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“Is this okay?” he asked, treading water for the both of us.
I felt weightless and absolutely secure in his strong arm. I didn’t know how he’d done it. But I wasn’t afraid anymore.
I wrapped one of my arms around his neck. “It’s better than okay.”
I held my breath as his grip on my waist tightened, and he moistened his lips with the tip of his tongue. Sparks flew in my stomach as the very real possibility of our lips touching grew.
“We’re making progress already.” His voice was a low rumble that made my insides quake. “The first step is learning not to fear the water.”
I gulped, struggling to get my breathing under control. “What’s the second step?”
He spun my body around and cradled me like a baby. “Learning to trust the water. Go ahead. Stretch out. Let the water hold you. It doesn’t want to pull you down.”
A flash of nerves shot through me, but Kai must have seen it. “I’m not going anywhere.”
I laid back in the water and stretched my limbs out. My body tensed when the water covered my ears, muffling the sounds of nature around us.
Kai mouthed a single word. Relax. So, I did. I forced my rigid muscles to take a break. I closed my eyes and entered my own private watery world. The only sounds I could hear were the lapping of the water on the stone and my own heartbeat.
I filled my lungs with a deep breath as all my cares from earlier floated away. Kai’s broad hand was splayed on my upper back, but even I could tell that he wasn’t holding me up—the water was.
I was relaxed.
This was what vacation was supposed to feel like. If I was ever able to take a real vacation someday, this was the feeling I’d be chasing.
Total contentment.
But would I ever find it again without Kai by my side? I opened my eyes, and there he was, looking at me as if I were the only woman in the world. Surely, I was imagining things. But if I was, I didn’t want to stop.
Kai helped me sit up. “Ready for your next lesson?”
I faced him in the water, placing my hands on his shoulders. He taught me how to tread water. I was more than happy to kick my legs but was only willing to let go of him with one of my hands.
“Trust yourself,” Kai said. “You don’t need anyone else to keep your head above water. You can do a lot more than you think you can.”
A switch flipped inside me. He was right. I didn’t need anyone else to carry me—in the water or in life.
I’d gone after my dream job and gotten it. Weaklings didn’t do that. I’d flown to the other side of the world to start a brand-new life. Wimps didn’t do that, either.
I’d paddled a canoe in treacherous waters, glided through the air tethered to nothing but an old motorboat, and now I was floating above untold fathoms of water and not sinking like a stone.
There was no stopping me now.
I let go of Kai with my other hand and waved it through the water like he’d shown me. I may not have actually been swimming, but I wasn’t drowning.
And that was huge!
A wild thrill shot through my body. I was powerful. I didn’t need to live my life in fear of what my boss wanted. What did I want? That was the only question that mattered.
And I knew the answer.
I wanted Kai. I didn’t want to mess up his or his family’s lives. Wishy-washy, try-to-please-everybody Beth was gone. She’d drowned during this swimming lesson, and bold Beth had finally woken up!
No more skulking around, trying to find some mysterious third option to try to sell to Mr. Peters. No. I was going to confront him, sooner rather than later.
If he didn’t like it—tough. If he didn’t want to work with me after our conversation—fine. I’d carve out the life I wanted to live because now I knew I was strong enough to do it.
I had fire in my bones, and I couldn’t wait to show Chuck Peters my new true colors. I was a lioness, and I was ready to roar.
