‘Pretty?’ he tried. ‘You said I shouldn’t lie.’
‘You shouldn’t compliment me either. If I’d been a man, would you have said that?’
‘I probably wouldn’t say “pretty”, but I would tell a friend he’s looking good.’ He just wouldn’t feel quite so tied up in knots when he said it. ‘When was the last time someone said you looked pretty?’
Taking up her position by the board for her next attempt, she eyeballed him and leaned closer – close enough to tighten those knots. ‘Oh, you meant “pity”.’
‘I did not,’ he replied gently.
‘When was the last time you taught a woman how to windsurf?’
He coloured and she clucked her tongue before she even waited for his answer.
‘Don’t worry,’ she said with a smile in her voice, hauling herself up onto the board and wobbling on her knees. ‘I’m glad you’ve had lots of experience.’
She managed to get up that time, still throwing out a hand to his shoulder once.
‘I think you overestimate my experience,’ he muttered.
‘It’s more than I have, so tell me what I need to do next.’
He peered up at her, unsure whether they were talking about windsurfing or relationships and dangerously curious. ‘First, feel the wind,’ he called up to her, where the sunshine bathed her face.
‘I’m not stable here. I need a little more than “feel the wind”, Mr Orzati.’
‘It’s important,’ he replied. ‘Where’s the wind?’
‘On the back of my neck.’
‘Bene, that means you can lift the sail. You always want the mast facing into the wind, not the boom, not the back edge. Keep your feet like that, knees bent, back straight, and pull up the foil.’
She groped for the uphaul strap and yanked it – too hard – sending herself bum-first into the water, flipping the foil. This time, she went under, coming up again with her face even more scrunched up and her hair plastered everywhere.
His hands made their way to her face of their own accord, smoothing her hair. ‘There.’
She released a deep breath that whispered along his face. Hehadtaught a woman to windsurf on a date before – a tourist from the mainland. She’d even invited him to see her again and they’d ended up in bed together before she left.
But there was so much more here, teaching Toni. More to screw up because they were supposed to be friends, although he wasn’t sure what to do with the friendship now.
‘You don’t have to flirt to restore my dignity,’ she said drily.
‘I didn’t think I was flirting.’
‘Now you know.’
Her teasing smile made him want to brush her hair behind her ear again, linger with his fingertips on her jaw – make her take those shaky breaths again.
‘If you say I look pretty now, I’ll never believe a word you say.’
You do… With her hands on her hips, chin up and a wry smile on her lips, she was pretty enough to make him wonder if he was the one who’d just lost his balance.
‘Then I just won’t tell you.’
He stepped back and grasped the mast to flip the foil back to the downwind side of the board.
‘Did you just wink at me?’
With his hands out to protest his innocence, he said, ‘Maybe,’ and turned away again before she could catch his smile.
