Page 21 of Turn the Tide
He glanced her way to see that she hadn’t made much progress. “Turn around. I’ll help.” He paused, hating the hesitation in her stance. Not that he could blame her. It would be one hell of a leap of faith to trust anyone after the day she’d had. He almost laughed. As if she needed to take any more leaps. Eric made his voice as soft as he could. “I won’t hurt you, Zoe. I don’t know how to prove that to you, but I won’t. I promise.”
“I know that, Eric.” She took in a breath as if to say something else, and then released it before reaching for her wet-suit cord. “Could you… I can’t get it.”
He unzipped her and yanked the thick layer of neoprene from her shoulders, waited for her to roll it the rest of the way off, and sponged her back off with the towel. He kept his movements quick and efficient. Get dry, get warm, hydrate, eat. Those were the priorities. Getting the hell out of here was next on the list, but without outside help, they weren’t going anywhere.
He kept up his constant surveillance of the dark landscape around them, only occasionally letting his gaze touch back on Zoe’s skin. Even then, as she quickly shed her bathing suit, he resolutely ignored everything but the pale curve of her slender nape.
“You’re…not…gonna…answer?” She looked at him over one freckled shoulder.
His eyes skipped over to her face. “Answer what?”
“Why…you…ca-came…” She shuddered so hard that her teeth clacked audibly. “To get—”
“I’ll answer when you’re warm enough to talk normally again.” He bent down for another long-sleeved undershirt. “Arms up.”
She complied like a kid, which made that protective part of him swell in his chest, soft and warm and so huge he could hardly contain it. Once the shirt was on, he handed her a pair of pants and thick wool socks and turned away while she clothed herself.
Finally dressed, but still shivering, she turned to him. “C-c-cold.”
“Do you nee—”
Before he finished formulating his question, she tucked herself against him, her face to his chest, body plastered to his. He had no choice but to put his arms around her. After a few seconds, his brain kicked back in, reminding him of the basics, like the benefits of friction. He rubbed her arms and back, alternating between them until her shuddering slowed and the tightness in her shoulders eased.
“Now what?” Her words puffed hot air between them.
“Can you walk?”
Her nod was a single stroke of her cheek to his solar plexus.
He cleared his throat. “Now, we get to a defendable spot on this island, crawl under a couple of blankets to get warm, and have dinner while we figure out what the hell’s going on.”
He’d just stepped back when she spoke again. “Am I talking normally enough for you now?”
He puffed out an almost-laugh and let his hands drop. “It’ll do.”
“Why’d you come after me?”
“I was worried. When you didn’t come back the way you always did, I figured something might have happened, so…” He shrugged.
She opened her mouth—as if to press further, maybe—and then closed it with a smile. “Thank you.”
He nodded once, bent to stuff their wet clothes into one of the plastic bags, sealed it, and shoved the other in his pack. “We need to get going.”
“Okay. Let’s go.”
He set off up the rocky slope, with Zoe lagging behind him. She’d slid her wet dive boots over her socks, which couldn’t be easy to walk in, but given how small her feet were, there was no way she’d make it in his size 13 shoes.
Like the other Channel Islands, this place was as dry and devoid of tall vegetation as they came, so hopefully there’d be nothing too sharp in their path.
He held out his hand. “Full moon’s helpful, but it’s pretty uneven terrain.”
Unhesitatingly, she slid her cold palm into his. They set off up the gently climbing slope, side by side.
After a few minutes spent winding through an area thick with shrubs, they arrived at the base of the island’s long central peak. As a kid, he’d always thought of San Elias as a sleeping dinosaur, head and tail beneath the water, its spine a series of stegosaurus spikes rising into the air. The climb would get more difficult the higher they went.
“You got a destination in mind?” Zoe asked after a few more minutes.
“I do. You ever been on this island before?”
