Page 116 of Wrecked
“Lost it. The strap got caught on my way out. Sorry.”
“I’m not so long as you are here. We’ll figure out the rest.”
That was so unlike the woman he’d met who had to know what was going to happen every minute to hold her control.
Even accepting that they had no chance for a relationship after this did nothing to lessen what she meant to him. He had never experienced the fear gripping him at the thought of losing her.
Was that love? In his mind, yes.
He’d feared losing his mother. Losing his sister had broken him.
Losing Hallene would destroy him completely. Game over.
He begged her, “Promise you won’t let go of my shirt.”
She stilled and said, “I won’t let go and I’ll paddle my feet, too.”
As soon as her grip tugged on his shirt, he lunged forward and started digging in with one long stroke after another. Swimming against this current was brutal, especially with extra weight, but he would not stop.
He gave her a silent kudo for hanging on plus using her free arm to stroke the water in sync with him.
Smart woman. Tough woman.
He liked a fighter—someone who wouldn’t quit.
Even with him being the more powerful swimmer of the two, the current demanded every bit of endurance he could muster to cross the river with her.
An arm’s length from shore, his feet hit the bottom. He turned and cupped an arm around her waist to haul her with him when he pushed against the mud to reach the shore. Lowering her to the ground first, he dropped to his knees then fell onto his back, sucking air in fast gasps.
She wheezed just as much and tried to talk. “I swim ... every week ... but that was ... insane.”
He breathed out, “That last fifteen feet was a test I don’t want to repeat.”
Her hand flopped onto his chest.
Smiling at her need for his touch, he gripped her fingers. Drawing in another deep breath, he said, “You were amazing. Not everyone trained for an escape like that remains calm, which is more important than being the top swimmer.” He gave her hand a squeeze. “Thanks. Neither of us would have made it if you hadn’t held up your end.”
She made a pfft sound.“You would have reached the surface no matter what.”
“Not without you there first,” he declared.
She said nothing in reply but gave his hand a squeeze.
That had become their silent dialogue of love.
Now he just had to figure out how to keep them alive, but she had to be informed of what they were up against. “This is different than a single hired gun. This is a team contracted for the hit. They won’t quit until they find us and there will be more than one vehicle full of them.”
“I shouldn’t have waited so long,” she muttered.
“Waited for what?”
“Right before we went spinning and rolled off the road, I was saying to call your team.”
He remembered her saying, “I think you should—” That she’d been willing to bring in his team before they reached the resort meant she trusted them because she trusted him.
“I’m sorry I’ve been bullheaded, Sam.”
“Hey, I’m just glad you’re ready to work with my people.”
