“Okay, get on.” Preston holds the front of the board andreaches out to take the paddle from my hand. Placing my palms on the board, I try to hoist myself up and slide back into the water on the first try. On the second try, I get on the board and wobble on my knees.
“Don’t let go yet,” I say to Preston as I try to get my bearings.
“I won’t. Just get a feel for the way the board moves over the water and figure out your balance. It’s easier to get it on your knees first. Once you have it, stand up like we practiced on the shore.”
I widen my legs so they’re closer to shoulder width apart and engage my core muscles. The wobbling stops and I feel more in control, so I slowly start to stand. The board shakes as I push off the balls of my feet but Preston grips the board to lessen the movement.
“I did it!” Standing on the board with my arms out to help me balance, I know I look like a moron but I can’t help the smile that breaks free. It’s not a massive accomplishment but to me, it feels like one.
“You did!” Preston beams up at me and his smile reaches deep into my core. He passes the paddle up to me and I grip it on top with one hand and a bit lower with the other. “Try to paddle. I’ll stay right here while you start.”
Dipping the paddle into the water, I go to push off and lose my balance. Before I can correct myself, the board tips sideways and I crash into the water. When I come back to the surface, Preston is laughing and holding the board still.
“I said I wouldn’t throw you in the water again, but I didn’t promise you wouldn’t throw yourself in the water.”
“Smartass.” I splash him as I make my way back over to the board and climb up again.
“This time just move your arms, not your body. Keep the rest of your body steady and paddle with your arms. It doesn’t take a lot of force to get moving so don’t exert a lot of effort into it. Short quick strokes will work fine.”
“Short quick strokes, got it.” Now steady on my feet again, I grab the paddle and focus on locking the rest of my body in place and give a quick short stroke to the right. I wobble a bit but don’t take a nosedive this time. The board starts moving forward and then turns to the right.
“Now switch sides so you can stay in a straight line.” I carefully move the paddle over to the left. “Good. How do you feel?”
“Good, I think. A little unsteady but I can feel the motion.”
“You good if I go grab my board?”
“Yeah, I’ll just make a circle.”
I slowly paddle around and circle back closer to the shore as Preston grabs his board and mounts it like a professional. It’s sexy as hell. A small part of me was hoping he would struggle but of course he doesn’t.Is there anything he can’t do?
“Ready to go for a ride?”
“Where are we going to go?”
“I figured we could circle the island and see what we can find.”
“Okay.”
I follow his lead away from the shoreline but not far enough out that we can’t easily swim back. Preston slows his pace to match mine and we traverse the island side by side on our boards.
“You really haven’t boarded before?” Preston asks with a bit of surprise in his tone when we get back to the beach.
“No, why?” I laugh.
“You’re a natural. You only fell twice and then only lost your balance a few times.”
One of the times I lost my balance, my hand shot out and grabbed Preston, causing him to go crashing in the water.
“I seem to recall thatyouare the reason I fell in the water the second time,” I say with a pointed glare.
“It was only fair since you pushed me.”
“I didn’t push you! I reached out on instinct to grab you for balance and ended up making you go overboard.” I splash atPreston but he grabs my wrist. The tension between us is palpable. It’s almost hard to breathe with the thickness of it.
“I’m glad your instinct was to reach for me.”Holy, swoon. Who says that?
“Some instinct that was, since you flipped my board from underneath,” I rasp trying to inject the humor back into the conversation.
