Page 151 of Between the Lines

“Why don’t you do this every day?!”

He laughs. “I honestly don’t know, Chaos. I don’t know.”

I manage to get up on the board twice. He hollers at me both times, and I fall laughing into the surf at the end, adrenaline rushing through me.

“That was incredible!”

He grins at me. “You looked like a pro.”

“Now you’re lying.”

He wraps his hands around my waist, under the water. “You lookedgood,Chaos. Happy. We should do more things like this. Fuck the office.”

I kiss him. “Fuck the office.”

He grins and turns his face up to the sky. “Fuck the world!”

Later, he wraps me in a towel and tucks me against his side on the wide Malibu porch, where I lean against his bare chest, with the sun bathing us in its warmth. I’m still in my bikini. It’s dried by now, and my skin is salty.

He’s humming with infectious energy—his touches are light and his lips are always against me. My hair, my temple, my cheek. I turn and wrap my arms around his waist. Press my lips to his still-unshaven jaw and whisper what I’ve felt since we left the hills of Bel Air.

“I don’t want to go back to the city.”

He presses me tighter against him, hip to hip, chest to chest. “Then we won’t,” he says simply.

I know it’s not true, but I close my eyes and pretend it is.

Pretend that this can last forever.

“I have something to tell you,” he says, and just like that, the moment is broken. “And something I need to apologize for.”

CHAPTER 54

AIDEN

She stiffens in my arms.

In the distance, the sun has started to set, lighting up the sky in a glory of colors. I need to say this. Even if it breaks the bubble we’re in. I need her to know.

“Aiden…”

“Jeff was fired. I told you that.” I press a kiss to her temple. “I’ve spent a good deal of this morning in meetings. Blake won’t work for us anymore.”

She sits up straighter, her eyes flying to mine. “What?”

“He’s fired, effective immediately. The season ofExpedition Islandhe’s on will still air. I can’t get around that. But after that, he won’t appear in another Titan Media production for as long as he lives.”

She shakes her head slowly. “You’re really doing that?”

“Yes. You don’t mind?” I watch her face carefully. “You don’t still… care?”

“Care about him? Of course not.” She lets out a breath. “Wow. Thank you for doing that. It feels terrible, to thank you for making two people unemployed, but…”

“Don’t feel bad,” I say. “It was my decision. I’ll take on that burden. It’s not yours to carry, not after what they both did to you.”

She exhales again and something softens between her eyebrows. “Okay. Thank you, Aiden.”

“I also had a meeting with my financial advisers and accountants.” I reach out and brush back some of her still-damp, salt-stiffened hair. “You didn’t make enough money fromThe Gamble.”

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