Page 132 of Champagne Nights

“Hi, Ben, it’s Paisley Logan. Maybe this is strange, but would you like to surf with me tomorrow morning?”

I smiled as I replied back.

“Hi, Paisley. I would love to, but only if you promise to teach me.”

“I’d be happy to teach you. I have an extra board I’ll bring. We have to meet a little later because I don’t want to run into my brother, Keaton. So, why don’t we meet on the beach by the walkway at nine o’clock?”

“Nine o’clock is perfect. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Have a good evening, Ben.”

“You too, Paisley.”

I immediately stored her number in my phone. I couldn’t believe that she actually texted me because I didn’t ever expect her to. I was happy the rest of the night, and I couldn’t wait to see her in the morning.

Chapter Fifteen

Paisley

As I sat on my couch, snuggled up with a blanket and Romeo curled up against me, I couldn’t believe I’d actually asked Ben to go surfing. Maybe breakfast, lunch, or dinner would have been more appropriate. Shit. Who does that? Who asks someone they barely know to go surfing? I sighed since I wasn’t going to give it another thought. What was done was done, and I was teaching Ben Preston how to surf tomorrow morning. As I reached over and opened my laptop, Romeo became irritated that I disturbed his slumber and jumped down. Bringing the laptop onto my lap, I opened up another Dear Paisley question. When I finished, I shut down my laptop, picked up Romeo, and headed to bed. I already knew that I’d be up all night thinking about Ben and tomorrow’s surfing adventure.

“Meow. Meow. Meow.”

I opened my eyes to Romeo staring me in the face and yelling that he was hungry. As I looked over at the clock and saw it was seven, I climbed out of bed and headed to the kitchen for coffee and a can of Fancy Feast. Romeo followed behind me and stood there, anticipating the can opening and food hitting his bowl. I grabbed my phone and cigarettes, went into the garage for a smoke, and checked my phone.

Nothing important was sitting in my email, which was always good, and there were no missed calls or text messages from anyone in my family. I knew Keaton would be at the beach around six or seven this morning like he always was, so telling Ben to meet me at nine was safe. It was bad enough that I was going to be interrogated tonight at family dinner. After I changed and packed my bag, I grabbed both surfboards, strapped them to the roof of my car, and headed to the beach. My stomach was flipping, and I felt like I was going to say something stupid when I saw Ben. When I pulled into the parking lot, I saw Ben’s truck and an open space next to him. As I pulled in, he was just getting out.

“Hey.” He smiled.

“Hey. Did you just get here?” I asked as I got out of my car.

“Yeah. I just threw the truck in park when you pulled up next to me.”

He walked over and helped me untie the surfboards from the roof. I opened the back and took out my bag. As I was putting on the wetsuit, I couldn’t help but notice what Ben was wearing.

“Board shorts?” I smiled.

“I did a little research and went to the store last night. I wanted to be prepared.”

I handed him his board, and I took mine. As we headed down the beach towards the water, I scanned the area for Keaton. The good thing was that it was a cooler-than-normal day, and there wasn’t anyone at the beach, so we had the water to ourselves.

“You’re not afraid to be cold, are you?” I asked.

“Not at all.”

“Good. The water can be pretty cold this time of the year.”

I gasped when he took off his navy blue t-shirt. The definition of his abs, Apollo belt, and happy trail were arousing me. Ben Preston, the fireman, was way sexier than I thought. I snapped back into reality and tried to get my hormones under control before we hit the water.

We put our boards in, and I told him to paddle and follow me. As soon as we paddled far enough away from shore, I sat on my board and went over a few tips with him. I felt embarrassed because he was smiling at me the whole time I was talking.

“A wave’s coming. Watch me first, and then you can catch the next one.”

“I would be more than happy to watch you.” He smiled.

As soon as I felt the pull of the wave, I stood up. “Woohoo,” I yelled. When the wave ended, I paddled back to where Ben was.

“Wow. That was amazing.” He grinned.

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