Gillian's Island by Natalie Vivien

Author:Natalie Vivien [Vivien, Natalie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rose and Star Press
Published: 2015-07-22T03:00:00+00:00

Chapter Five

A couple of days pass, and island life begins to fall into a rhythm.

Ivy and I speak to each other, are cordial with one another, but our conversations are stilted, nothing like they were before. She no longer flirts with me (because it was flirting, I realize now), and I don't flirt with her.

This is the most difficult thing I've ever done; it's not like I've been able to make my attraction for Ivy vanish...

If anything, it's grown even stronger.

And that's what scares me most, these feelings for Ivy. Originally, they seemed like an innocent crush. An intense crush, granted, but, still—a crush. Now, though, especially after that kiss, I find myself dreaming about Ivy. Every night. She slept beside me in the tepee after the first, awkward night, and sometimes I wake to see her face next to mine, and I can hardly breathe, I ache for her so much. I want to reach across the space between us, trace her cheek with my fingertip.

I want to taste her again, taste her skin. I want to touch and kiss her, all of her, and then, afterward, glowing from that connection, I want to talk with her long into the night, learning everything she chooses to share with me about herself.

I want her to want what I want. I want her to look at me, and I want her eyes to darken with desire. I want her to laugh at my jokes, and I want her to joke with me again, tease me again...

But she's quiet and reserved when she's around me. Not so with Charity or Rusty. She was joking with Rusty about something yesterday, and I'm pretty sure they were talking about another woman, a woman waiting for her back at home...

She didn't know I was there, that I heard, but my heart broke a little, coming to terms with what I've done, what I've lost.

And that's the thing.

I have the feeling that Ivy would break my heart—completely.

But that suspicion doesn't quell my longing. When I'm foraging or wandering and something funny happens, or something frightening (there are a lot of snakes on this island), or even something only mildly interesting, I find myself eager to tell Ivy all about it, to bask in her smile, her laugh, her wit.

I have never felt so drawn to anyone in my life.

God, it's maddening.

Charity, of course, realizes that something is up, and she's been trying to wheedle it out of me, but I'm too mopey to talk about it with her.

This afternoon, I need to be away from everyone else, so I'm walking through a part of the woods I haven't explored yet with my trusty snake-whacking stick. I never whack them hard enough to hurt them, just hard enough to stun them. I mean, they have every right to be startled by the sight of a human being in their tropical paradise. They just tend to have violent reactions to that sight, and I'd prefer not to die here, if I can help it.

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