I filed away the nugget of information.
“Have you ever swam in the ocean?”
“One time, with my dad.”
We both scanned the crowd on the beach. No surprise, Logan was locked onto us, frowning.
“He carried me in,” Noah added, pointing at his father.
“Oh, okay,” I said as I started to piece together what was going on. “Was it fun once you got out there?”
He nodded. “Because then I didn’t fall. One time I tried walking out and I tripped, and the waves pulled my bathing suit down.”
Bingo. Noah didn’t like the sensation of the shallow current and was probably worried about losing his swim trunks in front of his peers.
“Oh my gosh, the same thing happened to me, a long time ago! It was embarrassing, but I laughed it off because it was also kinda silly.”
Noah stared out at the water wearing a frown.
“I have an idea: what if I hold your handandthe surfboard, and then once we’re past where those nasty little waves are, you can float on the board? Is that an okay plan?”
“Yeah,” he replied, sounding like he wasn’t convinced.
I stood up and ran to grab the surfboard then brought it to Noah. I held out my hand to him.
“Let’s go.”
He reached for my hand then paused. “Miss Nina, hold on. You can’t wear yourdressin the water.”
“You’re right, silly me,” I laughed, then peeled off the gauzy black cover-up. When I turned to toss it on the sand, I caught Logan’s eyes on me, but I resolved to ignore them. If he wanted to monitor our every move, fine. I knew what I was doing, and Noah ending up with his belly on the board in waist-deep water proved it.
“Wow!” Tanner exclaimed as he paddled over to us. “Looking good.”
His eyes were fixed on me.
“Noah is really brave, huh?” I answered. “Are you having fun?”
“Uh-huh,” he beamed at me. “Watch this!”
Noah paddled his hands through the water like Tanner had showed us on the beach.
“Yeah, dude!” Tanner clapped as Noah circled back to us. “You two make a great team. I sort of wish Miss Nina would be onmyteam. How long are you visiting Echo Key?”
Tanner fixed me with a smoldering glare that almost made me blush.
Noah bobbed on the board in between us as I negotiated a way out of the pending ask.
“Oh, we’re just here for the day,” I replied quickly.
“Really? Because I heard you guys were docking overnight. That means you have some free time after your shift ends, right?” Tanner said playfully. “I’d love to show you some of the hidden delights of the Key. I think we could have a lot of fun together.”
I opted to watch Noah paddling instead of meeting Tanner’s stare.
“Excuse me, but don’t you have children you should be instructing?”
The harsh voice behind me made me jump.
Logan, coming in hot. His scowl was so blatant that Tanner took a step backward.
