Page 2 of The Moments You Were Mine
I wasn’t interested in Ace. I’d felt that warning zing when he’d looked at me, and I’d learned firsthand what it meant to ignore those warning signs as a teenager. I’d never ignore them again. But Parker had no right to place me in a bubble and stick me on a shelf just so no one would touch me. He may not want me in the way I’d craved for years now, but that didn’t mean no guy did.
“Don’t take offense at his grunt,” I said, shoving away from Parker. “You know those Navy SEALs…they only have one tone—growly.”
Ace’s eyes flickered back to Parker. “SEAL, huh? Guess that explains why you stayed up on the board.” Then, he practically dismissed Parker and turned back to me. “We’ve got a more advanced class on Thursday evenings. You should check it out. I bet I could have you surfing like a pro in no time.”
Before I could respond, a woman jogged up and wrapped her arm through Ace’s. She had short dark hair, a pointy jaw, and wide eyes that made her look a bit like an elf come to life. “Hey, babe, your noon appointment is here.”
Ace’s eyes shot to the parking lot beyond the beach hut where he worked, selling surf gear and swimwear in addition to the surf lessons. A dark SUV had pulled into the handicapped spot infront of the shop.
“I hope to see you again, Fallon,” Ace said and then headed off toward the SUV.
The woman stayed behind, shooting me a glare. “Ace and I are engaged.”
I almost laughed. The claim she’d staked was nearly as ridiculous as the warning Parker had given her fiancé. “Congratulations,” I told her. “I’m just here for the surf lesson.”
“Well, it’s over now,” she said.
“We’ll just return the boards and head out,” Parker said, grabbing our rented boards and heading toward the hut.
I could feel Ace’s fiancée’s eyes on me the entire way.
“I guess I need to invest in a board,” I said after we’d dropped the rentals off.
“You’re not going to take more lessons with him, are you?” Parker demanded as we stripped off our wetsuits by the outdoor showers.
“Maybe not him, but someone,” I said.
As I stepped under the stream of the water in my red bikini, I felt Parker’s gaze on me. It lingered. Hot and steamy. Or maybe that was just the way I always felt around him.
I’d known Parker my entire life—well, as far back as my memories went. His dad was the chief of security from my father’s global bar conglomerate, and every summer or holiday I’d spent with Dad, Parker and his parents had been there too. We’d had golden vacations full of laughter and joy. Days woven with feelings of acceptance, as if I was actually wanted and cherished, only to have them ripped away when Dad sent me back to the ranch as if it wasn’t a big deal, as if it didn’t tear his heart out like it did mine.
That was before everything went to hell at the ranch. Before my stepdad had died and left a failing legacy to me rather than my mom, and before my father had helped me save it. Dad and I had mended our relationship in the last few years, but I wasn’t sure I’d ever be rid of the scars my childhood had left on my soul. Wounds that cracked open easily.
Parker was glowering when I opened my eyes and stepped away from the water to towel off.
“What’s got you all broody and simmering?” I asked casually, unable to help the heady rush of hope that hit hard, fast, and uncontrollably as his eyes scanned me from head to toe before darting away. Maybe Parker would actually admit to the sizzle burning between us. Maybe he’d actually admit he didn’t like Ace looking at me because Parker wanted me. Because we belonged together. We weren’t just childhood friends. We were something more.
But my hopes crashed and burned when Parker said, “I think Ace was high. That’s dangerous on the water at any time, but especially while teaching beginners. Anything could have happened, and he wouldn’t have been prepared.”
I pulled a T-shirt and yoga pants over my bikini, slipped into a pair of flip-flops, grabbed my bag, and headed for the parking lot where we’d left Parker’s truck. I threw my bag into the back and turned around, watching as Parker took a turn at the outdoor shower.
The water sluiced off him, the sun hitting it and casting him in a shimmery rainbow of mist. It reminded me of the waterfall back on the ranch. The way the colors glimmered over the foam as the water hit the rocks. It reminded me of times we’d spent playing in that water over the last few years, my stupid crush growing in leaps and bounds while he built up more and more barriers between us.
When I was fourteen, I got why he’d done it. He was five years older than me and refused to see me as anything more than a family friend, as the kid he’d been charged with protecting whenever he was around. But I was eighteen now. That didn’t seem so far off from his twenty-three, did it?
He dried off, pulled on a gray T-shirt that clung to every one of his enormous muscles, and jogged over to the truck.
“You up for tacos?” he asked as he slid on a pair of dark aviator glasses.
“You think they can beat the ones the new chef at the resort makes?” I asked.
He pushed his sunglasses down so he could look at me over the top, and those steely gray eyes made my heart skip a beat again. “We’re mere miles from Mexico, Ducky. I bet these will be the best damn tacos you’ve ever had. Only place better is thisshop in Ensenada.”
“What do I get if you lose?” His brows furrowed. “You said you ‘bet’ I’ve never had better.”
My stomach flipped as his eyes turned dark and stormy before he slid the glasses back up, hiding his emotions from me.
“If I lose, I’ll keep dragging my ass out here to take surf lessons with you.”
