Lost In Love | ✔️

21

~Clementine's POV~

We walked the familiar path towards our side of the island, the side that led to that particular spot of the beach where he and I often went to watch the sunset. It also was the spot he'd decided to work out at.

"So," I began as I followed along behind him. "How exactly is me doing nothing while you work out supposed to be good company?" I couldn't help but to ask, glancing up at his broad back. His shoulders shook slightly as he laughed, a deep sound that made my stomach flutter with butterflies. When he glanced at me over his shoulder, I found that his eyes were practically sparkling and his lips were in an affectionate smile. It wasn't exactly the first time he had looked at me this way, but I doubted that I would ever get used to it nonetheless.

"Haven't you learned by now, Tiny?" He asked, that smile still lingering on his lips as he stepped out onto the sand and turned his face towards the brightly shining sun. I frowned to myself in confusion, my eyes trailing over his hair as the sunlight streamed upon the strands, making it almost sparkle. "You are perhaps the only reason I'm not in a panic being stuck here. How are you not supposed to be good company?" He reminded me, causing my lips to tug up in a little smile from the compliment. Really I could've easily said the same thing about him, but Ryder had a big ego and me complimenting him only ever seemed to inflate it.

Instead of responding I just lowered myself into the sand a little ways away from where he stood in the sand beneath a shaded tree, his eyes flicking over to me when I sat down. I forced my gaze away from him as he began working out, starting with pushups that just made it hard not to focus on the way his arms flexed, or how he seemed to lift himself with ease each time. It was practically nothing to him. Though I likely should've expected that, since it was no secret that he was very much a fit man.

I stared out at the ocean, admiring the way that the water sparkled beneath the sun's gaze and the way the waves lapped up onto the shore ever so gently. At first glance, the ocean looked beautiful, and tempting. It looked almost surreal in that moment, like it could do no harm, but I recalled the way it had felt when the plane had gone down in those waters and I was left to swim my way above the water, the way I had felt when looking around for someone else. I recalled wondering if the ocean had swallowed not only the pilot, but Ryder as well and I knew that the ocean, like many things, was not as it appeared at first glance. Regardless, it was still something that I found just as beautiful as I did frightening.

My attention was diverted back over to Ryder as he groaned, making me glance his way right as he rolled onto his back, his chest heaving. I raised a brow as he turned his head towards me, one hand resting upon his forehead.

"Something on your mind?" He asked me, blowing out a deep breath. A slight smile formed on my lips at the clear concern he was showing for me, the light brown of his eyes filled with curiosity as his brows furrowed. I just shrugged my shoulders, curling my legs up to my chest. "Just thinking about the plane crash." I confessed, watching the way his face fell, a deep frown on his full lips. Something told me that he didn't like thinking of the plane crash just as much as me because a silence briefly lapsed over the two of us, like there was nothing more to be said of the matter. I was sure he knew exactly what I meant.

"Do you think anyone will ever find us here?" I asked quietly, my gaze following him as he hesitated before he suddenly sat up. He stood from where he sat beneath the shade of the tree, catching me off guard when he tugged his shirt over his head and dropped it in the sand, leaving it there before he joined me where I sat. I swallowed thickly, not expecting him to take his clothes off so suddenly, and tried not to dwell on his bare, slightly glistening chest and defined abs.

Ryder gently gripped my chin, turning my face towards his until our eyes met and our lips almost met because of how close our faces now were. "Yes, I do." He murmured. "I don't know when, but I know someone will, somehow." He said it with such confidence that I didn't have any argument to make against it. I could tell he truly believed that, somehow, we'd get off of this island, and that just made me want to believe it too. It made me feel a little bit more at ease.

I smiled softly as I peered up at him, not missing the way his gaze flicked down to my lips, his eyelids hooding ever so slightly. The sunlight caught his eyes just right, making his brown eyes look like pools of liquid gold. I'd never seen a sight so enchanting. I swore I could've stared into them forever.

"Your eyes are pretty." I told him, unable to raise my voice above a mere whisper. It was no secret to be held between just us, but I said it as if it were one.

His fingers brushed along my jaw and brushed against my cheek ever so gently before he pushed the strands of my hair back, making sure the light breeze didn't blow them into my face. "Everything about you is pretty." I added after a moment, thoughtlessly. The words left my lips before I even knew what I was saying, but that didn't mean they were any less true. Ryder was a very handsome man. To hell with me trying not to compliment him so much, though I suppose it was worth if it he was going to be looking at me this way. It was worth it if it made him smile at me the way that he did.

"Careful there, Tiny." He hummed, a little smile on the edge of his lips as he cupped my chin once more. "Keep saying things like that to me and I might have to kiss you." He said, warmth filling me to my very core. I tilted my head up a little more, biting on my bottom lip. "You say that like it's supposed to be a bad thing." I retorted, trying not to smile. "But what makes you think I don't want that?" I asked, cocking up a brow at him. The little smile that had been on his lips formed into a sexy grin that had my heart pounding. "Oh, no. I know you do." He assured me, chuckling softly.

Our faces seemed to gravitate even closer to one another, until his lips were so close that they brushed mine, but he never pressed them to mine. I wondered what he was waiting for, feeling a little bit impatient. He knew I wanted him to kiss me, and yet he wasn't.

"What are you waiting for?" I whispered, a furrow forming in my brows as I waited. His brown eyes sparked with amusement and mischief. "For you to ask me." He answered, a sly smirk growing on his mouth when I narrowed my eyes at him. Despite how much I didn't like the idea of asking him for something like that, only because it was just against my nature, I felt my cheeks warm and I bit the inside of my lip. I couldn't believe I was actually contemplating it. "Shouldn't you be asking me instead?" I grumbled, trying to turn it around on him. That just made his smirk grow even wider.

He leaned even closer, slipping his grip from my chin around to the back of my neck. I gasped as his fingers found their way into my hair and he gripped it in his grasp, tugging me onto his lap. "No." He said simply, leaving no discussion to be had. "Say you want me to kiss you. After all we've done, I want you to give me this. I want to know you can ask me to at least kiss you when you want it, Clementine."

I paused, thinking it over to myself. I suppose I could understand where he was coming from, if I thought of it from his perspective. Ryder had never been even the slightest bit shy or subtle or hesitant about admitting his attraction to me, or to say when he wanted me. Really, I was the only one of us that had done that. He probably wanted to be sure that I wasn't going to revert back to behaving like that again. In asking him to kiss me, it was confirming that I wanted more from him and would no longer be hesitant about admitting that, in a sense. All of this back and forth that had happened between us had only happened because of me, after all, and I imagined he didn't want to go back to that.

So I nodded my head, peering up at him with a warmth in my face. "Please." I whispered. "Kiss me, Ryder."