Page 50 of Try Easy

"I'm scared," Lou said.

"That's okay," Keoni said. "You should be."

Lou glanced sharply at him to see if he was teasing, but Keoni was dead serious.

"The ocean is dangerous. Don't forget that. A little bit of fear is good," he said. "Now get on the board."

Keoni held the Himalaya steady while Lou climbed on. Once she had her belly pressed to the board and was floating, Keoni showed Lou how to balance her weight on the board, and how to turn. He stretched over her so that his front was pressed to her back, and he went over the paddling motions once again.

"The key is paddling," Keoni said. "You have to paddle hard. Get ahead of the wave so it can lift you. Let the ocean do the work."

"What do you mean?" she asked, turning to look at him over her shoulder.

Their faces were close enough to kiss, but Keoni was all business. He took Lou's hand and let it hover over the surface of the water. The warm waves pushed against their palms.

"You feel that?" he asked.

"The water?"

"No, I mean the energy. The power."

They were both quiet as the ocean undulated beneath their joined hands. The only sound was their breath and the crash of the waves.

After a moment, Lou nodded. "I feel it," she said.

Keoni heard it in her voice that she did. She was almost ready.

"Wait for the right wave," he instructed.

"How will I know?"

"You just will. Trust the ocean to tell you," he said. "If you fail, try again. But, don't try hard. Try easy."

"What does that mean?" Lou asked.

"Sometimes you gotta let go," he said. "Don't try so hard. Instead, you gotta try easy."

Keoni gave the Himalaya a little push to start Lou off, and then stepped back. He crossed his arms and watched as she paddled over the shore break into the open water.

His heart was in his throat as he watched her form (perfect) and her technique (not bad). He'd taught her all that could be taught in a first lesson. Now the waves of Makaha needed to cooperate. This wasn't the ideal place to give a surf lesson. Makaha was too unpredictable. There were four sections where the waves broke, and Keoni had steered Lou into the easiest one, but that didn't mean she would stay there.

It would have been much easier to teach Lou how to surf at Queen's Beach in Waikiki, where the waves were long and gentle, but he didn't have the luxury of choice. She'd been scared half to death by the ocean, and she needed to face it as quickly as possible, before it paralyzed her forever.

Keoni was a good teacher, but he had quit giving lessons years ago. Surfing was too personal to Keoni. To him, it wasn't a sport – it was his culture. Surfing was the one thing that no one could take away from Hawaiians. Keoni felt like he was selling a little piece of his soul every time he taught someone how to stand up on a wave.

He didn’t feel that way watching Lou. Looking at her wet body pressed against the slick surface of his surfboard, Keoni was jealous. He wished he was the Himalaya and Lou’s luscious body was flattened against him. He wanted to feel the heaviness of her breasts lying on his chest. He wanted to slide his hands over her wet skin.

Keoni’s blood began to rush through his veins as his heart thumped in his chest.

Jesus, he thought. He had it so bad for Lou that he was getting a hard-on just watching her paddle through the waves. Then, she crouched over the board and slid her right foot forward, and Keoni felt himself stiffen even more. She looked so damn sexy with the sun gleaming on her tanned skin and the wind blowing back her thick hair.

She popped up on the board, and Keoni sighed. He tried to get control of himself, thinking the most unsexy thoughts he could muster up, but nothing worked. He felt ready to explode just watching Lou guide the Himalaya over the water.

She was doing it. She’d learned to surf, and she was a natural, just like Keoni had known she would be. It broke his heart to watch the smile spread across her face, knowing he would never see her again.

Fuck that, Keoni thought. Fuck never seeing her again.

He couldn’t let that happen.

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