest over a little hard work. Her father would be disgusted if he knew his daughter was turning into a sissy when she needed to do a little heavy lifting. He’d taught her to fish, camp, and survive. There was no way she wouldn’t carry her load.

The plane had crash-landed a few hundred yards from the shore. It got hot inside the cabin, so they’d decided to move toward the beach. She’d changed into a bikini, shorts, and a tank top to help her deal with the scorching heat.

“You okay, Kara?” Max gave her a worried glance.

She smiled and kept walking. “Perfectly.”

Thank God he didn’t know she was so close to being out of breath it was pathetic. Because she hadn’t gotten to do much kickboxing, she had slowly gotten out of shape. This was their third trip taking stuff out to the beach. He kept insisting on carrying the heavier pieces and never seemed to break a sweat. How the heck did he do that? And where the hell did he find the time to tan? His entire body was bronzed to golden perfection.

When they finally reached the beach, she let her knees give way under her. Thank God. She pulled a small water bottle from her bag, and one of the waterproof cameras Meghan had given her fell out. She grabbed the bottle, took a sip, put it away, and picked up the camera.

With her imagination running rampant, she started taking shots of the area and a distracted Max. She never would’ve wanted to be in a plane crash, but she had to give it to him, he was a genius. The Learjet had been so well stocked it was like they were on a mini-camping vacation. He’d pulled the bed out of the plane and made a canopy of large palms over it. It looked like the perfect bed for a romantic getaway.

She’d found a tray while rummaging through the pantry section of the kitchen, and Max had placed the food on it. She added her own snacks and alcohol to the mix. They had enough bottled water for almost a week. If necessary, they could always boil seawater and remove the salt, since she knew how to do that thanks to her dear old dad. Dad, I’ll never complain when you want to do those father-daughter survival trainings again. Fruit trees littered the small island, adding to their food choices.

Her gaze flickered over him while he fixed the blankets and pillows he’d found next to the bed. “I have to admit, you’re really creative. So, where’d you learn all this stuff?”

He sat on the sand, dug a hole with a stick, and looked out at the ocean. That was a photo moment if she’d ever seen one. He’d changed into swimming trunks and a tank top. If she didn’t know better, she’d swear they were both on vacation.

“My mom was diagnosed with cancer when I was still pretty young. She couldn’t really do much once she went to chemo and didn’t like being around people, so Dad and I took her and my brother camping often. We took care of everything, and she got her wish of us spending time being a family.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bring up bad memories.”

He shook his head and smiled. “You didn’t. It was a great time. I loved spending time with both of them. They used to be so happy together. It was awesome to watch them. After Mom got sick, her and Dad grew apart and finally divorced. Mom became a cancer survivor and popular author for her self-help books. She was gone for long periods of time. I think she used this as a way to heal. You know, helping others. Dad eventually married Jane. Not sure why, but he did.”

Kara opened her mouth and then said the first thing that came to her mind. “Maybe he’s looking for that same love all over again.”

Their gazes met and held, and some soft emotion burrowed inside her. Oh God, no. No emotions. She didn’t need that kind of trouble.

“What about you? Ever been camping?” His silly smile made her grin. They’d never had such a casual conversation before, and it was nice. Real nice. Before this, everything had always revolved around work.

“Are you kidding me? My father is the ultimate survivalist. He teaches people how to survive in the wild in case they get lost.”

“Wait, who’s your father?” He frowned.

“People call him Survival Sam.”

His eyes widened, and he stared at her. “No way! Brian and I took his class two years ago. We were just talking about making plans to take some of the other guys to take his newest one.”

Her father graded every one of his students. She wondered what his final rating had been. “So, what did you end up scoring?”

He smiled. “Golden Tiger.”

Really? Wow. Pride for him filled her. She was a Platinum Dragon. He was almost as good as she was. That meant they had even better chances of surviving until someone came to find them. Once his employees realized their plane never made it to Argentina, they’d send out the cavalry.

“What did Brian get?” Brian probably flirted with every female he saw at the training.

“Silver Snake? At least, that’s what I think it was.”

Not bad. Even Brian, the womanizer, might be able to survive in the wild if the need ever arose. Her stomach grumbled, and she realized they hadn’t had any food in a long time. The sun was nearing the horizon, which meant it was late in the day.

“Let’s eat some of this awesome food, because I am starving.” She walked over to the large tray and squatted over the food. “We have muffins, bagels, salad, sandwiches, and fruit. Nice. What can I get you, Max?”

Whatever he was thinking was probably rated adults only, because he stared at her for so long she didn’t think he’d heard her. His gaze raked her body from top to bottom, lingering on her ass, with so much heat she almost dropped the sandwich in the sand. Well, damn.

“Any sandwich is fine, please.”

She handed him a sandwich and took one for herself. Then she pulled the bottle of white wine that had been sitting in a bucket on the last of the ice from the freezer. He passed her plastic cups. Thankfully his jet was top of the line. There was even a wine opener. Handing him a cup, she lifted hers to the air and smiled.

“Cheers,” she said, “to being alive.”

Staring deeply into her eyes, he made his own toast. “To being alive with you by my side.”

Her throat turned to sandpaper, and she gulped down the wine. He knew just what to say to make a woman’s heart beat erratically. Once again, emotions she didn’t want to dwell on filled her heart. Wine. She needed more wine.

 

 

One empty bottle of wine later, she leaned her head into his shoulder and stared at the fire. She’d gathered the wood and he’d promptly set the blaze. Stars crowded the night sky. A huge, full moon gave the night a soft glow and enough light to allow her to see clearly.

“When do you think they’re going to find us?” Her body was beyond relaxed. She wanted to curl on his lap and go to sleep.

“Probably won’t be until late tomorrow or the day after. They should realize by now we never made it.” He held her protectively in his arms.

“I need to bathe.” She stretched and stood. He stood along with her, and his inquiring look made her explain further. “I’m all sweaty and sticky. I’ll never be able to sleep like this.” She took a few steps toward the water, tripped over a branch, and would’ve landed on her face if he hadn’t tightened his grip on her.

He frowned at her. “I’m not sure it’s a good idea for you to go in the water after all the wine you had.”

It was time for them to have some fun.

She curled her arms around his neck and pulled him close. “Then come with me. I’ll help you wash off.”

The vein in the side of his cheek quivered, and she knew she had him.

Stripping off her clothes in lazy motions, she stepped back. When she was fully naked before him, she crooked a finger and beckoned him toward her. “Let’s go, hot buns.” He lifted his brows in surprise at her words and she giggled.

He devoured her with his gaze. “Hot buns?”

“Oh, yeah. Your ass is so fine, I want to take a bite out of it.” She growled, chomped her teeth, and then licked her lips. When he stood there without moving, looking at her intensely, she walked toward the edge of the water ahead of him. Once there, she kneeled in the sand, facing him. Warm water stroked her pussy and thighs with every ripple of waves that rolled in.

She watched him and slid her wet hands up to squeeze her breasts. Rolling the tight tips of her nipples between her fingers, she tweaked her taut tips, further enhancing her arousal.

She slowly smiled when he removed his swimming trunks.

He was fully erect and ready for action. He gripped his cock in his hand and watched her. She pulled on a nipple with a little more force and whimpered, while she let her other hand crawl down her stomach between her legs. She used two fingers to spread her pussy lips and her middle finger to rub circles over her clit.

He moved a few steps closer while jerking his cock in his hand. Precum slid out of the slit on his dick. With a tense face, he glanced back and forth between the hand running circles on her clit and the one pinching at her nipples.

“Are you going to join me,” she asked, “or do I have to finish this on my own?”