“I keep reliving it,” she muttered. “I couldn’t see her at first. Couldn’t find her. There was a flash of pink and then nothing. And the waves were getting bigger and she was so tiny—” Her voice broke. “It would make me happy if you’d leave me alone.”
“Why would I want to make you happy? Turns out I like annoying you.” His voice was rough. “Thanks to you the whole incident had a happy ending. Try and focus on that.”
Tears spilled down her cheeks and she covered her face with her hands.
“What if I hadn’t decided to go for a swim? It was a last-minute decision.” She was sure the two teenage boys wouldn’t even have noticed what had happened.
He gave a soft curse and pulled her into his arms.
She tensed for a moment and then buried her face in his shoulder. “If you tell anyone you saw me cry, I’ll kill you.”
“Why? You’ve had a pretty traumatic couple of hours. What’s wrong with showing emotion?”
She knew she should pull away but his shirt was soft, he smelled delicious and for a moment it felt good to lean on someone.
“It’s not something I do, that’s all.”
“Another first.”
“Oh stop.” She sniffed and pulled away. “You should have left me to find my own way off the beach. Why didn’t you?”
“The tide was coming in. It’s bad for tourism if someone drowns. Puts people off coming here.”
Despite everything, it made her smile.
“Okay. I get that. But I’m alive, so you don’t need to hang around.”
“Maybe I want to hang around.”
She felt something inside her soften but she ignored it. She was exhausted, still a little hungover, guilty and drained from her conversation with Evie and shaken up by what had so nearly been a tragedy. This wasn’t a time to follow her instincts. Of course she wanted to cling to him. It was a human response to feeling vulnerable. All the more reason for him to leave.
“That’s a rapid turnaround, don’t you think? I’ve been here for almost a month and up until yesterday you’ve barely spoken to me. You called me Robot Girl.”
“Because you were frosty, invulnerable and untouchable. And now you’re warm, vulnerable and human. I prefer this side of you, by the way.”
It seemed he wasn’t going to leave, so maybe she should get another of her apologies out of the way. Then there was just her mother left.
“I’m sorry about last night. My memories are hazy, but obviously I’m never drinking wine again, ever.”
He smiled. “You’re interesting when you drink.”
Her memory might be hazy, but she clearly remembered the part where he’d rejected her.
“I saw your note when I woke up.” Thinking of it reminded her that she still had to call her mother. “I talked to Evie this morning. I told her everything. Naturally she was upset. It was a horrible conversation.”
And that was the worst part of all of it. For the first time in her working career she’d felt as if she had a connection with someone. She’d loved every moment of working with Evie.
He nodded and stroked his fingers through her hair. “You’ve had a hell of a day, haven’t you?”
“Not the best. Why are you still sitting here? I hurt your friend and you don’t even like me.”
“Oh, I like you. I like you a lot.”
“You didn’t seem to like me when I tried to remove your shirt last night.”
A smile spread slowly across his face. “That’s because you’d drunk a few glasses of wine. If you want to try it again, that’s fine with me.”
Her heart thudded a little harder. It was typical, she thought, that she finally met a man she was interested in and couldn’t do anything about it.
