“Why are we stopping?”
“We’re beached.”
I made my way to the side of the boat and checked the water levels. Pretty shallow but it still meant I was going to have to wade through some of the fucking coldest water I had ever felt in my life to get to dry land.
My shit day just got shittier.
I sat on the bottom of the boat and started unlacing my boots. Then I took my socks off and stuffed them deep inside my boots.
I stood and for five seconds considered how Olivia was going to react to my next move, but then I realized neither of us had a choice. We were in full-on survival mode.
I grabbed the walkie-talkie from the back of my pants and held it out to Olivia. It was clear she was confused by what I was doing. I made that more clear when I undid the buttons on the front of my jeans.
“What the fuck are you doing?”
I shucked the jeans and draped them over my shoulders. Then I picked up my boots and handed them to her.
“What do you think I’m doing? We have to wade through the water to get to the land.”
She looked over the side and realized the situation.
“Noah, that water is freezing.”
That was stating the obvious. “Yep. Which is why I’ll want dry pants, socks and boots when I’m on land.”
She shook her head. “You can’t do this. We should head to the rig.”
“Can’t risk not getting to the rig. There is shelter on this island. At this point I have to take what I know for sure. I can make it the ten steps carrying you. You make sure you don’t drop my shit.”
She bit her thumb. “If you’re walking, I should walk, too. You shouldn’t have to carry me.”
“Don’t be an asshole,” I snarled at her. “There is no point in both of us freezing when we don’t have to. Trust me, if I thought you could carry me, I would let you. I happen to like my toes and don’t relish the thought of losing them to frost bite.”
“Noah! Don’t joke about that. See, I can’t let you do this. We have to turn back to the rig.”
“Olivia, I’m standing here in my boxers freezing my balls off. And we still have to get to the cabin. Can we not argue about something for at least ten damn minutes? Trust me. I know what I’m doing.”
I didn’t waste time trying to prepare myself. The sooner in, the sooner done. I threw my leg over the edge of the boat and the minute my foot hit the water I sucked in my breath.
It felt exactly like I’d expected it to feel: as if I had just plunged my foot into an ice bath. I found my footing on the sand underneath and brought my other leg over. It only came up to my calves but that was enough to drop my entire body temperature.
“Fuck!” I shouted. I imagined I could actually feel my dick shriveling up. I had no plans to share that information with Olivia however.
“Noah!”
I was scaring her. I didn’t mean to do that.
“I’m fine. It’s just fucking cold. Hurry, but remember don’t drop my shit. And grab the boat line. There are trees close to the shoreline we can tie it off to.”
It was awkward but I managed to lift her over my shoulder, my hand gripping her ass to keep her steady. I could feel the numbness already setting in but I didn’t hesitate. Just took even, measured steps so I didn’t risk hitting something in the water that might make me trip and drop both of us into the ice bath.
She shouted something but I didn’t stop to listen. I needed out of this water fast.
Once we were on dry land, I set her down. Then I sat on a log and waved her over to me. I could barely speak my teeth were chattering so much. That’s when she did something unexpected.
Kneeling in front of me she lifted my right leg and shoved it up under her coat and sweater so that it was pressed against her bare belly. She sucked in her breath, and I did the same at the shocking shift in temperature. It was only when the numbness wore off and I was able to wiggle my toes that she did the same with my left leg.
Again, the shocking change in temperature ran through my whole body. So much so that I groaned. We looked at each other then. My foot pressed up against her, her body heat drawing the cold out of me.
