Playing to Win (Summer Beach Vets 2) - sweet contemporary romance by H.Y. Hanna Read Free Book Online Page A

I’m okay,” Ellie gasped, paddling next to him.
    “Can you swim a bit if I help you?” asked Dan. “But not back to the beach. That way—parallel to the shore. Towards those waves.” He jerked his chin to the right, where the white crests were breaking against the shore.
    Ellie nodded, too exhausted to answer. She turned her body and slowly started moving through the water with Dan swimming steadily beside her, pulling Will with him. She did as Dan directed and kept parallel to the beach. She found to her surprise that it was actually slightly easier because she was no longer trying to swim directly into the current. In fact, as she neared the breaking waves, she felt the drag against her body lessen until she could no longer feel a current pulling her out to sea. Instead, she felt herself rise and fall with the waves as she was pushed slowly back towards the beach.
    A few minutes later, Ellie staggered out of the water and collapsed on the sand. Her legs felt like jelly and her whole body was trembling. Dan set Will gently down next to her, then ran back up the beach towards their towels. He was back in a minute, accompanied by Milo.
    Will cried as he put his arms around Milo’s neck and hugged the dog close. Dan wrapped the boy gently in one of the towels, then turned to Ellie and draped the other towel around her shoulders.
    “Th-th-thank you,” Ellie tried to say, although only a hoarse whisper seemed to come from her throat. She couldn’t understand why her teeth were chattering.
    “Ellie? Can you hear me? Are you okay?”
    She blinked at him. Everything felt like it was coming from far away. She knew she was sitting on the beach with Dan and Will next to her, but it was almost as if she was watching herself from high above. His voice seemed faint and muffled. She wanted to answer him, but her tongue felt like a lump of wet cotton wool.
    “Ellie? Ellie!”
    She felt herself slipping under again. No, she wasn’t in the water anymore, but this was almost the same… she was sinking… sinking… the world became dim around her…
    “OW!”
    Ellie jerked upright, rubbing her chest. She glared at Dan.
    “Sorry,” he said quickly. “You looked like you were about to pass out.”
    She looked down at her chest, where the skin above her sternum was red from being pinched.
    “It’s a first-aid trick,” explained Dan. “Very sensitive area. Sharp pain works as well as ammonia under the nose.” He peered at her and touched her arm. “You all right?”
    Ellie took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Yeah… I think so.”
    “What the hell were you thinking?” Dan demanded. His grey eyes were angry now. “You don’t go swimming on an unpatrolled beach! And to take a child out with you—”
    Ellie felt a surge of anger. It warmed her, brought feeling back into her body, focused her mind again. She sat up straighter. “I wasn’t swimming for the fun of it!” she snapped. “Will went out after Milo and he got into trouble—so I was trying to rescue him. It wasn’t my fault!” Yet even as she said it, Ellie felt a twinge of guilt. Hadn’t she volunteered to bring the kid to the beach? So she should have been supervising him the whole time, not dozing off on the sand. If she had been watching Will properly, he would never have got the chance to go into the ocean in the first place.
    “I’m sorry,” said Dan in a calmer voice. “I was coming down the path to the beach from the cliffs and just saw you out in the water. I didn’t see exactly what happened.”
    “It’s true,” Will piped up. “Ellie came to rescue me!”
    “And what were you doing out in the water, mate?” Dan ruffled the boy’s hair. “You should have known better.”
    “I was scared Milo was going to get eaten by a shark! I saw a fin—I swear!”
    Dan sighed. “All right. But no more swimming without the surf lifesavers on the beach, you hear me, mate? And don’t throw the ball too close to the water so Milo won’t