Have a Little Faith

Dakota's POV

Dakota’s POV

I watched him as he stared out at the ocean. After some time he answered “That I’m not fast enough, or that I wasn't paying attention to the right person at the right time, and I’m too late to do anything.”

“But it’s never happened right?” I asked.

He shook his head after a beat and looked at me.

“Close, but nothing’s ever happened thankfully” he was quiet for a bit and then carefully added,

“You were the closest I ever got to thinking I’d lost someone” he said with a forlorn look in his eyes when he looked at me.

My heart lurched and I scooted just a tiny little bit closer to him.

The orange, almost red light made his skin glow and lit up his golden eyes.

“When I had you on the sand and you still wouldn’t breath even after CPR, I was terrified. I had watched how you sat down and I was on my way over to you to tell you that you were too close and it would be dangerous when you were pulled in. And when I had finally pulled off your sweatshirt and you still lay motionless on the sand I thought you were gone.”

 He was quiet as her peered at my face as if seeing me again after a long time.

“And then you took that first staggering breath and I felt like I was the one who could breath again.”

I let out a breath I had unconsciously been holding and cupped his cheek, running my thumb across his high cheekbone. He lent into my touch and closed his eyes.

The responsibility a lifeguard had to bare each day was tremendous. The thought of technically  being responsible for majority of the beach goers was frightening. If anything ever went wrong I don’t how I would be able to cope with that. I sighed when I took in his face. His eyebrows were drawn together as if he were thinking hard about something, and then suddenly they smoothed out again and the frown fell from his face, a small sigh escaping his lips. Before I fully comprehended what exactly I was doing I had lent forward and pressed a small kiss to his cheek, before sitting back and pulled away my hand. His eyes snapped open when he felt my lips on his skin and I had to turn my head to hide the blush that was raging on my cheeks.

I felt his burning gaze on the side of my head but opted for admiring the beautiful sunset. The wind picked up and I took a deep breath, feeling as if the ocean air were cleaning my lungs. When the sun had dipped behind the horizon completely and the sky was tinted in hues of pink and purple the last visitors for the day left the beach and happily trailed to their cars. Small children clutching their sand toys in their arms, leaving small trails of sand behind them as it slowly ran out of their clothes. The last of the backlights disappeared up the road and I tuned to look at Levi. He peered down the beach one last time and when he was satisfied that we were really alone he stepped onto the bars and slowly helped me down. When we stood safely on the sand he took my crutches in his hand and let me get on his back.

I gave a short laugh and wrapped my arms around his broad shoulders. He held onto my thighs and we took off across the beach, nearing the cliffs at the end.

“We’ve got to get around these and then over a small boulder behind them, then we’re there.” he said, turning his head slightly to let me hear what he was saying. In the process his lips brushed again the shell of my ear and I shivered lightly.

He skilfully led us past smooth large boulders and then carefully lifted me up and over the last boulder. When I slipped down the side of the rock and landed on my foot, my breath caught in my throat and my eyes widened.