Saving Simon (Tarnished Saints Series Book 5) (2 page)

“Bro, don’t do it,” said Thad. “I’d hate to tell our brothers our sailor died at sea.”

“I’ll be back,” Simon assured him. “And I’ll have a pretty little blond with me, I promise.”

Simon hoisted himself up to the deck railing where moments ago the woman had been standing.

“Simon.” Thad grabbed his arm. “Be careful.”

“Don’t worry, you can’t get rid of me that easy,” he assured his brother and then shouted out to the girl. “Grab the life preserver,” he told her, but she made no attempt to do it. By the way she floundered in the water and with the look of sheer terror in her eyes, Simon realized she might not even know how to swim.

“You’re not making this easy for me,” he mumbled under his breath, and dove into the cold, turbulent water trying to save the fool girl’s life.

Chapter 2

Piper Erlina Westwood hit the water hard, not believing she’d just fallen overboard from a cruise ship, of all things. She would have been fine if that man on deck hadn’t called out and distracted her. She’d almost been able to save her father’s camera from falling over the edge, but thanks to that man, it was now making its way to the bottom of the sea.

She took in a mouthful of salty sea water, kicking furiously, trying to make her way back to the surface. She’d lost her father’s new camera in the fall, and though she feared drowning right now, she feared how angry he was going to be at her also. As it was, they’d just been arguing that she had the camera outside when it started to rain. She should have gone inside like the ship’s captain ordered, but because of their argument, she’d decided to stay on deck for another minute to calm down.

Another wave washed over her before she’d barely gotten a chance to take a breath, and terror gripped at her heart when she realized she was drowning. She was an average swimmer, though she really didn’t like water. Now, she knew she hated it even more. She caught a glimpse of the back end of the ship sailing away, and the sickening reality sent her into a frenzy when she discovered she was being left behind.

The sun hid behind the clouds, and while the downpour of rain had let up a little, it was a dreary day and the sea was turbulent. She knew no one would ever see her. If she didn’t drown right away she was sure she’d be eaten by a shark. Too terrified to scream, she concentrated on trying to keep her head above the water. This was it. Her life passed before her eyes and she knew her grave would be on the bottom of the ocean floor. She panicked.

Then she saw her beacon of light as something white hit the water about ten feet away from her. A life preserver with a blue and white striped rope attached to it floated up and down in the waves. She couldn’t really tell for sure, but she hoped the other end of the rope was attached to the ship. If only she could grab onto it, she might have a chance to survive after all. If only she knew how to swim better!

Her wet hair tangled and twisted in front of her eyes cutting off her vision. Then through the noise of the wind and rain she thought she heard a male voice calling out to her, but she couldn’t be sure. For all she knew, it could be the angel of death telling her he was coming to collect her soul. Yes, she was sure this is what people heard just before they died.

She felt herself tiring quickly trying to keep her head above water, and her legs cramped horribly. The cold water turned the blood in her veins to ice. Then she saw a man in the water swimming toward her with his head down and making a bee line for her, just before another wave washed over her and she was sure it would be the last. She could no longer think straight, and her head throbbed from a combination of having had too many martinis in the lounge, and hitting the water with such force.

It’s the angel of death,
she thought, not sure if she were hallucinating. She felt more and more apprehensive the closer he came. Then she went under once more and started to sink, but felt something yanking hard at her hair. Her mouth instantly opened from the pain and she swallowed even more water, and felt herself losing consciousness quickly.

She didn’t remember what happened after that, but the next thing she knew her eyes were flickering open and she saw a bright white light almost blinding her. The angel of death leaned over kissing her, his mouth clamped down on hers hard, while a pinching sensation nipped at her nose.

She realized she couldn’t breathe, and panicked once again. Then with one more kiss from the man, her eyes popped open wide and she gasped for air. The man pulled back and look at her as she coughed up half the ocean and struggled for breath. He hadn’t been the angel of death at all, but rather her savior.

He put his arm around her shoulder instantly as she tried to sit up, and she looked around to discover they were in some sort of smaller emergency lifeboat with someone shining a bright flashlight at her. The small craft swayed in the air as it lifted upward, being raised up by pulleys to the main ship.

She finally felt that she could breathe again, and glanced over to get a look at her savior. She nodded her head in thanks and started to cry. Through her tears she perused the man who gave her a second chance at life.

His dark hair was cut short and as she wiped her tears away, she could see that he had bright blue eyes the color of the sea. A slight stubble of whiskers peppered his lower face and she felt the slight stinging sensation of her own face from the contact between them when he’d given her the breath of life. He was shirtless, which showed off his big muscles and arms the size of tree trunks. And around his neck he wore some kind of gold metal whistle hanging from a chain.

He was the sexiest man she’d ever seen in her life, and she tried to make sense of everything that just happened. She knew her fall and near death experience must be affecting her if she found herself attracted to a stranger at a crucial moment like this.

“Are you all right, ma’am?” he asked, cocking his head slightly to look at her.

“Ma’am?” she repeated. She found herself thinking she was too young to be called ma’am, and wasn’t sure she liked it.

She coughed and choked once more, gasping for breath, listening to the loud wheezing noise she made with her lungs as they tried to fill with air. She knew she was going to be mortified and embarrassed by all this as well as probably wishing she were dead once her father found out.

She shook her head slightly and managed to squeak out the words, “I don’t know. Was I dead?”

The man’s mouth turned up slightly into a half-smile and there was a sudden twinkle in his eyes. “You stopped breathing and almost drowned, but you’re going to be fine now. I promise.”

Now with the small boat cranked up into place, deck hands as well as her savior guided her safely back to the main ship. The emergency crew followed with their doctor bags and life-saving equipment in hand.

“Simon, you did it,” said a younger man with bad hair, reaching out to slap her savior on the back. Then he looked at her and nodded. “My brother, Simon, is a hero. He saved your life.”

The storm that had hit suddenly left just as quickly as it came, and as the clouds parted up above, the rain slowing down to just a drizzle. She looked up to see a crowd of people watching her. Though she was immensely embarrassed, she was glad to be alive. Still, being dirty, wet, and standing in a puddle of water while wheezing horrified her. Her feet were bare and her body ached from her experience in the cold water. And to make matters worse, everyone was staring at her. Being the spectacle of such a humiliating experience was the last thing she wanted right now. What would her father say about all this? She didn’t want to know.

“Are you all right?” The man who saved her life let go of her arm slowly to see if she could balance, and backed up slightly to look at her. His naked chest was wide and sturdy, and he had a big anchor tattoo with a heart in the middle of it on his left shoulder. The uniform pants he wore that identified him as one of the crew were wet and clinging to his legs, showing off his impressive physique.

The intense emotions of everything she’d just gone through hit her like a brick wall, and she felt extremely overwhelmed. “I fell off a ship and almost drowned in the ocean, of course I’m not all right!”

“A simple thank you for saving your life would have sufficed,” he said, looking at her as if he were disappointed and thought she was being ungrateful. It wasn’t far from the look her father gave her every time she disappointed him as well, not living up to his ridiculous standards in her personal life or in the family business. Although she was twenty-five years of age, her father still made her feel insecure when all she wanted to do was please him.

“Let me through,” she heard a male voice bellowing, and cringed, recognizing it as the voice of her father. “Piper? What happened? Are you all right?”

“I’m fine, Daddy,” she said.

The man called Simon looked at her astonished by the answer she gave her father to the same question he’d just asked.

“Why are you even out here when I instructed you to go inside?” her father asked, pushing his way through the crowd of onlookers to make his way closer, grabbing her arm and yanking her toward him. “And what did you do with my new camera?”

“I’m so sorry, but I dropped it and it went overboard,” she told him, not being able to look him in the eye right now.

“Didn’t I tell you something like this would happen?” Anger flashed across his face but then she saw it replaced by the caring side of him she hadn’t seen since before her family split up and her mother moved away with her sister, Amy, nearly ten years ago.

“I’m sorry, sweetie.” He pulled her into his arms in a brief hug and then released her. “Cameras can be replaced, the important thing is that you’re all right.”

She knew he might be acting this way just to keep up appearances, but that slight caring she’d seen in his eyes made her think that maybe he wasn’t as much of a bastard as everyone thought.

Still, he had warned her he was meeting with an important client on this cruise and didn’t want to be embarrassed. It was only by her insistence of saying she would help him and not hinder him that he’d agreed to take her with him in the first place.

She’d worked with him for several years now in the family business, Westbrook Enterprises, where they bought up failing businesses and sold them for profit. Usually developers came in and tore them down and put up new buildings, and successful business owners took over. Her job was to go in first and review the books to see if there was a chance to save the business. If so, she would help the client work up a plan and give them financial advice. If not, she would convince them to sell.

Lately, she started noticing that her father wasn’t giving her time to do her job properly. She’d barely had time to review the books and invoices of the businesses before her father seemed to swoop in impatiently and convince the client to sell it to him and for a very low price. She’d hoped to have some one-on-one time with him on this trip and have a heart-to-heart talk about the shrewd, cutthroat businessman he’d become, but it had yet to happen.

She hated water, or anything to do with the sea or lakes, and normally wouldn’t ask to come on a trip like this, but her job was important to her, and so was her father. She needed to help him see what his greed was doing to him. She also hoped to be able to help him realize that he’d made a mistake by splitting up with her mother many years ago. She always had hope that her family would someday get back together.

It was already the last day of the cruise, and all her father had done on board the ship so far was work. She’d sadly gone shopping in Grand Cayman by herself, and though she’d asked him to join her, he’d stayed on the ship. She’d also had to see the Mayan ruins of Tulum with a bunch of strangers. She’d even considered walking through Dunn’s River Falls in Jamaica if he would have come with her, but of course he hadn’t.

Cruises were supposed to be happy times, but for her it was one of the most lonely times of her life.

“Straighten your dress and smooth down your hair,” he grumbled into her ear. “Everyone is staring at you. You are a Westwood, now hold your chin high and show these people that you are not to be gawked at. I hope you realize you just lost me valuable time, as that camera had important photos I needed to show to a prospective client to close a deal.”

Piper felt the knot forming in her stomach, and looked back once more at the man who’d saved her life as he just stood there staring at her as well. Maybe she had been a little harsh with him and owed him an apology, but she could never say anything now. Not with her father standing right there and breathing down her neck.

Her father pulled her along with him and hauled her back toward their cabin. Her teeth chattered and gooseflesh appeared on her arms. She wanted nothing more than to hide away from everyone right now. This was the worst day of her entire life.

“She’ll need to see our ship’s physician before she goes back to the cabin, sir.” The man named Simon who saved her life reached out with a blanket that someone handed him and wrapped it around her shoulders as they walked. The warmth encompassed her immediately, and she felt safe while in his presence. Yes, this man was truly her savior.

“She’s fine,” said her father, stopping and pulling a hundred dollar bill out of his pocket and handing it to the man. “Here’s a little token of my appreciation, boy.”