Page 37 of Uncharted

She pulls back and looks up at him. “Toothpaste. Do we have toothpaste?” She smacks her lips.

Calvin laughs. “I think Zane got you some. It’s in the grocery bag with your shoes.”

Haley looks between him and me. She holds her hand out for me, and I take it. With my other hand, I trace down the white satin strap of her bra, letting my pinky slip under the edge. Goosebumps rise down the side of her breast. She places her hand on my cheek and stares into my eyes. “You’re a good man.”

My heart stutters. “As long as I’m your man, I don’t care what anyone else thinks.”

She gives me a little nod, and I take her lips in mine.

She tastes of home. This place is more home to me than any home I’ve had with four walls and running water. The captain’s arrival has done more than change the dynamic with Haley. It’s made me question what I want out of life. I’ve been saving for years to buy my own boat. I pictured myself running day charters. Somewhere in the Caribbean.

Now I’m thinking I want to go back to school and get an advanced degree. In architecture.

Or maybe I want to be a househusband. My hands settle round her waist. “How you feeling? Okay?”

“As good as... No, I’m not putting on my stew face and pretending everything is okay.”

“You’re the same person you were yesterday, Sassy. You haven’t changed. You were happy yesterday. Don’t let someone else’s expectations upset you. You’ve got a brilliant brain and a better understanding or moral compass than most people I’ve ever met. Definitely you’re more pulled together than most of the misfits in this industry. Present company not excluded.” Dante stands and puts his hand on her back. “If Sam can’t see that, he’s a fool. Screw him.” Dante clears his throat. “Actually, don’t screw him.”

She nods, and her chest heaves. There’s more she wants to say, but her head flicks to the picture on the stool. “Zane, there was another picture with this one. I’m standing with my college roommate at her wedding. Was it there?”

My lips thin, and I turn to Calvin lying behind her. He shakes his head no.

“Sorry, I didn’t see it.”

“You know, I really appreciate everything you’ve done. You’ve worked hard and made us a beautiful home. But just because Calvin tells a lie doesn’t mean you have to go along with it.”

I laugh. “Noted.”

“It wasn’t on the floor? I know you didn’t have long. I’m just wondering.”

Calvin breathes out. “I’m sorry, Chiefie. I didn’t see it.”

I turn my head away. I know if I was alone on a ship for months on end, I’d collect a picture of Haley. Penny’s a pretty dog, but Haley’s everything.

Chapter17

Clear Skies

Haley

I swing around in Zane’s arms, looking into his dark brown eyes. I know what he wants to talk about, and he’s not wrong. We should talk about a lot of things. What Calvin said to me on the beach before Sam arrived. I’ve been pushing that down. Because how can I love all four of them and be attracted to Sam? The way Calvin’s eyes shined with certainty when he said it... I’ve been feeling it too. But a voice in the back of my head says they care for me because I’m the only option. Then another part of me gets defensive. It’s like the angel and devil on my shoulders from old cartoons my mom liked to watch with me. It’s real; at least, what I feel for them is.

My arms loop around Zane’s neck. I’m being selfish. But how can I not be? I want all of them. And I suppose, as much as I want to be positive, I’ve taken on a little of Calvin’s pessimism. Now everything feels... weird. We haven’t been rescued, but maybe there is a way off the island.

“Or...” I step up on my tiptoes and take Zane’s lips with mine. His kiss is tentative to begin with, but it doesn’t take long before his tongue is in my mouth. Demanding, possessing. I want all of him. I want all of them. Zane’s hands hitch under my bottom, lifting me onto him. My ankles lock around his back, and he turns and pushes me up against the tree. It’s not until I reach back that I realize it’s not the cold tree but the warm muscular wall of Easton.

“Hey, Firefly.” Easton’s lips tingle along my collarbone, and his fingertips trail lightly down the sides of my arms.

Zane pulls back and lifts my freshly braided?and tied with a hair tie, not my bandanna?hair to his nose. “You washed your hair, Little Bird.” I expect him to say something likeyou smell betterorgood, but he doesn’t. His eyes flash. It’s weird to even see his eyes. Sleeping on the lower platform, I’ve become accustomed to not seeing anything. It’s not like on the beach where the moon can peek through. Here it’s just dark. But not now?the little twinkle lights are doing their best to stay on, and there’s a bigger lantern hanging under the middle of the mosquito net, a lone moth flapping around it.

“Do you not like how it smells?”

“No—yes. Yes, Little Bird, I like how you smell.” He kisses my lower lip, sucking it into his mouth. “You okay?” He runs his finger under the strap of my bra, and I shiver.

I nod at him. “Never better.”

“Oh, I think we can do better. You got her, Rockwell?”

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