The Day Lockwood Wore A Swimsuit

Lucy stood thirty yards away from the initial shoreline, digging her toes into the sand. "Something wrong?" a voice behind her questioned. Lucy spun around, ready to fight whoever had talked to her. She let out a breath of relief when she realized it was just George. "You're on edge, aren't you? Nearly took my head off," he said. Lucy shook her head.

"No, I'm fine. Don't worry about me."

"You sure? I thought you'd be chomping at the bit to go splash around with Lockwood. Especially with his bathing suit on."

"Shut up Cubbins!" Though Lockwood did look amazing cute in his swimsuit, and the sight of him did set Lucy's stomach in a whirl, she wasn't ready to admit it yet. She figured that if she stopped thinking about it, she would stop feeling the way she did.

That she wouldn't be falling for her boss, her amazingly hot boss, who seemed to have girls fawning over him left and right. He could never love someone like her. All he would do was break her heart.

At that moment, a particularly large wave crashed into the shore, causing Lucy to yelp and stumble backwards, crashing onto her butt.

"Oh, I see," George snickered. "You're afraid of the ocean, aren't you." The bright red blush that rose to Lucy's cheeks confirmed his suspicions. A wicked smile rose to his face. He trotted down the the beach past Lucy and into the ocean. He then made his way over to Lockwood and began talking to him.

"No!" Lucy hissed under her breath. Her mind began to race. What was George telling him? That she was a wimp? That they should fire her? That she wasn't needed? Why did George have to figure out that she was afraid of the ocean? He was the smartest one into the company, so she should have guessed he would have figured it out sooner or later.

All of a sudden, Lockwood began racing up the beach towards her. Lucy gasped. Was he mad at her? What did George say? Lockwood finally reached Lucy, and before she could say anything, he grabbed her. He ran back towards the ocean, carrying her bridal style, and tossed her into the waves. At that moment, everything changed. All of Lucy's feelings of guilt, embarrassment and love disappeared, replaced with an all. consuming fear. Her eyes were burning from the saltwater, and her lungs felt like they had been set on fire. She tried to fight her way back up to the surface, but she couldn't even figure out which way was up.

All of a sudden, she felt a pair of strong hands grab her and pull her up out of the water. She pulled herself against the person's chest, not caring who it was She took a ragged breath, trying to fill her lungs with air. She could hear Lockwood and George shouting, but it sounded distorted.

"... didn't know... so sorry..."

"...move her... warm place..."

"...need ambulance..."

"...no...maybe"

It took a minute, but Lucy was eventually able to process a whole sentence.

"We need to calm her down."

Lucy decided that now was not the best the best time to mention that being pressed again Lockwood, who had pulled her out of the water, was doing a fine job of keeping her calm.

"I'll run down to the convenience store and grab her a blanket. Shouldn't take more then ten minutes."

"Okay. Get back as soon as you can George." Lockwood helped Lucy over to a sun warmed patch of sand. "What happened Lucy? George just told me you didn't want to go swimming. I'm so sorry, I didn't know you would freak out. Can you not swim?" Lockwood asked. Lucy sighed before responding.

"I guess George didn't tell you. I'm afraid of the ocean. My family brought me to a beach once when I was seven. I wasn't the best swimmer, so my mom told me I could only go up to my knees in the water. I was perfectly content splashing around until a huge wave crashed into and dragged me into deeper waters. I tried to swim back to shore, but I couldn't figure out how. I was disoriented, and opening my eyes set them aflame. I kept fighting until my lungs couldn't take it anymore and I blacked out.

When I woke up, I was in a hospital bed. My mom had been reading a book, and since I hadn't screamed or made any noise at all, she hadn't noticed I was missing. She always beats herself up over that now. A teenager nearby realized I was drowning and pulled me to shore, but my lungs were already filled with water. My mom called 999, and they rushed me to the hospital. I almost died. Ever since then, I've never been able to swim again." Lockwood gasped.

"Lucy, why didn't you tell us?"

"I was afraid you'd think I was weak."

"Lucy, I could never think that."

"But I-"

Lockwood cut Lucy off with a kiss. She jerked back, her expression akin to a deer in the headlights.

"I'm sorry-"

This time Lucy was the one to cut Lockwood off. This kiss lasted for much longer then then the first one. It was this moment George decided to return with the blanket.

"Bloody hell!" he yelped, before throwing the blanket on them and running away, leaving them to their own devices. Lockwood snickered against Lucy's lips, before pulling her closer. Today had certainly been interesting for Lockwood and Co.