Indie

 

I hated treading water. The constant movement just to keep your head above. It was awful. My arms and legs were so tired, I gave up and swam to the rock walls and found a place I could grip onto while I waited. And waited.

I was thinking about swimming back out and getting dressed, because it was surely getting late, and we’d have to head back soon, when something brushed against my leg. I froze. Ahhh. What was that? It brushed my leg again, higher up this time, making me squirm. Did I stay still or swim away? It could have been a crocodile…Did they have them in Fiji? A piranha? Some sort of human-eating fish.

A shark. It was a shark, right? Seriously, it wasn’t that much of a stretch. All the rivers on this island led back to the ocean at some point, didn’t they? A shark could have easily swum upstream and…

Grabbed my thigh…

I held my breath because they smelled fear, or was that blood? A shark could have easily tickled my hips and made the water swirl around me. And a shark could just as easily have had blond dreadlocks.

“Dammit, Linc,” I cried, letting go of the wall so I could shove his head underwater, which only made him laugh.

“Couldn’t resist.” He came up spluttering out a laugh and reached for the rock wall behind me, caging me in. “Sorry.”

I had no choice but to hold onto his shoulders for support, or I’d drown. He was close. So close I could feel his body heat warming me through the chill in the water. Droplets clung to his eyelashes, dripped down his face and onto me. He was that close. What was he doing? His nose skimmed along my cheek, making my heart stutter. I was having palpitations. Oh God, I was going to have a heart attack, and all he did was wipe his nose on me. Gross!

If I turned my head the slightest bit, our lips would touch.

“Sorry isn’t good enough. I thought you were a shark,” I mumbled, leaning into him. Having him so close made my brain foggy.

“If I were a shark, I’d have done a hell of a lot more than run my hands over your legs.” His lips grazed my ear as he spoke in that low, deep voice of his. Too afraid to trust my own voice completely, knowing it would quiver from nerves, I simply nodded. Lincoln Andrews was the only person who had the power to turn me into a nervous wreck. With nothing more than a look or a few carefully chosen words, I was putty in his hands.

He brought one hand to the side of my face. I thought he was going to touch my cheek, brush away a stray hair, like the hero in all Bailey’s romance novels did whenever he was face to face with the girl. But no, he pushed away from the wall and me, causing me to sink, and swiftly swam back out through the curtain of water falling overhead. Just like that, he was gone.

Taking a moment to catch my breath and slow my heartrate down, I swam after him. By the time I had made it back to my rock and my dress, he was fully clothed and scrolling through his phone.

I pulled myself onto the rocks and wrung my hair out so it would dry faster. Linc looked up at me and opened his mouth to say something but stopped. His eyes widened, and he bit his lip. His gaze made me uncomfortable. I shifted on my feet. What was wrong with him?

“What?” I asked, crossing my arms over my chest.

He twirled his hand in my direction, still not speaking.

“Spit it out, Linc.”

He stood and took slow, deliberate steps until he stopped in front of me. His eyes focused on mine the entire time, and his hands clenched in fists at his sides. He was either going to punch me, which I knew was stupid because he’d never hurt me, or he was fighting with himself not to do something. I just didn’t know what.

“Geez, Princess.” His voice was gruff, gravelly—he almost sounded sick as he dropped to his knees in front of me and rested one hand on my hip. My skin burned under his fingertips, and I may have stumbled forward, only catching myself when he reached up his other hand to stop me falling. My head was light and airy.

“You’re killing me right now,” he said, lazily dragging his eyes up to meet mine. One hand dropped from my hip, and he reached for the yellow fabric of my dress. “There’s only so much I can take.”

He released his hold and stood before me, my dress gripped in his white-knuckled fist. “Put this on before I do something that will get my ass kicked.”

It was then I realised I was only wearing my white underwear. And…oh, no! White was see-through when wet. I took the dress from him without a word as he gave me one last lingering glance before turning and taking a few steps away.

Linc cleared his throat and spoke while I dressed hurriedly. “Kenzie is here with her friend Harper, and Brody has just arrived.” He turned back to me with raised eyebrows.

“What?” I strapped up my sandal and stood, dusting off my dress and walking over to him.

“I didn’t think Brody was coming,” he said, guiding me over the last few rocks and onto the path.

Brody was my cousin and so much like Nate and Linc it was scary at times. He was the same age and used to hang around a lot growing up. He didn’t get along with his parents. Well, no one got along with his parents. My father didn’t even speak to his own brother anymore. They had some falling out years ago, but I never asked. I didn’t want the details.

“I guess he was able to swing some time off at work.” It was news to me as well, but it must have been hard. He recently graduated from paramedicine, and to be able to get a week off so soon after securing a long-term job must have been difficult.

“I guess. It’ll be good to see him. And Kenzie brought a friend? What are you parents doing? Inviting the whole damn town?” Linc stepped over a log and ducked under some low-hanging branches, lifting them out of the way for me to walk through.

“Don’t ask me. You seem to know more about their wedding than I do.” I was struggling to keep up with him now. Was it this hard on the way in? Or were we going the wrong way?

“Not my fault you don’t come home often enough,” he shot back over his shoulder.

“It’s entirely your fault,” I mumbled to myself, not expecting him to hear me, but…

“What?” He turned so fast I lost my footing and stumbled backwards, catching myself on a tree before I hit the ground.

“Ouch,” I hissed, turning my hand over to look at the gash running across my palm. There were small pieces of tree bark embedded in the skin, and blood was pouring out everywhere. My eyes crossed, my stomach churned, and then the earth began to tilt. Not even Linc’s voice calling my name could pull me back.

 

***

 

I woke to Linc cursing in my ear. I opened my heavy eyelids and tried to stretch, only to have everything spin on its axis again. Linc cursed some more as my feet hit the ground.

“Careful, Princess,” he said, keeping one arm around me while sliding the room key into his door. My head pounded, and my ears were ringing.

We were back at the hotel? And where was his shirt? Not that I was complaining.

“You passed out when you saw the blood.” He kicked open the door and held me close as he led me inside. “Lie down.”

Linc picked up the phone beside the bed and called the front desk for a first aid kit before walking into the bathroom, leaving me alone. Maybe Jack was right and Linc did have a saviour complex. But that was okay. I really didn’t mind if it meant spending extra time with him.

I did what I was told, falling back into his pillows, and was disappointed they didn’t smell like him. But they wouldn’t, because he slept in my room last night, not here. It wasn’t until I brought my hand up to brush my hair out of my face that I spotted Linc’s shirt. Wrapped tightly around my palm.

He returned with a damp cloth and sat on the bed beside me. “It looks pretty nasty, but I think I can clean it up. You’ll probably have to wear a bandage around it for a few days to keep it protected, though.” He picked my hand up in his and gently unwrapped his shirt. “I’m so sorry, Indie. I didn’t mean for you to get hurt.”

“It wasn’t your fault. I fell. I’m clumsy, remember?” I smiled and watched his face, refusing to look at my hand because I’d likely pass out again. And besides, Linc’s face was a much nicer view.

He chuckled. “I remember.”

He came to my rescue all the time growing up because I was always injuring myself or someone else. We were playing football once, and I was running up the field with the ball, trying to get closer to where Linc was so I could kick it to him. Brody came from nowhere and tackled me to the ground. In my efforts to get him off me, I twisted and turned and kicked every way I could, until I finally landed one kick on him, right between his legs. It wouldn’t have been so bad if Nate hadn’t taken that moment to lean over us and try to rip the ball from my hands, though. Brody reared back in pain and consequently smashed the back of his head into Nate’s face.

Brody ended up with a cracker of a headache and bruised groin. Nate walked away with a broken nose. And I…I was carried off the field in the arms of a laughing Linc because I managed to sprain my knee during the whole ordeal. I was never allowed to play football with them again.

There was a knock at the door, so Linc stood to answer it, returning moments later with a small white case adorned with a drawn-on red cross. I guessed that was the first aid kit.

“Hopefully, this has something we can use.” He twisted his mouth in doubt.

I lay perfectly still, not wanting to risk a glance at my hand for fear of throwing up. Instead, I continued to watch Linc. The way his tongue darted out and wet his lips in concentration. The blue flecks in his grey eyes. The scruffy stubble across his jaw that I really wanted to touch. I could watch him for hours and never get bored.

“There. All done.” He placed my hand on my stomach and turned to pack up the medical kit.

“Was it bad?” I asked, not really wanting to know the answer.

“No, just a scratch. It’ll be fine.”

“Thank you.”

“If you’re feeling up to it, Ryder called before because Bailey couldn’t get hold of you. She wants to have a girls’ night.”

If I wasn’t mistaken, a frown crossed his features before he schooled them into something more relaxed.

“Oh, umm…I guess. What are you doing?” I cringed the second I asked. I didn’t want to sound desperate or clingy, but the truth was, I was desperate and clingy. I didn’t want to leave this room. I wanted to spend more time in his company. I saw Bailey all the time. Kenzie, not so much, but…Linc, I never saw him anymore.

“Nate says we’re going to the bar downstairs for a few games of pool. All of us. Him, Brody, Ryder, and me.”

“What about Jack?” I watched as Linc’s eyebrows screwed up.

“Yeah, him too.” He walked over to his closet and began rummaging through his clothes. “You should probably go and get ready too. It’s dinner. You might want to charge your phone and call Bailey,” he said, talking to me like I was a child. What was his problem? He walked into his bathroom and closed the door, effectively dismissing me.

I was gone by the time he got out of the shower.