Lola rose to her feet and checked on Baby, asleep on the sofa. She tossed her life preserver on the floor, then followed Max outside. Raising one hand to her brow, she squinted against the morning sun. A hundred or so yards in front of her, blond sand and towering palms, jagged cliffs and thick vegetation filled her vision. Several palm trees and a Caribbean pine had been blown down by the storm and lay half in the water. The
“Where are we?”
“Don’t know.”
“Do you think we’re on an island?” she wondered out loud. “Or maybe the tip of Florida?” she added hopefully.
Max pointed toward the jagged cliffs and rocks to the left. “That doesn’t look like Florida.” He, too, shielded his eyes with a hand to his brow. “There are supposed to be some seven hundred islands in the Bahamas. I think we’ve landed on one.”
“Do you think there’s a Club Med on the other side? Or maybe this is one of those secluded islands owned by the rich and famous.”
He dropped his hand to his side. “Maybe one of your friends.”
She didn’t have friends who owned islands. “There’s only one way to find out.”
Max moved to the swimming platform, tied a line from the lifeboat to the back of the yacht, then he tossed it onto the surface of the water. A length of nylon rope was attached to the raft, and Max pulled it. Within a matter of seconds the little rubber boat inflated. Just as quickly, it hissed in several places, and air bubbled to the surface from beneath.
“Shit.” Max folded his arms over this chest and scowled at the rapidly sinking raft.
“Well, I guess it’s a good thing we didn’t have to abandon ship last night.”
“We’ll have to swim.” He glanced at her, and he asked, “Do you think you can make it?”
“Yes.” Since she did not plan to panic and hyperventilate, she was sure she could swim to the beach.
Together they rounded up the food and supplies they would need to explore the island. Lola changed into the fruit dress and found a pair of old canvas sneakers without laces that wouldn’t stay on her feet. Max grabbed the duct tape and knelt in front of her.
“What happens if I turn into a princess?” she asked as he took her ankle in one hand, then wrapped tape around her sneaker.
His gaze slid up her shin, past her knee, to the hem of her dress. “What?”
“Like Cinderella.”
He looked up into her face, then reached for her other foot. “Then I guess that makes me Prince Charming.”
Prince Charming? No, but he was growing on her. After the shoes were securely on her feet, she brushed her hair and teeth, then she handed him the glass with her toothbrush. Without an exchange of words, he used it. When he was through, he tossed both Lola’s purse and the duffel bag stuffed with goods into a garbage bag and blew it up with air. He tied the end as tight as possible, then they all went off the back of the yacht into the water. Max, Lola, and Baby. The Styro-foam taped to the dog’s sides provided the buoyancy he needed.
The warm untroubled water with its sparkling shards of blue was nothing like the angry tempest of the previous night. So deceptively calm that it was hard to believe it belonged to the same ocean that had come close to taking all of their lives.
Twenty feet from the beach, Lola stood and walked through the waves to the shore. The gentle swells splashed the backs of her thighs and she plucked up Baby and carried him the rest of the way. The sand was still saturated from the storm, and when she set him down, he ran off to investigate a downed palm tree.
Lola didn’t know if the island was inhabited or if she was simply trading one disaster for another, but it felt so good to finally be standing on solid ground that at the moment she didn’t care.
She was cold and wet, and she felt like falling to the earth and kissing the beach. Instead, she sank to her knees on the moist sand and lifted her face to the sun. Last night she’d prayed for a rescue ship, and it hadn’t come. Maybe this was God giving her another way off the
With the sun touching her face and cool morning air in her lungs, a rush of emotion squeezed her chest. She was alive. Several times last night she thought she would not live to see morning. Several times she would have become hysterical and lost it completely if not for Max. If not for the touch of his hand in hers and the reassuring sound of his voice within the dark cabin.
After everything, she and Baby were still alive when they could have easily drowned. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Now that it was all over, she sent God a quick thank-you and felt warm inside, like she might be having a religious experience. Not that she’d ever had one, but growing up she’d seen plenty. If not a religious experience, then just a wonderful moment to appreciate being alive. Of feeling her wet dress cling to her skin and the gritty sand in her shoes and between her toes.
Max ripped open the plastic bag and dropped her purse by her side. “Let’s go, Lola,” he ordered, ruining her moment.
“Can’t we just sit for a few and appreciate being on land again?”
“Nope.” He opened the duffel and handed her the pashmina. “We’re burnin‘ daylight.”
“Who are you? John Wayne?” She squeezed as much water from her dress as she could, then wrapped herself in the cashmere shawl. “And you have to cut off Baby’s water wings before we go anywhere,” she added, rising to her feet.
“His what?”
“The Styrofoam.”
“Come here, B. D.,” Max called to the little dog hiking his leg on the palm tree. At the sound of Max’s voice, Baby hurried to stand at his boots.
“How did you do that?” She reached for her dog and held him while Max cut the Styrofoam from his sides. “He never comes when I first call him.”
“He knows I’m alpha dog,” Max answered. The top of his bent head almost touched her nose. His thick black hair was finger-combed and smelled of him, a combination of soap and sea and Max. He glanced up as far as her mouth and his hands stilled. For one brief moment, she saw the yearning in his beautiful blue eyes. She thought he would lean forward and kiss her, and she raised her hand to run her fingers through his hair. Instead, he looked away and she returned her hand to her side. She was left feeling disappointed and a bit confused. After everything they’d gone through together the night before, her feelings for him had deepened. She respected his strength, not only his physical ability that made her feel as if he could take care of her and Baby, but his strength of character. There was a core of honor in Max. He would never abandon his responsibility or betray a trust. He would never use her to boost his own ego or sell naked photographs of her.
She didn’t love him, but there were many admirable qualities in him. No, she didn’t love him, but when he looked at her as if he wanted to consume her for lunch, her stomach got a bit squishy and her mind wandered to the shape of his butt in his jeans.
Baby yelped and Lola turned her attention to her dog. “Be a good boy, now,” she said as Max pulled off the rest of the tape. “You are a very brave dog,” she congratulated Baby once the wings were gone.
Max muttered something in Spanish as he shoved the plastic bag and Styrofoam into the duffel. By the tone of his voice, Lola thought it best not to ask him to translate, and the three of them set out toward the dense tree line.
“Which way are we headed?” she asked as she shifted Baby to one arm and hung her purse on her shoulder.
“Up,” was his informative answer, and she followed him in between two palms. Within a few moments they were swallowed by the vegetation and were forced to walk single file. Thick ferns brushed Lola’s ankles, and Max stopped several times, his hand outstretched to her.
Baby jumped from her arms and chased after a hissing iguana. They called at him to come back, but for once he didn’t listen to the alpha dog, and Max was forced to chase after him. When he finally caught Baby and brought him back, he opened Lola’s bag and shoved him inside.
“I thought he knew you were alpha dog,” she reminded him as he zipped it halfway.
Max’s brows smashed together over his blue eyes and he gave Baby a very hard stare. “Your dog has a real bad
