Illusion (Swept Away 1)

“Have you been to the West Indies a lot, then?”

“No.” He looked at me for a second and then looked back in the bag. “I’ve never been before.”

“I wish I knew why we were both here.” My voice cracked, and I could feel my body shaking. I could feel that I was about to lose it.

“Someone wants us to disappear.” His voice was low. “We both know that we’ve been keeping secrets from each other.” He paused and looked at me. “There’s obviously some sort of deeper connection between us. If we want to figure it out and get off of this island, we need to explore our connections. Maybe we’ll find that we’ll be able to help each other.”

“Help each other how? I don’t have any secrets.” I looked down at the ground and walked out of the shack feeling apprehensive. I stared up at the dark sky and shivered at the ominous gray clouds that taunted me.

“So it’s a mistake that you’re here?” He followed me out with the bag in his hands.

“I don’t know how we can help each other.” I sighed. “And I’m not keeping any secrets. What secrets are you keeping? What secrets are you keeping that I can help you with?”

“I’m not.” He licked his lips, and I couldn’t stop myself from watching the pink tip of his tongue as it slid along his lips. My stomach flipped as I thought about kissing him. “Let’s go and find Steve, and then we can talk again soon.”

His words made me thirsty, and I walked faster ahead of him. “Thanks for once again providing me with a satisfying answer.” I made a face at the jungle in front of me as my brain screamed out for water. Take that, monkeys and wild animals in the trees, I thought as I glared into the unknown.

“I’m not here to make you feel better.” His voice was short.

“I don’t need you to make me feel better. I need you to answer my questions. I need you to be honest with me. We’ve been here for several days, and you only now decide to tell me that you have a connection to the Bradleys? The same people I tell you I think are after me!”

“I’m not just going to reveal everything because you have, Bianca. I don’t know you from Adam. Let’s be fair, I don’t know if your story is true or not.”

“That didn’t stop you from kissing me.”

“My attraction to you has nothing to do with my confiding in you.”

“You’re really cold, aren’t you.” I turned around and stared into his eyes searchingly. “Who hurt you so badly?”

“My mother always used to tell me, ‘Don’t give anyone the power to make you cry.’ ” He reached out and touched my cheek. “No one has the ability to hurt me. You shouldn’t worry so much about others and what they do to you. Ultimately, you have the power in your life.”

“I don’t worry about others.” I sighed. “I’m just saying that someone must have hurt you because you’re so hot and cold. I never know if you’re going to be nice to me or not.”

“Life and love and even sex are what you make of them.” He looked to the sky and frowned. “It’s going to rain. We need to make some sort of shelter—or we should go back to the shack?”

“What about Steve?”

“There’s no point in our getting soaked looking for him. Let’s go back to the shack, it’s closer.”

“I’m not going back to that shack.” I shook my head and started walking again. “Let’s figure out something else.”

“We’re going to get wet.”

“I don’t care.” I frowned. “How did it get so gray already? The sun was bright and hot just minutes ago.”

“That’s the tropics for you.”

“Weird,” I muttered, happy when I saw the white sand of the beach in the distance. I didn’t like being in the jungle.

“Bianca.” Jakob grabbed my shoulders and stopped me. “I wanted to apologize to you. I should have told you about my connection to the Bradleys in the beginning. I don’t want you to think that I don’t want to find out the truth. I want all the answers I can get. This is more complicated because I’m attracted to you. I don’t want you to think that my attraction to you is false. In a different situation, who knows what could have happened?”

“I’m sorry I snapped at you. I’m still freaked out by the letters and Steve’s disappearance. And yes, I’m annoyed that you kept things from me, but I suppose I understand why.”

“We could make love right now, and I could make you forget all your worries.” His voice was low and seductive, and I felt my face growing warmer.

“You know, I was thinking about something.” A thought suddenly hit me. “There is one person who hates me. Someone who could have set up a kidnapping as well.” I changed the subject. “Though, I don’t know if she would go to these lengths.”

“Who is that?”

“My ex-boyfriend’s ex-girlfriend.” I sighed. “She hated me.”

“Because you stole him from her?”

“No!” I exclaimed, and then paused. “Well, not really.”

“What does not really mean?”

“It means not really.” I looked into his eyes before I spoke again. He looked back at me with an intense expression. “I didn’t know he was dating someone when we met.”