Page 44 of Fragile Hearts

“What do you mean?” Sloane asks, glancing up at me.

Laughing, I let go of her hand, slinging my arm around her shoulder as I pull her close. “I mean, I’m not exactly sure what this is, but are we doing whatever it is,” I pause, squeezing her shoulder as I drop a kiss to the top of her head, “in front of our friends?”

Sloane stops, turning to face me with a smile on her face. “I kinda don’t know what this is either,” she says quietly. “But I do like it.”

I smile before leaning in to kiss her. “Me too,” I murmur against her lips. “And I mean, it kinda feels like we’re, I don’t know, dating?”

She laughs now, nodding as she says, “Yeah, it does.”

“But going slow,” I quickly add. “Which is totally cool with me.” Sloane smirks at that, and I can’t resist adding, “And Mochi too, apparently.” The little shit might have played matchmaker that first night, but he’s been pretty steadily playing cockblocker every morning since.

It’s been two nights since we first shared a bed, and we’ve just kept right on doing it, alternating between whose room we sleep in. And every night, Mochi is up on the bed, lying between us, and every morning, I wake up wrapped around Sloane, Mochi barking his head off beside us.

I’m going to have to figure something out for when this does finally go further because I definitely don’t need a barking commentary to all the things I want to do to Sloane.

“And dinner,” she adds, reminding me of the other night when I came home to find her dancing in the kitchen as she made dinner.

Fuck, I was so close to saying fuck it and just taking her back to my bedroom then and there, especially after watching her move without knowing I was there. But like I’d said to her at the time, I wanted our first time to be perfect, when she was one hundred percent sure about us.

I chuckle, dropping a kiss to the end of her nose. “Yeah.”

Sloane pushes up on her toes, her hand cupping my jaw as she gives me a soft, slow kiss. “I’m okay with our friends knowing,” she whispers. “I mean, they’ll give us a ton of shit about it, but I’m okay with that.”

I grin, tightening my arms around her as I lift her up, planting another hard kiss on her mouth. “Pretty sure all the shit will be directed at me, but I got you.”

Sloane wraps her arms around my neck, an easy smile on her face as she says, “I know you do.”

My heart soars at her words, at knowing how big a step that is for Sloane to not just accept help but acknowledge it too. I kiss her again, deeper this time before lowering her back to the sand. “Okay then, let’s go get shit from our friends.”

We walk along the beach until we get to The Pipe Dream, crossing the road and walking past the now infamous sex shower to the backyard. As we round the corner of the shop, it feels like everyone stops talking at once and turns to look at us.

“Well, well, well,” Kai says, a huge grin on his face. “What do we have here?”

I roll my eyes, turning to glance at Sloane, who is blushing. With a grin, I lift her hand, kissing the back of it as I turn back to our friends and say, “We don’t need to make a big deal out of things.”

“Oh, but I think we do,” Kai says, stepping forward. Behind him, Flynn is grinning like a motherfucker as he gives me a thumbs up.

“We don’t,” I correct. “And it’s new, and we’re just?—”

“Seeing where things go,” Sloane says.

Alana claps her hands together at this, letting out a squeal as she comes racing over and pulls Sloane into her arms, jumping around on the spot with her. I blink at them, not quite sure what to make of her reaction, and when I look over at Flynn, he’s laughing now as he walks over to me.

“Finally took that risk, huh?” he asks, slapping me on the back.

“Something like that,” I reply.

Flynn laughs, hooking his arm around my shoulders as he drags me over to the coolers. “Looks like you could do with a drink.”

“I’m fine,” I say, taking the beer he hands me.

Flynn scoffs. “Sure you are,” he says, laughing again when I look over at Sloane, seeing she’s now surrounded by all three girls. “It’s good, dude, seriously,” he adds.

“Yeah,” I breathe out, a smile tugging at my mouth. “It is. Just like it’s good you’re getting back into surfing,” I tell him, changing the subject as I take a long pull of my beer.

This get-together tonight is sort of a farewell, good luck party for Flynn and Alana. Tomorrow they fly to Oahu to compete in Pipe Masters next weekend, which is huge for both of them because it’s Alana’s first comp as a pro and Flynn’s big comeback after his injury.

Flynn scrubs a hand across his jaw, shrugging a little as he says, “Yeah, maybe. Who knows? Could be a total shit show, but hey, figure I owe it to her to give it a shot.” He nods in Alana’s direction.

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