Chapter 22
“God, I really should have accepted that this was just a dream,” I grumbled after slipping off the surfboard. I tried a second time, but the board was just too slippery and it surged forward.
“Well, it’s also got a little to do with the fact that the board hasn’t been waxed in ages.”
I couldn’t tell if he was trying to make me feel better or if it was simply the truth, but the board he’d rustled up for me on the fly was a leftover of Jim’s and hadn’t seen any water in years. But, with his help, the next time around I managed to get on and even move into a lying position.
“We’ve got to paddle out a bit. Slide back a tad, otherwise the nose will keep going underwater.” He pointed to the front of the board. “You can orient yourself with the logo. That’s more or less where your chin should be.”
“Logo…got it.”
“I know that at the beginning it feels more natural to let your feet hang into the water, but you won’t get the right body tension you need to keep the board stable that way. So, close your legs, tighten your butt, and keep your feet out of the water.”
I tried to process all the info and keep myself from blushing after Vince had used the word butt.
“Good. Now alternate your arms like you’re crawling. Left, right, left, right.” He took off. Seemingly effortlessly, his bent arms slid into the water as he moved away. I tried to imitate him but got distracted by how beautifully his wet back shone in the sun.
“Unless you want some fierce cramps in your shoulders, make sure you bend your arms,” he called back to me.
I stopped short. I hadn’t considered cramps at all.
I suppressed my sudden doubts and kept on paddling.
It was more challenging than I’d expected, and it was hard to keep the board still.
The surf kept spraying me in the face, and the sun was relentless.
By the time I reached Vince, he was sitting on his board, his legs dangling, as if the ocean were his living room.
“All good?” he asked, dead relaxed.
“Yeah.” I gasped.
“That was good.”
I took it as a joke and grumbled to myself.
“No, for real. Most people go limp way sooner. You can tell you’re in shape.”
His compliment caught me unawares and felt a little too good. Maybe that’s why I got a bit cocky and asked, “So…we going to surf, or what?”
He laughed out loud. “Well, first I’m going to teach you how to sit on your board and wait for the right wave. And then you’re going to learn how to fall. And get back up. And fall again.”
* * *
Vince wasn’t kidding. For a long time, all we did was sit on our boards and wait.
The water wound about our knees, and in the distance the waves crashed onto shore.
Gulls screeched above our heads, and some kind of tanker or cruise ship loomed on the horizon.
When suitable waves finally arrived, he explained the technique.
The rise, balance, and fall. At first, I couldn’t do any of it.
I missed the right moment at least twenty-five times.
And when I finally did get it right, I immediately lost my balance and fell into the water.
It was frustrating. Even though he said I was doing well, and that surfing was one of the most difficult sports in the world, the fact that I couldn’t do better gnawed away at my ego.
When I moaned again, he shouted, “Now!” At his command, I heaved myself up and this time my timing was right.
I bent my knees slightly and spread my arms as the wave caught the board.
A disbelieving whoop came from my lips as I let it carry me.
Let myself glide with the current. It was exhilarating, and I felt so full of delight that I could have burst. Beaming with joy, I turned to him and realized at the same moment that I’d just made a mistake.
I immediately toppled to the side and landed headlong in the ocean. Gasping, I shot back up and spit water.
“Did you see that?!” I called out euphorically.
He laughed and slid off his board. “Yeah, I did.”
“I surfed!”
“You did.”
I couldn’t stop myself and fell around his neck.
He staggered almost imperceptibly, put a hand around my waist, and pulled me toward him.
The sudden closeness was overwhelming. The feeling of his body against mine.
Our naked skin. His chest pressing against mine with every breath.
The way he looked at me at the same time.
A little unsure. A little longingly. I ran my thumbs softly down his neck, and he let out a sound that was swallowed by the waves.
His body grew tense, his jaw tight. As if he had to defend himself.
Fight against something. I wondered what it could be when suddenly I felt something hard against my stomach.
“Sorry,” he said, embarrassed, the word vibrating between us.
Heat rose in me. The kind of heat that demanded more.
More closeness. More physical contact. My self-control fluttered away like a paper napkin in the wind.
I leaned forward and kissed him. It was a brash kiss, but he returned it just as impetuously.
Our tongues met, our teeth scraped. He moaned as I buried my hands in his hair, pulling his head even closer to mine.
I wrapped my legs around his hips as he lifted me up, feeling even more how much he wanted this. How much his body wanted me.
“Stop,” he said, breathing heavily and removing his lips from mine.
Everything in me wanted to object, but at the same time I knew why he was backing away. And that he was right. We were on a public beach, not far enough out to ignore such boundaries.
“We should…”
“Yeah,” I said.
For a moment neither of us said anything, but then we started to laugh. A little embarrassed, a little shy.
“I…umm…I think I need a minute.” He looked around, and I had nothing better to do than follow his eyes. The water was so clear that I could see the bulge in his trunks and, for some reason, it turned me on incredibly. No, that’s not quite right. I knew why. It was standing right in front of me.
By the time we finally waded out of the water, I could feel every muscle in my body. It should have unsettled me, but all I felt was joy. That feeling of happiness that makes your cheeks glow and your eyes light up. Or at least that’s what it seemed like to me.
“Could we do that again sometime?” I asked, unhappily undoing the leash from my ankle.
He grinned mischievously. “What exactly?”
“Go surfing.” I let myself sink down onto the sand.
“You can come by whenever you want when…you wanna go surfing.”
The dramatic pause made me smile. He shook out his wet hair and sat down next to me.
“I hadn’t thought it’d be like that,” I said even more earnestly than before. I looked for the right word. “So…”
“Intoxicating?”
“Yeah! It’s…intoxicating.”
“I think it feels that way ’cause…for a few seconds the power of the ocean shifts onto you.” He paused, as if weighing whether to share his thoughts with me or not. “When you surf, you’re moving with the water, not against it. You become one with the element.”
I stared at him, and his expression turned sheepish.
“Sorry, that’s just surfer kitsch.”
“No! It’s…beautiful.” The last word came out of my mouth in a whisper. “Thank you for showing me.”
The embarrassment in his eyes disappeared and a smile broke across his face. “With pleasure.”
For a few seconds our eyes remained locked. But sadly my stomach hadn’t received the memo that this was a romantic moment and began to growl so loudly that Vince burst out laughing.
“You should feed that beast,” he said with a smirk, stood up, and offered me his hand.
A large, suntanned hand with little golden hairs flecked with sand.
As I took it and let him help me up, my whole arm tingled.
“And put on something dry,” he added with a glance at my goose bumps, which, to be honest, didn’t have anything to do with my wet bikini.
All I managed was a nod and crossed my arms as my chest certainly was giving away more than I wanted it to.
“Okay, so…” He ran a hand through his hair almost self-consciously.
“See you next time.” See you next time?!
Before my face could turn the color of a boiled lobster, I turned away and screwed up my eyes.
I was about to walk off when an “umm” made me stop.
I turned around once more. He was still standing in the same place with his wet, scruffy hair, sandy hands, and slightly sheepish look.
“You like shrimp?”