Sleep With Me (Be With Me) by Jamie DeBree Read Free Book Online

him as he ducked back into the forest, following his lead as they hiked through the trees.
    “Why doesn’t anyone live here?” she asked as they walked. It was a beautiful spot, so lush and green. Plenty of land and water too, it seemed. It would be the perfect place for a vacation hideaway, or one of those fancy resorts.
    “Technically, this island is privately owned,” he said, looking around as if someone might be listening. “I don’t think the owner is here much, but I’m pretty sure if I owned a piece of paradise like this, I wouldn’t want to sell or lease to anyone.”
    Katherine shivered. “I hope we don’t get in trouble for trespassing. Are there even laws on a private island?”
    “I’m not sure,” David shrugged. “But I don’t think we’ll be here long enough to find out, so moot point.”
    As they continued the trek over the wild terrain, Katherine thought about what it would be like to own an island. She wasn’t sure who could even afford to do that, much less how they would make enough money to buy an entire piece of land in the ocean. The idea of living in such complete isolation was both intriguing and terrifying.
    And a little piece of her really wanted to experience it for herself. Only maybe not in the middle of the ocean.
    David stopped suddenly at the top of a low rise and Katherine noticed too late. She ploughed into his back, making her struggle to keep from falling on her butt as he lurched forward with no choice but to jog down the slope that gave way to more sand on the other side. She stood at the top and watched as he skidded down the beach nearly to the tide line before he was finally able to stop.
    “I’m sorry!” she called, going down more slowly to join him. “I was daydreaming, I guess. This place is so beautiful, but I can’t imagine being stuck here for very long. I’d think it would get lonely.”
    “Depends on who you’re stuck with.” David wiggled his eyebrows and she knew she shouldn’t laugh, but she couldn’t quite hide a smile at the innuendo. As she looked over his shoulder, a bank of huge, angry looking clouds caught her eye. Her expression must have given her away as his own smile faded and he turned to look out to sea as well.
    “Is that--”
    He nodded. “Looks like a gnarly storm headed right for us. And it’s coming from the direction of the main island too. We’d better get off the beach and find some shelter.”
    She started to follow as he jogged toward the trees, but then stopped.
    “What about the boat? We’ll miss our ride back!”
    He shook his head and came back, grabbing her hand and pulling her along.
    “The boat’s not coming - Amy won’t risk coming out in the middle of that squall. We’ll have to try again tomorrow.” He stopped at the edge of the jungle to look back briefly. “The storm is moving quickly - we don’t have much time. Come on.”
    Katherine followed him as he ran back the way they’d come, doing her best to keep up as he jogged at an easy pace. Endurance training wasn’t really her thing, and now she wished with all her heart she’d trained more.
    As they raced over the dark damp earth, the sunlight glinted off of something to her right. Something big. She pulled out of David’s grasp and stopped, breathing heavily as she squinted against the sun and peered through the trees.
    “David, come here!” She waved for him, pointing excitedly at her discovery. “A house!”
    He came back and bent down beside her, hands on his knees as he nodded.
    “Probably the owner’s place. It doesn’t look all that sturdy though. We’d probably be better off against the rock face somewhere.”
    Katherine frowned, moving a step closer. “It looks pretty sturdy to me. Don’t you think we should at least go check it out?”
    He shook his head, grabbing her hand again. “You’re just going to have to trust me on this, Kat. We need to find a cave or a cliff, and soon. There’s no way to tell what that storm will