Sun-kissed (The Au Pairs 3)

"Great! See you later." Ryan smiled as he made his way toward the exit.

"Let him go," Lucky said sympathetically. "If you love someone, set them free."

"Lucky, Sting is so over," Mara chided.

But Lucky was right. She couldn't put Ryan on a tight leash. He was his own person and free to do whatever he wanted. If she let him go freely, he would come back to her.

172

mara is a righteous betty

MARA HIT THE SEND BUTTON ON THE SCREEN. SHE'D SPENT the last hour polishing her copy on the polo reception. The actor had finally consented to give her a brief interview after his publicist had convinced the party's sponsor to kick in a free trip on the company jet to St. Thomas, a fact that she hadn't left out of her column. Her readers loved that sort of insider dish, and she had managed to pull off writing about the celebrity as both an idol and an object of ridicule--no mean task. She stretched and yawned, then checked her watch. Eleven-thirty in the evening.

Ryan still hadn't returned from the paddle-out. He'd said they would be down at the cove. Maybe she should join him. He'd gotten a ride with his friends, so the car was available.

She took the Ferrari down to the beach. She couldn't see very well in the dark, but as she rounded a sand dune, she came upon a brightly lit bonfire. People were sitting around it, and

she heard the sound of laughter and a guitar being strummed. An Igloo cooler filled with frosty Coronas was planted in the sand.

Mara took off her shoes and walked barefoot on the cold, wet sand as she approached the merry group.

173

The surfers were hanging out in front of the bonfire, their boards stuck perpendicular on the sand behind them. Ryan was seated in the middle. He'd put a sweatshirt over his wet suit, and he was strumming a guitar. Next to him was Tinker, in the tiniest bikini imaginable, a black one that looked like it was held up by shoelaces, the straps were so thin. Even though it was goose-bump cold and everyone else was huddled in blankets and wearing sweaters. Mara herself shivered in her cotton yoga pants and terry-cloth sweatshirt.

She walked up to the group and cleared her throat. Ryan looked up. His handsome features broke into a huge grin that melted her heart.

"Mar--you're here!" he said, putting aside his guitar.

She nodded. "I got the story done."

"Hey, guys! You remember Mara, my girlfriend," Ryan said.

"Sure enough." Several of the guys smiled.

Of course they remembered her. She was the one who'd gone totally ballistic when she'd found all of them hanging out on their boat when she had to write a story. She'd practically chased them off the port side. But they smiled at her in a friendly fashion nonetheless.

"Make room, bro," Ryan ordered. The guy next to Ryan moved a foot, but Mara squeezed herself between her boyfriend and the bikini-wearing wannabe home wrecker instead.

"Happy birthday, Tinker," she said.

"Glad you could make it," Tinker said coolly.

174

Ryan kept strumming his guitar.

Conversation veered toward the experience of the paddle-out--how amazing it was to be one with the ocean at sunset. "I, like, felt so small, man, like a grain of sand, a drop of water. . . . Mind-blowing, brah," the boy next to Ryan was saying. "Respect."

"I've never felt so self-actualized," Tinker agreed. Mara raised a skeptical eyebrow. The most New Age she ever got was burning a stick of incense in an ashtray. Self-actualized? What the hell was Tinker talking about? It all sounded hokey to her. She found she enjoyed the surfers' company--they were all laid-back and mellow--but she couldn't stomach all the beach-side philosophy they espoused.

Still, it was nice to sit next to Ryan. He was playing her favorite song on his guitar, "Wonderful Tonight." She knew it was a code for how happy he was that she had come to the beach.

"We're going out tomorrow, killer waves off the point, get inside the pope's living room," a dreadlocked surfer enthused, meaning the swells were so huge, they would be able to surf inside the barrell of the waves.

Mara smiled. "Maybe I'll go too."

"You will?" Ryan asked, surprised. It was the first time Mara had offered to join him all summer. "Are you sure?"