He looked to his right and left. Fifteen and Two both had their stones as well. Two had bubbles fizzing out of his mouth faster than a bottle of champagne. He wasn’t going to last. Fifteen looked solid though. And right in front of the three of them was Joy. She floated an arms length away, comfortable with her weight belt and handheld oxygen tank, pulling from it periodically.
Hayden knew she was only there in case one of them panicked and couldn’t get to the surface fast enough. But he couldn’t help noticing the intensity with which she watched him. She seemed unguarded for the first time in days. And that’s when he hatched his plan.
Joy
The Brit, number two on Jo’s list, barely lasted long enough to pick up his stone. But Jo knew he wouldn’t. She was surprised he hadn’t packed his bag days ago. But number fifteen, the Aussie, was holding strong. Bubbles were beginning to slip out of his mouth. She checked her watch. He’d be okay for a little while longer.
It was her job to keep the athletes safe. Some of them had bigger egos than common sense, and that wasn’t a good combination in the ocean. If they didn’t know their limits they could stay under too long and risk running out of air before making it back to the surface. It was her responsibility to make sure that didn’t happen.
She looked back at Hayden. No, not Hayden, number eleven. Jo didn’t let herself think of him as anything but a number. It was the only thing that kept her sane when they were in such close proximity.
Despite Kendall’s encouragement, Jo hadn’t let herself offer Hayden any help. But he apparently didn’t need it. He’d come in first all week and right now he looked as strong as ever. Lazy bubbles slipped from his mouth, but he was in control. It reminded her of the way he’d taken control that night on the beach. She let her mind wander to what other ways she’d enjoy having Hayden control her.
Jo took the opportunity to study him unabashed. She liked being underwater with him. It was like having a free pass to stare all she wanted. No one else was around to watch her watching him. Fifteen was there, but he was so busy staring at his competition that he didn’t give Jo a second glance.
She checked her watch again. Of course these two were going to be the ones to cause trouble. They had about another minute before they started to approach the danger zone. Fifteen was beginning to bubble hard. Jo moved forward and tapped him on the arm, motioning for him to go up.
He shook his head.
Jo frowned and tried again. This was his last chance. She wasn’t above shoving her oxygen tank into his mouth. And if she did that, he’d be disqualified.
She tapped his arm and pointed to the surface.
He shook his head.
Idiot.
Jo thrust her tank in front of Fifteen’s face and he finally caved, dropping the stone and kicking up toward the watery sunlight above.
Jo couldn’t help but smile. Hayden would finish in first place again. She was getting so close to the prize money she could taste it. He only had one day left to win the week and that would advance him to week two in a great position.
She moved closer to him and tapped his arm, pointing to the surface.
Hayden shook his head.
Seriously? What the hell was wrong with these boys?
Jo took a sip of air from her tank. “You won,” she garbled into the water, pointing to the time on her watch. She knew he heard her, but he shook his head anyway.
If he thought showing off like this was going to impress her he had another thing coming. The tingly way he made her insides feel may have affected her heart, but not her head. Jo had never been attracted to stupid. And right now, Hayden was being stupid.
She wrapped her hand around Hayden’s wrist and gave him a firm squeeze, gesturing that it was time to go. This was the closest they’d been to each other since the day they met. And even though they were surrounded by cool water, heat rippled through her from the smoldering look he gave her.
Hayden let go of his stone, but he didn’t kick up toward the surface. He moved toward Jo. Before she knew what was happening, his arms were around her and his lips were seeking hers out. A bubble of air burst between them and they shared a breath between an underwater kiss.
But it wasn’t enough. Jo hadn’t anticipated the kiss, she let go of too much air. She needed more and so did Hayden, but he didn’t let go. His hands were on the back of her neck, the side of her face, his strong legs tangled with hers. There was anguish in the way he held her, but Jo didn’t have time to think about that.
Max’s blue eyes flashed in her mind, shocking her back to reality. Jo’s training kicked in. She pulled the release on her weight belt and kicked up toward the surface, pulling Hayden with her. She knew he didn’t have enough breath left in his lungs to make it and she wasn’t going to let his pride cost him his life.
Not this time.
Jo put the tank in her own mouth and took a deep breath, then without hesitating she pulled Hayden close and pressed her lips to his again, exhaling into his lungs.
19
Hayden
Hayden smiled up at Joy. She was kneeling over him, her face so close to his he could taste her breath on his lips. She turned her head so she could lay it on his chest and he released a shaky breath. The sudden feel of her head against the thin material of his rash guard made him still.
“Breathe,” Joy commanded.
He did.
“Keep breathing, I’m trying to listen to your lungs.”
He reminded himself to take another breath, because nothing came naturally with Joy’s cheek pressed over his heart. Being so close to her made his heart beat funny, his breaths come shaky and his head feel fuzzy.
Jesus. This was much more than an average crush. But it couldn’t be helped. Joy was much more than an average girl.
She was beyond beautiful. And not the Manhattan beautiful Hayden was used to. There was nothing polished or plastic about Joy. She possessed raw, authentic beauty, so savage Hayden’s heart hurt when he looked at her too long. But tearing his eyes away wasn’t an option either.
Her wild blonde hair hung over her shoulder, dripping rivulets of saltwater down her perfectly shaped breasts. Her chest heaved and Hayden had trouble not bringing his hands up to caress the golden tan of her flawless skin.
Joy’s vivid green eyes studied him intensely, pulling him under like riptide. She was holding his hand, no wait, his wrist. Was she taking his pulse?
Hayden blinked, then looked around, suddenly noticing that he had an audience.
He tried to move but a wave of dizziness threatened to knock him into next week.
Goddamn. If this was love, Hayden wanted out. He hadn’t done more than kiss Joy and it felt like his world was turning inside out.
“Stay still,” Joy ordered.
Hayden tried to talk, but the words didn’t feel right.
What the hell was wrong with him?
He heard a faint buzzing. It was growing louder by the moment. Panic gripped him and it felt like someone dropped a bag of bricks on his chest.
Shit! This couldn’t be happening. Not again. Not now.
Hayden put a hand to his chest and focused on the rhythmic thumping of his heart. It seemed faster than it should be—not a good sign. But then again, Joy was there, holding his hand, hovering over him. That was sure to wreak havoc on his heart.
She ran a soothing hand over his forehead, pushing his wet hair back. “It’s okay,” she whispered. Her voice was softer than he’d ever heard it. All the authority and cockiness was gone. That scared Hayden more than anything.
“Hey,” she said, squeezing his hand. “I’ve got you, Hayden. Look at me.”
He did.
Joy smiled down at him and brushed his forehead again. “I promise you’re gonna be okay. You just need to keep breathing.”
So he did.
Joy
The five-minute jet ski ride back to the shore was excruciating. Jo was grateful it was Ethan who responded to the call. He didn’t ask questi
ons. He just helped Jo secure Hayden to the board and didn’t mention a thing when she sat backwards on the jet ski the whole ride to the beach so she could keep her eyes trained on Hayden.
Of course once they got to shore, things didn’t go as smoothly. Hayden seemed to recover during the ride back and was ripping at his restraints by the time the jet ski settled on the sand.
“Calm down!” Joy ordered, jumping off the back to aid him with the straps. Although, once the restraints were off, she sort of regretted it.
Hayden sprang to his feet, outraged. “Why the hell was I strapped to that death trap?” he yelled pointing at the jet ski.
Jo replied as calmly as her frayed nerves would allow. “Because you’re a dumbass and you blacked out during our training exercise.”
Ethan came to her side and put a steadying hand on her shoulder. Jo took a deep breath and watched anger turn to resentment in Hayden’s steel blue eyes. “You got me DQ’d?”
“Yeah, stupid me. I thought you’d rather be disqualified than drown,” Jo replied, bitterly.
“I was fine,” Hayden roared.
Jo crossed her shaking arms over her chest. “The fact that you blacked out and I had to give you mouth-to-mouth proves you weren’t fine.”
Hayden’s face reddened. “I—”
Jo wasn’t done. She held up her hand. “If you have a death wish, it’s gonna have to happen on someone else’s watch,” she snarled. “Try that shit again and I’ll have you disqualified from this whole program.”
“That’s not up to you!” Hayden yelled.
“Whoa!” Ethan interjected, trying to wedge himself between Jo and Hayden to diffuse the situation, but she wouldn’t let him.
Jo needed to see this through—she needed to know that after everything she’d been through, she had what it took to handle a situation like this. So even though her heart was in her throat and her limbs were starting to shake now that the adrenaline was wearing off, she didn’t back down.
She took a step closer to Hayden. “Actually, it is up to me. My job is to keep everyone out there safe. And that stunt you pulled today endangered more than just yourself. You’re going to medical to be evaluated and I’ll be filing a report. I’m not going to allow your disregard for life cost anyone else theirs.”
Hayden
Hayden’s eyes were wild with anger, but Jo lifted her chin higher and pointed to the quad by the lifeguard tower waiting to take them back to medical. He gave the other lifeguard with the puffed up chest a glance. An air of resentment radiated off of him so powerfully Hayden could almost taste it.
Was this surf bum her boyfriend or something? The protective way he stood at Joy’s side certainly made it appear that way.
If Hayden so much as gave Jo an ounce of flack he knew the other lifeguard would back her up. To make matters worse, the rest of the athletes and lifeguards were emerging from the surf after swimming back from the platform. Kendall and Brock were quickly making their way toward Hayden and Joy, obviously reading the tension of the situation.
This was not at all how Hayden had planned things. Hell, it hadn’t really been a plan as much as an impulse. He only wanted to stay under the longest to get Joy’s attention. He wanted her to see him, the way she had that night on the beach. Ever since then she’d done nothing but look through him. And that was something Hayden had enough of.
Yeah, he may have stayed under a tad too long. And yeah, attempting to kiss Joy while underwater may not have been the best idea. But he couldn’t stop himself. She was finally seeing him again and maybe it was the lack of oxygen, but his body overpowered his brain and he’d done the only thing he could—take her in his arms and fit his lips over hers—where they belonged.
He wished he had the words to explain, but the growing audience told him now was not the time. Plus, Joy looked like she was the one who needed the stretcher now. Her golden skin had paled three shades and goose bumps covered every inch of her. The lifeguard who’d been driving the jet ski wrapped a towel he grabbed from the quad around her shoulders and murmured something that sounded like, “I can take over.”
She shook her head. “I’m fine. Did you call it in to medical?”
The other lifeguard nodded. “They’re expecting you.”
“Thanks, Ethan.” Joy grabbed another towel from him and handed it to Hayden. “Let’s go.”
20
Joy
Jo sat on a hard plastic bench in the waiting room of the small medical building on the ACE complex. She stared down at the spotless white floors and tried to chase away the haunting memories. But in a place like this, it was impossible. Everything here was white and sterile—just like it had been with Max.
Jo had sat staring at the white floors then too, waiting to hear what she already knew—Max was gone. They were keeping him alive, hooked up to machines and tubes, but the boy Jo loved . . . she’d left him in the ocean and he wasn’t coming back to her.
She knew it when she saw the light drain out of his blue eyes. She knew it when she pulled him to the surface of the water. She knew it when she dragged him to shore. She knew it when she screamed for help until she was sure her own lungs would burst and match his in their silent protest. Jo knew the moment she lost Max, because it was the moment she lost herself.
Max was her best friend, her first crush, her first kiss, her first love. He was her everything. And when she lost him, her world stopped. They’d been fifteen when it happened. Everyone told her ‘you don’t find the one when you’re fifteen’—as if that was supposed to make it easier.
It didn’t.
Nothing did.
As far as Jo knew, Max was her one. Finding him was like playing the lottery one time and winning. She never expected to be so lucky. And she knew she never would be again.
Max had turned her world around. They’d had one amazing year together. One year of being more than just friends. One year of falling in love. One year of dreaming and living. And one day it all stopped. Everyone said it wasn’t her fault. Diving accidents happened all the time. But if she’d been stronger, if she hadn’t panicked, if she’d known more, if, if, if . . .
‘If’ was the worst word in the English language. The word haunted Jo almost as much as Max’s beautiful face. A part of her had died the day Max did. And though she refused to stop living, sometimes, when she thought about him like she did now, it was as if she was living without breathing. Everything inside her chest was coiled so tightly she thought she might suffocate. She didn’t. And she knew she wouldn’t. But it didn’t stop the unbearable feeling of being crushed from the inside out. It didn’t stop her from feeling like she’d never truly catch her breath again. It didn’t stop the panic and the desperate hopelessness. It didn’t stop the guilt and misery. It didn’t stop the pain . . .
It had been three years.
And it still hurt the same.
Jo tried to push Max from her mind as she sat waiting for Hayden to clear medical. She knew he’d be fine. The sheer rage he’d exhibited when she unstrapped him from the jet ski told her his mental faculties were intact. And from the way he gripped her waist as he rode behind her on the quad, she knew his physical abilities were fine, too.
At the time, Jo had been so busy trying to keep her focus on getting Hayden to the medical facility that she hadn’t let herself think about how much she enjoyed having his strong arms wrapped around her waist. Or how much comfort and strength she drew from the warmth that seeped through her when he pressed his chest against her back. But now, all of those thoughts rushed back to her like a storm of shame.
She knew she wasn’t cheating on Max. You can’t cheat on someone who’s dead. But it hadn’t been Max’s choice to let go. It hadn’t even been Jo’s choice. It’d been three years since Max’s accident and Jo hadn’t let another boy touch her heart the way he had. But now that Hayden was knocking on all the soft spots of Jo’s armor, she felt guilty. She also felt terrified. She wasn’t strong enough to let anyone in yet. Especia
lly not someone who was guaranteed to hurt her.
Hayden was only here because of ACE. He would leave in five weeks—if he didn’t get kicked out of the program for the stunt he pulled today. How could she even consider letting the emotion he ignited in her see the light of day? It would be asking for heartache.
The sound of feet squeaking down the hall pulled Jo from her thoughts. She looked up to see Ethan, Ryan, Lucas and Brock coming her way. Great, the whole Wright clan, plus Brock. She didn’t need that right now. Particularly, she didn’t need Brock. He was Max’s brother and it made him too sensitive when it came to issues like this. Plus, looking into the face that resembled Max’s every day was hard enough. Looking at it today was impossible, especially knowing how Brock felt.
“Jo-Jo,” Ryan called, scooping her into a bone-crushing hug. “Please tell me this wasn’t as serious as these lolos are making it sound.”
“I’m fine,” Jo assured her brothers. “Just had an ACE get hypoxic.”
Ryan swore. “How?”
Jo shrugged out of her brother’s embrace. “He didn’t know his limits.”
She could’ve said Hayden was an idiot who was showing off to get her attention, or that he tried to kiss her underwater, forgetting neither or them would be able to breathe, but none of those things would improve the situation. The anger that had been coursing through Jo when Hayden first pulled his underwater stunt had ebbed. Now, all she cared about was putting today behind her.
As long as Hayden was okay, Jo was willing to move on. And honestly, she felt she was a little bit to blame. She’d been unfairly hard on him. It wasn’t his fault that she’d messed with his head.
She’d been the one who got drunk and kissed him.
She’d been the one throwing him mixed signals.
Of course, she hadn’t thought she’d ever see him again, but still . . . none of it was his fault. It was Jo’s. It was time for her to take responsibility.
The Summer Boyfriend Page 8
