Chapter 4
Gage strode toward the beach with a smile on his face. The sun was high, the weather was great, and he had a date with the hottest babe on the beach. Well, a lesson, technically, but still.
The truth was, Gage had been haunted by Carly’s face since Christian had introduced them yesterday.
The sexy way she’d dominated the surfboard.
The innocent kindness in her eyes when they first met, accented by a hint of mischief.
And then there was the look of hurt and surprise that followed. As if she’d been betrayed somehow.
A knot of guilt rolled through him at the mere recollection.
If Gage wasn’t so intrigued by Carly, he might talk to the owners and tell them he’d work with Marcus after all.
As it stood, he wanted to win her over without giving up his time with her.
At least now he had three hours a day with Carly, five days of the week.
Six, if he wanted, from what they’d told him.
It was like starting off a relationship with a round of steady dating. Not bad.
Dad’s voice broke into his musings, reminding him he shouldn’t be looking for love right now.
“Right,” he mumbled. The odd thing was, it was rare for Gage to find himself so intrigued by a woman.
What were the chances one would catch his interest during the one spot of time he’d agreed not to get involved?
That didn’t mean they couldn’t be friends.
Lucky for Gage, Christian had shared a bit of inside information about Carly.
He glanced down at the peanut butter protein bar in his grip and grinned.
The peace offering was sure to impress her.
According to his old buddy, Carly couldn’t get enough of them.
Forget the fact that the gift shop sold them for the price of a gourmet burger; if it would win him her favor, Gage might buy her one for every day of the week, even her day off.
His heart picked up speed as he spotted Carly beside the surf shack.
His board awaited him there, which caused an entirely new series of nerves to rush through him.
Perhaps he should have agreed to have Marcus train him for the first week so he wouldn’t make a fool of himself in front of Carly. Too late now.
About five yards of sand separated him from his eleven o’clock session.
Now four.
Her blonde hair was dry, as well as her wetsuit, which was black today, like his.
Gage caught her eye for a blink, glanced off in the distance as his heart thundered in response, and pumped himself up like he did before encountering a gorgeous, intimidating woman. You’ve got this Gage. Just be yourself.
Three yards.
“Hi there,” she called. Dang, her voice was low, smooth, and sweet sounding. Repentant almost.
Gage tugged the sunglasses off his face and set his gaze back on Carly.
In the same moment, a wave crashed against the shore.
The effects seemed to reach clear to his chest as he sucked in a breath of air.
Those blue eyes, even more hypnotizing than before, were fixed on him.
“Hi.” He cleared his throat. “It’s gorgeous out here today.
” She was gorgeous out here today, that was for sure.
And he’d noticed the view was pretty too, until Carly caught his eye and put the view to shame.
A beautiful smiled pulled at her lips, introducing two adorable dimples he’d missed when they first met. Heaven help him.
“It’s always gorgeous out here,” she assured, handing his board over.
Gage took it, then looked down at the protein bar in his hand, second guessing the gesture. Sunlight bounced off the gold foil wrapping as he considered.
“Oh,” Carly said, her eyes dropping to his hand. “Did you want to hurry and eat that first? Wouldn’t hurt to get a little energy in you.”
“Actually, it’s for you.” Feeling awkward now, he straightened his arm toward her.
Carly shifted her board from one hand to the next and took it. “Oh.” She stared at the snack for a blink, then leaned her board against the counter. A group of rowdy teens stood nearby, talking surf slang and scrutinizing the boards behind the counter.
“I’ll, um, put this in my locker real quick.” She tugged a small key from her suit, pushed through a swinging half-door to get behind the bar, and opened a small locker in the upper corner. She closed it, but then jerked a look back at Gage over her shoulder. “Did you want to put anything in here?”
Gage shook his head no. He’d taken his phone back to the beach house after hitting the gift shop.
“Hey surfer girl,” one of the guys from the group called. “Can I put my phone in there?”
Another guy swooped his bleach-blond bangs from his face. “Yeah, mine too. And maybe you can put your number in there while you’re at it.”
“Whoa ho, ho!” The group cheered.
“Good call,” one encouraged.
A gentleman who’d been helping them cleared his throat. “If you kids want to rent a locker, you can. Carly can only share hers with her students.”
“Carly?” the kid with the bangs cooed.
“Now we know her name,” another mumbled.
The man’s comment caused the teens to turn to Gage. “Student, huh?” one said while looking him up and down. “Where do I sign up?”
Carly moved back to the swinging half-door and eyed the group before her.
“You can sign up right here with Logan,” she said, nodding to the man running the shack.
“Marcus has plenty of slots available.” She set her gaze back on Gage.
“I’m all booked up.” With that, she walked straight through the gangly bunch and headed toward the waves, not bothering to grab her board.
Gage eyed Logan, who simply nodded toward her board with a pointed look.
“Yeah,” Gage said. “I got it.”
“Should have put your sun glasses in her locker,” the man added. He held his hand out as Gage realized the truth of it. “I’ll keep them behind the counter for you.”
Gage nodded. “Thanks, man.”
“Newbie,” one of the kids mumbled.
Gage turned his gaze back to Carly as he hefted a board in each hand. She was already halfway to the water.
Yep. He was a newbie all right and it showed.
If he still had the sunglasses, he’d pull them back onto his face.
Instead, Gage puffed his chest, squared his shoulders, and reminded himself that those boys would soon be watching him on the big screen which was sure to be a hit among their crowd.
It satisfied his ego where the punks were concerned, but Carly was another story.
What would it take to get on her good side?
Walking down to where she stood, he vowed to find out exactly what that would entail.
Carly folded her arms as she waited for Gage to make his way through the sand.
She hadn’t meant to leave him with both of their boards, but she’d been anxious to get away from the surf boys with their immature comments and catcalls.
They were harmless enough, but she wanted to be respected while on the job, not get hit on by a bunch of pre-pubescent surfers in front of one of her students.
Grains of sand slipped between her toes and rushed over her feet as she shifted her weight.
She fought the sudden urge to check her hair and make sure it was in place.
Standing before the likes of Gage Craven was an experience beyond words.
Watching the way he’d pulled the sunglasses off his handsome face, only to reveal the dark brown eyes she’d memorized from the day before…
no doubt her face had filled with enough heat to make her cheeks redder than the flowers on her surfboard.
She forced her gaze to a distant row of palm trees and willed herself not to blush yet again.
Sheesh, she wasn’t back in grade school.
She shifted her weight, allowing her feet to sink deeper, focusing on the cool sand against her skin.
It was firm beneath the surface, more solid than the rest. Carly mused she could say the same about herself.
Sure, she’d had a rough beginning to her trip to the Palm, with unexpected emotions taking her by storm, but beneath that, she was tough.
As the thought crossed her mind, Carly spotted Gage in her periphery; he was close. Her heart clunked out of beat, then pounded out a new, frantic pace.
“Sorry I left you with my board,” she said, hating how shy she sounded suddenly.
She cleared her throat, pulled her gaze off his hypnotizing eyes and stared at her board instead.
Yes, Carly. Just don’t look into his eyes and you’ll be fine.
Yet as he handed over the surfboard, Gage’s bicep popped beneath the short sleeve of his wetsuit. Fine. Don’t look at his arms either.
She let her board fall to the sand. “Let’s um, start a few exercises first. I’m going to have you drop your board and lay on the sand, chest down.”
Gage rested his board gently beside hers, then looked up at her through a set of dark lashes, a questioning look in his eyes. “Chest down? Right on the sand?”
She nodded. You’re looking at his eyes again, Carly. But how could she avoid it? They were having a conversation. Her heart skipped to keep up its rapid pace.
“Are you going to have me do pushups or what?” He glanced over his shoulder before setting his eyes back on her.
Carly followed his gaze to the group of guys from the surf shack. “What’s up, betty?” one called.
She grinned as a realization came to mind. He was embarrassed. Was that even possible? Maybe she was wrong. “Not pushups,” she said. “It’s an arm exercise. It basically makes you look like a giant turtle crawling in the sand.”
He held her gaze for a blink, the look of contemplation forming on his face. “I wonder if we could maybe…do this someplace…”
The group was approaching now, waving their arms at her to catch her gaze. “Enjoy the waves, boys!” she hollered before taking her voice down for Gage. “You wonder if what? We can do this someplace a little more private?”
Just saying the words gave her a ridiculous thrill.
Gage’s shoulders dropped. He huffed out a relieved breath and nodded. “Exactly. Yes.” His eyes locked on hers once more. “Please.”
If she thought her heart was beating hard before, it was straight-out hammering now. Like bolts of thunder pounding in her chest. Not only were those eyes of his weaving a spell over her, the sound of his low, raspy plea toyed with the rest of her senses.
“Sure,” she said. “Follow me.” Carly picked up her board and led the way to a more private area of the beach. Several of the bungalows, including the one she stayed in, were tucked away in a spot nearly hidden from the others.
“This is awesome,” Gage said as he trailed behind her. “I didn’t see this spot on the reservation map. I would’ve picked it for sure.”
The comment took her by surprise. A quick glance over her shoulder had Carly remembering her don’t-look-Gage-in-the-eyes rule. Her heart started into a paddling frenzy of its own, as if trying to catch the best wave of the day. “You’d choose to stay in these instead of one of the mansions?”
“Definitely,” he said. “I’m actually just in one of the beach homes west of the resort. But these…they definitely weren’t on the map. They’re pretty cool looking.”
“Yeah, so they built these with the intent of offering patrons a more private spot on the beach since, like you say, not everyone wants to rent out one of the mansions. But do you feel how the sand is more coarse here?”
“Not really,” Gage said. “I mean, I guess it’s not as smooth as it was back there.”
Carly led him around a set of sand dunes where the beach vanished for a space, replaced by what looked like a small, isolated mountain ledge. Beyond that was another stretch of private beach.
“It’s not an obvious difference, but it’s enough that some big-name billionaire left a negative review about the “feet-pricking sand” and the “obnoxious mountain” that hindered his view.
The owners pulled the bungalows right off the reservation map and decided to offer them to select staff instead.
Mainly the entertainment. I just got lucky.
Probably because I work out here on the beach. ”
“That makes sense. So is Christian over here too?” They were nearing the beach once more, but Carly could tell by the sound of Gage’s voice that he was trailing farther behind now.
She slowed her own footsteps, spun around to see Gage had stopped walking altogether. “Yes,” she said. “Haven’t you checked out Christian’s place yet?”
“Nope. Jerk. Hasn’t even taken me back to his room.” He’d placed an insinuative tone on the last few words, then chuckled under his breath.
Carly grinned. Gage was different than she’d imagined. Friendlier, easier to talk to. And he smelled good too. Since she assumed he hadn’t put cologne on his wetsuit, Carly figured it must be aftershave of some kind. The spicy scent toyed with her senses as she inhaled a long, deep breath of it.
Don’t get sucked in by him, Carly.
Gage took a few slow steps toward the housing area. “So are these the same layout as the bungalows closer to the resort?”
“Yes,” Carly said. “They don’t update these as often, but everything still looks new to me.
” She spun back around and continued toward the beach, reminding herself of the rather childish look on Gage’s face when he’d requested they go someplace more private.
Who knew a man like him, in his mid-twenties, no less, would be intimidated by a group of teenage boys?
She fought back a grin as she considered it, wondering why the humor of it was hitting her right then. Men and their pride. She chuckled under her breath.
“What are you laughing about?” Gage asked. He’d come up alongside her and seemed to be scrutinizing her expression.
It made her smile grow wider. “Just thinking about the way you didn’t want to do the turtle in front of those boarder boys.”
He grinned sheepishly. “Can you blame me?” His brown eyes held hers, causing a wave of heat to rush through her chest.
This was an endearing side to him. She didn’t want to be endeared by it, but she was. Carly bit her lip. Just what would the next few weeks look like? Was it possible she really would end up making out with a guy on the beach this summer? Not just any guy, but this one?
There went the heat in her face again. Carly cleared her throat and dropped her board. “Okay,” she hollered as a wave crashed in. “Let’s get down to business. First drop your board, then drop your bod. Let’s see you practice those paddles.”