Savage (7 page)

G
rant’s arms
weren’t around me. That was my first thought when I stirred awake the next morning, stretching inside the hut. After the last twenty-four hours of seemingly endless love-making, I figured that after the few-hour break we’d taken, he’d be desperate to have me by now. That was the way I felt, at least.

Instead, he was nowhere to be found with no sign of where he might have wandered off to. I rolled onto my other side, frowning when I found his side of the bed empty. That was when I heard noises coming from outside. They weren’t the familiar ones of him making a fire or hacking into breadfruit—they were sounds I hadn’t heard before.

I exited the hut, curious to see what was more important to him right now than blanketing my body with his.

My eyebrows knitted together when I noticed him working in the shade of the big palm, sweat pouring off of him although it was still morning. Though I supposed given the pace he was moving at, he would have been sweating if he was working in Siberia in January.

I couldn’t figure out what it was he was working on, so I moved closer, trying to make sense of the handful of bamboo lengths he had laid out.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

He stopped abruptly, his head lifting like he had no idea I’d been here until now. I settled my hands on my hips when he didn’t seem to be in a hurry to answer my question, and his gaze roamed my naked body with a familiar look. Even though my stomach was tightening from the way he was looking at me, I wasn’t going to let that get in the way of figuring out what he was up to out here. It looked like he was trying to construct some giant bamboo wall. For whatever reason.

“Did you need me, baby?” he asked, his voice a deep rumble. His eyes lingered on the spot between my legs, his brow lifting. I guessed he didn’t miss the sheen covering my inner thighs already.

Focus, Jane
.

“Yeah, I did need you.” Just as he started to rise from what he was working on, I added, “To explain what you’re doing out here.”

He gave me a minute to change my mind, but when I didn’t, he crouched again and got back to work. “I’m building a raft,” he said, like it was simple as that.

“A raft for what?” I inspected the bamboo with new eyes. “For fishing or something?”

Grant’s jaw stiffened, his eyes dropping as he focused on what he was doing, though I got the impression it more had to do with him not wanting to make eye contact with me. “To get you off of this island.”

My forehead creased as I considered what he’d just said. It creased deeper the longer I thought about it. “To get off the island?” I whispered, trying to understand.

“Yes, to get us—
you
—off of this island.” Determination set into his jaw as he got back to work with new urgency, almost like his plan was to get us off of this island by this afternoon.

“Why?” I asked. Up until this morning, he’d seemed content enough to spend the rest of his life here. What was the sudden rush to leave it?

“You can’t stay here. I need to get you off of the island and back to some semblance of civilization.” His muscles were rippling beneath his skin as he worked.

“I’ve done civilization. Not my thing. Thanks anyways.”

He exhaled. “This isn’t a joke, Jane.”

“I wasn’t being funny.”

He kept working, not missing a beat. “You can’t stay on this island.”

My arms lifted at my sides. “I
want
to stay on this island.”

“It’s not safe for you.”

My gaze scanned up and down the beach. It was just as serene and pristine as ever. “Eh, it’s a hell of a lot less safe back in that civilization place you’re suddenly in such a hurry to get back to.”

He nodded firmly like he wasn’t convinced. “There are things I can’t provide for you out here.”

“Like what? Smog? The potential of getting murdered in a dark alley? Fried food?” I shrugged. “It’s okay. I’ll get over it.”

“Still not joking,” he said under his breath.

I sighed. “Sorry. I just don’t get where this newfound urgency to leave is coming from. You’ve spent years here and, that I know of, never tried to leave. I’ve spent weeks and already know I have no interest in leaving. There’s nothing for me out there. Everything I need is right here.” My voice had grown louder with every word, until I felt like I was almost shouting by the end. I hadn’t realized until now just how much I’d fallen in love with the island. How much it had come to feel like home.

“No. Everything you need is not here.” Grant’s eyes lifted to mine. Conflict was obviously tormenting him. “Don’t you see? Don’t you understand?”

My mind worked through what he might have been talking about . . . only to come up empty. “Don’t I understand what?”

His hands stopped working for a moment. “There are no hospitals here. No antibiotics, vitamins, or immunizations. There’s no medical care here—we can’t stay.”

My eyes narrowed. “Did you forget that I’m a nurse and you’re a doctor? I’d say that’s the best medical care a stranded couple could hope to find in a place like this.” I glanced at his bandaged calf in explanation. Sure, some things would be above and beyond the scope of what we had to work with here, but the same could be said back where every kind of medical advancement was available.

“It’s because I’m a doctor that I’m doing this. I know what I’m capable of on this island, and no matter how skilled a doctor I am, I can’t perform miracles.”

“Miracles?”

His shoulders tensed. “Miracles like performing a successful caesarean birth with a sharp rock and my bare hands.”

I shifted as I processed what he’d just said. “Why would you need to perform a caesarean in the first place?”

“I hope I’d never have to, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a possibility.”

“A possibility if what?” I huffed, shaking my head. “I got pregnant?”

Grant’s eyes drifted to my stomach, conflict drawing across his face at the exact moment what he was trying to get across caught up to me. He must have noticed the acknowledgment dawn across my face, because he got back to work. “That’s why I have to get you off of this island. I won’t let anything happen to you or our child. I’ll be damned if I let anything happen to my family.”

Despite however irrational I felt he was being, my heart melted when I realized why he was doing this. Not for him, but for me—for our family . . .

“Wait. Does that mean you think I’m . . .” My hands automatically went to my stomach, folding over it. “I’m . . .”

“If by some miracle you’re not pregnant with all of the times I took you, you will be. Our birth control options are nil to none out here.”

I stared at him as he continued to work with new fervor. “There’s always the old tried-and-true birth control option known as abstinence.” Of course I was only teasing—that was not an option as far as I was concerned—but he must have thought I was somewhat serious.

“That was an option until you gave your body to me. That was an option before you opened your legs and let me take your virginity and give mine to you. That was an option before you gave me the single best experience of my life and made me crave it in a way that makes the pain of separation so intense, it’s taking every seed of willpower in my possession to keep from pulling you to the ground right now and fucking you until you’re reminded why abstinence is never an option for you and me again.” When he crouched back, I caught a glimpse of his erection jutting into the air.

I stepped back to keep from being tempted to throw myself onto the ground in front of him if he didn’t do it for me. “Okay, so I
was
joking.”

His jaw worked loose a little. “Good. Because the only way abstinence from you would be possible for me was if I killed myself.”

“Well, we wouldn’t want you doing that,” I teased as he moved to the other end of the raft. It had a long ways to go before it would be sea-worthy, but it was amazing how much he’d already gotten done in just a few hours. If he kept up at this pace, we’d be leaving the island in no time at all.

A sudden streak of worry settled in my stomach. “I don’t want to leave.”

“You have to leave.” His back was to me as he worked.

“Let me rephrase.” I didn’t care if he couldn’t see me—I still crossed my arms and gave him a stern look. “I’m
not
leaving.”

Grant’s head whipped from side to side. “Our child could be growing in your body right this very second. We are leaving this island, and we are leaving soon.”

The worry that had washed over me earlier bled into anger. I didn’t like being told what to do, but I hated the idea of leaving this special place. My home. I wasn’t leaving.

“Fine. You go ahead and make that raft and put it in the ocean. But I will not be getting on it when you do, Grant Bridger. I’m not leaving, and that’s final.”

Grant leapt up, turned around, and leveled me with the same kind of look I was directing at him. “Oh, yes, you damn well are getting on this raft. Even if I have to chase you down, throw you over my shoulder, and pin you beneath me the whole entire way. You are getting on this raft, and I’m going to get you and our child to safety.”

My hands started to shake from the emotions coursing through me. I felt such strong feelings for Grant. Whether it was desire or attraction or love or anger, whatever I felt for him, it was all intense.

“Would you stop talking about me like I’m already pregnant?” I shouted, throwing my arms at him.

He threw his arms in my direction in return. “Would you stop talking about yourself like you’re
not
pregnant?”

His tirade made me stop. It also made me think. Did he have a point? Could I be pregnant?
Was
I pregnant?

I’d been on the pill for a while in college but eventually went off of that when I realized I had no immediate prospects I’d be letting get close to my bed. Like he said, if I wasn’t, I would be if we continued as we were. It wouldn’t be long before I’d be carrying our child, and nine and a half months after that, I’d be giving birth to it. I knew the dangers associated with childbirth. I knew the risks involved. Was he right about us needing to get off of this island before that day came?

Or would we be letting fear rule our lives if we did this now?

I was too overwhelmed with thoughts to carry on the conversation another word. Spinning around, I sprinted into the forest, barely hearing him shout my name.

I didn’t stop running until I reached the fresh water pool deep inside the island. I hadn’t realized I’d run so far in so short a time, but once I came to a stop, I realized I felt better. Almost like that sprint had been just what I’d needed to calm down and get my head straight.

I stood there for a while, thinking as I let myself finish cooling down.

As I stared at this beautiful, pristine fresh water source, I realized that no matter what, this island would take care of us. We had water to support life. We had food to support life. We had shelter to support life. All of our basic needs were met by this island.

But that wasn’t where it ended. This island supported all of our not-so-basic needs as well. The intrinsic ones that I’d never felt realized in any other place else on this planet.

Whatever came, I wasn’t worried.

Grant would take care of me. I’d take care of him.

The island would take care of us.

My soul was at peace as I stepped into the large pool, wanting to go for a swim before I headed back to the beach and tried to explain this all to him. As I floated in the pool, staring at the blue sky through the leafy ceiling of the forest, I smiled as a knowing feeling settled into place.

Grant had been right. I was pregnant.

I could feel it in the very marrow of my bones. I didn’t need a blood test to confirm it. I was carrying our child, and that same certainty told me that everything else that came with this new life would be fine.

“You’re staying.” His words rolled across the pool, the tone in his voice strong, but the anger gone.

Lifting my head out of the water, my eyes connected with his.

He read my expression then exhaled with a nod. “Then I’m staying. I’m not going anywhere without you. And as damn much as I might want to force you onto that raft, I’m not going to. I’m going to let you make your own decisions—I’m not going to force you into mine.”

My face softened as I swam toward the edge of the pool where he was standing beside a large rock. “That’s awfully evolved thinking for such a savage.”

His smile twitched beneath his beard. “I know. That’s why you’re going to get out of that water, spread yourself out on this rock, and let me have my way with your body right this second.” His hand patted the smooth rock beside him, something glinting in his eyes that made my throat go dry. “My mind I’ll keep civilized when it comes to you, baby, but don’t expect the same from my body. Because you’re right, I am a savage being, and right now, I need you to help me take care of that.” His hand fisted around his straining erection, pumping it a few times as my figure emerged from the pool.

Water rolled down my skin, my nipples pinched into hard buds from the cold water. I stalked in his direction, feeling my own savagery unleashing. “Which side do you want me on?”

“Whichever side you want to give me first,” he stated, stepping aside from the rock to make room for me. “Because I’ll be having all sides of you before I let you come up for air.”

His words sent a shiver of pleasure down my spine as I reclined onto the smooth, cool rock, offering him my front first. I craved the same connection he’d given me yesterday morning after confessing his own secret. His confession couldn’t have surprised me any more than it had. He’d seemed far too skilled and knowledgeable about ways to move his body and ways to touch mine for me to have been his first.

As I stared at him while he moved into place in front of me, I dropped my hand against my stomach. “You were right.”

“I was right about what?” He towered over me, fisting himself a few more times as he stared at my body with an almost predatory look.

“I am pregnant.” I draped my arms over my head, bending my knees and opening my legs to him. Giving myself to him completely. “I’m carrying your child inside me.”