Page 21 of The Surfer

At least this time he’s wearing clothes, not much but at least it’s some. The only things he has on are a denim jacket and board shorts. At least it’s better than his birthday suit he greeted me in this morning.

I can still see his rock-solid abs under the jacket, his bare arms popping out, his bicep muscles hard in the sunset glow.

He casually strolls out of the house, flicking his hair back in a way that makes my sex shiver.

He’s so sure of himself.

And yet so cocky. So arrogant.

I’m torn between despising his attitude and fawning over his perfect body.

Don’t be such a little schoolgirl, Ripley. You know who he is. What he’s like.

A narcissistic alpha dude chasing after the nearest available pussy.

Not my type at all.

He needs to learn some manners, especially after the dismissive way he treated me this morning at our first meeting. I want to teach him some respect.

“Where are you going?” Sandy asks him, getting out of her car.

Cove brushes past me towards a waiting taxi he’d presumably just ordered. He doesn’t even take a second look at me. He brushes past me like I’m nothing but a small fly in his way. “None of your business,” he sneers at his sister.

“You’re staying at my house rent-free, so it is my business,” Sandy says. “Don’t have a big night.”

“Whatever, sis.”

“You’re going to Tide?”

Of course, the town’s nightclub. Of course, Cove will be going there. This must be some kind of routine for him. I bet he’ll be waking up in bed tomorrow morning with a new girl he’ll score in the club tonight.

Not on my watch, not after my conversation with his dad.

“Why do you care where I’m going, sis?” Cove asks Sandy, rolling his eyes.

Okay, I know this is my chance. I don’t want Cove to think that I’m just some dumb American girl who has no backbone, some stupid Yank his sister brought over to stay like a charity school exchange program. I don’t want him to think he can just brush past me like I don’t matter.

This is my chance to stand up to the cowboy.

“Cove,” I say forcefully enough to make him stop in his tracks. His hand on the taxi door halts. He turns back to me with a look in his blue eyes designed to kill, but I don’t back down, not even under his intense glare. It’s time for me to have a backbone. “It’s time for us to get to know one another, so how about let’s meet at the beach parking lot at six tomorrow morning. Bring your surfboard. Be there, Cove.”

Cove doesn’t reply. He turns away from me and ducks into the taxi, shutting the door after him.

But I know I’ve gotten to him, even if he doesn’t want to show it.

I know he’s thinking about me now.

I’m not just some stupid American crashing at his sister’s place anymore, I’m more than that. I’m a threat.

I know Cove hasn’t been on a surfboard in a whole year. He hasn’t been on one since his accident, since that day at the Oceania Surf Competition.

I don’t know anything about surfing, nothing at all, but I do know one thing.

I’m going to get him in the water and on a surfboard no matter what, if not for me then for my Mom.