The Billionaire Glitch Date - Elle James Page 0,24
metal bench seat. “What happened?” He let go of her and raised his hand to his head. “Ouch.”
She didn’t let go of him, clinging to his shirt, afraid that if she let go, he’d sink beneath the surface again, and she wouldn’t be able to find him. “The boat tipped over and hit you in the head.” She swallowed hard on a sob. “The fish got away.”
“The fish?” His body shook.
“Dillon?”
“The fish?” he gasped.
“I’m sorry. I don’t know what happened to it when the boat flipped.”
He burst out laughing and coughing. “We nearly drowned, and you’re worried I’d be disappointed about the fish?” He pulled her close with one arm. “You’re something else.”
“I think BODS had it right,” Ariana said mournfully. “I’m not the match for you. I can’t even stay in a boat and fish. I’m so sorry.” She reached for the side of the boat and tried to duck beneath it. Her life vest wouldn’t let her go deep enough to slip beneath the rim. “Damn it!”
“Hey,” Dillon said softly. “We should have started out on the shore until you got used to how fish behave. That was my fault.”
“I’m twenty-nine years old. I should have learned to fish by now.”
“No, really. I think it’s great that you don’t know how. It means I get to teach you.”
“I nearly killed you.” She was glad he couldn’t see her in the dark, all wet like a street rat in the rain with red-rimmed eyes. “You should probably take me home.”
“Come here,” he said, drawing her into the curve of his arm again. “We’re okay. You’re okay. And we got to go for a swim.” He pressed his lips against her forehead.
Ariana stilled, her breath hitching in her throat as his mouth moved down her cheek and found the corner of hers.
“You saved my life,” he said. “Thank you.” Then his lips covered hers, wet and all, and he kissed her as if savoring every second their lips blended together.
His arm tightened around her as he held her against him.
Though she was glad for the life vest, she wished it was gone so that she could feel his heart beating against her breasts.
A boot slipped off her foot.
“Damn it!” she murmured against his mouth.
He laughed. “Not the response I expected after that. What’s wrong?”
“One of Emma’s boots just drifted to the bottom of the pond. Now I owe her a pair of boots. I hope these weren’t her favorites.”
He laughed and pulled her close. “What say we get out from under this boat.”
“I can’t. The vest won’t let me go under.”
“Thank goodness,” he said. “It’s doing the job it was designed to do. I can push you under long enough to get you to the other side.”
“Okay.” She drew in a deep breath. “I’m ready.”
Dillon pushed down on her vest and shoved her beneath the rim of the boat.
Ariana bobbed to the surface on the other side, gasped in air and spun, looking for Dillon.
When his head surfaced, she let go of the breath she’d been holding and swam toward him.
He held onto her with one hand and the boat with the other. “You all right?”
She nodded. “Now that you’re here.”
“I wouldn’t let anything happen to you,” he said.
“I wasn’t worried about me. I was worried you wouldn’t come out from under that boat.” She drew in a deep breath and let it out, turned and looked toward the shore. “I guess we’d better start swimming.” Ariana took his hand. “I’d feel better if you held onto my life vest.”
He nodded. “I can do that as long as it doesn’t drag you down.”
“It won’t,” she said. “Ready?”
He nodded and started swimming, using the sidestroke, so that he could hold onto her and swim at the same time.
Ariana kicked, keeping pace with him. They moved so slowly through the water, she thought they’d never get to the shore. She didn’t complain when her legs got tired. She had the flotation device, he didn’t.
When they finally reached the shore, she crawled up onto the bank and lay for a moment beside him.
“I have got to swim more often,” he said, rolling over onto his back. “That uses entirely different muscles than riding or jogging.”
Ariana pushed to a sitting position and fumbled with the buckles on the vest.
Dillon sat up. “Let me”
“I’m not completely helpless,” she said. “I’m really good at yoga and meditation. And I was an excellent business analyst when I worked in the corporate field.” She sighed and let him