Against All Odds

Chapter 46

STELLA

Well, whoever believed that chivalry wasn't dead clearly hadn't met Killian Beckett, who was not above using me as human bait as he shoved past me, pushing me towards the harmless nurse shark below us, and abandoning me in the middle of the ocean.

He swam back towards that sandbar as if the very hounds of hell were chasing after him, as if a megalodon itself was nipping at his ankles.

I had never seen him move that fast.

The furore that churned the water with his escape scared the poor shark off and I caught a glimpse of its thrashing tail as it darted off in the other direction, probably in search of a safe hiding place.

I bobbed in the water, alone, and watched as Killian swam further and further away from me. "It's a harmless nurse shark!" I called after him, probably to no avail. The way he was churning his arms through the water? Yeah, a nuclear bomb could go off and he'd probably miss it. "Ya big baby," I muttered, rolling my eyes.

I debated lingering awhile to see if the shark would brave a return, but decided against it. Snorkelling had been great with Killian and seeing him ease into his enjoyment made me feel strangely giddy. I pushed myself back towards the sandbar, noting that Killian was already there and wading onto the beach. Umar, our friendly guide, had set up a canvas shade where he sat and waited for us to finish our activity for the day, a large cooler filled with water, drinks and stale sandwiches set in the middle.

Luckily, I had caught the encounter with the nurse shark on my small camera before Killian had scared the poor thing off- it would make for great content, something more exciting I could submit to Zahra at the end of the day. I was already churning through the short prose in my mind that I would send with it.

I swam steadily towards the shore where Killian now conversed with Umar under the shade, and when I approached and began to wade into the shallower water, Umar suddenly sprung to his feet and pointed to the left. "Your kayak is escaping," he hollered, gesturing frantically along the shore.

Ready to rebuke Killian on his heroics, I cut my words short when I spied that our kayak was indeed drifting out to sea. The tide had come in, it seemed, during our jaunt in the water, and decided to lap our bright kayak into the languid surf.

I sprang after it, pushing through the water as fast as I was able with my flippers, while I caught sight of Killian running along the shore beside me out of the corner of my eye.

I had to dive into the water and swim after the vessel, but I managed to hook my elbow onto the side and anchor it to me.

Killian, however, remained at the edge of the lapping water.

"Oh for God's sake!" I yelled at him. "Will you get in here and help me? The poor nurse shark is long gone, scared away by your violent escape."

He shook his head, hair still damp, flinging droplets about his shoulders. "Just bring it in, I'll help you when you're closer."

"Oh my God," I muttered. Here Adonis stood before me, muscles gleaming on his chest and arms- a prime form of masculine virility- scared shitless by a placid sea creature. "Nurse sharks are harmless, Killian."

"Why's it called a shark then?"

"Wow, for a guy who works with number analytics on the daily, you really have an irrational fear with this one." He gave me a half-hearted glare for my tone, but I was too busy struggling with the oars and the kayak to mind him much. It was difficult to control the thing in the damn current as it kept angling to the left, but somehow I managed to steer it to the shore while I kicked my legs for all I was worth.