Liberation

by Sabine Priestley

  Chairs scrapped across the pool deck and snapped him out of his reverie. He threw a glance over his shoulder. The old couple prepared to leave. The man winked at Ian, then said something to the woman that made her laugh.

  He returned his attention to Dani. She inhaled quickly as if she’d been holding her breath. He stood a moment longer, torn between staying, because he wanted to, and returning to Sandaria to talk with his father. Duty won. He whirled around, slicing through the water.

  She called after him but he didn’t respond.

  What did I just do?

  Dani coughed as water splashed over her face from Ian’s abrupt departure. She jerked to a sitting position. She’d been momentarily paralyzed, and it freaked her out. The movement sent pulses of pleasure rippling through her. Holy crap, that was amazing. “Hey, what was that? Ian?” She spun around to find him nearly at the steps. “Ian!”

  He bolted out of the water and headed back to the bar, dripping wet.

  The photographer in her couldn’t help but analyze the scene. Damn, he does wet really well. Dani wiped the water from her eyes and looked around for her hat. Crap. She reached over and plucked the soggy mess off the surface of the water. Plopping it on her head, she sighed as the waterlogged rim flopped over her face. Great. She shook the hat out a few times and stopped mid-swing.

  What the… Slowly, she put the hat back on her head and held up her injured hand. She flexed her fingers and bent her wrist back and forth. The tendons were stiff and still looked like hell, but there was no pain. Swinging her legs off the lounge, she slid into the waist-deep water. Submerging her hand, she drew her palm back and forth under the surface. Still no pain. What in the world did he do?

  Dani got out of the pool, gathered up her bag and drink and hurried down the path after him. She flexed her pain-free wrist the whole way.

  Jared stood behind the bar, filling salt shakers.

  “Where’d Ian go?”

  “Said he had to run.”

  “Yeah, literally. I want to talk to him about this pressure point thing.” Dani sat across from him.

  “Pressure point?”

  “You know, the pain thing.”

  “Oh yeah, how’d it go? Pretty cool, huh?” Jared screwed the lid on a shaker.

  “I guess. I mean the results are great. Unbelievable really, but the effect—” Dani stopped herself. What was she going to do? Tell Jared she’d just had some freak pleasure event? As if. “I just can’t believe how effective this pressure point thing is.” She slid her empty cup over to Jared. “Can I have another rum and coke, please? Mr. Personality sloshed water in mine.”

  Jared put down the shaker and reached for her cup. “Sure. I take it you’re feeling better?” He rinsed out the Tervis cup and made another drink.

  “I’ll say. He’s got a nice touch, I’ll give him that.” There’s an understatement. “But as soon as he finished, he bolted from the pool. Swamped me with his wake. Got my new hat wet.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah, and check this out.” Dani held up her wrist and twisted it around. “What the—even the bruising is going away now, look.”

  Jared leaned in for a closer inspection and frowned. His eyes moved from her wrist to her face. “Take your glasses off, Dani.”

  She did as he asked.

  “Oh, dear.”

  “What? What’s wrong?” She reached up and probed the gash under her eye. The skin felt like a month-old scar. “Jared, what’s going on?”