Page 68 of Try Me

Pearl lifted her head to meet Declan’s gaze. “What?”

“I’m tired of the scene.” He tucked her hair behind her ear, let his fingers linger on the soft silk. “I want my life back. After the Duke, I want to be free of him. Date who I want.” He looked at her pointedly. “Eventually, I want my own surf team.”

Pearl’s eyebrows shot up. “Really?”

Declan sat up, propping his back against the wall. “Do you think that’s impossible?” he asked, desperate for Pearl’s approval.

“Nothing’s impossible.”

He stared off into the small kitchen, but in his mind, he saw a warehouse full of surfboards designed by him, emblazoned with his team name. “I want to handpick my team. Only the best. Women and men. Black, white and every shade in between. Surfers from all over the world.”

Pearl was silent. Declan knew it was an overreaching dream, and that’s why he’d never told anyone.

“How are you gonna pay for that?” she asked.

“My family is rich,” he said. “I’ve never touched my inheritance.”

What’s stopping you?”

“My father. He doesn’t approve of my career. Bishops aren’t surfers,” he told her, his voice adopting his father’s righteous inflection. “Bishops are bankers and businessmen.”

Pearl laughed at his impression. “I was supposed to be a brain surgeon,” she said. “I thought David would kill me when I quit.”

“David?”

“My father.”

“You call your father David?” Declan asked, shocked.

“David was never really a father to me.”

“My dad would have knocked me into next week if I called him anything other than ‘Father’ or ‘sir.’”

Even though Declan said the words with a jovial flair, it was true. Theodore “Teddy” Bishop would have taken it as disrespect. Teddy Bishop didn’t tolerate disrespect.

“David flew out to California to talk sense into me when I quit school. He scolded me. Guilted me. Threatened me. Nothing worked. No way was I going back.” She sighed. “He will never forgive me.”

“You’re going to be a famous surfer one day,” he said.

“Thanks.”

“I mean it,” he said. “I’ll do whatever it takes to help you.”

“Declan,” Pearl sighed, shaking her head. “Don’t.”

“Don’t what?”

“We have another day together,” she said. “Don’t make it more than that.”

“Okay,” he agreed. “I’ll take what I can get.”

She smiled wickedly. “Me, too.”

For now Declan would take what Pearl was willing to give, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t hope or want more. He’d meant what he’d said. The world of surfing would be better with Pearl in it. And Declan was damn well going to do everything in his power to make her dreams come true.

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