Page 19 of Kai
I couldn’t blame him for not understanding.
“Are you deaf or what?” I lashed out, though I was angry mostly at myself. “I can’t swim. I won’t. I hate the water, and I especially hate the ocean.”
“Youhatethe water?” His throat rippled with an astonished swallow. “All this time you’ve lived here, in this seaside paradise, and yet you don’t like the ocean?”
The surprise in his voice was honest. He stared at me for a few seconds. They felt like hours of burning shame, and yet there was none of the ridiculing I had expected, no scorn or sarcasm in his gaze, just… what?
Astonishment was my best guess.
I’d never revealed this to anybody. Not even my sisters knew. Whenever we spent time by the pool or hung out at the lake behind Astor House, I used all kinds of diversions to conceal this particularly embarrassing failure of mine. If I ventured into the pool or the lake, I stuck to the shallow end. Mostly, I avoided the water and made a habit of reading under an umbrella while my siblings swam, pretending I was too busy with my tablet to bother.
I had reasons to feel the way I did, but I couldn’t admitor explain them to anyone, let alone this fine-looking stranger. It wasn’t as if I hadn’t tried learning to swim. I’d failed every time. Shame deflated my chest, and yet I cut Kai a fierce glance.
“You go,” I muttered, knowing time was short. “I’ll escape some other way.”
“There is no other way.” He lowered his chin and skewered me with his stare. “Come on. I’ve got you.”
“Famous last words of cocky males to trusting females.” I grimaced. “I’ll figure something out. I just can’t do this.”
“Yeah, you can.” He flashed his Zen smile, the one capable of destroying my brain on contact. “You’re Cece Astor. You just gave the NWO the finger. You can do whatever you put your mind to.”
“Don’t even start with me.” I sank my nails into my palms. “Everyone thinks I’m so fucking smart. If I could swim, I’d be doing it right now, leaving you flat in my wake.”
“You’re a competitive spitfire, aren’t you?” He knuckled his chin, considering me all over again. “Good to know. For what it’s worth, on a surfboard, I think I’d have the advantage. Your sisters didn’t mention your inability to swim. Do they know?”
Shaking my head, I bit down on my lip and hid my flushed face behind my long bangs.
“I won’t tell if you don’t,” he teased me with a grin, then sobered up. Placing his finger under my chin, he encouraged me to meet his gaze. “Right now, I need you to get on this board and trust I’ll get you to safety.”
“Don’t you get it?” I growled in frustration. “If I get on that damn board, I’ll drown. This is not an extraction. It’s not even a rescue. It’s premeditated manslaughter. Or womanslaughter, in my case.”
The man had the gall to chuckle. “Your dry sense of humor wasn’t part of your profile, either.”
I whipped up my chin. “I’m not even gonna ask about thisridiculous profile of yours. It obviously sucks.”
“It’s incomplete, but we threw it together fast, and you are a complex, fascinating person.” He measured me with his soulful gaze. “Do you seriously think I would allow you to drown?”
“Look at those waves.” I gestured toward the bay. “Of course I’m going to drown!”
“I won’t let you.” He stepped up to me.
“There’s an empty promise if I’ve ever heard one.” I scoffed. “You can’t control the waves. Or the sea. You’d have to be an ocean god to get me through that alive. You’d have to be Poseidon himself.”
He lowered his face and fixed his gaze on me, pressing his lips together. My stomach fluttered in the weirdest way. I liked the heat that came with the stupid flutters, but I also hated myself for it.
What is wrong with me?
I didn’t react to men like this. In fact, I made a point of never reacting to men, period. And yet, since I’d first met him, my stomach seemed to harbor a kaleidoscope of seditious butterflies.
Why did I have such a visceral reaction to him?
“Cece…” He caressed my face with his soulful gaze. “I know you can do this.”
“You know nothing,” I snapped.
“I know you’ve got heart and courage, and that I won’t let anything bad happen to you.” He reached out to run his hands up and down my arms softly.
I wanted to shake off his touch, to run away from him, but his eyes lingered over my lips and a quiver traveled through me.
