Page 7 of Beach Bum Billion-Heiress
"At the shop?" She prompted me, the smile fading off her face.
It took another few seconds of awkward silence before I figured out what she meant. The connection hit me like a thunderbolt.
"Holy shit, that was you this morning?" I sat back down on my jet ski, completely agape that these two women were one and the same. They were so different. Something didn't compute.
"When you left, I thought I'd rent a board from your shop and see for myself what the waves were like. Maybe get a sense of why the shop is so important to you. So, here I am." She spread her arms like this was the most natural place to find the annoying business woman from this morning.
I shook my head, putting aside my confused thoughts and finally remembering what the hell I was doing there on a jet ski. "You should take the board in. These waves are too big for a beginner. Did Jonny tell you to bring that board here?"
If my employee was renting longboards to beginners and telling them to surf here I was going to have a serious conversation with the kid. This was no place for a beginner and if we didn't want to be sued, we shouldn't be giving out bad advice.
She frowned at my harsh tone. "No, he said to take it down to Blackie's, but I don't know where that is, so I stopped and parked when I saw surfers. Figured right by the pier would be fairly safe."
I frowned at her, a little pissed off that she didn't think to ask around. The ocean wasn't a safe place for beginners if they didn't have someone with them to show them what to look for. Her type of naivety kept me in a job, but I couldn't even think about what may have happened had she gone out by herself in a less populated area where the lifeguards didn't cover as much.
"Well, you figured wrong. Waves in this area are almost always four foot and today they happen to be heavy. Why don't you lay on the board and I'll tow you in?" I reached around to grab my equipment.
Her voice floated over the water, scraping my nerves. "You arenotgoing to tow me, Mr. Big Bad Lifeguard! I'll just boogey board it in, thank you very much."
I spun around and found her arms crossed over her chest, not intimidating by any means, only drawing my attention back to her headlights. I needed to haul her in safely and get away from this chick. She was checking off all the boxes on my list of the perfect woman, at least physically, but everything that came out of her mouth was maddening.
Her attitude was starting to make everything click. The business woman from this morning was highly irritating too, so I was starting to see how these two personalities could actually be one single bundle of beauty and irritation.
"Fine. Do whatever the hell you want. I'm headed in anyway as my shift's almost up. Meet you on the sand." With that parting shot, I cranked over the engine and looped around to head on in. I wanted to gun it and leave her in my wake, but the professional in me knew that wasn't the right thing to do. I needed to make sure she got in safely.
I kept my speed slower than usual, glancing behind me frequently to check on her progress. She'd made it about halfway when a wave knocked her off the board again. I waited, counting the seconds before her head bobbed back to the surface and I knew she recovered.
My replacement met me at the water's edge with the truck. He'd unloaded his rescue watercraft already, which meant I needed to hurry up and get mine loaded and back to headquarters. I'd have to wash it down, fill it up with gas, fill out some paperwork from the day's activities, and then hit the showers.
I kept an eye on hippie girl, seeing that she'd made it to shallow water. I'd loaded up my jet ski and paused by the truck door to watch her drag her board up onto the sand. She looked exhausted, but determined. When she plunked down on the board and had a seat, I figured I'd better go over there and make sure she was okay.
For professional reasons only.
