I got to work, emptying the few belongings out of Loretta’s room and wiping down the surfaces. I highly doubted I’d removed all traces of her DNA from the house, but it didn’t matter if someone was able to prove she had been here, as long as they couldn’t also prove she’d died here.

I carried the bundles of clothes and toiletries to the outside pizza oven I’d had installed near the swimming pool when the house had been built—but which I’d never actually used—and quickly got a fire started. When I was confident it was hot enough to destroy everything inside, I left it to burn.

The boat was already stocked with most of the supplies we’d need for a trip. The water tanks in the boat had been recently filled, and there were plenty of canned foods in the small kitchenette onboard, but we’d want fresh meats, fruits, and vegetables, all of which I took from the refrigerator in the house.

A melancholy swept over me as I worked my way through the house. I left Jolie on the ground floor while I went down to the room to pack some belongings for her. Of course, they were never really her belongings—she’d neither bought them nor asked for them—but I couldn’t help thinking of them as being hers.

One of the items I needed was locked away in the safe in the back of my closet. I didn’t have much use for the Smith and Wesson here on the island, but I was going to need it when I was back on the mainland. I packed a change of clothes for myself as well. It would take us a couple of days to reach the mainland where we needed to dock, and I wanted us to be prepared.

Would this be the last time I saw this place? If things went to plan, I’d be locked up for many years after killing Jolie’s father. I wasn’t even going to attempt to evade arrest. I wanted to put my hands up for what I’d done. I wanted people to know I had avenged my mother’s death.

I went back downstairs to find Jolie pacing around the kitchen. A part of me had thought she might attempt to escape now that she was no longer locked up, or even handcuffed, and I was surprised she was still here, waiting for me.

She wore a halter-neck dress of soft blue cotton, and her hair hung around her face. In the sunlight, I was able to see where the blonde highlights gave her that honied glow. Even pale and worried, she was still stunningly beautiful, and when she turned to me with her deep blue eyes wide, I knew I’d fallen for her. There was no point in denying it to myself, but I was never going to let her know. She needed to think of me as the enemy. If she didn’t, I was worried that she wouldn’t want to leave me after her father had been killed. She might have some warped idea that she felt something for me, too, and that would make everything harder. A woman like Jolie might get it into her head that she could save a man like me, but I was far beyond saving.

“I wish you’d give me something to do,” she said, wringing her hands in front of her body. “I hate just waiting around for you.”

“I’m ready now. I have something for you.” I threw the items I was carrying toward her, and she glanced down, her mouth dropping open.

“My boots!”

“I figured you might need them.”

I was giving her a weapon in the boots. She might use them to kick me, and they’d definitely make it easier for her to run if she decided to. But I wasn’t going to make her hike across the island barefooted. I didn’t need her injured or bitten or stung by something. That was a complication I could do without.

She bent to pull on her boots and gave me a perfect view down the front of her dress. She wasn’t wearing a bra, her tits jiggling as she worked each boot onto her bare feet, and my cock jumped in my pants. Just being near her made me want her, and we were about to be trapped on a boat together for the next couple of days with no one else around. No people. No cameras. Just us.

Jolie straightened and caught me staring. She cleared her throat and angled her body away, and I could tell she had been able to read my thoughts. Sparks jumped between us, setting my pulse racing. It wasn’t easy to be around this woman. She pulled me in two different directions—my mind telling me one thing, while my body and, dared I say my heart, wanted something else entirely. But, in a matter of days, I would be walking away from her and letting her get on with her life. We’d already taken things too far between us, but I’d discovered that being with her was like a drug, and the more I had, the more I wanted. Nothing beat the feeling of having her pussy wrapped around my cock, of hearing those sexy little moans coming from her mouth and knowing I was the one responsible.

But what had happened between her and Loretta had dulled some of her spark, and I was worried it wouldn’t come back again. I wanted to see it back. I wanted her to fight me and talk back to me. Seeing her sitting on the bathroom floor like that had broken a piece of me as well. I’d never thought I was the compassionate type, but it seemed I was—at least for her. I’d have happily taken her pain for my own, if I could.

I hauled the bag with the supplies onto my shoulder. “Ready?” I asked her.

She nodded. “The sooner I’m off this island, the better.”

I’d loved this place, but she hated it. Something about that bothered me, too.

The barrel of my gun wedged into the small of my back. Jolie didn’t know I had it, and I didn’t plan on telling her unless I had to. If she caused me trouble, I wouldn’t hesitate to let her know I was armed, but until that moment came, I was enjoying her simply cooperating without needing to threaten her. I knew she was only doing so because I’d offered up her freedom, and the idea that she would go along with all of this just to be rid of me made my stomach knot, but I wasn’t expecting it to last. She was in shock right now, but that would wear off eventually.

I led the way out of the house and locked up, trying to block my emotions at leaving the property for the very last time.

I caught Jolie watching me curiously.

“What?” I asked her.

“You’re quieter than normal.”

I hoisted the bag on my shoulder. “I don’t have anything left to say.”

I didn’t want to tell her how I felt. She’d affected my body and heart—letting her get inside my head as well would be a bad idea.

With the property secured, I turned to hike through the island, toward the dock where I’d moored the boat. Jolie followed along behind me, picking her way through the vegetation. I’d walked this way so many times before, I’d created a natural pathway through the palm trees. The fronds overhead offered us some shade from the hot sun, and insects buzzed and flitted around our heads. Jolie’s breathing grew louder from the exertion, and I did my best to ignore it. She skidded in the mulch and cried out, but I didn’t turn to offer her help. What had happened with Loretta had alarmed me, and it hadn’t just been that Jolie had been capable of strangling the other woman to death. No, it had been my emotional reaction when I’d found Jolie that terrified me. All I’d wanted in that moment was to keep her safe, to scoop her up and protect her from all the bad stuff in the world, even though in her world, I was the bad stuff. I told myself I’d buried Loretta’s body to save myself any complications of having to explain exactly what had happened, but deep down I knew I’d done it for her.

The terrain sloped down toward the cove. The gentle shush of waves hitting the shore met my ears. Today was a far cry from how it had been the last time the two of us had come down here. Then the ocean had sounded like a monster ready to eat us; now it was more like a mother wanting to rock us to sleep. We broke through the trees, the blue of the ocean stretching out to meet the equally blue skyline on the horizon. Sunlight glinted off the waves and reflected off the white of the boat, which bobbed at the end of the jetty. I was pleased I’d managed to get it back again, even if it hadn’t been an easy task. The vessel would be our home for the next couple of days, and I was happy to see it.

“No tricks this time,” I warned Jolie as we made our way across the sand to reach the jetty.

She shook her head. “No tricks. I just want this all to be over.”

It being over would also mean her father would be dead. I wondered how she felt about that.

We navigated the jetty, and I jumped on board at the back of the boat and then turned to put my hand out to Jolie to help her on deck. Her slender, small hand slipped into mine, and my fingers closed around hers, the contact sending shockwaves up through me. Her blue eyes widened, and I knew she’d felt it, too. We were all just animals at the end of the day, fighting against our basest of instincts. It didn’t help that I was probably more animal than some.

She stepped on deck, and I forced myself to release her hand. I was surprised she’d taken it in the first place. Understandably, she blamed me for everything that had happened, and so she should. Her life was already fucked up before I’d come into it, but she’d been working on that. I was the one who’d come in and royally screwed things up for her.

In a few days, she’d be free of me for good, and then she’d have the rest of her life to get things straightened out again.

I went to the lower deck where the kitchen was located and threw the bag down on the table. I unzipped it and pulled out the fresh foods that would need refrigerating.

Jolie stood behind me, looking around. She hadn’t seen much of the boat the other night in the storm—only the outside, really.

“This is nice,” she said, though I knew she was understating things. This boat cost a stupid amount of money. It was far better than ‘nice.’

“Good thing she didn’t end up lost out at sea or smashed to pieces against the cliffs, then,” I retorted.

She shrugged but glanced away, her cheeks pinking. It was good to see some color in her face. She’d been ghostly pale since I found her, and even the hike across the island hadn’t done much for her complexion.

“Make yourself comfortable,” I told her. “There are two cabins, if you want to pick one for yourself. The wet bar refrigerator on the upper deck is well stocked, if you want anything to eat or drink.”

She shook her head. “I’m not hungry.”

“That’s fine, but you’re going to need to drink something.” I removed a bottle of water from the refrigerator and threw it to her. With surprising reflexes, she snatched it from the air.

“Thanks.”

I climbed the stairs to the upper deck and went to the helm and started the boat. Once I’d navigated her into open waters, I’d be able to use the autopilot, so I wouldn’t have to sit behind the wheel the whole time. I’d cross the body of water then drive along the coastline until we reached the state where her father was being held.