Shattered Ties(25)

“You know you are, so stop trying to embarrass me more. I just had a near-death experience a minute ago.”

He grabbed my board, so he could use it to float as he leaned in closer to me. “And you think that you wearing that bikini isn’t distracting for me?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Stop acting innocent. You know what you look like, and you don’t try to hide it. I’ve been...distracted since you stripped down on the beach, but you don’t see me falling off my board because of it.”

“I...you...” I stuttered.

Jesse was always blunt, but this was taking it to a whole new level.

He laughed. “I guess we both know that we’re distracting each other now. Do you want to try again or take a break?”

“After falling off and you saying all of that, I think I need a break.”

“Fine by me. We can hang out on the beach for a few until you’re ready to go again.”

He helped me back onto my board, his hands lingering on me longer than necessary when he pushed my legs up. I shuddered as he ran his hand down my thigh to my knee. I wasn’t used to this game we were playing. Usually, if a guy was interested, he told me. With Jesse, I wasn’t sure how to handle the situation. He had just said that he found me attractive, but that didn’t mean that he was interested. I felt like I was walking on thin ice. One slip, and I’d come crashing down from the high his words had given me.

We paddled back to the beach, and once we were far enough away from the water, we stuck our boards in the sand. Jesse pulled two beach towels out of his duffel bag and handed me one.

“Is there anything that you don’t have stashed away in that thing?” I asked as I spread out my towel and settled down onto it.

“Nope. I carry all kinds of crap in it when I come to the beach.” He pulled two bottles of water out of it and gave me one. “Here, I brought us each one.”

“Thanks,” I said gratefully as I took the bottle and opened it.

Jesse spread out his towel beside me and sat down on it, watching me as I sipped my water.

“What?” I asked.

“What did you think?”

“Of surfing?” He nodded. “It was fun...until I fell off, that is.”

“I thought you might like it. Just don’t let your slipup scare you. You’re going to fall off a lot, but you’ll get better with practice.”

“I’m not giving up, I swear. I just need a few minutes to chill out. It freaked me out when I couldn’t find the surface.”

“I know what you mean. I did that once when I was younger. Andy was with me though, and he helped me, like I did with you. Just remember to never go surfing by yourself, okay? It’s not safe, and I don’t want to have to worry about whether you’re out here by yourself or not.”

“You’d worry about me?” I asked, touched by his thoughtfulness. “Yeah, I guess I would.”

“You know, you can be sweet when you want to be.”

He grinned. “Just don’t tell anyone that, okay?”

I pretended to zip my lips and throw away the key. “Your secret is safe with me. Who would’ve thought that Jesse is the caring type?”

“I don’t usually care.”

“So, why do you care about me?”

He looked unsure. “I don’t know, but I do.”

We both stayed quiet, reflecting on what he’d just said. For some reason, I cared about Jesse even though I barely knew him. I’d said it a million times before, but there was just something about him that pulled me in. I wanted to know everything about him, every little detail—his likes, his dislikes, what made him tick, his home life, what he wanted to do with his life.

“You said before that you’re close to your mom. Will you tell me about her?” I asked.

He raised an eyebrow in surprise. “What do you want to know?”

“I don’t care. Anything. What’s her name, where does she work, what’s she like?”

“Her name is Trish, and she’s a waitress. She’s the strongest person I know, and I love her for it. She never lets anything get her down. It’s just been the two of us for as long as I can remember. My dad disappeared when I was little, and she stepped up to be both mom and dad to me.”

“It sounds like you two are close.”

“We are. She wants me to meet some * named Mark tomorrow for dinner.”

“You don’t sound happy about that.”

“I’m not. We don’t need some prick coming into our lives and screwing everything up. We have a system, and it works.”

“Maybe he’s not as bad as you think. I mean, you’ve never even met the guy. Give him a chance before you judge him.” “Yeah, I guess,” he said doubtfully.

I could tell that he wasn’t going to even give this guy a chance. He’d already made up his mind about him.

“What about you? You didn’t seem to like your mom when you mentioned her before.”

“It’s not that I don’t like her. It’s just that we’re two very different people. My parents divorced when I was younger, and my dad tours with his band a lot, so I have to live with her. She’d rather spend all her time trying to climb the social food chain of Santa Monica rather than be a mom to me. I’m just another toy she can use to get in good with them. I befriend their kids, and she uses that to her advantage. It sucks.”