Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 77452 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77452 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
Ginger nods. “Okay. But don’t you let anything happen to her!”
“I won’t.”
Rachel—beautiful Rachel—is limp as a dead fish. Her skin is pale but hasn’t gone blue. That’s a good sign. I can’t try to find a pulse now. The main thing is to get her back to the boat. I take care to keep her face out of the water as I hold her in one hand, the life buoy in the other, and kick toward the catamaran.
Once there, Brett grabs Rachel from me and lifts her onto the deck.
I hoist myself back onto the boat, leaving the life preserver in the water.
Misty races toward me. “Are you okay?”
I shake my head. “I’m fine. I’m fine. But Rachel… What about…”
Rachel is lying on the deck, and Ginger hovers over her, checking for a pulse in her neck.
“No pulse. Damn it!” Ginger curls her hands into fists. “I’m going to start CPR. Bring me some towels. Hurry! Get the captain of this rig or whoever to call for help. Now!” Ginger lifts Rachel’s neck, tilting her head back and then leaning with an ear toward her mouth. “Damn!”
Thank God Ginger is a doctor. She begins chest compressions, and I stare… Stare at Rachel… Rachel—the first woman to catch my eye.
Rachel, who gave me a light kiss last night, and then seemed to disappear.
After ten, twenty, I don’t know how many compressions, Ginger pinches Rachel’s nose and then breathes into her mouth twice. “Damn!” she says again.
More compressions.
“I need help here!” she yells. “Where’s Evangeline? Where’s the captain?”
“I’m here!” Evangeline comes running from the lower deck, her complexion nearly white and her eyes wide. “We’re heading back to the island. Medics have been called from the mainland of Jamaica and should be there by the time we get there. She’ll probably have to be helicoptered to the mainland.”
Two more rescue breaths, and—
Rachel coughs, water sputtering out of her mouth.
“She’s breathing,” Ginger says. “Thank God.” Her head falls onto Rachel’s chest.
Rachel was still breathing, though unconscious, when she was helicoptered off the island. Ginger went with her.
The event took its toll.
After I shower and change, it’s five p.m. already.
I feel numb.
I didn’t fall for Rachel. Not really. But she was the first woman I noticed. I offered to get her a telescope for her stargazing. I wanted to look at the celestial bodies with her, maybe take her to my ranch and show them to her from a different part of the world.
Maybe I was falling…
I’m rubbing my forehead when someone knocks on my door. “Yeah?”
“It’s Seb. Can I come in?”
“It’s locked. Hold on.”
I go to the door, wearing only jeans and nothing else. My hair is dripping onto my shoulders. I open it, and not only Seb but Alex and Brett stand there. “Come on in.”
“You okay, buddy?” Brett asks.
Hell, no. But I nod anyway. “Is she going to be okay?”
“We haven’t heard anything.” Alex rubs jawline. “This is fucked up.”
“You don’t even know how fucked up,” Sebastian says.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I ask.
He clears his throat. “Remember that email I intercepted from Misty to Evangeline?”
Fuck. Right. “Misty said she wanted Rachel out of the running,” I say, more to myself than the others. “June too.”
“Right,” Seb says, “and June said something to me after our tryst on the boat. She said she had a threesome once with Misty and some ball player, and she learned something about Misty. Before she could tell me what it was, someone pounded on the door to tell us about Rachel.”
“Are you saying Misty did something to Rachel?” Alex asks.
Sebastian shakes his head, letting out a soft scoff. “No, that’s not what I’m saying. I don’t think she’d ever get her hands dirty.”
“Oh, fuck…” Brett runs his fingers over his hair. “Evangeline…”
“Wait, wait, wait…” I pace over to the door to my bedroom and then back again. “Ginger said they were snorkeling, and everything was fine, until Rachel just…”
“Just what, exactly?” Sebastian says. “That’s what we don’t know, and we won’t know until someone tells us. I’m putting Shelley on it. Maybe she can find out whatever June knows too. I wish my date was with her tonight instead of Heather. Even with that damned rhinestone pussy.”
Brett rolls his eyes. “Back to Shelley. You said she called earlier. What gives?”
“She was checking things out at the Larson place like she does once a week, and she said she thought she was being followed.”
“Fuck.” I plunk my ass down on one of the chairs and let my head fall into my hands.
“Riv,” Brett says, “I know you had your eye on Rachel. I’m sorry.”
I shake my head. “What if this whole thing was a mistake? I mean, why did we think we could find love this way?” I turn my gaze to Brett. “Another one of your bullshit ideas.”