Page 36 of The Best Wrong Move

It’s the best I can muster right now to take the edge off my first text.

Juju is giggling when I hear their door slide shut again with them inside.

I’m about to go jog down the beach, just to get away from whatever noise is about to start up next door, when my phone finally pings with a text. It’s from Dom.

Can’t really blame them. Hawaii inspires extreme levels of tonsil hockey

I roll my eyes, about to toss the phone on the couch, but it chimes again.

Have you put your feet in the water at all since you got here?

I smile.Getting warmer.I respond:

Not yet

Almost immediately, the phone pings again.

That’s your mistake.

Before I can ask Dom what he thinks I should do in the ocean, another text comes in, sending a tornado of anticipation rolling straight through me.

Pick you up in 15. Get your suit on.

Before I can think twice, I write back.

I’m all yours

Chapter 24

Dom’s idea of “picking me up” was to meet me at the back door with two surfboards. We walk down to the water’s edge, to the exact spot where I watched Rex nearly drown himself earlier this morning.

I’m bobbing on one of the boards in the water, staring up at the shared lanai connecting our two townhouse units. The units look so much smaller from down here in the water, and I have no interest being anywhere near that deck when Rex and Juju emerge sporting a radiant post-sex glow in an hour or so. Maybe sooner. My mind starts to drift when I imagine walking out of my side of the townhouse with Dom, both of us sporting our own post-sex glow . . .

“Eyes on me, not the house, Liv!” Dom barks in my direction.

Gladly.

He was fully clothed yesterday, but today, out here on the water, he’s back to wearing my favorite look on him so far — nothing but a clingy pair of yellow board shorts. I try not to stare, but I’d much rather be balanced on top ofhimright now, instead of this surfboard.

I eye the water around us for shark fins.

“Are you sure there aren’t any out here?”

“Nope. Definitely not sure about that.”

“What?” I yelp, lifting my knees up off the board.

“It’s their ocean, not ours.” He shrugs, then breaks into a grin.

I pull my feet up and push my knees into my chest, immediately losing my balance. I should’ve never watchedShark Weekbefore coming here. What was I thinking?

“Whoa, there.” Dom reaches out to steady my board. His eyes practically glow with the sun reflecting against them. “You’ve got to keep your legs on either side of that until you lie on your stomach to paddle out. You’ll fall off if you sit like that.”

I drop my knees to either side of the board again and let my calves dangle off the sides.

The water is warmer than I thought it would be, and I can see straight down to the white sandy bottom, like the whole ocean is filled to the brim with warm tap water. A few brightly colored fish swim by, all canary yellow with stripes of cobalt blue. I wiggle my fuchsia-painted toenails under the surface, saying a silent prayer that anything with teeth prefers yellow fish to pink toes.

“Just focus on catching your first wave. There’s a decent set about to roll in. Eyes up!”

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