“Maybe we can exchange tips in our areas of expertise,” he murmured, thinking of how much he had to learn about kids after his iced tea blunder earlier.
“Oh, you mean mine in three-year-old-girls and yours in surfing?”
He laughed and rocked against her again. “I’m more interested in my other area of expertise.”
She hummed and lifted to meet his hips. Her lids grew heavy as she threaded both hands through his hair, linking her arms behind his neck. “I’m very interested.”
14
Tessa was sunburned. She could feel the telltale sting of too much sun on her exposed skin.
At almost 5:00 p.m., the sun might have been less intense than when they’d arrived at one, but it was still strong. Despite her seventy SPF waterproof sunscreen applied every two hours, Tessa knew her fair skin would be toasted tonight. She dragged the sunscreen from her bag again, sprayed a thick layer of the clear mist into her hand,
and applied it to her face and neck. Then her shoulders. And wondered if she should pull Sophia from the surf again to dry her off and lather her up with more as well.
Her daughter’s hearty laughter reached Tessa’s ears, and melancholy twisted her heart. She couldn’t remember the last time Sophia had so much fun. She’d been in the water with Zach for hours. He’d done an early shoot and been finished by two. Tessa and Sophia had been at the beach since one, watched Zach for an hour before he’d introduced Sophia to the ocean and then taken her into the water. It was almost five now. The crowd was thinning out. Die-hard surfers still dotted the horizon and littered the beach, but the production crew was all but gone.
Movement on her right drew her gaze. A young woman stopped and smiled down at her. “Tessa?”
She squinted up at the woman but didn’t recognize her. “Yes?”
The other woman pushed her sunglasses to the top of her head and offered her hand, smiling. “Hi, I’m Grace, a friend of Zach’s.”
Good Lord, another woman? Zach had been getting attention from various bikini-clad women all day—on set, off set, in the water, out of the water. This woman was at least wearing more than a few threads of clothing with a Hawaiian-patterned sarong knotted at her waist, but her body wasn’t any less beautiful than the other women. And she was striking, with strawberry blonde hair and light eyes.
Tessa reached for the other woman’s hand. “Yes, he seems to have a lot of friends here. Especially of the female variety.”
She returned her gaze to the water, where Sophia knelt on a boogie board, her hands gripping the sides while Zach dragged her beyond the surf where they would wait for the perfect wave before Zach pushed her toward the shore again.
Grace laughed and lowered to the sand. “I guess he does, but I’m sure some of those are because Sophia’s so adorable. Kids and dogs—they’re babe magnets for a single man.”
Tessa refocused on the woman, partly nervous about the fact that this stranger knew Sophia’s name and partly annoyed she’d nailed the whole chick-magnet thing. “I’m sorry. Do I know you?”
“I’m Josh’s wife.” When Tessa didn’t show recognition, Grace added, “Josh? The Renegades risk assessment manager?”
Renegades. “Oh, right. Nice to meet you.”
“You too. Does Sophia like the Pegasus?”
Tessa glanced at the stuffed animal partially hidden beneath a towel Sophia was using as a blanket to put Pegasus “to bed.”
“Oh yes,” Tessa said. “She had to put Pegasus down for a nap so she wouldn’t miss her while she was surfing.”
Grace laughed. “I’m glad. I thought Zach was going to pop a blood vessel trying to decide over a bin of stuffed animals.”
Tessa remembered Zach’s comment about having a friend’s wife help him choose gifts and smiled. “Thanks for helping out. Pegasus was a good pick.”
“Zach did the picking, I just got him to the store. He has wonderful things to say about you and Sophia.”
Tessa offered a tired smile. She wasn’t feeling particularly friendly today. She’d gotten up early to fight traffic to and from the airport, and spent all afternoon watching Zach get hit on by gorgeous women while he stole her daughter’s heart with excitement and fun. Tessa knew it was irrational, but that didn’t keep the anxiety at bay.
She offered what she hoped sounded like a teasing, sarcastic “Probably just that honeymoon period. We haven’t known each other very long.”
“Zach is very much what-you-see-is-what-you-get. And he and Sophia seem to be having a ball.”
“That they are.” She certainly didn’t begrudge her daughter the fun and comfort she’d found with Zach so quickly. It was just that the happier Sophia was with Zach, the more inescapable the sensation of Sophia slipping away was. “Either he’s a fantastic teacher or Sophia has a natural skill, because he’s sent her to the surf standing a couple of times already, and she’s never been in the ocean.”
“Maybe it’s hereditary,” Grace said.