against his warm, firm body. “I love you,” he whispered, and it sent a shiver down my spine. “So much.”
He finished with a discreet kiss to my forehead. I looked into the dark frames of his sunglasses through mine. “Me too. You’ve been unbelievable today with Addy. All of you have been.”
“She’s a spark of energy that we all needed after this long week. I have a question, though,” he said, and he looked at me as if he were scared out of his mind.
“I’ll answer it if you tell me what the hell is at the bar. I was going to head up with Ash and see if they had some ice cream or nachos or something.”
Jim eyed the bar. “Some chick I hooked up with a while ago. Everyone hated her. I was too stupid to see why. She leeched on and was one of the ones who joined forces and tried to ruin Jake’s life.” He smirked at me. “Like Alex said, sea scum. She’s probably trolling the area for some poor soul who can’t see through her Chanel sunglasses.” He grinned. “My wallet’s over there. Take it and get whatever you want. They have awesome margaritas if you want to pair that up with your nachos.”
“That sounds refreshing.”
“Hell,” Jake said, walking towards the cooler, cracking open a bottle of water, “it’s always five o’clock somewhere.”
“What was your question before?”
“What do you think about me putting on Addy’s wetsuit and life vest and letting her ride the board some?”
“You’re not taking her out deep, are you?”
He rolled his bottom lip into his teeth. “Would you get pissed if I coerced the guys to follow me out after she’s played on it some and learned to balance on her knees, and we rode that longboard in together?”
“You’re out of your fucking head.”
“The rip currents aren’t bad,” he said like he was a kid himself.
I looked out at the water. He was right. The currents were mellow, and the waves were breaking long and nicely for a simple ride in. If he had the guys out there with him, I knew they’d spot him with Addy. The longboard had more surface and was much easier to stay on because of that. I glanced around, seeing that the lifeguards were on deck as well, which was good. She had a life jacket and would be surrounded by four experienced surfers and lifeguards too.
“How about this,” I started, “why don’t you clear it with the lifeguards in the tower? They see the breaks farther out. If they think it’s okay for you to act like some Hawaiian, bringing his kid out to surf on the same board as him, then I’ll be okay with the idea. Everyone has to be out there, though.”
“You want to join us?” he asked.
“I’ll stand on the shore with my phone set to 911 in case it all goes south.”
“All right.” Jim kissed my temple. “Oh, and yes, Addy asked me if I had a crush on you.”
“Your answer?” I laughed.
“I said that I had the biggest crush ever.”
“You both are too much.” I kissed the warm skin of his shoulder. “I need to spray Addy down with more sunscreen and put it on her face.”
“I’ll get the wetsuits.”
“After you talk to the lifeguards.” I smiled at him.
After everything had been cleared with the lifeguards, the four men walked out to the water with Addy—her personal bodyguards—and Ash and I walked up through the gated area where you could drink on the beach.
I ordered the loaded nachos and a margarita and got Ash her ginger ale, leaving Jim’s wallet back at the beach site. Excellent of him to offer, but I had to pay for something.
“Is this a pregnancy craving?” I asked with a grin, handing her the drink.
She sipped it and smiled. “I guess so. I’ve found myself loving it lately. We have a whole ice chest full of it, so I don’t know why I ordered one.”
I held my plastic cup up to hers. “It just wouldn’t taste the same if you brought the drink to the bar.”
I glanced out at the ocean and laughed, seeing Jim pulling Addy around on the massive-ass longboard that was brought out. “Damn, that thing is huge.”
Ash chuckled. “I learned on that,” she said. “Then, apparently, I became a natural and played on it all day.”
“How’d you like it?”
“You were right about missing an old friend by being out there with the water. I only had a day