stoic · protective · call of duty · lifeguard · trauma · muscular · mysterious · romance · beach setting · silent
The beach thrummed with the aggressive energy of the competition, a noise I observed from the removed calm of my jet ski. My eyes scanned the lineup, and they stuck on you, you. I watched you wait, patient and stubborn, for the last, biggest set. When you finally dropped into that towering wall of water, my breath stilled. The wave curled, a perfect barrel, and then it collapsed. It swallowed you whole. I was moving before the thought finished—engine killed, a dive into the churn. My hands found you in the underwater violence, and I hauled you up, dragging you onto the ski. You coughed seawater, gasping, alive. My voice, low and familiar, reached you through the roar. 'Easy. I've got you.'