him and half crawled into the thing, crying and patting his face.
I pulled the kayak back to shore and made sure it was secure before walking back up. The girl called to me and I turned around, offering her a kind smile.
"Thank you so much." She helped the little boy out and walked up to me, pressing her hands to my chest. "I'm Vanessa. I can't thank you enough."
"Is he your son?" I looked around her and smiled at the kid, grateful as hell that he was okay.
"No. My brother. I was supposed to be watching, but I closed my eyes for five damn minutes." She pressed her hand to her lips and shook her head. "Thank you so much."
"No problem. I'm Brody." I moved back a little and extended my hand. Her bathing suit was tight and looked damn good on her, though it really didn't seem the time to hit on her.
"Listen," she glanced around before looking back up at me, "I was going to take Charlie home in a few minutes and then hopefully catch a ride out to the island. You're not headed that way are you?"
"Yeah, we're going out there in about fifteen minutes. We'll give you a ride." I smiled and waved at Charlie. "Be safe, kid."
"Yeah, thanks." He nodded and turned to pull his kayak out of the water.
"I'll be here in fifteen minutes." She smiled shyly, though something told me she wasn't at all the shy type.
I turned and jogged back to the house to find Daniel standing outside, watching the show.
He clapped his hand and shook his head. "Bravo. That was pretty damn cool."
"What? It was nothing." I walked up the stairs and reached for a towel that was hanging over the edge. After wiping myself off, I stripped out of my shirt and rolled my shoulders. "She's going with us to the island in a few minutes. Let's load up."
"You just got a date over saving her son? Do you even sleep with chicks that have kids? Aren't they a little more..."
"Needy?" I rolled my eyes and popped him with the towel. "It was her brother, but you're being quite judgmental for a doctor, aren't you?"
"I didn't mean it like that. Never mind." He shook his head and dropped down onto the bench next to him. "Hey, guess what?"
"What?" I stopped before going into the cabin and glanced back over my shoulder.
"I asked Dedra out, and she said yes." He smiled widely as his cheeks colored pink.
I stifled a chuckle. "Like out on a date or out like she's your girlfriend?"
"Like a date. Do people really ask each other out like boyfriend-girlfriend anymore?"
"No clue. Either way, that's cool as hell. Congrats, man. It would seem that your balls have finally dropped." I winked at him and walked into the house to the sound of him berating me. "Let's go, fuckers. I want to get out of here for a little while and go out to the island. You guys coming?"
"Yep." Derek got up from the couch and stretched. "Are the girls going with us?"
"Nope. It's a guy’s afternoon. We're taking a hot little number out to the island with us, but we'll drop her off and go play some volleyball or something." I rolled my shoulders and turned as Clay stopped by the opening to the kitchen.
"What hot little number?" He asked, crossing his arms over his chest. "I just fucking left you on the porch, and you already got some girl's digits?"
"You know it. Some chick whose brother was drowning, and I saved his scrawny ass." I beat on my chest like Tarzan. "I'm a hero; she wants to pay me back. She's a good girl, obviously."
He rolled his eyes. "I swear, dude. You're impossible to figure out."
"Like a human-sized Rubik’s cube." I grabbed my swim trunks from the basket by the couch and stripped out of my shorts before tugging my trunks on.
"Come on, man. Shit." Derek covered his eyes and stopped by the couch.
"Jealousy doesn't look good on you, Derek." I laughed and turned, walking back out to find Daniel on the phone, laughing with someone. It was cute, too cute, and left me wanted to gag toward him. It made me want to see Cora again. "Let's go."
I jogged back down to the boat and got everything situated as the other guys walked down the pier. Vanessa walked up a few minutes later in a much more revealing bikini.