“Are you going in or am I?” he asks me. I’ll take that asayes.
“What’s going on?” I ask while totally freaking out because I can hardly see anything with how far out the kidsallare.
“He’s either having a fit about something, a crab got him, or he got stung by a jelly fish. I don’t know,obviously.”
I step out of my flip-flops, pull off my cover-up off and over head into the water. It doesn’t look like they’re in too deep right now, but they are pretty far away from the shore. Walking through the knife-like cold water feels like it’s taking forever, and I think my muscles all locked up on the way. This is fucking coldasshit.
“Oh God,” I hear Liam groan from behind me. A splash surprises me from behind and Liam soars through small waves, swimming quickly out to the group. He makes it there quickly, leaving me in the wind, still at least a hundredyardsaway.
The closer I get, the clearer Dylan’s voice is. He’s not crying, but he’s yelling, groaning, and splashing a lot. It takes me another long minute to get out to them, and when I do, I’m barely able touch the bottom. The kids are all treading water, and I’m about to lose my balance if one small wave hits me. “What happened?” I ask,breathlessly.
“A crab got him,” Sterling says, keeping his calm like I would never beableto.
With a ferocious growl, Dylan screams, “It’s stillthere.”
Liam dives under the water toward Dylan and stays there for a long thirty seconds while I watch Dylan grit his teeth and clench his eyes in pain. I tiptoe closer, so I can wrap my arm around him, but he immediately shoves me away. “I don’twantyou.”
The look on Dylan’s face relaxes, telling me the crab must have detached, and Liam simultaneously comes up for air and embraces Dylan to swim back to shorewithhim.
“Guppy,” Sterling calls over to me. “You gotta get yourself some swim lessons if you’re gonna be taking care of him allsummer.”
I’m truly beyond the point of mortification now. “Okay,” Itellhim.
“I’ll help you, okay?” Bad idea, Julia. Bad,bad,bad.
“Heads up!” Sterlinghollers.
I look around for whatever he’s referring to and see a decent wave coming for us. With my toes barely touching the sand, I am totally at the ocean’s mercy right now. I hold my breath and wait for the water to do its worsttome.
The gush feels like a linebacker knocking me off my feet, taking me with it and running as fast as possible. Still holding my breath, I try to reach the ground while being carried by the wave, but I can’t feel anything, even with the tip of my big toe. I wave my arms around and kick my legs because that’s about all I know when it comes to swimming, but it’s clearly not working as I sink deeper below thewater.
With the wave still carrying me, it’s impossible to get the momentum I need to push myself up above the water, and my lungs are giving uponme.
The moment the wave eases, I gasp for air, finding that I’m incredibly far from the shore. It looks like a mile away considering how blurry the beach is right now. I still can’t touch the bottom, and my arms are getting tired from trying to paddle mywayin.
I’ve seen nothing and no one near me in a few long seconds. Shit, I’m introuble.
As if the jaws of life came out of nowhere, arms lock around my midsection and pull me toward the shore. If I were lucky, it would be a merman coming to my rescue as he offers me a beautiful happily ever after. But, I’m not lucky. Nope. I turn toward the “lifesaver,” finding Liam. I’m surprised he didn’t just let me drown. That would have been another checked off nanny on hislist.Easy.
“Just relax,” he tells me. He flips onto his back and pulls me on top of him, using his body like a float as he paddles us in. My nearly bare back is against his hard chest and his ... okay, wow ... clearly, he’s a little happy to see me. I mean, I guess I’m happy to see him too, considering I’m no longer about to drown in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, but I’m notthatkind of excited. Wowza. Here I was thinking the cold was supposed to make things smaller ... but that can’t possibly be thecasehere.
This is me; the Julia I’ve always been. I’m the girl who just almost drowned, and twenty seconds later, I’m thinking about this guy’s dick—a guy who has, ironically, been nothing but a dicktome.
He pulls me up onto the sand and drops me down as he catches his breath. “I thought Sterling was joking when he said you didn’t know how to swim. Didn’t Sam ask you about your skills during the interview? It’s sort of an important part of this job.” And he’s angry. Of course, he’s angry. Why wouldn’t he be angry at someone who almost justdrowned?
Peeling the salty hair out of my eyes, I struggle to look up at him as the vibrant rays of sun illuminate his face. “You know, instead of defending myself and telling you she didn’t ask me that question, I’m just going to say thank you for saving my ass.” The adrenaline from my fear is getting the best of me, and tears are burning the back of my eyes as realization and shock set in. What the hell? I don’tcry.Stop.
“I’m sorry,” he says quietly. Is it the fear and hurt in my eyes bringing him down a notch, or is something else? I don’t want him to feel sorry for me just because he thinks I had a moment of weakness where I couldn’t tolerate his assholism. Whatever. While I’d like to think I see a slight weakness within his domineering eyes, it’s probably only because he just figured out how to get me fired. That means the president of the Julia-hate-club can finallyrelax.
“You don’t have to be sorry,” I tell him. I sit up and pull my knees into my chest, needing a moment to rest so I can catch mybreath.
“You okay over there, little man?” Liam calls out toDylan.
“Yeah, I’m okay. I’m ready to go back in,”Dylansays.
“Just give me a minute, and I’ll take youbackout.”
Liam places his hand on my back. “You okay?” his voice has sweetened and it’s far from the way he’s usually talked to me. He’s definitely getting me fired. There isn’t a doubt in my mind. That’s the onlyexplanation.
