Page 33 of Body Shot

Claudia’s on her board, and then on her knees…and then she falls off.

She comes up laughing and gives me a thumb’s up.

“Come on—you have to do better than me!”

So I lift to my knees and try to find my balance as I somehow get to my feet.

Hell, yeah.

I’m doing it.

This is pretty cool.

“Anders!” I hear my name and swivel my head to the right, just in time to see Claudia standing on her board with her hands in the air.

A moment before she topples over.

“Woohoo!” I yell out. “Go, baby!”

“I did it!” she yells as she surfaces.

“I told you, you could do it!” Jones says to her.

I don’t even care about our bet, or challenge, or whatever the hell we’re calling it. It’s nice to see her excited. Especially when she gets back up and does it again.

Scarlett and Tawny have photographers on the beach getting both video and still shots of everyone, and I hope they capture one of Claudia on her ride. I’m going to make sure to blow it up and print it for her, if they do.

She’s so proud of herself and as we come out of the water holding our boards, I notice Hana snapping photos with her phone. I give her the Hawaiian “hang loose” symbol with my hand as one of the assistants comes over to take our boards so the next group can get their turn.

“That was amazing,” Claudia says to me, shaking water out of her eyes.

“You did it,” I say, nodding.

“So did you.”

“It was fun. I’m excited to see the video.”

“There was video?” She grimaces. “I probably look ridiculous.”

“You looked strong and beautiful and happy,” I say, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

“I felt strong and beautiful and happy,” she acknowledges. “Partly because of you. I probably wouldn’t have even tried if you hadn’t encouraged me.”

I lean down to kiss her, and her mouth opens for me.

She tastes like salt and sun and sex.

She probably has no idea what that means, but that’s okay. She’s going to learn sooner rather than later.

In the meantime, all I can think about right now is the idea of finding a way to get her off.

Fully dressed.

I can do it, but the question is more when we’ll have a chance.

There are no plans for us to be alone.

She’s been very clear that this is a girls’ trip—her vacation with her bestie. There are opportunities, like today, to do things as a group, but I’m not sure how she’ll react if I ask her for the two of us to do something alone. Hana has been spending time with everyone today, but I’ve seen Aiden chatting her up, and I wonder how Felix is feeling about all that or if his feelings even matter at this point.

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