“Hello,” he says quietly.
“Hi.”
He bends down and kisses me. At first gently, and then a little bit more. He tastes like salt and the sea already and it’s refreshing, familiar, and there’s a tinge of something beneath this skin that feels like a lion ready to roar. I feel it. I catch glimpses of it, but so far, he hasn’t revealed himself fully to me.
“Come on,” he says, linking his fingers with mine. “We better go out there or the guys will call me a Summer-hog and I’ll never hear the end of it.”
“A summer hog?”
He stops and touches my chin. “Babe, the biggest problem you’re going to have for the next three months is keeping us away from you.”
My stomach flips when he says it—like he’s committing to a promise.
A promise I can only hope he, and the others, keep.
25
Whit
I’ve knownthe outcome of the first twenty-one years of my life since I was six years old. Graduate high school, head to the Citadel, join the Army.
Somewhere along the way, my love for surfing mixed in with the others, as well as a head-strong attitude. My father didn’t approve of either of those. Not going to the military academy wasn’t an option. Ever. He went. My uncles went. My grandfather and great-uncles. It’s a family tradition and there’s no fucking way I’m is going to get away with breaking it.
The first time I realized I didn’t want that future was my senior year in high school. The tours started and the applications. Suddenly, the sea took on a stronger lure. My father noticed my hesitation. I told him about my uncertainty. He told me to get my fucking shit together. I did what I always did—escaped to the water.
“The Academy is close to the ocean,” Justin had reminded me at the time. “You can still surf.”
“Not with the schedule we’re required to keep.”
“You’ll find time.”
I gave him a hard glare. “It’s not the same. And what do you know about it. Richard went to the Citadel and he’s happy you’re going to Clemson.”
Justin had laughed. “He’s just glad I graduated high school and didn’t follow my father’s path to prison.”
I didn’t argue. Justin fought for his success. Had I?
No, not really. Like a good little soldier, I did as I was destined. I accomplished my first year, hating every moment, one eye cast south to the water. The brine-scented air a cruel reminder of what I was missing. The ocean wasn’t the only thing I craved. I missed Summer. Badly. In a way I never understood before. There’d been girls, short diversions because of our pact—the agreement not to get tied to a girl—to Ocean Beach, but not one of them compared to what I felt about Summer. When she came down to the spring formal and I saw her dressed up and looking like a goddess, I could barely function. She beamed at my uniform, impressed by the pageantry. Proud of me.
I resolved then to be the best for her. Be the gentleman she deserved. The cadet with a future, not a beach bum. That was why we agreed to see her. She was different. Not from here, and she wouldn’t keep us tied to this place with babies and unfulfilled dreams.
This floats through my mind as I kiss Summer Barnes in the beach cottage kitchen. Feeling her in my arms is like coming up for air for the first time in months. I want to peel her bikini off and lick every inch of her skin, but I hold back. This girl doesn’t deserve another horny guy rubbing up on her. That’s not the relationship I want with her. She deserves time. Respect. She is what my lifetime of expectation has led up to. I understand that now.
I hate stopping, but I know the others are waiting, and she’s not just mine.
26
Summer
My reunionswith Pete and Justin are lower-key. A quick kiss and a hug, since the bonfire is in full swing by the time Justin pulls himself away from the water and Pete makes it to the beach.
“Sorry,” Justin says, giving me a warm kiss while peeling off his wetsuit. “I didn’t know you were down here.”
“Don’t apologize,” I tell him. I’m making a pathetic attempt to not ogle his magnificent body while he strips. “I know you’ve missed the water and for once, we have time. There’s no rush.”
Pete arrives thirty minutes later with grease-stained hands and a dirty look for Bobby. “Dude, that last boat that was out? They got stuck on the waterway. Me and Jerry had to tow him back in.”
“Sucks. Sorry, man.” Bobby gives him an apologetic look as he tosses him a soda.
