Page 66 of Fight For Me

“Maybe let’s focus on one thing at a time,” I tell her.

“Probably wise.” She jumps to her feet and pulls me up after her. “But I’m still going to sketch out a couple ideas. Just for fun.”

She starts to turn away to walk to the door but I stop her by throwing my arms around her. She squeezes me right back. “Love you, girl,” I whisper into her curls.

“Love you, too.”

“None of this would have happened without you either. You know that right?”

She pulls away, fluffing out her hair and grinning at me. “Of course I know that. I’mawesome.”

* * *

To my surprise,I do manage to sleep for a few hours out on the couch. Apparently, some girl time with Rose and Everly—and Bodhi—was just what I needed to relax. And it’s a good thing—I’m going to need every bit of my strength to get through the next hour.

“Is it supposed to be this hard?” Bodhi pants, bending at the waist. As soon as he does, his paddle board gives a wobble and he gasps, throwing his arms out to the side to keep from falling into the ocean.

“You need to work on your core strength,” Rose says, gliding past him on her paddle board like it’s the easiest thing in the world.

“Not all of us are yoga guru surfer babes, Rosie,” he calls after her, sounding uncharacteristically grumpy. The jet ski holding one of the camera guys zips past and Bodhi nearly topples in the wake, swearing loudly.

“It could be worse,” River tells him. “You could be as bad as Leo.”

I peek over my shoulder to see Leo far behind us. Every time he moves his board wobbles, and then he freezes. We’ve been out here for twenty minutes and he’s barely moved from the shore. Rose stayed with her boyfriend for approximately thirty seconds before ditching him to head out to sea.

Paddle boarding in the Atlantic Ocean is just one of the many activities the production team planned for the weekend. I’ll admit it’s a little tricky—it’s a windy day and the waves are choppy. But most of us have enough experience surfing to handle it without a problem. The same cannot be said for Bodhi and Leo. Wyatt seems to be struggling a bit too. He looks awfully shaky on his board.

I circle back and paddle towards him. He scowls at me. “Are you showing off?”

“It’s hard to show off with the ocean goddess over there,” I say, tilting my head towards Rose. The jet-ski camera guy has abandoned the rest of us to focus on her dolphin-like grace through the water.

He rolls his eyes. “Yeah, you look like such an amateur compared to her.” He wobbles again and curses under his breath.

“You doing okay there?”

“Just annoyed that my dad was right.” He sees the confused scrunch of my forehead. “He was getting on my case about not surfing since I’ve been home.” He gestures at the board. “I’m out of practice. Apparently, my core strength has gone to shit over the last few years.”

My gaze drops to his midsection. He’s not totally ripped or anything, but he has clearly visible abs. We’ve only been in Miami for twenty-four hours but he’s already looking tan. Tan and smooth and so dangerously gorgeous in his board shorts and no shirt. I’m struck with the sudden urge to run my fingers all over those lean muscles. When I glance back up, he’s watching me, and smirking. Busted. I hold his gaze and raise an eyebrow in challenge.Yeah, I looked.

His smirk grows into a grin, but then a wave knocks into his board and he wobbles again. “Careful you don’t fall in,” I call out. “Pretty sure I saw a jellyfish a few minutes ago.”

“You saw awhat?” Bodhi shrieks from several yards away.

Wyatt glares at me, but his lips are pressed tight together and I can tell he’s trying not to laugh.

“I think it’s your hand,” I say. “Not your core.”

“My hand?”

“Yeah. You’re favoring it. Your stance isn’t natural. It’s screwing up your balance.”

He takes his injured hand off the paddle, shaking it out a few times. “You’re probably right. It’s still kind of numb.”

Worry bubbles in my chest. “Did you clear this with your PT?” He winces. “Wyatt!”

“I’m sick of having to clear everything I do with a medical team!”

“But what if you get hurt? You don’t want to mess with your progress.”