Stranded With The Billionaire by Brynn Paulin

Chapter Six

~ Silas ~

Despite all our hopes, rescue didn’t come that first day or the next day or even the next. Our first full day, we discovered the waterfall and the pond beneath it. The water was fresh and drinkable. Of course, it took me all of about three-point-two seconds, if that long, to envision taking my Lily beneath it.

That woman…

I knew she was scared we wouldn’t ever get rescued. With each day that passed, I saw it in her eyes, a little less hope. I tried to hide my fears from her, but I’m sure she knew I was worried, too. If people were looking for us—and I knew they were—it shouldn’t have taken this long for our beacon to be traced.

Still, Lily never whined or cried over our situation. She did a lot of yoga breathing and meditation, as well as the stretching exercises, but she also did whatever needed to be done, obviously determined to be a partner in this and not a passenger. She amiably learned about breadfruit, coconut and taro and helped my with the crab and fish I caught. With the find of the waterfall, we were pretty well positioned to survive. Not a lot of variety, but more than enough to keep us alive.

We’d checked out the other buildings. Two had more beds—a lot more than ours. Another had indeed been a mess hall, and the last, I could only guess had held munitions and perhaps been a secret communications hub. Overall, they’d been stripped of supplies. I found where there had once been a large generator, but they’d taken that, too. Not only had the operations building been stripped, but it had been gutted by flames, perhaps intentionally.

We’d pulled some chairs out of the mess hall, but unless we wanted more of what was also in the cabin we’d commandeered, there wasn’t much to help us. So we’d resealed those buildings to keep crabs and birds out. Who knew if we’d need the structures or any of their contents?

I had to admit, I’d been disheartened by the lack, but Lily had shrugged. “Guess it remains a mystery.”

Of course, she was happy. She’d found a few ancient books at the back our cabin. To me, the decrepit things looked as if they’d fall apart, but she was happy as a clam with them. You’d think those five books had been a whole library by the way she acted.

One thing I’d learned about Lily, she was definitely a glass is half full kind of girl. If she hit a roadblock, she found a way to appreciate it or go around. Definitely not what I’d expected from a rich girl.

“Tell me about your parents,” I said one afternoon after we’d been on the island a week. We were lying on the beach, shaded by a palm, and she was reading from one of the books.

“I bet these books were distributed by the Council of Books in Wartime during World War II,” she said rather than answering my question. “You know they gave millions of copies away to soldiers. That’s why the books are an odd size, wider than they’re tall. They used magazine presses to make them then cut them in half. They were called Armed Services Editions and were actually more popular than pin-up girls.”

I doubted that. “How do you know all this?”

She shrugged. “I like history and love literature.”

“What are you reading right now?”

“This one? The Great Gatsby. Better than the movie,” she laughed. “There’s a Zane Grey western in the stack. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. There’s also This is Murder, Mr. Jones and a book of Sandburg poetry. This one’s my favorite though.”

“Lily?”

“Yeah?”

“Your parents?”

She sighed and set down the book. “Do we have to?”

“Are they that bad?”

“Depends on your definition of bad. They’re practically a caricature for terrible parents. My dad is only interested in making money and neglecting his family. My mom is interested in his money and whatever pool boy or young stud is making her feel beautiful at the moment by fucking her.”

I kept my face impassive, acting as if I were just listening and not stunned that she’d used a swear word. In my experience, Lily didn’t generally swear.

“I don’t ever want to be like either of them. I wasn’t exactly part of their life plan, so most of the time they left me at school and pretended I didn’t exist.”

“I’m sure that’s not true.”

“No? There was a three-year period when I didn’t see either of them…like at all. They never came to functions at my boarding school—none of them. They weren’t home the few times I was allowed back for vacation. I got a deposit into my account and a note from my dad’s secretary every Christmas and every year about a week after my birthday, because I’m pretty sure he doesn’t know when my birthday is and told her the wrong date. So, no, I don’t want to talk about my parents. It may be harsh to say, but the only good they ever did for me was to send me to excellent schools and stay out of my life so I got influenced by better people than them.”

And wow. They did sound like terrible people, far worse than I’d surmised from my research of her family. The term family now seemed like s stretch. I vowed to never bring them up again, if I could avoid it, and I promised myself, Lily would never experience feeling unwanted ever again. From here on, she’d know what it was to be cherished, because I would cherish her and our family. She and our children would always feel wanted and loved.

“Are they why you took the job on the plantation?” I asked, trying to get the full picture before we closed the subject for good.

“In part. I wanted far away from them. Even though they were hands off, they expected perfect behavior while I was growing up. God forbid I besmirch their reputation. Even now that I’m an adult, they want me to do what they want, and not follow the path I’ve chosen—not that they’d know or care what it was. It’s not because they want what’s best for me. I’m just a pawn to better position my father for making more money.”

“That’s a rather enlightened realization,” I commented. Normally, people were blind to how they were being used.

She shook her head, fingering the edge of her book and gently fanning the edges. “I guess it is. I’ve had all my formative years to figure it out.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t rebel.” But hell, I was glad she hadn’t because it meant she was all mine, with no shadows of past men lingering in her memories. I would have erased them all, but my good little girl was innocent.

Oh course, there was the fiancé I’d known nothing about. That troubled me, but by her own admission, she was a virgin, so I’d overcome that speed bump, too.

“I guess I could have. For a long time, I tried to win my way into their good graces. I was sure I could. Yeah…not so much. At the same time, I saw the trouble rebelling brought some of my friends—they got into trouble, but their parents didn’t show up. Honestly, by the time I realized my parents wouldn’t love me more if I were the perfect child, I’d decided to be the best I could just for myself. I needed to do everything I could to be successful on my own because I was getting away from them and never looking back.”

She turned onto her back, eyes closed beneath the bright sun now filtering through the trees. The long expanse of her golden skin and toned body were revealed by her bikini top and shorts. My fingers flexed, wanting to touch her, to stroke that smooth, warm flesh and let her know someone desired her, craved her so deeply.

“You know…I’m not a naïve little girl who’s unaware of the world or what goes on between a man and a woman. I’m just too driven for my future to screw it up with raising hell and sleeping my way through a string of men. They wouldn’t care about me any more than my parents do. Not even if one of those men is my hot-as-hell boss—former boss,” she corrected, remembering the resignation I had no intention of accepting.

“I’d damn well care about you,” I growled. “I’d never let you go, and I’d never make you feel the way they did.”

“Like a commodity—and an inconvenient one at that?” She shook her head, not opening her eyes. She had no idea how determined and furious I looked as I thought about her past and our future. “Poor little rich girl, right?” she sighed. “Some people would kill for the life I’ve had.”

Maybe. But most would be crushed by that sort of life. Lily had remarkable strength. “You haven’t mentioned your fiancé.”

That detail rubbed at me like a burr against sensitive skin.

“No, I haven’t. He’s a recent development.”

I waited, but that was all she said.

“What does that mean?” I asked when it became clear she wouldn’t elaborate. “Was it love at first sight? From what you’ve said, you didn’t plan on letting a guy in.”

“Definitely not love at first sight.” She sat up and wrapped her arms around her bent legs. Her chin rested on her knees, and the fall of her long hair hid most of her face from me. “I don’t want to talk about him. It just makes me sad.”

Did it make her sad because she missed him so much? Anger clawed at my insides, wanting to burst out. She couldn’t be in love with some asshole. She was mine. I wouldn’t allow it. I’d win her over, and she’d realize it had been just an infatuation. She’d forget all about him.

I surged to my feet. “I’m going to go work on the path.”

* * * *

~ Lily ~

I watched Silas storm away, regretting that I’d told him I was engaged, regretting even more that I was keeping up the charade. It was for my own protection. Yes, I was running as far and as fast from Kyle as I could, but I couldn’t run right into Silas’ arms. That would be self-destructive. And over the years, I’d learned to protect myself, physically and emotionally, at all costs.

But Silas…

Something was growing inside me when it came to him. Caring, I guess. I definitely wouldn’t call it love. What the hell was love, anyway? I’d never known it, though I guess what Marta showed me was close.

But Silas…

I sighed. He took care of me. More than just keeping me safe, he looked out for me, did small things that wormed their way into my heart. He always made sure I had plenty of food and water, tasty crab and breadfruit he prepared in a surprising number of ways. I was learning to cook from him, and I loved it. Though we had a path to the cabin, he was working on better clearing it, so I didn’t trip over something and get hurt. He was doing the same for the path to the waterfall.

I slept in his arms every night. There was no compromise on that. Even when it became clear we were absolutely alone and no one came here, he still insisted. Feeling his arousal pressed against me had almost done me in more than once. I pressed my thighs together, my core tingling at those memories, as well as at the remembrance of all the sweet, all-too-brief touches he managed to glance over my skin, the dark, needy looks I’d caught from time to time.

I might not know exactly what I wanted from him because of my lack of experience, but I wanted. Bad. I wanted to give myself to him and let him be my first.

But that would be stupid. He’d use me and be done with me. That’s what everyone did. Use me and forget about me. Maybe, things would last for as long as we were on the island, but once we were rescued, he’d resume his regular life, and I’d…

I didn’t know what I’d do. I’d just be alone. Without a job. Without him. A little more used than ever before.

God, I was in a “poor me” mood today. I had to shake this.

I surged to my feet, too. Silas was on the path to our cabin, so after making a pile of our blanket and my precious book, I marched off in the opposite direction from him. I headed for the water, standing right on the edge and letting the warm waves lap around my ankles.

Despite the circumstances, it was nice here. A little slice of paradise. But I was restless. Perhaps, it was from the agitating conversation. Perhaps, it was having so much down time here. We’d settled into a daily routine for survival, but most of our hours were empty, save for conversation, sitting, walking in the waves, reading. We hadn’t even explored much.

Strike that. I hadn’t explored much. Silas had investigated the interior of the island, wanting to make sure there were no unexpected surprises to harm me. On our first day, he’d also made a partial circle of the island to canvass our surroundings, huge boulders preventing a full inspection. It was high time I did the same. With that in mind, I took off down the shore, wading through the ankle-deep water.

Within the hour, I discovered there wasn’t much to see. Sand, water, rocks, trees, more water, more sand, more rocks… The sun was arcing down in the sky, and since it would take me just as long to return to camp, I considered turning back. About then, I encountered a large outcropping of boulders I’d have to climb over to continue. The multitude of large coconut crabs scurrying around them sealed my decision. Silas had assured me they were more of a nuisance than a threat, but I didn’t want to chance that.

Turning, I retraced my steps, feeling exercised but unsatisfied by my exploration. I’d hoped to see something new. I don’t know what, but something new that wasn’t trees, water or sand. With less glare from the sun on the water, I looked through the crystalline eddies and spied schools of colorful fish darting around the shallows. So beautiful. For a long time, I stood watching, mesmerized by the variety of underwater life filling the waters around us.

As it grew darker, I moved on, knowing I should get back before sunset, but not really worried. The moon would shine bright in the cloudless sky, and it wasn’t as if I’d get lost along the way if I followed the shore.

“Lily!” Silas’ panicked shout startled me, and I looked in that direction, not seeing him and wondering what had him so upset. I broke into a jog. Why was he so worried?

“Silas,” I called back when he yelled again. I hoped my voice would carry to him, despite the wind being against me. Apparently, he didn’t hear me since he continued to bellow.

When he came into my view, I found him standing on the shore his fingers laced into the back of his hair, agitation rolling off him in waves as he scanned the water.

“Silas!” I shouted again.

He turned and wilted, panting hard. He was soaked as if he’d been swimming in his clothes. His hands dropped as he stared at me. A moment later, he stalked toward me. Before I could even react, he dragged me to him, and his mouth covered mine, plundering, claiming, proving to himself I was alive and well. His arms were steel bands around me, holding me so tight I could barely breathe.

I sank into him, my restlessness abating in his arms. My fingers clenched in the back of his wet shirt as I lifted on my toes, trying to get closer to him. I needed to be closer more than I’d needed anything else in life. Was this what I’d been after? Was this need what had spurred my restlessness? I’d wanted this so badly but not wanted to give in.

One of his hands lifted to fist in my long hair, dislodging strands from my braid as he angled my head to deepen the kiss. I moaned into him. Forget all my arguments against it; I wanted him to hold me.

Our lips parted, and he pressed his forehead against mine, still breathing hard, and his eyes squeezed shut. His arms tightened. “I thought you’d drowned or been attacked by a shark or—” He cut off on a ragged gasp for breath.

“Or been kidnapped by Somali pirates?”

“Don’t even joke about that,” he rasped. “Don’t even.”

“I’m sorry,” I whispered.

“I came back, and you were gone. Just gone. I saw your footprints toward the water…then nothing. I’ve never been so terrified in my life.”

“I’m sorry,” I said again. “I just went for a walk. There’s nothing dangerous—”

“Don’t do that again.”

“Silas…”

“Don’t.”

“I was restless. I wanted to stretch my legs. I needed…some alone time.”

“Why?”

Because I want you, and I can’t have you. I shouldn’t have you. I can’t have an affair with you because I’m convenient on this island.

But I couldn’t tell him that.

I shrugged, unable to leave the illicit comfort and pleasure of his tight embrace. I’d stay here for just a moment more. I turned my face into his chest, covertly breathing him in as I pressed my cheek to his sternum. “I just…did. I wanted to walk and think. I’m sorry I worried you.”

He kissed the top of my head. “Please don’t do that again. I don’t know what I’d do if anything happened to you.”

“Okay,” I agreed. If he cared that much, I’d do whatever he wanted.