Page 29 of Forbid It

I lie down on my board and dutifully follow her instructions, aiming for the wave I can see heading my way.

Push up with your arms, sweep the feet, push to stand.

My arms push my torso back and just as I sweep my feet beneath me the board capsizes and I tumble headfirst into the water. Blackness swirls as I try to right myself before a hand appears in the break.

Cassie's grin is the first thing I see as she clasps my hand in hers, and I think I wouldn't mind falling a thousand times if she smiles at me like that when she saves me.

12

CASSIE

Watching a professional athlete wipe out half a dozen times is more than a little entertaining.

“I don’t mind this bit,” Robbie says, laid flat on his back on the board. He tugged his wetsuit down to his hips and now all I can see is his glistening abs as the ocean rocks the board underneath him. One leg is floating in the water and his arm is slung over his face. The setting sun bathes him in a bronze glow and he looks almost like a Greek statue washing up on driftwood.

We’ve been waiting for a wave for the last ten minutes, but the sun is setting on the horizon and the water is still beneath us. I’ve taken a few of my friends out on the water—Pip is freakishly good thanks to all her pilates strength—but I’ve never had as much fun as I have teaching Robbie.

“You’re a good student.” I tell him, flicking salty water at his face.

He blinks one eye open at me. “You’re a terrible teacher.”

I scoff. “Just because you didn’t get up straight away.”

“Every time I fell, you laughed!” he protests, tilting his head up.

I bite my lip to stop my smile. “Because your little yelp was funny.”

“I didn’t yelp—” I kick his board from underneath him, laughing as he tips into the water with a very audible ‘eep’. The base of the board pops up, the fin sticking high in the air and my laugh shakes my board beneath me.

Until he takes too long to resurface.

I start to tilt over the board to peer into the rapidly darkening depths, my heart starting to pound in my chest, when suddenly a force tips my board and I’m plunging into the water.

It only takes me a second to recenter myself before kicking to the surface, Robbie’s damp grin and wet hair right in front of my face.

“Yelp,” he grins.

My feet kick beneath me as I splash water at him, and it only takes seconds before we’re full-on fighting in the water. I grab his shoulders with the intent of pushing him under, but my thumb lands on the divot at the base of his neck, his pulse hammering against the thin skin.

I suddenly take stock of our surroundings, my hand on his collarbone, his hand on my waist and our legs tangling together in the water. I can feel his hard body against mine, and the urge to wrap my legs around his hips takes me so suddenly that I feel myself drifting closer.

I watch as a droplet of water from his hair runs across his face, balancing on his top lip, and I want to kiss it away, already knowing what he tastes like.

“Fuck,” he mutters and I silently echo the statement. “Our boards.”

It snaps me out of whatever dickmatised trance I was in. “Shit.”

The rapidly darkening sky makes it difficult to work out where we are. We’re not too far out from shore, but both of our boards have officially abandoned us.

Spotting mine closer than Robbie’s, I pivot in the water and swim over to the board in only a few strokes

“I got it,” I call out to him.

I hoist myself up before paddling back to him, his dark head barely visible in the distance. Thank god he’s a strong swimmer or I’d have to be doing some pretty awkward explaining to my father when I tell him I lost his star player at sea.

I shift onto my front and paddle, using the momentum of the tide and my own strength to grab his board.

“I would have gotten it,” Robbie tells me when I tow it back to him.