Page 18 of Free Wind (Lifeguards of Barking Beach #2)

“Blake!”

He turned, wincing as Kat marched toward him in their uniform. He’d just changed out of his into his half wetsuit after his morning shift. Blake planted his board in the sand.

Frowning, Kat asked, “You right?”

“Yeah, I’m good. You?”

“Then why are you ignoring my texts?”

He winced. Had he not responded at all? “Sorry. Thought I replied. Yesterday was really busy.”

Pursing their lips, Kat pulled out their phone. “When I asked how Friday night went, you replied, and I quote, ‘It was great!’ and didn’t answer any follow-up questions.”

“Oops. I was distracted yesterday. Helped my mate Rocky from work, and then he had a barbecue and insisted I stay. And I…had a lot on my mind.”

Kat stepped closer on the hot sand, shielding their eyes from the sun. “And did that include a certain spunky lifeguard you left the club with?”

He couldn’t hide a grin. “It did.” Among other things.

Kat lifted their hand for a high five. “So, it really was great? Didn’t know whether to believe you or let you lick your wounds in peace.”

“How many follow-up texts did you send?” Aside from texting Damo, he’d ignored his other texts since he’d been too busy hitting refresh on his email.

“I definitely didn’t leave you in peace. So?” They smacked his arm. “Spill!”

“I can’t!” Blake glanced around. “I’m meeting him here any minute. And aren’t you on patrol?”

Kat groaned. “Fine.” Their eyes lit up. “Here he comes.” They waved. “Hiya, Damo!”

“Hey, mate.” Longboard the color of the sky under one arm, blond hair flowing, and his wetsuit unzipped to his navel, Damo slapped Kat’s hand and gave them a half-hug. “How ya goin’?”

God, he was gorgeous. Seeing him again had Blake tingling all over.

“Not as good as you two.” Kat grinned, then made a lip-zipping motion and disappeared into the crowd.

“I didn’t tell them anything!” Blake said, exhaling when Damo just laughed.

“It’s okay.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah. I think so? They’re not going to tell anyone, right?”

“No, don’t worry.” He hadn’t known Kat long, but Blake trusted them.

“Cool.” Biting his lip, Damo said, “Um, hi.”

“Hi.” The urge to pull him close for a kiss was overwhelming, and Blake picked up his board for something to do with his hands. “You’re doing okay with…everything?”

“Yeah.” Damo was jostled by a pack of kids racing by. “Is that weird?”

“No! That’s awesome. I’m really glad to hear it. Relieved. First times can be…confronting. Not in a bad way, but. Well, sometimes in a bad way, I suppose.”

“Right.” Damo’s gaze dipped down Blake’s body and back up. “Feelin’ pretty good about it, to be honest.” He ducked his head.

“Glad to hear it.” He’d worried about it a bit but Tasha’s email had taken up most of his mental energy. Maybe that was a blessing in disguise.

They grinned at each other until Damo said, “Should we get in?”

Ahh.

The first wash of cool water over his feet and shins as his toes sank into the wet sand was a moment Blake savored every single time he walked into the ocean. For that moment, the noise and bustle of Barking faded.

“Feels good, hey?” Damo grinned, and Blake realized he’d ahhhed aloud.

“Like the sea’s giving me a kiss in welcome. Or benediction, maybe.”

Damo whistled, adjusting his board under his arm. “That’s a ten-dollar word. Bloody poetic. Can tell you were artsy-fartsy at uni.”

Blake laughed. “Guilty.”

“Like a kiss,” Damo murmured, pausing with the water around his shins, the leash around his ankle floating up.

They both wore summer wetsuits that came to their knees with sleeves cut just above the elbows.

“Know what I love? When you stand here, and the tide steals the sand from under your feet. Like the sea’s grabbin’ hold. Sucking you out.”

“Into its oft-deadly embrace like a siren’s song?”

Damo laughed. “Sure. We’ll go with that.

” He marched on, bracing as the shore break crashed and foamed around his slim thighs, the black neoprene showing off lean muscles.

His sun-touched blond curls brushed the tops of his shoulder blades.

He really was a stereotypical surfer fantasy brought to life.

Blake’s belly tightened as he remembered those lean thighs spread and trembling under his mouth and hands. Damo vulnerable and trusting and beautiful. Blake practically had to pinch himself that he was seeing him again. With everything going on—

No.

He wasn’t going to worry about that while he was with Damo. He couldn’t check his email while surfing. For now, he had to be in the moment.

Flat on their boards on their stomachs, they paddled out, punching through the swells.

Gripping the sides of his board on the rails, Blake duck-dived under a curling wave, straightening his arms and pushing the nose of his board down as hard as he could while lifting his hips and shoving down with his knee.

He just made it out of the impact zone, holding on to the rails as hard as he could, fighting the water’s force that wanted to rip the board from his hands.

When he popped up safely on the other side, he licked happily at the salt on his lips, blinking in the sunlight warm on his skin.

As usual on a sunny Sunday, Barking Beach thronged with people, and they were careful to stay out of the way of the incoming surfers while avoiding the swimmers who ignored the signs not to swim at the north end of the beach.

They joined the lineup out the back of the breakers where other surfers waited for good sets to roll in, staying out of the Croc’s jaws. They sat up, straddling their boards, feet dangling in the clear blue water. There wasn’t much at the moment, the sea flattening out.

“Do the garbos appreciate your poetry?”

“Oh yeah,” Blake said very seriously. “I started a book club. We’re discussing pathetic fallacy in twentieth century Depression-era fiction.”

“Bet my garbo Alf would have some keen insights.”

“Undoubtedly.” Blake chuckled. “They’re good blokes. Maybe not the most poetically minded, but solid. They remind me of the stockmen who looked after the sheep and cattle where I grew up. What you see is what you get.”

“It’s the only way to be.” Damo gazed out at the flattening surf. “Looks like we’ll have to wait a bit. Unless you want to go in and grab one of the smaller breaks?”

“Nah. Happy to wait.” Blake smoothed his palm over the waxy fiberglass of his board, the red-tinged orange bright against his tanned skin. The salty breeze was perfect under the powerful sun. A world away from Blinman.

Damo asked, “So, were you one of those outback kids with posters of Mick Fanning in your room, choking on red dust and dreaming of the ocean?”

He laughed. “Yep. Had a few of Mick and Luke Steadman. I didn’t mind the bush, but the coast drew me like a magnet. I always knew I wanted to move away for uni. Country life isn’t for me.”

“You don’t sound like you’re from the bush.”

He laughed. “Let’s just say my vocab improved when I moved to Melbourne.”

“Did you always have your nose in books?”

“Definitely.” Blake ran his fingers through the water. “Good thing I didn’t get sick reading on the bus since it was almost an hour and a half each way to school.”

Damo whistled. “Puts my fifteen-minute walk to shame!” He squinted behind them. “Swells should pick up soon.” Turning his blue eyes to Blake, he said, “What hooked you on the water?”

He thought of school holidays and begging his parents to take him to the Gold Coast. “It was so far from home. From my little world. Then I tried surfing during uni. A mate was going for a weekend beginners’ lesson in Torquay, and she didn’t want to go alone.”

“Don’t tell me you learned at Bells? You legend!”

Blake laughed. “That would be intense. We learned close to it, though. Went down to watch the experts on Rincon and the Bowl. Those breaks are epic.”

“I’ve got to make the trip one day.”

“The pilgrimage is definitely worth it.” Blake hadn’t thought about Bells Beach or surfing in Torquay for ages. Melbourne and uni seemed so long ago even though it’d only been a few years.

Returning to Blinman and the endless dirt and dry, rocky ranges had made it seem like a dream. But now, he was here in Barking. He’d made it happen.

“How’re you likin’ being a clubbie?”

“I love it. Kat and the others are great. Really made me feel welcome. I’m spending my free time here anyway, and I get to help people. Best of both worlds.”

“I know what ya mean. I admit, I do like gettin’ paid for it. You could always take the lifeguard test and come on as a casual worker. Some of the boys have other full-time jobs.”

“Hmm. I’m probably more needed as a volunteer, though. There’s so much I can do to help.”

Damo watched him, a little smile tugging at his full lips. “Clubbies are lucky to have ya. So’s Barkers.”

Secretly pleased, Blake shrugged.

Damo closed his eyes and tipped his head back, the sun bright on his tanned face, the freckles on his nose adorable—and sexy. “How good’s this?” he asked, eyes still shut as a small swell lifted their boards like they were being rocked gently in a cradle.

“Damn good.”

It was everything Blake had fantasized about when he’d bobbed out there alone, letting quality waves pass by if Damo was out doing a rescue. Watching from afar and indulging his little crush on a cute lifeguard with red sunnies and blond hair and a crooked smile…

Now here they were. It was too good to be true.

The nagging worry about the email and everything it meant was eclipsed by sudden fear that he was getting ahead of himself. Yes, Damo had wanted to see him again today, but what if it fizzled out tomorrow?

It had been Damo’s first time with a man, and Blake couldn’t let himself get carried away. He’d already had a little daydream earlier about what it would be like to actually have a partner and a family…

He blurted, “Do you really like me?” and his stomach dropped into the ocean depths. He was usually so much better at biting his tongue.