The Wrong Mr. Right (The Queen's Cove Series #2)(51)

Fuuuuuuck.

My cock ached. That smug grin told me everything I needed to know.

“I thought about you while I did my homework.” She gave me a shy but pleased smile before she walked to the door.

I watched her ass in the wetsuit and longed to slap it for what she was doing, teasing me and pushing me to the edge of control like this.

She was making me want her, and she knew what she was doing.

Hannah paused at the doorway and raised an eyebrow, still wearing that smug smile. “Are you coming?”

We didn’t talk much on the water that morning. The cold water helped my erection subside and I focused on Hannah, hopping up on her board and catching waves. Sometimes, I threw out feedback but I mostly let her figure it out herself. Her intuition was sharpening, she was learning the perfect timing of the waves, she was learning which waves to catch and which to let go because they were too messy, and when the ocean tossed her off her board?

She laughed. More and more, she laughed. She was learning it didn’t matter if she failed. It didn’t matter if she didn’t nail that one wave, because there’d be another. There was always another. Each wave existed only in the moment and then it was gone forever.

Something panged in my chest but I ignored it.

The feeling swerved right back around, and I knew Hannah and I were like that. Spending time with her was the easiest thing in the world but come September, I might be leaving if the competition went well. The sensation sharpened, pinching me. Hannah and I existed in the moment like everything else in the universe. I thought about my aunts, how temporary it was for them, too temporary, and how heartbroken my aunt had been when her wife passed. How heartbroken she still was. The woman wouldn’t set a foot back in town since she sold me the house.

The thought of not surfing with Hannah, not spending mornings out here in nature with her? It made me feel like I was losing something important.

I swallowed and let a wave roll past me, taking the thoughts with it. I didn’t want them. Didn’t want to think about it.

Present. Focused. I was with Hannah this morning, so I turned my thoughts back to the now.

When this was all over, I could reminisce and deal with those emotions. But for now, I was going to enjoy the moment.

After an hour, she grew tired so we paddled to our cove and floated side by side on the water, soaking in the morning rays of sun.

She lifted her head. “Did that guy contact you?”

I opened one eye. “What guy?”

“The Billabong guy. Emilio something.”

Right. I nodded. “He did.” I had called him back the other morning and he walked me through what a sponsorship would look like. The company would pay me to wear their gear and take a couple pictures at a studio as long as I stayed at pro level and kept my nose clean.

She gestured, like go on. “Well?”

I flashed her a grin and shrugged. “It depends how I do at Pacific Rim.”

“And if you do well…?”

I stared at the sky. “It sounds like I have a sponsorship.” A splash of water hit me in the face and I burst out laughing. “What was that for?”

She beamed at me, so bright I thought my heart might crack open. “Wyatt. You did it.”

“Not yet.” It was so easy to rest my gaze on her. Like it belonged there. Like looking at her was healthy for my soul.

“You will. This is big. We should celebrate.”

“What did you have in mind?”

She tilted her head and chewed her lip. “Will you take me camping?”

“Camping.” I snorted. “With bugs and dirt and peeing in the woods?”

When she laughed, her chest shook, and mine flooded with warmth. “Yeah, that camping. But also with trees and sky and stars and a campfire. I used to go with my parents. My mom loved it. We’re allowed to have campfires, right? I see people having them on the beach all the time.”

During summer, there was often a campfire ban in our province, because a hot, dry summer led to wildfires, which was where my brother Finn was right now. Every summer, he left to fight wildfires around British Columbia before returning in October.

“We’re in the fog zone, so we can have a fire. Do you have camping gear?”

There was that big smile again. I’d do anything to keep it on her face. She nodded. “We have a tent and stuff in the garage.”

We decided to go the next night. There were a lot of provincial parks in the area, campgrounds owned and maintained by the province, but they booked up months in advanced. Besides, they were too populated. Hannah wanted nature, silence, and stars. I knew a spot further up into the forest where we could camp undisturbed.

The thought of having her all to myself for a night sent blood rushing to my groin. I shoved the thought from my mind. We’d have separate tents. It wouldn’t be like that.

On her board beside me, Hannah let out a long sigh. “I’m very relaxed today.”

Another image of her in bed flashed into my head and I stifled a tortured groan. She giggled.

On second thought, a night alone with Hannah, with her all to myself, teasing me and shooting me those smug looks?

It was going to be fucking agony.





16





Hannah





“I got you something.”