Page 30 of Beyond The Break

She smirks as she begins to reposition herself on her board. Something about that smirk triggers me, almost as if she’s claiming an upper hand in our war, but I don’t let her get far as I use my foot to apply pressure to one side of her board and watch as she tumbles into the water.

I expect her to surface within seconds, sputtering and rageful, but after too much time passes by, my anxiety skyrockets.

She wouldn’t paddle out this far if she doesn’t know how to swim, would she?

I don’t wait to find out as I rip the ankle strap off and dive into the water. As I open my eyes, I see the silhouette of her body sinking to the bottom.

Shit. Shit. SHIT. What did I do?

I push past the ache in my leg and use all my strength to swim towards her, my hand wrapping around her wrist when I finally get close enough.

In a normal circumstance, this is the part where I would toss her over my shoulder or cradle her in my arms as I swim us to the surface. Instead, the vixen wraps her free hand around the back of my neck and uses it to pull her body flush against mine, rolling us underwater so that she’s on top of me. I instinctively wrap my arms around her waist, holding her in place. That smirk still tugs at her lips as her eyes roam my face, landing on my lips.

Is she going to kiss me?

Do I want her to kiss me?

Do I kiss her?

Her eyes find mine again and she winks before unwrapping my arms from her waist and swimming up to the surface, giving me the perfect view of her curves in the process.

Did she just play me?

I snap out of my trance and begin swimming after her, surfacing next to our boards. She’s already managed to pull herself on top of hers, sitting with each leg hanging off the side of the board.

“I thought you drowned,” I growl, pulling myself onto my board as I glare at her, “put your ankle strap on.”

She crosses her arms over her chest and raises her chin confidently. “Well maybe before you toss someone in the water you should make sure they know how to swim.”

I run a hand through my soaking hair as I wait for her to put her ankle strap on but when I realize she doesn’t plan to, it aggravates me further.

“Noted.”

“So, you’ll teach me?”

I scoff. “Absolutely not. You don’t know how to listen to direction.”

“Yes, I do.”

“Then why is your strap still floating next to your board?”

She leans over to grab it from the water and as soon as she finishes putting it on, I kick her board again, watching her fall in with a satisfying splash. This time she surfaces within seconds, glaring at me as she pulls herself back onto her board.

“Teach me,” she says through gritted teeth.

Her persistence should annoy me, but instead I feel my wetsuit grow tighter around my groin area. This back and forth between us turns me on more than it should as I hold her gaze, but when my eyes start to travel down to her plump pink lips, I rip my attention away from her and look towards Gabriel instead, who I realize is watching us curiously.

“Okay.”

“Okay?” she asks, disbelief laced in her tone.

“Okay, I’ll teach you,” I say, sounding defeated as I return my eyes to hers.

Seeing that curiosity on Gabriel’s face directed towards me is enough to convince myself that this is something I need to do, if only to get back on his good side.

“You will?” Her voice rises a few octaves, excitedly.

“On one condition.”

---