Page 51 of The Surfer

I’m as lost and as confused as she is.

This has never happened to me. I’m never confused, especially over a girl.

What is happening to me?

I have to make things right for the better. It’s all my fault. We shouldn’t have kissed back there with the ocean splashing around our ankles, no matter how rightit had seemed.

Outside her bedroom door, I take in another deep breath.

Fuck it. Here goes.

Finally summoning up the courage, I knock on Ripley’s door. I hear her scrambling around the room before she opens it. A scramble of panic and nerves.

And there she is. Standing in her doorway.

Ripley Sailor.

She’s showered and changed since she came back in her wetsuit. Now she’s wearing jeans and a loose-fitting hoodie. Casual. I like it. The look suited her well. To be honest, she can look good in anything.

My breath’s taken away when I see her. God, my opinion of her has changed so drastically since I first met her naked in the living room. I can see her properly now, as she deserves to be seen. She’s attractive, so fucking attractive, and she’s also so freaking cool. And smart. She doesn’t fawn at my feet like other women do, she has a sassiness towards me that’s irresistible. She isn’t afraid to push back at me. We’ve developed a bond over the last few weeks, and, as much as I hate to admit it, I have feelings for the American girl.

In short, she’s my perfect woman.

What have you gone and done, Cove? Falling for the enemy?

Yeah, I have.

And now I’ve made her upset, now I’ve done something wrong, something that I’m afraid will ruin our friendship forever. For the first time in nearly a year, I feel remorse for something, and it’s all to do with Ripley Sailor.

Fuck.

Everything changed when she’d walked into my life. She’s forced me to change, she made me want to change.

Yeah, I’m a failure in surfing, but I’m determined not to be a failure when it came to Ripley Sailor.

That’s why I’m here, knocking on her door. Trying to make amends.

“Hey,” I say when she opens the door. I keep my gaze firmly on hers and not on her round breasts perking up through her hoodie despite the massive temptation.

She’s so cute I can lift her up right now to my lips and kiss her again.

No, Cove Finn. Don’t think that. It’ll only make things worse.

I see the hesitation in her eyes as she stands in her doorway, but I also saw her desire lurking underneath. The desire I tried to kiss earlier that day, the desire she knows she can never give in to, the same desire I have that’s flowing through my veins and makes me want to lean down and kiss her slightly opened lips right now.

Her hesitation comes from her nerves, and the raging thoughts in her head. The same conflicting thoughts I’m having as well over how right that kiss was, and how wrong it was at the same time. She doesn’t know why I’m here, standing outside her door, so she’s even more nervous than I am. And that’s saying a lot.

“Hey,” she replies, stuttering a little. She’s trying to pretend she’s cool and composed, that nothing is amiss, but she’s trying a bit too hard, and I see straight through it.

“I’m getting hungry, so I think we can make some seafood together,” I say. I hope my plan works. “Sandy says that you like seafood.”

“Yeah, she told me you like fish and chips as well.”

I nod. “I do. You hungry now? I bought some prawns so I was thinking we could make some garlic butter to put them in if that’s okay with you. And I also got some fresh vanilla ice cream and chocolate syrup and some milk which means we can make some chocolate milkshakes, the same way you and your Mom used to make them. How about that?”

For a while, she just stares back at me, no expression on her face. I’m worried about what she’s thinking. I hope this plan will work and that it will fix things between us, but the thought enters the back of my mind that maybe I’ve blown it yet again.

That maybe she’ll reject me.

That maybe, once again, she’ll break my heart like she did earlier today on the beach.

But, after some thinking, her face lights up and Ripley Sailor smiles. My insides burn up in response.

She’s so fucking sexywhen she’s happy, and I want to make her happy every day of her life.

“Yes,” she says.

And, with her affirmation, I know I’ve fixed it.