Page 25

NOAH

I can be very persuasive

“Thanks again for teaching me.” Millie’s bouncing with energy as she hops up and sits on the back of my truck. “That was awesome.”

I grin at her. I love it when people fall in love with surfing.

I love when they keep trying, like Millie did, and get to experience the euphoria of standing on a board.

She might’ve started out begrudgingly, but I saw the way her face lit up when she finally stood up.

You can still see the pride on her face.

Millie swings her legs as she watches me put the boards in the car tray. “How many surfboards do you have?”

“Someone wasn’t paying attention during the surfboard collection tour.” I wink at her as I slide the second one in. I didn’t surf today, but I don’t care. Seeing Millie stand was worth missing out on a barrel. “I haven’t counted them, but at least one hundred.”

“Seems excessive.”

“I’ve been surfing my entire life,” I remind her. “I’ve bought boards, traded boards, been gifted boards. Some of them aren’t for using anymore. They’re memories.”

The fifty at my house are just the surface. I still have boards in storage in California, and in the garage at my parent’s place. Collecting boards has become an addiction of mine.

Millie’s phone buzzes in her hand and she frowns. “Mack said the boys are heading to the surf club for lunch if we want to join them.” She looks at me. “Why is Mack messaging me?”

I rub the back of my neck. “Because my phone’s nearly always dead and he said he’d rather talk to the more reliable of this pairing. Is it okay I gave him your number?”

“Of course.” Millie smiles. “Do you want to join them? I’m ravenous after exerting all that energy.”

“For sure. You need replenishing after strenuous exercise,” I agree. “How hungry are you after sex?”

Millie’s mouth parts in surprise, but there’s no denying the smirk at the corner of her lips. “Noah.”

My gaze flickers over the random dusting of sand on her collarbone and the beads of water that still linger on her chest. Millie removed her rash shirt before we had a quick rinse under the shower, and I’m certain my eyes widened when I saw how good she looked in the one-piece underneath.

I lean in closer. “Are we really going to keep acting like you didn’t rub against me last week with my best mate in the room?”

Ever since Millie brought herself to silent orgasm on my leg last week, I haven’t stopped thinking about it.

I knew there was attraction there, but I’ve been so focused on playing our roles, I never entertained the idea of doing anything else for longer than a second.

But now the door’s been opened, by her , and I’m selfishly playing out X-rated scenarios in my head.

Millie dips her head. “I thought you said we’d forget about it?”

Disappointment rears its head again, but I quash it down. “It doesn’t mean anything, but I’m still allowed to give you shit about it from now until my dying day. Along with how you nearly drowned from trying to avoid a stonefish that either didn’t exist or was nowhere near you.”

She snaps her head up, jaw tense. “I saw the stonefish after you distracted me, so it’s still your fault. And stonefish aren’t a joke. They can kill you!”

“They can, but you’re more likely to have a run-in with a shark or a jellyfish if we’re getting technical.”

She narrows her eyes. “I am never going back in there.”

I instinctively step in front of her, wedging myself between her legs. She stops swinging them as I place my hands on her thighs.

“You’ll go in there, even if I have to make you.” I ignore the rasp of my voice as I tilt her chin up to look at me. Millie’s breaths are shallow as she meets my gaze, her lips slightly parted. I wonder if her strawberry lip balm tastes as good as it smells.

“You’ll make me?” she squeaks.

“I can be very persuasive.” I lower my hand back to her thigh and slowly circle my thumbs on her sandy skin, not missing the way she trembles slightly.

“You’re doing this because people are watching us, right?”

My thumbs continue to make concentric circles. “Are people looking? I hadn’t noticed.”

Her eyes widen as she searches mine for something. Perhaps for a clue as to the meaning behind my words. That I’d be happy if she decided to break her no-kissing rule right about now, contract or no contract.

Millie holds my gaze, almost as if she’s frozen, and I take that as my cue to take the pressure off.

Making her uncomfortable can be fun when it’s jokes about sex or her weird fears, but having her struggle in front of me about what is happening between us is not a way I’d want any first kiss with a woman to go down. Especially with Millie.

“Let’s get to lunch,” I say, lightly tapping her legs. “Maybe there’s stonefish on the menu.”

She blinks several times as I lean back, helping her hop off the tray so I can close it. “Noah?”

I slam the tray into place. “Yeah?”

She pauses before she answers me. “You can’t eat stonefish.”

I smile as we head to climb inside the car.

There’s no way that’s what she wanted to say.