“We don’t have to go our separate ways after this. I can help you with a job. We can be?—”
I smack my hand over his mouth, while I’m still holding the banana in it. “If you say that word, I swear I’ll shove this banana up your nose.”
His shoulders start shaking as he tries to pull away.
“Seriously, Ezra. Don’t.”
He nods, laughing with a banana smooshed to his face.When I let him go, a vibrant, rich laughter shakes the whole island. He opens his mouth to say something, but I shut it down with a glare and a shake of the banana peel in my hand. He bites his lip and turns away.
“I’m going to sleep. Merry Christmas or Friday or whatever.”
With that, I rise to my feet and head to my shelter. A hand lands on my shoulder, making me stop.
“Take mine. I’ll stay in yours.”
Without waiting for my reply, he walks to my falling-apart shelter and climbs inside.Insideis a strong word for it. He’s lying with his back on the ground, his legs are sticking out starting from his hips. So pretty much only his torso is covered. And again,coveredis a strong word. I built that monstrosity myself and know for a fact it doesn’t cover anything. The first raindrop will find its way in the inch-wide holes throughout the whole construction.
I hope there will be no rain.
It’s raining.
I’m awoken by the constant sound of heavy drops rustling the trees around me. Blinking the sleep away, I sit and try to peek outside. Yep, looks like it’s been raining for a long time, but I’m nice and dry. Sticking my head out even farther, I look in Ezra’s direction but can’t see anything. The clouds are covering the moon, and that’s the only source of light around here.
I take his jacket, my shirt, and my shorts off. These are the only dry clothes we have between us, and I don’t want to come back and sit inside completely soaked.
Then I run to Ezra and find him trying to fit in the shelter, without any luck, of course. His knees are propping thetop of the shelter—this is how low the ceiling is. The water is running from the inside through the ground like a small river. It’s pretty miserable inside, I know from experience.
“Ezra,” I call out, and he makes a motion to sit up but hits the ceiling with his head.
“Fucking shit.”
“Yeah,” I agree, wincing. “Let’s go to your place.”
He—carefully this time—climbs out of the shelter while I take a step back, freeing the space for him. My bare foot steps on something sharp, and I cry out, shifting my weight and nearly falling over. Ezra’s hand shoots ahead, wrapping around my waist, attempting to prevent my fall. We both freeze, until his palm slowly moves down. To my side and then down to my leg, feeling the naked skin under his touch. It pauses on the side of my thigh, right below my underwear, for a second before he jerks back.
Rolling my eyes at him, I say, “I’m not here with that sort of an invitation. I took my clothes off so something remains dry. Let’s go. We’re both adults and can keep our hands to ourselves.”
All my talking falls on deaf ears because I feel his intense stare trying to make out everything below my talking mouth through the darkness.
“Ezra!” I call out, trying to draw his attention.
I can almostfeelhis caressing look on my wet skin. It’s like little blows of cold air landing on the path to my face, raising goosebumps all over my skin. He knows I’m nearly naked, and now he can imagine that.
NowIcan imagine that.
“Ezra,” I repeat, losing patience. He was the one to put boundaries between us just to act like they’re not for him.
“Yeah.” I hear the huskiness of his voice even through the sound of the rain and ocean.
“Let’s go.” I turn around to head toward the dryness. Ihope he’s following, otherwise my dignity will be left out there with him.
Before getting into the bungalow, I squeeze as much water from my hair as possible and get inside. He follows a moment later. Without pants. He ditched them by the entrance. So we are left with pretty much nothing. I pass him his dry jacket, which he takes and puts on himself while I wait for him.
“Can you turn around so I can change?”
“Oh, yeah. Sure.” He whips around, leaving me with his wide, rigid back. It’s always so tense, I wonder how his bones don’t snap at some point.
I quickly replace my wet duck undies with dry shorts and take off the bra and put the dry shirt on.
