Page 46 of Keeping My Girl

My eyes immediately flash to Nico’s face, and I watch as he cocks his head to the side and his lips tilt up in a knowing grin. Oh god, he just caught me staring.

“Uh,” I stammer as a hot blush floods my cheek. What was the question?

Dwayne says, “As long as you don’t go too crazy on your first day, you should be fine, Selina.”

Oh, yes, surfing. We’re talking about surfing.

“You’re in great shape already,” Dwayne comments, tapping me on the leg in a friendly gesture.

I watch Nico’s eyes narrow on Dwayne, and I have to stifle a grin. Is Nico…jealous? I think he is. And why does a huge part of me want him to be?

“We can go surfing this afternoon if you want to, Lina,” Nico suggests.

“Sure. That sounds like fun,” I tell him with a smile.

“Great. I’m sure you could borrow Aria’s board. I don’t think she’s ever used it since Mom and Dad bought her surfing gear as a Christmas gift a few years back.”

“Then it’s a date,” Dwayne announces with a huge grin. He stands and tells us, “I’m going home for the day. You kids have fun!”

We watch him leave, and then the tension that always seems to be there between Nico and I slowly begins to drift into the room, thickening the air until I find it hard to take in a full breath.

Perhaps noticing the change, Nico clears his throat and says, “I’ll go get everything ready. Meet you in the driveway in twenty?” he suggests.

“Yeah, sure,” I say, my voice sounding throaty and hoarse like I’ve been chewing on gravel.

I watch Nico turn and walk away. And only when he’s gone from the room do I feel like I can breathe again. I don’t know why there’s always so much tension between us, but I’m going to try to remedy that. I want Nico and I to be friends. Okay, maybe more than friends. God, I don’t even know what I want. But I do know I want things to just be easy and not so difficult.

I decide to head upstairs and take a shower. Every step of the way I can’t help but think about the way he looked in the gym…and those sweatpants hanging so low on his hips.

Okay, so maybe a cold shower is just the thing I need.

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