by Jill Sanders
“That’s bullshit,” the kid he’d tackled said.
Brett was thankful he was at least holding the towel over his waist.
“Evading an officer, indecent exposure, and public intoxication are additional charges,” he added. “I haven’t even looked up your record yet. There might be more to add to that.” He watched the kid pale even further under his bright red sunburn and knew instantly there would be more charges, maybe even a warrant. “Do you have some shorts for him?” He turned to his friends.
“Here, Robby.” The girl moved forward and held out a pair of swim trunks and flip-flops.
He helped the cuffed guy into the shorts and shoes all while trying to hold the towel up to shield the bystanders from any more nudity.
It was a long walk back to his patrol car and by the time he set the kid in the back seat and gave him a drink of water, he figured he’d deserve the large burger he planned on having for lunch.
Taking a sip of his own bottled water as he drove to the station, he thought about what Lea had said the other day. How much she enjoyed working at the camp.
Whenever he visited the place himself, it felt like a vacation. He was more jealous than he wanted to admit.
How long had his best friend, Aiden, been begging him to work at the resort? Since before it had opened. Still, he liked his job, even if half the time was spent wrangling tourists.
But he had to admit it, given the opportunity, he’d cut back his hours and work both jobs like Lea was currently doing.
He’d felt lucky when he’d heard she’d returned from Harvard. He’d secretly had a crush on her since… well… forever. He’d fallen for her hard the moment he’d seen her walking across the schoolyard, a stack of books in her hands. Then he’d watched Tim and his gang bully her and how she’d held her own verbally against the bullies, and he’d been even more impressed.
She was smart, cute, and pretty back then. Now, as a woman, she was downright sexy and even smarter, something that drove him completely nuts. She didn’t look at him as anything other than a friend, but that was something he was slowly working on changing.
After dropping off and booking the naked guy, who did in fact have a warrant out for his arrest, he headed back out to help with a traffic accident.
By the time he unlocked the door to his apartment, he was completely drained. Working a ten-hour shift wasn’t his choice, but since it allowed him an extra day off a week, he figured he’d suffer through it. Especially since he’d been spending those days off hanging around the resort and Lea.
He’d just lay down when he got a text from Aiden.
-Can you stop by tomorrow? I have a few new cameras and want your opinion on where to put them.
-Sure. Can I get a free breakfast?
-Don’t tell anyone that you’re just coming around for the food. I’ll make sure Isaac whips up something special for you.
-See you at seven then.
-Jesus! Eight will work. Nine would be better, but since I know it’s your day off and you plan on hanging around the camp all day, I’ll see you when I see you.
He wanted to ask if Lea was going to be working tomorrow but figured it would make him sound too desperate. Besides, Aiden was right, it was his day off and he had already planned on packing his swim trunks and enjoying the pools at the resort.
There was no other place he knew where he could spend his time off without feeling like he was packed in like a sardine.
Not that the camp wasn’t busy. But they had three swimming pools, a private beach, and access to the bay, where he could take out kayaks and canoes or even hop on one of the boats to enjoy a sail. They also had a barn full of horses, zip lines, and other fun actives that he could do. He had to admit, it was like visiting Disney World. Each time he went, he tried something new and fun.
The next morning, he showed up at River Camps bright and early. Since he still had an hour to go before Aiden would be in the dining room, he peeled off his shorts and shirt and did a few laps in the larger pool.
He could get used to having access to a pool like this. As his body loosened, his mind cleared. It was wonderful taking in the fresh air, the peace and quiet.
He was taking a turn on what he planned on being his last lap when a splash beside him had him glancing over. He saw the sleek body next to him and smiled as Lea settled into a pace next to him.
Their eyes locked, and he could see the challenge in them. Without thinking, he met her speed as she carved through the water smoothly.
He hadn’t planned on working out so long, but there was no way he was going to let her win. Not after he realized he was having a difficult time keeping up with her.
After another fifteen laps, she kicked into overdrive and the race to the finish line was on. He’d like to tell himself that he had easily won, but the truth was, he’d done over a dozen laps already and his muscles were burning. He pulled up to the wall just as she did.
Breathing heavy, he smiled over at her.
“You should have been here half an hour earlier,” he joked.
She smiled over at him as she pulled off her swimming cap, letting all that jet black hair of hers fall around her face.
“You’re just saying that because I beat you,” she teased.
He laughed. “You did no such thing.”
Her eyebrows shot up. “Oh? We can have a rematch?”
“There you are.” They both turned and looked up at Aiden and Aubrey standing at the edge of the pool.
Aiden was dressed in his standard work jeans and shirt, while Aubrey wore yoga pants and a camp T-shirt.
“Morning,” he said cheerfully.
“Morning. Did you two just race?” Aubrey asked.
“I won,” Lea said.
“Did not.” He narrowed his eyes towards her. She smiled in response and shrugged her shoulders.
“He’s just a sore loser,” Lea replied. Aubrey and Aiden smiled down at them.
“Well, I’ve got to get going to my class,” Aubrey said to Aiden. “See you for lunch?”
“Yeah.” Aiden reached over and pulled Aubrey into his arms and kissed her.
He thought he heard Lea make a sound and tried not to feel a wave of jealousy hit him. After all, he’d known forever that Lea had a thing for Aiden. He had believed that she’d gotten over it years ago, but maybe she hadn’t?
After Aubrey left, he watched Lea duck under the lap ropes and climb up the ladder of the pool. It wasn’t the first time he’d seen her in a swimsuit, but still, he felt his heart skip at the sight. She looked perfect in a black one-piece trainer swimsuit. The back of it had a crisscross pattern and when she turned and wrapped a towel around her, he noticed the front had a zipper that went all the way down to where her navel was.
“Earth to Brett,” Aiden said, getting his attention.
“What?” He turned towards his friend. Aiden laughed.
“Breakfast?” he asked again.
“Oh, sure.” He held the side of the pool deck and pulled himself out of the water quickly. He glanced over and noticed that Lea was watching them. Again, he wasn’t sure if she was looking in the direction of him or Aiden.
He pulled on his shirt and flip-flops and followed Aiden down the pathway to the main dining area.
“We’ll sit outside since you’re still wet,” Aiden said, motioning to his shorts.
“I had planned on being dry, but then Lea challenged me to a race,” he joked.
“I did no such thing,” Lea said from behind them. He hadn’t realized she’d followed them and stopped to let her catch up. She’d pulled on a black swimsuit coverup, which hugged the top part of her body and flowed around her legs.
“Sure, you did.” He chuckled. “Even if it was unspoken,” he added as they walked to the patio dining area.
“Care to join us for breakfast?” Aiden asked her.
“Sure. I was going to meet…” Lea started.
“Lea, over here,” Elle called out.
The
y all glanced over to see Elle, Scarlett, Zoey, Dylan, and Liam sitting at a couple of tables that had been pushed together. Zoey was just shy of nine months pregnant and looking very happily miserable. They pushed another table close to theirs and made room for them all.
Brett held out a chair for Lea and then took a spot next to her while Aiden sat on the other side of the table.
Levi was just coming through the back door and, after spotting them, headed over.
“The gang’s almost all here,” Elle said cheerfully. “Owen’s at work, which means Hannah will be here soon.”
“There she is,” Zoey said, motioning to the pathway.
“Aubrey has her morning class,” Aiden supplied as Dean, one of the waitstaff, delivered cold carafes of cucumber lemon water to each table.
“Is everyone doing the buffet this morning?” Dean asked.
Dean was roughly his age and had lived in Pelican Point since his freshmen year of high school, after his parents’ divorce. Even though he was a flirt with all the women, he was honest and had a kind heart under the macho exterior. Brett liked the guy.
“I’m ordering,” he spoke up after several people chimed in that they would be having the buffet. He was pleased when Lea claimed she was ordering as well.
As most of the people shuffled inside to join the line at the employee’s buffet, he ordered his favorite breakfast after Lea placed her order of an egg-white omelet.
“That’s not a breakfast,” he told her when they were alone.
She arched her eyebrows. “And I suppose sugar-covered carbs is?”
“Hey, the French toast Banana Fosters is a specialty here. You can’t get anything like it unless you head to Hawaii.”
She tilted her head. “When did you go to Hawaii?”
“Senior trip.” He shrugged and poured her some more water. A look crossed her face that had him setting down the carafe. “Problem?” he asked.
“No, it’s…” She shook her head.
“What?” He leaned a little closer and lowered his voice. “You can tell me. We’re friends, right?”
He watched another look cross her face and then it was gone quickly, and she was smiling. “I didn’t get to go on my senior trip.”
“Of course not. You were probably at Harvard dissecting something,” he replied with a smile. “So, Dr. Lea Val, was it worth it?”
Her smile brightened. “Yes, it was.”
“So, you go to Hawaii when you want.” He waved his water glass around. “Once you take over the world, that is.”
She laughed. “Do you know how long you’ve been telling me I was going to do that?”
He thought about it for a moment then shrugged. “Since I saw you berate Nicole Flanagan for holding the scalpel wrong in biology class.”
She stilled, her eyes going to his. “You… remember that?”
He laughed. “Who could forget?” He shook his head, then picked up the knife from the table and held it up like Nicole had. “No, not that way,” he said clearly, mimicking her softer tone. “One simply doesn’t hold a scalpel like a dinner knife. You must hold it as if it were a paint brush.” He switched his hold on the knife and Lea laughed.
“Oh my god, that’s a perfect recreation of Lea in fifth-grade biology,” Aiden said, sitting down with a full plate of food. “Do you remember when Lea schooled Mr. Colins on human anatomy?”
“Oh, are we boasting about how smart Lea is?” Elle said, sitting down beside Lea.
Lea rolled her eyes and then groaned. “Let’s change the subject.”
For the next few moments, while they waited for their food, stories of when they were young were shared around the table. The stories turned away from Lea, which he could tell she was grateful for, and moved to the five friends who called themselves the Wildflowers.
He’d always thought it was a perfect name for the five best friends, even back when Elle had first told him and Aiden about her friends. Not that he’d met any of them until they’d all agreed to reopen the summer camp together. Still, just the way Elle had described them, he knew the nickname had fit perfectly. Now that he knew all of them, he realized just how perfect it was.
They were just finishing up their breakfast when Dean rushed out and called for Lea.
“Someone’s choking,” he barked out.
It was like watching a dancer at the peak of her career. Lea sprang into action, racing from the table and pushing through the crowd of people who had gathered around the woman. She grabbed the woman, who was easily twice Lea’s size, and performed the Heimlich maneuver until the grape she’d swallowed went flying out of her throat and the older woman gulped in a deep breath.
“Sit.” Lea moved the woman into a chair. “Take several deep breaths.” She knelt next to her and grabbed the woman’s wrist as she took her pulse. “How do you feel?”
“You…” The woman blinked a few times. “You saved my life. Thank you.”
Lea smiled just as the woman’s husband pushed through. “Carmen? What… What happened?”
It was hard not to feel pride for Lea as the crowd erupted in cheers and then dispersed.
He wanted to stay longer, but he knew that the woman and her husband might want some privacy. Besides, Lea was trying to convince the woman to come back to her office just to make sure everything was alright.
“Wow, does that happen a lot?” he asked Aiden.
“No.” Aiden shrugged. “No more often than you probably see at any school cafeteria.” He smiled and slapped him on the back. “Which is why we’re trying to convince Lea to stay on full time.”
“You are?” he asked, only realizing too late that he sounded eager.
Aiden chuckled. “Her and you. We could use someone to oversee security just as much as we need a full-time doctor around here. I’ve been far too busy at Hammock Cove to deal with a lot of the issues around the campground.”
Hammock Cove was a housing project that Aiden was in charge of for Owen Costa, the developer and Hannah’s fiancé. It was a large new subdivision not far from the camp. The first phase of the housing project was completed, and Aiden and Owen were starting the second phase. He’d thought of purchasing his own home in the neighborhood, once he could afford it.
Brett glanced around as he followed Aiden down the hallway towards his office. He knew that there was a room with wall-to-wall monitors showcasing all the cameras he’d help Aiden set up over the past couple of years.
There were now more than forty private cabins, which were completely booked more often than not, so the number of guests coming in and out of the camp was growing. Aiden and his team were working on building several more cabins as well as a new frisbee golf course, some pickleball courts, and even a miniature golf course.
By the time they were done, the place was going to have everything anyone would ever want in an adults-only vacation spot.
Brett knew that their security concerns were real. After all, since they’d reopened the doors, they’d had to deal with a crazed employee who had tried to shoot Dylan and had stabbed Hannah, a psycho killer who had kidnapped Hannah, and the hurricane that had ripped through last year when Zoey and Scarlett’s crazy stepmother, Bridgette, and her mother, Martha, had tried to kill Aubrey and Aiden. They would have succeeded if Aubrey wasn’t such a badass and knew self-defense.
After that ordeal, they’d made it a requirement that all employees take her basic self-defense class once a year. They had asked him to come in and help out last time, and he’d gotten to spar with Lea, something he’d never forget. He still dreamed about doing it again.
Chapter 3
Normally, Lea’s days weren’t this busy. A few bug bites, some scrapes, or a minor health issue to deal with. But today had been downright chaotic. It had started with Mrs. Helms choking on the grape and had ended with Mrs. Wilkinson twisting her ankle on the beach during a sunset stroll.
By the time she crawled into bed that night, she was beginning to wonder how they’d ever survived aroun
d the camp without her.
Far too soon after she’d fallen asleep, her phone rang, waking her up. Holding in a groan, she saw the hospital’s emergency number and answered it quickly.
“Dr. Val,” she said, blinking the sleep from her eyes.
“Dr. Val, it’s Karen. I hate to call you in, but I have a patient down here who claims he knows you personally. He won’t let Dr. Rufkin see him.”
“Who?” she asked.
“It’s a police officer. The one—”
“Brett?” Val sat straight up. She felt her heart skip. “What’s wrong?” She thought back to the last time Brett had been injured on the job. Then she remembered that yesterday had been his day off. He shouldn’t have been working.
“Gunshot to the upper thigh,” Karen replied quickly. “His vitals are good. He’s awake and coherent.”
“I’ll be there in ten,” she said, sliding on her scrubs.
“I’ll let him know, but hospital policy says…” Karen started.
“I know, I’ll just assist,” she said quickly, and hung up.
She made it to the hospital in less than ten minutes, making sure to call Aiden and Elle as she drove.
She knew that before Brett was out of surgery, the waiting room would be full of their friends.
“Fill me in,” she said to Karen as she rushed into the ER.
“Dr. Rufkin’s in there with the patient now,” Karen said, looking a little concerned.
Then she heard the shouting and instantly recognized Brett’s raised voice and rushed down the hallway.
“I don’t give a damn. I’m not letting you knock me out until…” Brett stopped when she stepped into the small room.
“What on earth have you done to yourself?” she asked, her temper flaring at seeing his left leg soaked in blood. She’d been right, he wasn’t wearing his uniform. Actually, he was still wearing those damned flowery board shorts he’d been wearing when they’d raced in the water that morning. At least now he had on a T-shirt. His flip-flops were missing though.
“I didn’t do anything,” Brett said in a much calmer tone. Actually, now that she was there, he’d gone from angry and agitated to looking exhausted in a blink of an eye.