“So.” I stood there awkwardly and ran my hands through my drenched hair. My clothes clung to me like weights, and I had a feeling that I looked like the second coming of the Loch Ness Monster. “What now?”

“I think we should take our clothes off and let them dry.” He spoke matter-of-factly and undid the top of his pants. “We’ll only get sick if we keep them on. We can lay them out on the sand. The sun should dry them fairly quickly.”

“I guess.” I hesitated as my fingers gripped the bottom of my shirt. “Maybe they’ll dry with us wearing them?”

“I doubt it.” He undid his zipper and pulled his pants down. “And I don’t want to be walking around feeling uncomfortable either.”

“Yeah,” I mumbled as I stared at him, mesmerized, as he stood there in just his boxer briefs. His soaked, leaving-nothing-to-the-imagination boxers. I made myself avert my gaze and looked farther down his body. His legs were hairy, stocky, and tan. Shit, he was just getting hotter and hotter. I swallowed hard as my eyes worked their way back up and saw his package sitting there in his white boxer briefs.

“I suggest you take your clothes off as well.” He gave me a look as if it were the most natural thing in the world for him to tell me to get naked.

“Don’t look.” I blushed as I started removing my top.

“You do realize you’re not changing, right?” His eyes twinkled at me. “I’m going to see you in your underwear in a minute. Do you really need me to close my eyes now?”

“I guess not.” I wrinkled my nose and quickly pulled my shirt off. I looked down at my chest self-consciously, thanking God I hadn’t worn my see-through white lace bra. The bra I had on had pretty full coverage, albeit with some sexy black lace that I thought was cute.

“Your bra looks wet.” He frowned. “You should take that off as well.”

“There is no way in hell I’m taking my bra off.” I glared at him.

“Hey, I had to try.” He grinned, and I shook my head.

“You’re a pervert.” I narrowed my eyes at him and ignored the rapid beating of my heart as I went to take my pants off.

“Aren’t we all?”

I tried to remember what sort of panties I had on. At least they weren’t a thong. I wore those only when I was going on a date, to make me feel sexy. They were way too uncomfortable to wear on an everyday basis. I unzipped my pants and let out a sigh of relief as I realized that I had on a pair of plain white briefs and not my Hanes granny panties with the green and yellow flowers.

His eyes narrowed as he watched me pull my pants down quickly. I stared at the ground as I stood there in my bra and panties. “Nice.” His voice was soft.

I looked up at him. He wasn’t smiling as he stared at me in silence. There was a very primal feel about everything. All of a sudden we weren’t just two strangers kidnapped on an island. We were the last two people on earth. My stomach roared as I stared at his almost naked body. This time my hunger wasn’t for food, it was for him. He took a step toward me and his fingers brushed water off of my shoulder. My skin felt like it had been branded by his touch. His eyes narrowed as he stared at my body, giving me the once-over, leaving every inch of me tingling at his glance. The water was starting to dry on his skin and I could see the faint remnants of dried salt on his arms and chest. I wanted to lean forward and lick him to see just how salty he tasted.

“You’re beautiful.” His voice was husky as his fingers ran down my stomach. I knew that I should breathe, but the moment felt so surreal that I didn’t want to do anything to stop it. We both stood there for a few minutes looking at each other and then around at our surroundings. The sun was starting to set, and the silence around us reinforced how alone we were, how cut off we were from civilization.

“We’re going to be okay, Bianca.” He reached down and took my hand. “If anyone tries to harm you, they’ll have to go through me first.”

“I’m scared.” My voice shook as I looked up at him. “We don’t know what’s going to happen.”

“We don’t know what’s going to happen, but I’m willing to bet that no monsters are going to attack us.” He reached down and rubbed his hand against my back. I jumped slightly at the feel of him against my bare skin.

“Yeah,” I whispered. “That’s something.”

“I think we should wait until tomorrow to locate food and water if you think you’ll be okay. It’s going to be night soon, I think, and I don’t know what time the sun sets here. I’d rather we not go exploring and find ourselves stuck somewhere in the dark.” He sighed. “I can go and get some coconuts for now. We should be good for tonight with the jelly and water.”

“I guess so.” I sighed. “We won’t dehydrate already, will we?”

“I think we’ll be okay.” His expression was serious. “The coconuts will tide us over for the night. Hopefully I’ll find some with soft jelly.”

“How will you crack them open?” I frowned at him.

“I didn’t think about that.” He sighed, and I could see a flash of anger in his eyes.

“You’d think those assholes would have left us with some food and water,” I muttered.

“Yeah.” He looked toward the ocean, his face obstinate and his fists clenched. “If I had an opportunity to speak to those two bumbling fools, I’d kick their asses.”