27
Sophia
“I’m home!” Sophia called, striding through the front door with all the pomp of a triumphant Roman emperor.
“That makes two of us,” called Grace from the couch. Her headset hung from her neck, and screaming voices blared out of it. When she caught Sophia’s questioning glance, Grace shrugged and turned back to her game. “You could say I’m pwning these dudes and they are not taking it well.”
Sophia laughed. “Carry on then. I’m just going to go change into some comfy pants.”
She headed toward her room with a bounce in her step. It had been a good day. Hell, every day had been a good day recently. She was finally caught up in her studies, her boyfriend was one hunk of a man who could also turn into a shark, and she lived with her two best friends in the city of her dreams. There were no sad days.
As well, she’d been accepted into a summer internship program in Pine Bay. She’d be learning how to apply her studies to the real world, and she’d be able to stay with Nate, since she still wasn’t talking to Darcy. It was the perfect opportunity. A whole summer with Nate, tucked away in the peaceful sleepy town they both called home.
Sophia was distracted when she opened her bedroom door, but no amount of distraction could have caused her to miss the hulking man standing over by her window.
“Goddamnit!” she cursed, kicking her sneaker toward him.
Nate caught the shoe effortlessly, laughing. His hair was tousled, like he’d only just come in from surfing, and his thousand-megawatt smile practically lit up the room. How could she be mad at him for scaring her when he was so goddamn good looking?
“You shouldn’t sneak into my room like that,” she chided, only half-serious.
Nate let the shoe drop to the floor and crossed the room, pulling her into his arms. “How else am I going to keep the excitement in our relationship?”
“Oh, like it’s not exciting enough that you have night vision and can always smell where Grace has hidden the chips.”
He raised a brow. “Is that all I’m good for?”
“Well, that’s not everything...”
Nate leaned down to kiss her, smiling against her lips. Sophia kissed him back eagerly, smoothing her hands over his hard chest and broad shoulders.
He ran a hand lazily down her spine. “We should get going.”
“Right.” Sophia pecked the tip of his nose and pulled away, turning to grab the gigantic surfboard that still capitalized most of the real estate in her bedroom. She liked it there, though. Every time she looked at the giant hunk of bio-resin, she thought of her own giant hunk.
Sophia turned, nearly hitting Nate with the end of the board.
“You’re deadly with that thing,” he observed.
Sophia winked. “Best not forget it, shark boy.”
Nate chuckled and followed her out of the room. Grace was still on the couch, completely tapped into whatever game she was playing. She was muttering curses under her breath, which meant she’d soon be yelling them.
She did a double take when Nate emerged from the hallway, though, eyes narrowing. “Hey Nate. Didn’t see you come in.”
At that moment, Hannah burst through the door, sighing dramatically.
“I have had a day, ladies and gentleman,” she announced. “How would you fine young people feel about getting pickled and acting like idiots later this evening?” Her eyes clapped on Sophia’s board and she frowned. “You’re going out? When will you be back?”
“We’ll be back before dark,” Sophia assured. “Though put us down as a maybe for now. Might be too tired.”
Hannah stuck her lower lip out in a pout. “I was thinking we could do karaoke,” she said. “Maybe it’ll even be Grace’s big night.”
Grace snorted from the couch.
“I said maybe!”
Sophia rolled her eyes. Even though her entire world had changed since fate carried Nate into her orbit, some things would always be the same.
“Where’s Jack?” Sophia asked, deftly changing the topic.
Hannah brightened. “He’s on his way over. He’s got to work later but he said if we wanna do the race he’ll make things extra interesting for us.”
“Extra interesting?” Grace perked up. “It sounds like there’s a wager afoot. I’ll start working on the odds.”
“You do that,” Sophia said with a chuckle. “We’ve got some waves to catch, so we’ll see you all later tonight.”
“Count on it!” said Hannah. “Don’t waste all your energy, Eddie Aikau. I’ll cut you.”
Sophia led the way out of the apartment, down to the street where the Comet was waiting. They moved past her baby to Nate’s new car, an old school Chevy Nova wagon in a cheery, robin’s egg blue.
“You don’t have to miss out on anything because of me,” he said, taking her board and securing it next to his on top. “I like karaoke.”
She shot him a flat look and walked around to the passenger side. “No you don’t.”
Nate laughed. “Okay, I don’t, but I like your friends and I like you.”
They both ducked down into the car, and Sophia snatched the aux cord before he’d even put the key the ignition.
“I want a normal life, you know.” Nate started the car, giving it a couple revs for good measure. “I love the normal life you already have.”
“I love the normal life I already have too,” she replied, settling on a song and hitting play. When The Turtles began to thrum through the speakers, she grinned over at him. “I also love spending time with you.”
He reached across the car for her hand, squeezing it tight. His long fingers and broad palm encapsulated her tiny hand completely. She hugged it to her chest, smiling.
“Have you talked to Darcy yet?”
Sophia’s smile dropped. “So not the right song to be asking me this during.”
He pulled his hand back to shift gears and pull out onto the road, cocking a questioning brow.
Sophia just shook her head. “No, I haven’t told her about the internship yet. Let’s not talk about it, though, okay?”
“Okay. What do you want to talk about?”
“Tell me about this beach.” All he’d said the day before was that he was taking her somewhere new. Sophia was practically giddy with excitement.
“Well, it’s a point break,” he said. “So that means we should be able to get some longer waves.”
“Uh huh.” She nodded her head, absorbing the information.
His lips curved. “There might be sharks.”
“Sharks?” she gasped. “If there are sharks, I’m not going.”
“What? You don’t like sharks?” Nate’s eyes sparkled with mischief and he grinned wolfishly. “Are you scared?”
Her heart melted into a puddle at the bottom of her rib cage.
“I’m not scared,” she sniffed. “But they’re pretty ugly, don’t you think? I certainly wouldn’t want to run into one.”
He scowled. “I’ll get you for that one.”
She grinned. “Can’t wait.”
Nate growled and reached across the bench seat, unclasping Sophia’s seatbelt and hauling her up against him. She giggled and protested weakly, but soon gave in, quite happy to cuddle up to him despite the safety risk. At least for a little while. His scent filled her nostrils, and she breathed in deep. Before she could get too comfortable, Sophia reached over to retrieve her phone, hastily re-entering the passcode.
“What are you doing?” Nate asked with a quizzical brow.
“Nothing,” she said. “Just restarting the song.”
He pulled her against him and kissed the top of her head. “Good. I like this one.”