Page 91 of Reckless Kiss

Laughter filtered through from somewhere Erica couldn’t pinpoint. Her mouth was dry, and her body ached. She was wrapped in warm arms under a covering and felt like she was suffocating for a moment. Then, jerking awake, Erica sat up and blinked several times to focus on where she was.

“Are you okay?” A sleepy male voice said next to her. She realised it was Archer.

“I think I had a nightmare. I thought I was suffocating.”

She sank back down on the bed and turned on her side to look at Archer. It didn’t take too many seconds for her mind to remember why her body ached.

“You may have those startling moments for a while,” he said carefully, looking back at her with a gaze she hadn’t seen before. The last time she was him, he was frosty and distant, and now all she saw was raw emotion.

His hand stroked her arm from shoulder to wrist, his eyes following his movements.

“I thought I was going to die out there. Gregg left meand swam away. I didn’t know what to do. If you hadn’t pushed me with all that training, I think I would’ve gone under sooner.”

“How long were you out there for?”

“About twenty minutes, but it felt like longer. I tried to tell Gregg not to go out on the sandbar, I could see the water coming over his feet, but then he lost his footing and got caught.”

“So you went out to save him,” Archer said, encircling her wrist with his fingers.

His movements were gentle and innocent, but she could tell he was holding back the rage for her situation.

“I thought it was still shallow enough.”

Archer’s eyes snapped up to hers, and his lips thinned. “Rule number one when saving someone from drowning is never putting yourself in danger.”

“You did.”

“That’s different. I knew what I was doing and how to get you out of the riptide. Plus, I was not going to leave you out there.”

Her heart melted at his conviction. Their fingers entwined, knotting together and then falling loose as he played around.

“Where is Gregg?” she asked.

“On the mainland, Luke put him on a ferry.”

“He was so angry, Archer,” Erica said and then sobbed, bringing her hands to her face.

She was pulled into a bear hug cocoon in his arms as she let out the anguish from earlier in the day. He made soothing noises lulling her back into a calm state. Snuggling closer, she lifted her chin, so her face was pressed against his throat. Erica could feel him swallow hard, and he tightened his arms further.

“Why was he angry, honey?”

“He blamed me for the divorce, even though he filed for it. Then he blamed me for his girlfriend, tricking him into thinking he would be a father. I felt so bad because he really wanted a family, and I wasn’t ready. Then he blamed me for her rejecting him because he was willing to raise another man’s child. Then he blamed me for making him sign a prenup which made him penniless. Apparently, she walked away when she found out he had no money. She assumed he would get money from the divorce. That’s when he confessed he was already divorced, and there would be no money coming.”

“And you still risked your life for him?”

“He was in trouble.”

“And you came running.”

Her breathing evened out, the cold hard truth of the risk she’d taken. “And I got into trouble. How did you find me?”

“Teddy. He came running across the lawns, fixated on us following him.”

“I need to treat him in some way. What do dogs love?”

“Attention and loyalty, they give it back in spades.”

Erica fell silent. Now was as good a time as any to tell him what she’d decided on the flight over. Surrounded by Archer’s family, she realised she couldn’t go ahead with the marriage like it was a business deal.

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