Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
ELIZABETH
If anyone dares to tell you that standing up on a board in moving water is easy, they need to have some sense smacked into them. I think I’ve fallen off every single time I’ve gotten on this stupid thing. Ryder had me first practice with the surfboard on the dry beach. I had to go from lying on my stomach to popping up on two legs over and over again before he would let me take it into the water. I understand why he did that because this shit is hard to do.
“You’re doing fine, Elizabeth. You’re trying too hard. Just relax and let it happen.”
“I can definitely do relaxed.”
I belly flop onto the board and splay my arms out wide like a starfish. Ryder pulls me out a little farther where the swells aren’t so rough, and we bob up and down in a gentle rocking motion.
“Sit up for me and straddle the board,” he instructs, and I do as he says.
I don’t know how he accomplishes it, but he somehow is able to pop up onto the board, facing me, so our knees touch. He rakes a hand through his hair, water droplets glistening in the sun as they meander in tiny rivulets down his tanned skin, and I become a little starstruck.
“We’ll need to head in soon to meet the guys for lunch.”
I glance across the shimmering expanse of ocean, its greenish blue stretching endlessly beneath the bright midday sun.
“It’s that time already? I feel like we just got here.”
The truth is, I want more time—just the two of us, away from everything else.
He checks his watch. “We can stay out here a little while longer or go for a walk down the beach.”
I pick option two because my sore muscles need a break.
“A stroll down the beach sounds great.”
“I hope this wasn’t too awful. Learning to surf can be boring at first.”
“Boring? No way. Golf is boring.”
“What’s wrong with golf? You played mini golf yesterday and said it was fun.”
I dip my hands in the warm ocean and flick water at him.
“Mini golf has obstacles and windmills. Regular golf is about as much fun as watching paint dry.”
“True.”
Ryder retaliates and kicks a wave of water my way, soaking me.
Of course, I escalate and drench him good.
“Oh, she wants to play.” His voice holds a warning, but before I can react, he flips the surfboard, sending me tumbling into the water.
Popping to the surface, something touches my ankle, and my mind swiftly conjures Jaws —because for some reason my brain decided to retain that movie for me to remember.
I instinctively kick out and hit something solid.
But then I feel Ryder’s fingers, strong and warm, wrap around my lower leg as he releases the board’s ankle strap. I have no time to consider why he would remove the tether between me and the surfboard when he hoists me effortlessly out of the water.
“Don’t you dare!” I shriek, seeing the mischief lighting his amber eyes right before he tosses me into the air.
I land in the water in a giant, inelegant splash. “It’s on now,” I threaten when I resurface.
I dive under an incoming swell and come up behind him, wrapping my arms around his back and pulling him under.
Breathless but exhilarated, I signal a “T” with my hands.
“Giving up so soon?”
I flip onto my back and grin up at him. “Never.”
His fingers glide through my hair, fanning it out in the water, and the way he’s looking at me…dear god, I feel it as if his hands, not his eyes, were roaming my body.
Our playfulness dissipates, replaced by that visceral tightening that churns deep in my chest.
The sensation intensifies when he takes my hips and guides my legs around his waist. I grab hold of his shoulders. They feel like banded steel under my palms, warmed from the sun.
Don’t do it, Elizabeth.
“Liz! Ry!”
Whatever moment was about to happen is broken, and disappointment crashes over me when I slip from his arms.
“I guess that’s our cue,” Ryder says.
“I guess so.”
“Hop on, and I’ll tow you in.”
I grab onto the side of the surfboard. “Ryder?”
“Yeah?”
“Thank you for another wonderful time.”
A bittersweet smile tugs at the corners of his lips. “Anytime.”
He helps me back onto the board. “I guess we won’t get our walk on the beach.”
“I’ll give you long walks on the beach anytime you want, Elizabeth.”
And I fall just a little bit more.