“Well, I really thought of the plan after the boat exploded.”
“So, you really didn’t have a plan.”
“Not at all,” he shook his head.
I sighed, pulling Sarah closer to me. “That’s twice now we’ve had to jump into the ocean.”
25
SARAH
“Spicy or mild?” Fox asked.
I laughed at his ridiculous questions. I wished it was Eli asking them, but he seemed to be moping because he didn’t have my full attention. “Spicy. Is there another way to do it?”
Fox waggled his eyebrows at me. “I like the way you think. But then again, there really isn’t another way to eat tacos.”
“Unless you’re boring,” I agreed.
“I like mild,” Eli muttered.
I was floating on a piece of the boat, staring at the sky as we waited for darkness to fall. That’s when the fear would really sink in. I was grateful they were all doing their best to keep me calm.
I rolled my head to the side and peeked out through slit eyes. “Really? You don’t strike me as the mild type. You’re so…” I remembered how he took me in the hammock, the hut, and the first time we met. There was nothing about this man that was mild and boring.
“I’m so what?”
“Exciting,” I said, unsure I could come up with a better word.
I heard someone scoff nearby, but I didn’t dare take my eyes off Eli.
“I don’t think anyone has ever described me as exciting.”
“Well, not like Fox, but—”
“Hey, now,” Fox interrupted. “Don’t throw shade. Eli’s a great guy, full of fun and good times.”
I sat up, careful not to rock my wooden life raft. “Throw shade?”
“Isn’t that what the kids are saying these days?”
“I have no idea what they’re saying. I’m not a kid.”
“Right, but…you’re younger than us.”
I quirked an eyebrow at him. “And how young do you think I am?”
He sized me up carefully. “I’d say about twenty-four.”
I heard Eli groan and turned to look at him. “What? You don’t think I could pass for twenty-four?”
“Not with the way you give blow jobs.”
“See? Experience matters. And I could totally be twenty-four.”
Eli grabbed the rope he’d used to lasso us together and pulled me closer. “There’s no fucking way you’re twenty-four.”
“Why?” Now I really was getting offended. Hell, I didn’t look old.