Page 48 of The Billionaire's Teacher

“Over here.” Her head poked out down the hall.

I hugged the drier side of the hallway as I made my way to her, pausing to peek in rooms as I passed them. Then I stepped down into the sunken living room and tried not to gasp.

“Wow.”

Sunshine glanced around, her eyebrows drawn together. “That’s one word for it.”

I frowned. “You don’t see how amazing this is?”

“Was. Not is. And I mean, okay. But who can afford a private island?” Her cheeks reddened as she said the words. “Right. Never mind.”

“I’m just saying, if you’re going to own your own island, a midcentury glass and steel is the way to go.”

Sunshine scoffed. “Maybe if you get hurricane-proof glass.”

I nodded, conceding the point. “Or storm shutters.”

She glanced at me and pointed a finger at my chest. “Smart.”

I wasn’t sure what she meant, so I just stood, watching, while she marched toward the far wall that was once glass.

She looked in the sides, then up, not seeming to notice the soaking she was getting. Then she motioned to me. “Come here.”

“I just got dry.”

“Don’t be a baby.”

I groaned, but crossed the floor to where she stood. She pointed up. “Does that look like a shutter that would roll down?”

I squinted. There was something up there, definitely. “Could be.”

“I wonder where the mechanism is.”

“The one that is surely powered by electricity? Which we don’t have? That mechanism?”

Sunny scowled at me. “Don’t be a spoilsport. If we could close off this room to the rain, we could use the fireplace. Then we could cook. Some of the meals in the emergency bag are pretty decent if you have hot water to mix in them. They’re a lot less good when you have to use cold.”

That was a compelling argument.

I turned and scanned the room. Off to the side, propped in a corner, was a long metal pole. I crossed to it, then brought it back to where the window would have been. “Do you think this does anything?”

Sunshine grinned and took the pole from me. “Yep. Watch and learn.”

She squinted into the rain and, after two false starts, got the pole attached into a slot designed for it. From there, she was able to get the shutter unlocked and lowered enough that I could reach up and pull it the rest of the way.

“I wonder why they didn’t close all the shutters when they left.” I certainly would, if it was my island. It didn’t make sense to tempt nature like that.

“Same reason they didn’t lock the doors, probably.” Sunshine shrugged. “I’m glad for that last one. Though I agree on the first. Let’s try the other side.”

The pole worked for that storm shutter as well.

The downside was that it also closed off what little light we’d been getting from outside. Granted, that hadn’t been a ton, but with the shutters closed, the room was black as tar.

“Now what?” I was hesitant to move. I didn’t want to ram into Sunny. I also didn’t want to trip on anything. Neither of us needed to get injured worse than we already were. Or I was. Wait. Was she injured? “Did you get hurt at all?”

“Me?” Her voice was closer now. “When? Oh, with the boat? Not really.”

“What does ‘not really’ mean?”

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