Page 27 of Brighter than the Boss
"Help!" A strangled shout from the doorway of the open garage echoed and bounced off the walls, pulling us apart.
A man was attempting to enter the garage bay with a woman's arm slung over his shoulders. He was gasping loudly and she was doubled over in pain. He looked to be in his late twenties.
"Holy schnitzel."
Cain and I both sprang into action, our training taking over even when we didn't know what was going on.
"Is she injured?" I asked the man as Cain got on her other side to help straighten her up and take the load off of him.
He looked frantic, sweat dripping off his forehead and his eyes darting around frantically. "Sh—she's in labor!"
My eyes widened, looking at her again, realizing that she was bent over and moaning in labor pains. Her shorts and legs were wet. If that was from her water breaking, this day was going to get even trickier.
"We don't have much time, Cain." I looked over at him as he leaned down and swooped her up in his arms. Her moans got louder and then she settled. The poor man was beside himself, trying to still hold her hand and talk her through it even as Cain took control of the situation.
"Upstairs," Cain huffed out, moving quickly to the set of stairs. I ran ahead and opened the door at the top, letting us all into the top floor of Lifeguard Headquarters, only one story up from sea level.
As he passed me, Cain's watch started beeping a loud, incessant tone. The big zero on the face of the watch spelled out what my brain didn't want to comprehend.
We were out of time.
14
Cain
I wanted to beat my head against the wall. I wanted to roar my frustration and chase it with some strong whiskey. The last thing I wanted to do was to be holding a woman who was in labor. While a tsunami hit our coast. While Sunny was standing there and I couldn't even touch her because no one even knew we had a “thing.” Because she was my goddamn employee.
Not only that, I'd promised myself I'd personally make sure Sunny got to high ground before the tsunami hit and there I was making out with her on the ground level, completely oblivious to her safety. Granted, if we hadn't been there, we wouldn't have still been around to help this couple. But still, I should have done better.
Based off the rapid succession of contractions, this baby wanted out sooner rather than later. I was trained to deliver all kinds of first aid, but this would be my first time delivering a baby. Never mind that it was also my first tsunami.
As we rushed down the hall, my radio squawked to life with Ivan's voice. "Cain. Where the hell are you?"
With my arms full, I couldn't respond. Sunny saw my predicament and grabbed the radio off my shoulder and radioed back.
"Cain and Sunny just entered Lifeguard Headquarters with two civilians. Where are you?"
We rounded the corner and got our answer. Ivan, Dean, Kai, Jax, and the whole lifeguard team were huddled around Ivan's radio in the main room. We all stared at each other for a split second before everyone started talking at the same time. To complicate matters, Esa, Bailey, Jack, Hessa, Brinley, Sage, and Shasta were all there too. It was a fucking party zone. The girls flocked to Sunny, grabbing her up like a long-lost sister, shrieking and generally being bothersome.
I shouted above the noise, throwing orders left and right. "Ivan, grab me a cot and bring it in here. Kai, grab towels. Jack, radio in our location to the police station. Dean, pull up the latest from the Weather Service and the ETA on this tsunami. Jax, find out if there's a watercraft that we have access to if we need to float the civilians out of harm's way."
All the lifeguards went skidding around the room, trying to grab everything to help the woman in my arms. Her boyfriend, husband, whatever he was, kept stroking the hair away from her face and giving her words of encouragement. Kinda reminded me of a certain blonde I was crazy about. I smiled at the top of his head, endeared by the love he was showing his woman.
The smile faded, as did all the noise in the room, when I realized what I was thinking. That kind of support for another person was a sign of the love you felt for them. Could that be right? I wasn't sure since I'd never had loving parents or ever been in love before. But if that was true, is that what Sunny and I had going on?
I should have been scared or put off by the idea. Scoffed at it like I'd done many times in the past, but it settled into my chest and took root, feeling at home there. Feeling like I'd just been waiting for this moment. All that shit I'd gone through was to get me to this place and this woman. I was suddenly one hundred percent certain of it.
Leave it to me to wait for the time to expire on a natural freaking disaster to fall in love for the first time.
"Lay her down, Cain." Sunny was in front of me, her hands on my arm, urging me to put the woman down on the cot that had materialized below me. The room came back into focus, as did Sunny's face, her eyes squinting at me and her hands stroking my arm. Again, we were in a crisis and she was more worried about me, not herself.
Gorgeous. Definitely in love with her.
I gave her a quick wink and bent down to set the woman on the cot.
"I'm Cain." Now that my hands were free, I shoved my hand in front of the man, wanting to at least know his name.
His eyes flew to my face, like he'd forgotten I was even there. "Dave. This is my wife, Natalie." He shook my hand and immediately turned his attention back to his wife, crouching low to hold her.
