Page 51 of Cheyenne

“You’re such a chauvinist.” She giggled and added, “I kind of like it.”

He laughed too. Then he focused on her lesson. “Okay, before we get in the ocean, I’m going to have you put the board down.”

They set their boards down side by side, and he lay flat on his. He gestured for her to do the same.

“Okay, I want you to see the weight distribution. You want to make sure you’re putting your weight between your shoulders and your knees and they are higher on the board.” He pointed out on her board where she needed to be positioned. “Now, we are going to practice. First, I want you to get a feel for what it will be like to move your arms. So pretend like you’re swimming.”

She did as she was told, and Micah couldn’t help but admire how athletic she was. He had teased her about being a rodeo queen, but surfing would likely be easy for her. She would be a natural; he just knew it.

“Okay, now I want you to practice going into a push-up position on the board. Push up with your knees, then pull one leg through so you’re halfway up. Come all the way up like this and pop up with one hand out like you’re skateboarding. If you’ve ever skated.”

Cheyenne followed his instructions to the letter. “It’s kind of like knee boarding on a boat.”

“You water-ski?”

She nodded. “Chance got a new boat last year, and we all go to the lake together.”

“Perfect.” He thought of all her brothers and felt momentarily intimidated. Next time he met them, it would be in a much different situation. Especially if he and Cheyenne decided they could handle being together.

He pushed that thought from his mind. He had to focus on today. On her.

“What are you thinking about?” she asked, clearly guessing that his thoughts had turned serious.

He shook his head and got back down on the board. “Let’s do it again.”

After a bit, they paddled out into the water. Micah helped her pick out a great wave. Then he gave her a push and said, “Up.”

She popped up, but she was giggling so hard she fell. That made him laugh too. He waited as she paddled back, then helped her again. She got better and better. For the next two hours, they frolicked and laughed as they surfed in the ocean. Cheyenne, just as he suspected, caught on to surfing with ease.

Micah came off a wave and found that she was sitting on the beach, surfboard next to her, watching him. As he approached her, he couldn’t help but want so many things with this woman. If he could, he would ask her to go to Vegas right now. Would that be such a terrible idea?

She patted the sand. “Come sit by me. The sun feels so good.”

He sat by her and leaned back. The sun-warmed sand was soft beneath him.

She took his hand. “This is why you loved South Port after you moved here. Why you wanted to stay.”

He propped himself on his side and kept hold of her hand. She was gorgeous. It wasn’t just that she was physically beautiful; everything about her was beautiful. “Well, I love my mom, and Trey is awesome. It was an easy decision.”

“And it was an easy decision to be a SEAL?”

He leaned over and gently touched her cheek. “Serving in the Navy is good. It’s honorable. But becoming a SEAL is something that my dad and uncle say is just inside of you. I desire to go the extra mile and do insane things. I desire to keep this country safe. It might seem chauvinistic to you, and maybe I am, a little.”He smiled, thinking of her earlier comment. “I believe that men should protect women and children. I believe in God and honor and country. I believe we all have a purpose in this life. For me, that purpose is to keep America safe and help others. I’ll pledge to it.”

Cheyenne’s lips turned down as she thought about that, and then her eyelashes fluttered. “That’s beautiful. I don’t think I’ve ever felt that passionate about something. I mean, I want to go to law school. I do. For some of the same reasons you’re talking about—to help people—but …”

Micah touched her shoulder, then skimmed her arm down to her hand. “What? You can tell me.”

She sniffed and squeezed her eyes shut. “Maybe it seems stupid, but I want to be a mother. I want to have a family. I know I told you that Eli told me he didn’t want children.” She suddenly sat up, staring at him.

He copied her. “Continue.”

“When I went to dinner with him the first night I was here, he told me that we could have a kid. That he changed his mind.”

He didn’t like hearing about her and Eli on a date. He just didn’t like the guy, period. “Well, that’s benevolent of him.”

“Right? Like he would gift a child to me if I married him.” She smiled sadly. “I guess there’s this part of me that wants to be a mother, have a lot of kids, and settle down. I want to raise my kids how I was raised.” She looked down at their entwined fingers. “I don’t know if I should even tell you all this, because I don’t know about us.”

He squeezed her hand more firmly. “I do. So tell me.”

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