Unauthorized Affair (Unauthorized #1)(29)

“Sounds great.” Jen felt excitement growing in her chest. She hadn’t been surfing since the morning she discovered Adam in her bed with Miss Attitude. And that was far too long ago. However this turned out, she’d always be grateful to Coleton for getting her back in the water.

She took her phone off the center console and shoved it beneath her seat. As she pulled on her wetsuit she looked behind them towards the restaurants and shops lining the other side of the street. Hunter and Sgt. Sadler were back there somewhere, she knew.

She grabbed her board and yelled, “race you!” as she ran to the beach and towards the water. She didn’t have to look back to know he was following already. She could hear him behind her, his feet thudding into the thick sand.

She sliced her board onto the water and flung herself onto it, laughing happily. Only then did she look back. He had caught her, but wasn’t quite as graceful as she was on the entry. She laughed again and he looked up at her, grinning. The force of his good looks struck her full in the face and she looked forward again, shaking her head. If only she’d met him under different circumstances. Maybe they would have had a chance.

They paddled out to where the waves were breaking and turned neatly around to face shore, their boards parallel to each other.

“It feels so great to be back in the water!” she told him.

“My head is bursting with the joy of the unknown,” he said back without hesitation.

She looked at him strangely.

“Oh, sorry. I told you I did that a lot.”

“What poet is that?”

“It’s Rumi again, he’s always been my favorite.”

Jen looked behind her at the waves coming in, replaying the sentence over again in her head. She decided it was lovely, but it couldn’t compare with waves, water, and motion. She started paddling as she saw her first good wave coming in.



***



2 hours later, exhausted and sore, Jen followed Coleton back onto the beach. She would have stayed out all day, but the waves had degraded and there wasn’t much point anymore.

They walked to their cars. Jen felt relaxed, wrung out of all her worries, happy just to be alive, which was what surfing usually did for her. She touched Coleton on the arm. “Thank you so much for inviting me out. I haven’t had this much fun in months.”

He leaned forward, and before she knew it, his lips were on hers, light and warm. She pulled back, her eyes wide, her lips tingling. Her hand fluttered to her throat and she stared at him.

He grinned, an appealing, boyish grin that would have charmed her down to her toes if she weren’t so shocked. And if she weren’t there on police business.

“Sorry,” he said. “I’ve wanted to do that forever.”

Jen didn’t know what to say. That’s OK? That’s not OK? Don’t do it again or I’ll arrest you? Do it again because I really kind of liked it but God I don’t want to like it? She stuttered and then gave up. She walked to the back of her car, hiding her face from him, her eyebrows stretching up towards her hairline. She wondered if Hunter had seen it. Of course he had. And what did he think of it?

Get hold of yourself, girl. No cracking up.

She peeled her wetsuit off and threw it in the back of her car. Coleton was watching her, concern on his face. She smiled, and he smiled back, relieved.

“I brought us some snacks. I was hoping you didn’t have to leave right away.”

Hunter had told her earlier that there was no set time when the date had to end because Coleton had already hinted he’d like to see her for longer than just a surfing date. “I can stay,” she said as she retrieved her phone from under her seat.

He pulled an actual picnic basket out of his car and led her to a shady spot on the grass. He produced a light blanket and spread it on the ground. “Milady.”

She pulled out pretend skirts in a stilted curtsy and said, “Milord,” then sat cross-legged, giggling. He sat across from her and began taking sandwiches, chips, drinks, cut up watermelon, and thick cuts of cheese out of the basket.

“What’s your favorite? Peanut butter and jelly, peanut butter and m&m, ham and cheese, tuna salad, or turkey and mayonnaise?”

She giggled again. “There’s so many.”

He smiled softly. “I wanted to be sure you’d have something you liked.”

“What’s peanut butter and m&m?”

“Only the best sandwich on the planet. Here, try it.” He handed her half of the sandwich and chose half of something that looked like ham and cheese for him.


She bit into it and looked across the endless water. Surfing and a picnic lunch. This guy knew how to plan his dates. And she’d been impressed with him on his board. He knew what he was doing.

“This is great. The peanut butter and chocolate go together perfectly. Did your mom invent this?” She snuck a glance at him.

He was gazing over the deep blue like she had been. “Nah, this is true bachelor food.”

“Hey! You promised if I went out with you again you’d tell me what app you created.”

He shaded his eyes and looked at her intently. “I did. OK, you ever heard of My Monkey Minds?”

Jen gasped and grabbed her phone. She flipped the page to the right and showed it to him; the icons for the games My Monkey Minds 1, 2, and 3 were the only ones on the screen. “You didn’t.”