Page 59 of Secrets at Seaside
“I’ll be here for a few weeks this time.” Theresa turned her attention toward the street. “Assuming I’m not arrested anytime soon.”
Jenna and Amy exchanged aholy cowglance.
“Theresa, I’m sorry about Bella.” Amy stepped into Theresa’s field of vision as Jenna grabbed Amy’s arm.
After a minute of uncomfortable silence, Theresa finally turned toward Amy with a stoic look on her face. “No need to be sorry. I love Bella’s mischievous soul, but she’ll get hers.” She stepped off the curb and headed for the parking lot across the street, turning once to wave with a wry smile.
“Yikes,” Amy said. “I think Bella’s in trouble.”
TONY STOOD AT the edge of the water with one arm around Amy and her surfboard in the other. She looked incredibly sexy in her blue bikini, but he felt tension rolling off of her. When they were packing for the beach, she’d told him she was ready to try to surf again. As much as he wanted to share every aspect of his life with Amy, he’d never push her toward anything that he didn’t feel she could handle. He knew she was nervous about surfing again, and he also knew it had nothing to do with skill and everything to do with the memories tied to her last wipeout.
“Ames, you don’t have to do this.” He pulled her against his side. “We can go our whole lives without surfing together.”
Her eyes pooled with emotion, causing his own to break like a tidal wave, bowling him over but not pulling him under. He felt more stable than he had since he’d lost her fourteen years ago, and he knew what he’d spent the morning planning was exactly what he wanted, regardless of how today’s foray into surfing ended up.
“I know we can,” Amy said. “But it’s time to put our past behind us. I loved surfing with you that summer. It was invigorating, and I felt like I was sharing in the most special part of your life. I want that again.”
He kissed her softly. “Babe, you’re the most special and the most important part of my life.”
She shifted her eyes to the water, and he felt her body stiffen. He tried to ease her tension with a distraction.
“Happy ten-day anniversary of our first kiss in fourteen years.”
Her brows drew together as her eyes shifted in his direction again. “It’s our ten-day anniversary of our kiss?”
He nodded. “And I’m taking you to dinner tonight to celebrate. Just the two of us.”
“Tony, the fact that you evenknowhow many days ago we had our first kiss feels like a celebration.” She wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed her cheek to his chest. “I love you so much.”
His heart swelled, knowing she was ready to move forward and they were both done hiding from the past.
With a loud exhalation, Amy stepped away and reached for the surfboard.
“Shall we get this over with?”
“Don’t sound so enthusiastic,” he teased.
Amy carried the long surfboard, and the sight threw Tony back in time. He pictured her at eighteen, smiling as she ran into the waves, wincing at the frigid water just as she was now.
“I told you to wear a wet suit.” He shook his head. She’d refused to wear one that summer, too.
“I told you how I feel about that.” She laid flat on the board and began to paddle out with Tony swimming by her side, one strong hand stabilizing the surfboard. “I look more like a seal if I’m wearing black.”
“Babe, you’re so hot that a shark would be too busy drooling to bite you.” He pushed her out past the waves with a grin that he had no chance of stifling.HisAmy was braving the waves again.
For him.
For us.
He loved her so much.
They were beyond the breaking point, waiting for the right wave to roll in. Tony was nervous for her, and he wondered if her mind was wrapped around that fateful day or if she was thinking only of this very second. He was going to ask, but he wanted her focused on now, and with the slight chance that she was, he didn’t want to distract her. She’d need every bit of her focus to be able to stand up on the board again.
She flashed a nervous smile, and a conflicting mischievous spark filled her eyes.
Yeah, she was nervous, and excited, and he loved knowing her thrill of surfing hadn’t been lost. Tony watched the waves building in strength. He touched Amy’s calf and felt her trembling, probably from the cold and the fear of being away from the board for so many years.
“You okay, kitten? This one looks good.”
