Page 23 of The Himbo and the Lord
“I’ve had your flights changed, and Alex is emailing through the details now.” He rings off, no goodbye or he’ll see me soon.
Typical.
Did he say the flights have changed? Does that mean Chase isn’t in Sydney?
I pull up my emails and check the changes. I have a flight to Melbourne, and then I’ll be flying home from there on Monday.
Melbourne.
Where Nate is right now.
I fall back in the bed and sigh. This is either a wonderful opportunity to see him again, or a cruel twist of fate by the universe to send me so close to him but also making me work. I can’t help the tiny nugget of hope forming that it’s the first one.
CHAPTERTWELVE
Nate
I spendthe week trying my hardest—IswearI try.
I smile constantly, so much so that my cheeks start to hurt a bit and they’re at a risk of getting tan lines.
We go to a different beach every day, and even go out on a boat to see all of Port Phillip on Wednesday.
I engage.
I drink with the guys when we go out, and I laugh with them whenever they say something insane—which is often.
I try harder than I’ve ever tried before to be in the moment, to enjoy the last leg of this trip before we go back home and I lose them to their nine-to-five jobs.
On Thursday we go to Torquay Beach and get an instructor to teach us how to surf.
We’ve all surfed before, at different times, on different trips with our families, and Tony has a yearly trip to Hawaii with his cousins, so he’s the best of us. But Kit decided it would be the best and safest option if we got an instructor.
An instructor named Axel who looks very interested in me.
I pay attention to his words—I might be an idiot most of the time, but I don’t want to fucking drown—and try to ignore the uncomfortable niggle at the back of my neck whenever he stares at me.
This is... new.
And it tells me more than even my constant thoughts of Ru that I might be in deep shit.
Axel is objectively perfect.
Every muscle defined, and a golden tan so flawless I’m sure he was born with it. His wavy blond hair is a bit long, and would normally have me revved up for some hard fucking but...
No.
I don’t want him, and I don’t miss the confused frowns on my friends’ faces throughout the on-land lesson while I try to pretend I’m not being unapologetically hit on.
I act like it’s not happening, and force the guys to focus on surfing to the best of my abilities.
Kit is the first to fall from his board—when he’s supposed to be paddling—and his sputters and scared expression when he surfaces are enough to disperse the confusion, and to bring forth the fun we’re supposed to be having.
Itisfun.
Even when I’m the one who falls splat in the water, so hard I fear I might have broken my nose in the process, I can’t help laughing with them.
Axel can’t keep a straight face either, and I guess he gets with the program because his flirting stops.
