Chapter 15

“…”

“So, are you already hard? Or are you saying it’s this big even when you’re not?”

Whether she had tightened her grip or not, the muscles around Jenna’s forearm tensed.

Just as Hayden stretched his legs out as though waking from sleep and let out a low breath—

Jenna laughed under her breath, mocking his vigorous reaction.

“Oh… so you’re getting hard. You played hard to get during the day, but I guess nighttime feels different?”

Whispering, Jenna climbed on top of Hayden.

“Either way, a man who’s thick and hard is sexy day or night.”

Hayden’s dark eyes, still adjusting after waking, immediately searched for Lee Soo. Then they swept over Jenna as she reached to pull down his trunks, and his expression turned cold.

“You’re not the one who got me hard. I was just imagining another woman on top of me.”

It sounded as though he had deliberately chosen the words most likely to provoke Jenna.

Jenna froze while looking into his underwear.

“What?”

Hayden neither enjoyed Jenna’s touch nor reacted with flustered panic.

Instead, he handled the situation with a calmness and composure that surprised everyone watching.

“If you already know you can’t have it, get off. You can squeeze and stroke all you want—I have no intention of getting you wet.”

He pulled her wrist away as he continued.

“I’ll probably be too busy getting someone else wet. And is your body really the only thing you’ve got going for you?”

For a brief moment, Jenna sat there speechless.

Then she bit down on her lower lip, sprang to her feet, slammed the cabin door behind her, and stormed out.

“You psycho! Freak! Freak!”

Her furious curses gradually faded into the distance.

Listening to the insects resume their chorus outside, Hayden lazily reclined once more.

His vivid blue eyes gleamed in the darkness.

Beneath his clean jawline, the thick muscles of his neck stood out.

Lee Soo barely kept her eyes cracked open as she lowered her gaze toward his lower body.

The silhouette outlined beneath the navy silk fabric stole her breath.

It looked as though a child’s forearm had been tucked beneath the cloth.

Because it stood diagonally erect all the way toward his hipbone, the hem of his underwear had lifted completely.

Lying with his legs spread apart, he breathed like someone intoxicated.

Each breath carried unmistakable sexual hunger, filling the room.

It drove her nearly mad.

Her whole body tingled with heat, yet she couldn’t move.

Afraid he’d realize she was awake, she pretended to shift in her sleep, pressing her thighs together.

Caught between them, her oversensitive clitoris rubbed against her damp folds.

An involuntary breath escaped through her parted lips.

At that moment, the bulge trapped beneath the navy underwear gave a heavy twitch.

Bracing both feet against the floor with one knee raised, Hayden wrapped a hand around his shaft where it rested over his abdomen.

The veins standing out on his hand pulsed before his grip slowly relaxed.

It looked as though he was trying to go back to sleep.

But unable to endure it, he grabbed himself again and began subtly rocking his hips.

The wooden floor creaked slowly beneath him.

His lower body arched upward instinctively, as though searching for somewhere deep to bury itself.

His pure blue eyes relentlessly traced over Lee Soo’s face.

Looking into his unfocused, addict-like gaze, she felt as though fantasies of thrusting deep inside her filled his mind.

His fantasies were his own.

Whatever he imagined in his head wasn’t something she could condemn.

But enduring the effect he had on her was another matter.

The movement of his sculpted torso was so vivid that her inner thighs tensed.

Something deep inside her body kept throbbing until she thought she would lose her mind.

She found herself unconsciously matching the rhythm of his breathing.

The last thing she saw was the muscles in his thighs standing out every time he thrust his hips upward.

Lee Soo squeezed her eyes shut.

If he realized she was awake, she feared he might try to press himself against her.

And in the state she was in now—burning with heat and completely overwhelmed—she was afraid she might simply accept him without resistance.

The creaking of the wooden floor echoed in her confused ears.

At the same time, his beast-like breathing sank deep into them.

The faster his movements became, the more cold sweat drenched her body.

She wanted to cover her ears.

No… she wanted to erase the image of Hayden that kept appearing behind her tightly shut eyes.

But even with her eyes closed, she could still see him clearly—groaning softly as he pleasured himself.

Then, in her imagination, he crawled toward her on his knees and finally pressed his lower body against hers.

His shoulders.

His chest.

His waist.

Everything was so vivid it felt close enough to touch.

It was as though she had fallen under a demon’s spell.

Though they were separated by several feet, she couldn’t escape the heat radiating from him.

Lee Soo only managed to doze off after sunrise.

The lack of sleep left her eyes dry and sore.

Meanwhile, Hayden woke feeling completely refreshed and even went for a morning swim.

Through the wide-open doorway, she caught sight of him pulling on the underwear he had left hanging over a tree branch.

Stepping beneath the tarp, Lee Soo rinsed her mouth with the seawater Manuel had brought back the day before.

Sensing her presence, Hayden glanced toward the shelter.

For some reason, though, she felt too tense and awkward to greet him naturally.

She hesitated before making her way to the lakeside and quickly washed her face.

Soon, the five men who had spent the night at the shelter near the lake returned together.

But Jenna—who had seemed headed there the previous evening—was nowhere to be seen.

Lee Soo hurriedly rinsed the soap from her face and headed back beneath the tarp.

Just then, Manuel arrived and sat down at the table.

“Good morning.”

Placing the body cleanser on the table, Lee Soo asked,

“Good morning. Didn’t Jenna stay over there last night?”

A trace of concern showed on her face.

Trying to reassure her, Manuel replied,

“She’s resting in the cabin. Said she couldn’t be bothered walking over here, so she asked us to bring breakfast instead.”

Lee Soo had secretly feared Jenna might have been attacked by a wild animal or fallen somewhere during the night.

She let out a quiet sigh of relief.

Jenna’s selfish behavior irritated her, but she certainly didn’t wish her dead.

Looking through the sack containing breakfast, Manuel asked,

“By the way, did something happen last night?”

Everyone gradually gathered around the table.

Lee Soo glanced briefly at Hayden as he sat beside her before looking back at Manuel.

“No… why?”

“When I woke up, Jenna was sleeping beside me. It struck me as strange.”

That was true.

Everyone would naturally wonder why Jenna had suddenly shown up at their shelter before dawn.

But what was she supposed to say?

She couldn’t exactly tell them Jenna had tried to seduce Hayden, failed, and left.

As Lee Soo struggled to answer, the color slowly drained from her face.

Watching the exchange from where he sat leaning back, Hayden finally spoke after a brief pause.

“I think she left because of one of my sleeping habits.”

Manuel raised both eyebrows in surprise.

“Really? You don’t seem like someone who has any.”

Hayden placed breakfast on the table.

Canned ham, canned corn, protein shakes, and almonds.

Everything was processed food, but it was enough to satisfy their hunger.

Taking her portion, Lee Soo only pretended to eat the almonds, quietly slipping them into her hand instead.

She wanted to save them as emergency rations, just in case.

At that moment, the snake trapped inside the wooden box slammed heavily against its sides.

Sitting on top of the box, Declan tapped it with his foot as though telling it to quiet down while stuffing canned ham into his mouth.

It seemed like an ordinary morning.

Yet Lee Soo’s expression remained unusually gloomy.

Manuel watched her for a moment, then tilted his head with a thoughtful hum.

“Hmm…”

Lee Soo ate the corn she had been given by spearing the kernels with a twig from a washed-out can, then looked at Manuel.

As if he had been waiting for the chance, Manuel asked,

“Nothing really happened last night, right?”

Too much had happened for her to simply play dumb.

She had been shocked enough when Hayden—whom she’d thought was merely smooth and flirtatious—coldly rejected Jenna.

And watching him move his hips like a snake while pleasuring himself had been so obscene it almost felt like a dream.

Lee Soo’s dark eyes wandered uncertainly.

Studying her expression with quiet care, Manuel smiled gently.

“If anything happens, tell me anytime. I’ll do everything I can to help.”

Hayden had been listening to their conversation.

He fixed Manuel with an unwavering stare.

“That might just create a new problem.”

The shifting colors in Hayden’s eyes had turned unnervingly cold.

The hand gripping his eating stick looked as though it were clutching a weapon.

Seeing that, Manuel’s smile stiffened.

“A-a new problem?”

At that moment, Lee Soo, who had been staring down at her can, turned toward Hayden.

Like a beast that had hidden its fangs, Hayden calmly continued eating his corn.

Then he flicked his eyes toward her as if asking, Why are you looking at me?

Their late breakfast came to an end.

The football players said they were going to play golf.

After finishing the cleaning around the shelter, Lee Soo headed for the beach.

Since the ocean was right in front of them, she wanted to enjoy the quiet shoreline at least once.

Fortunately, a cool breeze was blowing.

The sky was pleasantly bright, and the sea was calm enough to make her drowsy.

Leaving her slippers to one side, she stepped barefoot onto the powdery white sand.

The warm, dry texture beneath her feet felt pleasant.

Although debris from the plane crash still floated wherever the waves rolled in, casting a grim reminder over the shore, the emerald sea was soothing to the eyes.

Even so, no matter how beautiful the ocean was, it couldn’t ease the heaviness lodged in her chest.

Walking slowly, Lee Soo stopped and buried her feet deep into the sand.

Ever since morning, thoughts of Hayden had lingered before her eyes without pause, leaving her restless.

If he were simply a man ruled by his instincts, he wouldn’t have rejected Jenna’s advances.

But after turning her down, he had gone on to pleasure himself instead.

He was far more inscrutable—and unsettling—than she had imagined.

What on earth is he thinking…?

Maybe years of reckless, casual sex had made ordinary relationships seem boring to him.

She didn’t know.

Even in their current situation, stranded on a deserted island, he remained strangely relaxed, almost like someone on a camping trip after spending years cooped up indoors.

Maybe it was simpler to think of him as a wealthy man who had grown so bored with life that he simply lived however he pleased.

She started walking again.

Just as she was about to head back to the shelter, she spotted Hayden sitting atop a pile of stones in the meadow.

He hadn’t taken his eyes off her, watching as though she were a child left alone by the water’s edge.

After slipping her slippers back on, Lee Soo started to walk past him.

But she stopped in front of him and quietly said,

“I… kind of feel like I’m being watched.”

She could have phrased it more gently.

But the words came out that way because, before she knew it, he’d lodged himself firmly in her thoughts, and she couldn’t stop being conscious of him.

Hayden didn’t seem bothered.

Instead, he answered as though he had been waiting for her to speak to him.

“No. You’re being protected.”

Lee Soo slowly looked him over.

He was wearing a shirt, but he hadn’t bothered buttoning it.

Maybe it was simply the most comfortable way to dress.

Or maybe it looked like he was seducing women with nothing more than his body.

“Can I ask you one thing? If what you’re doing for me isn’t just kindness… then what is it? Interest?”

Her lips had gone completely dry.

After making her wait what felt like an eternity, Hayden finally curved his lips into a smile.

It was the kind of smile someone wore when looking fondly at a fearless little puppy.

There wasn’t even any direct sunlight today.

Yet the top of her head felt strangely hot.

Unable to bear it, Lee Soo took an involuntary step backward.