“I don’t really know where I am.” Steve’s eyes grew worried as he rubbed his head. “I’m hot, and I’m thirsty, and I’m slightly disoriented. All I can remember is having a drink and then falling asleep. I feel like shit now, might have a bit of a hangover.”

“It sounds like you’ve had a rough time of it.”

“How did you two get here?”

“Bianca and I were kidnapped, so we’re not really sure how we got here, and for that matter, we don’t even know where we are.”

“You were kidnapped? Together?” Steve sounded surprised, and his smile weakened a little. His reaction was strange. It wasn’t how I expected someone to react to the news that someone had been kidnapped.

“Yes,” Jakob answered at the same time I said “No.”

“Which one is it?” Steve looked back and forth at us.

“They kidnapped us both at separate times.” Jakob’s voice was firm. “Neither of us knows why, but we’re so glad that we’re here together.”

“So you know each other?” Steve’s gaze was on me, and I could see that he was searching for answers in my eyes. I wanted to be honest with him, but I didn’t want Jakob to be mad.

“Yes.” Jakob nodded. “We’re lovers.”

“Oh!” I gasped, and blushed. I felt my face growing red at Jakob’s words, but I tried to ignore the butterflies in my stomach at the thought of him touching me, of his lips trailing down my neck. His fingers pressed into my back and trailed down to my ass suggestively. I wasn’t sure if this was part of his game, but I knew that I didn’t want him to stop. I wanted to feel his hands all over me. I wanted to touch him and feel his hardness, between my legs. I wanted to . . .

“You’ll have to excuse her.” Jakob chuckled and pulled me into his arms, suddenly making my thoughts turn into reality as my breasts crushed against his chest. “Bianca gets a bit shy when I discuss our intimacy in public.”

“Jakob.” I tried to push him away, and his hand fell to my ass once again and squeezed it firmly. I struggled against him, but his hold became tighter, and I couldn’t move.

“Later, my dear.” He smiled down at me gently, his eyes issuing me a warning as he pulled me closer toward him. I could feel his hardness pressing against my stomach, and I knew his little charade was turning him on as well.

“I guess I’m the third wheel.” Steve’s smile was completely gone, and I was cautious of how quickly his demeanor had changed. He’d gone from friendly to surly in moments, and I began to realize that his casual and friendly demeanor was definitely a pretense.

“We’re happy for the company,” Jakob spoke, sounding anything but happy. “Maybe between the three of us we can figure out exactly what’s going here. I for one don’t want to spend the rest of my days on this island.”

“Yes, I’ll be happy to stay with you both here.” Steve nodded. “I really want to figure out a way to get off the island. And of course I want to know why I’m here. Why we’re all here. Having that knowledge would be good. That would be really good.” He looked at me then, his eyes slightly narrowed and his lips thin. There was something about the way that he’d spoken that discomforted me. He didn’t sound scared. Or afraid. He was acting way too calm for someone that had supposedly been on a beach and woken up on a deserted island.

“I agree.” I shivered next to Jakob. I was still in his arms, and I was suddenly glad for more than one reason that he had laid his claim on me.

As much as I wasn’t sure about Jakob’s intentions, I knew that Steve was bad news. I couldn’t ignore the feeling that he was definitely here for a more sinister reason.

“Should we go take a seat?” Jakob nodded back toward our pants. “Get to know one another?”

“Sounds good. I need a bit of a rest.” Steve nodded, and we all walked back to the sand.

“I don’t trust him,” I whispered into Jakob’s ear as we walked back, and the look in his eyes told me that he agreed with me.

“Let’s not let him know that.” Jakob’s breath tickled my ear as he whispered back at me. I wasn’t sure if I agreed with him. Part of me thought it would be a better idea to let Steve know that we didn’t trust him from the get-go.

“I guess I’m really not at Sandals anymore.” Steve gave me a look. “Serves me right for sitting on the beach and drinking all day.”

There was something off with Steve’s story. He’d said that he had been relaxing on the beach when he had fallen asleep. And then he’d woken up in the jungle. I looked at him again and gave him a weak smile before looking down at the sand and thinking. He was wearing pants and a blue shirt. Why would he have been wearing pants and a shirt on the beach?

The other thought that struck me was how calm and collected he seemed. He was so calm that he’d been whistling casually. If I’d woken up in the middle of a jungle after falling asleep on the beach, I wouldn’t be whistling as if I had no cares in the world. I’d be frantic as hell. Something didn’t add up. And all of us knew it. The only sounds around us were those of the waves crashing in the ocean and some birds chirping.

I stared at Steve and then at Jakob. They were sizing each other up, and I could feel the sudden tension in the air. Steve looked back at me and ran his hands down the front of his shirt. “I’m glad I’m here, Bianca. I can help to protect you.” He then looked at Jakob pointedly.