Page 25

I don’t bother showering, just pull on some boardshorts and a T-shirt before heading into the bathroom to brush my teeth. Last night and this morning were quite possibly the best night and morning of my life, and I fucking hate that Jade has now ruined it.

When I walk back into the bedroom, Alana is standing in her shorts and bra, her T-shirt in her hands. “Stay as long as you want,” I whisper, wrapping my arms around her from behind. “You made coffee.”

She smiles, turning to face me as she loops her arms around my neck. “I’ll take it to go. I should probably get out of here before Nate sees me anyway,” she says, rolling her eyes.

“Do you wanna tell the guys?” I ask her. “If Sage knows, won’t she...?”

Alana shrugs. “She says she won’t, but yeah, I don’t know. Maybe we should keep it on the downlow for a bit longer, just in case.”

I drop a quick kiss on her lips. “I’ll do whatever you want,” I whisper, knowing it’s probably for the best even if keeping us a secret is not what I want.

“Whatever I want?” she asks, a playful tone in her voice.

Chuckling, I slip my hands to her arse, grabbing it hard as I pull her against me. “Whatever you want,” I repeat, just as my phone starts up again. “Fuck my life,” I groan.

She smiles, cupping my face in her hands and pulling me in for a kiss. “Go sort her out, I’ll see you tonight.”

She moves to pull away from me, but I tighten my grip, holding her close as I kiss her again, hard and deep this time. Alana smiles against my mouth, her fingers sliding into my hair.

“We might have unleashed a dragon giving into this,” she murmurs against my mouth.

“Don’t care,” I reply.

She laughs, gently easing me back. “Go! I’ll see you tonight.”

“Ugh,” I groan, smacking her arse. “Okay, I’m gone. Laters, babe.”

“Bye.”

As I walk outside, I fire off a text to Jade, knowing it’s going to piss her off, but not giving a shit anyway.

Me: Meet me at Pe’ahi in 15 mins. Bring your board.

Before I leave, I grab a coffee from the shop next door to The Pipe Dream, not bothering to get Jade her oat milk fucking latte because like I said, I am not her assistant before climbing into my hire car and heading to the beach.

On the drive over, my mind wanders back to last night, to Alana showing up at my house, to the hours we spent together between my sheets. I fucking loved falling asleep with her in my arms and then waking up to her still in my bed.

Jesus, how the fuck am I going to leave her after Pipe is over?

I’ve been so focused on all the reasons why I can’t be with Alana, struggling with the repercussions of us giving in to that and then just being with her anyway, that I haven’t stopped to think that in a few weeks, Pipe will have been won, and I’ll be expected to move on with Jade to the next competition.

“Fuck,” I mutter to myself as I pull into the small carpark by the beach, having no idea how to deal with that. Grabbing my coffee, I get out of the car, glancing at my board which is still in the back. I’d bet money that Jade isn’t here yet, and it would be the perfect time to catch a couple of waves.

A honk behind me kills that idea, and when I turn, I see Jade pulling in, a huge smile on her face as she waves at me.

“Aloha!” she calls out, and I lift my coffee to my mouth in an attempt to hide the eye roll. “Did you get my latte?” she now asks as she gets out of the car and walks toward me.

“No,” I reply, and she stops in her tracks, a confused look on her face. “Get your board. We’re training, not having coffee.”

I turn and head toward the beach, knowing I’m probably being a bit of a dick, but I don’t care. Jade hasn’t just shown up here on Maui early and ruined my holiday, she’s also ruined my morning with Alana, and she was a bitch to her the other day, so this is the Flynn she’s getting today.

Jade drags her feet down to the beach, a sour pout on her face that I know means she’s annoyed with me. It’s a look I’ve seen before and one her dad used to recognize too, telling her to snap out of it and pay attention anytime it crossed her face. I miss the days when he used to travel with us.

“Get started on your warm-up while I check the break,” I say, waving my hand in a vague gesture before I walk down to the water. I scan the horizon, my eyes taking in the huge swell, my whole body itching to get out there and surf it. This place is known as Jaws, and it’s not hard to see why.

“Ready,” Jade snaps a few minutes later, standing beside me in her swimmers and rashie, board tucked under her arm, a pissed off look on her face.

“I want you out there,” I say, gesturing just to the side of where we stand. “Look for thirds in each set, and I want you practicing both stances.”

She lets out a huff because she hates when I make her do this. Jade is very technical in her surfing, like she’s reading a textbook and following it to the letter. She lacks the natural talent and improvisation that Alana has, and because of that, she doesn’t like to try anything new, and she doesn’t ever surf unconventionally.

I turn to her, taking another sip of my coffee. “You need to do this if you want a shot at winning Pipe, Jade,” I say, my eyes meeting hers. “This isn’t an easy break, and you know it, and you need to be prepared to mix it up.”

She lets out another huff, pouting a little as she says, “Okay, I know.”

“Alright,” I say with a nod. “Then get out there and show me.”

After surfing, Jade and I grab lunch to go over her training schedule now she’s decided to show up here early. I know she probably thought she could have a holiday like I am, but I’m not giving her that. When we’re done with lunch, I send her back to her hotel with a reminder to hit up the gym later.

“I will,” she whines before smiling up at me. “You wanna grab dinner after? You can show me some of the cool places you’ve found.”

“Can’t,” I reply. “Have plans.”

“Plans? With who?” she spits out, her smile gone.

I glance over at her. “Plans,” I say again. “I’ll see you later.” Then I head back to my car so I can get back to my holiday.

I spend the afternoon hanging out at the shop, helping Nate out with some stuff. Alana isn’t working today, but that’s cool because I know I’ll be seeing her tonight.

When Sage comes in as we’re closing up, she hits me with a huge smile as she says a little bit too enthusiastically, “Flynn, hi!”

Chuckling, I shake my head a little as I reply, “Hey, Sage.”

She glances at Nate, who is busy closing out the register and not really paying us any attention, before she turns back to me and says, “You want to join us for dinner?”

Nate’s head snaps up at the invite, his brow narrowed in a way that makes me laugh. “Thanks, but I can’t. I actually have plans,” I say.

“Oh?” she now asks, that same sly grin on her face that tells me she already knows what my plans are.

“Yep,” I say, giving her a quick wink before turning to Nate. “You need me to do anything else?”

“Nah, all good,” he says. “Thanks again for your help today.”

We clap hands. “Anytime,” I reply, grinning once more at Sage before I turn and walk out of the shop.

The door opens just as I’m getting out of the shower. Grinning, I wrap the towel around my waist as I walk through the small house to the living room.

“Hey, beautiful,” I say, wrapping my arms around Alana.

She squeals, laughing as she rests her hands on my chest and says, “Oh my god, you’re all wet!”

Chuckling, I press a kiss to her lips. “Hmm, I’m more interested if you’re all wet.”

She lets out this whimper-groan combo that is seriously sexy. “Maybe,” she murmurs. “But let’s eat first. I’m starving.”

“Hmmm, me too,” I reply, pressing her hips against mine, hungry for a different kind of meal.

Alana laughs, pushing me back as she says, “Get dressed. I brought food, and I want to eat!”

I laugh, stepping back as I rip the towel off so she gets a full frontal view of exactly what that just did to me. “If you say so,” I reply with a wink, turning to walk naked back to my bedroom, laughing when one of the throw cushions from the couch hits me in the back.

“So, how was she?” Alana asks when I walk back into the kitchen, dressed in shorts and a T-shirt.

“The usual,” I reply, stepping in behind her, my chin resting on her shoulder as she opens the boxes of food she brought over. “Wow, this looks great. How much do I owe you?”

Alana turns and hits me with a look, rolling her eyes. “Nothing. Did you get her the oat milk latte? Oat milk, not soy like last time?”

I laugh, giving her a quick kiss before grabbing us a couple of beers from the fridge. “I did not. I am not her fucking assistant, and she knows that.”

Alana plates up some food for us, and we carry it through to the living room to eat on the couch. “Are you going to be training her more now that she’s here early?”

I take a bite, letting out a low groan at how good it tastes. “Not all the time, no. I’m technically still on my holiday, so she’s gonna have to fend for herself for a while.” Alana nods, her eyes on her plate as she eats. I put mine down on the coffee table before reaching over, curling my hand around the back of her neck. “Hey.”

She turns, swallowing before she says, “Yeah?”

I take her plate and put it on the coffee table before pulling her into my lap. Kissing her lips, her cheeks and the tip of her nose, I rest my forehead against hers as I say, “Jade is just a client, okay? And right now, she’s a client ruining my holiday. Trust me when I say, all I want to be doing right now is hanging out with you.”

“I know,” she breathes out, nodding.

I cup her jaw, tilting it up so she’s looking at me. “I’m kinda obsessed with you, Alana,” I admit, my thumb brushing across her skin.

She laughs softly. “Yeah? Well, the feeling is kinda mutual.”

Smiling, I close the distance, pressing a soft kiss to her lips. “Good,” I whisper. “So no more talk of Jade, okay? She doesn’t get to be a part of this.”

“Agreed,” she replies, kissing me this time before sliding off my lap and back onto the couch.

“So how was your day?” I ask as we both reach for our plates again.

“Good. Went for a run after I left here and then surfed this afternoon at Pe’ahi.”

“God, you must be knackered,” I say, laughing when she gives me a confused look. “Tired,” I clarify.

Alana shrugs. “A little, but not as much as I thought. Think I’m kinda running on coffee and adrenaline.”

I smile, feeling the same way. Even though we didn’t get much sleep last night and I’ve been sucking back iced coffees like nobody’s business all day, I feel wide awake, my body on high alert. I’m pretty sure it’s all the other things that have happened. The fact that Alana and I are doing this and we are both all in on us being together, that’s driving this constant state of...of whatever it is.

I like it, though. I want more of it too.

“How’d the surfing go?” I ask now, not fishing for information, but genuinely interested in knowing how she’s going.

Alana nods, chewing her food slowly as though she’s remembering back to this afternoon. “Good. Tried a couple of aerial moves.”

“Shit, that’s awesome. How’d they go?”

She smiles now and it’s shy and kind of fucking adorable. Everything about this girl is adorable actually, and every second I spend with her, I just want to spend more and more. “It went good,” she says.

I scoff out a laugh. “It went good,” I repeat, hitting her with a smirk. “Something tells me it went better than good.”

She shrugs, a coy kind of smile on her face that has me laughing again as I drop my now-empty plate on the coffee table. “Okay, you,” I start, taking her plate and also putting it on the coffee table before I wrap my arms around her, pulling her close as I nuzzle her neck and kiss my way up to her mouth. Alana giggles in my arms, and fuck me, if it isn’t all kinds of adorable and hot and just everything I want.

“What about me?” she asks, teasingly.

“You are being very cheeky right now.” She giggles again and I can’t resist nuzzling her neck. “Fuck, I love when you laugh like that,” I murmur.

“And I love when you say things like cheeky,” she replies, easing me back as she holds my face in her hands. “But why am I cheeky?”

I lean in, kissing her lips, both of us smiling. “It went good,” I repeat back to her. “Doing aerials at Pe’ahi.”

Alana shrugs, a smirk on her face as she says, “Yeah, I mean, it did.”

Laughing, I slide my hand down to her arse, the other slipping into her hair, wrapping it around my fist. “Something tells me that it went way better than just good.”

She smiles that same coy smile again, her eyes sparkling with happiness as she laughs, leaning her head against my shoulder. “Okay, fuck it. It was awesome, Flynn. I totally fucking nailed it and the only thing I could think was, I wish you were there to see it.”

“I’m so fucking proud of you,” I say, exhaling hard because god, I wish I could have seen it too. Could’ve been there surfing it with her. But I know we can’t be that right now, so I pull her close as I brush my lips against hers. “I wish I was too, but you know I’m definitely gonna see it at Pipe.”

“Maybe,” she says.

“Definitely,” I murmur, kissing her again. “But...”

“But?” she asks playfully.

Chuckling, my hand on her arse tightens, gripping it hard. “How about we hurry up and eat so I can nail you?”

Alana laughs, kissing me hard. “Yeah, that might be good,” she whispers and this time we both laugh.