Chapter One
Janie Davis stared out over the rolling ocean waters from her vantage point atop the lifeguard tower on the main beach of McCallister’s Paradise. Families and couples played in the white sands, here to kick off their summer vacation on the privately-owned island and resort near Hawaii. They joyfully splashed in the clear blue water and chatted excitedly on the pristine beach. All was calm, and everyone in the water appeared safe and content.
Days like this made for a boring shift as a lifeguard, but Janie wouldn’t have it any other way. Much better to be bored than to have someone in danger of drowning.
On the sand below her in the shade of the lifeguard tower, her best friend built a sand castle with her nearly one-year-old daughter.
“It’s a lovely day,” Larissa McCallister said, staring up at Janie with a large grin. “I’ve been afraid to bring Lilly out since the beach became so busy with guests, but I’m glad you talked me into it.”
Janie regarded her friend with a critical eye, wondering if Larissa felt okay. Was she feeling sickly again? Was that the real reason she hadn’t wanted to visit the beach lately? While it was true Larissa had beaten breast cancer for the second time shortly before marrying the eldest McCallister sibling, Janie always worried Larissa’s good health wouldn’t hold.
She knew better than anyone how cancer could steal the people most important in your life and ruin things in an instant. Right now, Larissa was the only friend Janie had, the closest thing she had to family. She wasn’t about to take a chance that another cancer would catch Larissa unaware and rip her away.
Larissa’s smile turned downward, and a small frown played around her mouth. “What’s that awful scowl for?”
“I’m scowling?” Janie shrugged, knowing she had to answer honestly. Larissa would know if she lied. “I’m wondering if you were honestly worried about crowds or if you aren’t feeling well. Everything okay health-wise?”
“You worry too much.” Larissa let out a small sigh, while simultaneously snatching a sand-covered toy shovel from Lilly’s pudgy hands before it went into the baby’s mouth. “I promised I’d tell you if I felt poorly, right?”
“Yeah,” Janie said in grudging agreement. “Doesn’t mean I don’t worry.”
“I get frequent checkups, Janie. You know they’d find it fast if something happened again.” Larissa gave her a rueful smile. “I think you stress out about this more than me and Quinn, which is saying something.”
That was true, and Janie simply nodded. She hated how fearful she was about Larissa’s health sometimes, but at least her friend didn’t get upset with her for obsessing over it. Larissa was the only person on the island who knew Janie had lost her mother to breast cancer, so her friend understood why she sometimes became worked up.
“Well, stop worrying, okay? Quinn’s working late tonight,” Larissa said, changing the subject rapidly. “He has a large commission for a family portrait of a major client. Unfortunately, the canvas is huge and needs to be finished in a month or less. He’s going to be awfully busy the next few weeks. Why don’t you come over to the house after your shift and eat dinner with Lilly and me? Once I put her down for bed, we could share a bottle of wine.”
“Dinner would be good but...” Janie wrinkled her nose, knowing Larissa would harass her but plowing forth anyway. “I might have a date lined up tonight if things work out right. I’m off work tomorrow, ya know?”
“You might have a date? Meaning you don’t yet have plans but are going to make some after I invited you? I should have guessed having a man in your bed would trump dinner with your best friend.” Larissa snorted, clearly irritated. “Haven’t you run out of potential men yet?”
“Well, a whole new crop of employees came in for the summer rush.” Janie wiggled her eyebrows up and down suggestively, knowing Larissa’s frustration wouldn’t last. “A lot of them leave in a few months, so I have to move fast. So many men, so little time!”
“Honestly!” Larissa chuckled while shaking her head. “When are you going to settle down with one? Trust me, there are benefits to having a steady man. He knows everything I like, and I do mean everything. You would have a better time in the bedroom with someone like that.” Larissa’s cheeks flushed pink, making her fair skin even prettier than normal when she looked away.
Janie chuckled, loving that her friend blushed when talking about sex even after all this time of them being friends. Larissa truly was innocent, despite being married to a sexy man who adored her.
“There are other benefits besides the obvious,” Larissa continued, pushing through her embarrassment. “I love being able to say Quinn McCallister is my husband. We spend most of our days enjoying each other’s company and sharing laughs and so much joy! We also have Lilly, which has made our family even better. I’m incredibly happy, and I want you to find that for yourself.”
Janie tried not to roll her eyes. Larissa was still innocent in so many ways despite the hardships the woman had suffered with her cancer. She might have had plenty doses of reality over the years, but she still believed in true love and marriages that lasted forever.
Nothing lasted forever... it was better to suck out whatever fun life had to offer before the situation changed. She was truly glad her friend was happy, but for Janie it was better to choose a different guy each time and enjoy whatever they could provide. Attachments meant heartbreak and messiness when the person inevitably left. She didn’t want to deal with all that baggage.
Taking off her sunglasses and using a beach towel to wipe imaginary smudges off the lenses, Janie avoided Larissa’s gaze. She knew Larissa loved her like a sister, even if Larissa couldn’t really understand her dating habits. Janie wouldn’t cause a disagreement over her lifestyle choices and alienate the only person who truly cared about her.
Placing her sunglasses back on, Janie then readjusted her long, curly black hair in the pony tail on the top of her head. She scanned the beach and ocean waters for signs of swimmers in trouble as she did so.
“You’re avoiding talking to me now,” Larissa accused. “Look, I won’t bother you about men anymore, but please come over tonight and keep me company. I hate when Quinn doesn’t come home.”
“Oh, fine. I can’t leave my best friend during her time of need.”
“Yay!” Larissa clapped her hands in delight, just like a small child.
Larissa’s antics made Janie smile, but something on the beachfront caught her attention, turning the corners of her lips downward. She held up a hand, signaling Larissa to be quiet.
Was that a swimmer in trouble down the far beach? Many people gathered on the sand a fair distance from her lifeguard tower. They seemed to be involved in quite a commotion. Where was Doug, the new lifeguard assigned to that section?
Janie snatched her binoculars and surveyed the area. Sure enough, struggling forms in the water about ten yards from shore caught her vision. Arms flailed around, so the victim was still able to break the surface and get air, but it was only a matter of time before they became too fatigued to do that much. Doug was nowhere to be found—not on the lifeguard tower, not running toward the victim, and not swimming.
Shit!
Janie leaped from her tower, grabbing the rescue buoy at the base of it and racing down the hard-packed sand near the water. Running along the beach, she kept her eyes trained on the victim—or victims. It seemed to be two people the closer she got, but one of them wasn’t the lifeguard who should be performing the rescue.
“My daughter!” A woman screamed as Janie came closer, rushing over to her and screaming all the while. “You have to save her! That man jumped in after her, but he’s having trouble too. Please! Save her!”
Ignoring the woman, Janie rushed into the water, diving as soon as she had clearance. Using long, powerful strokes, she briskly cut through the waves. She raised her head every so often to make sure she headed the right direction but was dismayed to find the flailing arm movements had decreased. The man bobbed in the water, rapidly going under. The little girl seemed to be on top of him, still waving her arms but getting weaker.
Swimming faster than she thought possible, Janie finally reached them as the girl slipped under the surface. Beneath the frothy waves, she spotted a shimmer of blond hair. Yanking on the sinking strands with all her might, she used them to pull the girl to the surface.
Luckily, the girl choked and sputtered as soon as Janie had her above the water, not yet having run into too much trouble. She clung to Janie in a panic, nearly pushing them both below the surface.
Swimming a bit away so the girl couldn’t reach her, Janie then extended the rescue buoy. “Hang on to this,” she ordered. “I have to get that man. Don’t let go.”
The girl still coughed and choked but clung to the buoy with a grip that wouldn’t fail. Thank goodness—one less person to worry about.
The man had floated a bit away, and Janie swam his direction, assessing how much trouble they were in as she approached. He lay face down, slipping further beneath the water’s surface and not making any conscious movements. Janie could only imagine he had sacrificed himself to keep the girl afloat longer. He must have stuck the little girl on his stomach when he realized he couldn’t get her ashore and tried to make them float, but he couldn’t keep himself above the water. While he’d succeeded in keeping the girl breathing long enough for Janie to get there, his situation seemed dire. How long had he been down? Janie had lost all sense of time.
Not that it mattered. He wasn’t going to die, not on her watch. Diving down behind his back, Janie clasped her arms beneath his armpits and locked her fingers together in front of his chest, kicking powerfully for the surface.
The man’s dead weight hung in her grasp as they crested the top of the water. She could only hope she somehow managed to get him and the little girl back to shore before it was too late.
“Janie, here! Take this.”
Suddenly, a second buoy appeared against her back. Janie quickly latched onto it and pulled it against the man before his bulk forced them back under the water. She pressed it against his chest and flopped his arms over it, using her body against his back to keep him in place and floating above the surface.
Turning her head, she saw the other lifeguard swimming next to the little girl. Finally! Where the hell had he been?
Knowing Doug didn’t have much experience, Janie decided it would be best to rescue the man herself and leave the girl, conscious and able to aid in her own rescue, for the new lifeguard. Janie best knew how to get an unconscious person back safely and had more practice in CPR.
“Take the girl,” she ordered. “I have him.”
Not waiting to see if Doug agreed with her plan, Janie used the buoy to keep them afloat as she swiftly kicked her powerful legs and drove them toward shore.
As soon as she touched the sand, she stood and yanked the man along, getting his muscular body out of the water through brute force before bending to check his pulse. She had a difficult time finding one, and he wasn’t breathing. She needed to evacuate the water from his lungs and get his heart pumping before it was too late.
The spectators gathered around her, murmuring in frightened voices to each other as she went to work. The little girl’s mother cried nearby and hugged her saved daughter.
“Back up,” Larissa said, appearing in front of Janie, Lilly on her hip. “Let her work! Janie, I’ve called the doctor. He’ll be here soon, but you need to get this man breathing.”
Glad her friend had a good head on her shoulders and had already taken care of the doctor, Janie bent to her task.
“Come on, damn you! You aren’t dying today!”
***
Archer Croft coughed and choked, gagging up water as a fierce pain seared inside his nose, throat, and chest. His chest felt as though he’d been kicked by one of the McCallister’s Paradise horses. What the hell happened?
Having no control over his own destiny, he leaned to the side, retching up liquid. After throwing up what felt like an entire ocean of water, Archer became aware of someone speaking next to his ear and a warm hand patting against his back as it held him in place, rolled halfway on his side.
“That’s it. Get it all out. You aren’t dying. I won’t let you!” the soothing voice said.
When he could heave up no more water, Archer flopped backward against the sand. Everything hurt, not just the intense pain in his chest but every single muscle in his body seemed to be complaining. Disorientation gripped him as he struggled to remember anything before waking up.
A bit more thought brought it flooding back. The little girl going under the water, carried out by waves, no one helping her.
In a panic, Archer opened his eyes. “The girl! Is she—?”
“She’s fine,” said the same calm, female voice from before, pushing against his shoulder so he couldn’t sit up. “Thanks to you, I had enough time to get to her. You’re the one who’s worse for wear.”
Archer squinted against the sunshine reflecting off the water. When the dazzling light cleared, he was dazzled all over again by the gorgeous vision above his face. It was a slender woman in a red swimsuit, hair dripping water, skin the color of milk chocolate. Her deep brown eyes held kindness laced with a touch of good humor. Archer could hardly form a coherent thought for a few seconds.
“Are you an angel?” he breathed.
The woman giggled easily, showing that the hint of humor in her eyes hadn’t been his imagination. “Most would compare me to a devil, but let’s just say today’s your lucky day. I was feeling angelic.”
He highly doubted she could be a devil, but as badly as his body complained, he was hardly in a position to start an argument and try to convince her. Even taking in too deep of a breath reminded him that he’d done something incredibly stupid by rushing into the ocean like that.
Almost unconsciously, he reached toward her, stroking her shoulder softly despite the intense flare of pain it caused in his chest. No matter how much everything hurt, he had to let her know how he felt. “Thank you for saving me. I shouldn’t have gone out there. I made your job harder than it had to be. I’m so sorry.”
A frown marred her pretty face, and she shook her head softly. “Normally, I’d agree. People who don’t know what they’re doing shouldn’t attempt to save a drowning victim. It usually gives me two people to worry about. However...” She glanced upward, her eyes narrowing with sharp anger as she looked at something or someone down the beach. “Considering the lifeguard for this section had disappeared, I might not have spotted the girl in time if she’d been by herself. It’s thanks to you that she’s still alive.”
Archer sucked in shallow breaths and nodded, closing his eyes. If the woman wasn’t mad at his actions, that was good enough for him. He hadn’t considered whether a lifeguard was around to get the girl when he went into the water. He’d simply walked by and heard the commotion. When he realized it was a child in trouble, there was no way he could sit back and not help.
“What’s your name?” her kind voice asked.
“Archer,” he said, his own voice scratchy and hoarse.
“Do you work here, Archer? I noticed you’re wearing the normal black slacks and white dress shirt of the McCallister’s Paradise employees.”
He nodded. “I’d just finished my shift cooking at The Pavilion.”
“Oh, you’re a chef? Nice! I love a man who knows how to cook!”
“Janie! Honestly?” An impatient female voice shouted from behind the lifeguard’s back.
Archer opened his eyes to peak at the new woman. She was slender with short, mousy brown hair, a sweet face, and a cute infant on her hip.
The woman shook her head at the lifeguard, a disapproving frown wrinkling her face. “I guess our dinner plans are off, huh? You found your date for the night?”
The lifeguard let out a soft chuckle. “Don’t give me that face, Larissa. Do you really want me to sacrifice what looks to be great fun just to have dinner with you?”
“Yes,” Larissa replied. “I do, actually.”
Archer watched the two women, somewhat at a loss. Why was this Larissa person arguing with the lifeguard now, about dinner of all things? It seemed strange. Weren’t they in the middle of an emergency of sorts. Though, granted, it seemed he and the little girl were both going to be fine.
Suddenly, a shadow fell over Archer as a tall man walked toward them.
“Oh,” Larissa’s face brightened as a man approached. “Dr. Peterson, I’m glad you’re here. This man’s name is Archer. He had quite a bit of water in him and Janie administered CPR. The little girl seems okay, but you should check her to be sure.”
“CPR, huh?” the doctor asked.
Janie nodded. “Couldn’t find a pulse for a second, but he seems all here mentally.”
Wait? Was she saying he technically died? No pulse... that was crazy! He owed the lifeguard more than he imagined if she pulled him back from that.
The man identified as Dr. Peterson gave a reassuring smile, then crouched next to Archer. “It’s good to see you’re still with us. How are you feeling?”
“My lungs burn like crazy, and I’m weak,” he admitted. “My chest is killing me, too. I don’t know if I have the strength to stand.”
“I expected as much,” the doctor said. He turned to the lifeguard. “Janie, how long was he under water for?”
Janie shook her head. “It couldn’t have been long. I reached them pretty quick. Then again, he expelled a lot of water. When I was approaching, he’d put the girl on top of him to keep her afloat longer.” She gave Archer a curious glance. “It seems he was willing to sacrifice himself for a stranger.”
It hadn’t been as noble as the lifeguard seemed to think. “I wasn’t sacrificing myself. I thought I could float on my back and keep us both above the surface... Guess, I was wrong.”
“Regardless of your intentions, you saved the girl.” Dr. Peterson flashed his unconcerned-looking smile again at the surrounding crowd. “It’ll all be okay. I’ll get Archer to the clinic and check everything out, but I’m sure he’s going to be just fine.”