“Hm,” he says.
“Don’t.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“The wave was weird.”
Luca lets out a laugh. “Right. The wave.”
North’s mouth twitches. “Tragic conditions.”
I glare at all of them. “You’re all being very ugly about this.”
Ace drifts a little closer on his board, still watching me in that way that gets under my skin far too easily.
The four of us drift back toward the shore with the last of the set, boards cutting through the water as the adrenaline slowly bleeds out of my system.
I look up toward the beach, and the two men are gone. I scan up and down, but there’s no sign of them.
The breath leaves me so quietly that I don’t think any of them catch it, but relief slides through me all the same. Maybe they got bored or they were never here for me. In truth, I’m spiraling and need to get a grip.
Except, I’d love for that to be true.
Beside me, Luca shakes water out of his hair, and I stare at him too long, the water sparkling across his bronzed body, thoseflexing muscles. “So,” he says, dragging me out of my dream, “lunch.”
I blink at him. “You move fast.”
“You made a bet.”
North glances over from my other side. “You did, yeah.”
Ace lets out a low laugh behind me.
Oh, I like the sound of that far too much.
“Did she?” he says.
I stare over my shoulder at him. “I stand by it. They were sitting there looking very pretty and not doing much.”
Luca barks out a laugh.
North’s mouth twitches. “Still mouthy after losing. I respect that.”
“I fell with dignity.”
“You fell on purpose,” Ace adds.
I study him for a long pause. “What a nasty allegation.”
His grin is slow, knowing, and deeply unhelpful to my pulse. “You’re not as subtle as you think you are.”
Rude. Accurate. Ruder for being accurate.
We reach shallower water and hop off our boards, walking them in through the wash. The tide pushes around our calves, and I find myself between all three of them without making a thing of it. It just happens naturally, Luca on one side, North on the other, Ace a step behind, and I hate how much I like the feel of their protection.
Temporary, I tell myself.
Meaningless.
