Page 44 of His Good Girl

“You ready?” He moves to stand and pulls his wetsuit on the rest of the way, giving me a full-frontal view of his ab muscles flexing. Does he live in the fucking gym to look like that?

Forcing my eyes back to the water, I scan the waves. They aren’t huge, but butterflies still settle in my stomach. No turning back now, I’m all in. “If you jump, I jump, Jack,” I quip, stepping into the water beside him. It’s colder than I anticipated, ripping an embarrassingly high-pitched squeal from me, but I don’t retreat. I glare at the ocean and then at him bent over laughing.

“Oh, stop laughing, let's go catch hypothermia,” I grumble and charge into the water with way more bravado than I feel, biting the inside of my cheek as the cold water creeps higher.

“Don’t worry, baby, your body will get used to it faster than you think. Soon, you won’t even notice the cold.”

I snort in response.

“Just try, and if you get too cold, we can stop and I’ll buy you a pastry,” Finn cajoles.

Damn him knowing my weakness for pastries. We paddle out until he finds a good spot to wait for a set, and as much as I hate to admit it, he’s right. I do get used to the water, slightly. But I’m definitely not a natural. I spend way more time paddling and trying to time waves than I do catching any. When I finally manage to ride a few baby waves, Finn’s cheers warm me all the way to my toes.

My arms quickly get tired of paddling and my neck is sore from holding it up—who knew that would be a thing? We sit straddling our boards, swishing our feet, talking and enjoying the little bubble of privacy we have out here bobbing along the surface of the water. We talk about everything imaginable. All the things we haven’t had a chance to share about our lives in the whirlwind of our romance. We talk about our families, future plans, food—literally everything.

He tells me stories about his childhood that have me pitying his mom and naming her a saint for putting up with all his shenanigans.

The sun eventually creeps up, bathing the water in its glow, the surface shimmering like millions of diamonds. It reminds me of the morning we went running together. I could be content spending every morning with him whether in bed or on the water. I don’t think I could ever tire of this man, and that scares the shit out of me. We haven’t discussed what this relationship will look like yet, and I know we need to, but for now, I just want to be with him and enjoy it.

When our fingers and toes are all pruney, and my stomach is growling loud enough to hear over the water, we decide to paddle in and get some food.

Finn helps me drag my board out of the water, then jogs over to where our stuff was dumped earlier while I catch my breath. I seriously underestimated how hard surfing actually is. Jogging back, he wraps me in a fluffy blue towel, pulling me into a tight hug and kissing me soundly while rubbing my arms to warm them up. He still hasn’t bothered to grab a towel for himself, too busy taking care of me. It’s such a foreign feeling. Needing space to work through my roiling emotions, I find something safe to move on to.

“You mentioned pastries before…” I let my words trail off as my stomach rumbling makes my point for me. Finn cracks up and pulls a white paper sack from his bag.

“Want to eat them here on the beach, or take them back to my place?”

“Here.” I smile happily.

“Let's get into dry clothes first. There’s a public bathroom just up the hill that you can change in.” He points to a cinderblock building perched up the slope just past the edge of the sand.

“Yeah, I’ve been in enough beachside public restrooms to know that I am not changing in there. I would rather run down this beach naked.”

“Do you want to go back to the house and change?”

“No, I’ll just do it here,” I quip, grabbing my clothes from the towel I tossed them on.

“As much as I’d enjoy the show, babe, not sure I want everyone else to enjoy your assets.” He glances to where several other surfers are dotting the gray water behind us.

I shrug, bracing myself for the cold and peel off my wetsuit, leaving me in just my bikini. Then I grab one of the towels from the bag, wrap it around myself, and shimmy my way out of my bikini.

Finn watches me, his eyes dancing with laughter, probably hoping for a wardrobe malfunction while I Houdini myself out of my suit and into clothes. When I’m finally dressed, I turn to Finn and arch my brow, dropping the towel to reveal my fully clothed body, earning a loud laugh from Finn.

While I sit on a blanket and dig in, he uses my towel technique and trades his board shorts for joggers. With a soft grunt, he drops to the ground beside me. Leaning into his warmth, I place a soft chaste kiss on his lips, tasting the saltwater still lingering there. “Thanks for this, Finn. I loved it.”

He drapes his arm around my shoulders, pulling me into his body and kissing my forehead. “Thanks for actually getting in the water, baby,” he murmurs against my skin. We eat our breakfast on the beach, just enjoying being us, as the sun rises further in the sky.

42

FINN

The ocean has always been my happy place, and surfing is one of my favorite hobbies. To get to share those with Alexis is more than I could ever have imagined. She really was a good sport taking all the crashes in stride. Seeing her all disheveled and grumpy this morning was one of the cutest things yet.

I can’t get enough of this girl, and I can only pray that I don’t mess it up again. We both are avoiding the “what’s next” talk, but with only a couple more days until she heads back to school, I know we need to hash stuff out.

When we get back to my place, I shoo her inside to shower and warm up while I take care of the boards, before heading inside, thinking of joining her in the shower. Unfortunately, she is already out and wrapped in a fluffy white towel when I come in. I rush her, grabbing her as she squeals. “Finn! Your clothes are all wet and cold!”

I pull us both into the shower, her still in a towel and me fully clothed. Her laughter echoes in the bathroom before being replaced by her loud moans as I take her against the shower wall.