No Kissing Allowed

Chapter 13: A Minor Twist

Chapter 13: A Minor Twist

"Look out!"

Cora gasped, caught off guard by Jamie's sudden appearance behind her as much as by the wave she hadn't seen coming. His arm clenched around her just in time. He lifted her off her feet as the wave crested with unexpected power, and they toppled backward together. She landed awkwardly in his lap and heard him groan beneath her weight.

Cora sat frozen for a moment. How long exactly, she couldn't have said. The length of time it took for the foaming water to race up the sand around them and then slither back to sea. The period of the waveform, her physics training click-clacked uselessly in her brain. The amount of time that passed from one trough to the next.

Coincidentally, it was also the length of time it took for her heart to stop pounding and her brain to catch up with the unexpected position in which she found herself.

Jamie's arm around her waist released her. His voice cut through her thoughts. "I am a tremendous fan of your bum, but would you mind removing it from on top of me?"

Cora extricated herself from his lap and turned to face him.

He remained on the wet sand, grimacing as he massaged an ankle. "Are you all right?" he asked. He shielded his eyes with one hand as he looked up at her.

"Better than you, by the looks of it." She couldn't tell if his ankle was turning black and blue or only looked that way from the paint he'd smeared all over it. "Is it bad?"

He didn't answer. Another wave came and went before he accepted her outstretched hand and lumbered to his feet. He sucked the air in with a hiss as he attempted to put his weight on the injured side. "A minor twist," he muttered. "Not to worry."

"Here, lean on me." Cora draped his arm around her shoulders and helped him half-walk, half-hop back up the beach. They headed for the shade of the nearest palm tree.

Robbie and Mel hadn't noticed the mishap, but Cameron must have seen. He came toward them, camera perched on his shoulder as always.

Cora left Jamie leaning against the tree trunk. "Is there a medic or something?" she asked the cameraman. "He might need an x-ray."

"It's nothing!" Jamie protested from behind her. "A twisted ankle. The only thing broken is my microphone—and possibly my pride."

Cameron called across the beach, and soon Jamie was surrounded by crew members. Cora stood outside the circle they formed around him, hovering on the fringes. He made light of his injury, taking a few steps on his own to prove that he was fine. But Cora didn't miss the infinitesimal twitch of the muscles at the base of his jaw, clenching in pain as he grit his teeth.

Why would he refuse medical attention? Cora watched him, puzzled. Bravado? Perhaps another of his mating rituals, trying to impress her.

How unimpressive, she thought, from the man who recited book quotes to set the mood.

She opened her mouth to tell him not to be an idiot, but she closed it again as he made eye contact with her over the producers' shoulders. Something in his look warned her not to interfere.

There was something else as well in that look he gave her. Something she didn't understand. Almost... regretful? Like he was apologizing to her, even though she was the one who'd crunched his ankle beneath her oversized "bum."

It made no sense. There had to be something else. Cora wondered for the first time why he'd approached her as she waded in the surf. Just to pass the time, or had he meant to tell her something in particular? She hadn't exchanged a word with him off camera since their conversation this morning.