Page 10 of The Tides Between Us

“I told you I would not be making any promises about what I did with your number, princess.” He paused and showed his phone to me. “You’re already saved in mine.”

Giana

Why would you save my number?

Declan was already backing away from me with a playful grin. “You never know. I might find another injured turtle and need your assistance.” He shrugged with indifference with a mischievous look in his golden eyes. “Or maybe I want to be able to talk to you whenever I’d like.”

My heart felt like it was going to pound directly out of my chest. My stomach was doing its own gymnastics routine and it felt like my entire body was betraying me as warmth flooded my system.

“I’ll talk to you soon, Giana,” he said with a wink, still facing me so I could read his lips. “Enjoy the rest of your day,” he said while walking backward.

He spun on his heel and walked to his car. I was frozen in place as I watched him climb into a black Jeep. He backed it out of the space he was in and threw up his hand to wave to me before he began to drive away. I stared after him, feeling completely at a loss for a single coherent thought.

Who knew all it would take was an injured turtle and a professional surfer to turn my life upside down?

CHAPTERFIVE

DECLAN

Islowly sipped my beer, watching golf on the TV at the bar. My brother, Adrian, sat next to me in silence as he lifted his own bottle to his lips and took a swig. Sounds of the ocean mixed with the voices of patrons traveled throughout the small bar. It was a pretty sweet place, situated at the end of one of the piers.

Adrian insisted on coming here and I was fairly certain he had something going on with one of the bartenders, but I wasn’t going to question him on it. Pier Six seemed to be his place of choice when he wanted to go out, and I wasn’t complaining. The atmosphere was exactly what I was looking for. Laid-back, go-with-the-flow vibes.

“So, how is physical therapy going?”

I raised a suspicious eyebrow at my brother. “I know you told Gabe I’ve been going out in the mornings.”

He turned his head. “Because I’ve known you your entire life, Dec. You’ve always been shit at following directions.”

“Well, I haven’t been surfing. Just sitting out on my board.”

Adrian shrugged. “Ultimately, it’s your choice. I just figured Gabriel should know and chances are you weren’t going to tell him.”

I lifted my beer to my lips and the cold liquid slid down my throat as I took a long swallow. I set it down and looked back at my brother. “I’ve been careful. You don’t have to worry about me.”

Adrian snorted and shook his head. “I love your carefree attitude, but sometimes I feel like I need to smack some sense into you. If you were being careful, you wouldn’t be floating in the ocean and rescuing turtles with a fucked-up shoulder.”

“What was I supposed to do? Leave the turtle there?”

His chest rose and fell as he let out an exasperated sigh. “You could have called for someone to come pick it up like a normal person.”

I cocked an eyebrow. “Does that sound like your brother?”

A soft laugh escaped him. “Absolutely not.”

“Where’s your favorite bartender tonight?” I asked him as the guy behind the bar tonight brought the food over that we ordered. “I didn’t see her here.”

Adrian pursed his lips and shrugged. “No idea what you’re talking about.”

My head tipped back and laughter spilled from my lips. “Come on, man. You’ve brought me here three different times and two of the times, I barely got in a word with you because you were too busy flirting with her.”

He shook his head at me. “It’s not like that at all. I just like coming here and we just so happen to get along.”

“Yeah, okay,” I snorted, shaking my head. “You tell yourself whatever you need to sleep at night.”

Adrian gave me a dirty look and a sly smile as he ordered another round of beers along with shots. We both dug into our food and continued to drink well into the evening. I didn’t bring up his love interest again, but I couldn’t fight my mind as it kept drifting back to Giana. Something about the sea and the smell of the salt had her flooding my mind.

I couldn’t explain it. It was almost as if the thought of her was tied to the one thing that ran through my veins.The ocean air.

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