She stretched her arms up in the toasty sunshine, taking a moment to be thankful for the warmth when everyone else she knew was probably wearing three layers of wool in Chicago, despite the fact it was April. Chicagoans wouldn’t get to shed their layers until late May. She exhaled, glad not to be in the miserable cold. She wondered if Jason and his new bondage girlfriend were freezing somewhere, being battered by late-season snow. She hoped so. That old familiar anger flared up in her chest again, burning like too much hot sauce down her throat.
Out in the distance, she saw an orange kayak bobbing in the ocean. She remembered Dallas carried a similar one in his pickup, and wondered for a fleeting second if that were him. The figure was too far away to see, and Allie dismissed the thought.
She dropped her sunglasses on top of her clothes, tucked her phone and keys into the pocket of her dress and headed to the water. The Pacific Ocean felt surprising cold on her toes. As she waded in, though, her body got used to the water, and it felt good against her skin. She glanced at her tanned arms, thinking, I’m already looking as if I belong here. She sucked in a breath as the cool water hit her bare midriff, as she waded in chest deep. The rocky and sandy bottom felt odd against the soles of her feet, and as she looked down, she saw tiny silver pencil-like fish darting around her. Allie fanned out her hand in the water and a small blue fish skipped over her palm.
Sunlight glinted on the water’s surface, making it sparkle. Truly beautiful, she thought.
About twenty feet away, waves crashed on a shallow coral reef near the shore, throwing up white sea foam as wave after wave pummeled the small shallows. Sharp lava rocks jutted up from the water, and the wave rose precariously high. Stay away from there, she thought as she moved in the opposite direction, taking a deep plunge into the ocean and swimming, freestyle, across the waves. She swam for a few minutes, and then a big wave dipped her, and she popped her head up, surprised to see she’d not made it very far from the reef. In fact, she seemed to be closer to it.
She swam harder, but the current worked against her, moving her to the rocky inlet, where waves crashed dangerously into the rock and coral. Allie pushed her arms into the water, kicking her feet furiously, but it was as if she was swimming in place. She wasn’t used to swimming this long, and her muscles ached. Tingling panic tickled the back of her neck as she found herself floating toward the big surf-size waves that had suddenly blown in from the ocean. The wind picked up, sending bigger waves in her direction, and she felt as if she was swimming against a tidal wave, steadily losing ground. Her legs burned; her muscles ached. A five-foot wave splashed over her head, dunking her beneath the water. The next wave was worse: it came so hard and fast, it sent her barreling head over heels.
The next wave hit her so hard, she didn’t know which way was up; her world was a mess of sea foam and air bubbles. She only barely managed a breath before the next one hit, bouncing her into a submerged lava rock, scraping her leg. She hardly registered the pain as she doggedly swam to the surface, spitting out salty ocean brine and gasping for air. Trapped between the rocky shallows and the growing waves, she saw no escape.
“Help!” she gurgled to the sky, wondering who could even reach her. The kids on the boogie boards? No one would even be able to hear her over the roar of the ocean. She fought furiously, but got pummeled by wave after wave, some sending her under, one knocking her back hard into a rock, nearly blasting the breath out of her. No matter how hard she fought, the waves kept coming.
A big wave smashed her backward, pushing her below the surface, and kept her there. She frantically tried to swim, but the current held her down, pushed her sideways and slapped her head into another rock. She saw stars, her vision clouded until she couldn’t see which way was up anymore.
This is it, she thought. I’m going to drown.
Her lungs were on fire. Salt water burned her eyes. Everything felt futile. Fighting the current. Swimming and getting nowhere.
Was this what her dad had felt like in his last moments?
She remembered the water pouring into the car. She’d been frantic but had moved on instinct. The car had been flipped over, and she was hanging upside down, but it had been easy enough to wiggle out of her seat belt. Her father had always told her she was his little escape artist, always getting out of locked bathrooms or jungle gyms or car seats. She had just done what came naturally. She’d gone for the open broken window, half swimming out, since the car had been filling up fast with the fresh stream water. They’d crashed into a small pond, fed by a beautiful waterfall. She’d made it to shore, as the water wasn’t that deep. She’d dropped Max on the way, and had gone back for her stuffed animal, bobbing in the murky water, near the car door. She’d grabbed him and clung to him.
She’d gone back for her stuffed animal. But she’d left her dad there. She’d thought he’d be out any minute, thought he’d come barreling out, angry with her about taking off her seat belt, for causing this whole thing.
She’d waited there, not doing anything, for her dad to get out of the car. But he hadn’t. He’d never gotten out.
Now her lungs burned, and there’d be no stopping them from trying to take air from the water. She was out of time. Allie made one last futile kick to the surface. That was all she had left in her, one last kick. That was when two strong hands gripped her by the arms and yanked her upward. She burst through the surface of the water, hacking, sucking in air, dizzy and light-headed.
“Are you trying to kill yourself?” Dallas’s angry blue eyes met hers, his wet blond hair plastered to his forehead. With one arm he clutched the orange kayak she’d seen. The other held on to her shoulder.
“I...” she muttered, still dazed, her head pounding mercilessly as the stars drifted back into her vision. She felt as though, any second, she would slip back beneath the waves.
“Whoa. Hang on. I got you.” Dallas managed somehow to get her mostly into the kayak. It was a two-person boat, and he pulled himself up into the other seat.
Dallas angled the kayak so he paddled expertly across the current, not against it, putting distance between them and the dangerous reef. His tanned muscles worked quickly and efficiently, and soon they were in water shallow enough to stand. Allie slid over the side of the boat and tried walking, but her knees buckled.
“Oh,” she cried, flailing her arms. Dallas grabbed her securely, putting his arm around her waist.
“Lean on me,” he ordered as he maneuvered them both to the beach. Dully, she realized the kids she’d seen playing were standing and staring. Dallas dragged his kayak up onto the warm sand. Then he scooped weak-kneed Allie up in his muscled arms easily and carried her over to the beach near her crumpled dress. He set her gently in the sand.
“You okay?” Dallas asked, blinking, his piercing blue eyes missing nothing as he assessed her forehead and the cut on her leg.
Allie’s head throbbed, and she pressed her hand only to feel a small trickle of blood there.
“I think so,” Allie said. The dizziness had gone. She blinked, still not believing she was on land again. “I hit my head.”
Dallas immediately turned his attention to her forehead, where he gently probed her hairline. “Doesn’t look like a serious cut.” He took his T-shirt and pressed it gently to her forehead, dabbing a little. Just a little blood stained his sleeve.
“Your shirt,” she murmured, mustering up what little protest she could manage.
“Forget it.”
“My phone...my...” Allie reached for her folded sundress. She grabbed it, thankful to feel the bulge of her phone and keys in her pocket.
Dallas eyed her injured leg. “That cut looks bad, but probably won’t need stitches. We should get it cleaned up and bandaged, though. You sure your head feels all right?”
The intensity of his stare took her off guard. His eyes were so starkly blue, like cornflowers, she thought. Or the blue sky above their heads. She could see why he broke so many hearts in town. I must’ve hit my head harder th
an I thought if I’m mooning over Dallas McCormick.
“I’ve got a first-aid kit in my truck. You okay to walk there?”
“I think I can.” Allie pulled herself up on her feet, but her legs felt like strung-out Play-Doh. She didn’t know how long she’d been fighting that surf, but her muscles were spent.
“You look like a newborn colt, for goodness’ sake.” Dallas shook his head in disapproval. “That won’t do on my watch.” He swept her off her feet—literally. Still holding on to her sundress, she had nothing to do but lean into his chest. He didn’t even break a sweat as he easily carried her across the sand to the parking lot. She wrapped her arms tightly around his neck, very much aware that he wore no shirt, and she was clad only in a flimsy bikini. His tanned chest muscles were hard and powerful against her as he walked, transporting her as if she weighed nothing. She felt keenly aware of a warm sensation spreading in her belly, and had half a mind to blame it on her near concussion.
He gently sat her on the tailgate of his truck. Resting there, she realized the flash of bright orange kayak in the water before she went for a swim must’ve been him. He whipped out a first-aid kit and tended to her wounds expertly, as if rescuing swimmers was something he did in his free time.
“You’re good at that.” She watched him clean and dress her wound, covering it with padding and tape.
He shrugged. “I’ve had my share of scrapes, darlin’.” The Texas drawl rolled off his tongue, sticky and sweet like honey. “You want to tell me what you were doing trying to swim Tragic Slams?”
“Tragic... Wha—?” The bump on her head must’ve been worse than she thought. She had no idea what he was talking about.
“Tragic Slams.” Dallas focused on her head, padding the small cut with some antibiotic ointment. “It’s what people call Magic Sands Beach around here. You know how many people drown out there every year? Not to mention the hundreds of tourists who break bones on that reef.” He gently placed a small Band-Aid on her forehead, and then went about inspecting the rest of her for cuts.
“I didn’t know.”
“But you saw the sign, though.” Dallas waved his arm at the big warning sign she’d passed on her way in.
“Yeah, but the kids were swimming... I just thought...”
Dallas’s stormy face, coupled with the fact that she felt stupid for nearly drowning and that she just couldn’t get anything right, well, it was all too much. A sob escaped her throat, and she burst into tears.
Dallas momentarily froze. Then he grabbed a towel from his truck, holding it up to her face. “Hey...it’s okay. You’re fine. It’s all okay.”
The kindness in his voice only made her feel like crying harder, so she did. She buried her face in the brightly colored striped towel and wished the ground would swallow her whole. Not only had she made a fool of herself once, but now she was crying about it. She’d never be able to look Dallas in the eye again, she was pretty sure. He’d saved her life, and she repaid his good deed by turning into a quivering mess. She wondered if she’d ever be able to stop crying.
Then Dallas did something even more surprising. He wrapped his arms around her in a big hug, pulling her and the towel against his chest. His arms, so big and strong and warm, enveloped her in a protective ring she almost wanted to fight, but in the end, it felt too good to leave.
“Get it out,” he said softly, as he rubbed the small of her back. “Just get it all out.”
“I—I—I’m such an idiot,” she told his chest.
“Nah,” he said, giving her another squeeze. “Just new to the neighborhood, that’s all.”
She sobbed some more, and he held her even tighter.
“I’m such a mess.” She swiped at her eyes angrily with the towel, wondering where all the tears had come from. She thought she’d cried all she could possibly cry in the past two months.
“Hey, no shame in crying,” he said. “I cry all the time.”
The thought of Dallas, a big, muscle-bound, six-foot-tall cowboy crying made Allie bark a laugh. “You? Cry? When?” Sniffling, she wiped at her wet eyes.
“I got thrown from my horse once, on the family ranch back in Texas, and the mare stepped on me and broke my rib. I cried like a baby. And then, of course, there are all the paper cuts I’ve ever had. Those suckers hurt.” Dallas grinned big. “That’s why I’ll never put in for a desk job. You want to pinch me right now? I’ll probably cry.”
Allie couldn’t help but laugh, and instantly she felt better.
“Thank you,” she said, grateful that he hadn’t made her feel worse, or gloated, or berated her for her mistake. Grateful, too, that he’d saved her life. She pulled away from him, sniffling a little. “Thanks for...everything.”
“Not a problem, ma’am,” he drawled, pretending to tip a hat he didn’t have on. “Misu would haunt me forever if I’d let you drown. And the way that woman liked ukulele music, I know she’d keep me up with it for the rest of my days.”
Allie groaned. She remembered her grandmother’s fondness for the ukulele, and the fact she had it on a loop, playing constantly through her house when she was little. “Bruddah IZ playing, day and night!”
Dallas hummed the Hawaiian singer’s famous rendition of “Over the Rainbow/Wonderful World” on a ukulele, and Allie instantly recognized it.
Dallas wiped a tear from Allie’s cheek, and she froze at the contact, her eyes meeting his. They were stark blue, and had grown serious as he gently caressed her cheek. In that second, everything changed. He was going to kiss her—she knew it. But the most surprising part was that she wanted him to do it.
And then, suddenly and without warning, the truck beneath her shook hard.
“Wha...?” Allie grabbed the sides of the truck, fearful that the emergency brake had come loose, and she was rolling away. But as Dallas grabbed the tailgate for balance, she realized it wasn’t the truck moving at all. It was the earth beneath the tires.
The tremors lasted a full fifteen seconds. Nearby, a big light pole swayed. Some walkers nearby cried out in alarm, and one nearly lost his balance in the sand. Somewhere not too far away, a car alarm went off, and Allie heard the screeching of brakes.
The earth stopped moving, and the two of them glanced around, watching as people dusted themselves off. A car honked at the intersection behind them, and several took off through a green light.
“What was that?” Allie cried. “The volcano?”
“No, not the volcano.”
“What then...?”
Dallas frowned. “Earthquake.”
“They happen here?”
“Not usually.” Dallas looked grim.
Dallas looked out at the crashing waves of the ocean, assessing the rough waves. He ran to get his kayak and expertly lifted it on one shoulder, jogging up the beach and putting it into the bed of his truck. “We’re going to have to move.” Dallas grabbed her by the waist and pulled her down from the truck tailgate. A siren blared then, loud and long. Several passersby stopped walking and listened. The kids on the beach froze, boogie boards in hand, as they stood up in the surf.
Allie covered her ears against the wail. “What’s that?”
“Tsunami alert,” Dallas explained.
“Tsunami? As in giant-tidal-wave-flood-of-destruction tsunami?”
“The same. Earthquake off the coast, I think, means that the big wave is coming. And we don’t have much time to get out of here.”
Dread seized her stomach. She thought of all the news stories she’d heard about them, about how they killed without prejudice. Numbly, Allie watched with growing dread as people began to pack up and leave the beach. The kids ran to the parking lot, and the couple with the oversize beach umbrella quickly began to gather their things.
“We’re going to have to head to high ground.” Dallas guided her to the passenger side of his pickup and helped her in.
“My car?”
“It’s a rental—leave it,” he said. “Mine’s faster.”
&n
bsp; “Are we going to make it?”
“We’re going to try,” Dallas said and slammed his door. “But first, we’ve got to check on Jesse and Kai. They’re on the way.”
CHAPTER NINE
DALLAS DROVE WITH single-minded determination, hitting the small strip shopping center near the beach, screeching to a halt across two parking spaces. He went right to Hula Coffee and strode through the doors. Jesse was standing on a chair telling everyone to get out, get to their cars and get to higher ground. The tourists looked slightly alarmed as they turned and left the shop.
“Where’s Kai?” Dallas asked.
“Surfing. He’s not answering his phone, either. Do you think... Would he hear the sirens?” Concern wrinkled her brow.
“He knows the surf and beach better than anyone,” Dallas said. “He’d know what to do when he heard the sirens. Come on, we have to go now.”
Dallas helped her down off the chair. “We don’t have much time—if any. Where’s Kaimana?”
“She’s visiting my mom. They’re far from the beaches, out of the zone,” Jesse said. “But...Kai...”
“Will kill me if I let anything happen to you, so come on.” Dallas grabbed Jesse’s arm and led her to his pickup. He was surprised when he got there to see Allie standing near Teri and two other stylists from the salon.
“They don’t have cars today,” Allie said. “They biked.”
Dallas nodded to them all. “Okay, in the back. Jesse and Allie, ride in the front. Let’s go, people. We don’t have any time.”
Dallas had a brief thought of Kayla. Her school was on higher ground, so hopefully she’d be fine, but... He glanced at his truck. It was full anyway, of people and his kayak—something he’d need if the flooding got bad. Jennifer has to take care of Kayla now, he thought, even though the fact left a sour taste in the back of his mouth. He would’ve driven through a tsunami to save that little girl. Now he had to force himself not to care.
Her Hawaiian Homecoming (Mills & Boon Superromance) Page 11