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“Aaron?” He scoffed. “Nah. Dude’s a beast. An elite rescue swimmer—one of the best.” He used to be slightly jealous of his buddy. The big hero on the team who received all the praise and credit. It hadn’t helped when Aaron had swooped in on Dwayne’s ex the Christmas before, but now he realized his friend deserved all the credit he received...and happiness with the love of his life, a woman who hadn’t been the right fit for Dwayne.
Unfortunately, Dwayne still hadn’t found the right fit. And having grown up in the small town, where everyone knew everyone, he’d dated half the available women his age already and knew to avoid the others.
His family name and money made dating tricky. It was tough to figure out if a woman was interested in him or his bank account. In fact, one of the appealing things about Isla Wakefield had been that her trust fund was bigger than his and her status in the community had rivaled his own.
“Was anyone else hurt?” Anna asked.
“No,” he said, her question bringing him back to the present.
“Would they have been if they’d been in the water longer?”
He knew where this was heading. He’d tried to justify his actions in his own mind exactly the same way. “That’s not the point. I didn’t follow protocol.”
“You went with your gut and it worked out. That’s a good thing. Not something to be punished.” She stopped for a breath, putting her hands on her hips.
He stopped next to her. “But what if someday my gut instincts are wrong?” He shook his head. He’d come to terms with the fact that Skylar and the crew were right. He needed to do things by the book or rescues could go sideways someday. He couldn’t continue to take risks with other people’s lives and safety on the line.
Which made it hard for him to decide whether he could continue working with the coast guard. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to follow the rules. It was just in the heat of the moment, he couldn’t trust that he wouldn’t go with his gut.
This day was the perfect example. He knew he shouldn’t have allowed Anna to talk him into flying into a military no-fly zone. He knew he wasn’t supposed to set the chopper down in the valley. But something about her insistence made him think that taking these small, harmless detours from the right thing to dowassomehow the right thing to do.
His mother was not going to agree.
“Well, for what it’s worth, if I was in danger, I’d want someone who knew when and how to break protocol to have my back,” she said, blowing a strand of hair away from her flushed cheeks.
Damn, she was hot, and the fact that she was on his side had an overwhelming effect on him. Right or wrong, having a true ride or die was something he was lacking. Their eyes met and held, and instinctively they moved toward one another. Dwayne reached for her face and after only the slightest of hesitation lowered his mouth to hers.
Anna wrapped her arms around his neck and deepened the kiss, pressing her body closer to him on the uneven terrain beneath their boots. Dwayne’s hands moved to her waist, drawing her even closer as his mouth explored hers. She tasted like peppermint and smelled like honey, and her muscular but curvy body felt incredible. She was exactly his type physically and his body was reacting to the kiss like he was fifteen years old. When her tongue teased his bottom lip, his heart raced. This impulsive, bold woman was a match made in heaven.
Adventurous, daring... Someone—the only one—who understood his actions. Didn’t make them right, but it gave him a sense that maybe they weren’t completely wrong either. At least, not to her. This odd sensation of not being alone...of having someone like-minded who could appreciate that sometimes reality required a different judgment call than the one the textbooks taught.
She tangled her fingers in his hair and continued to kiss him as though he had the air she desperately needed. Their connection and chemistry in that moment was undeniable and the instant spark between them caught him completely off guard in the best way.
A moment later, he reluctantly pulled away, breaking contact with her lips. Her eyes opened and she smiled. “That was a really great kiss,” she said.
“Had you expected anything else?” he said, feeling a tug in his chest that was even more unexpected than their impulsive make-out session.
“So far you have delivered on all levels, Officer Madden,” she said with a grin, slowly moving away from him. Her hips swayed distractingly as she continued ahead of him on the trail and Dwayne knew he’d just met a woman he’d not soon forget.
CHAPTER FOUR
SHE’DPLAYEDITCOOL, but that kiss had rocked her to her core. Heat coursed through her that had nothing to do with the blazing sun overhead or the exertion of climbing this never-ending mountain. Obviously, she was attracted to Dwayne. The man was gorgeous and smart and skilled. He was interesting and perceptive and offered her a challenge she usually didn’t get.
But there had been something else in that kiss. Something truly unexpected. A spark that had ignited passion and desire, but also a connection that seemed to run deeper. As though their souls had connected as well as their lips. It was odd and unexplainable and definitely unexpected, but also undeniable.
She glanced his way now and saw him smiling, and her heart pounded in her chest. She’d traveled the entire world looking for valuable hidden treasures, but the one time she wasn’t searching for the big score, she found something—someone—that she already knew was priceless. A man who had understood her need to go on this adventure without her having to fully reveal just how important the journey was.
As they finally reached a clearing, she caught sight of something several feet away and her heart raced for an entirely different reason. She hurried toward it, ignoring Dwayne’s calls behind her, no longer feeling the ache in her legs from the hike.
This was it. She’d found it. She couldn’t believe it was actually here.
SLIGHTLYOUTOFBREATH,Dwayne stopped in front of a single-engine two-seater plane. Or at least what was left of it, partially hidden by the overgrowth, parts of it scattered across the clearing. “What’s this?”
Seemingly transfixed, Anna ignored him as she started sorting through the wreckage.
“Hey, be careful,” Dwayne said, moving closer. Years of decay and rust made the thing a major hazard. Not to mention, there was probably a dead body... At what stage of decomposition, he didn’t know.
“Don’t worry—the pilot ejected before the crash,” Anna said, stepping carefully over the left wing to stand in the middle of the debris.
