Page 16 of Riding the Waves

The three of them watched him run along the sand to join his brother.

“Do you surf?” Amy asked Scarlett.

“No.” A shadow of a smile played at her lips. “I don’t think I’d be any good and I’m scared of falling off.”

Damian chuckled. “I’ve told you before I can give you lessons.”

“No, thanks. I’ll see you on Friday.”

“Thanks!” Damian and Amy called at once.

With Scarlett retreating up the beach, Amy felt a burst of self-consciousness at being alone with Damian.

“I should probably get going,” she said when the silence stretched too long.

Damian nodded, then came with her when she went to tell the boys she was leaving.

“Can you stay and watch us surf?” Marty asked, abandoning his digging to hug Amy’s leg.

There wasn’t any reason not to stay and watch them, aside from the fact that she was supposed to be keeping a low profile and letting Damian have his time with the boys. She glanced at him, trying to gauge his thoughts.

He shrugged. “Doesn’t make any difference to me.”

“Please, Mum,” Billy said, sand flying all around, as he continued with his digging.

“I suppose I could.”

“It’ll be nice for the boys to have you watching,” Damian said, then crouched beside the boys. “Callie will be over in five minutes to help you get into your wetsuits. Okay?”

“Where will you be?” Billy asked.

“I’ll be out surfing with the bigger kids,” he told them. “You’ll do your lessons with Sara. Remember we talked about this yesterday?”

“It’d be better if we were with you,” Marty said.

“Don’t worry. We’ll have plenty of time surfing together this summer.”

Billy looked up at Damian eagerly. “Can we do that thing where I ride on the board with you? And we go really fast on the big waves?”

Damian winced as he caught Amy’s eye. “Maybe we’ll do that sometime when your mum isn’t around to see.” He flashed her a mischievous smile and made a quick getaway.

Her eyes followed him as he went back up to the shack and greeted a group of teenagers who were getting into wetsuits. A few minutes later she watched him walk down to the water with them and felt an unexpected ripple of anticipation at the thought of watching him surf again.

CHAPTER 8

Watching seven-year-olds learn to surf wasn’t the most thrilling thing in the world. From her spot on the sand, just above the tide line, Amy really tried to focus her attention on her children, but it was difficult with Damian teaching his group just a little further over in the water.

She’d never watched him teach before. The way he encouraged the group of five teenagers held her attention easily. Mostly, he observed and gave feedback, offering tips and direction, but occasionally he gave demonstrations. Or maybe there were just some waves he couldn’t resist riding himself. That was when Amy couldn’t take her eyes off him.

She was straight back to being a naïve twenty-year-old whose stomach tumbled in much the same way as the waves as she watched him do his thing. The way the board twisted and turned on the waves seemed so effortless.

At one point, while zipping along on a wave, he crouched low and tipped his head, pushing his head into the water. When he withdrew, he flicked his wet hair, making Amy laugh. There was no way he could’ve heard her, but his eyes shifted in her direction. Did he remember her saying how sexy she found that move? Had he done it because he knew she was watching?

A shout got her attention and she looked over in time to see Billy standing on his board and grinning proudly as he rode all the way in on the gentle waves closer to the shore. She gave him a thumbs up in acknowledgement and kept her attention on him as her heart rate came back to normal.

The boys’ lesson ended at the same time as Damian’s, and they all trudged back up the beach together. Billy refused any help with getting out of his wetsuit, while Marty stood shivering as Amy stripped him off and wrapped him in a towel.

“Who’s hungry?” Damian asked and received an enthusiastic response from Billy.

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