"See, you think I"m a wuss."
"I do not. I think you"re an idiot for not telling me you were scared of heights. You could have stayed on the beach and I would have come up here to make the X." She demolished the dress"s other side seam.
"I couldn"t let you do that."
"Why not?"
"I don"t know-there could have been something dangerous up here."
"Like what?" She sneaked a glance at him. His protective urges were so cute.
"Well, isn"t an albatross kind of big?"
She bit her lip to keep from laughing. "Pretty big. Almost a seven-foot wingspan."
"Holy s.h.i.t!" He looked up in the sky as if afraid one could be dive-bombing them at this very moment. Then he shuddered. "See what I mean? If some bird the size of a Learjet came swooping at you-"
"I don"t think there"s ever been a report of an albatross attack."
"That doesn"t mean it couldn"t happen. You could have a rogue albatross. d.a.m.n, are they really seven feet wide?"
"That"s what I"ve read. I"ve never seen one."
"Well, if there are any hanging around here, it"s good there are two of us. They wouldn"t feel so free to mess with two people." He finished ripping apart his shirt and picked up the jacket to her dress. "I don"t see any point in tearing this. It"s as big as it"s going to get."
"I suppose you"re right." She knew their situation was a little uncertain, and she should probably be more worried than she was. But it was hard not to feel optimistic sitting here beside Jack, a most excellent lover, and enjoying an outstanding 360-degree view.
"I really liked this dress."
"Me, too, but I don"t care about it now. We have to be practical. We want the X to be as big as possible, so-"
"Bigger than a freaking albatross," he muttered.
"Jack, you really don"t have to worry about those birds."
"Oh, yeah? What do they eat?"
"Fish."
"My point exactly. Meat eaters. For all we know, a herd of hungry albatrosses, or albatrossi, or whatever, could be headed this way. And we are a whole lot more accessible up here than fish swimming underwater. There"s this old Hitchc.o.c.k movie about-"
"Now, stop it. I saw that movie on TV and it made me mad. Birds aren"t like that."
"Says you."
"When it comes to birds, I am the expert on this island." She pulled her pale green skirt out of the suitcase.
"You"re going to ruin that, too?"
"Yep." She cut through the waistband. "So what? ifou"ve already sacrificed your shirt and the bottom half of four pants."
Jack laughed. "Yeah, but I think we"ve established that"s 10 big loss."
"True." She grinned at him. "Except now I"m getting and of sentimental about your style of dress. It"s you, after ill."
"Don"t get too attached to that look. I"m going for all black when we get home."
"I"ll probably barely recognize you." And wearing all black, he"d start attracting women. That"s what she"d hoped for, of course. She reached into her suitcase and handed him her blue panties. "Tear these along the side, okay?"
"Okay."
She pulled the skirt apart. "I wonder if you really will buy an all-black wardrobe. You might get back to civilization, start thinking about computer programs, and forget all about your clothes and what we talked about. Right now you don"t have your computer stuff to distract you."
When he didn"t answer, she looked over to find him sitting like a statue while he stared at her panties. "Can you rip those by yourself, or do you need me to start you off by snipping some of the threads? The st.i.tching"s small. Do you want the gla.s.ses?"
He glanced at her, as if coming out of a trance. "No, I can do this without the gla.s.ses. Actually, I was thinking how much more fun it would be to rip them off you."
She gulped. Just like that, what had been a friendly discussion exploded like a cherry bomb. To think that thoughts of having s.e.x with her had sent him into a trance. Now, that was exciting. "You . . . you know what ripping panties off of me would lead to."
"I know," he said in a c.o.c.ky, very-sure-of-himself way.
His tone gave her delicious goose b.u.mps. If a guy started out talking that way, like he was G.o.d"s gift, then everyone knew he was a jerk. But Jack had started out with a low opinion of his s.e.x appeal, and his brand-new self-confidence really turned her on, maybe because she"d helped him get to this point. She was proud of her contribution, and almost ready to suggest changing into those panties.
Then he tore them neatly across the side seam. "And for the record, Gen, I won"t forget a single minute of the time we"ve spent here." He tossed the panties onto the pile of torn clothes and looked her straight in the eye. "The question is, will you?"
"Of course I won"t."
"Then it seems to me we should reminisce together."
His suggestion made her heart hurt. She wished he hadn"t brought up the subject, but maybe they needed to get it out of the way. "It won"t be the same, once we"re back in Honolulu."
"Why? Because you can"t see yourself dating a nerd?"
"That"s not it. Well, that"s sort of the problem, but not what you think." She didn"t suppose he"d understand the astrology obstacle, so she brought up the other important issue. "You need to find somebody who"s willing to play second fiddle to that computer screen you"re so attached to. I"m not."
"G.o.ddammit!" He lurched to his feet and started to pace. Then he winced and stopped. "G.o.ddammit," he said again, softer this time. "I"ve told you I won"t forget a minute of the time we"ve spent together. What makes you think I"ll get involved with my computer and forget about you?""
"Because you"re a genius! And there"s some woman out there ready to make allowances for that, but I know myself, and the first time you forgot about me because you were so fascinated with your beloved computer program, I"d feel like you"d lost interest. I would hate that, Jack."
"I wouldn"t allow such a thing to happen."
"You couldn"t help it."
"I could! I could program my computer with a timer, so it would beep a signal when it was time to see you. h.e.l.l, I could program it to shut down completely, and then-"
"Don"t you see?" It was good they were having this talk, because it pointed out exactly the problem she was so worried about. "I don"t want you to have to set a timer. I want a man who"s so crazy about me he remembers on his own, without being reminded."
"I"m pretty sure I would remember! But just in case, I could have a backup system."
She shook her head. "Pretty sure isn"t good enough." How she wished Jack was a normal guy, with a normal nine-to-five job. But then he wouldn"t be Jack. "What we"ve had on this island has been very intense."
"You"re telling me."
"I think part of that"s the danger, don"t you?"
"I think part of that"s me finally getting you naked."
Her cheeks grew warm. "And part of it"s because we have no distractions."
"Personally, I think Rainbow should be worried that I"ll be less productive now that I know what I"ve been missing in life. I think that"s a lot more likely than me ignoring you."
"I just think, after what we"ve had on this island, that anything back home would be a letdown. For both of us. This isn"t exactly your normal date, Jack. I mean, don"t you think going out for pizza and a movie would seem dull after this?""
He gazed down at her. "Not if you consider what we could do when we came home from the movie."
When he talked like that, she got very hot and bothered. Then again, she was still on this island, which felt like being back in the caveman days. She was afraid that four walls and a regular bed wouldn"t give them the same thrill. And she couldn"t stand the idea of a watered-down s.e.xual experience with him. Not after what had happened here.
"I just don"t think it would work," she said at last.
"It won"t if you"re not even willing to try."
She gazed at him in silence.
"Okay, then." He gave her a long look before reaching into the pile of clothes. "I might as well start tying what we have together while you keep tearing things apart."
"Was that some sort of loaded remark?"
His glance flicked over her. "Take it any way you want."
"I think it was a loaded remark. I"m not tearing us apart." She started to take out the seams of her suit jacket. "I"m trying to keep us from ruining the magic."
"Don"t do me any favors, okay?" He tied the end of her bra to her panties. "I think the magic would transfer to Honolulu just fine. It would be like saving it on a disk and putting it into another computer. The files would all still be there."
"You"re wrong." She ripped the sleeve from her jacket. "Stuff would be lost. Or scrambled."
"Now you"re talking about my specialty." He tied a length of her hibiscus dress to her panties. "I"m an expert at retrieving lost files and unscrambling messed-up ones. I could straighten us out in no time."
"Maybe so, if you weren"t in the middle of some exciting new software project, which is what you would be the minute we get back. You"ll be behind and have to work overtime to catch up." She removed the other sleeve and started ripping the jacket"s side seams.
"You have it all figured out, don"t you?"
"I believe I do." She finished taking the jacket apart and got to her feet. "That"s the end of the clothes. Are we going to use the beach towel, and should I start cutting it down the middle?"
He stopped tying and studied her. "Is that a trick question?"
It was. Once she destroyed the beach towel, they"d have nothing to lie on and would have a tough time using that last condom. He wanted a relationship after they got home. She didn"t. She thought he should be the one to decide if he wanted to have s.e.x with her again or start keeping his distance.
"Don"t cut up the towel," he said.
"You"re sure?"
"I"m sure." He smiled at her. "I want one last chance to change your mind."
"You won"t, Jack."
"Since you"ve made such a point of me being a genius, and I do score that way on certain tests, let me remind you of the single-mindedness part of that profile. Once I decide a problem is worth solving, I don"t give up until I solve it, no matter how long it takes."
Now, that kind of statement made little squiggles of antic.i.p.ation run through her. For a moment she allowed herself to imagine being pursued by Jack and letting him catch her. But once he did, once the challenge was gone, he"d be back in front of his computer screen, sure as hound dogs have fleas.
But she folded up the beach towel and put it in the suitcase, anyway. She wouldn"t mind having s.e.x with Jack once more, because that would probably be the last time she"d have 100 percent of his attention.
Because of Jack"s tender feet, Genevieve did most of the work creating the X. Then she weighed it down with rocks. Every once in a while she scanned the sky, hoping to see an albatross, but the birds overhead were smaller, mostly terns.
Finally they"d done the best they could with what they"d had to work with. After they shared one of their store of guavas and sipped a little water, Genevieve led the way to the trail she"d found, the one that ended up at another white sandy beach.
The trail was rocky, and she kept looking back to make sure Jack was behind her. "I feel like I should try to carry you," she said. "Or at least carry the suitcase. This must be murder on your feet."
He flashed her a toothy grin. "I"m keeping the suitcase. It has the important supplies in it. Besides, I"m not thinking about the pain. I"m thinking about what I have waiting for me at the bottom."
She pretended not to know what he meant. "Another soothing salt.w.a.ter bath for your feet?"
"That, too."
She could hardly wait, either, but she couldn"t resist teasing him a little. "You know, maybe we shouldn"t, after all. Now that we"ve made a signal up above, we wouldn"t want someone to fly in to rescue us right when we"re-"
"I"m willing to take that chance. But maybe you aren"t."
She laughed. "I"m willing to take that chance. After all, we only have one condom left." She touched soft sand with her feet. "You"re almost there, Jack. Only a little more."
"I"m counting the steps."
She turned back to watch him hobble the last couple of yards. "Good job."
He glanced up. "It"s all in the reward. I-" Then his eyes widened. "Gen! Look-"
Before he could finish, before she could turn to see what had startled him so, an arm came around her neck and something hard pressed against the side of her head.
Chapter 18.
Jack wanted to throw up. This couldn"t be happening, not twice in two days. They"d survived this madman yesterday, and d.a.m.ned well, too. He was supposed to be gone forever, off to spend the millions he"d embezzled.
Flushed with fear, Gen stood trembling in Brogan"s grip, her eyes huge behind the lenses of Jack"s gla.s.ses. She still couldn"t see who had her.
"And I so hoped you were dead, Brogan," Jack said, to clue her in.