Page 10 of River

It was already around four, and Gage asked Kat what time she surfs, so we didn’t show up early in the morning. I noticed the waves were high, and I could only hope that Kat knew what she was doing.

Her hair was in a long braid, her wetsuit was half on, and she was wearing a white one-piece bathing suit under it. She walked with some other women dressed similarly to her. My body reacted. My cock became hard in an instant.

She carried a surfboard larger than herself, and I observed her gracefully placing it on the sand before she started pulling up her wetsuit. My gaze shifted to the guys on the deck, wondering if they had also noticed her presence.

“Damn, I forgot how hot she was. I’m going to ask her out,” Raven said, keeping his eyes glued on Kat.

“We can’t date co-workers,” Tag said.

“I don’t work with you guys yet.”

“She’s married,” I blurted out before I even thought about it. I knew Raven had a way with women—they all loved him. Hell no, he wasn’t getting close to Kat. The guys looked at me, then shrugged. They also knew Raven.

Everyone watchedas she ventured out into the turbulent waves with four other surfers, and the entire ocean seemed to mirror the wild conditions. Glancing out at the waves, I felt uneasy. They looked like they could swallow her up, but she kept pushing herself further out.

We were all good swimmers, which was a condition for becoming an Army Special Force member. We had to be the best at everything we did, so we were used to all the dangers of the ocean and on the ground. We are the Golden Team and the best at what we do.

It’s just that Kat looked so tiny out there with those damn huge waves. I jumped up and walked to the railing, wanting to see if I could see where she was.

“There she is,” Tag said, standing next to me. “She’s still going further than the others; she knows where the big waves are. She’s going to try and ride it in. Her friends from the restaurant are going out with her.”

“I hope to fuck she knows what she’s doing,” I stated, “What do you think?” I asked Gage as he stood looking out at the deep blue ocean where Kat McDonald was waiting to catch a wave. She looks like a dark speck in the sea. I couldn’t see her features; she was so far out.

“I think she’s going to do it,” Gage said. Look how confident she is. She sits there daring the sea to send her the largest wave it has.”

“I think she’s so damn awesome and beautiful, sittingout there where the sharks live like she hasn’t a care in the world. Only we know the real Kat.” I said, and I could have bitten my tongue off when Gage looked over at me.

Tag grabbed a pair of goggles from a table to see better. “I’m waiting to see if she can ride that wave in; it looks pretty big. I can’t imagine that she will make it in. How could she control that surfboard? It’s way bigger than she is.”

“Here she comes,” Gage said; we stood there with our breaths held, watching Kat as she rode the wave in.

I held my breath, so scared I wanted to shout at her and ask her what the fuck she was doing, risking her life just to stand and ride a fucking monstrous wave to the shore. I bet it was as exhilarating as it looked. Is that why she did it? Was it for the excitement and the thrill of not knowing what would happen?

“She’s going to do it,” I shouted as we watched her riding the wave in; I could see the smile on her face. “What’s that?” I asked as I saw another surfer cutting right in front of her; he was going to hit her.

I jumped the eight feet off the deck and took off running. The guys were right behind me. I heard shouting on the beach as others saw what we saw.

The surfboard hit her; I saw it so clearly that I knew where she went down. I jumped into the wave, swimming hard. I’m glad I was a damn good swimmer.

I had to reach Kat in time. I kept diving under and saw Tag swimming next to me. Another dive under, and I had her.

She was bleeding a little, and I prayed there were no sharks in the area. Tag grabbed the surfboard, and we put Kat on it. Both of us pushed her to shore.

The others were waitingfor us as we reached the shore. I checked Kat’s injuries—she’d need stitches on her shoulder. The other surfboard must have had hit her pretty damn hard, judging by the cut. She also had a significant bump on her head, and I was more worried about that than anything else.

Kat opened her eyes; I knew she wasn’t focusing on my face. She smiled and whispered the name Conner before closing her eyes again.

“Let’s get her to the hospital,” I said, picking her up and carrying her to Tag’s vehicle.

Gage grabbed our things and followed behind me. “She must have been thinking of her baby boy. Kat said his name was Conner. I hope she doesn’t start crying again. It’s so hard watching her cry and not being able to make the pain go away,” Gage said.

“If you don’t stop yapping, I’ll start crying,” Tag joked. I heard a faint chuckle and glanced down—Kat’s eyes were still closed, but she had a smile on her face.

“Are you awake?” I whispered, but she didn’t respond, her smile lingering as we drove.

She didn’t say anything, but her smile stayed on her face. When we pulled into the hospital's emergency room, they had a bed outside waiting for her. The guys must have called ahead.

They rushed inside, and we followed. A nurse turned to us and held up her hand. “You all have to wait in the waiting room,” she said firmly.

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