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“I think so, yeah. My needs are basic. Food, waves, and friends.”

“And nothing else?”

God, why did Elle have to say that? Because now Gia had that lowpull in her stomach and thought acutely of other needs. “There’s more. Thoseare just my generals.”

Elle nodded, and they reversed their direction, heading back upthe shoreline toward where they’d begun. “I guess I’ve just been giving thesubject a lot of thought lately. The something else.”

“And?”

“It has me intrigued, and thoughtful, and examining my life in themost unexpected of ways.”

Aha. Now they were getting somewhere. “Like flirting with women?”

“Yeah, I guess that’s part of it.” The thing about having a conversationin the midst of a run was you didn’t have to look the other person in the eye.Somehow that helped grease the wheels.

“Any idea what brought this on?”

She could see Elle nodding out of the corner of her eye. “I thinkit was you. The dream and then us spending time together. We click way morethan I ever would have predicted. I think about you sometimes now. I don’tknow.” A pause. “We should surf.”

Must have been some dream. She’d give anything to have experiencedit firsthand.

As they swam out to the larger swells, Elle in front and Giatrailing behind her, it felt as though they were heading toward somethingbigger, something inevitable that had nothing to do with waves. While Gia feltterrified, unsure, and adrift, she also couldn’t pull them off the track theywere on now if she tried. This thing between them was like a runaway boulder,and all she could do was get herself out of the damn way.

They surfed together but not. Gia would take a wave, ride it in,as Elle did the same. They also didn’t communicate much out there on the water,other than a few encouraging calls.

But they did notice each other.

Wherever Elle was, Gia was aware. She watched her form, her speed,her power, and flow. Beyond those things, she watched Elle. The look on her faceas she drove hard to the pocket. She pulled her bottom lip in, and her righteyebrow dipped down in concentration. The swells were small for what they wereused to on tour, allowing Elle to stay upright, tackling one wave after anotherlike the pro that she was. But these were beach breaks they were surfing, wavesmoving over shifting sand, each one a little different from the next—which keptthings interesting. But that wasn’t all that was interesting. Gia felt Elle’seyes on her, too, moving across her skin, watching her technique, her body,making the whole experience take on an…erotic undertone.

They surfed until late in the day when their energy ran dry andtheir hunger took over. As they paddled their way back to the shore, Ellelooked over at Gia. “I will admit, I didn’t know what it would be like surfingwith you outside of a competition.”

Gia smiled. “And?”

“I’m surprised how much I enjoyed it. It wasn’t nearly asstressful as I imagined.”

She laughed, not sure if that was a compliment or not. “I had fun,too. Not going on record or anything, but maybe you’re a great surfer.” Gianever in a million years would imagine those words coming from her lips justthree months ago, but she wanted Elle to know that about herself.

“Yeah, well, you happen to be good at it, as well.”

Gia turned to Elle, her mouth hanging open in shock. “Really?Good? You’re going with good? I gave you great.”

“Fine. Maybe you’re better than good. But we’re still off therecord.”

“Thank you.”

They hit the shore and dragged their boards in. Elle glanced backout at the water. “Did you see the clean walls out there? I was loving it. Justbig enough.”

“I could tell, wave hog. You were all over them.”

“Says the final heat interloper.”

Gia shook her head. “You’renevergoing to let that one go, are you?”

“Would you?”

“No,” Gia said automatically. They laughed at her candor. “Yougotta do what you gotta do.”

“All in the name of surfing. Hungry yet?”