Page 20 of Suddenly Beck

Turning around slowly, my gaze locks on Beck who is watching me with those fascinating hazel eyes. He lifts his mug to his lips and sips slowly, his expression almost a dare.

Straightening my spine and gritting my teeth, I march purposefully over to him, stopping and looking up as he continues to lean on the railing separating the concrete promenade from the sand about a metre above me.

‘Beck,’ I greet him politely.

He stares at me, and for a second, I’m sure I see a flash of heat in his gaze. ‘Nat,’ he finally replies in that low gravelly voice that makes my dick twitch.

I draw in a determined breath. ‘I wanted to apologise for last night,’ I begin a little stiffly. ‘I shouldn’t have said what I did. It was a cheap shot; I was tired and feeling a bit prickly, and what you said rubbed me up the wrong way.’

‘Oh, Nat.’ His mouth curves slowly, revealing those sexy dimples as his eyes darken. ‘I’d love to rub you up the wrong way.’

A helpless laugh bubbles out of me, and I relax a little. ‘I’m sure you would.’ I smile in amusement. ‘And believe it or not, the feeling’s mutual.’

Beck places his mug down, balancing it on the thick squared off railing, before grasping the wood easily and sliding underneath it to drop effortlessly onto the sand in front of me.

I take a reluctant step back as I continue, ‘But the truth is, you have a point about Melanie. Your mum’s been good to me. She didn’t have to take a chance on me and give me a job, and I won’t do anything that would make her unhappy, she’s got enough to deal with right now.’

‘You’re right,’ he sighs in resignation. ‘It’s not often I get cock blocked by my own mother, but as it doesn’t happen often, I should probably respect the boundaries.’

‘That’s the spirit.’ I nod a little regretfully.

‘Look,’ he begins. ‘I meant what I said, I really do want to get to know you, and I’d like us to be friends.’

‘I’d like that too.’ I smile genuinely.

I’ve never really had any real friends. I’ve had acquaintances, the spoiled offspring of those in my mother’s and father’s social sphere. I’ve had the people I worked with, who were never really interested in getting to know me. I always got the feeling they just tolerated me, resentful of the fact that I was rather young and inexperienced to be promoted to manager over much more qualified and long-standing employees. Despite my ability and competence, we all knew I got the job simply because of who my father was. I couldn’t blame them though, if I was in their shoes, I’d have probably hated me too. In fact, there were days when I had hated myself, albeit for a very different reason.

‘Friends?’ He holds out his hand.

‘Friends.’ I nod as I reach out and grasp his hand, sucking in a sharp breath as another little zip of static electricity sparks between our palms.

His mouth quirks as his gaze drops to my running shoes. ‘Those pesky rubber soles again?’

I let out a laugh and the knot in my belly begins to relax.

‘Do you surf?’ Beck asks impulsively.

I snort in amusement. ‘Did you miss the part the other day where I tried to inhale the entire ocean?’

Beck just laughs easily. ‘Can you actually swim?’

‘Surprisingly enough, I can, why?’

‘Let me teach you how to surf.’ He smiles widely.

‘I’m sorry, what now?’ I blink and tilt my head as if I hadn’t quite heard him correctly.

‘I want to teach you to surf.’

‘Yeah, that’s what I thought you said,’ I snort. ‘Beck, I’m sure you’ve noticed I have enough trouble staying upright on dry land.’

‘It’s not the same thing, trust me,’ he replies, and there’s something in his eyes that intrigues me. ‘Being on the water, it’s like another state of being.’

‘Oh, Jesus.’ I shake my head.

‘No, seriously,’ he laughs lightly. ‘It’s hard to explain unless you’ve experienced it, but being out there on the water, all that vastness and energy, for one beautiful, perfect moment, you’re a part of it. It’s a kind of symbiosis, you forget everything, and you become a part of something so immense, so powerful it ripples through your whole body and soul.’

‘I don’t know, it’s pretty far out of my comfort zone.’ I hesitate.