Semua Bab Stranded on an Island with Mr. CEO: Bab 31 - Bab 40

Nathaniel's POV By the time I reached the camp, hauling the rest of the coconuts and the makeshift basket, Ariana was already a blur of motion heading toward the stream. She was still muttering about "vile birds" and "permanent stains." I watched her disappear into the treeline, a small smile playing on my lips.I decided to get to work. I started by spreading out our haul. The tubers were small but firm, and the leaves were fresh. I also checked the coconuts we brought back.Then I moved to our water reserve and shook each one. Two were full, the third was half-empty. We were doing well, but "well" was a relative term. Next, I checked the emergency kit again, making sure the gauze was dry and the flare launcher was tucked safely in the back of the raft. Everything was in its place.Satisfied with the camp, I grabbed my sharpened fishing spear. The sun was beginning its slow descent, turning the lagoon into a sheet of hammered gold. I waded into the water, the cool ripples hitting my

Ariana's POV The morning was quiet until it wasn’t. I woke up to a low hum that seemed to vibrate through the rubber floor of the raft. Beside me, Nathaniel was already bolt upright, his head tilted like an animal catching a scent. We didn’t say a word. We just looked at each other, eyes wide, and scrambled out of the shelter. The sky was gray and thick with clouds that looked like unwashed wool, but it didn't feel like rain. My eyes scanned the horizon until they locked onto a tiny, dark speck moving across the cloud line. "Nathaniel!" I choked out, pointing. "I see it," he said, his voice tight. It was an aircraft. A helicopter, judging by the way it moved. For a second, we both just stood there, paralyzed by the sight of something man-made. Then, the reality hit. "The flares! Ariana, the flares!" I bolted back into the raft, my hands fumbling with the black emergency case. I grabbed the orange launcher and the cartridges, my heart hammering so hard against my ribs I thought

Ariana's POV If I’m being honest with myself, the hope of rescue is a dying fire. Every time a ship or a plane appears on the horizon, it feels like the universe is playing a cruel joke on us. They show up just to pass us by. If that isn't fate telling us to settle in, I don’t know what is. And now, Nathaniel is talking about planting crops. He’s preparing for a life here, not just a stay.Well, if we’re going to be here, why shouldn't we have the things the outside world denies us? Back in New York, we’re a scandal waiting to happen. Here, we are the only two people on earth. We make the rules. We decide the pace. There are no HR departments or judging parents in this jungle.That was my mindset when I started my "seduction expedition." I’m no master at it seeing as I’ve mostly just been unbuttoning my shirt and trying to look like I’m not thinking about him every second, but I wanted him to break. I wanted to see the billionaire CEO lose his composure.He’d gone off into the brush

Nathaniel's POV I felt sick.It was a deep, oily nausea that pooled in the pit of my stomach. I looked at Ariana, sitting there in the flickering firelight, and all I could see was the shadow of that sixteen-year-old girl waking up in a dingy clinic to find her future had been carved out of her.Her father better pray to whatever god he believes in that he never meets me. Because in this moment, I didn't feel like a CEO or a civilized man. I felt like a killer. I wanted to find that man and dismantle his life, brick by brick, until he felt even a fraction of the hollow agony he had forced upon his own flesh and blood. It was beyond criminal. It was a violation of the soul.Looking at how devastated she looked, the way her shoulders were hunched as if she were still trying to protect that scarred midsection, it broke my heart. Truly and completely broke it.I didn't say anything at first. I couldn't. I just sank to my knees in the sand beside her and pulled her into my arms. I held he

Ariana's POV Before I could decide, he dropped the stick and turned to me, his eyes locking onto mine with an intensity that made my breath catch. The firelight danced across his face, highlighting the sharp lines of his jaw and the stubble shadowing his cheeks. He scooted closer on the sand, the grains shifting under him, until our knees brushed. My heart pounded in my chest, a wild drumbeat echoing the crackle of the flames.Without a word, he reached out, his hand cupping the back of my neck, fingers threading into my hair. He pulled me toward him, his lips crashing against mine in a kiss that was all hunger and no hesitation. I melted into it, my hands flying up to grip his shoulders, feeling the solid muscle beneath his shirt. His mouth was hot, demanding, tongue slipping past my lips to tangle with mine. He tasted like salt from the sea air and the faint smokiness of the fire, and I couldn't get enough.We kissed like that for what felt like hours, though it was probably only m