by K Carothers
After a few seconds he came up and turned toward them, brushing the wet hair out of his face while he tread water. “Come on in, ladies! The water’s perfect.”
Erin and Jenna looked at each other doubtfully.
“I don’t think this was such a good idea,” Erin said.
Jenna laughed half-heartedly. “I guess that means I get to go in next.”
Erin hugged her arms to her chest over the yellow swim robe she wore. “This was all your idea to begin with,” she said, attempting a smile that ended in another grimace.
“All right, I’ll do it.” Jenna tossed her cane aside and hesitantly stepped into the water in the full-length black wetsuit she had on to keep out the chill of the water.
Erin had insisted she wear it, and a genuine smile crossed her face at the thought of their road trip down to Madison earlier in the day to buy it. She’d also gotten a swimsuit for herself, and the things she’d wanted for the bathroom—and a lamp for her bedroom, of course. The trip had been filled with lots of laughter, and she’d been reminded of all the other fun times they’d had there as teenagers, once they’d been old enough to drive. She was coming to realize that she had a lot of good memories of this place, memories she’d allowed to be overshadowed by the bad.
Jenna waded a little deeper into the pond, then rolled onto her back. “Oh, Erin, this is actually really nice,” she said after a moment, closing her eyes in pleasure as she floated on the surface of the water.
Luke swam back in. “Your turn, Erin.”
He came out of the water and Erin got an eyeful of his chest and abdomen this time. He had a light dusting of dark hair that tapered down over the sculptured muscles of his abdomen to the waistband of his swim trunks. Rivulets of water followed the same path as her eyes, and she watched them in helpless fascination as he walked toward her.
“Are you ready?” he asked, coming to a stop in front of her.
Erin glanced at the water and all thoughts of his washboard abs fled. “I don’t know about this, Luke.”
He reached out, gently easing her arms down to her sides, and tugged her robe tie loose. “You promised,” he said with a roguish smile.
Erin looked up at him, and their gazes locked as he pulled the robe open and slowly slid it over her shoulders, letting it fall in a silent heap around her feet. She felt the electricity pass between them again, more powerful than ever, and it shocked her senses.
Luke couldn’t resist the urge to let his eyes drop lower once he had her disrobed. She wore a one-piece swimsuit in a bright floral design, and the V-shaped neckline reached the hollow between her breasts, the cloth clinging to her curves and leaving nothing—and yet everything—to his imagination…He mentally shook himself before he lost control of his rapidly heating body and gathered her hands in his. “Come on,” he said, stepping back toward the pond.
Erin’s heart fluttered in her chest, and she wasn’t sure if it was because she was about to go into the water, or because of the way he’d just run his eyes over her, leaving her feeling thoroughly discombobulated. In either case, her legs were wobbly as she followed him to the edge of the pond.
She hesitated there, and Luke lightly tugged on her arms with an encouraging smile. “Come on,” he repeated. “You can do it.”
“I feel like a baby learning to walk,” she said, nervously eyeing the water. Then she took her first step in.
“Believe me, you look nothing like a baby.”
Erin met his eyes again, and the heat she saw in them almost made her forget about the water at all. He started pulling her farther into the pond, holding her captive in the depths of his magnetic blue gaze, and she couldn’t help but follow.
As they went in deeper, though, the sensation of her lower body being swallowed by the water finally registered in her brain. Fear began to surface again, and a jumble of emotions was soon warring inside her. Fear finally won over when her legs were completely submerged, and she resisted his pull.
Jenna swam back in and stood up next to her. “Work on your breathing, Erin,” she instructed. “Remember, you’re in control in the water. Clear your mind. Let go of the fear. Breathe in, and breathe out.”
Erin nodded, taking slow, deep breaths, and Luke gently guided her forward. But she made it only a few steps farther.
“Keep going, Erin,” he urged. “Just a little more.”
“I don’t know…” She looked at the water around her and felt her heart beat faster—and faster, and faster…Things started to become surreal. Everything looked distorted, out of proportion. The water seemed to go on forever, getting darker and deeper by the second. Her chest tightened painfully, and she lost control of her breathing. Jenna was talking to her, she knew, but she couldn’t understand anymore. Her heart was pounding in her ears now. “I can’t…breathe,” she managed to get out. She couldn’t think, she couldn’t move. She was drowning. She was going to die…
“Luke, get her out of the water,” Jenna said anxiously.
Luke lifted Erin’s shaking body up against his, and she wrapped her arms and legs around him, burying her face in the nape of his neck. But he didn’t take her out of the water. He knew if they gave up now she would probably never go back in. “It’s okay,” he murmured soothingly, lifting one hand to shelter her head. “Just breathe against me.”
Erin clung to him. Somewhere in the back of her mind she knew she was going to be embarrassed later, but right now she didn’t care. She needed the support of his solid body more than anything else in that moment, more than she’d allowed herself to need anything—anyone—in a very long time.
She kept her face buried in his neck, and the trembling in her body gradually subsided, along with the pounding in her ears. She was able to get her breathing back under control, and her racing heart slowed down. “I told you this would be a melodrama,” she finally whispered against him.
Luke brushed his hand tenderly over her hair. “We just did a little too much too quickly, that’s all.”
Jenna touched her arm. “Are you okay?”
Erin turned her head, keeping her cheek nestled against Luke. “Yes. Sorry, Jen. I’m such a baby.”
“I’m the one who needs to apologize,” Jenna said. “I shouldn’t have made you do this.”
“No, you were right. I needed to do it.”
Erin leaned her forehead on Luke’s shoulder for a moment, then finally lifted her head to meet his gaze. And as she looked into his concerned blue eyes all the rest of her fear melted away. Something else took its place, something deep and powerful that filled her heart and reached down into her soul. She felt her chest tighten in an entirely different way than it had a few minutes ago. “Thank you,” she whispered.
Luke affectionately tucked several stray blond hairs behind her ear. “It’s my pleasure, Erin.”
She hesitated, then said, “Will you take me in a little farther?”
“Are you sure?”
She smiled ruefully. “Don’t worry. I think you’ve already seen me at my worst.”
Luke shook his head and started wading deeper into the pond. “You’re facing your fear. That’s seeing someone at their best.”
“You sound like Jenna.” Erin tightened her arms around his neck as she felt her legs sink into the water again. Her heart sped up a little, but she kept her eyes steady on his.
“Hey, that better be a compliment,” Jenna facetiously retorted.
“Of course, Jen,” Erin said, though she didn’t dare look at her.
Luke grinned. “I hope I’ve learned a thing or two from Jenna after all the quotes she’s rattled off to me over the years.”
“Do you have a favorite one?” Erin asked, trying to take her mind off what was happening in the water.
Luke stopped, seeing the fear return to her eyes. She was also going to strangle him soon—or send all his blood flowing in a co
mpletely different direction with the way she was pressed so tightly against him. He was glad the water was a little cool, or he’d be in a real predicament. “Hmm, my favorite quote,” he said, making a conscious effort not to think about what she was doing to his body. “I would have to say it’s one from Thoreau—”
“Of course,” Erin said at the same time he did, and they both laughed. She couldn’t believe it. She was partially submerged in a pond and was actually laughing.
“Okay, I’ll admit that I’m in love with Henry David Thoreau,” Jenna said in amusement. “But he was such a great writer and philosopher. And so much of what he wrote applies today more than ever.”
“And he went to Harvard,” Erin added. She risked looking over at her friend, and was relieved that she felt fine as long as she didn’t look directly at the water. “You were probably hoping his ghost would join us when I took you on a tour.”
“Who knows? Maybe he was there,” Jenna said with one of her whimsical, somewhat mysterious smiles.
Erin chuckled in response and turned back to Luke. “So what is your favorite Thoreau quote?”
A look of embarrassment briefly crossed Luke’s face. “I can’t believe I’m admitting this, but I’d have to say it’s ‘There is no remedy for love but to love more.’ At least a man came up with it.” He gave her a lopsided grin. “Don’t ever repeat that to the guys at the station, though. I’d lose my man badge.”
Erin softly smiled. “Jenna never told me that one. I like it.” Her gaze dropped to his full mouth, and then to that enticing cleft in his chin. She imagined running her finger over it…
“What’s your favorite quote?” he asked.
Erin blinked out of her reverie and looked up into his eyes again. “Oh, I don’t know. I’ve never been good at repeating Jenna’s quotes. I always mess them up. Like one day I was working in the ER and this little black girl came in with a cut on her arm. She hadn’t really looked at it until I took the bandages off, and when she saw the wound for the first time she just stared at it in shock. I told her it wasn’t that deep, that I could close it with skin glue and wouldn’t have to poke her with a needle. But she said she wasn’t afraid of the needle. She just always thought she was black inside, too.”
“Now we’re even,” Jenna said. “You never told me that one before, either. I always get to hear the ER stories that involve a lot of blood and guts.” She grinned at Luke. “You should take her out to eat if you really want to hear some of those. That’s when they always seem to come up. Don’t order anything expensive off the menu, though, because your food might come up, too.”
“I think you’re exaggerating there a little, Jen,” Erin said. “But the point of the story is that I tried to repeat your quote about everyone being the same inside, like bubble gum lollipops. But I bungled it, of course.”
“‘Humankind is like a big box of bubble gum lollipops, with all the flavors on the outside, but inside all the same.’”
“Yes, that’s the one. But I ended up just saying everyone looks the same inside. I did add that she should never start smoking, because then her lungs would turn black inside.”
Jenna chuckled. “I can see you saying that.”
“Based on how wide her eyes got, I think I convinced at least one child never to smoke.”
Luke could feel Erin’s body relax against him as she talked, and he slowly waded deeper into the pond. “So tell me another interesting ER story,” he said. “And I don’t mind the ones with blood and guts, by the way. I’m sure I’ve heard them all at the dinner table already—and my food never came up once.”
“That’s enough for me,” Jenna said. “I’m going to swim a little—preferably out of hearing range.” She looked appreciatively at Luke. “Your methods seem to be working better anyway.” Then she squeezed Erin’s arm. “Are you sure you’re all right?”
Erin nodded, and her lips curved up into a slow grin. “Maybe I’ll tell him about the case of the missing donut. Or the stuck plunger. We’ll see if he really has heard it all.”
“Oh, good Lord,” Jenna groaned. “I am so out of here.” And with a laugh she swam away.
“A missing donut? It sounds like a cop’s worst nightmare,” Luke said, coming to a stop in the water. He had Erin in up to her chest now, and her body was still relaxed against him.
“It happened a few years ago. A 500-pound woman was brought in by ambulance. She was having abdominal pain, and when I examined her belly there were all kinds of things stuck in between the folds of fat. Under one layer I found her missing inhaler and some money. But otherwise it was all food. It turned out she would hide snacks in there from her mother because she was supposed to be on a diet. I found mostly gummy bears and melted chocolate. Then I lifted another fold of fat and found the donut—or at least what was left of it. It had obviously been there awhile, and caused the skin under it to break down and get infected. She had a massive abscess that extended deep into her belly. That’s why she was having the pain. When I first exposed the area the smell was horrendous. The nurse who was in the room with me turned green and had to leave. I think she deposited her lunch in the bathroom.”
“Wow. A donut actually ate its way into someone’s belly,” Luke said with a grimace.
“Hey, you stole one of my punch lines,” Erin jokingly chided.
“One of them?”
“Yes. And it left a donut hole.”
Luke shook his head with a laugh.
“I told the surgeon on call he had a real treat in store for him,” she added, tongue-in-cheek.
He let out another laugh. “You have a wicked sense of humor, Erin. I had no idea.”
“You need to have a strange sense of humor to work in the ER. Otherwise you’ll get eaten alive—by more than donuts.”
“I’m going to have to tell my dad that one. He’ll eat it up.” Luke grinned, prompting her to laugh. And then he conceded, “But you’re right, I haven’t heard it all until now.”
“You’ll never hear it all, really. People always manage to find new and interesting ways to end up in the ER.”
“You mentioned a plunger before. I gather someone found an interesting use for one?”
“Yes, that’s one way to put it. A guy was trying to convince his wife to have anal sex. She wasn’t going for it, so he grabbed the toilet plunger from the bathroom and used the handle to demonstrate on himself. He was standing while he did it, but then stumbled back and fell right onto the plunger.”
“Oh Jeez, Erin!” Luke groaned.
“Anytime someone has a penetrating injury like that the object should be left in place until the person is brought to the hospital—usually to the OR—because there could be serious bleeding when it’s removed. So in this case the paramedics put the guy on a stretcher on his belly and brought him in with the plunger sticking out of his backside. Everyone had a punch line for that one, believe me. But when I told the trauma surgeon what he had stuck up there, his response was, ‘A plunger is supposed to unclog your plumbing, not plug it up.’ I really liked that one.”
Luke chuckled. “See, you’re good at repeating some quotes.”
Erin’s lips quirked up into a wry smile. “I guess so.”
“I don’t think that guy did a very good job of convincing his wife to have anal sex, though.”
“No, she probably decided it wasn’t up her alley.”
Both their faces split into grins. And for a long moment afterward neither of them said anything else, lost in each other’s eyes. Luke traced the fine curve of her cheekbone with his thumb, then slowly ran his fingers along the side of her face to her neck. “Are you still feeling okay?” he finally asked.
“Yes,” Erin answered a little breathlessly. She was feeling more than okay. Now that she was getting used to the water, and he was looking at her like that, touching her like that, other sensations were beginning to
register in her brain. Like the way his hand gripped her bottom on one side as he held her cradled against him. And how his hard body rubbed so intimately between her thighs. Her breasts tingled where they touched his chest, and she wanted to push even closer. She felt a heat flow from him and seep through her, filling her down to her core. An aching need blossomed there, a yearning she’d never felt before.
She wanted him.
It hit her like a bolt from the blue sky above. She wanted him. She was stuck in the middle of a pond, submerged in water she’d been terrified of half an hour ago, unable to swim. And now she truly desired a man for the first time in her life.
She dropped her forehead back down against his shoulder and softly groaned at the irony of the situation.
“What’s wrong, Erin?” Luke nuzzled his face in her hair, then brushed a light kiss on her ear.
The touch of his lips on the sensitive skin of her ear sent waves of sweet sensation running rampant through Erin’s body. He was overwhelming her senses. Her heart raced. She couldn’t think.
“Do you want to get out?” Luke asked.
Erin shook her head. She was drowning in him now, but she didn’t want to get out of the water, not after the progress she’d made. She needed to work out what was happening between them later, when logic and reason hopefully returned. But right now she was going to have to choose the water.
“I—I think I’d like to try floating,” she told him, lifting her head from his shoulder. But she didn’t dare look directly into his eyes again.
“Okay. Just remember, I’m right here with you.” Luke eased her up to float on the surface of the water, splaying his hands underneath her for support.
A pair of geese flew over the pond, and Erin watched them, willing herself to relax. It was cooler now that she didn’t have Luke’s warmth against her. She closed her eyes as the sun started to warm her instead, and she felt the tension gradually ease from her body. “This isn’t so bad,” she said after a while, daring to move her arms a little, skimming them lightly through the water…
She remembered then, the last time she’d gone swimming. She saw it all vividly in her mind. It was the day her mother died.