Heather

One Month later

Heather Sinclair wasted no time pulling her long brown hair back into a messy bun. She was sunk up to her kneecaps in muddy water taking soil samples from an estuary that had recently flooded. She had on her thigh-high mudders that barely covered her cut-off shorts, but it didn't matter. Heather felt happiest when she was in the field. She loved to get her hands dirty and well—every other part of herself too.

She had agreed to take on more responsibilities around the office since Nico and Toni had a wedding to plan. She was thrilled for her friends and even agreed to be the maid of honor, but a part of her felt the cynical side of love. That part of her that thought love never won and that sooner or later all relationships would fail. She was surrounded by failed marriages her whole life. First, her parents and then her own. Heather refused to even consider letting herself fall for something as sappy as "happily ever after." It didn't work out the first time, and it would never work out now. Sure, she was a lot younger then, but at twenty-one, anything seemed possible. She sometimes wished she could go back in time, to her now twenty-nine-year-old self and knock some sense into that stupid girl who insisted on walking down the aisle with Mr. Wrong. But she learned quickly there was no such thing as Mr. Right. At least she had her work.

Heather loved her job as an environmental scientist. She loved working with nature and setting measures in place to ensure it would be around for future generations. She just hoped that she and her team were doing enough to help the Isle of Palms. It was steadily sinking into the Atlantic and she worried future generations would never know the island's tropical paradise as she had. That thought alone had her working crazy, non-stop hours to make sure that never happened. When her job was finished, either due to lack of funding or failure—if it came to that, she wanted to be able to say she did all she could to prevent future problems. Honestly, Heather knew her job would never be over, whether it was on the Isle of Palms or in another coastal city, there would always be erosion concerns due to natural occurrences as well as human stupidity.

She pulled the third sample from the muddy puddle and nearly fell back onto her ass; it took so much effort. Heather giggled at herself as she struggled to stay upright, and finally lost the fight, falling back into the muddy water with a splash. She was officially covered from head to toe in mud and she couldn't help her fits of laughter. She laid back, letting the warm mud envelop her body, and looked up at the blue sky above. Not a single cloud was in sight, and she used the stolen minutes to close her eyes, soaking up the sun's warm rays. She sighed at the bliss of being completely alone and in her happy place. Sooner or later, she would have to head back into the office, but right now, it was just her, one very noisy bullfrog, and a few pesky dragonflies. She was pretty sure this was what heaven would be like or at least that was what she hoped.

"You know, I'm no expert about the whole science thing, Heath, but I think you might be doing it wrong." Heather sat up, startled by the baritone voice that interrupted her solace. She'd know that sexy-as-sin voice anywhere and a part of her wished the mud pit she was resting in, would suck her up and allow her to disappear from Jace Bryant's sexy stare.

"Jace, what the hell are you doing out here?" she yelped. She tried for cool, calm, and casual, but the three C's eluded her and she just sounded like a put-off princess who was a whole lot hot and bothered by the sexy lifeguard. Jace wasn't wearing his guard gear though. He seemed to be out for a casual stroll, but Heather knew from experience that nothing about Jace was casual. He was the most intense, uptight man she had ever met.

"I came out here to check a few of the new swimming holes out. Some of the local kids warned Oliver and me about some new spots that had popped up, with all this crazy rain we've been having lately. I just wanted to check to make sure they were safe for swimming." He smiled down to where she was still sitting in a giant mud puddle and held up a few empty vials.

"I'm going to do a little science experiment myself," he said. "I have to test the pH stability of the water, to make sure it is safe. Wanna help?" Jace looked her up and down and she felt warm in all the right places, and this time, not from the morning sun. His short blond hair fluttered with the light breeze, and she could almost see his baby blue eyes dance through her mind, even shaded behind his dark sunglasses. Heather knew swearing off having anything to do with Jace Bryant was the best idea she had had in a long time. The problem that plagued her every waking minute was that she wanted him—all of him, and she worried that if she kept ignoring her desires for him, they would only intensify.

"No," she lied. "I have my own important science experiments to conduct and don't have time to help you. I'm sure they taught you how to find the pH levels of water in the lifeguard academy, or whatever it was you had to attend to do what it is that you do." Heather tried to stand, but the mud around her bottom had formed a vacuum seal around her and every time she tried to pull herself up, the earth seemed to pull her back down, making an offensive sound to boot.

"Ugg," she groaned. "Would you mind giving me a hand out of this jam? I'm a little stuck," she barked, holding her extended hand toward him. Jace shielded his face with his hand, blocking the sun from her eyes and she could see the hurt behind the smirk on his handsome face. She tried to backtrack in her mind, replaying what she had just said that might cause him to look at her that way. When she got to the part about him going to lifeguard academy, she groaned again, this time regretting her big mouth. When it came to Jace, she was a walking time bomb and it was partly his fault, or at least that was what she told herself to feel better about being an awful person every time he walked into the same space as her. But ever since he asked her out and then stood her up, leaving her sitting at the little café for hours before she realized the score, she promised herself she wouldn't give Jace another chance. She couldn't exactly ignore him, since his post was on the same beach as her office and he was best friends with her boss, Nico Andrews. Staying angry at him was her only option and that meant that sometimes she said things that weren't exactly nice to him. Hell, lately the things she said to him were downright mean.

"Sorry," she whispered, still holding her hand in the air, silently asking Jace to help her up.

"No, you're not, honey. How many times do I have to say I'm sorry, Heather?" He took a step back from her and her heart sank. Heather dropped her hand down to the mud beside her body, causing a little splash. Jace was just going to leave her there, and why wouldn't he? She was an ass to him, and she deserved to stay stuck right where he left her.

"You know I'm about to take my EMT oral boards exam next week. If I pass, I'll have my certificate and be able to get a job with the hospital." His voice was so quiet that Heather almost couldn't hear him.

"That's fantastic," she offered. But the way he looked at her warned that he wasn't looking for her praise or approval. He was letting her know he was more than she accused him of amounting to and that made her feel even worse. "I didn't mean to say that what you do isn't important, Jace." He nodded and put his hands on his hips, as if he had more to say, but then dropped them back to his side.

"You know what, Heather," he barked, reaching down to lift her from her muddy pit. She wobbled around until he reached out to take her arm, stabilizing her from another fall into the mud. "It's not worth my time to stand here and discuss if I'm good enough for you. Apparently, you have weighed and measured me and found me wanting. I don't need to prove myself to you or anyone else on this fucking island." She reached for him, and he shrugged her off, turning to walk back to the estuary to get his water samples, and all she could do was watch him leave. Jace was right, she was a horrible person, and he had every right to be pissed at her.

Heather gathered her equipment and samples, deciding to head back to the office and start work early. She had hoped to get a few more hours of field time in, but her mood soured, and she was ready to just head indoors and hide away from the rest of society. She chanced one last look over to where Jace was gathering water samples into his vials. If she were braver, she would have marched over to where he was working and told him she was sorry for being a horrible bitch. She would have offered to help him and even try to find some common ground they could both share to avoid any more heated arguments, but she was a coward. Heather turned to head back to her pickup truck, putting her equipment and samples into the back of the cab to head back to the office. For a day that started off so promising, it sure turned around fast, and she was pretty sure that had everything to do with the sexy lifeguard who was mean mugging her in her rear-view mirror.