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“Who were you talking to?” I ask, gasping when he jumps into the deep end, making such a splash, my face is immediately covered with water droplets. I’m sure he didn’t hear me.
Or he’s going to pretend he didn’t.
He pops up in the shallow end, directly in front of me, a faint smile on his face as he grips my hips, toying with the straps of my bikini bottoms with his fingers. I’m still on the top step, so I hover above him. “Let’s go exploring today, wife.”
“What do you want to explore?” I settle my hands on his shoulders, squeezing him. Loving how broad he is. How solid.
And how easygoing he’s acting right now. As if we’re a perfectly normal married couple having fun on their honeymoon.
What a crock of shit.
“Around the resort. They have a few things going on. There’s a trail we could hike.”
I scowl. “I’m from the city. I don’t hike.”
He laughs. “Learn how to surf?”
“In one day?” I raise a brow. “I doubt I could manage it.”
“It would be fun to watch you fall repeatedly in the water.”
“You’re mean,” I murmur, running my hand through the damp hair curling at his nape. “Why are you being so nice to me?”
Perry is quiet for a moment before he lets loose a ragged sigh. “We have to return home tomorrow.”
“Why?” I want him to tell me the truth. Not some vague bullshit answer.
“Something’s—come up. I’ll explain it later.” He tugs on my hips, pulling toward him so we’re treading water together, our legs tangling. “Let’s just have fun today. Before we go back to hating each other.”
I’m such a liar when I tell him I hate him. It’s more that I hate what he’s doing. What he’s saying. I don’t actually hatehim.
No, something worse is happening.
I’m actually starting to care about him.
Far too much.
***
In the end,we indulge each other for the afternoon. I sit out on the beach and soak up the sun while he learns how to surf with last-minute lessons. He is of course, great at it. He gets up on the board almost immediately, and rides a couple of waves that I can’t help but find completely terrifying. The instructor keeps hooting and hollering, encouraging Perry to do more daring stuff.
All while I sit there and chew on my thumbnail, nervous he might hurt himself.
Watching Perry out in the water is giving me a glimpse to another side of him that I knew existed, but never actually witnessed before. He’s a complete daredevil. Spontaneous and not afraid of anything. Like, every single thing the instructor asks him to do, he does it. No questions asked.
“Be careful!” I shriek at one point, when he’s so far out on the water he’s just a little blip on a surfboard, a giant wave coming at him. I’m positive he couldn’t hear me.
It didn’t matter—I needed to yell just to get out some of my panic. My heart felt like it was going to beat out of my chest and panic clawed at my insides. I didn’t want anything bad to happen to him.
And I can’t analyze why I care so damn much.
By the time he’s finished with his lesson, I’m a mess, barely keeping my composure. I’ve got my arms wrapped around my bent legs and I’m shivering despite the heat as Perry makes his way over to me. His smile is wide and his muscular body is still dripping wet and oh God he is so incredibly sexy.
I’m also mad at him for putting his life at risk like that. I don’t know if my heart can take much more of that.
“Wasn’t that amazing?” He grins, looking pleased with himself.
“You caught on fast.” My voice is tight.
