Page 19 of Free Wind (Lifeguards of Barking Beach #2)

Damo lifted his head and blinked at him. “Uh, yeah, mate.” He glanced around, perhaps seeing if the other surfers were in earshot, and lowered his voice. “Would’ve brushed you if I didn’t like you.”

“Right, of course. Forget I asked. Please.”

Damo was frowning now, though. “You like me too, right?”

“Yes!” He wanted to reach out and take Damo’s hand but it might make him uncomfortable. “I just had the thought that this was way too good to be true.”

“Like, I am?” Damo looked incredulous as he jabbed a thumb at his chest.

“Yes, you.” Blake stroked his hands through the clear water and kicked closer, just out of reach, keeping his voice low. “I know you had a good time Friday night. But it was also your first time. What if you’re just caught up in that, and it’s not really me?”

“Like, it’s hormones or something?” Damo bit his lip. “Look, I’m not sayin’ sex isn’t on my mind.” He lifted his eyebrows. “It is. Like, a lot. But I wouldn’t want to surf with ya if that’s all it was.”

Blake found himself grinning. “So, it’s on your mind?”

Damo rolled his eyes with a laugh. “You haven’t thought about it?”

“Oh, I’ve thought about it. This is good too, though. Surfing. Talking.”

“Yeah.”

“And I know you’re still acclimating. I’m not expecting anything.”

Damo’s brows met. “I’m what?”

“Getting used to this. New feelings and experiences. I’ll keep my distance in public.”

“Right, that.” He glanced around. “Yeah, I think I want to get used to it more before everyone knows.” He quickly added, “I’m not ashamed. I don’t think it’s that? If I’m bi or whatever, that’s cool. I just… I want this to be for me right now. It’s mine.”

Blake smiled softly. “I’ll be yours as long as you want me.” He raised his hands. “No pressure. That sounded way too intense. Sorry. I tend to go all in when I want something.” He grimaced. “Just ask my ex.”

And why hadn’t Tasha responded to his reply to her email yet? Had he come on too strong?

Damo’s eyes widened as a bigger swell lifted them. “What happened?”

Blake sighed. “I met Lance in my last year of uni. Everything was great at first. He wasn’t interested in surfing or swimming, but he was kind and sweet.

I really wanted a steady boyfriend. A partner.

We had fun together, but I rushed us into moving in together.

I suppose it was good in a way because we realized we were not compatible. God, he was so messy.”

Damo winced. “Uh-oh. I have bad news about my tidiness.”

Blake laughed. “Don’t worry, I know not everyone is a neat freak like me. The issue with Lance was he didn’t want me doing his dishes or picking up his socks. He’d get mad, but he wouldn’t do it himself.”

Laughing, Damo waved a dismissive hand. “No worries, mate. You’re free to clean up after me all ya like. Encouraged, even.”

“Yeah? Lance found it ‘overbearing,’ even though I was only trying to help. Also, yeah, nah—I can’t have smelly socks just lying around when there’s a perfectly good hamper.”

“Reckon most people aren’t keen on it. Can’t say it bothers me.” Damo frowned. “Dunno. That might not be true. It’s just lower down the list of shit to do.”

“Honestly, his not letting me clean up after him was a metaphor for our relationship. I was too much, and he was too stubborn. He hated taking help. He’d say he didn’t need handouts—as if that even made sense with a sink of dirty dishes. His dad did a real number on him, I think.”

“So, that’s what did ya in?”

“For the most part. We were fundamentally incompatible. We graduated, and then I had to go home to help Mum and Dad. After a few weeks, Lance didn’t understand why I was still there, and there was no point in trying long distance.

It wasn’t that I didn’t love him. I did.

He’s a great person. We still text once in a while.

But to go from living together and quarreling most of the time to long distance didn’t make sense. It felt like going backward.”

Damo nodded seriously. “I know exactly what you mean. You can’t go from all in to halfway.”

“Exactly!” Damo got it—which of course only made Blake like him more. He forced himself to be logical. “So, we’re agreed we should take things slowly. Not get ahead of ourselves.”

Damo leaned sideways and held out his fist to be bumped. “Deal.”

The fleeting touch of Damo’s warm knuckles sent a bolt of desire through Blake. They shared a long, silent look as they rose up on a growing swell.

Damo said, “But that doesn’t mean we’re not gonna, you know.”

“Definitely not. We’re going to. ASAP, really.”

They laughed, and he gazed out at the horizon and the faint pink that sometimes appeared where the blue sky met the ocean. “I love this. With Lance, we didn’t want to do the same things on the weekend. Not that the guy I’m dating has to share all my interests, but surfing’s…”

“More than an interest, mate. It’s life.”

Blake’s heart skipped. “Yes.”

Go. Slowly. Stop thinking about how perfect he is.

Unfortunately, his brain instead called up the anxiety about not hearing back from Tasha yet.

He had to be patient. He’d taken his time that night to think before replying to her as the sun came up.

He’d crashed for a few hours of sleep before going to Rocky’s, hoping she’d have replied that morning.

Now it was Sunday afternoon, and nothing. He reminded himself again it was the weekend and she was surely busy.

“You right?”

Blake jerked his gaze from the rippled surface of the water to Damo. “Sorry.” He forced a smile. “I was… Uh, thinking poetic thoughts about the cerulean blue of the sea. Or maybe it’s azure.”

Damo’s furrowed brow smoothed. “Or…navy?” He laughed. “I think ‘turquoise’ is the fanciest word for blue I know.”

“Sapphire? Like your eyes.”

Damo laughed again, but this time he ducked his head, golden hair falling to obscure the pink flushing his cheeks. There were some shouts from nearby, and they turned.

“Go the groms!” Damo cheered for the group of preteen boys paddling for the small set coming through. “Get it!”

Blake watched them, and another bolt of tension returned. He tried to shove it aside again. He asked Damo, “Guess you were a grommet here too?”

“Yep.” Damo tucked his hair behind his ear as the sea surged beneath them.

“I was here every day, all day, until Mum told me it was time to come home. Back then, you could see the corner of our front porch if you stood on the concrete wall along the back of the sand. She’d put out a ratty old yellow towel when it was time for me to come in.

I’d hop up on the wall holding my breath, hoping to just see the faded blue wood and no yellow. ”

Blake glanced toward shore, squinting at the roofs of the houses that fanned out on quiet little twisty streets. “Wow, you live close.”

Damo hesitated, then said, “Yeah, stone’s throw.”

“Cool.” He wasn’t sure what had caused the hesitation.

It was back now, Damo looking toward shore with a little frown.

He pointed. “You see the big brick and glass monstrosity back there to the left of the tower? We’re behind it.

Used to be a single-story cottage in front of us.

The new house barely fits on the property.

Wankers. Council should never have approved it. ”

“Definitely not.”

Blake watched another boy paddle madly for a small wave, trying to time it right. Something brushed his foot, and he jerked, heart in his throat, sending up a splash as he spun and searched for a killer fin, even though a shark would chomp his foot off, not stroke it gently.

Damo laughed. “Chill! It was me.” He leaned forward, whispering, “Was just trying to get your attention.” He glanced around. The closest surfers were at least five meters away—and apparently Damo deemed that far enough because he gave him a flirty little grin.

“Sorry. I’m slightly paranoid about sharks. Footsy wouldn’t normally freak me out that much.”

“It’s cool.” The crease reappeared between Damo’s brows. “You seem distracted, though. Sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah.” He rubbed his face, saltwater stinging his eye thanks to his wet hand. “Look, it’s not you. God, we literally just agreed to go slowly, but I have to tell you—I just went all in on something else. Something big. Huge.”

Damo tilted his head. “You’re not, like, seeing someone else?”

“No, no! Nothing like that. You’re the only person I’m seeing. The only guy I want to see!”

Slow. Down.

His throat was dry. He hadn’t planned on talking about it to Damo, and he hadn’t spoken of it to anyone yet. The words didn’t want to budge.

“You can tell me,” Damo said, his tone so serious and sweet, his expression open again.

Damo had trusted Blake the other night. He deserved the same in return, and even if they were going to take things slowly, this was too big to keep under wraps. If it scared off Damo, Blake would have to accept that.

He took a deep breath. “It’s a game changer. A life changer. It’s heavy for a second date.”

Damo looked at him with concern, those sapphire eyes soft. “You can tell me. What happened?”

Blake swung his feet restlessly in the water. The lifeguard Jet Ski roared in the distance, on an endless loop of picking up swimmers in over their heads.

“I got an email. Didn’t recognize the name, and then I realized it was from Tasha Rutledge, the cousin of one of my old mates from home.

I only met her once, and it was years ago.

Almost nine years ago, as a matter of fact.

Tasha visited Blinman one summer, just for a week.

A bunch of us went bush camping. Lazed around the swimming hole during the day, then drank beer by the fire. You know.”

“Talkin’ shit, looking at the stars.”

“Yep. And hooking up. I hadn’t been with a bloke yet, and there were zero local prospects. I was horny as hell. Tash was keen, so I thought, Why not? Everyone was pairing off, and I reckoned it was my chance to experiment. She said she was on the pill, so there was nothing to worry about.”