“I’m fine. Really, I used to be a medic. This little cut is nothing. Just hand me a bandage and it will be fine.” Cooper went back to sorting through the food and water.
“It’s only a little cut until bacteria gets inside. Then it becomes a flaming septic pus-filled wound that kills you within forty-eight hours,” Alea explained, wielding her first aid kit like a sword. “I won’t even go into all the bugs that would just love to burrow under your skin and make a nice home for themselves.”
Cooper shrugged. “I got saltwater all in it. Salt can be very purifying.”
Alea looked over his shoulder to where Dane was digging a pit. “Can’t you command him or something?”
“I tried to command you to get out of those wet clothes,” Dane said. “It didn’t do me any good. He’s a damn fine medic, as well as the absolute worst patient who ever walked the earth. He’s a complete pansy when it comes to stuff like this. Oh, you can shoot him and he won’t complain, but try taking off the band aid and he’ll howl.”
“It’s a different kind of pain,” Cooper grumbled.
He hadn’t really had a choice the couple of times he’d been shot. The ass**les who’d shot him hadn’t brought him in for a consult on the situation. He looked up at Alea, his brain processing what Dane had said and finding something he might be willing to endure that sting to get. She was still in clothes. Despite the heat of the day, it was humid. They stood under the shade of the trees. She was still soaking wet.
The rest of them had immediately stripped down to their boxers and laid their clothes out to dry. Though Alea had unpacked some of the clothes they’d salvaged, they were wet, along with everything that hadn’t been wrapped in plastic. She’d fashioned a clothesline by tying some rope between two palm trees and hung their garments to dry. But she was still in her skirt and top.
“Cooper Evans, you are going to let me clean and dress that wound,” she said, her mouth firming.
Somehow, after years of fighting with his older brothers and dealing with Special Forces commanding officers, the gorgeous set of curves in front of him just wasn’t very scary. Sexy? Hell, yeah. And it was about to get a hell of a lot sexier. “Negotiate with me.”
“What?” Her mocha-colored eyes narrowed.
“Life is a negotiation, Princess. You took all those political science courses. You should know plenty about that.” Yeah, he liked this idea. It had been a crapfuckingtastic day. This could make it all a little nicer. “So let’s negotiate.”
Her bare foot tapped on the sand. “Fine. I want to save your life.”
“I want to save yours in return. Take off the clothes, Princess.”
Her eyes rolled. “Don’t be ridiculous.”
“You’re cold, Lea. You’ve got goose bumps all over your skin. It’s going to get worse as that sun goes down.” He and Dane had already talked about the fact that, after sunset, the temperature would drop. The blankets wouldn’t have had time to dry out. Alea needed to sleep close to the fire, and she would need body heat. But none of that would help much if she wasn’t dry first.
She frowned. “I’m not walking around here naked.”
Just a little give. That was all he needed. “Your panties and bra will dry a lot faster if you strip out of everything else.”
She turned around, and for a moment he thought he was going to lose. Then she tossed the first aid kit his way. “All right, damn it. Don’t expect me to be gentle.”
With jerky, slightly nervous motions, she tore into the buttons of her shirt. Once she’d undone them all, she shrugged the garment off and settled the heavy fabric over the clothesline before she shoved at the waistband of her skirt. She was wearing a plain white cotton underwire bra and panties, but plain didn’t begin to cover just how gorgeous she was.
Fuck. She had curves for miles. She was built to please a man, and he damn straight wanted to be that man. Well, one of three. Somehow the whole near-death experience was making it way easier to realize that they might not have time to waste. Tomorrow might be now. If they wanted her, they were going to have to find just the right way to take her.
And they’d do it together. Coop knew he wouldn’t have survived without his brothers. Without the three of them, Alea would have died or she would have been stranded alone. They wouldn’t have the bounty of supplies they’d gathered without Dane and Lan. And god bless him, Lan had fought that vicious current to bring all of those necessities to the island. They could survive quite nicely for a while because everyone had done their part, including his sweet Alea. She’d calmed quickly and figured out their coordinates, then settled into the cockpit to help him land, and he was in awe. She seemed to soak up and retain most everything that anyone had ever taught her.
The four of them made a damn good team. If they were lucky, they could make a fine family.
Alea turned, a blush high in her cheeks. “Fine. Now I’m almost naked.”
“It covers more than most bikinis.”
“I don’t wear bikinis,” Alea said.
Dane was suddenly at his side. There was a happy, hungry look on the big guy’s face that only happened when he got around Alea. “I just thought I should help.”
Yeah, right. Dane wanted to get as close to the candy as he could. Not that Cooper blamed the guy, but he’d been the one to unwrap the treat.
“Your help isn’t required, but thanks for playing.” Coop made a sound like a rude game show host’s buzzer. Then he turned back to Alea. “Did you learn to swim as a kid?”
She frowned. “Yes.”