With This Heart(29)

I stopped splashing and I just stared at him with wide eyes and a gaping mouth. I know you might be thinking “he didn’t say love , chill out”, but before that moment, a boy had never told me he liked me. Waves crashed against my hips, and I just stood there silent, completely taken aback. Thankfully, he didn’t wait for me to respond.

“ C’mon! Our surprise starts in a little bit and we should take a quick break before then.”





[page]CHAPTER ELEVEN





Beck had arranged a surfing lesson for us through the hotel. After we’d returned to shore and I’d reapplied sunscreen (with Beck’s help), a surfing instructor with longish blonde hair and an interesting Texas-meets-surfer accent found us under the umbrella.

“ Are you guys Beck and Abby?” he asked, looking down at a sheet of paper in his hand. He wasn’t wearing a shirt and I could tell he spent most of his time outside. His entire body had a deep tan and he was toned from surfing.

I wondered how he spotted us among all the other beach goers, but when I looked around, it seemed we were the only ones around without a cartload of kids. I guess it was pretty obvious.

“ Yeah,” we said in unison, and then stood to shake the sand off of us.

“ Oh, great!” he said. “Let’s get started. I’m Jason. I’ll be your surfing instructor.”

Of course his name was Jason.

I pulled a hair band out of my bag and tugged my long hair into loose ponytail so it would be out of my face during our training . Then we followed Jason over to the shoreline where he’d placed two longboards in the sand.

“ Have you guys ever surfed before?” he asked, holding my gaze with a pair of dark brown eyes. He was not at all bad to look at and I decided I would enjoy my surfing lesson even more.

We both shook our heads and he placed his hands on his hips, assuming the teacher pose. “Surfing is an art and you guys won’t master it during one lesson. But, we’ll start with the basics on the sand, move to the board, then move into the water.”

“ We’ll do it right here on the beach where everyone can watch us?” I asked, adjusting my bikini bottom. Oh who was I kidding? Nothing would fall out of my bikini while I practiced surfing on the beach.

“ Yeah, it won’t be so bad.” He gestured to the few beachgoers that were focused on us. “They’ll go back to doing their own thing in a few minutes.”

We nodded and I looked over to watch Beck roll out his shoulders and stretch his arms. He looked so good in that bathing suit and I had a suspicious feeling that he’d pick up surfing much faster than I would.

“ Alright, let’s start in the sand on our bellies. We’ll learn how to mount the board first.”

“ Hear that, Abby? You’re going to learn how to mount.” Beck thought that was quite clever. Jason had the decency to clear his throat and look away.

I rolled my eyes. “Beck, you were the one trying to mount me in my sleep last night. Don’t think I forgot.”

He grinned and narrowed his eyes. “That’s not quite how I remember it. I woke up to you practically on top of me.”

I choked out a laugh. Were my unconscious limbs not to be trusted around him?

“ Alright, you two,” Jason said, breaking us out of our little banter.



“ I was AH-MAZING!” I cheered as we unlocked the door to our hotel room.

“ Okay, okay.”

I twirled around and then folded my fingers behind my head in a cocky stance. “Jason said I was one of the best students he’s ever had.”

“ He was just trying to get in your pants.” Beck gave me a pointed stare. He really was competitive.

I scoffed. “Yeah, right! I stayed on the board for like twenty seconds at the end!”

“ Alright. You were…pretty good,” he relented with a quiet whisper, barely loud enough for me to hear a few feet away.

“ I’m sorry, I don’t think I quite heard that.” I smirked, taking a step closer to him and dropping my arms. I wondered how long he’d put up with sassiness.

He picked his head up and his hazel eyes met mine as he took a step toward me. He didn’t stop until his body was touching mine. His bare chest was pressed against my cover-up and I could feel his diaphragm lifting when he took a steady breath. He ducked his head until it was level with mine, then he moved his mouth until it was right over my ear.

“ I said, you were good .” A tingle ran down my spine; it was as if he was trying to seduce me. His breath hit my neck and I tilted my head so that even more of my skin was exposed for him. I wasn’t in control of my body in that moment. Had he pushed me to the ground or to the back of the door or to the hotel desk, I would have given myself over to him willingly and he knew it.

He bent his head an inch lower and placed a kiss on the base of my neck.

I had no clue what we were doing. He liked me, and I obviously liked him. Maybe we could just have a road trip fling. That’s all it would be, right? We had no clue what we were doing with our lives. I needed to apply to college and I’d probably move away. He was probably going back to Boston. I had to find out what I wanted to do with my life. What was the meaning of life, anyway?

“ I can practically hear your thoughts churning right now, Abby,” Beck said, taking a step back and smiling.