Page 2 of Her Diamond Deal with the CEO

The bottle dangled from his fingertips and then he let it fall onto the deck, straightened up and shrugged off his jacket with a conscious carelessness that made her whole body stiffen with dislike and envy.

Her mouth curled into something midway between a sneer and a scowl. It was the same gesture favoured by the hotel’s trust-fund-financed clientele when they tossed tips onto the bar or used towels by their loungers.

Picturing their expensive winter tans and inherited Rolexes, she narrowed her eyes on the man as he walked across the deck. And then her pulse jerked as without warning he spun round and took a running jump over the rippling sea. There was a moment of absolute silence as he flew through the air and then he hit the water with an audible splash.

What the—?

She felt her body tense, her hand reaching up automatically for the float over her shoulder. Except it wasn’t there because she wasn’t at work.

Swearing softly, she moved towards the curling waves at the shoreline. She had spent the whole of spring break watching privileged young men clown around in the water. But did they have to do it when she was off duty?

Eyes fixed on the spot where he had disappeared beneath the waves, she began counting the distance in strokes as the seconds passed.

Surely he should have surfaced by now.

She was running into the sea before her brain understood the implication of that thought, barely registering the water as it splashed over her thighs, and then she was swimming, her body slicing through the surf, eyes scanning the waves, all of her training no longer theoretical but becoming in an instant so real that there was no room for panic or emotion.

What was that?

She saw a flash of gold, and then just as quickly it was gone again.

Breathing in sharply, she ducked beneath the waves, and her heart gave a huge leap forward just as the man had done moments earlier. There he was, his white shirt dazzlingly bright beneath the water, his hands reaching up.

Seconds later she reached him, her arm moved automatically around his chest and she pulled him to the surface, tilting back his head and kicking towards the shoreline. Breathing unsteadily, she dragged him onto the sand and now she saw the front of his shirt was not white but patterned.

No, not patterned. Those were bloodstains.

Over the sound of her heartbeat, she heard the voice of her instructors.‘Always start with your ABCs. Check the airways. Two breaths as soon as the victim is stable in the water or on land, then move into thirty compressions.’

Her body was shuddering from the swim and the adrenaline but her mind was clear. Sliding two fingers under his chin, she tilted back his head, pinched his nose, put her lips to his mouth and put a breath in, waited then put a second breath in—

The man coughed, and she rolled him onto his side, and he lay there, breathing raggedly, his hand fluttering against the sand.

‘It’s okay, you’re okay.’ She squeezed his shoulder. ‘You got into trouble, but you’re safe now.’

Was he? She stared down at him, her heart beating like a train. The bloodstains looked shockingly vivid against the white cotton and she began unbuttoning his shirt, her hands rough with fear as she checked for injury.

‘What are you doing?’

His voice was hoarse from swallowing seawater but hearing him speak cut through her panic and steadied her.

‘You have blood on your shirt. I need to—’

He waved his hand dismissively. ‘You don’t need to worry about that. There was a fight last night, I tried to break it up—’ Now he touched his mouth and she saw that there was a cut on his lip that she hadn’t noticed before. ‘Got punched for my efforts—’

He shivered, his arm dropping to cover his eyes and, frowning, she reached over and grabbed her hoodie and laid it over his chest. ‘Should have had you there,’ he mumbled. ‘You must be pretty strong to pull me out of the water like that.’

‘It’s my job. I’m a lifeguard.’

So do your job, she told herself, tearing her gaze from his curving mouth. Taking his wrist, she felt his pulse. It was steady, she thought with relief. ‘Do you have any alcohol or drugs in your system?’

‘What?’ He frowned. ‘No, nothing—’

Remembering the bottle, she stared down at him uncertainly, but he was breathing and his pulse was firm and they could check him over at the hospital.

‘Okay, well, everything is going to be fine. All you need to do is stay where you are. I’m going to go get some help—’

She didn’t want to leave him alone but the chances of help turning up on the beach were slim to none. Her shoulders tensed. If only she had brought her phone, but it was sitting on the kitchen counter.

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