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Even if we did get together again, it would only be for a short period. Until I had to leave again. That was all it would ever be—stolen moments in time. It was a fantasy.
Oh, but it was the best kind.
And yet I didn’t know if that was fair to either one of us.
As I walked onto the beach, I looked around and immediately spotted him. He was wearing yellow board shorts that only looked better on him because of his tanned skin. His dirty blond hair was wet like he’d already been in the water and all I wanted to do was run my hands through it. To observe him watching me run my hands through it.
I pushed those thoughts aside. This was just a surf lesson. Yes, I knew Lance and sure he was the one who convinced me to take one, but it was an experience, that was all. This could never be anything more than what it was. I had to remember that. For both of us. It was for the best, really. Anything else would have just muddled the waters that were already pretty murky.
Lance eyed me up and down before looking into my eyes. His had a mischievous look in them and I knew I had to immediately shut it down.
“You better have brought your patience,” I warned, knowing I’d be a slow study.
He smiled, clearly understanding where I was trying to steer this conversation—away from our physical attraction toward one another. “Naturally,” he said, holding up his hand. Then he smirked. “Now if I were to look away and sigh heavily or roll my eyes, that doesn’t count, right?”
I gasped and swatted his arm. “You’re bad.”
He laughed. “I promise to be very patient with you. You’ll have my full, undivided attention.”
Why did that almost sound threatening?
“All right.” He clapped his hands together. “First thing’s first. You have awful balance, so you’re going to have to work on standing on the board first.”
“On land?” I asked, raising a brow. “That seems a little silly.”
He shook his head. “It’s actually pretty normal.”
“How do you know I haven’t gotten better at balancing?”
He cocked a brow. “Have you?”
I remembered back to last week when I was exercising and nearly toppled over attempting one of the moves. I frowned, thinking about how it seemed so easy to the instructor and everyone else in the room. But, for me, I couldn’t stay upright.
I crossed my arms and narrowed my eyes. “You tell me,” I said, bringing one of my legs up in the air and balancing on one foot. I began squinting my eyes, not because my sunglasses weren’t doing their job, but because it was taking all my concentration to balance like this.
“Gemma,” I heard Lance call out. “You don’t have to do this.” I heard the worry in his voice that I might fall when he said, “You’ve proven me wrong, Gem, so you can stop.”
I stopped squinting and lost my balance, my world suddenly in a tailspin at the mere mention of the other nickname Lance came up with for me once upon a time. He was the only one who’d ever called me Gem and beautiful before, and I rather liked both, but only on his lips. I toppled over and immediately felt Lance’s warm, strong arms embracing me, making sure I didn’t fall flat on my face.
“I once told you before, you can trust me.”
“You kept that promise,” I whispered, looking up into his eyes. Frankly, Lance had kept all of his promises. He promised that when the time came he would let me go and not make things more difficult, and he didn’t. He was the perfect gentleman and said all the right things to make me feel I wasn’t making the worst decision of my life.
I leaned in as he searched my eyes and rubbed my lips together. “Lance, I—” I was cut off by a wave hitting the shore and almost knocking me down.
Lance cleared his throat and walked away to put some distance between us. He stood on the other side of the board in front of me now. “We should start before you drown,” he returned to teasing me, a grin on that handsome face of his.
I feigned amusement. “I’m ready.”
“We’re experiencing high tides today, which is the best for a beginner, like yourself.”
I watched him grab some black thing off to the side and tilted my head. “What’s that? I thought I was learning to balance first.”
“You will,” he said. He bent down and I felt his fingers brush my ankle. “But you should get comfortable with this being on you, too.”
”What are you doing?”
He looked up at me and chuckled. “I have to fasten the leash, to make sure that you’re attached to the board at all times.”
