“Crap,” I whispered. I tried to lift my head to figure out how I could untangle myself from this mess, and when I finally did, two knees came into view. They were pressed together, jutting out over my hips. Hang on, if that wasn’t a knee then . . .
I reached around again and grabbed it once more. Only this time, when I grabbed it I knew exactly what it was.Not a knee.Sonota knee.
“Val!” I heard a very surprised voice behind me and felt the bed move as Alex threw himself off it. I pushed myself off the bed too and scrambled to my feet. I looked over at Alex. He was standing on the other side of the bed. His eyes were wide with shock, jaw hanging open, almost to the floor. My eyes drifted down, down, down . . .
Dear Lord!There was some serious morning glory happening over there. He was pitching a full-blown tent in his boxer shorts. My cheeks immediately blazed with a mixture of embarrassment and . . .shit. My palm started to tingle at the memory of being wrapped around all that. And there was justsoooomuch of it. Alex grabbed a pillow off the bed and covered himself. He cleared his throat and then turned a strange and disturbing shade of red.
There was no misinterpreting this situation. No spinning this a different way to distract from what had really just happened . . .I’d touched his penis!Grabbed it, to be more specific. Held it in the palm of my hand. And what’s more, it had been big and hard and thick and had poked into my shoulder with such force that I swear, it could have almost pushed me off the bed. My eyes drifted down to where the pillow was—would I be a total and utter pervert if I told you that I wanted to see what lay below it? Alex turned sideways, as if he knew what I was thinking.
Oh my God!The reality of the situation suddenly came crashing in and I didn’t know whether to laugh nervously, or run from the room and hide for the rest of the holiday so I didn’t see him again. I could see he was thinking the exact same thing too, as he stood there, cushion covering him, walking sideways now like a crab.
“It’s a very natural reaction for a man in the morning . . .” he stuttered suddenly.
Oh God, I didn’t want to have this conversation. It was just too damn awkward. “So . . . breakfast?” I suddenly declared loudly. Totally changing the subject. Trying to steer the conversation as far away from his big, hard . . .Mmmmm.
“YES!” He almost shouted that. “Yes. That would be a good idea!”
We sat at a table by the beach looking out over the sea. It had been rather awkward between us since the whole “waking up in each other’s arms with a hard-on” thing. We were eating our late breakfast outside today. We’d initially gone to the dining room for the usual buffet, but when we’d walked in and seen what was playing on the TV, we’d both turned and walked straight out.
It would seem that Enigma’s live TV engagement was all the news stations were talking about. The video had gone viral overnight, viewed over ten million times. Now I was just suspicious that the whole thing had actually been a giant publicity stunt. But stunt or not, I could see the effect it was having on Alex. And the effect only got worse when on the way out of the dining room we’d passed a group of girls talking about it . . .
“Oh my God, she’s so lucky.”
“I hope my boyfriend proposes on live TV like that.”
“He’s such a rock god. OMG, you guys, he’s sooooo haawt . . .”
At that, Alex and I took our plates of carbs and strong cups of coffee and headed outside.
Despite the fact that the Danish pastries were surprisingly good that morning, the temperature perfect, the air not too humid and the setting spectacular, we sat and ate in total silence. I sipped my coffee, which was exactly what I needed. The caffeine entered my bloodstream and woke me up instantly. I’d been feeling a little groggy from oversleeping and was grateful for every mouthful of the black elixir. I wanted to say something to Alex, but wasn’t sure what.Should I address the borderline hand-job thing, or address the whole public proposal thing?Both were not easy topics to broach. But before I could decide what to say, and how best to break this silence, something broke it for me.
A loud, piercing scream. I jumped in my seat and my heart thumped, the scream had been so terrifyingly bloodcurdling. I glanced over at Alex, who was sitting up straight. We both looked out to sea, to where the scream had come from, just in time to see an unusually large wave crash against the shore. It was strange to see, because I’d only ever seen a totally flat, calm sea—until now.Another scream. More frantic and desperate this time. I held my hand to shield my eyes from the sun’s rays and scanned the water. Looking for the source of the scream.
The scream was now a shriek. Primal and guttural and one of the most frightening noises I’d ever heard. Alex and I were both on our feet, as was everyone else around us. The screaming voice started saying words, which at first were distorted, but as soon as they became audible, the entire atmosphere on the beach changed.
“My baby!” the frantic voice screeched. “My baby. I can’t find her!” At that, as if an invisible director had just called “Action,” people on the beach started running towards the sea.
“The wave . . . I was holding her . . . but . . . I can’t see her!” the frantic mother wept. “HELP! HELP! MY BABY!!”
Alex and I were swept up in the stampede of men and women rushing towards the water. Everywhere, people were wading in, looking and scanning for the missing child. The sense of panic on the beach and in the air was so palpable that it made me feel sick.
The hysterical mother was now hyperventilating, and looked as if she was about to fall over. A few women had rushed to her side, and were physically holding her up as her cheeks drained of color. Soon, the shallow waters were filled with at least thirty people all rushing around in panic. My heart raced and I felt myself grinding my teeth and wringing my now very sweaty hands together. I had no idea what to do in this situation. I wasn’t like all the others who had immediately jumped into action, instead, all I could do was freeze and stare out over the water hoping to see a child’s head bob up.
But Alex was in the water. He seemed so calm and in charge, and suddenly he seemed to have assumed the role of leader, telling people where to go and look. He was bringing a calm order to the chaos, shouting things like, “Work from left to right. In a grid.”
The fact that Alex seemed so cool and in charge settled my nerves somewhat. But as the time ticked on and the baby still hadn’t been found, I began to think the worst. I could see that everyone else was thinking the same thing too, including the mother. She had fallen to her hands and knees and was praying loudly, clawing at the sand and screaming out things like, “Take me instead, God.” Other women had also gotten down onto their knees and looked like they were praying.
Then suddenly, another voice could be heard. “I’ve found her. I’ve got her.” Heads turned and everyone looked. A man began running towards the shore carrying what looked like the lifeless body of a toddler. As he ran, her arms and legs flapped as if no muscles controlled them anymore. I’d never seen a dead person before, and I gasped.
“She’s not breathing. She’s not breathing!” the man screamed as he picked up his pace. Another gasp. This time a collective one that came from everyone on the beach. Something caught my attention and I turned to see Alex sprinting over.
“Put her down!” he instructed the man. “I’m a doctor.”
The man placed the little girl’s body down on the sand and then without a second’s hesitation, Alex was on her. He grabbed her wrist and looked at his watch, calculating her pulse. Nothing about him seemed even vaguely panicked, instead it was thoughtful. He put his head to her chest and then suddenly, as if this was one of those reality TV shows, started doing CPR. I’d never seen it done to anyone before in real life, and never to someone so small. It looked so violent, as he compressed her tiny chest and blew into her mouth.
In the distance I could hear the screech of sirens getting closer and closer—someone had obviously had the sense to call an ambulance; the thought hadn’t even crossed my panic-stricken mind.
I moved closer to watch Alex work, a circle of people had gathered round the little girl now, the mother was clutching her hand and her prayers were getting louder and longer. Alex worked with such intense focus, yet total calm. It was as if he’d zoned the entire world out and all that existed was him, and that little girl. He was literally holding her life in his hands and I had never been so swept up in awe with someone before.
