Toby grimaced and stared out at the ocean. “God knows I don’t have any advice for you on marriage, but I don’t want to see you get hurt again.”
“Me, neither,” Jay said, joining them on the beach. “Sorry to interrupt.”
She glanced past her brother at her lover. He wore a pair of khaki shorts and a Marine Corps T-shirt. He had those aviator sunglasses of his on and he looked every inch the tough badass that he could be. Toby glanced over at him.
“I’ve got my eye on you, Michener, and if you hurt Alysse again I promise you there is nowhere you will be able to hide from me.”
“Good. That’s how it should be,” Jay said.
“Well, then...are you much of a surfer? I’ve brought a spare board you can use,” Toby said.
“I’ve surfed a time or two.” Jay stood taller than her brother and he had a more muscular build. For the first time in a long time she was seeing a man next to Toby who could hold his own. The few guys she’d brought surfing didn’t really have what it took to cut it on the waves or with her brother. But Jay looked like he could.
“Great. You want to hit the waves with Alysse and I until everyone else gets here?”
Jay glanced over at her and she nodded. She and Toby had spent a lot of time surfing in their youth, waiting for waves and just talking quietly about whatever was happening with them. Their parents had divorced when they were four and two years old respectively, and their teenaged years had been interesting, to say the least.
“Love to. But I’m not really prepared, I don’t have a wet suit,” Jay said.
“I’ll hook you up. Come with me,” Toby offered.
Jay looked at her, and she said, “Go ahead. I’ll change in my car and be right back.”
“Sounds good,” Toby said and led the way.
She admired Jay’s backside and his muscled body as he followed Toby. She was definitely going to enjoy every moment she had with him because the last four years of her dating life had left her parched. And Jay was exactly the man to quench her thirst.
She grabbed her wet suit and then decided she’d just get changed right there on the beach. She should have put her bikini on before she drove up to meet Toby but she had wanted to get here before anyone else.
She donned her bikini under her sundress and then pulled on the bottom part of her wet suit. Most of the other people on the beach were doing the same thing. The families withyoung children had left for the day and the older crowd was coming out...well, young adults anyway.
“You ready?” Toby asked when he came back.
Jay was wearing the wet suit her dad used when he came to visit, and he had Toby’s spare board tucked under his arm. He tossed his sunglasses in her bag and gave her a rakish smile.
“I like the way you look in that wet suit,” Jay said, giving her a hot once-over with his dark chocolate gaze.
She blew him a kiss. “You look good, too, hot stuff.”
Toby made a gagging sound, which was typical of her brother. Alysse laughed, thinking how perfect this moment was with her brother and Jay and the waves at their toes. She was so afraid to believe that things were good. And that worried her because with Jay she was always going to be waiting for him to leave.
Chapter Seven
JAYHADSURFED off and on since he’d been stationed at Pendleton. Growing up on a ranch in North Texas he hadn’t ever thought of surfing or the ocean much at all. Put him on a horse and point him toward some cattle and he felt at home.
But as he watched Alysse on her board catching the waves he was in awe. He caught a glimpse of how natural she was in this setting. This was a side to her he’d never seen before and he just sat back and lapped it up.
Toby had put on a friendly face in front of Alysse but in private had told Jay he was watching him. And Jay had to respect that.
He didn’t have any friends or close confidantes that he’d mentioned his brief marriage to, but she had
family—close family and friends. People she socialized with today who knew he’d married and left her.
Thinking on that made him wonder if he should just leave now. Alysse was way too good for the likes of him and the burden of being accepted by her friends was a high one. Butthen she paddled her board over toward him and sat up and smiled. Really smiled all the way to her soul, he imagined.
“Are you having fun?” she asked. The sun was behind her, casting her face in shadow, but he knew that she was enjoying herself. Her body language and easy laughter were all indications.
No, he wasn’t having fun. But he did enjoy watching her enjoy herself and that made it worth it. He’d wiped out twice and even though it was just water swirling around him he felt as if he’d gone ten rounds with Lucien in a mixed-martial-arts match and gotten his ass handed to him.
