“Are you sure you don’t want to go back to the shack for protection?” He walked over to me. “Though, I don’t think it’ll rain that long.”

“I’m positive. Why do you think it won’t rain long?”

“Rain comes in short bursts in the tropics.”

“Okay.” I nodded. “And no, I don’t want to go back to the shack ever again. That place is spooky.”

“You think it’s haunted?”

“I don’t think it’s haunted, but I also don’t want to come face-to-face with some crazy person.”

“Like Casper the ghost?”

“Very funny—not. Casper was a friendly ghost. I’m talking about Freddy Krueger or the Sandman. If I saw either of them, we’d be rescued pretty quickly, trust me.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because if I saw them, my screams would be so loud that they’d hear me in outer space.”

“I wonder if I can make you scream that loudly.”

“When? During Halloween?” I asked stupidly, only realizing my idiocy after I spoke.

“When I take you and make you orgasm.” He took a step toward me. “Maybe we should see right now? Feel free to scream as loudly as you want as I enter you.”

“No, thank you.” I blushed.

“Maybe after we find Steve?”

“Yeah, that’ll happen.”

“If we go back to the shack, we might catch Steve there, then we’d know that he left the notes for us.”

“Not right now, thanks. You can go if you want.”

“Wouldn’t you like to know why Steve is here?”

“Not right now. Maybe after some food and when I have my clothes back on.” I gave him an arch look. “I need energy to do my kung fu moves. If I want to take Steve down, I’ll need to be fully prepared.”

“You know kung fu?”

“Well, not technically kung fu. More like karate.”

“Karate?” He looked impressed. “What belt are you?”

“You mean like black belt?”

“You have a black belt in karate? Wow.” He bowed down to me. “I guess you can take care of me, then.”

I blushed as I realized he’d misunderstood what I was saying. “I don’t have a black belt in karate.”

“Tae kwon do?”

“I don’t have a black belt in anything.” I shook my head. “Well, I do own several black leather belts. Some aren’t real leather, but you can’t really tell.”

“Sorry. What?” His eyes narrowed, and his expression became confused.

“I thought they were leather, but they weren’t,” I continued, but I could see him starting to look impatient. “Anyway, my point is I don’t actually have any vast experience in the martial arts, but I did take a weekend self-defense class with my friend Rosie. I also had a boyfriend in college who was into Shaolin movies, so I’ve seen quite a few.”

“Bianca.” His voice was controlled. “I think you missed your calling. You should definitely go into the profession of spouting absolutely useless random facts from movies.”

“That’s offensive.” I made a face at him. “And factually incorrect. I didn’t tell you anything about the Shaolin movies. I was just trying—”

“Though,” he said, cutting me off, “I suppose that it’s better than you saying you learned karate from watching The Karate Kid.”

I kept my mouth shut even though I wanted to tell him about the move I had learned from watching Mr. Miyagi.

“Wait, don’t tell me. That’s how you know about the aliens, right? You saw them when you had an out-of-body experience?”

“You’re going to have an out-of-body experience if you don’t shut up.” I turned toward him and caught him laughing at me. “I’m glad you think it’s funny to make fun of an innocent, kidnapped woman who is trapped on an island with two psycho men.”

“You got part of that sentence wrong.”

“What?” I frowned.

“You should have said innocent kidnapped man who is trapped on an island with a psycho man and woman.”

“Whatever, asshole.”

“You really like my ass, don’t you.” His hands fell to the top of his briefs. “I can show it to you if you want.”

“No!” I exclaimed a little louder than expected. However, my gaze didn’t falter. If he wanted to show me, I wasn’t going to miss it.

“Let’s fish.” He suddenly released his waistband and grabbed my hand, and I jumped.

“What?” I looked at him in confusion and disappointment.

“We’re both hungry. And it’s raining. It’ll be easier to catch fish if it’s raining.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really. They will be jumping more and they’ll be closer to the shore.”

“I guess.” I bit my lower lip. “I don’t know if I’ll be able to catch them with my hands. They seem like they can swim fast.”

“Catch them with your hands?” His lips trembled.

“I don’t see any rods or bait. Do you?” I snapped at him.

“Nope.” His eyes were laughing at me.

“What’s so funny?”

“Grab your branches and follow me.”

“Where are we going?”