Page 36 of The Love Trick

“You’re gonna be great at this,” Aaron says, meeting Addy’s gaze. “I can already tell. You know how to move your hips.” I narrow my gaze at him as he gives her the flirtiest freaking look. “So, you’re here for a wedding?” he asks her.

“Yeah.” Her blonde hair blows in the ocean breeze as she steps off the surfboard. “My sister is getting married.”

“Ah, so it’s notyourwedding.” He looks at me, then winks at her.

Oh no. I don’t like that.

“No.” Addy smiles. “It’s definitely notmywedding.”

“We’re not engaged …yet.,” I blurt out. “But it’ll happen one of these days.”

She whips her head around, glaring at me. “Oh? Will it?”

“Yep.” I pop thepand sweep up my surfboard, tucking it under my arm. “Let’s go surf,baby.”

She blinks a few times in shock, and Aaron laughs, grabbing his board and catching up with me.

“Dude, I’m sorry. Cam said you two were just friends. I didn’t mean to be disrespectful.”

“All good,” I tell him coolly, internally stressing over why the heck I just ran my mouth like that.

“Your girl is beautiful, though. You’re a lucky guy.”

“I know,” I say, crashing into the water just as Addy joins me. She grabs my arm, and I spin around, smiling at her while she shakes her head at me.

“You’re a brat.” She laughs, and I’m relieved she’s not mad as she nudges me. “I wasn’t into him anyway.”

We paddle out and help Addy along when she struggles to keep up, reminding us that she’s “just a dog walker.” We laugh it off, though, and spend the afternoon surfing and playing wipeout in the ocean. Aaron eventually goes back to giving surfing lessons to other patrons and running his board rental shack, so I get Addy all to myself.

“This was an amazing day,” Addy says as I shove our boards into the sand to take a break. We plop down on the sand. “Thank you for planning this.”

“You’re welcome.”

Her ponytail has long fallen out, her hair falling in natural unkempt waves past her shoulders. “You always know how to make my day better.”

“Not really,” I admit, leaning back and resting against my hands. “Honestly, I’m usually just taking a stab in the dark, hoping you’ll like it.”

She tilts her head at me. “You always seem to have it together.”

“Ha.” I snort, shaking my head. “I don’t think I’veeverhad it together. I’ve always just had to rely on myself to figure things out, you know? I’ve never had a dad or mom to call or rely on to help me work through things. I’ve always had to do everything myself—well, until you.”

She smiles softly. “I’ll always be here.”

“I know,” I say with confidence. “And that’s why I’m here, playing fake boyfriend for you.”

“And ruining my chances of hitting it off with some hot surfer dude,” she teases, poking my arm.

I raise a brow. “I thought you said you weren’t into him. Do I need to go tell him the truth? Set you up on a dinner date?” I say it as a joke, but my chest aches with what I recognize as jealousy.

Which is nuts.

I’ve seen Addy with plenty of guys over the years. I’ve even seen her kiss them or whatever, but now…

Now that I’ve threaded my fingers through her hair…

And danced with her like she’smine…

I don’t like the idea of someone else doing it.

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