Chapter Seven #2
The family next to them had a small speaker playing top forty tunes.
Behind her children laughed and shouted as they played in the sand.
The sun beat down, warm and welcoming. She couldn’t tear her eyes away from the guys in the water.
They acted like brothers, bickering and teasing each other.
Their love was evident, their bond solid, as so often it was with chosen family.
Despite her current situation, this brought a smile to her face.
She found herself drawn to watching Roshan.
Luckily, her sunglasses prevented anyone from really knowing where her attention lay.
Was he agitating, irritating and possibly pompous?
Yes! Was he easy on the eyes—hot, even? Aggravatingly so.
Dave was also turning out to be kind and thoughtful…
and remorseful. She let her mind wander to his confession and apology.
Now that her anger was passing, she was touched by his sincerity, his self-awareness and growth.
She giggled to herself as Vishal and Karan teamed up and dunked Roshan under the water for a second.
He came up laughing as he wiped water from his eyes.
He had been attractive in high school, but he had most certainly become even more so.
Muscles dripped with ocean water, flexing as he attempted to exact vengeance on his brothers.
His good looks had always simply been a fact.
She had refused to be one of those girls who crushed on anyone, let alone the most popular guy in school.
She had better things to do with her time.
But now? Well, she still had better things to do with her time. And she was basically a hot mess. Roshan was not only nice to look at, he clearly had his life together. Plus, if she were honest, she hadn’t really hated leaning into his wall of muscle as he’d helped her to the car.
The sun was relentless, and sweat beaded on her face and dripped down her back despite the umbrella.
The guys were having so much fun, and the water looked so inviting.
Maybe she could just stand at the edge and get her feet wet.
Her toe was feeling much better, and she could actually move her ankle now with minimal pain thanks to the meds. Plus, didn’t saltwater cure everything?
She undid the ACE bandage and tried to stand. Gingerly, she put some weight on the ankle. No real pain. Not bad.
She attempted to walk, and lo and behold, she took a couple steps. Maybe this wasn’t as bad as she thought. Maybe it had just been a minor twist, already healing. She took another couple steps. Great! Still standing! This was fabulous!
Roshan was walking toward her, his brow furrowed. Whatever. He was likely going to reprimand her for not resting. She felt fine. Well, her ankle hurt a little, but she was good. As he approached, she became increasingly aware of the fact that he was wearing only swim trunks. That hung quite low.
He started to jog toward her and was saying something and waving his hands, but she couldn’t hear him. There was a lot of noise around her.
He picked up speed and caught up to her and put his arms around her, pulling her tight to his body, which she was very aware was very wet. He turned and arched over her as she felt an impact. Someone or something had hit Roshan.
“Oh man,” a young voice said. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t even see you.” Nimita peeked over Roshan’s shoulder to see a boy about ten years old standing where she had been a moment ago. He held a Frisbee in his hand.
“It’s fine,” Roshan told the boy, pulling away from Nimita a little. “She didn’t see you, you didn’t see her. And she’s already got a sprained ankle.”
The boy’s eyes widened. “Sorry.”
“All okay,” Roshan dismissed the boy, who returned to his game. Which was when Nimita realized that Roshan still had one arm around her still pulling her into him. He smelled of the ocean and coconut sunscreen. It was…pleasant.
“Um, hey. Do you mind?” she said as she wiggled to get away from him.
“Oh. Yeah.” He stood straight but kept his hands on her waist. “Hold still. Get your balance.”
“Fine,” she hissed out with exaggerated impatience.
She just needed some distance from him. Physical distance.
But she stopped moving. Strong hands were warm on her bare waist. He took a step back from her and slowly released her, his eyes never leaving hers.
Like he was making a point to not ogle her body. Not that she would have minded.
Wait, what?
She looked away, more than aware of the flush that climbed up her face.
“You’re welcome,” he murmured.
“Oh, uh, yeah. Thanks. Though I would have been fine,” she lied. She hadn’t even seen the boy coming. He would have collided with her. She would have gone down, and then where would she be?
“Uh-huh.” He shook his head and looked away for a moment. “Why were you up anyway? You need to rest that foot.”
She looked at him. “I wanted to go in the water,” she said, fully expecting to argue with him again.
Instead, he shrugged. “Okay. Let’s go.” He put his arm around her waist again (wow!) and helped her hobble to the water.
She sat down at the edge and allowed the light waves to cool her off.
It was glorious. If she could get past the rocks, she could swim.
She lay down on the sand and closed her eyes, letting the shallow ocean wash over her.
“Weren’t you a swimmer in high school?” Roshan asked from next to her.
How did he remember that? She had been on the swim team in high school. She hadn’t won any medals, but she had loved the sensation of being in the water. She opened one eye. “You can hang with your friends. I’m fine.”
“I know.”
She closed her eyes and shrugged. “Yes. I was a swimmer high school.” She sighed. “What I’ve always loved is swimming in the ocean. Didn’t do it a lot growing up, but whenever I travel and there’s ocean, I swim in it.” She paused. “There’s a peace to it, you know?”
“Yes,” he said quietly.
Silence drifted between them. But this silence was calm. Almost comfortable. The water continue to ebb and flow around her.
“Do you want to swim now?” he asked softly.
She chuckled. “Of course, but I have to get past the shallows and the shells and rocks. And as much as I hate to admit it, the left foot is not going to hold me.”
She heard him sigh as if he were struggling with himself. “I’ll take you out.”
She popped both eyes open. “What?”
“I’ll take you out far enough to swim. That left foot may not be able to really kick—”
“That’s okay. It doesn’t have to,” she said quickly, leaning up on her elbows.
“Is that a yes?” He smirked at her, but there was no real sarcasm in it.
“Yes.” She sat up as he stood. “Please.”
“Give me your hands and push only with the right foot,” he instructed her.
“Easy enough. The left refuses to be helpful anyway,” she said as she stood. She had perhaps overestimated how healed it was.
He took one of her hands and put it on the back of his shoulder as he turned his back to her and bent his knees. “Hop on.”
She froze, staring at his incredibly muscular back. “What now?”
He turned his head so she could see his profile. “Hop. On.”
“What? Like piggyback?” She should be horrified, but she wasn’t. She was thinking about her legs wrapped around him… Nope. No. Not gonna happen. She shook her head free of the thought. “I can just lean on you—”
“This way, you don’t risk slipping again.”
True. But what else was she risking?
“You okay? Don’t tell me you’re afraid of piggyback.”
“I’m not afraid. I’m—are you sure you can carry me?”
“Of course I can carry you. Do you want to swim or not?” he asked, only slightly exasperated.
She did. Fine. She placed her other hand on the back of his other shoulder.
He knelt so she could swing her legs around.
He caught her under each knee and stood.
They were skin to skin. Maybe more than simply skin to skin…
Her heart thudded. Her breasts were against his back, the only thing between them the thin material of her bikini top. She swallowed.
“Okay.” Her voice sounded weak, unnatural to her ears.
“Okay.” His tone was a bit strained.
“You sure you can carry me?” she asked again.
“Carrying you is not the problem,” he murmured.
And to demonstrate, he carried her into the water to where it was deep enough for her to swim. “Okay. You can let go.” He turned a half smile toward her. “You know, if you can take your hands off me.”
“No sweat.” She swung her legs back into the water and let go of him. She shivered in the sudden coolness of the water after the heat of his back. Cocky jerk. He turned to face her as she let herself float, but not before noticing that his eyes had darkened and softened.
So it wasn’t just her.
She pursed her lips. “That’s about as much action as you’ll be getting.”
His mouth dropped open, then he laughed. “I’ll take it.”
She floated on her back a moment longer.
The water was buoyant and held her beautifully.
The sky was a pristine blue, the only sound the water around her ears.
Heaven. She flipped over and swam a few strokes, ignoring the pain in her left ankle.
She was light and free. She couldn’t remember the last time she had felt this way.
It had been a while since she had been near the ocean.
She swam a bit, aware all the while that Roshan did not drift too far from her.
In fact, he remained no more than arm’s length from her at all times.
Nimita lost track of time in the water. It wasn’t until she spied the sun just starting to set that she came to a halt.
“Roshan. It’s late,” she said, swimming for the shore, Roshan beside her. “The sun has started to set. It’s too late. We need to head back.”
“I figured. It’s okay.” He seemed colossally unperturbed.