No wonder the boat wasn’t fit to sail.
‘So. Are we going to talk?’ Ash asked after they’d been walking in awkward silence for a while.
Zoey looked away so he wouldn’t see her wince. ‘Absolutely. I’ll go first.’
‘Okay.’ Was that amusement she heard in his voice? Well, she was ignoring it. She had a plan here, dammit, and she intended to follow it.
‘Right. Well, first off, I think it’s really important we agree that this doesn’t affect our friendship,’ she said, in what she thought was a reasonable tone.
‘And you have an idea for how we can do that?’ Ash guessed.
Zoey nodded. ‘Absolutely. What happened on this island stays on this island. As far as the rest of the world is concerned—hell, as far as we’re concerned once we get off here—it never happened. Okay?’
He didn’t answer. Zoey walked a few more steps before she realised he wasn’t with her either.
She turned to face him, her bare feet sinking into the sand. She should have known he’d make this difficult.
‘What?’ She placed her hands on her hips and tried not to scowl.
‘You’re beautiful when you scowl, you know.’ He was smiling. Why was he smiling?
‘I’m not scowling. And did you not hear me on the forgetting all about it part?’
‘I heard.’ He stepped closer. ‘In fact, I heard you say—very clearly—that we had to forget this once we get off the island.’
Zoey swallowed. Hard. ‘What are you saying?’
Ash’s smile was almost wolfish. ‘We’re still on the island, Zo.’
She looked around her. Sea. Sand. Sun. No one else for miles and miles of water...
‘So we are,’ she said faintly.
Another step and he was right before her, his hands coming to rest on her hips. ‘Look, I’m not saying you’re wrong. Our timing sucks, and you have a million things to sort out when we get back to the real world. And your friendship is worth more to me than anything else.’
‘But?’ There was always a but. She could tell from the heat in his eyes he wasn’t actually agreeing with her.
Hell, she wasn’t sure even she agreed with herself right now.
‘But all I can think of right now is stripping that lovely pink dress from your skin again.’
A shiver went through her at his words, and Ash chuckled. ‘You thinking about it too?’ he asked.
Words were beyond her, so she just nodded.
There was no alcohol this time. No runaway adrenaline still coursing through their veins. No excuses left between them. If they did this again it was on them. Their choice, their want.
And oh, she wanted.
Besides, she reasoned in her lust-addled mind, if this was all she could ever have of Ash Carmichael—this strange stolen time away from real world—shouldn’t she make the most of it?
Later she’d get back to reality. To worrying about where she was going to live and what she was going to do about David, and how to repair her and Ash’s friendship after they fractured it once more.
But right now...
Zoey stopped thinking, stretched up on her tiptoes and kissed her best friend.
* * *
His heart was still racing. He had sand in places sand should never go, he was covered in sweat, his bare skin was probably burning in the sun and he couldn’t bring himself to care. Because Zoey was draped over him, naked and more relaxed than he’d ever seen her in his life.
And this time they’d been sober. This time he had no doubts at all about her state of mind or whether this was a good idea.
It was an excellent idea. They should definitely do it more often.
Quite how that would work out with Zoey’s ‘we should focus on our friendship’ plan he wasn’t sure, but he figured he had time. He wasn’t going anywhere, after all—and she wasn’t wrong. Their friendship was the most important thing.
But if, once they’d got back to the real world and Zoey had set things straight with David and moved on properly, they decided to try this again, in an actual bed next time...would that really be such a bad thing?
He didn’t think so. And he hoped that, over time, Zoey might come to think the same way.
He just had to be patient.