Chapter 1

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Running a dive shop has its pros and cons. For example, hot, fit guys file in through the front door constantly...and all I can think is 'Do I actually get paid to so this?' Then reality hits me...and some old pedophile-looking guy wanders in looking for a young female diving instructor and I get stuck in hell. 20 year old, long auburn haired, awkwardly tall me. Alexandra Simpson, at your service. I work at the most popular dive shop in the Bruce Peninsula, Jump in. I only got this job because my dad was the one and only James Simpson, marine biologist extraordinaire for Fathom Five National Park. For those of you who aren't stuck in this life like me, Fathom Five houses the highest concentration of shipwrecks for public diving in Ontario. Just because I'm my fathers daughter, everyone expects me to follow in his footsteps and take his legacy to the next level. Okay, being completely honest here, I am probably the best scuba diver in the area and I'm majoring in marine biology in university. Because I want to though, not because of my father. And I will never be able to fill his shoes no matter how hard I try. But the ocean is in my blood. There's nothing I love more than submerging myself in the vast blue and being alone to watch the fish as they travel in schools around the shipwrecks. Exploring the abandoned wrecks and picturing what they would have been like in their glory. Sometimes I forget what an amazing gift this earth is and what we as humans have been blessed with. Under the surface, there are no distractions, no stress, no school. There's just me and my beautiful blue.
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"Alexandra you have an 8:30 training session this morning! You are going to be late."
Don't you just love how moms can ruin your entire day in three seconds. The only reason I'm even at home right now is because it's summer and living at home is more convenient from me to get to work. I do actually share an apartment with my best friend, Baylie when I'm at school. But for now, I am forced to live with my nagging, overprotective mother.
"Yeah, one sec, mom! Jeez..." Who in their right mind actually wants to dive at 8:30 in the morning! Even at the end of June, the water is nowhere near inviting at this hour. Grumbling and complaining I haul my ass outta the house and down two blocks to the store. Someone is sitting on the weathered sky blue-painted bench outside. And holy lord....a dirty blond, windblown head lifts and looks at me. I can't breathe. I stumble slightly and then regain my composure. If this Adonis is my client....I swallow hard. Get a grip, girl! But....jawline....green eyes....shoulder width that probably won't even make it through the door. And then he stands, "You're my instructor for my diving lesson?" Oh, and a voice that would make any women melt.
"Yes. Yes I am."

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