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She notes the seriousness on my face immediately. “What’s what?”
“That,” I say ominously. “Oh my God, Holley. It’s right behind you.”
“Oh my Gooood!” she squeals, panic making all her muscles tense up. The problem with that, of course, is that it’s going to make her sink that much faster.
I put out a hand toward her quickly. “Come on. Swim to me.”
She does as asked, looking over her shoulder with unconcealed fear, and I start to feel just the tiniest, slightest bit bad. I doubt it’ll stick, but at least when she reads me the riot act, I can honestly say I had a moment of conscience.
Holley safely within reach, I pull her up onto my back like before, only this time, she doesn’t hesitate to hold on.
We do the same routine as we did on the way out, beating the waves by swimming under them when we can. We’re in waist-deep water in no time, and Holley doesn’t waste even a moment before jumping down and running to the perceived safety of the sandy beach.
I take my time, a slow methodic walk out of the water allowing all the, ahem, parts of me I’m not always in control of time to calm down.
“What…what was that?” she asks from a spot next to our stuff, shivering in the air.
I reach down and grab a towel, offering it to her as a show of goodwill—you know, before I admit the truth.
She accepts it readily, and I grab one of my own while I answer. “There wasn’t anything. A couple of fish, maybe. Just wanted you to swim back over to me.”
“What?”
I laugh. I can’t help it; her face is too priceless. “There were probably some fish close to you, but that’s about it. I didn’t see the Loch Ness or that big shark from Jaws or anything like that.”
I can see an argument building in her mind, but remarkably, she closes it down before it even gets rolling.
“I’m scratching this from my memory.” She shakes her head. “Nope. This whole thing didn’t happen. Because I don’t want to think about Loch Ness monsters or sharks or fish, and I don’t want to think about how I’d like to wring Bachelor Anonymous’s neck.”
I laugh and shake out my hair, flinging some of the moisture in her direction.
“Hey, look at it this way. Now we can go to breakfast.”
“That is a positive,” she agrees. “I just wish I had somewhere better to change than my car.”
I bite my lip. Looks like the other thing I’m going to get in trouble for is swift on the first transgression’s heels.
“Oh. Yeah. Well, see… There are some bathrooms across the street that are open. There’s a shower and everything, so you’ll be able to clean up pretty good.”
Her eyes narrow as she considers me, but she doesn’t say anything.
It’s almost scarier than having a woman get sassy. I smile, trying to disarm whatever bomb she’s got ticking, and when she rolls her eyes at my attempt at charming her, I have to laugh.
“Come on. I’ll show you where the bathroom is.”
She nods once and then shakes her head. I repeat the motions with my own head, trying to keep up with what’s coming next.
“I just didn’t want you to almost drown again,” I defend myself when she still doesn’t say anything.
It takes a heavy sigh, two clucks of her tongue, and a roll of her eyes, but she finally ends the silent treatment.
“Fine. Show me the bathroom, then.”
I smile, thrilled with my little victory, scoop up all of our belongings from the beach in one armful, and show her the way.
I can’t explain how weirdly enjoyable our needling has been this morning, but I know this—my shower is going to have to be a cold one.HolleyLooking at my reflection in the bathroom mirror, I scrape my wet hair into a messy bun and twist it with a hair tie. Thanks to the shower, my skin and hair are devoid of the sticky residue of salt, but there’s nothing I can do about drying my wet locks. Luckily, if I leave it like this for a couple hours, it’ll dry on its own into a pretty decent showing of waves. Of all the things I’ve had tough in my life, making my hair work in a pinch isn’t one of them.
My T-shirt clings to my newly dried skin, and my nipples jab at the material of my bra. I try to tell myself it’s the cool air of the bathroom on previously heated skin, but I’m too much of a cynic to fully believe it doesn’t have anything to do with the man waiting for me outside and the time we spent in the water with his hands all over my body.
Having my legs wrapped around his hips, listening to him share the heartbreaking true story of his early life—I almost couldn’t take it. My whole body felt drawn toward him, like being pulled in by a black hole in space.
