“Oh.” I peeled a banana and ate it eagerly.
“So we have nothing to drink.” He ran his hands over the top of his shimmering unruly dark hair and frowned.
“What are we going to do?” I knew that at this point it was going to be better for us to work together. I was just going to have to watch his every move.
“We’ll have to go look for natural water or hope it rains.”
“Rains?” I frowned. “What are we going to do? Stick our tongues out?”
“Something like that.” He grinned. “The rainwater here will be safe to drink. It’ll be pure. We should find something to act as a container.”
“Um, don’t you think that’s a waste of time?” I looked up at the clear sky. “I don’t think it’s about to rain anytime soon.”
“The weather can change in an instant, Bianca. Weather is like people. Things change when you least expect it.”
“So you’re saying that appearances can be deceiving?”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying.” His eyes narrowed as he stared at me, and his expression changed. “All that glitters is not gold.”
I looked away then and concentrated on eating my banana. I gobbled it down greedily, eager to have some food in my stomach. I quickly peeled a second banana and starting eating it just as voraciously.
“Don’t eat a third one.” Jakob grabbed the rest of the bananas from my hand. “You’ve had enough for sustenance. If you have any more, you’ll become thirstier.”
“I’m still hungry.” I stared at the bananas in his hand.
“No more. Not now.” He shook his head, and I wondered if I had enough energy to push him down and grab the bananas back from him. “Don’t even think about it.” His eyes narrowed, and he took a step toward me. “I’d have you pinned to the ground in five seconds flat, and I wouldn’t care if I winded you.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I took a step back from him, my face flushing at the thought of him holding me down.
“I’m very strong, Bianca.” His lips curled up as he leaned forward to whisper in my ear. “And I wouldn’t be averse to getting you underneath me.”
“Well, I’d be very averse to that.”
“Are you ready to go looking for water?”
He took a step back, and I noticed that his hands were clenched into fists. That wasn’t a good sign. His body language had me off-kilter. I couldn’t figure him out at all. Was he friend or foe?
“Shh.” He turned around, his eyes wide and his nostrils flaring. His hands reached out to me, and his fingers gripped my shoulders. “Do you hear that?”
“Hear what?” I whispered, and tried to listen carefully. All I could hear was the sound of the waves in the ocean and a few distant birds. Jakob’s body was tense as he stood next to me, and he closed his eyes.
“There’s someone else here.” His eyes opened again, and I could see anger and an emotion close to fear in his irises.
“What do you mean?”
“There’s someone else on the island with us.” He let go of my shoulders and looked around hurriedly. “There shouldn’t be anyone else here.” He shook his head as he paced up and down.
“Are you sure?” I walked over to him, my heart beating fast. “I don’t hear anything.”
“I’m sure.” He nodded. “Close your eyes and listen carefully.”
I closed my eyes and listened. At first, all I could hear was the sound of my own heart beating rapidly. Then I could hear Jakob breathing next to me. Then I smelled him. Masculine, virile, sweaty. I ignored the smell and tried to focus. It was then that I heard the sound of an insect I’d never heard before. It sounded like a very low buzzing. I tried to concentrate harder. I could hear the birds whistling and chirping. Wait. I froze. The birds were chirping, but someone else was whistling. That wasn’t a bird. My eyes flew open and darted to Jakob’s.
He was staring directly at me, his nose a mere couple of inches from mine. “We’re not alone.”
I swallowed hard then. My fingers reached for him of their own volition and I held on to his arms. He moved in closer to me, took me into his arms, and rubbed my back. His chest was warm and comforting. All of a sudden, he didn’t seem like the enemy. I’d seen the look in his eyes. He’d been as taken aback as I had. There was someone else on the island with us. And neither of us knew who—or why.
“What are you doing?” I reached for his arm as he pulled away from me.
“We need to go see who’s here with us.”
“Shouldn’t we hide and wait to see who comes to us?”
“Cowards wait to defend. The brave know the fight is won on the offensive.”
“Huh?” I stared at him blankly. “Were you in the military?”
“No.” he shook his head. “Have you heard of The Art of War?”
I shook my head. “No, what’s that?”
“It’s a book. It was written by Sun Tzu. He was a military general and a Chinese philosopher. A great philosopher. Sun Tzu said, ‘If ignorant of both your enemy and yourself, you are certain to be in peril.’ ”
“We don’t know if the person is our enemy.”
“We don’t know that they aren’t.”
“What shall we do?”