Reunited with His Long-Lost Nurse

For several moments she showed him what they were going to do, and then she leapt up and grabbed her board.

‘Cool, okay, let’s go.’

They waded out until they were about knee-deep before she instructed him to lay his board down and try getting on it to paddle, and he couldn’t help but think she was enjoying herself a little too much. As if she thought he had decided it was all too easy. But he wasn’t that naïve.

Carefully, he followed her instruction, noting how she didn’t take them out too far but looked for waves that were coming in as square on to the beach as possible, and he strove to do the same, only to get flipped straight over.

‘Nice attempt.’ Talia grinned as he resurfaced. ‘Next time, try adjusting the angle of your weight on the board.’

Another attempt, another flip. But on his third go he managed to control the board all the way.

‘Impressive,’ she conceded, only half grudgingly, he thought. ‘I knew you’d be athletic enough to pick this up quickly.’

‘I’ll take that as a compliment,’ he shot back, privately admiring the way she managed to steer her board left and right with the surf, back arched and head high, while he barely kept in whichever line the wave carried him.

Time after time, he practised the moves, listening to her instructions and modifying his approach until he felt he’d really got the hang of it. It was certainly even more fun than he’d anticipated, though whether that was the sport, the heat or the company, he wasn’t entirely sure.

‘You want to try going out a little further?’ she asked after about an hour. ‘There are some bigger waves out there.’

‘No, I think I’ll go back to the beach and catch my breath.’ He laughed.

He’d thought himself fit from all the swimming, skiing and running he did, but this was something else entirely. His heart was hammering with the effort of controlling the board and his body, and the sand had never looked so appealing.

Plus, he needed a moment to sort out the jumble of...things in his head.

‘You stay out if you want,’ he added, as he caught her eyeing up the bigger waves slightly wistfully.

‘You’re sure?’

‘Absolutely.’

Picking up his board, Liam headed for the beach, only too grateful to reach the shore and detach the leash before crashing on the still-warm sand, his chest heaving slightly with the exertion.

Back out in the ocean, Talia was already duck-diving beyond the smaller waves to catch the bigger breakers, and spinning three-sixties on her board, both horizontally and vertically, all while still riding the wave. More than impressive.

He felt that familiar pull of desire and tried to shove it back down again. But he’d noticed that the more time they spend together, the more difficult it was to ignore. And he wasn’t the only one apparently admiring her. He’d spotted a couple of other bodyboarders making their way over to talk to her earlier as well as some surfer, and he’d had to remind himself that who she flirted with, or even dated, was none of his business.

It hadn’t been for the last three years. But that knowledge didn’t seem to make him feel any less...agitated.

Flopping back onto the beach, he forced himself not to watch. Not to give in to this ugly, clawing thing inside him that he knew couldn’t possibly be jealousy. A pointless, distasteful emotion that he’d always sworn would never have a role in his life. Especially seeing how it had played out in his father.

Seeing the grief at losing his wife, warring with his jealousy that their infant son—he himself—still had his life.

Liam was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he was caught completely off guard when a stream of cold water dropped mercilessly onto his stomach.

Leaping up with a low curse, he reached out and snagged a giggling Talia as she tried to dart away.

‘I thought you were going to play in the big waves,’ he growled.

‘I was,’ she sounded breathless. ‘But it wasn’t as much fun without you.’

He didn’t answer, instead choosing to haul her closer. It was only when he felt the electric contact of skin to skin that he realised it was her surf top that she’d removed and wrung out over him.

Now she was clad only in that flimsy bit of bikini. And it was the only thing between his skin and hers as she was pressed against him.

Liam commanded himself to release her, but his body had chosen that moment to refuse to take orders. And when he looked at her, her eyes seemed to shimmer up at him as her lush body brushed gently against him. But he didn’t think she was any more in control of the moment than he was.

‘This can’t happen,’ he managed, his voice unmistakeably hoarse. ‘The other night...we already agreed.’