Page 57 of Lowering His Guard

“It’s the best people-watching spot.”

“People-watching?”

“Trust me. Within half an hour someone's going to insist Buccaneer's Reserve goes down smooth, drink three samples too fast, and start telling complete strangers about their ex.”

Brock raises an eyebrow.

“Moonshine always reveals a person's true personality.”

“What does it reveal about you?”

I roll my eyes. “Duh. That I enjoy watching other people make poor decisions.”

“Do you ever make poor decisions?” he asks as he pulls out a chair for me.

“A gentleman.” I clasp my chest. “Why, I do declare.”

Notice how I moved the conversation on from the whole ‘poor decisions’ question. That is not a question I want to answer. He already knows about the riptide in Spain. He’d lose his mind if he knew about some of the stunts I’ve pulled. Surfing naked is only the beginning.

“Your Southern accent is horrible.”

“Probably because I grew up in Oregon.”

“Did you learn to surf in Oregon?”

I raise my hands in the air and do a hang loose gesture. “Hell yeah.”

“How old were you when you started?”

“Hmm…” I pretend to think about it because I sense he’s going to think this is one of my poor decisions. It’s not.

He nudges me. “How young?”

“Four. How young were you when you started playing football?”

“Four.”

“We’re twinsies.”

Eli taps the microphone and I rub my hands. “Time for some heckling.”

Brock groans. “Are you going to embarrass yourself?”

“I never embarrass myself.”

“Good afternoon, everyone,” Miles greets. “Welcome to our first annual Moonshine for Little Smiles event.”

He pauses for the crowd to applaud.

“For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Eli Raider. If you do know me, thanks for coming anyway.”

I lean close and whisper to Brock, “Eli’s actually a good guy considering he’s a billionaire.”

His eyes sharpen. “You have something against people with money?”

“Nope. But I do have something against parents who think their child is entitled to surf because of their money. Not sure how that’s supposed to work. The ocean doesn’t know how much money they have.”

He growls. “You shouldn’t have to deal with them.”