Emerald Island: A Billionaire Bedroom Romance

Chapter 9

Sophie awoke early the next day, and, feeling particularly refreshed, jumped out of bed to check on Kristen. Maybe they could get an early rush on snorkeling before the rest of the island was up. Cracking the bedroom door open, she saw her friend still sleeping peacefully, and, unwilling to wake her, decided she'd settle for a morning alone.

Realizing that the day could soon turn into cocktails and lounging, she grabbed her one-piece swimsuit, swimming cap, and goggles, tossed them into a tote bag, and headed down to the beach. She had seen a beautiful pool earlier that was calling out for her to swim some laps.

As she emerged from the changing room, she realized she wasn't the first to arrive. A woman was gliding through the pool with fast, graceful strokes. She was wearing a beautiful, bright yellow one-piece. Marigold, maybe, thought Sophie. Or canary. Sophie stood by, admiring the woman's form. Sophie loved to swim, and had a strong and fast stroke, but this woman had natural grace along with speed. Sophie watched the woman switch from freestyle to an effortless butterfly.

Everyone's so nice here, Sophie thought to herself. Maybe I'll ask this woman for some tips on my butterfly afterwards. My timing is always just a little bit off, and hers is exceptional.

Feeling a sisterly interest in her mysterious swimming friend, Sophie jumped into the farthest lane from her and began her own swimming, starting with a few warm-up laps of breaststroke before shifting into her freestyle. She loved swimming because of the focus it gave her. While swimming, she felt a detached clarity that allowed her to forget about her business' problems and sometimes even arrive at surprising insights. It was the one time her life didn't feel like one giant to-do list that she was always adding to and never managing to check things off from.

After doing her distance piece, Sophie felt tired but strong, her heart pounding. She was ready to go, but first she'd finish with a sprint. Looking at the race clock behind her, she decided to do a 50-meter swim and try to beat her fastest time. She was feeling good, there was no one else in her lane, and she felt like she could set a new personal record.

After she dove from the pool edge into the pool, she knew she was making good time, keeping each stroke efficient. Let's do this, Montgomery.

As she approached the opposite end of the pool, she saw a flash of yellow above her. Distracted and thrown off, Sophie mistimed her flip turn, somersaulting too soon and missing the wall entirely, kicking off against nothing but water. Her speed immediately vanished, and as she took a few more impotent strokes into the water, she realized her potential record was gone.

Sputtering, she came up for air and grabbed the wall, looking up. Her butterfly-swimming sister in yellow stood above her, looking down.

"You mistimed your flip turn," the woman said. "It's totally normal — it can be the scariest part to get used to when you just start swimming laps. I know it seems like you'd want to look straight ahead, but you actually want to keep looking down at the bottom of the pool the entire time."

Sophie looked up, feeling sisterly affection rapidly decreasing. I've been swimming laps daily for years, and I know that I'm good. I can do a fucking flip turn. Sorry for getting distracted by a stranger in bright yellow leaning over the edge of my lane right as I'm about to flip.

She hoisted herself out of the pool and jumped up. "Thanks for the tip," she said, trying not to look irritated. After all, the woman was just trying to help, and had only seen her worst moment. "Yeah, I mistimed it. Anyway, I was admiring your butterfly earlier. Do you have any timing tips for me on that? I'm always just a little bit off, and I can feel a lot of unnecessary drag."

"The butterfly is pretty advanced," the yellow-clad woman said. "I'd start by just mastering the breaststroke and the forward crawl. After you're doing those consistently you can start learning the components of the butterfly. Something to look forward to!"