Read Online Making Waves: A Perfect Kisses Novella by Ophelia London - Free Book Online Page A

humiliation. “What did I ask?”
    “If I would lie beside you.”
    “In your bed?”
    He nodded and slid his hands in his back pockets. “You scooted over and made room. You were very hospitable.”
    “I’m a polite drunk.”
    “I didn’t touch you, Justine. Once you were asleep, I moved to a chair, but I never left. I would have dressed you in my pajamas but”—he paused to shrug—“I don’t have any.”
    She couldn’t help laughing. “Nice detail.”
    And one that might haunt me for the rest of my life.
    “So, that’s why you didn’t tell me about being Chase Ryder?” she asked, filling the final holes in her memory, thanks to Will. “Because of Anna and what I said about hating the water? Was that why you disappeared?”
    He nodded. “I was leaving for Australia in two weeks—the start of the winter surfing season. That’s the reason I was going to tell you that night. But then…I didn’t want my life to be a constant reminder of your loss.” He crossed his arms and leaned back against the railing. “I was also afraid you wouldn’t trust me after you found out I’d practically kidnapped you and kept you stashed away in my bed.”
    His words made her flush again. “To keep me from running through the streets naked in the rain.”
    He grinned and cocked an eyebrow. “And thank you for that visual.” As he lifted his eyes, they pointed toward the ocean. There was that expression again—the longing. She felt a similar pull when she turned her own gaze to the water.
    When she was a little girl, her mother used to call her the little mermaid because of how often she requested to go to the community pool. She’d always been something of a tadpole and had never grown out of it. Anytime a friend invited her to the lake or a pool, Justine was the first off the diving board.
    She leaned forward against the railing so she could get a better view of the beautiful wide, blue expanse.
    “What?” Will asked.
    She hadn’t realized she’d sighed aloud.
    “Is there something else wrong?”
    Something else? Where should I begin? she felt like replying, torn between a lifetime of joy and the year-old phobia.
    “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”
    “Very,” Will agreed, resting a hand on the railing beside hers, their pinkies touching. “Do you want to take a walk to the water?”
    She felt a natural jolt of excitement, but on its heels…
    It was stupid, but she couldn’t help picturing the waves back at North Shore, how huge they were—huge enough to pull them both under.
    “No,” she replied.
    “The swells you saw up north are nothing like the ones down here,” Will said, as if he’d read her mind, or maybe he was reading the alarm on her face. “Ecosystems change around the shorelines of the whole island. The waves are highest at the top—which is why the surfing competitions are up there. The farther south you go, the smaller the waves. There are spots on Waikiki with no waves at all, almost like a lake.”
    “Really?” The new set of flutters in her stomach momentarily overshadowed the negative. Maybe it was time to face her fear. She didn’t like the idea of anything scary controlling her life. She was way too independent for that.
    “Do you think you’ll ever want to swim again?”
    She was about to blurt out a kneejerk answer of no, but didn’t this time. “I don’t know,” she answered honestly. Because she really didn’t. She used to play in the water until she was pruny. It had been a huge part of her life. The shock and raw grief over losing Anna so tragically had passed, but that didn’t automatically make her brave.
    “I don’t know,” she repeated.
    When Will sighed, she glanced at him. “There’s a spot I know,” he said. “One of those places I was telling you about.”
    “Little waves?”
    He nodded and ran his pinky over hers.
    Justine’s heart started to pound from the combination of his simple touch and the thought of actually getting in the water. She