Total pages in book: 66
Estimated words: 66387 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 332(@200wpm)___ 266(@250wpm)___ 221(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66387 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 332(@200wpm)___ 266(@250wpm)___ 221(@300wpm)
When I’ve driven us a few miles away and around a bend, I slow down and let us drift.
Ellie and I are both sitting in the bow of the boat, soaking up some sun.
“Now, this is the life,” Ellie says with a sigh. “If I lived here, I’d be out on the boat every day.”
“I usually am. I haven’t been since we got back, but before Sebastian and I came to London, I took the boat out every morning.”
I glance around, realizing that there aren’t many other vessels on the lake. Actually, there are none.
That’s unusual.
“I’m so happy Sebastian met you,” Ellie says, reaching over to squeeze my hand. “And that he didn’t have to suffer through an arranged marriage. I can’t believe that in this modern age, that’s still a thing.”
“I’m glad he doesn’t have to be in an arranged marriage either. Honestly, I admit that I was a handful for your brother at first, but I just want to assure you that I love him very much. I couldn’t be happier with him.”
“It’s so romantic.” Ellie sighs, a dreamy smile dancing on her lips. “If you have a girl, will you name her Eleanor?”
“Uh, I haven’t really given much thought to having children,” I admit. In the past, I would have said, “hell, no.” But with Sebastian? I could see it happening.
Maybe.
In quite a few years.
“Okay, enough about me.” I shift in my seat so I can face her. “Tell me about your talk with Liam.”
“How did you know?”
“I saw you, but I didn’t eavesdrop. I regret that now. Tell me.”
“It didn’t last long. I asked him if he had been here before, and he said he had. He has extended family in the area. I asked him what he used to do with the military, and he said it was classified.”
She rolls her eyes, making me giggle.
“Did he ask you any questions?”
“He asked if he should be talking to me alone.” She shakes her head. “I told him that I’m a woman, and he’s a man, and if we want to have a conversation, it’s not going against any laws that I know of.”
“Good answer.”
“And then he said he had to work and hurried off.”
“Well, shit.”
She sighs deeply, and I frown when a cloud moves over the sun, casting us in shadows and dropping the temperature by at least ten degrees.
The hair on my arms stands up.
“I didn’t check the weather before we left,” I murmur. “And I left my phone at home.”
“That’s not a happy cloud,” Ellie says, just as raindrops start to fall. They’re big, cold drops, and then, as if from out of nowhere, thunder pounds around us, and the sky opens up, dumping rain as if a tap has been opened.
“Bloody hell!” Ellie cries. We both scramble up, but we trip over each other, and in the rain, we can’t see even six inches in front of our faces.
We’re off balance, and the next thing I know, we’re tumbling over the side of the boat into the cold, dark water below.
It’s a shock to the system.
At first, I can’t do anything at all, and then my arms and legs start to flail, pushing me to the surface. Just as I reach up for the rail on the boat, I hear my name being screamed.
But it’s not Ellie.
“Nina!”
“Sebastian?”
“Get her out of that water!” he yells, and strong hands pull me up into the boat. I’m coughing and sputtering, trying to get the water and my hair out of my face.
I look into Nick’s hard eyes. He must have jumped from the other boat into mine to pull me out. He’s pissed. I don’t blame him.
This was a horrible idea.
“I don’t know where Ellie is!” I shout. The rain is still pounding down. I keep shoving my wet hair out of my face, but I still can’t see. “She fell in, and I can’t find her!”
I watch in horror as Callum and Sebastian both dive into the water. I try to wrestle out of Nick’s grasp, but he growls.
“You’re not going in that fucking water, Nina.”
He’s never spoken to me like that.
But, frankly, I deserve it.
I hear helicopters overhead. Liam’s talking into a phone, then yells over at Nick, “They can’t see anything or fly well in this weather, so they’re turning around.”
Nick nods, and we watch as Callum surfaces with Ellie. Callum boosts her up to Nick, who pulls her into the boat. She’s sputtering and coughing, but she’s breathing, and that’s all that matters.
Callum joins us and hugs his sister, and my eyes are pinned to the water.
No Sebastian.
“Where is he?” I demand.
“He was with me,” Callum yells back to be heard over the rain. “He passed Ellie off to me.”
“Someone find him!”
“I’m going in,” Liam yells before diving through the surface.
“Watch this one,” Nick instructs Callum, and he joins Liam in the water.