Page 3 of Sweet Dreams
"Holy shit, ouch!" I said in a high-pitched voice that would have embarrassed me if the pain in my foot wasn't so damndistracting.
"Esa? What's wrong?" Bailey said as she came down into the surf afterme.
"Wait! Stay back!" I said as I inched out of the water. Once I cleared the water’s edge, I sat down and brought my foot closer to my face. "I don't know what that was but my foot feels like it's onfire."
"Let me see," Bailey insisted. She got up close to my foot without touching it and gave it a thorough inspection. "Babe, I think you got stung by ajellyfish!"
"You think? I didn't even see anything! What do I do to make it stop stinging?" I was edging toward full on panic by now. The stinging wasn't stopping, and I had no clue what to do with a jellyfish injury. Jellyfish sting? Cut? What the hell do you even call it when a jellyfish wraps around your skin and does itsthing?
"Okay, first, you gotta calm down. Let me go grab the lifeguard. He'll know what to do.” Bailey hopped up and ran toward the tower where I spotted a tall, blond lifeguard. They both came running back to where I remained seated in the sand. He immediately crouched down and took a look at my foot. While his head was down, I caught an up-close eyeful of hottie lifeguard hair, arms, and chest. A nice waft of sunscreen and sunshine hit my nose, and I leaned a little closer to catch another whiff. Suddenly the pain in my foot didn't seem all thatbad.
Tan muscle shifted as he lifted my foot, gently tracing a path down my calf with one long finger. The jellyfish sting faded to the background as I felt that caress as a delicious ache in mybelly.
"Yep, I think your friend here is right. This looks like a jellyfish sting and we've had reports of them all along the coast the last couple of days," he said, looking up and catching myeyes.
His eyes bore into mine, making me forget who I was and why I was here. They were a turquoise blue with a ring of darker blue around the edge. They looked friendly, like his eyes were smiling at me, regardless of what his mouth was doing. But what really caught my attention was the depth to his eyes that told me he saw me, the real me. Which was straight up crazy as we'd just met, but there it was. He sawme.
"Do you have any shortness of breath?" he asked me in a lowered, more intimate voice, still focused entirely onme.
His words hung in the air as I tried to get my brain to function. "Um, no. I mean, we were just running which usually makes me short of breath, but nothing out of the ordinary," I said as I stared into hiseyes.
"Doesn't look like you're having an allergic reaction then, so let's put some vinegar on your foot and see if that stops the stinging. I'll be right back." He hopped up and ran back to the lifeguard tower. I instantly missed his presence, even as I twisted around to watch himrun.
His upper body had just the right amount of muscle to be fit, but he wasn’t too bulky. His run was athletic and you could tell the guy worked out on the regular based on the natural v-taper he had going on from his wide shoulders to his narrow waist. Plus, no guy has a tight butt like that unless he worksout.
Apparently, Bailey was ogling him too. "Girl, that man is ridiculous! You better get his name, maybe his number would be good too. You know, to call and thank him for his fine lifeguarding services," Bailey said with a grin. "I think he's into you. Did you see how long he held your leg? And what was with all thetouching?"
"Shh, he'll hear you. And quit staring at him," I whispered back. I was trying to act cool when in reality, I was straight up discombobulated. One thing I knew was that I didn't want Bailey looking at him like that. I quickly erased my frown and twisted back around as he headed back toward me, vinegar in hand. He dropped down to the sand in front of me and put his warm hand back on my leg, putting him in closeproximity.
"Okay, let's pour this on here. After you get home, you may want to put some ice on it if it continues to bother you," he said as he dripped the vinegar onto my foot. "No running for a few days while you let thisheal."
"Mmmh..." I let out a low groan as the stinging began to recede. He whipped his head up and stared at me, vinegar dripping onto the sand instead of my foot. I felt my cheeks heating up as I realized my unintentional groan may have been a little suggestive. He cleared his throat, broke eye contact, and got the vinegar back on my foot, which I greatly appreciated, but I also regretted the lost eyecontact.
"So, you live around here?" he asked. He continued to rub my upper calf, which was doing crazy things to my internal organs. The whole lower half of my body was onfire.
"Yeah, I, um, live just north of here off Beach Blvd," I responded, not recognizing the soft, breathy voice that came out of me. I was acting like a damsel in distress and I didn't like it onebit.
"Heck yes, she lives around here! Comes running on the beach with me all the time. I'm surprised we haven't seen you before," Bailey interjected, making me startle. I'd completely forgotten she was here. Oh boy, if I knew Bailey, and I did, this could get embarrassing. She was in full flirt mode for mybenefit.
"Well I'm usually the supervisor in the mobile unit, but we're short staffed today, so I took a tower," he answered Bailey while still looking at me. "I'm Ivan, by the way." He broke out into a stunning smile. Iblinked.
"Hey Ivan, I'm Bailey and this is my best friend Esa," Bailey said, jumping in again. "You know, you better get Esa's number since you'll want to check in on her later to make sure her foot's okay,right?"
"Bailey!" I snapped, coming out of my Ivan-fog long enough to realize she was totally crossing theline.
She shrugged like she couldn't help herself, which was probablytrue.
Ivan let out a soft chuckle, bringing my focus back tohim.
"I'm sorry, really. I don't know why I even bring her with me sometimes. She has no filter," I stammered, unable to look him in the eye. "I'm sure my foot will befine."
"I think you'll be just fine too, but your friend here makes a good point. I want to make sure my first aid skills are still top-notch. Probably gonna need to contact you later to check in," he responded with a sexysmirk.
"What's your number, Ivan? I've got Esa's phone here. I'll just text yours so you'll have her number," Bailey piped in again. I would have to have a word with her later. And confiscate my phone from her fashion fanny pack. She just lost privileges. I wasn't sure at all if I wanted this guy to have my phone number. I was more than a little nervous about what a simple smile from him did to mybreathing.
As numbers were exchanged, I decided to end this debacle. My foot felt a million times better, and it was time to make my exit. "I hate to be a party downer but we gotta get back home," I saidfirmly.
I started to push up to stand, when Ivan crouched down again and said, "Oh no you don't. Not a good idea to walk on that foot so soon. And what the hell is a party downer?" he said with an amused expression on his face. His eyes crinkled at the corners when he smiled, highlighted by his solidtan.
