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.
Okay, so she could totally stand right now, but she was enjoying the piggyback ride way too much to point out that she could make it on her own. She was wrapped around his hard body, and his big hands burned her thighs where he had hold above her knees.
He trudged out of the water and onto the sand, and still, he made no effort to put her down. He started down the beach toward her cottage. She rested her chin atop his head and sighed in contentment. She almost wished he’d slow down just to make the ride last longer. But all too soon he reached her deck and he turned so he could deposit her on the bottom step.
“Thanks,” she said lightly.
“Not a problem. Now you don’t have sand all over you.”
She glanced down at the sand caked on his feet and legs. “Wait right here. I’ll get some water to rinse you off.”
She hurried inside and filled a pitcher of water and then went back out where he was now sitting in one of the lawn chairs. He dutifully raised each foot for her to rinse and then plopped them back down onto the deck.
“After all that discussion about towels, I left mine back on the beach,” he said.
She blinked. A towel had been the last thing on her mind. “That’s okay. I’ll run in and get us one. If you can wait just a few minutes, I’ll go ahead and change before I come back out.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” he said lazily as he stretched his arms over his head like he was seeking the sun. He tucked his hands behind his head and closed his eyes, and for a long moment she was riveted to just how beautiful the man was. She was utterly fascinated by him. The idea that man with such hard edges and scarred body—clearly the body of a warrior—could also be so gentle and understanding simply astounded her.
Forcing herself away, she let herself into the house and hurried for her bedroom, where she stripped out of her suit. With a grimace, she glanced down to see that sand had accumulated in some interesting places.
She ducked into the bathroom, turned on the shower and stepped underneath the chilly spray. Shivering the whole time, she quickly rinsed the sand off and decided while she was at it, she’d wash her hair.
Fifteen minutes later and feeling guilty for leaving Garrett for so long, she walked back onto the deck, towel in hand, to see him exactly as she’d left him. Kicked back in the chair, head back, eyes closed and looking completely relaxed.
“Sorry I took so long,” she said. “I had sand everywhere so I showered.”
He cracked one eye open and stared at her. “Yeah, sand in the sensitive parts is a bitch. It can cause some chafing issues.”
“Do you ... do you want to use my shower? You probably have sand issues too.”
He chuckled. “Yeah, I could use a quick rinse if you don’t mind me staying in my swim trunks. Otherwise I can just run back over to my place and shower and change.”
It made the most sense for him to just go home. It wasn’t as if he were a long distance. But she hated the idea of him leaving. Even for just a few minutes.
“I don’t mind. You’re welcome to my shower and towels. I only have girly soap. Sorry.”
“I’ll just rinse if you can bear the smell,” he drawled.
It was on the tip of her tongue to tell him he smelled so damn good that it would be a sin to use soap at all.
“I’m going to start dinner while you clean up.”
He plopped his legs down and ambled into the cottage ahead of her. He disappeared into her bedroom and she went into the kitchen, so many butterflies scurrying around her belly she felt dizzy.
There was a man in her bedroom. In her bathroom. Taking a shower in her shower. Naked. Right now. She grinned. And she wasn’t even running the other way, hyperventilating or otherwise freaking out. It was a start.
This might even constitute a date. An actual evening with a gorgeous specimen of a man.
She seasoned the brisket, washed the potatoes and put everything into the oven. Then she pulled out the three kinds of beer and her own bottle of wine and went out to the deck to wait for Garrett.
Just a few minutes later, he came out, barefooted and in his swim trunks and looking so delicious she wanted to lick him. He rubbed at his damp hair and then spotted the beer as he closed the glass door behind him.
“Oh hell, you didn’t lie about the beer. I feel so honored that you bought it just for me.”
She gestured toward the bottles. “Take your pick. I had no idea what to get so I grabbed what I could.”
“It looks good to me. It’s wet and cold. That’s all that matters.”
They sat enjoying the afternoon, her with her wine and him with his beer. The sun was settling over the western horizon, plunging the sky into vibrant shades of gold, pink and purple. The huge orange orb reflected and shimmered on the water, sending fingers of fire racing across the still ocean.
“This is my favorite time of day,” she murmured. “The sunsets are so beautiful here. They take my breath away.”
“They remind me of home,” Garrett said. “My brothers and I used to sit out on our back deck, drink a few beers after a long day and watch the sun go down over the lake. We haven’t done that in a while. I’m thinking when I get back home, we need to do it more often.”
Sarah smiled. Then she remembered dinner. “Oh crap! I need to check the brisket!”
She hurried into the house and was immediately surrounded by the scent of cooking meat. It smelled homey and delicious. More importantly, it didn’t smell burnt. She took the casserole dish out of the oven and set it on the stovetop and then she reached in with an oven mitt and retrieved the two potatoes.
The brisket looked perfect. It needed to rest a few minutes so she put the potatoes on a platter along with butter, cheese and sour cream and carried it outside so Garrett could dress his potato while it was still hot.
Then she returned inside to prepare a small salad for herself, get more beer for Garrett and sliced the brisket and arranged it artfully on a chipped platter. Bumping the door open with her hip, she carried the food and drink outside and set everything on the table so they could eat.
“It smells wonderful,” he said with an appreciative sniff.
“We need to eat quick or it’ll cool too fast with all this breeze.”
He chuckled. “I don’t ever dally when it comes to food.”
She sat and they both dug in. Garrett put away a shocking amount of food, but then she’d seen his exercise regime and it was clear he needed a lot of calories. By the time they’d finished dinner, the sun was barely hanging in the distance and in the east, stars had begun popping in the darkening sky.
“I have dessert,” she said.
He visibly perked up at that.
“Chocolate cake. Chocolate frosting. I’ll apologize in advance for the fact the frosting is store-bought.”
“I’m not picky when it comes to sugar.”
She smiled and then hesitated. “Would you ... Would you like to come inside and eat? The bugs will be bad if I turn on the outside light.”
“I’d like that,” he said softly.
She stood and began collecting the dishes. Garrett piled several up and followed her inside to the kitchen.
“Have a seat,” she directed. “I’ll clean the mess later.”
He settled his large frame on the other side of the bar and watched while she uncovered the cake and took out saucers. She cut a huge hunk for Garrett and a much smaller piece for herself and then slid his across the counter to him.
She opted to stand so they faced each other. In truth, she liked watching him.
“Thank you for today,” she said.
He glanced up, his expression curious.
“Swimming. I had fun. It was nice to just relax. The water is fantastic. Everything here is fantastic.”
She tried hard to keep her tone light, speaking as anyone might on vacation, but she couldn’t quite keep the wistful note from her voice. It was hard not to feel guilt or to allow herself to drop her guard even for a moment when the truth lingered so close to the surface. A man was dead and she was involved—responsible—even if she hadn’t pulled the trigger herself.
Even now, there were probably any number of people looking for her. Marcus included, though she couldn’t imagine him not being able to find her if he was set on it. She thought it likely he already knew of her whereabouts, but he was no fool. He had to know that it wasn’t smart for her to be anywhere near him while Allen’s murder was being investigated. His emails had gone from where the hell are you to asking her if she was okay. Yeah, he probably knew exactly where she was.