Island Rush (39 page)

“Shhh,” he whispered again in my ear, making me shiver. His hand and fingertips slid over my clothes and grasped my hip, pulling me slightly more into his chest. “I know,” he added.  His fingers found where the end of my shirt was and the start of my skirt.  He slipped his hand under my shirt and rested his cold fingers on my bare hip, making me jump slightly, goosebumps rising along my body.

“Casey,” I groaned as he guided his hand down to my stomach.  He rubbed small circles with his finger and traced over my belly button.

“Relax,” he said in a gentle whisper. “I’m just warming my hand.”

“Uh-huh. You can stick that statement up your ass.”  I tried to keep my voice firm, but I am sure he could hear the need in my voice.

“I am not going to do anything that could risk me hurting myself or stressing the stitches. I just want to feel you.  Besides, I would only start hurting if I’m tense or move.  That won’t happen just as long as you don’t touch me back.”

I couldn’t argue with that I guess. I just couldn’t touch him back the way I wanted, which was torture in a sense.  I closed my eyes and let his fingers continue on my skin until they were no longer cold. His touch was sending sparks up my skin and to my core, making me slip deeper into his touch.

I felt his mouth press against my ear from where he leaned over me. “I want to touch you, Janice. I want to know every inch of your beautiful mind and body.  I want to make you happy.” 

I felt his hand slip back up to my hip, and his fingers slid under the elastic of the skirt. His hand moved slowly down to my thigh, both his hand and his words leaving a trail of shivers.

The man did as he said.  He wanted to touch me and make me happy.  He wanted to let me feel some pleasure even though he couldn’t, and it happened as he sweetly stroked the skin of my thigh, running his hand up and down.  It sent tingles up my body and made me relax more in how much warmth surrounded us.  It was the best feeling, mostly because of who was doing this to me.  I couldn’t imagine how wonderful he would feel if he explored my entire body.

I tried pushing out the thought of having sex with him, but it was hard, especially with how intimate his hand was moving up and down my hip and thigh. Eventually, he inched his fingers beneath my underwear along my side, which allowed him to stroke my skin with no interruption.  He never dared to move his hand off track. 

I moaned, my eyes nailed to the fire.  “This is killing me,” I chuckled.

“Well I think that’s the point,” he said softly, sounding faintly amused.  “Just relax.”

His hand continued that movement with no break until he stopped and slipped his hand out.  I didn’t open my eyes or bother to see why he stopped.  I had my answer when I felt something drape over my body.  I opened my eyes to see that he laid a couple articles of clothing over me.  He took it from some of the clothes I laid down for us.  He laid a few more around me until we were both covered and as warm as we could be.   

His hand returned to my hip and slipped back under my shirt, and he continued to run circles over my stomach.  His breath remained steady on my neck too.  I wouldn’t mind if we never moved from this spot. 

“I love you, Janice,” he whispered in my ear before lifting his head to press his lips lightly on my cheek.  “You will never know how much you mean to me.”

For some dumb reason, I felt my eyes water at the knowledge that I knew that was true.  I blinked them away and spoke with a bright smile.  “I love you too.  More than I thought possible.”

 I realized that the shelter meant absolutely nothing to me then. I recognized that a wall tied together and made of branches meant nothing to me compared to the actual man I was sleeping in it with.  He was the one that made this important. This wall I built protecting us wasn’t our home and never would be.  Casey was my home.

Chapter 40

“How do you feel?” I asked through the glaze of sweat over me that made me want to dive in the water.  I had to suck it up because I had already done that earlier today and was focused on something more important.

He looked unsure as he stood there in the grass, focusing on his own movements.  It consisted of him bending up and down and swaying back and forth.  I saw a wince cross his face only once.  That was a good sign considering it wasn’t that long ago that he received that cut.

A couple days passed after our first night in our shelter.  And in that time, we honestly didn’t do much.  The majority of our time was spent talking and just lounging around under the trees.  I would give him some ibuprofen, make sure he was comfortable, and pick us berries.  Sure, there was still a lot to be done.  But after building the shelter, I was really sore and wanted to spend time with Casey.  It made the last few days nice and gave us the rest we both needed.

I started to notice Casey’s improvement when it came to his cut.  It was doing much better than I thought it would be this fast.  It was exciting when I removed the dressing from his back to put some ointment on it.  I saw that the stitches were working well!  They looked awful because I did it but it was done right.   So today, we were going to see what condition he is in since the past few days were spent not doing much. 

He was sweating as hard as I was.  Standing next to him, I couldn’t help but notice his attractive body.  Not just that, but he looked to be in better shape than before.  He looked more awake and not in constant pain like before.  Glancing over his body, I could see he was relaxed.  No muscles were tense at all even as he was standing. 

We were wearing what we could find within the large pile of clothes.  With how hot it was outside, he was in light cotton shorts.  I wore a very light tank top and shorts too.  Despite it, the heat always killed us.  Wiping a bead of sweat from my forehead, he finally answered me. 

“Surprisingly, I feel fine,” he said, slowly testing his body with small movements. “I have to be careful is all.”

I smiled.  “Do you want to see how you can handle walking or do you feel it’s too soon for that?”

He thought it over but soon came to a conclusion.  He answered me by stepping forward, testing it out.  Yesterday, he could walk on his own.  He never did it at a normal pace, though.

He took a breath and tried going at a normal pace along the bank of the creek, following the stream down a couple yards.  Then, he turned and walked back towards me.  It was all at a good pace too!  Halfway to me, I spotted a wince on his face again.  It faded, and he kept walking until he stopped a few feet away from me. 

I nodded, impressed by how well he was walking.  “Did that feel okay?” I asked, trying to hide a smile.

He shrugged,  “Yeah, it felt fine.”

“That is really awesome,” I said, truly happy with how much better he is doing. Then, I tried hiding my smirk again.  “Good.  Do it again for me.”

He raised an eyebrow at my order and gave me a cocky smile.  “Why?”

I offered up an excuse I knew he could see through. “Just making sure you are really fine with walking at a normal pace.”

“I’m sure that’s it,” he said, but turned around anyway and continued walking along the bank, his back to me. I could see with the slow overdramatic step in his pace that he knew my reason for asking.  He was teasing me for asking him to do it again so I could look at him one more time.  “How’s the view, Miss Reeves?” he called to me.  There was a small accent of some sort present in his voice.

I let out my wide smile as I watched him continue walking away from me.  It was so hard to not laugh when I saw the small sway in his hips.  He turned around a moment later, facing me now.  His expression showed an extra attempt to look ‘sexy’ for me.  It was so overdone and dramatic, it made it that much funnier.   

I bit my lip.  “Oh why, Mr. Rush, I have to say you look too tempting for me to handle.”

I saw the tilt on his lips as he continued strutting towards me.  Other than that, he kept the diva facade tight over his face.  He stopped very close to me this time, not like last time.  He held his head tilted up and away from me in a snotty manner that made me chuckle. 

“I’m sorry to say this, but I recall a little rule we made a few days ago.  You can’t come near me, and I can’t come near you.  No matter how tempting all this is,” he said gesturing to his body, head still tilted away from me.  “I guess it was just meant to be that way, my dear.”  Yes, there was definitely an accent he was adding to this little act.  It was very impressive, especially because it was clear he could walk fine.

“But what about today?  Today was great progress towards the end of that little deal, sir.”  I held back my smile at adding that last part and watched his face go still.  He refused to show me his expression, head still turned away in a very dramatic fashion.

Slowly turning his head back into my sight, his face was only a few inches from mine with his brown eyes teasing me. “Progress, my dear?  What is this ‘progress’ you are speaking of? Did it have anything to do with my little performance to satisfy your dying eyes over my beauty?”

“Possibly,” I said.  I couldn’t help a blush from reaching me through my stifling laugh. 

“You call that progress… Well, in that case, our deal will be closing quite shortly,” he said and lowered his head to connect his lips with mine.

Beyond the little game we were playing, this was all true.  He was progressing in the healing of his cut so well that I was stunned. The less he hurt, the more we could start testing the waters physically again. All I wanted to do was kiss him, hug him, have some form of contact.  Though we held strong to following that rule the past few days, today his ability to move was improving.  We could have a little more freedom in showing each other affection.

His lips reached down to mine and, like every time he kissed me, sent sparks shooting through me.  However, before I could react, he pulled away.  When his eyes met mine, I saw they were wild with need too.  He hid it a second later and laid on that stuck up look, going back to our little act.

“I have to say, I miss that my darling.  Yet, we still have a long time frame ahead of us before we can act on our true feelings for each other.  Like I said before, maybe it was meant to be.  Perhaps, we shall always live a double life and can never be together.  And possibly, we may never receive the opportunity to confess our love for each other through pure passion.  A shame that surely would be but if it must--”

“My dear, my I say something?” I asked, cutting him off.

“Absolutely.”

“You lost me about a century ago,” I chuckled.  “I have no idea what that last part was you were talking about, but you did the diva role perfectly.”

He broke and finally smiled.  “Neither do I,” he said, voice back to normal.

“You know, you’re entertaining.”

“Well, I try, madam.  I truly do.”

I smiled and reached up to give him a kiss, making contact with his warm smile.  His lips alone radiated happiness as he slowly moved his smile in deeper with my lips.  Though it didn’t last long, my head began to swarm.  Kissing him for some reason was such a unique moment each time it occurred.  It never got old, and it was a surprise each time his mouth made contact with mine. 

When we pulled back, that desire for me shined in his eyes.  “How long until you think you will be fully healed?” I asked.

“I’m not sure, but I did heal rather fast in just the past few days. My guess would be a few more days.”

“Yeah, I saw you wince a few times.  You aren’t invincible yet.”

“Well, I can walk at a normal rate, and I barely feel anything.  Barely, though.  I still do hurt, but it isn’t that bad.”

“I still think you should take it easy for a while,” I said, unsure.

He sighed,  “Yeah, I guess that’s for the best.  What are you going to be doing then?”

I thought it over,  “Well, since I spent the past few days doing nothing with you, I figure I should do something.  I think I’ll start organizing what is still under the tree that we found in the bags.  That stuff is useful so it should stay protected from the rain.”

“You mean put it all back in the bags?” he asked.

I nodded.  “Yes and bring it back to the shelter.  Keep it close and secure.”

“Would ‘set up camp’ be an appropriate way to describe it?” 

“Yeah, that sounds accurate.  And you will be…?”

“Sitting against a tree… like always,” he muttered.

We started to walk back to our shelter.  I watched with a small smile that he was doing a lot better.  I did feel bad though for him having nothing to do.  There was one thing he could always do that didn’t require much movement.”

“Well, what if you work on another spear?”  It was better than doing nothing all day.  Sooner or later, we need a spear because catching fish would be essential.  “It will keep you busy, and we will will need it.”

I looked up and saw he raised his eyebrows, thinking it over himself.  “Sure. That would be fine.”

When we reached the shelter, I took his arm and helped him kneel down, only a small grunt coming from him in the process.  He scooted back and leaned against one of the two trees that was supporting the shelter, his body out of the heating sun.

I was glad he drank water from the stream and went to the bathroom earlier today so he wouldn’t need to get back up for quite a while.  It was sad, the fact that I had to retrieve water for him from the stream.  I used one of those leaves again, curling it up into a cup, tying it off, and filling it with water before giving it to him.  But when it came to him going to the bathroom, I stayed out of that.  He was glad I didn’t push to help him either.  I knew he would prefer to go through the pain than go through embarrassment.  

I was happy to see he would be able to start doing those things himself and without hurting.  Not to mention, this whole time he has been hurt, I did feel guilt for it.  It was my fault we went down to that plane, and he got cut.  I think that was part of the reason I spent the last few days doing nothing with him.  Talking and spending time with him was wonderful because it didn’t involve me doing things and him sitting around watching.  Working at the shelter, he sat there the whole time doing nothing, and I felt awful to refuse his help.  I knew it was the right thing to do, to keep him from doing any labor.  That’s why I truly was more than grateful that he has healed so much the past few days.  We needed it.

Even through the pain he went through and the guilt that I endured, it was so worth it.  After all, pulling that stupid and terrible stunt led to him confessing that he loved me.

Smiling at that thought and him getting better, I stood back up from helping him to sit down.  “Good.  So what do you need to make the spear?” I asked.

“Um… the knife will help a lot this time around.  I need a thick and wide stick that is about three or four feet in length.  Get really long blades of grass too and maybe a vine.”

I stared at him,  “You sound like an expert.”

He smirked up at me,  “I had a lot of time to think.  I knew we would have to do this eventually, and I remembered the last time we did it.  I can make this one more effective and a lot better.  So, I want to try this other way.”

I smiled at him then decided to tease him.  “I see.  Of course, now you think of the perfect spear to make.  Couldn’t have thought about it earlier, huh?”

He sighed mockingly and spoke loudly.  “Sorry, I’m not the perfect guy you deserve!”

“Sorry doesn’t cut it anymore.”  I turned and started walking towards the forest where I needed to first find the stick he needed.  As I was walking into the thicker brush, I turned my head and called back to him.  “You actually are the perfect guy I don’t deserve!”

“Don’t even try! The damage is done!” he yelled back from where he leaned against the tree, expression teasing.

I turned back to where I was heading, stepping over the crowded roots and twigs, my eyes scanning the ground for a stick that matched his demand.  A long stick that was really thick.  It took me maybe ten minutes to find one, and when I did, I made my way back.

When I walked out into the open area, I caught his pretty brown eyes but continued walking past him and towards the bank.  I moved under the tree where all our things were and found the knife he needed too, knowing I would be back in a few minutes to do my own job.

Finding a vine and long grass too, I returned to Casey with everything.  “Will this be enough?”

He looked at everything and nodded as I set it all before him, “Yes, this is all I need.”  He looked up to me,  “You can get to your job if you’re ready.  Since it is such a tough job to do.”

I rolled my eyes,  “Shut up!  It may not be a hard job, but it’s important.”

Actually, I was relieved it was an easier job, and I think Casey was too.  I was doing this for the fact that I would be working right next to Casey in the shelter and could still talk to him.  Plus, it really was quite important to secure all of our things.  So, I set off and back towards the tree where I needed to do my job.