“We’re in the tropics. I think catching a chill is one of the few things we don’t have to worry about.”
“Could you maybe…” Frankie wet her lips and tried to coax her tongue down from the roof of her mouth. “Close your eyes while I get out of the sea?”
“Did you close your eyes while I got out?”
“Yes.”
“Liar.” He laughed softly, the sound caressing her already-sensitive skin.
“Lucas, please.” She wasn’t above begging. Not anymore.
“I’m a doctor, I see the human form every single day. It doesn’t affect me.”
“Now who’s lying?” she retorted. “And, by the way, that towel isn’t big enough to hide the evidence of the effect I might have on you.”
His legs stopped swinging and Frankie suppressed a self-satisfied smirk. He got up and turned so his back faced her. Frankie moved towards the shore, her arms still firmly covering her body.
“Oh, Frankie?” He turned his head in her direction.
“What?”
“The towel has done a pretty good job so far.”
His long strides took him to the end of the jetty before she could think of an answer. She reached the shore and pulled the towel around her shoulders. There was no way she couldn’t ponder the meaning of his words. Did he mean the towel covered him because there was nothing to see, or that it covered the effect she’d had on him?
She wanted to know. Mostly because she wanted to be certain he felt the same attraction to her that she felt for him. That she wasn’t alone in feeling the heavy excitement in her stomach every time she was anywhere near him. But right now, she’d happily settle for the knowledge that she turned him on.
Chapter Three
The following morning, Lucas again went to the camp to see if Frankie was awake. He hadn’t been able to sleep after the encounter with her on the beach and had ended up back at the hospital.
Frankie wouldn’t be interested in him in the real world. But maybe here, in this devastated place, they could some sort of fling based on what he was sure was their mutual attraction. One that would end the moment they started their journey home.
Lucas immediately discounted that idea. He didn’t want to run the risk of them being discovered together. His scars ensured he didn’t take a pretty picture and he didn’t want the paparazzi that followed Frankie wherever she went to get anywhere near him.
Approaching the marquee that served as their sleeping quarters, he noticed someone had strung up a washing line. He closed his eyes and commanded himself not to search the line to decide which of the items might belong to Frankie.
But it seemed, much like the night before, his body parts weren’t up to following orders.
“I didn’t have you pegged as a peeping tom.” The humour in her voice tugged at his lips, pulling them up into a smile.
“You didn’t have me pegged as a person safe to sleep with last night either.”
“Sleep with?” She raised an eyebrow.
“Swim with.” Lucas wished he could slap himself around the head and knock in some sense. “Swim with, I meant.”
“Yeah. If you say so.” Her sassy answer made him want to kiss her smart mouth, but in the cold light of day he looked very different to how he’d looked the night before, and he doubted either of them wanted an audience.
“We’re wanted on a rescue today. A family trapped in their home. You up for that?”
She blinked at the sudden turn of conversation, treated him to a smile that made his bones melt, and nodded. “Lead the way.”
He was fast losing the ability to make sense when around Frankie. She affected his ability to think straight and now even talking words seemed a step beyond his mental capacity. Rounding the front of the hospital, he was grateful Henry was already waiting for them.
“We’re going in Henry’s jeep.” He pointed the way.
“Is Henry a regular member of the hospital staff?” she asked as they approached the vehicle. Lucas checked the back of the jeep to make sure the equipment he’d asked for had been stored. Satisfied everything was there, he jumped into the front next to Henry.
“He’s a tour guide, usually, but right now he uses his knowledge of the island to help us find casualties that may need our help.”
“Shuffle up,” she said, standing so close to the side of the jeep they were almost touching.
Shuffling up would be a terrible decision. He didn’t want to spend the time it took to get downtown when the entire journey would have her up close and personal with the left side of his face. He was vain enough not to want the flirty vibe between them to vanish.
“You’ve got freckles on your nose,” he said, instead of something wittier or wiser. It seemed that the extra work during the night and Frankie’s proximity had made witty and/or wise something he could only dream about.
“Um … yeah.”
“I haven’t noticed those before.”