23
Tack
“I think we’re all clear, Boss,” Marco said to me to as I helped him secure the wooden hurricane panels across my office windows. We’d emptied the hotel of guests and staff. Only a few people remained, scattered here and there. We convinced most people that the window of opportunity to leave was now or accept what came next. Some visitors had lived through several hurricanes and decided to weather the storm, not wanting to cash in on their vacation insurance. A few workers stayed at the hotel, finding the higher altitude and solid structure more protective than their village homes.
“Thank you, Marco,” I said as I stepped back and found Branson entering the office.
“Is everyone on the planes?” I swallowed the small lump in my throat. She’d left me. In my anger, I told her to go, and she did. After all that I’d learned, that she’d been forcibly removed from the island and had tried to see me at my father’s offices, I realized she’d never intended to leave me before. She’d kept her promise to find me. This time was different.
I’d been consumed with rage earlier, my arm sweeping the contents of my desk to the floor after the door clicked shut with her departure. I stepped behind it, examining the heap of papers I’d stacked on the smooth surface. My laptop and phone were thankfully not broken.
“Yes,” Branson answered. Hesitation in his voice forced me to look upward at him. His hair stood upright as if he just ran his fingers through it.
“What?” I barked.
“Where’s Juliet?” he asked, looking around the room.
“What do you mean where’s Juliet? You just said everyone boarded the planes.” My fist clenched and knocked at my desk, adrenaline slowly seeping into my veins like a junkie.
“She didn’t go.”
“What?” I shouted, slamming my fist downward.
“I was watching her, like you asked. One minute she was with Miller, and the next she was racing through the airport. I caught her just before the entrance. When I asked her what she was doing, she said she was coming back.” He paused. “She said she was coming back for you, actually.”
I slowly sat, stunned at the admission.
“So where is she?” I asked him as he stood there wondering the same thought.
“I said I’d bring her here, but she slipped away.”
“What about Miller?”
“He got on the plane.”
“Okay,” I shook my head, still processing that she hadn’t left. She was coming back for me, but where was she? The rumble of my hurricane panes reminded me of the imminent danger around us. I stood abruptly.
“We need to find her. I want this entire resort searched. Get Marco to help you if he’s still here.” I walked around my desk and headed for my own search.
My first stop was her room, finding a T-shirt on the bathroom floor covered in tropical fragrance.
“Where are you, Mouse?” I murmured to the tile, taking in the fragrance I’d had perfected to match her. I set the shirt on the sink counter and returned to the hall.
I’d been through all the main areas. The storm was coming closer, the wind careless of trees and flowers. The sky was a solid gray. I considered that I should have stayed in my office in case she returned there looking for me, but I could never have sat still, knowing she was out here trying to get to me. I’d already let her walk away once, and I should have followed then. I should have protected her from Lillian, but it hadn’t occurred to me she was in danger.
Blink, she’d said to me, and I didn’t understand at first. She didn’t feel safe with me, and it crushed me. I couldn’t think of a single time I’d threatened her or given her cause to misunderstand my intentions. Even when we were rougher, I made certain it was clear she had the power. She could stop me.
My heart leapt with hope. Had she reconsidered? Had she decided she was safe with me? There was nothing to be afraid of, if we were together. I swiped a hand through my hair as I headed for the elevator. The electricity was spotty, and although we had a generator for lights, I’d shut down the elevator. I took the front emergency stairs two at a time, noting a few people who pulled bedding into the stairwell. This was the safest place for anyone once the storm hit. I prayed it would dissipate, but a hurricane was more likely. It would cover us, wreaking havoc until the eye crossed us, if it even did. Like an everchanging sea urchin, the storm might only dust our shores then sweep on to the next island. I burst into the hall of the third floor and stalked to my office.
Where are you, Mouse? I entered my office and walked into my private suite. I quickly changed out of my suit pants and dress shirt for casual clothing. I swiped two pillows off my bed and rolled the duvet over my arms. There was a stairwell outside my offices, rarely used by general guests and staff. I decided I’d put some supplies there and begin my search for her once again.
With my hands full, I reached the door and I tried to use my elbow to release the handle. The door didn’t open.
“What the fuck?” I said aloud, setting down my things. Using my shoulder, I rammed against the door and it swung open, a loud bang resounding through the well. I looked down the first set of stairs.
“Juliet?” Her name was a whisper as if I was imagining her there. Blinking twice for focus, I said her name again, racing down the stairs.
“Don’t…,“ she said, raising her hands and I stopped on a step. A large slam followed my descent and we were enveloped in darkness. “…let the door close,” she amended.
“What?” I demanded, clearly confused, as I took another step or two down toward her.
“The door locked. I couldn’t get it open. No matter how hard I was banging on it, no one could hear me. No one was coming.” I’d reached her on the landing where she stood pressed against the wall. The stairwell was dark, as only the emergency lights were on, but I could see she’d been crying.
“What are you doing in here?” I asked, my voice trembling as I spoke. I stood before her, my heart hammering. I reached forward to tuck a stray hair behind her ear.
“I was trying to find you.”
“You came back,” I said, relieved. My fingers continued to work around her ear.
“I was wrong. So wrong. I got lost in my head again, and it took over my heart.” Liquid-filled violet eyes stared up at me. My hand slipped down to her jaw.
“Why would you let it do that, baby? After all we’ve been through.”
“I don’t know. I just panicked. I couldn’t believe you would want me when we were off that island. That we could be something outside of it. And when Abby…” she let the words falter as I glared at her. I didn’t want to hear her say Abby said. Suddenly, she reached for my shirt and dragged me to her. Her mouth pressed up to mine, and she was kissing me, tugging at my lower lip. I reached for the hem of her shirt, and she released my mouth only long enough to get the tee free of her head.
“I just couldn’t go without you. Not this time,” she said. My shirt was next as hands frantically roamed each other’s body between kisses and comments. I snapped off her bra, and the warmth of her breasts against my chest made us both sigh.
“I’m constantly telling you not to leave me. How could you walk away?” I asked, my mouth working down her jaw to her shoulder.
“This time you said to go. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
I reached her breast and latched onto her, rough in my sucking before my teeth nipped at the nipple. She yelped, but pressed my head to keep me attached to her.
“Tame me,” she whimpered. “Tame me everywhere. Just don’t leave me behind.”
I released her breast with a pop and stood taller. “I didn’t want you to go. I didn’t mean what I said. I didn’t want you to leave.”
Her fingers released the button of her shorts.
“Slow down, baby,” I said, realizing we were in the stairwell, and taking a second to process the reason was the impending storm.
“No,” she snapped. We’d been like this before. I knew what she needed. When she acted most out of control was when she needed to feel in control.
Her shorts were removed, and I slipped a finger inside her. Wet and ready for me, she sighed in relief at my touch.
“You aren’t safe here,” I warned, implying the hurricane. “You should have gone home.”
“I’m safe wherever you are,” she said, exhaling as I removed my finger from her. I fumbled with my shorts and then spun her to face the wall. Her palms went flat, her cheek pressing against it. I slipped into her easily, and we moaned together. My forehead came forward as I slid back before thrusting inward again.
“I was so mad at you,” I hissed, the tension growing for my orgasm and releasing from the last hour of panic, after the crushing disappointment of her leaving me. All that negative energy was catching up to me, and I began hammering into her, thrusting into the depths of her warmth in my relief that she was before me. She wasn’t on a plane. She wasn’t leaving me.
“I love you,” she muttered to the wall, her breath raspy as I filled her once again. I stilled and then I stepped back, letting the slick sound of leaving her fill the stairwell. I spun her once again, wanting to see her face, wanting to look into her eyes.
“Say it only if you mean it,” I said as I re-entered her, slowing the pace only a beat.
“I love you. I love you. I love you,” she said, and each statement increased the rhythm we set.
“Oh, baby,” I said, kissing her jaw and her neck, as my hand cupped her breast and I squeezed. “You make me wild.”
“You tame me,” she stuttered, as I rushed forward into her. “Always.” Our mouths came together, but only briefly. I hitched up her leg, just under her knee, and the shift brought me deeper. Her hand came between us, and I watched as she flicked over the spot that she needed. My free arm balanced near her head, keeping us upright as I slid into her over and over again.
“Like that, baby,” she said to me, stealing my line, and my heart burst as she clenched over me. Her head pressed forward as she let out a strangled cry, and I followed instantly, filling her with my seed. I didn’t pull out immediately, but pressed my forehead to hers.
“No more leaving. No more running, hiding, anything. You own me, Juliet. You can’t leave me.”
She nodded against me and then tipped her head back to take my lips. The kiss was tender and sweet—an apology and a new beginning.
+ +
We weathered the night in the stairwell. The lights went out and the temperature increased, but it didn’t seem to matter to us. I’d gotten the door open, finding it was only stuck from the shift in humidity. I pulled the blanket and pillows into the stairwell, and then risked returning to my rooms for some snacks and water bottles.
“Garvey would be so proud of you,” she said as we sat on the blanket on the landing, pillows propped at our back.
“Why?” I laughed, picking up a pile of crackers, cheese, and salami, and sticking the whole mini-sandwich in my mouth.
“You’ve made this collection of food into a feast.” She smiled up at me, and my heart expanded in my chest. She was so beautiful, and I relished the future of proving to her each day she belonged with me.
“And what are we celebrating?”
“Another hurricane, perhaps.” Her lips curved, and a gleam came to her eyes.
“That means I have to make love to you at least three more times in this little cave.” The comment stopped us both. Her hand stilled in mid-air from collecting cheese on crackers.
“It is like the cave,” she said, her voice lower. “Maybe we are being given a second chance at that.”
I softly chuckled. “I don’t suppose the island could do that.”
Tender eyes looked up at me. “But don’t you agree the island was…different?”
“If you’re suggesting that we were different on the island, then yes, I agree. I’m more carefree without other things to interfere, but I’m not going to change how I feel about you no matter where we are. I want you with me.” I reached for her hand. “Did you ever think about what would have happened had we been there the full year?”
“You’d be sick of me,” she laughed, but I tugged at her hand, and she dropped her cheese and crackers. I didn’t stop tugging, but pulled her so she eventually straddled my lap.
“I want you to listen to me and listen good.” I brushed a few strands of hair behind her ear and then cupped her jaw so she’d look up at me. “I love you. That’s not easy for me to say, and it’s not something I ever thought I’d hear, but I find it’s easy for me to say to you, and I love hearing it said from you. This…” I wove a hand between us. “…is not going to be different. I will still want you wildly every day. You tame me. You claim me. And I want to be yours.”
A tear streaked down her cheek. “I said those words to you in the cave.”
“You did and I’m saying them back to you. What’s going to be different is our surroundings, but not us. Island or not, we will be together. This is real.”
She nodded slowly, and I reached for her lips. There was only one place kissing would lead, and I needed to be close to her again. If I had to make love to her every day to prove we were real, that our love was real, I would.