by Taylor Hart
Chapter 10
To say that Isabel was surprised to hear knocking on her door would be an understatement. She’d been staring at the wall feeling exactly how she’d felt the couple of years—hopeless.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
“Hey, Isabel. You have to let me in!”
Cameron Cruz.
Her heart raced, and she sat up. Part of her wished the guy would leave her alone, and the other part got up and hopped on one foot to the door. When she flung it back, he stood there, looking amazing.
She hated herself for thinking that about him, but the man was gorgeous. She’d noticed the attraction between them while dancing the night before. “What are you doing?”
“I’m here to take you to see the stingrays.” He nodded toward the table where the list sat. “That’s next, right?”
Light and warmth started in the center of her chest. “I told you no.”
“Did you mean it? I’ll find out about a wheelchair for some of it, but until then, I’ll carry you.” He shrugged. “It’s good for my workouts anyway.”
Her heart skipped a beat. “What? No.” She scoffed. “Seriously, listen to the jock—it’s good for my workouts,” she said in an Arnold Schwarzenegger voice.
Abruptly, he laughed. “I do not sound like that.”
She couldn’t stop smiling.
He took a step in. “Let’s go. We have to hurry so we don’t miss all the shuttles over to the stingrays.”
She panicked just thinking about all the logistics. “I have to get ready.”
“Hop in the bathroom and put on a swimsuit. I’ll run down and find out about wheelchairs.”
She could hardly get a breath. “Really?” If he was helping her, she could do this.
“Go.” He jogged away.
Bewildered, she rushed back into the room, not caring that she was hopping, not caring that she had hurt her ankle—only excited.
She hadn’t been this excited in a long time.
* * *
As it turned out, Cameron was not able to get a wheelchair. What ended up happening resembled a teenage rom-com where the guy carried the girl everywhere, piggyback style. He’d gone to the infirmary and braced her ankle, but at first, it was awkward to be on his back.
They got to the taxi that Cam hired and started the journey to Grand Cayman’s Stingray City. “There is also a place where you can hold the turtles,” the taxi driver told them.
Cam stared at Isabel, who was wearing a T-shirt and shorts with a swimsuit underneath and a huge hat and sunglasses. She was pretty in a girl-next-door way. Not a model type or a cleat chaser, like the women who had hit on him all year. Reluctantly, he thought about how she was more like Kat. Not that she looked anything like her, but she was real.
As they drove, they fell into silence.
“Thank you,” she said, still looking out the window.
“You’re welcome.” How could he describe to her how good this felt? To do something for someone else. Someone who was in more pain than he was.
When they arrived at the stingray place, Cam rushed around and helped her out, and she hiked up onto his back.
She grunted. “Sorry.”
He waved it off and held the backpack in his hands while carrying her. He’d brought his wallet, two towels, and sunscreen. “I told you. You’re good for my conditioning.”
She let out a light laugh. “Man, you have all the lines for women, don’t you?”
They let the awkward moment go as he carried her into Stingray City. They bought the tickets, and soon after, a tour guy escorted them out to the stingrays. He couldn’t see his sister or Craig or his nephews. “Dang, I think we might have missed my sister.”
He put their stuff in a locker, and then he walked out toward the sectioned-off place where people were standing in the ocean with the stingrays. A bunch of clearly marked tour guys instructed people on how to touch the stingrays. They looked like triangle-shaped fish with a stinger at the end.
“Oh my gosh,” she whispered as they waded out. Since she was perched on his shoulders, only her feet touched the water. “They are right here.”
Cameron literally felt one of them brush his leg. He laughed, turning and shifting Isabel’s weight. “It’s slimy.”
Gently, he put her in the water, and she leaned against him, standing on her good ankle. They were waist deep. Her eyes widened, and she giggled as one swam by her. “Eek!” She reached out, and when one of the stingrays got closer and brushed her hand, she let out a rippling, childlike laugh.
It made him smile.
“Come on, touch them,” she encouraged him.
Cam put his hand in the water and waited. One came over and barely brushed against him. He noted the skin was smooth and felt almost silky. He laughed. “It’s so slimy.”
She touched another, letting out a squeal. “It is slimy!” She pointed to a big one coming toward them. “Cam, reach for that one.”
He reached in deep and felt the big guy brush his whole body against his leg. “Man.”
Her eyes turned mischievous right before she leaned over and gently pushed him. It was just a little push, but with the way he was bent, he stumbled, trying and failing to regain his footing.
At the last second, his hand snatched hers, and she tumbled in with him.
Isabel shrieked but laughed as she fell, and then they were splashing and playing.
The other families there were smiling at them. The best part, Cam found, was that he could keep his ball cap and sunglasses on and stay incognito. It was nice just to blend in.
She turned, hopping back a bit and sitting in the shallow water and took off her hat and sunglasses. “You got everything wet.”
He stood, taking her things from her. “I’ll put everything on that chair over there.”
“And if it gets stolen?”
“A chance we’ll have to take.”
“You’re so flippant about it.”
He paused, then met her eyes. “We’re taking a chance on this, aren’t we?”
Chapter 11
Isabel watched Cameron jet out of the water to put their things on a chair and couldn’t believe she was here, with him, actually having fun. She hadn’t wanted to accept his help, but she had to admit this was way better than sitting in her room alone.
He got back and plunked into the water next to her. She held her hand out as a stingray passed right by her. “This is insane.”
He smiled and reached for the same stingray. “It is insane.” His eyes scanned the group of people there. There were a lot spread down the beach. “I wonder if we missed my sister. I know she wanted to do this and some other things.”
“Is she going to be upset with you?”
Cam shrugged and kept his focus on the water. “Honestly, I think she’ll be happy I’m helping someone. Although, I have to go to the ballroom for dinner tonight.” He pointed at her. “And you’re coming with me.”
The thought made her sputter. “No. Not with my ankle.”
“Yes. My sister is making me, and if I have to go, you have to go, because that’s part of this deal.”
She grunted. “No, the list is part of the deal.”
“I’m adding to it.”
She glared at him but changed the subject. “So that’s why you go to the dining room? For your sister?”
“This trip is her thing, and honestly, I owed her some good behavior. I told you—after this past year, it’s been rough.”
Their eyes met. “I’m sorry,” she said.
He nodded. “Let’s go out farther. I’ll help you.” After he pulled her up, he bent down. “Hop on.”
“No, I can just lean on you and hop in the water.”
“Hop on, Kind.” He said it like she was one of his football players.
She smiled and got on, and he ran out into the water. She laughed, holding on tighter.
Cam went all the way out to his shoulders, and she found herself dropping into the water with him as
it got deeper. He let her go, and she realized she could tread water fairly easily.
He was doing the same, but he frowned and put his hand out. “This probably hurts your ankle.”
“No.” Of course it did, but she wouldn’t admit it.
“Come on.” He took her hand and pulled her back to where they could both stand. His gaze was fixed on the water. “I had no idea a place like this existed.”
She grinned and put her hand out to feel another stingray brush against her. “It’s crazy.”
They focused on the stingrays, and she lost herself in the moment. The sun felt good, and even though her mind went to what Sam would have thought about this place, it didn’t take her into a deep sadness as it normally would have.
“Do you think they have places like this in heaven?” she asked quietly.
He didn’t answer immediately, a faraway look on his face. “I’ve wondered about heaven a lot lately. I sure hope so. Kat would have loved this.”
She nodded sympathetically.
After more than an hour of exploring all the different stingray colonies down the side of the beach, she and Cam ended up in the shallow water, butts planted in the sand, just enjoying the beach.
“Man, I love the beach. I think I forgot that this past year.” Cam leaned back.
She was leaning back with her hands buried in the sand and her face tilted toward the sky. “This is my first time at the beach.”
“What?” Cam sat up in surprise.
A bit embarrassed, she looked away from him. “Sorry to disappoint, Mr. Billionaire. Wait, are you a billionaire?”
He didn’t answer.
She swiped the air. “Never mind. I’m from Fort Collins, and my parents were farmers on the outskirts of town. There was never a ton of money.” She shrugged, not knowing why she was telling him all of this, but he was here with her. “I feel bad because the insurance money is paying for this. The insurance money has paid for everything. My living expenses and school. Well, almost all of my school.”
He looked confused. “Are you going to more school?”
“No,” she said quickly. “Maybe. Never mind.”
“Spill.”
She sighed. “I’d like to be a baby doctor, a real doctor, and have, like, Eastern medicine meets Western medicine, ya know?”
He shook his head. “Actually, no.”
She laughed. It felt good to talk about all of this. “My mom and sister tell me I could do anything, but I still get hung up on whether I should go to med school or not.”
“If you really want to be a baby doctor, go be a baby doctor.”
She thought of the money it would take. “I …”
His lip turned up. “You’ve already told me this much. May as well finish.”
She sighed again. “I could possibly get scholarships, at least partly, and of course loans. I could also sell my house, but it just feels like if I sell it …” She hesitated, not wanting to explain it.
“Then they’re really gone,” he filled in for her.
The moment went quiet.
“Yeah.” She blinked. “I already feel guilty. I was going to divorce Rick. There’s so much, so much guilt I’ve had. I’ve used the insurance money to live and go to school and come on this cruise. But to sell the house feels so final.”
“I’m sorry. That must be hard.”
She nodded. For a few moments, neither of them spoke.
Cam turned to her. “Kat had just found out she was pregnant that day.”
Isabel jerked to face him. Had she heard him right?
He wasn’t looking at her, and she noticed he was holding his wedding ring again. “We’d been trying for a long time to get pregnant, had done IVF a couple of times. She’d just been to the clinic. We’d told ourselves to act like it was a regular day so we wouldn’t be disappointed.” He shook his head.
“Cam.” She reached for his hand.
His eyes met hers, and he nodded.
“I’m so sorry.”
He sucked in a breath. “Me too.”
With a burst of compassion, she remembered how he’d said he’d been looking for the guy. It had been bad before, but it was worse now.
Gently, he pulled his hand back.
She felt silly for taking his hand in the first place. It hadn’t been attraction, just … she’d wanted to comfort him, but it would be dumb to try to explain that.
He changed the subject back to her. “So you want to become a doctor.”
“Yes. I really would like to assist people in having babies at home, which is against the law in some states, but there’s a movement.”
He frowned. “That sounds wrong.”
“Believe me, I know how a lot of people feel, but I had Sam at home, and it was just the greatest experience of my entire life. So relaxing, and there were no bright lights shining down and dirty hospital stuff and germs, and my mom and sister were there.”
He gave her a funny look.
“No, I’m not part of a cult. I know people ask that.”
He laughed and rubbed a hand over his face. “You’re … different.”
She didn’t care. “Yeah, I am.”
“Don’t worry, Izz. Different is good.”
“Izz?” she questioned.
The side of his lip turned up. “Is that okay?”
She hadn’t realized how much fun it was to do these excursions with someone. “Yes, Izz is okay.”
Chapter 12
They showered off at the beach, and Isabel insisted on just hopping next to him. Cameron insisted she get on his back so he could carry her down to the little lobster shack restaurant.
It wasn’t fancy, but they both ordered salads and lobsters, and he relished the feel of the ocean, the music, and the way the lobster melted in his mouth. To his surprise, he was really enjoying himself.
“I don’t like you paying for everything.” Isabel looked upset.
Cam frowned. “Really?” Especially since she’d told him about her past and how she wanted med school. “Billionaire, remember?”
“So you really are?” She leaned in conspiratorially. “I don’t care. Just tell me. How?”
He grinned. He didn’t like to brag, but … “My father was good at teaching business principles and hard work. When I turned pro in football, I was smart. Instead of blowing my money like a lot of new guys, I bought a ton of businesses. Then I bought the Storm. I achieved billionaire status last year.” Unfortunately, it’d been meaningless to him. “Too bad none of my money can bring her back.”
Silence.
He sighed. “Sorry, I don’t want to do this all the time.”
“I don’t care.” She waved her hand, sputtering out a laugh. “Cam, it’ll be five years this spring since I’ve lost my son and husband, and I’m on a cruise trying to heal somehow.” She shook her head and took a sip of water. “Sounds ridiculous when I say it out loud.”
He liked this woman. He liked the fact he could talk to her. She understood pain, deep pain. It wasn’t a competition, but up until he’d thought his past year was worse than everyone else’s. “I like being your friend,” he told her with a shrug. “Friendship is all I got these days.”
She paused, then nodded. “I like it, too.” She lightly jostled her glass, making the ice clink against the sides. “So if we’re friends, we can, like … eat with our mouth open and not use our napkin.”
He grinned. “You don’t want to start all the ‘friend’ things I can do.”
She laughed.
“So tell me about being a doula.”
She fished out a piece of ice out with her fork. “Want to hear about this lady who moved to Denver from Vegas and was having the baby by herself? She seriously ignored her contractions for thirty minutes so she could put on makeup before the ambulance got there, just because she wanted to make sure she would make a good impression if one of the guys was single.”
“No way.”
For the rest of the afternoon, swapped stories
about her doula life and his crazy football world. He told her about running the Storm and the idiot football players he had to deal with—especially the guys who had recently ended up in jail.
“I don’t know how you do it,” she said as she ate another bite of lobster.
He grunted and wiped his mouth. “Mostly, the guys are good. They’ve been through a lot with me the past year. I mean, no matter how much I don’t think I’m making knee-jerk decisions based on crap I’m going through, I might be.” This was the first time he could admit that, even though people had suggested it to him.
She grinned at him. “I think you’re doing good.”
He pointed at her. “You don’t watch football, do you?”
“Nope, but I might after this.”
She was truly pretty, Cam thought, looking at the smattering of freckles across her nose that had intensified with the sun. He liked the true friendship between them. She was ripping into the lobster, and she didn’t pay any attention to how she looked—other than reapplying sunscreen every second, which he understood because of her complexion.
He found he wanted to know more about her. “So your mom and infamous busybody sister live on a ranch?” She’d mentioned something about them.
“Yes. My sister and her husband live just down the road from my folks. They each have their own property, but they help each other out.”
He grunted. “We really do have the same sister.”
“Sometimes it’s too close. My older sister is married with two kids and just wants me to be back in that same place, ya know? But my mom doesn’t want that. She just wants me happy. She has offered forever to have me back on the ranch, helping them. I do that a lot, but I just knew if I went back there, I would never leave. I’d just end up feeling lost out there. Not that my horse, Sheba, isn’t the best.”
Cam grinned. “You have a horse named Sheba.”
“Hey, I like her to feel like royalty.”
Cam laughed. He hadn’t found a woman this interesting in a long time. “Why? She’s a horse.”
“Horses are smart.”
“I know. I own a lot of them.”