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Another boat approached from the direction of the town. It must be the fire department, finally getting their act together. If Jason was in charge, he’d do a much better job, she thought. He was so thorough. And sensitive. And skilled.
Wait, now she was onto a different topic. That kiss. Those kisses. Honestly, it had come out of the blue, how amazing it felt to kiss Jason. Kissing was very important, in her opinion, and people didn’t always take the time for it. Dominic, for instance, always seemed to consider kissing to be just a stepping stone on the way to what he really wanted. And towards the end, they generally skipped that part and went straight to the sex. Which also ended pretty quickly because they were both so busy.
But Jason kissed as if it was the ultimate destination, not a stopping point along the way. She’d gotten no hint that he wanted to rush through it or that the kiss wasn’t wonderful in and of itself. Those kisses had left her feeling the oddest mixture of arousal and peace. Weren’t those two complete opposites?
That was just like Jason, in a weird way. Simple, but complicated. Familiar, but unknown. Relaxed, until he needed to take action. Unhurried, until an emergency hit.
What was sexier, kissing him or watching him swim to the rescue of a boat on fire? Not that she had to choose…both things made him sexy. Added together, they turned him into a rock star.
“Here they come!” Tyler scrambled back onto his feet and jumped up and down. “Dad! Dad! This way!”
“Here, do you want to shine a light for them?” Kendra handed him the flashlight she’d grabbed from the kitchen. “Try to aim it in front of them instead of at them. You don’t want to blind them.”
“Okay.” He held it with both hands and focused the beam on the dark rippling water a few feet ahead of his father. “Can you see us, Dad?”
“Yah,” he gasped. His strokes, which had been flagging, picked up speed, as if the mere sound of his son’s voice gave him new strength.
Kendra was more worried about Jason. He’d swum all the way out there, then part of the way back with the added burden of a terrified child. He was moving even more slowly than Tyler’s father, and she fought the urge to jump in the water and help him the rest of the way. She had no lifeguard training and the two of them might end up drowning each other.
Instead, she tossed sassy words to him like a lifeline. “You got this, Jaybone! I know you can do it, just like you passed that public speaking class after I coached you. Or when you won that dance contest you didn’t want anyone to know about? Get your butt onto this pier before I tell young Tyler here the whole story. Didn’t you have to wear a shirt with ruffles that made you sneeze? And you looked like a bullfighter? It’s one of the biggest tragedies of my life that I didn’t have a phone with a camera back then. Tyler, want me to show you his ending pose? It was awesome.”
Maybe it was unorthodox, but it was working. Jason’s pace just about doubled as he raced toward the pier. “You got this, Jaybone!! Go, go, go!”
Tyler joined in and the two of them jumped up and down, cheering on the two swimmers.
Finally, Tyler’s dad reached the ladder at the side of the pier, where Kendra directed Tyler to shine the light. She reached down to help him climb the metal rungs, then stepped back to give him space to wrap his arms around Tyler. She draped a blanket over his shoulders, then added another one just in case.
Then she turned her focus to Jason’s weary climb up the ladder. He practically fell into her arms when he reached the top. His body sagged against hers, and she wondered if he’d lost consciousness. But no—he was just murmuring in her ear. “I didn’t look like a bullfighter. I looked like a pirate.”
She laughed with so much relief that she just about cried.
She helped him toward the pile of blankets. He sank down onto his knees on the worn planks of the pier, then lost steam. She plucked a blanket off the top of the pile and wrapped it around him, adding a tight hug and a kiss on his cold cheek. “That was some hero shit out there.”
“Oh stop. Just doing my job. Pirate style.”
She laughed softly and rubbed her cheek against his to warm his skin. The search light of the oncoming speed boat glared in her eyes.
“Looks like the rest of the fire department’s finally showing up.” She stood up and waved at them. “Everyone’s here and safe,” she called.
The next few moments were all hustle and bustle, as Tyler and his father got quick medical checkups and were handed space blankets and water bottles. Jason waved off all help except for a long drink of water.
“Do you know what started the fire?” someone asked Tyler’s dad, who introduced himself to everyone as Brent Caldwell.
“No idea. I heard a noise and then smelled smoke and saw fire coming from the engine compartment. It’s not my boat, so I can’t vouch for the maintenance. We barely had time to grab life jackets. Tyler lost his when he jumped. We might have drowned if it hadn’t been for him.” He gestured at Jason, who didn’t argue, possibly because he was too tired.
The firefighters decided they didn’t need to take either of the two fire victims to the hospital. Instead they loaded them onto the temporary fire boat and zipped across the lake toward the house they were renting.
Colleen Hopper, who ran a juice bar when she wasn’t being a volunteer firefighter, stayed behind to tend to Jason.
“Do you have any idea who that is?” she asked as she crouched down next to him.
“No.”
“He’s a freaking billionaire. Caldwell Industries? That was his grandfather. I heard they’re having a big family reunion at Sans-Souci. My mom’s doing some of the catering.”
Kendra whistled. Sans-Souci was the most lavish estate on Lake Bittersweet, and the only one with a fancy name like that. The locals didn’t bother to pronounce it the French way, just referring to it as “Sansussy.” But apparently it meant “no worries,” which certainly didn’t fit what Tyler and Caldwell had just gone through.
“Just goes to show, even rich people need firefighters now and then.” Jason sounded as if his throat was raw, but at least he was spitting out full sentences now.
