Page 9 of Run the Play
I’m lying on my belly on the lounger, the warm sun beating down on me. My eyes are closed, and I wish I could fall asleep. I wish I could truly relax enough to let the gentle crash of the waves lull me into dreamland. I hear the guys hoot and holler during their five-on-five volleyball game. Knox’s mom and aunts are all chatting at the far end of our long line of loungers. Knox’s sister, Everly, and her husband, Matt, had to leave right after breakfast. They both had to get back to work. His youngest sister, Emma, is lying on the other side of Corie, and Sloane is on my right. We’re a long line of ladies, just soaking up the warm sunshine. His cousins are all hanging around in various places as well.
“Ladies,” a deep voice greets us.
I keep my eyes closed. None of these guys are here for me.
“Great day for a swim,” Knox says. I hear Corie screaming and laughing, telling him to put her down.
When more screeches greet my ears, I open my eyes to see what I’m missing. The married ladies are being toted off by their husbands, and Reid has Emma tossed over his shoulder. Foster bends down to grab Sloane while Baker records it on his phone. I’m just about to scan to look for Landry when I feel hands on me.
“No. Oh, no, you don’t.” I squirm to try and get away, but his hold is firm as he lifts me into his arms. “I don’t swim with fish!” I call out, half hysterical and half laughing.
Landry stops walking. “What?” he asks, staring down at me. I can’t see his eyes through his sunglasses, but I know he’s watching me.
“I don’t swim with fish,” I repeat.
“Roe, they’re just as afraid of you as you are of them.”
“Yeah? Tell that to the sharks that want to eat me.”
“You think I’d let a shark eat you?” His tone is soft, almost endearing.
“It would eat us both,” I grumble.
“Not on my watch.” He adjusts his hold on me, lifting me higher in his arms. “If you don’t want to go, we won’t. But if you do, we’re going to go in and come right back out. You’ll be able to say that you splashed around in the ocean.”
“It’s not that I don’t want to. I do want to. I’ve just never been in the ocean. Not able to know what’s in there is creepy.”
“I guess I’ll just have to take you up to the hotel pool and drop you there,” he teases, smiling down at me.
“I want to do it.”
“I don’t want you doing anything that you don’t feel comfortable doing, Roe.” He moves to a nearby lounger and sits with me still in his arms.
“What are you doing?”
“You don’t want to go. I’d never do something like force you or take you out of your comfort zone. I was just playing around.”
“You’re supposed to talk me into it,” I tell him.
He tosses his head back in laughter. I know that I’m being difficult. I do have a fear of what’s in that water, but I also want to know what it’s like to be submerged in the ocean. When I visited in the past, when I lived in Los Angeles, Chaz never cared if I went in or not. In fact, he would take off with his friends, leaving me to sit in peace. I was never a part of their day, even though I was there with him.
“I want to do it, but I need you to not let me go, and if I’m ready to go back to shore, we go back to shore. Can you promise that?”
He nods. “Trust me,” he says softly.
That’s just it. I don’t trust easily, but for some reason, this man, I trust him. I feel it in my soul that he’s someone whokeeps his promises. “Landry,” I say, and my voice has an evident tremor this time.
“I won’t let go of you. I promise you. Rowan Mills, you’ve got this. Make this ocean your bitch,” he says, teasing, trying to hype me up.
I look out at the clear blue waters and all our friends and Knox’s family laughing and having a great time. “You won’t let go?” I ask.
“Promise.”
“Okay, in and out,” I say, taking a deep breath and slowly exhaling.
“Keep your arms wrapped around my neck,” he says as he walks farther into the water. “Breathe, Rowan,” he whispers.
I focus on deep, even breaths, and soon, he’s waist-deep in the ocean with me in his arms. The water is so crystal clear that you can see everything below, and I’m not sure if that’s good or bad. Either way, I’m not in the water because Landry is holding me out of it.
