Page 89 of Reckless Kiss

The coffee was gone, and the sun was at its full height when the stories ran dry of their travel escapades since they split after leaving the rig. The lull was interrupted by Teddy running across the lawn, barking his head off. He came to a skidding halt next to Archer and repeatedly barked. The unrelenting sound didn’t stop when he ran off but stopped when Archer didn’t get up. He came back and forth a few times.

“I think he wants you to follow him,” Daisy said.

When Teddy noticed Archer had stood and began walking, he sped off across the lawn to the topof the path. Archer looked to the others and shrugged his shoulders. He followed at a walking pace until Teddy ran back to him, still barking. When he ran away, Archer jogged to catch up with him. Archer could hear the others behind him right on his tail. When they got to the fencing and looked down to the beach, they could see what had panicked Teddy.

“Fucking hell. She’s stuck in a riptide,” Luke said, jumping the fence and running down the pathway. Archer was next, and he just knew Jason and Daisy were following. They were all strong swimmers, but any strong swimmer knew not to put themselves in danger.

“I’ll stay with Teddy,” Yanny called after them.

When they reached the sand, they kicked off their shoes and went to the shoreline. Erica was moving away from the shore, treading water.

“Where’s Gregg?” Luke asked.

Archer didn’t give a shit where Gregg was. He’d left Erica to fend for herself. Anger boiled in his veins, staring at the woman he loved, drifting away from him. He couldn’t help the metaphorical reference to his love life.

“Look, down there. He’s crawling out of the water,” Jason said.

Archer looked to where Jason was pointing down the beach. He watched as Gregg face planted the sand.

“Daisy, go and see if he’s okay. If he is, tell him I will kill him for leaving Erica out there.”

Daisy took off at a run to tend to Gregg and he turned back to see how far Erica had drifted.

“What are you going to do?” Jason said.

“I’m going to fucking get her,” he replied, pulling off his t-shirt and dropping his board shorts, so he was just in his boxers. He didn’t want to be weighed down with any heavy clothing.

The riptide wouldn’t drown Erica, but it would take her further from the shore. It would be her tiredness that would cause her to drown.

“You’re not going out there unaided. Let me get the float and rope,” Luke said.

Archer willed Luke to hurry as his brother ran on the loose sand to the tree line and unhooked the floatation device and the length of rope. He returned, tied the rope around Archer’s waist, knotting it tight, and handed him the float.

“I got this end. You know what you’re doing?” Luke said.

“Yep. We’ve all been trained to do this.”

“Is she going to panic?” Jason asked.

“No. She’ll be calm.”

Archer didn’t wait for any more questions and entered the water away from the riptide and swam out to her. As he got nearer, he could see Erica’s eyes were half-mast from her exertions. How long had she been there? He swam parallel to the shore and got behind where she was. Archer blinked, and she went under for a few seconds before she popped up again, spluttering. He approached her from behind and put his arm over her shoulder and under the armpit on the opposite side, guiding her to float on her back. She thrashed until he spoke.

“I’ve got you, honey. Hold on to the float. I’ll get us to shore.”

With the emotion of almost losing her, he tried to stop the blurring of his eyes with unshed tears. He needed her to be safe, to talk to her, to tell her he loved her.

All Archer had to do was keep hold of Erica. True to his thoughts, she remained calm and heavy in his arms. She was like a stone. Archer looked to shore to see Jason tow themalong the beach and out of the rip tide. When they were pulled to the sand, Archer lifted Erica into his arms as soon as he could stand. Luke rushed into the water and untied the rope around Archer’s waist. Gregg and Daisy met him when he stepped onto the dry, loose sand.

He stopped and looked at Gregg, his soaking wet clothes sticking to his body. “What the fucking hell were you thinking? You wanted to get your wife back, so you thought leaving her stranded in the sea was a way to go?”

Erica was heavy in his arms and out cold. He needed to get her dry and warm, away from the arsehole he was glaring at.

“Get him off the island,” Archer said to his siblings.

“I’m sorry, I thought she knew how to swim out of a riptide. Erica has told me about the sandbank making a causeway out to the island. I wanted to see it, but she said not to go out because the tide was coming in. It came so fast that we argued, and both got swept away. She tried to make me come to shore, but I wouldn’t listen.”

“Get out of my sight,” Archer roared.

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