Page 42 of Riding the Waves

“You scared the heck out of me,” he said, peeling away strands of wet hair that were plastered to her face.

“I was pretty freaked out too.” She could feel the adrenaline wearing off, and every ounce of energy seemed to evaporate out of her.

Instinctively, she leaned and rested the uninjured side of her head on Damian’s shoulder. She savoured the warmth of his bare skin and the unique scent of him.

“I did pretty well at surfing,” she whispered, deciding not to contemplate whether her current proximity to Damian was a good idea. It felt good. Did she really need to analyse it more than that?

“You did great,” he told her. “I totally forgot to tell you to look out for reckless teenagers.”

“That would’ve been good advice. I’ll bear it in mind next time.”

He chuckled. “Are you planning a next time already?”

“Yes. I loved it.”

“Good.”

In the ensuing silence, moving her head from his shoulder would probably have been appropriate, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. Just a few more seconds, she kept telling herself.

Finally, the boys returned, plonking themselves on the towel with ice creams dripping down the cones. Sitting up straighter, Amy moved the ice pack from her head and insisted she was fine.

“I might head home and chill out,” she announced. She didn’t want to outstay her welcome, and she was keen to get stuck into Scarlett’s third novel.

“Not on your own, you’re not,” Damian said.

She gave him a watery smile. “Why not?”

“Because you just had a nasty blow to the head. You might have a concussion.”

“I haven’t.” She tilted her head. “I appreciate the concern, but I feel fine. I was mostly just shocked by it.”

“I saw how hard that surfboard hit you and there’s no way I’m letting you spend the day alone.”

She put a hand on his arm and softly said his name.

“It would be completely irresponsible,” he said fiercely. “We had nothing planned, anyway. Just hang out with us today to put my mind at ease.”

“I don’t know …”

“What were you planning on doing for the day?”

“Reading.”

“Great. You can do that at my place.”

She shook her head. Given how much willpower it took to remove her head from his shoulder, she wasn’t sure spending an entire day with Damian was the best idea. “You’re fussing over nothing. I’m going home.”

He dragged his teeth along his bottom lip, and she saw the defiance flicker out of his eyes. “Will you at least let me drive you?”

“Okay.” That felt like a reasonable compromise.

It took a while for them to get the kids organised and off the beach. By the time they were back at Damian’s house and climbing into his car, the boys seemed pretty excited about going over to her place. It only occurred to Amy when they arrived at the bungalow – and the boys insisted on looking around – that Damian had tricked her.

“You knew this would happen, didn’t you?” She folded her arms across her chest once she’d opened the front door and the kids had dashed inside to explore.

“What?” Damian asked, totally innocent.

“You knew the kids would want to come inside. I guess you’re betting they find something to play with and insist on hanging around.”

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