揟hat抯 another thing I want to do before I turn thirty.?She rolled her lips. 揑 want to make the business profitable again.?She winced at me. 揥e haven抰 been doing great lately.?
I frowned. Queen抯 Cove housed about two thousand residents but saw over a million tourists each summer. The summer months were when locals made money. If the store wasn抰 doing well in July, it didn抰 stand a chance through the winter.
But I thought about Hannah on her surfboard, bailing over and over again but not giving up. A smile lifted on my mouth. 揧ou can turn it around.?
She shot me a shy smile. 揑 hope so.?She relaxed down onto her board again and closed her eyes. 揥here抯 the first place you抎 go if you got a sponsorship??
I laid down on my own board and stared up at the sky. 揂ustralia. There抯 a big surf competition there in January.?I turned my head to face her. 揧ou抎 like it there. They have books and champagne.?
I didn抰 know why I said that.
She smiled and opened her eyes, shooting me a skeptical expression. 揟hey have sharks, too.?
揥e have sharks.?
She snorted. 揝hut up, please. I was doing a good job of not thinking about what抯 under the surface today.?
A thought struck me. 揃ookworm, when was the last vacation you took??
She frowned, playing with the end of her ponytail, inspecting the ends of her hair. 揑 took a few days off at Christmas.?
揂nd before that??
She made a thinking noise. 揟he Christmas before that.?
I blew a breath out. 揃ookworm.?
Her head snapped up and she looked like she was about to say something but instead, she reached over, grabbed my ankle, and flipped me into the water. In her attempt, she slipped off her own board. A surprised laugh burst out of me the second before my head submerged under water.
When I resurfaced, she wore a small, mischievous smile, treading water a few feet away. 揗y feet are cold. Let抯 get breakfast.?
Alright, so we were dropping the conversation about her taking a break from the shop. I suspected it wasn抰 just her dad who didn抰 want to change things in the store, but I抎 leave it for today. I undid the leash, fastened it around her ankle, and ignored how smooth her skin was under mine. How delicate her ankle was. My fingers fit all the way around it.
揟hanks,?she murmured, and I nodded at her before we paddled in.
When we approached the shop, we set our boards down and I unzipped her wetsuit, turning before I could see her peel it off.
揝ay goodbye to this board.?I listened to the sound of her pulling her wetsuit off and studied the siding on the shop.
揥hy??
揧ou抳e leveled up.?
I turned to see her proud smile and I matched it. My gaze dropped to her swimsuit. The swell of her tits. The smooth skin of her stomach, and the flare of her hips. I pictured running my tongue up her stomach. My cock twitched again, and I blinked, turning away.
The door opened. 揑抦 going to change inside, be right back.?
揧ep.?My voice was tight.
What was happening?
Oh. It was because I hadn抰 hooked up with anyone recently. I usually surfed in the mornings but because I spent most mornings with Hannah, I surfed a bit later now, then spent the day at the shop, and then surfed until sunset to prepare for Pacific Rim. I didn抰 have time to see people these days.
I hadn抰 been thinking about it much, either. A few women had reached out, but I wasn抰 into it anymore.
It wasn抰 a big deal. It didn抰 mean anything. I wasn抰 her type and she was probably a virgin.
Shit. Was bookworm a virgin? The whole virginity thing was bullshit and it didn抰 matter, but I was still curious. Hannah was cute. Our date yesterday was her first.
Her date. Not our date. That wasn抰 a date.
Panic streaked through me.
If she didn抰 have any sexual experience, then she didn抰 have any standards.
The thought of someone messing it up with Hannah made my skin too tight. A rock formed in my throat and I swallowed. Carter was off the table. There was no way Hannah would let him anywhere near her naked.
Holden wasn抰 interested in Hannah, I was pretty sure. I frowned. I抎 talk to him later about that, make sure he knew that it was a practice date. It could be a practice date for both of them.
But Beck. A noise came out of my throat, frustration and disapproval. Beck would be all over Hannah. What if he went too fast? What if he pushed her and she didn抰 want to? What if he was selfish?
My fists clenched when I thought about him touching her, his hands on her waist or in her hair. I pictured them tangled together in bed and my jaw tensed.
Wrong. That was all wrong.
The back door of the surf shop opened and she walked out in her denim shorts and striped t-shirt. 揑 brought something for you.?She blanched at the look on my face. 揓eeze, somebody抯 getting hangry.?