Un moment suspendu, Tome 3

Excerpt for Finding Peyton

Rob’s head tilted and Peyton swore he’d swooshed himself closer to where she was treading water. “Cartoons?”

Peyton was proud of her little comic strip. She worked hard to come up with funny and creative storylines each week, and was paid extremely well for what she did. But it was still hard to believe her penchant for doodling had led to an actual career. That she was paid money for doing what she loved. “Yeah. I have a weekly comic strip that’s published online on about a hundred and forty different websites. I just signed a contract for someone to turn my drawings into live action clips for TikTok and the first one went up a week or so ago and already has two million views.” She wasn’t bragging, not really. It was still a little unbelievable, but she proud and thrilled that she could entertain people with her drawings.

“What’s it called?”

“Should we be trying to figure out how to get back to land?” she asked.

“Probably,” Rob said, staring at her expectedly.

His attention was heady. Most people looked past her when they bothered to look at her at all. She wasn’t exactly tall, blonde, and stacked. Having this man’s complete attention was making her tingle in places she hadn’t tingled in a very long time.

“I’m sure you haven’t heard of it.”

“Humor me,” he ordered.

And there was no mistaking that his words were an order. For a split-second Peyton wondered what he’d do if she refused. But decided not to push him. “Pecky the Traveling Taco,” she told him almost defiantly.

She’d had every reaction under the sun when she told people what the name of her comic strip was. Laughter, disbelief, eye rolls, condescending remarks…you name it, she’d experienced it. So she was ready for just about anything from Rob, except what she got.

“Are you kidding me? You’re fucking with me, aren’t you?” he asked with wide eyes.

“Nope. I know it’s silly, but tacos are one of my favorite foods, and I was eleven and eating out with my grandparents one day. They took me to this hole-in-the-wall taco place near their house and I got lost in my head imagining my taco standing up and walking around the room and deciding he wanted to go on an adventure and meet people.” Peyton pressed her lips together. Shoot, she hadn’t meant to admit that. Usually when she told others how she came up with the name and idea for her comic she kept things vague. But for some reason, maybe it was the situation, she’d gone and told Rob the real story.

“That is one of my favorite comics. My friends and I talk about it all the time.”

Peyton rolled her eyes. “Whatever,” she said, turning her head and looking in the direction of the mainland. She hated when people were condescending about her work. It might be “only” a comic strip, but she loved what she did.

“My favorite is the one where Pecky and his friend, Torty the tortilla decide to go to an amusement park, and while they’re on a roller coaster his lettuce comes out and sprays all the people in the cars behind them and they have to get the park employees to find all his missing parts and everyone screams when they see him ‘naked’,” Rob told her.

Peyton turned back to him with wide eyes. “You’ve seen my stuff,” she said in awe.

“Seen and loved,” Rob reassured her.

Then he surprised her by lifting his hand out of the water and holding it out to her. “I’m Rob. Rob Welch. My friends call me Snacker.”

Automatically, Peyton reached for his hand. She grabbed hold and said, “I’m Peyton. Peyton Hulseman. My friends call me Peyton.”

Rob smiled at her and the feel of his hand in hers made sparks shoot from her fingertips to her toes…and everywhere in between.

To her shock, he pulled on her hand until they were almost touching chest to chest. Her flipper covered feet brushed against his. “Are you okay?” he asked seriously.

Peyton frowned. “Yes. Why? Are you?”

“I’m good. But you aren’t freaking out.”

“Would it do any good?” she asked seriously.

“Well, no, but that doesn’t usually seem to matter in cases like this.”

“You find yourself marooned in the middle of the ocean a lot?” she quipped.

His lips twitched again. She actually wasn’t trying to be funny, but if he thought she was, she’d take it.

“Honestly? Not this exact situation, but ones like it, yes.”

Peyton couldn’t help but be intrigued. “Yeah?”

Rob sighed. “I’m a Navy SEAL.”

“Of course you are,” she said with a roll of her eyes. She was very aware that he hadn’t let go of her hand, but she was in no hurry to let go of him. The truth was the longer they were out here, the more worried she was getting. She was a good swimmer, but there was no way she could swim all the way back to the island.

“I am,” Rob insisted. “I’m on leave at the moment, as you already know, this vaca had already been planned and my commander and team insisted I go. You know, to relax.”

She chuckled. “And here you are…relaxing.”

He returned her grin. “Or something like that. Anyway, I’ve participated in my fair share of jungle rescues, kidnapping extractions, not to mention covert operations all over the world. So trust me when I tell you that you aren’t reacting like most people who found themselves in your situation would.”

Peyton sighed. “I know, I’m weird.” She’d been described that way more than once in her lifetime.

“No, you’re perfect,” Rob said gently.