Her happiness was not dependent upon anyone else. By allowing these tears, allowing this feeling of frailty, she was letting herself down — she was depending too much on Shane’s love.
Her warnings to herself were doing her no good as the large helicopter landed, the propellers spinning, whipping up the sand around them. Neither Shane nor Lia budged from their spot. They just continued clinging to each other.
With a firm resolve, Lia pushed down the tears, refusing to let them fall as the chopper door opened and a man stepped out, sporting a huge grin as he rushed over to the two of them.
“Are you Lia Palazzo?”
She looked at him with a raised eyebrow. Seriously? Were there that many stranded women on these islands with a brother who would tear up the entire ocean to find her? Did he honestly just ask who she was?
“Yes,” she finally answered when she knew she could do it with a straight face. The man’s smile faded as he looked from her to Shane. He’d probably assumed they would be ecstatic to be found.
He’d assumed wrong.
“Um…well…if you want to come with me…” he said, obviously at a loss for words.
“Let me get the bag,” Shane said as his hand trailed down her back, falling off at the bottom of her spine.
“Thank you,” Lia said to the rescuer, who held out his arm, appearing afraid that she might turn around and run back into the safety of the island. No. She wouldn’t do that. Rafe would have no problem sending the entire army after her now that he had her location. She was sure the pilot was calling in now, ending the search and notifying her family that she’d been found.
Her heart broke a little for Shane because he had no one to be notified or rejoice besides her family.
As she reached the helicopter, she turned back toward Shane as he jogged to her, and something inside her tore open. All of their talks, all that he’d said to her finally hit, and when it did, it hit with the force of a tropical storm in the waters around Italy.
She now realized why he’d done what he’d done, and she was filled with emotion as she once again fought tears.
Ah…yes…
Of course he had gone to Rafe. Shane had nobody he could count on outside of Rafe. He couldn’t risk losing that friendship, not for anything, not even for love, especially a new love, an untested, unsure romance… Rafe was his family, his brother, the one person who had been there for him when the rest of the world had forgotten he was there, when his parents had done worse than abandon him — had made him feel he shouldn’t even be alive.
As Shane reached her, she threw her arms around him, the wind from the chopper blades making the sand swirl around them and whipping her hair into reckless spirals.
“I’m sorry, Shane. I’m so sorry,” she said, and she leaned forward and took his lips, trying to convey her feelings, her love for him, through the kiss.
He looked puzzled for a moment, but he didn’t hesitate to pull her close and kiss her back. His tongue chased hers into her mouth, his hands spread across her back, and the two of them existed inside their very own bubble.
Why couldn’t she have figured this out sooner? Why must they have an audience when all she wanted to do was please him, love him, show him that he could count on her?
“Um, Ms. Palazzo, we need to be leaving.”
Lia wasn’t happy about the interruption, but she reluctantly released Shane and turned to the pilot.
“Of course,” she said, holding tight to Shane’s hand as he assisted her inside.
She sat beside Shane and looked out the window as their piece of paradise disappeared. Neither of them said a word as the island became nothing but a dot on the horizon. Shane had lost his yacht, and they’d been stranded for five nights, but it hadn’t felt as if they were. It had felt like a vacation, the best one she’d ever been on.
“This is only the beginning, Lia,” Shane said as she leaned her head against his shoulder and fought the overwhelming emotions vying for a foothold inside of her.
Hope rose in her chest. Maybe he was right. Maybe it was a first step, just the beginning of a brand new chapter in their lives.
Chapter Thirty-One
Rafe
Rafe rushed forward as Lia and Shane stepped off the helicopter. He might have appeared confident when he’d spoken to Ari, but he’d been terrified. When he’d climbed into the small bed and held her, it had been as much for himself as for her.
His sisters meant everything to him, and he couldn’t imagine what the world would be like without them in it. It would be an unforgivable sin for life to go on as normal if something were to happen to either of them.
“Don’t you ever do that to me again,” he said as he pulled Lia into his arms and squeezed her tight.
“I’m just fine, Rafe. Thank you for finding us,” she said, looking up with shining eyes. He was too relieved at having her safe to realize how off her reaction to being rescued was.
Rafe finally released her, then grabbed Shane and gave him a bear hug, surprising both himself and Shane. They weren’t normally the type of guys to hug, but Rafe had been truly worried about his friend. Losing him was something else that was not to be borne.
“I thought I was never going to see you again!” Shane was barely able to brace himself for impact as Rachel came flying toward them, knocking him out of her way as she grabbed hold of Lia and held on so tight, he was sure Lia couldn’t breathe.
Though the two got into their fights, and they might have wanted to rip each other apart on occasion, they truly did love one another. Rafe felt terrible that it had taken him so long to get to Italy, leaving Rachel all alone in her panic over her missing sister. He’d never once considered that Lia or Shane could be dead — well, maybe once — but he was afraid of how long it might take to locate them.
“I’m fine, Rachel. I promise.”
“Don’t ever do that again. Do you hear me?” Rachel gasped as she let Lia go, then turned toward Shane and wrapped her arms around him. “You either, Shane!”
“It wasn’t like we had a lot of choice in the matter,” Lia said with a laugh.
“How can you laugh about this? Are you crazy? Did you get hurt out there? Did you have anything to eat? Could you find clean water? Were there snakes? Poisonous berries? Wild animals? Rafe, we need to take them right to the hospital,” Rachel insisted, not giving either Lia or Shane time to answer her rapidly fired questions.
“We’re fine, Rachel. We had plenty to eat and drink,” Lia said. “None of it fatal, as you can see.”