By the Book (Meant to Be #2)(39)

Her mouth dropped open. “Surfing lessons? But I don’t…That sounds…”

He ignored her and turned back to the woman with a long blond ponytail working at the shop. “Oh, and she needs a swimsuit. She can change in the back, right?”

The blond woman was already beckoning to Izzy. “Oh totally, yeah. Come on back and try stuff on.”

Izzy looked up at Beau. He was still smiling, but that challenging look from the first day was back in his eyes. And she reacted the same way she had then.

“Fine, I’ll do this. But if I fall off the surfboard and drown, Marta is going to kill you, you realize that, right? It’ll make so much extra work for her if she has to hire a new assistant.”

He just laughed at her. “I’ll make sure that doesn’t happen.”

Izzy walked into the back, wondering why she’d agreed to do this. She didn’t even know if they had her size in this place, despite how certain the blond surfer had looked. This looked like the kind of place with lots of bikinis for people who were size 0, 2, maybe 4, not any kind of swimsuit for someone who was size 12. But no, she found a one-piece in the back that fit her, and it was bright pink, not boring black.

She pulled the wet suit on over the swimsuit and went out to meet Beau. She felt ridiculous, but she’d told Beau she’d do this, so now she had to.

He was also in a wet suit. Unfortunately, he did not look at all ridiculous in it. He looked strong, and powerful, and…She had to look away.

“Did you rent a wet suit for yourself, too?” she asked him.

He shook his head. “I brought mine along.” He gestured at the bag at his feet. “My surfboard is a little big for you, though. I thought you should learn on something easier.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “You planned this from the beginning?” She’d thought he’d just had the idea when they got to the beach.

He laughed as he took the surfboard from the blond woman. “I am capable of planning ahead, you know.”

She hadn’t really expected that he’d plan ahead for her.

He turned down toward the beach. “And see, now you have a swimsuit,” he said. “I still can’t believe you made it two weeks here without one.”

She gestured back at the shop. “Don’t I need to pay for this?”

He waved a hand at her. “I got it. This was my idea, after all.”

She started to argue with him, but she could tell from the look on his face there was no point. “Thanks,” she said.

He ignored that and picked up the surfboard. “You ready for this?”

She looked out at the ocean and watched the waves crashing in to shore. They seemed…violent. She eyed the surfboard Beau was holding.

“Not exactly,” she said. She was supposed to balance on that? On top of the ocean?

He put his hand on her shoulder. “Come on. It’ll be fun.”

“I’m going to hold you to that promise,” she said.

He just grinned. It suddenly hit her, as the sun glinted in his hair, that there was such a difference in Beau between that first day and now. Then, when he’d laughed, there’d been no joy or fun in it. Or in him. But now…now as he walked down the beach with her, surfboard under his arm, his smile was real. She liked it. She liked him.

He dropped the surfboard down on the sand, not quite at the edge of the water. “Okay. Now stand on it,” he said.

She glanced down at the surfboard, then back up at him. “Just…stand on it?”

He nodded. “Just stand on it, right in the middle. You’re just getting comfortable on it now.”

“Okay. Like this?” She stepped on the board. It sort of wobbled back and forth, and she had to catch herself. Now she knew why he’d wanted her to do this for the first time on the sand and not in the water. She absolutely would have fallen off right away.

Granted, she still probably would.

“See how it moves?” he asked. “It will do that even more in the water, that’s why we started here. Now, here’s how to stand on it when you’re surfing.”

He demonstrated the stance, one foot in front of the other, his body spread out in a bit of a crouch.

She tried to imitate him. He looked at her, a slight frown on his face.

“Good, that’s good,” he said. Hmm, she didn’t believe him. “Except…” Ahh, see, she knew there would be an “except.” “Not quite so tense in the upper body. Maybe try relaxing your shoulders a little?”

She tried to make her shoulders go down, but she could tell from his face it wasn’t really working.

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed this about me in the past few weeks,” she said, “but I’m not that good at relaxing, okay?”

He just looked at her, and they both burst out laughing. “I have noticed that, actually,” he said. “But then, we may have that in common.”

She shook her head. “I thought we did, but you’re apparently much better at it than I am.”

He was still smiling. “Just on a surfboard, and that’s only because I’ve been doing it for a long time. Come here.” He motioned her over toward him. “Turn around.”

She narrowed her eyes at him, and he laughed. “I’m not trying to trick you. Just turn around.”