Chapter 28
With an hour to kill before his sister’s wedding, Shane McCarthy decided to go for a swim. He could shower and get dressed in ten minutes, and with the hotel overrun with wedding guests and preparations, the beach was the one place he could hope to find a few minutes of peace and quiet.
He was thrilled for Laura—and Owen, a terrific guy who’d become a close friend to Shane since he’d moved out here to live with them at the hotel. However, Shane couldn’t help but think about his own wedding day, three years ago now, and everything that’d happened since then.
He missed Courtney. He missed having a wife and a companion. He’d loved being married. Discovering his wife had a raging drug addiction had been the single most shocking moment of his life. Losing her and their marriage to that addiction had nearly broken him.
He still thought about Courtney every day, but he focused on the bad times so he wouldn’t forget why he couldn’t be with her.
He rarely, if ever, thought about the good times.
Floating on his back, looking up at the cloudless blue sky, he indulged in memories of better times, such as the day he’d married the woman he’d expected to spend the rest of his life with.
They’d had one great year before it all fell apart. Or at least he’d had one great year. All that time, she’d been battling a foe bigger than both of them. It’d begun with a routine surgery to relieve a compressed disc in her back.
He met her six months after the surgery, from which she’d fully recovered—or so she said.
It had taken two years for him to discover that she was addicted to the pain medication she’d taken after the surgery.
She’d kept her dependence on the meds well hidden from him, and by the time he’d uncovered the web of lies and financial ruin she’d left in her wake, he was nearly ruined, too.
His happy life blew up in his face during one twenty-four-hour period that still ranked among the worst days of his life—second only to the day his mother died when he was seven.
Left shocked, despondent and nearly bankrupt, Shane had done what he could to get help for her.
A year later, after months of rehab he was still paying for, she’d asked for a divorce and crushed him all over again.
What was that old expression? Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice? Yeah, he was an idiot, and she’d played him every way it was possible to be played by a woman. First by getting him to believe she truly loved him and then by lying to him about everything else that mattered.
So while he was very happy for Laura and Owen, he was done with love and marriage and all that shit.
He was happy to leave that to his sister and cousins, who’d fallen one right after the other in the last couple of years, leaving him and his cousins Riley and Finn still unattached.
In his opinion, the three of them were the lucky ones.
He was about to swim for shore when a scream caught his attention. With the sun still high in the afternoon sky, it was difficult to see where the sound had come from. But then he heard thrashing and another cry for help coming from a distinctly female voice.
Shane swam in the direction of the cries while hoping this rescue mission wouldn’t make him late for his sister’s wedding. Following the sound of splashing and struggle, Shane swam faster until he reached the woman.
“Hey,” he said, “relax. I’ll help you.”
Panicked, she latched on to him, her arms tightening around his neck as she climbed on to him.
Holy shit, Shane thought as he was sucked under water so quickly he barely had time to close his mouth before the water rushed over him. The woman had such a tight grip on him that he couldn’t do a thing to help himself—or her. Am I going to drown out here?
They went down together, the darkness surrounding him.
This could not be happening… With a sudden realization that he couldn’t save himself and her, too, Shane began to fight back, pulling frantically on the arms that wrapped around his neck like a noose.
His lungs began to burn for air, but he never stopped fighting until he managed to free himself.
Surging to the surface, he sucked in greedy breaths as his heart pounded and his head spun from the lack of oxygen. He looked all around him for the woman but didn’t see her. Did he dare dive down for her and risk his own life again, or should he head for shore while he had the chance?
How could he leave her and live with himself if he did?
His conscience won the debate, and after taking a huge breath, he dove under the water.
He spotted her floating peacefully and grabbed for her, coming back with only the top of her bikini.
He swam for the surface, took another breath and went back down, this time wrapping his arm around her middle and dragging her up with him.
Either all the fight had gone out of her, or she was unconscious. He suspected the latter as he dragged her with him to the shore, which now seemed like a mile away. Every muscle in his body ached from the effort to keep his head and hers above water while pressing forward against a strong current.
After what felt like an hour of epic struggle, his feet finally made contact with the sand.
He shifted the woman so he had his arms under her back and legs and carried her onto the sand, where he deposited her carefully before collapsing next to her.
He needed to make sure she was breathing, but he couldn’t seem to catch his own breath.
Where the hell were all the people who were always on this beach?
Rising to his knees, he glanced at her face, which was lost under a mask of blonde hair.
His gaze traveled down to where her breasts were fully exposed.
Summoning first aid training from years ago, he pushed the hair back, plugged her nose and opened her mouth to blow a steady stream of air into her lungs.
He did that twice before she began to cough.
He rolled her to her side when she began to vomit up saltwater.
Pushing the hair all the way back from her face, he gasped when he recognized Owen’s sister Katie, whom he’d met the night before.
“Katie! Jesus! Say something. Are you all right?”
She coughed and gagged and dry-heaved. Then she began to sob uncontrollably.
Christ, what the hell should he do?
“Katie, it’s Shane, Laura’s brother. Can you speak?”
She kept her eyes closed but wrapped her arm around her breasts. “Lost my top.”
“You almost lost your life! What were you doing so far out?”
“Riptide,” she said, panting softly as tears continued to flow down her cheeks. “Thought I was going to die.”
“So did I for a minute there.”
“I’m sorry. Panicked.”
“It’s okay,” he said, patting her shoulder awkwardly. “We’re both okay.”
“Thanks to you.”
“I’m glad I heard you.” Thinking of Owen losing his sister on a day that was supposed to be filled with happiness made Shane doubly grateful to have been in the right place at the right time. “Do you think you can walk?”
“I don’t know. I’m shaking like a leaf, and I’m half-naked.”
“Let me find my shirt. I’ll be right back.”
They’d landed quite a distance from where he’d started out, so he jogged down the beach on legs that trembled from the effort it had taken to swim to shore. He scooped up his shirt and towel and went back to where he’d left Katie.
“Here,” he said. “Put this on.”
She sat up and awkwardly worked her way into his T-shirt, which was huge on her. “You got quite an eyeful, huh?”
“I was far more worried about whether you were breathing than I was with ogling you.”
She crossed her arms over her chest.
“Do you need a hand up?”
Shaking her head, she began to cry again.
Even though neither of them had the time, he sat next to her on the sand. As her shoulders heaved with sobs, he had no idea what to do. Thinking about Owen and what a great friend he’d been over the last year had Shane putting his arm around Owen’s sister and offering whatever comfort he could.
“You’re all right, Katie. Everything’s all right.”
“I almost killed us both—on the day your sister is marrying my brother,” she said as sobs hiccupped through her.
“Since that would’ve thoroughly ruined their day, let’s just be glad it didn’t happen.”
“I’m so sorry,” she said between sobs. “I panicked. I was so scared. I’ve been swimming at this beach all my life and never had that happen.”
“No need to be sorry. All that matters is that we’re both safe. But we’re going to have bigger problems if we don’t get back to the hotel and get ready for the wedding.”
“Oh God! What time is it?”
He checked his watch. “Twenty minutes till five.”
“We have to go!”
“That’s what I’m trying to tell you.” He got up and extended his hand to her.
She took his hand and let him pull her up, swaying when she got her legs under her.
Shane put his arm around her shoulders to steady her. “Take a second.”
She looked up at him with wet blue eyes. “You won’t tell anyone about this, will you?”
He experienced a profound feeling of protectiveness for a woman he’d only known for a day. But it seemed like it had been much longer, knowing what he did about how she’d grown up. She seemed fragile standing next to him with her hair matted to her head and her eyes translucent from tears.
She was Owen’s sister. Of course he felt protective toward her. He shook off the weird feelings and looked down at her. “I won’t tell anyone, but we should get going.”
Nodding, she began walking slowly toward the steep flight of stairs that led to the hotel. Her legs, he noticed, wobbled beneath her as she moved.
“How about a hand up the stairs?” he said.
“What do you mean?”
He turned his back to her. “Hop on.”
“Oh, I couldn’t. I’m fine. Honestly. I can do it.”
Shane blocked the stairs so she couldn’t proceed unless she let him help her.
“I said I could do it.”
“And I said I wanted to help you.”
“Haven’t you helped enough? You saved my life after all.”