Read Online I'Ve Got You by Louise Forster - Free Book Online

effort and a groan, he pushed himself away from the mast. ‘Sleeping on a slanting boat certainly takes it out of you.’
    â€˜Really? I hadn’t noticed.’ Belle eyed him and offered her hand. ‘You must be feeling your age,’ she said, hauling him to his feet.
    â€˜Okay—okay,’ he said, hands up in submission. ‘I walked right into that one, but then I wasn’t the one crying out for a neck and back massage. You ready?’ he asked, sliding down the deck.
    â€˜You … I didn’t … you just came up behind me and …’ She joined him, fiddling with her T-shirt, trying to pull it down past her lovely navel … and bellybutton ring.
    Thoughts of his mouth doing things to her navel invaded his thoughts until …
    â€˜Belle?’
    Startled by his deadly serious tone, she stared at him, wide eyed. ‘You’re not going to tell me that an enormous hairy spider drifted down from the trees and is now right next to my bare leg—are you?’ she whispered, rubbing at her upper arms. ‘I’m getting goose bumps just thinking about it.’
    â€˜No spiders. Did I do this—?’ he asked, tenderly circling his fingers around her wrist, lifting her arm up for a closer inspection of the angry bruises on her forearm.
    â€˜Oh is that all?’ He watched her sag with relief. ‘It’s not like you did it on purpose. It was either that, or watch me drown.’ She peered down at his fingers. ‘If I didn’t have these marks, I wouldn’t be here. I might get them tattooed on, you know, as a permanent reminder.’
    His mind flashed back reliving the moment, when all that was between her and certain drowning was his grip and sheer determination. Thinking about it made his chest hurt. ‘You’re right, but neither one of us would be here. I would never have let you go it alone.’ His tone carried the weight of his words. ‘And there’ll be no tattoos of my fingerprints on your beautiful skin.’ Eyes capturing hers, he kissed her arm and grinned. ‘Unless it’s on your arse.’
    â€˜Well actually I have … never mind.’ The twinkle in her eyes gave her away.
    â€˜You have a tat on your arse?’ He grinned until his face ached; he probably looked like a guy who’d just had all his fantasies presented to him in a very delectable package.
    He barked out a laugh and it felt great. Everything about Belle Fabrini felt great. She was addictive. He’d bet anything she hadn’t a clue how much she’d always affected him. And he would find out what she had on her cute round arse.
    An overwhelming need to keep touching her silky skin spread through him, tightening his chest, his gut. He fought against a raging hard-on.
    â€˜You’re something else,’ he finally managed to say whilst gently stroking the marks on her skin as if he could make them disappear.
    A flush rose to her cheeks, which made him smile.
    Christ, Kabe thought. He let go of her arm and quickly moved away to get below and fill a backpack with snacks. Back in the cockpit, he grabbed a water flask from a locker under the bench. ‘Let’s go,’ he ordered, strapping the flask to his hips.
    * * *
    Belle watched Kabe climb down the rope ladder, determined to follow with as much poise as possible. He dropped into the water and looked up. ‘Come on, what are you waiting for?’
    â€˜Um … oh, I don’t know …’ Her smart mouth seemed to have deserted her. She pulled her gaze away from his glistening broad, round shoulders, muttering, ‘Don’t make a fool of yourself, and keep your camera dry.’ She wobbled down every rung, held her camera to her chest and jumped the last couple of feet. She hit the shallow water and steeply sloping sand, which yielded under her feet, threatening to throw her off balance. Kabe’s arm slipped around her waist to hold her