“I’ll be here.”
I reach into my pocket and get a little piece of apple, holding it out while Baby sniffs it. She takes it from me, and I smile like an idiot as I listen to her chomp.
“That’s the good stuff, right?”
A second later, her eyes rise to mine in a request for more. I’ve got a bunch of little bits of apple, so I keep her busy while we wait for Finley. When the door opens again, she’s got her hair in braided pig-tails and she’s wearing dark leggings, a light green jacket, and boots, with a hiking pack flung over one shoulder.
“Is that apple?” she asks.
“Hope that’s okay.”
“What do you think, Baby?” She reaches down and scoops the ewe up. “Her first apple.” She peers over Baby’s head, her lips quirked up and pressed together, making her look a little like an angry duck. “Very crafty, Carnegie. Win over the ewe.”
I laugh like I have no idea what she’s talking about. Like I didn’t spend a bunch of time dicing up an apple, mostly to impress Finley.
While she disappears inside with Baby, I step off the small porch, pacing over to some brush near the cliffs behind the doctor’s quarters. I hear the thunder of waves breaking below. I think of Finley, only ever looking down the cliffs—no thought of leaving. I wonder if she even looks down at all. Maybe she can’t.
A moment later, she reappears, closing the door behind her and pressing a small sticky note to it. She doesn’t speak, just smiles, a little bit mysterious as she steps off the porch and joins me in the grass. She covers the distance between us with one long stride and stops right by me. Near enough that my dick perks up and I want to touch her.
“Careful, Sailor. Just beyond the vegetation here is a steep drop-off.”
I look into her eyes and feel myself smile. Watch as my fingers brush one of her braids. “I like this.” My voice sounds low and husky, like I’m talking with my hard-on. Because I am. Fuck. I grit my teeth and shift my weight as she looks away shyly. “Thank you.”
“Let’s get moving while we’ve got a little darkness left. You good to go now?”
Her thin brows notch as if she doesn’t understand.
“Can you be away from work this morning?”
“Oh…mm, yes, I believe. For a bit. I left a note.” Her gaze moves to the door, and I adjust my pants. Goddamn, I love her voice. Love her accent, love the way she can’t look at my face. I feel a bolt of pure lust. Not just lust but life—that wasn’t there before I got here this morning.
“Did you tell them who you’re going with?” I smile as we start toward the dirt road.
She shakes her head, laughing. “Wouldn’t want to cause alarm. Who would trust the two of us together on the slopes?”
“I had that thought.”
“Don’t worry,” she says softly. “I’ll be a better guide this time ’round. I know all the trails, of course, and all the lookouts. It’s a bit of elevation, but you can choose how high we climb. I have perhaps six hours before I’ll be missed.”
Her elbow brushes my arm as we walk along the lane’s edge. Suddenly, I can’t think of a single thing to say. I think she just questioned my physical fitness with that shit about how we can stop whenever I want to. But I can’t even get my brain to work enough to toss that back her way.
“So, Carnegie.” She blinks up at me. “Tell me how you like it here.”
“Demoted to Carnegie again.”
She smiles, but it’s a little tight…or maybe coy. “I’d like to hear your impressions,” she says crisply. “What you’ve enjoyed and not about our island.”
Just a little hesitation over how to answer, and a cold sweat hits me. That’s how this shit is. Stuff that doesn’t ever make a normal person nervous makes my hands shake. It’s like this every day, though. I know how to hide it.
“I like it,” I say. “Good people, good food. Hey, that reminds me. I didn’t realize you moved out of your place for me. Thanks for doing that.”
She gives me a smile, and now I’m sure it looks a little strained. “Of course.”
I bump her arm with my elbow and smirk down at her, hoping to get her loosened up. “The tub’s my favorite.”
“Using all my bath salts, are you?”
“Nah. I used them a couple times, but not too much. I know you can’t get more.”