“If you can controlyoursfor a few hours, then I’m not doing my job,” he tells her.
“Oh, you do your job just fine,” she giggles.
“I think I’m going to be sick,” I mutter.“If you two can keep the innuendo to a minimum and your hands to yourself, I think I will go in the water for a bit.”
“Fine,” Dane huffs. “Go have fun,Brat.”
Before I go, I tell Lyra that Dane and Cami will watch her and tell them if she needs to potty.
I pull off my coverup andhead for the water. When I’m waist deep, I dive in the rest of the way, letting the waves take me. Iswim out several more feet before I turn, swimming parallel with the beach in the opposite direction of the guys on their boards.
I’m not sure how long I’m out there. I swim until my muscles are tired,then make my way back toward shore. I come up when I can touchthe bottom again, with eyes closed, wiping the water and my hair from my face.
An arm wraps around my waist, and I find myself leaning into the touch.“If I’d known this is what you had on under that little dress thing, I wouldn’t have let you leave the hotel.”
I giggle at the roughness of his voice. Then I realize!I just leaned in. I didn’t freak out when he grabbedme.
I turn, wrapping my arms around his neck. “Why are you over here instead ofsurfing?”
“Couldn’t resist the gorgeous thing I saw swimming around,” he smirks.
“Well, according to you, you’ve been resisting for years,” I tease him.
His handsgrasp my backside in a punishing grip. “I didn’t resist you. I stayed the fuck away because I knew I couldn’t.”
“Wonder how I would’ve responded if you’d said or done something all those years ago. You weren’t exactly on my radar.” It’s a tease and the truth all at once.
“If you’re trying to deflate my ego, it’s not working. I would’ve had you then too. I wouldn’t have stopped until I made you mine, just like now. Ididn’t resist very long at all. And make no mistake, Cara, you are mine.”He dips his head down, taking my mouth in a salty kiss that takes my breath.
I am his. I just hope when he’s done with me, there’s something left to pick up.I won’t say that,though. Instead, I look behind him at the board he’s still dragging.
“Want me to teach you?” he asks with a raised brow.
“Pretty sure I’d drown,” I laugh.
“Come on, you can be my Gidget, and I can be your Moondoggie.”
“What?” I laugh.
He shrugs with a laugh of his own.“My mom loves old movies. I’ll show you one day. Although, you’re a little tall to be Gidget. Good thing I prefer long legs. Come on.”
He drags me to the board, helping me on, then climbs on behind me.
“What are we doing?” I ask with a mixture of excitement and panic.
“You’re going surfing.”
“Jake, I’m going to die.”
“Do you trust me, Cara?”
I’m notsure why, but that question doesn’t feel like it’s about surfing. It only takes me a second tohave myanswer. Another second to get over the shock of the realization. One more tocome to terms with my answer. Then I tell him emphatically, “Yes.”
He stops paddling us. His head drops to my back,and I feel the breath he exhales. He kisses the spot his head lays before he begins to paddle us out again. “Then you know I’m not going to let anything hurt you,” he whispers.“We’re not going out far. Just want to take you for a ride.”
A few minutes later, a wave is coming.It looks huge to me, but Jake says it’s a small oneas he paddles into it. I feel when it takes us. I expect him to pop up to his feet, but he just gets to his knees, telling me to stay down. I feel him leaning andtilting as we travel on the water. The entire time I’m screaming like, well, a girl.
When it comes to an end, he’s laughing so hard, we topple overinto the water.When we pop up, we’re both laughing.
