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She smiled and turned a little more towards him. “You’re on. But I get to pick my prize.”
He narrowed his eyes slightly but nodded. “Okay.”
“A date. A proper one. Somewhere outside of the resort.”
He sighed but nodded again. “My prize if I win?” His eyes moved to her lips. “Is another kiss.” She felt her breath lock in her lungs as his eyes moved to her lips. “Just a heads-up. You’re gonna lose,” he added with a wink.
“You’re on,” she said just before diving in the water and taking off early. It only took him a few strokes to catch up with her. She pushed faster and knew that the race was going to be close when he met her stroke for stroke.
This swim had always helped calm her nerves or settle her fears. As she swam, she thought about Amber. Wondering if her sister would still be missing if someone like Wyatt had been around all those years ago. How many other kids had to go missing?
When she’d gotten old enough, she’d done a lot of research into missing children. The horrors she’d discovered had eaten at her for years.
From that moment on, she’d kept educated. She knew that it was estimated that there were some twenty-five million victims of human trafficking worldwide. Most were sold into forced labor or sex trafficking.
She’d prayed for years that Amber had just been sold to a couple who couldn’t have children of their own and that she was happily living somewhere with a kind family.
But the older she’d gotten, the more worry she had that her sister hadn’t lived beyond that last day she’d seen her. She knew those numbers too, how many missing kids are killed within hours of going missing.
Her parents had kept all of this from her, of course. She didn’t know if she would have been able to cope if she’d known that all those years ago.
She often thought of her sister. What life would have been like with her around. Would they have been close or would they have grown apart? If Amber was still alive, did she look like Jade? Did they have the same interests? The same voice? The same style?
They made it around the buoy neck and neck, and she felt her second wave of endorphins kicked in. There was no way she was going to lose. Not to him. She had started beating her dad at the race somewhere back in high school.
She pushed herself harder than she ever had to with her dad. By the time they reached the surf, her entire body was numb. She focused on her breathing, on making each stroke count.
Then she saw her chance. There was a mother playing in the surf with a young girl. Her timing was perfect. She turned ever so slightly and held in a smile as Wyatt turned with her.
Wyatt had to slow down in order not to plow over the little girl as Jade took the last few strokes and hit the dry sand.
Laughing, she sat in the sand and waited for Wyatt to walk out of the water.
He plopped down beside her.
“You’re a cheater,” he said with a grin.
“One that now has a date,” she said with a laugh.
Her muscles were lax as she sat in the sand and watched the sun sink lower on the horizon.
CHAPTEREIGHT
Wyatt was playing with fire. He should have just watched Jade swim and then snuck away. Instead, he’d challenged her. And each stroke she’d taken, he’d met beat for beat.
It had been years since he’d gone out that far, but his body seemed to remember the movements and, after the first few minutes, he’d fallen into pace.
He wondered what she thought about as she swam. Of course, he could tell she knew what she was doing. There were so many tourists flailing around in the water while she cut through it like a mermaid.
When she’d surfaced, he could tell that she was more relaxed. More centered.
He’d spent three years on the swim team in high school. Not that he’d won any trophies, but he was pretty good. Good enough. But with the stakes set, he figured he’d be a winner, either way.
“So, when are we going on that date?” she joked as she lay back in the sand.
He looked down at her hands. Her nails were short and painted a soft pink color.
“I’ll have to ask my boss for another night off soon,” he said, leaning beside her.
