As promised, Garrett waited in front of his cottage, a towel slung over his shoulder. She slowed as she approached and realized she’d forgotten to bring one.
“I’m an idiot,” she said.
Garrett raised a brow.
“I forgot a towel. I need to go back and get one.”
He grinned. “No need. You can use one of mine. Let’s hit the water.”
She turned her gaze to the ocean and the gorgeous canvas of blue that sparkled like a cascade of diamonds. “Is it cold?”
He gaped in exaggerated fashion. “You mean you don’t know? You haven’t been in yet?”
She shook her head and grimaced.
“It’s warm. Feels pretty damn good. No crap on the bottom. Sand is smooth. No seaweed.”
Laughter bubbled up. “Well, thank goodness there’s no crap on the bottom. That would suck.”
He winked at her. “When you’ve waded through as much shit as I have, you tend to appreciate nice, clean water.”
“Last one in is a rotten egg,” she yelled, just as she took off for the water.
“Why, you little!” Garrett yelled. “Cheater!”
She hit the water with a resounding splash. Garrett barged in behind her and promptly tipped her into the surf. She came up sputtering, hair in her face but grinning like an idiot.
“I won,” she said triumphantly.
“You cheated.”
She sniffed and shoved at her bedraggled hair. “According to my rules, I won.”
Garrett laughed. “I know better by now than to argue with a woman when it comes to rules.”
She flopped back, rocking over the gentle swells as she stared up at the sky. “You were right. The water’s great and no crap on the bottom.”
He turned over onto his back and spread out his arms as he floated lazily beside her. “It’s good. I didn’t think it would be. I was thoroughly prepared to hate it here.”
Her brow scrunched up and she tried to glance over at him, but got a face full of water. “Why on earth did you come here then?”
He went silent for a minute. “Let’s just say my family was leaning on me pretty heavily to take a vacation. They put me on a plane and here I am. I hate to admit it, but they were right. I needed the downtime. I feel almost a hundred percent again.”
“Almost?”
“Yeah, I’m getting there.”
“Me too,” she murmured.
His fingers brushed hers as he stroked in the water. He snagged her finger, just one, but he held on, keeping that connection between them as they bobbed along with the waves. Here in a vast body of water, no one around for miles, she should have felt incredibly isolated and alone. She didn’t. For the first time in a year, she felt a connection to another person. A man. It helped heal a little part of her soul. The part that wondered if she was doomed to forever lock herself away from other people.
After a while, Garrett tugged at her hand and pulled her closer. He flipped and treaded water beside her while she continued to float on her back. “Having fun?”
She put her feet down and realized she couldn’t touch bottom. She grabbed a hold of his arm and righted herself until she was keeping above the water along with him. “Yeah. Thanks. I am. It’s ... peaceful out here.”
“We’re pretty far from the shore now. Think you’ll be able to make it back?”
She glanced up and gasped as she realized how far they’d drifted from the beach. She swam decently enough, but that was a long way back.
He nudged her cheek with a wet knuckle. “Hey, don’t worry about it. I didn’t mention it to make you frown. All you have to do is hang on to my shoulder and float. I’ll do all the work.”
Just like he’d been doing all along. Always helping her. Always shouldering the effort.
“Come on,” he said. “Grab hold. I’m hungry.”
She laughed. “We can’t have that. Clearly you’re in danger of starving to death with that body.”
“You like my body?”
The devilish glint in his eyes was nearly her undoing. The man was incorrigible. And his family thought he was an “uptight bastard?” It didn’t compute. Maybe his family didn’t understand him, or maybe they were the uptight ones. She’d never met a man as easygoing and understanding as Garrett.
She rolled her eyes at his fishing. “You know you have a great body.”
“You’ve been checking me out,” he said smugly.
“Duh,” she muttered under her breath.
He took her hand and slid it over a solid wall of muscle until her fingers were hooked over his shoulder. Damn but the man felt good.
“Hang on. Here we go.”
With a kick he was off. She attempted to help for a while until she realized her flailing about was actually hindering him, not helping. So she concentrated on staying afloat and was content to go along for the ride.
When he had them close enough to the shore that he could stand, he stopped swimming and began wading forward while she still grasped his shoulder. He tentatively slid his fingers over the top of her hand and then reached back in a gesture for her to give him her other hand.
She kicked until she was behind him and no longer beside him and gave him her other hand. He pulled until her arms were looped around his neck and she was hugged up against his back. Then he continued forward, pulling them both effortlessly through the water.
The shallower the water got, the higher he rose from the water and the higher she had to reach. He stopped when he was a little over waist deep, patted her hands to show her she should still hold on and then he reached back to grasp her behind the knees. He hoisted her up and wrapped her legs around his waist and continued to forge ahead.