Sam

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A DAY ON THE BEACH was just what the two of us needed. But the bathing suits I had to choose from were skimpy, to say the least. They were essentially pieces of fabric strung together with string. The bikinis Derek had stuffed in my closet were beautiful, but they were revealing. There was nothing to them, and no matter which one I tried on, I could not get myself covered as much as I wanted to be.

“Seriously?” I asked. “This is all I’ve got to try on?”

“What’s wrong with them?” Derek asked.

“Because some of the tops barely cover my nipples. My ass hangs out of all of them.”

“Not my fault you’re hot.”

“And people can see my scars.”

“You mean that badass skin that proves you’re stronger than anyone on this damn island? Why would you want to cover those up? Plus, this little stretch of the beach is private. Just for us, so no one will see you in that but me.”

“I still don’t like it,” I said.

“You could always swim naked,” he said with a grin.

“You’d like that a little too much.”

“I’d love you in anything.”

I blushed underneath his words before I grabbed a towel. I wrapped the towel around my body, slipped into some flip-flops, and then took Derek's hand so he could lead me to the beach. He was right. The beach was private. Only for us to enjoy. No one could see us, no one could get to us, and I felt the stress of our day yesterday beginning to leave my body. All of the walls I had thrown up during our argument on the porch had come crashing down, and the beautiful words he had spoken to me in the bathroom came flooding back to my mind.

And all because I was simply in his presence.

We dropped our towels to the sand and slipped out of our shoes before we went running into the ocean. My hand was tightly held in Derek's, and we laughed as the waves crashed against our bodies. I could see the whole bottom of the ocean, all the sand and the life and the fish that swam around our ankles. The water was crystal clear and unlike anything I had ever seen before. How in the world could I have come to such a beautiful place and missed out on things like this? How in the world could I have denied myself these simplistic pleasures after some of the darkest nights I’d ever experienced?

I had no idea why I had done that to myself, but I was glad Derek was opening my eyes to it.

We bobbed around in the water, his arms tightly wrapped around me. I slid my legs around his hips and held him around his neck. I ignored the dull ache still throbbing my arm, favoring the feel of him over the feeling of pain shooting into my shoulder. Our foreheads connected as the wave started to pick up a bit, carrying us farther and farther out into the ocean.

Everything about this was beautiful and serene. There wasn't one threat I could perceive nor were there any walls between Derek and me. My grip held tightly onto him as I closed my eyes, allowing the waves to rock us along their natural rhythm. The movement was soothing and simple. I felt myself becoming one with the very earth I’d cursed throughout the duration of my career.

Then I unhooked my body from his and started splashing him.

“Oh, you won’t win that fight,” Derek said.

“Try me,” I said. “Just try to win something like this.”

I splashed him with water, and he splashed back. We laughed and tried to one-up one another, with him eventually diving under the water and pulling me under with him. I came up for air, flipping my hair back and splashing him repeatedly.

He drenched me in water as I continued to flail with my eyes closed.

“You’re such a dick! Pulling me under is cheating,” I said.

But when I didn’t hear his voice, I wiped the water from my face and opened my eyes.

“Derek?” I asked.

I turned around, trying to see where he went as panic rose in my chest.

“Derek? Where are you? This isn’t funny anymore.”

He was nowhere to be found. I turned back toward the bungalow, hoping he was walking up the steps that led straight into his room. Shit. There were steps that led straight into the bungalow from the ocean? I didn’t have those on my deck. How the hell could I have not known that?

I turned toward the rocks on the other side of us. I swam toward them, trying to see if he had gotten caught up in the current. I scrambled onto one of them, my eyes scanning the ocean as I tried to spot him.

And still, there was nothing.

“Derek!”

My heart was slamming against my chest. My blood was rushing through my veins. My ears were ringing, my hands were trembling, and I felt myself slipping. This was what happened when I put my guard down. This was what happened when I didn’t do my job. Someone had gotten to him. Someone had dragged him off somewhere the moment I grew weak.

“Derek!” I said with a shriek. “Derek, where the fuck are you?”

I dove back into the water, opening my eyes as they burned. The salt was searing my face, bringing about a pounding headache as I dove around in the water. I tried looking around for anything that could conceal him. A rock underwater or a person lying in wait. I searched for his body, thinking maybe he had gotten trapped and couldn’t come back up for air.

But I had to come back up for air.

I had to resurface so I could keep looking for him.

I pushed off from the ocean floor and flung my hair back. I kept my head on a swivel as I paddled back toward the shore. I felt sick to my stomach. I felt the earth crumbling beneath my feet. I was going to kill them. Whoever had taken Derek was going to pay with their—

“Sam! Over here!”

I looked up from the ocean water and saw Derek standing on the shoreline. He was flagging me down, a giant smile on his lips. Tears of relief filled my eyes and streamed down my face as I stood there, taking him in as I walked toward the shore. He wasn’t bleeding or bruised. He didn’t seem to be in pain or limping. I looked around to see if anyone was threatening him from the low-lying land. I looked for the glint of a gun or the shuffling of a body and listened for the ticking of a bomb.

But there was nothing.

Only Derek, his beautiful body, and the crashing of the ocean waves.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” I asked.

I ran up to him, sniffling as I slammed my fists into his chest.

“What the—? Sam? What the hell’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong? Seriously? You’ve got a psychopath who hasn’t been caught yet, and you disappear fuck-knows-where and just pop up at the shoreline?”

I took a step back from him as I furiously wiped at my face. I was crying over him. Crying over the fact that he could've been hurt. Taken. Beaten and tortured. I was crying over someone.

I hadn’t done that since I’d lost my parents.

“Sam? What’s wrong? What happened?” Derek asked.

“You scared the hell out of me, that’s what happened.”

“I’m sorry. I was trying to get away from you after pulling you under.”

“I came up for air and kept splashing, then opened my eyes, and you were gone. Did you seriously not think that through?” I asked.

“I didn’t think. I used to do it all the time in college. I could go out as far as I could in the ocean and then see how far I could swim back without coming up for air. My buddies and I always made it a competition, and the winner bought dinner.”

“Well, don’t fucking do it again,” I said as I kept my back to him. “Because that wasn’t funny.”

I felt his arms drape around my waist as he pulled me back to his chest. I sighed, my eyes fluttering closed as I melded into his body. I felt the beating of his heart, signaling the life he still possessed. I felt the swelling of his chest, signaling the breaths he was still taking. I felt the way his fingertips traced circles along my hips, signaling the touch he was still enjoying because he was still alive.

“I really didn’t mean to scare you,” Derek said.

“Well, you did and not simply because you’re a client whose life I have to protect.”

“Not simply because?” he asked.

“No. You’re a client, but I also ...”

I drew in a deep breath and closed my eyes as he pulled me deeper into the warmth of his body.

“I also feel strongly about you,” I said. “And if something happened to you because I was negligent or because I dropped my guard, it wouldn’t be because I failed you as an employer. It would be because I failed you as a lover.”

I felt his lips descend to my neck, peppering my skin with kisses. I tilted my head off to the side, turning my lips into his skin so I could kiss him back. I didn’t try to fight the goosebumps that puckered my skin. I didn’t try to fight the fluttering feeling I had in the pit of my gut. I didn’t even try to fight the hammering of my heart against my chest.

I stood there and accepted it and accepted the decision I made to give myself over to this man.

At least for now.

“I won’t do anything to freak you out like that again. I promise,” Derek said.

“That’s all I ask.”