I surfaced once, gasped, then the next surge dragged me under. My lungs burned, limbs thrashing against the pull.
A familiar terror stole over me in the spinning blue-an old memory of pain, of surrender.
‘Not again! Not again!’
Then hands gripped me, strong and unyielding-nothing like the cruel hands that had once shoved me under.
I clung to them like life rafts.
I thought I heard Daniel shouting, but everything was muffled, distant. My chest ached.
Darkness crept at the edges of my vision, muted my hearing.
“Sera!” Kieran’s voice was raw with urgency. “Stay with me-Sera, open your eyes!”
I couldn’t.
The world tilted again, and then sand pressed beneath me. Large, warm hands cradled my face, water dripping onto my skin.
“Mom?” Daniel’s voice broke, panicked. I felt his little hand on my arm. “Dad, do something!
She’s not breathing-give her mouth-to-mouth!”
His plea sliced through me, even in the haze.
I wanted to open my eyes, to tell him not to be afraid. But all I could do was drift while
Kieran cursed under his breath.
For one suspended moment, I felt the ghost of his breath near mine, the charged hesitation of his lips hovering just above.
Daniel’s voice trembled again. “Please, Dad! Save her!”
KIERAN’S POVL
The wave closed over Sera, and for a heartbeat, I froze.
One second, she was laughing-her hair whipped back, her hands clumsy but determined on the board-and the next, the ocean swallowed her whole.
“Sera!” My voice tore from my chest, ragged, but the sea didn’t care.
Daniel’s scream was sharper, higher-pitched. “Mom!”
I dove without thinking, cutting into the water like instinct. The salt burned my eyes, but none of it mattered.
I’d always trusted the sea-it was familiar, dependable, steady. But in that moment, it felt like an enemy, dragging Sera down, greedy for her.
When I found her, her hair was streaming like dark ribbons around her face, her eyes closed, her limbs slack. Too still. Too quiet.
The sight carved into me with the precision of a surgical blade.
No. Not Sera. Not like this.
I hauled her up, my arms straining, lungs burning as I dragged her back toward the surface.
I felt her grip dig into my arm, and I would have exhaled in relief if there was any air left in my lungs.
Every second stretched longer than it should have, a cruel delay between the depth and the air.
By the time I hit the shallows, Daniel was already knee-deep, panic etched into his face.”
Dad! Do something!” His voice cracked. “She’s not breathing-give her mouth-to-mouth!”
I lay her flat on the sand, my chest heaving, even as hers stayed still. Her skin was cold, her lips pale.
“Sera, come on. Come back to me.”
My hands shook as I tilted her head back, and I paused as I hovered over her lips, remembering the last time we’d kissed-the taste of her, the way her lips softened under mine.
But this wasn’t a kiss-not really, but my body didn’t care.
Desperation, heat, memory all clashed inside me.
“Please, Dad!” The raw terror in Daniel’s voice snapped me back to reality. “Save her!”
Without giving myself any more time to second-guess, I leaned forward, sealing my lips over Sera’s. I frantically forced air into her lungs, praying she’d take it, praying she’d come back.
Her lips were softer than I remembered. Warmer, even against the chill of the ocean.
‘Focus, damn it!’
After two breaths, I pulled back and my palms pressed hard against her chest, the rhythm instinctive-counting under my breath, thirty compressions, steady and desperate, willing her heart to answer me.
When she didn’t stir, I tilted her head back and pressed my mouth over hers again.
‘Please,’ I begged internally as I breathed into her. ‘I can’t lose you, Sera. Not like this.’
Daniel hovered at my side, his voice trembling. “Is it working? Dad, is it working?”
“Give me a second,” I muttered, my heart hammering so violently I thought it might burst. I pressed my mouth to hers again, pushing harder, fighting the terror clawing at me.
Then-she coughed. The sound was violent, wet, alive, and I’d never heard anything so beautiful in my life.
Water spewed from her lips, splattering against my cheek, and relief hit me so hard I almost collapsed.
Before I could stop myself, I cradled her face in my hands, my thumbs brushing the cold droplets clinging to her skin.
“Sera,” I breathed, my voice sounding scraped raw.
Her lashes fluttered, her gaze hazy and unfocused as she blinked up at me.
For one suspended second, it felt like the world had narrowed to just the two of us-her fragile breaths against my palms, the tremor of life shuddering back into her body, and the unbearable hope surging in my chest.
Her lips parted as if to speak, confusion chasing across her expression, and my chest tightened at the sight.
My name hovered at the edge of her tongue-or maybe it was just wishful thinking. I wanted her to lean on me, to cling to me like she’d done in the water, to need me even for a moment.
But clarity snapped back into her eyes like the crack of a whip. She stiffened beneath me, her hands trembling as she pushed weakly at my chest.
The rejection was small, unsteady-but resolute.
“I’m fine,” she rasped, coughing again, dragging herself upright even as her body swayed.
“Mom!”
“Danny-“
He wrapped his arms around her tightly. “Oh, I was so scared, Mom.”
She reached up, a hand clinging to his arm, laying her head against his as she shivered. “It’s okay, baby,” she whispered hoarsely. “I’m okay.”
“You’re shivering,” he noted, pulling away. “I’ll go get a towel!”
With that, he shot to his feet and ran to the small cabana in the distance. Sera watched him go, and then sighed, turning back to me.
I reached out to her. “Sera, are you-“
She flinched away from my touch, and my hand dropped into my lap, folding into a fist, my gaze lowering.
That’s when I saw it-her wet white shirt was plastered against her skin, practically transparent in the sunlight.
And there it was-the outline of her bra, the delicate pink lace clinging to every curve.
My throat closed, heat flashing low in my body. Damn it. Not now. Not when she’d nearly-
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