“I feel great, like something in me is coming back to life. Does that sound silly?”
It would have a few weeks ago, but after spending time with Katie, especially the way it made him feel to be the one to help her overcome her fear of the water today, his mother’s words struck a deep chord inside him. All of them had been wounded by his father’s death and they’d each stopped living in their own personal ways. He realized now that Tori’s betrayal, so soon after his father had died, had made him wall off his emotions. He might act like casual flings and random hookups were all he wanted in a relationship, but that was a lie he couldn’t maintain any longer.
Seeing his mother go out with another man might be difficult, but he’d never deny her the chance to feel alive again. She deserved whatever—or whoever—could make her happiest.
Meg opened a tube of lipstick, dotted another layer onto her lips. He walked up behind her, wrapped her in a hug and kissed her cheek. The scent of the perfume she’d been wearing for years, flowery and delicate, washed over him. He couldn’t remember smelling it since his father’s death. She’d put away too much of herself as part of her grief. “You don’t need makeup to look beautiful, Mom. You know Dad would have wanted this. For you to be happy again.”
“I loved him,” his mother whispered, her eyes shining with tears.
“I know.”
“He was proud of you, Noah.”
His arms stiffened, and he tried to pull away, but she held on to his wrists. “I know you don’t believe it, but he already saw the man you were going to become. Don’t ever doubt that.”
“I don’t doubt his vision, but my ability to live up to it.”
“If you could only—”
The doorbell rang, interrupting her. “I think that’s for you,” Noah said with a smile and released her.
She dropped the lipstick onto the dresser and smoothed her fingers under her eyes. “I can’t believe I’m nervous. It’s just dinner.” She gave Noah a quick hug. “Come down with me and meet John.”
He followed her down the stairs and opened the front door while she gathered her purse. It was odd to see her doctor standing on the other side, not wearing a white lab coat or scrubs. Tonight the man wore a collared shirt and thin cargo pants, both carrying the logo of a well-known fly-fishing company.
“Dr. Moore,” Noah said, but didn’t move from the doorway. He’d never got into the “man of the house” role since his father died but felt suddenly protective of his mother.
“Please call me John.” The older man smiled, almost nervously, and tilted his head to try to look around Noah. “Is Meg ready?”
“Almost.” Noah stepped onto the porch. “Where are you kids headed tonight?” Tater ambled up to them, sniffed at the doctor, who scratched her behind the ears.
“There’s a new restaurant that opened recently off the highway between here and Aspen. The owner is one of my patients.”
Meg walked up behind Noah, and the doctor’s eyes lit with appreciation. “You look wonderful,” the man said softly then glanced at Noah, one brow raised.
Noah gave him a small nod. “Have her home at a reasonable hour. She still needs rest.”
“Noah,” his mother said on a laughing breath. “He’s a doctor. You don’t have to lecture him.”
But John only nodded. “I’ll take care of her,” he assured Noah, as if he knew Noah’s words were about more than her physical well-being.
“Have a good time, then.”
She kissed his cheek, and then she and John headed for the Audi SUV parked in front of the house. It was another perfect summer night, the air holding just a hint of a breeze and the sky beginning to turn varied shades of pink and orange. Noah watched them drive away as Tater pushed her head against his legs. “I’m not the only one who’s been left without dinner, huh, girl?” She nudged him again and he went back into the house and scooped kibble into her bowl.
As the dog crunched, Noah looked around the empty kitchen. He could heat up leftovers from the fridge, but he was no longer in the mood for dinner. Normally Noah craved solitude when he wasn’t out with friends. It was part of what he loved about his job with the Forest Service, the ability to lose himself in the quiet of the woods. Despite being social, a piece of him needed occasional alone time to recharge. It was one more excuse he’d made for not engaging in serious relationships. He didn’t want a woman to encroach on his private time. “Determined to be single,” Katie had called him. While that determination had once felt like a privilege, now he realized the price he paid for it was being lonely.
It didn’t sit well, and he took out his phone to start texting. Suddenly the last thing he wanted in his life was more time by himself.
* * *
“Why are we out here on the most crowded day of the year?” Liam Donovan growled as he slowed to steer his MasterCraft speedboat around another group of smaller boats on Hidden Canyon Reservoir over the holiday weekend.
Noah pulled the brim of his ball cap lower on his head as he scanned the boats dotted around the water.
“Because Noah is stalking Katie,” Liam’s wife, Natalie, answered with a grin.
Noah shot her a glare.
“And Noah taught me to wakeboard.” Natalie’s nine-year-old son, Austin, munched on a piece of red licorice, practically bouncing up and down on the seat next to Noah.
“You did great, kid.” Noah ruffled the boy’s dark hair.
“I could have taught you to wakeboard,” Liam said, turning to look at his stepson.
Austin shrugged. “He’s better than you.”
“Ouch,” Liam muttered.
Natalie reached over and rubbed his shoulders. “You have many other skills, dear husband.”
Noah’s gaze flicked to his friends. Natalie and Liam had been a couple in high school then spent close to ten years hating each other. When Liam had returned to Crimson at the end of last year, he’d been the consummate example of the phrase “money can’t buy happiness.” Liam was a hugely successful entrepreneur and had recently headquartered his newest company in Crimson. But reuniting with Natalie had made the biggest change in him. Liam finally realized there was more to life than business. Noah had to admit he envied his friend. To rediscover that kind of love was a gift, he now realized.
“There she is.” Noah stood, pressing his palms to the edge of the boat. She wore a two-piece bathing suit, which practically killed him, and her thick hair was tied back in a ponytail. The sight of her did strange things inside Noah’s chest, so he tried to focus on what he could control. “They’ve got a whole group on that boat. Might be too many. Not sure if it’s legal.”
“Want me to call them in?” Liam asked with a laugh. “Or do you remember how many guys we used to pile on my boat in high school?”
Noah snorted. “We were lucky we didn’t sink that thing.” He gestured toward the red-and-silver powerboat floating near the far end of the reservoir. It was at least twenty-six feet, the bright colors and sleek lines making it look as if it belonged in Southern California instead of a mountain lake high in the Rockies. “How close can you get without them spotting us?”
Natalie looked at Austin. “Don’t listen to either of them. You will never do the stupid things these guys did.” She pointed two fingers at her eyes then turned them toward Noah. “I’m not sure I like what’s going on here. Why are we spying on Katie? She’s on a date.”
“You know how she feels about water. I want to make sure she’s comfortable.”
“You’re not looking to sabotage her?” Natalie narrowed her eyes. He didn’t blame Natalie for doubting him. But even if he and Katie were only friends, Noah wanted to be the best damn friend he could.
“No one deserves happiness more than Katie,” he answered, sinking back into his seat as Liam inched closer to the cliffs where Matt’
s boat was anchored. “I want to make sure she gets it.”
“With Matt?” Natalie asked. “Because she likes Matt, Noah. It could turn into something more if given the chance.”
“Nat, enough with the third degree,” Liam said gently.
Noah rubbed the back of his neck, where a dull ache had been bothering him since the morning.
Austin handed him a long band of licorice. “You need this more than me.”
“Thanks.” He took the licorice and bit off one end, meeting Natalie’s wary gaze. “I’m not going to mess it up for her. Promise.”
“Okay,” she said after a moment. “But that still doesn’t explain why we’re here.”
Noah didn’t understand it himself. A part of him hoped that Katie would see them on the water and realize she belonged with him instead. He squinted as they got closer, trying to identify the people on Matt’s boat. He could see the woman who worked with Katie at the bakery—Lelia, he’d heard her called. There were three other guys with them, all lean and rangy, friends of Matt’s, he assumed.
The truth was he liked the feeling he’d had when he and Katie spent their day on the reservoir. He wanted to be the one to help her if she got scared, to bolster her confidence and make her see she was more than she believed. Now she laughed at something Matt said, throwing back her head and exposing her delicate throat as that long tumble of dark hair cascaded over her shoulders. Noah felt his pulse leap at the sight and wanted nothing more than to lay Matt Davis out on the ground.
“We should go,” he said suddenly. “Nat, you’re right. It’s stupid that I’m spying on her this way. Katie can take care of herself.”
“No way,” Austin whined. “Liam, you promised we could go cliff jumping.”
“You promised what?” Natalie choked out.
Out of the corner of his eye, Noah saw someone throw an oversize rubber inner tube into the water off the back of Matt’s boat. Ignoring Liam and Natalie, he turned his full attention across the water. Katie was fastening a life vest across her chest as Matt adjusted one on Lelia’s tiny frame.
Katie smiled at something one of the other guys said, but her hands were balled tight at her sides. “You don’t have to prove anything to them,” he whispered, willing his words to carry to her.
Instead, she and Lelia climbed onto the colorful tube, stomachs down, and Matt pushed them out behind the boat. Noah glanced at the sky—perfectly blue and the air was almost still. The temperature was forecast to hit over ninety today, so conditions were perfect for tubing. Hell, he’d had a great time in the water an hour earlier helping Austin learn how to balance on the wakeboard.
He knew Katie was more confident now, but he hadn’t expected her to volunteer for something like this. He hoped Matt took it easy on the two women. Depending on the boat’s driver, tubing could be fun or it could be a crazy ride.
As Matt’s boat sped off toward the open middle of the reservoir, Natalie came to stand next to him. “Is Katie tubing?” she asked incredulously.
“Yeah.”
“You took her swimming last week, right?”
He gave a brief nod, cursing under his breath as the tube disappeared around a bend in the lake.
“She’s not afraid anymore?”
“She’s good,” he said, more for his own benefit than Natalie’s. “She can handle this.”
His stomach lurched as the boat came back into view. “If that idiot will slow the hell down. He’s going way too fast.”
“Can we go to the cliffs now?” Austin asked.
“In a minute,” Natalie said automatically. Noah heard her breath catch as the inner tube hit another boat’s wake and popped into the air a few feet. Both women held on and Matt headed toward the center of the reservoir then spun the boat in a wide arc. The tube skidded across the water, bumping through the waves as slack filled the line before it jerked tight again.
“They’re heading for us,” Natalie murmured.
Noah shook his head and glanced past the front of Liam’s boat. “He’s taking them to the edge of the reservoir.” The concrete dam front loomed on the other side of the cliff face. It was where the water from the mouth of the Hidden Creek River flowed into the dam. A rope and buoys floated fifty yards in front of the dam, alerting boaters and swimmers that the area was off-limits. It made that stretch of water almost empty compared to the popularity of the rest of the lake on a weekend holiday.
“Liam, head toward the dam.” As his friend hit the throttle, both he and Natalie dropped into seats.
Austin leaned forward around Noah. “Is that Miss Katie?” he asked, pointing at the inner tube skimming through the water.
Natalie’s smile looked forced as she turned to her son. “Sure is, bud. She’s quite the daredevil, isn’t she?”
Noah glanced at the boy and saw his eyes widen. “That’s way faster than you went on the wakeboard, Noah.”
“That’s faster than anyone should be driving with the reservoir so crowded.” As if his words were an omen, a small Jet Ski took a sharp turn then stalled out, stopping directly in the path of Matt’s boat. Noah cursed as the boat swerved one way then the other. He could see the men in back laughing and pumping their fists as if egging on Matt’s reckless driving. The tube hit the boat’s wake and ricocheted into the air before slamming back down. It immediately flew up again and this time one of the women came off, bouncing across the water like a skipped stone. Lelia hit the water and popped back up thanks to her life vest, brushing her hair out of her face.
Noah’s vision turned red as he saw Matt bump knuckles with one of his friends on the boat. But he didn’t slow down, instead making another wide turn then a sharper one, sending the tube airborne and Katie soaring through the air along with it.
“Katie,” Natalie yelled. “Liam, get to her now.”
But unlike Lelia, Katie didn’t pop up out of the water. Instead, her life vest immediately surfaced. Empty.
“Where is she?” Natalie screamed.
“Stop,” Noah yelled and stripped off his shirt, diving in toward the place where the yellow life vest bobbed empty in the water.
Chapter Thirteen
For a few moments, Katie didn’t register anything but the sensation of flying through the air. Then she hit the water with a force that tore the air from her lungs. Her arms already burned from holding on to the handles of the inner tube, so she pumped her legs, finally surfacing with a choked breath.
When she began to sink again, she patted her chest and realized with a start that the life vest had ripped off when she landed. Panic seized her as a wave splashed over her head. She focused on treading water, squinting against the sun’s reflection on the lake. Surely Matt would be coming for her any second, but it was hard to see anything beyond the waves from various boat wakes swelling around her. Her heart squeezed and she struggled to rein in her hysteria. A flash of yellow caught her gaze as the water receded for a moment.
Her life vest.
Make it to the life vest.
Her arms felt like lead weights as she lifted one then the other out of the water. You can do this, she told herself, but the voice in her head sounded like Noah’s. Coaxing her, calming her and making her believe she could overcome the fear that had been a part of her for so long. She could almost hear his voice calling to her.
Then he was in front of her, appearing over the crest of a wave, her life jacket in his hand. “Grab on,” he said and she reached for it. Reached for him.
His arms went around her waist. “I’ve got you, sweetheart,” he said against her hair, his voice thick with emotion. “Damn, you scared me.”
She opened her mouth, but no sound came out. Fear and panic still lapped at the corners of her mind, just like the water rising and falling around her.
“Focus on me,” he said and she did. O
n his blue eyes, even brighter against his sun-kissed skin, on the scruff on his jaw. His thumb brushed across her cheek, the slight pressure making her wince. “You already have a bruise forming. Just a minute more and Liam will have the boat here.”
“What are you—” Water splashed into her face and she coughed again.
“Katie, are you okay?” She looked up as she heard Natalie yelling to her.
Her brain wouldn’t register why her friend was peering down at her from the side of a shiny blue-and-silver speedboat.
“Where’s Lelia?”
“She’s fine.”
“What about Matt and the boat?”
She felt Noah stiffen, his lips thinning into a tight line. “Let’s get you to safety. Then we’ll deal with Matt Davis.”
“My arms...” she whispered. “I don’t think I can pull myself out of the water.”
“I’ll help you.” He swam them toward the back of the boat, where Liam had slung a plastic ladder next to the engine.
“Pull her up,” Noah commanded, positioning Katie in front of the ladder. “Step up as he lifts you, Bug,” he whispered in her ear.
Gritting her teeth against the pain, she took hold of the metal railing. With his hands on her hips, Noah held her out of the water while Liam gripped under her arms and hauled her onto the boat. She stumbled and Natalie grabbed her around the waist, helping her to one of the seats near the front of the boat as she wrapped a towel around Katie’s shoulders.
“Are you okay?” Natalie repeated her earlier question.
Embarrassment washed over her. After all her preparation, she’d needed to be rescued from the water yet again. “I’m fine,” she mumbled, but they all knew it was a lie.
Apparently Austin believed her because a wide grin broke across his face. “That was so cool, Miss Katie. You must have caught six feet of air.” He stood on tiptoes and reached his hand above him to indicate how high the inner tube had flown. “Then you slammed down on the water.”
She could return his smile now that she was safely on the boat. So many parts of her body ached, but the reality was she’d made it.
A Baby and a Betrothal Page 13