THIS PAST WEEK, I’ve fallen into a simple routine of picking up lunch for Nico and me before heading to the beach. In the mornings while Nico is surfing, I’ve been feeling extra creative. I’m already working on a new novella.
Temporary title: The Surf Instructor.
Alternate temporary title: Beneath the Board Shorts.
“What are you doing with that boy who’s always following you around like a spoiled little puppy?” Ana, the owner of the quaint beachside cafe, hands over a bag full to the brim with coxinhas for me and Nico to share.
I give her a soft smile. “You know, nothing yet.”
“He better be keeping you entertained. Otherwise, I’ll have to tell my son to take you out.” Ana waves me goodbye, and I make my way to the door.
“Tchau, Ana.”
“See you tomorrow, menina linda,” she calls after me.
The sun’s white light pinches at my vision as I make my way down a path to lounge on Copacabana Beach.
As much as I’ve enjoyed keeping my mind on writing, I’m antsy. Which is exactly why I’m on a mission today to get introduced to Nico’s surf instructor, Diego.
Nothing like a summer fling, who isn’t off-limits, to keep me entertained.
There are about ten people in Nico’s co-ed surf class. I spot the flag on the waterfront where a large group of surfers are already carrying their
boards back to shore. Since Nico’s not capable of keeping his phone on him, we’ve planned to meet here for lunch every day.
My friend’s muscular body is impossible to miss, even amid the crowd. Nico’s built shoulders and abs gleam beneath the sun. He’s laughing with Marcelo and João, a pair of locals in his class. I force my ogling stare away from my friend and onto my prime target—Diego.
Diego follows his students onto the shore. If there were a photograph next to the definition of panty dropper, it would be this man’s face.
The best part of my day begins.
All four guys shake out their hair, and Nico’s long strands splatter water onto Diego’s chest.
Wow.
It’s the hottest thing I’ve seen in my entire life, and I’ve seen some shit that would blow the best storytellers out of the water.
I clench my thighs as I take a seat on the beach chair usually waiting for
me.
My attention slips from Diego’s brawny build to Nico’s tattoos.
The ink has caught my interest many times now. I need to put my
curiosity to rest and ask him what the scattered pieces mean. That’s a friendly thing to do, right?
Nico turns his head and catches me staring just as a droplet of drool falls from my mouth and onto the exposed skin of my thigh. I wipe it away with the back of my hand.
I sigh. I’m absolutely no better than a man.
My lungs swallow a ragged breath when he waves at me. I flash Nico the bag of coxinhas in my hand, now realizing I’ve practically crushed our lunch during the peep show.
Nico jogs over. “You are just perfect. Absolute, utter perfection,” he says, panting, when he gets to me.
I smile at him. “Thank you.” A blush warms my cheeks.
Well, that’s new.
Compliments don’t exactly make me blush.
“I was talking to the lunch you’re holding.” He sits on the empty chair beside me. Our knees bang together when he grabs the bag from me.
“Oh, shut up.” I send the back of my hand into his arm.
Nico doesn’t absorb my blow. Instead, he dodges it, then grabs my wrist with his free hand and practically pulls me into his bare chest.
My blood sloshes in my ears, sending a ringing through each of my cells.
I hate to admit it, but the aggressive display has caused another type of wetness to drip down my leg.
“So much bite from you lately,” he whispers before letting go of me.
Then Nico sinks his teeth into one of the fried treats.
I need to get laid soon or I’m going to get myself in so much trouble. “You bring it out in me.”
“Want me to show you how I can tame it?”
I’m moments away from nodding yes, but I exercise some restraint. Playful moments with Nico have been shifting to something potent all too quickly.
“I want to hook up with your surf instructor.” The words come out of my mouth so swiftly, they surprise even me.
Nico blinks. “Diego?”
“Yeah, he’s kind of hot.” I shrug, reaching into my tote for a bottle of sunscreen.
He takes another coxinha from the bag. “You think so?” “Even his abs have abs.”
“I guess, if you like the whole surfer look.” Nico stands.
I squirt a healthy dose of sunscreen into my palms and lather my skin. “You mean the same one you have?”
“You like my abs, Lily?”
Absolutely. However, I’m not admitting I was drooling over them only a few minutes ago. “From one friend to another, they’re easy on the eyes.”
“If you think my abs—” “Can you not?”
The boyish grin returns for a beat, and Nico glances over to his surf group and back to me. “The whole class is going to a bonfire tonight, a few towns over. I think Diego’s gonna be there.”
“Will you be my wingman?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?” he says nonchalantly. “That’s what friends do, and I’m a great friend, Lil.”
The bubbling anticipation inside my body shrinks. Nico’s on board with providing me exactly what I asked for, and now I’m losing interest?
Ugh. What is this vacation doing to me?
We’ve been to two other parties with his friends, but I haven’t found anyone I click with. At least no one who piqued my interest as much as Diego.
I don’t think Nico’s found anyone either, at least not in front of me. Despite all his charm, he hasn’t spent a night anywhere but his own bed, alone. Even when most women here seem more than eager to talk to him, touch him, and laugh loudly at his jokes.
“You won’t be jealous?” I jeer. “Not the jealous type.”
If I weren’t a romance author, I’d probably believe him, but there’s something about his words that I don’t trust.
Shaking my head, I brush away Zoe Mona’s voice. Friends don’t get jealous when one of them needs to get laid.
“Fair warning, Diego’s a bit of a jerk.” “Jerks don’t bother me.”
In fact, converting douchebags into bumbling, weak-kneed, women- worshiping men is a specialty of mine.
Nico studies the inside of his coxinha as though it’s a five-by-five Rubik’s cube. “I’m gonna put this as nicely as possible. Diego’s a great instructor, but he’s not the right guy for you.”
Excuse me?
I shuffle around in my seat. “Right guy? I’m not planning to be his girlfriend, Nico.”
He rolls from one foot to the other, avoiding eye contact with me, and grunts in response.
Nico Navarro grunts.
The man who can outtalk anyone gives me a measly grumble instead of words.
His sudden crabbiness is ruining my mood.
“What’s up with you? You ran over here like a golden retriever chasing a Frisbee, and now you’re acting all weird.”
“Sorry.” He shrugs. “I ate sand on some of the waves, and it must’ve put me in a bad mood. I didn’t mean to ruin our moment.”
“It’s fine.” I throw the sunscreen into my tote and reach over to Nico for the paper bag of food. But the bag of six large coxinhas is entirely empty. “Are you serious? Nico…you ate everything.”
“What? I thought those were all for me.”
I wipe away the crease forming on my brow, trying to suppress my disappointment. All traces of my bubbling desire have fully evaporated. He’s acting like I haven’t been here with him doing the same thing we’ve done for days.
“We always share.”
Sometimes, when we’re together, Nico makes me feel as if I’m the only person in the world. Then he pulls crap like this and makes me feel so overlooked.
“My bad, didn’t even notice.” He crumples the bag and forces a grin. “All the falling off my board made me super hungry today.”
“Nico, it’s not funny. The coxinhas were my lunch too.”
“It’s no big deal. I’ll run over to Ana’s and order you some more.” “Fine, but can you just try to think of me every once in a while?”
“I always think about you.” The signature wink makes an appearance, but it barely strums the strings in my belly like it usually does.
“I’m sure you think about my ass plenty.”
“It’s impossible not to think about something so lovely.” Nico’s eyes lick up my body until they meet the unimpressed look on my face.
“It would be nice if you could actually treat me like the friend you say you are.” My hands run over the sticky skin of my thighs. “Maybe you simply don’t know how to. I can’t fault you for that, but I’d appreciate it if sometimes considering wow, how will this affect Lily? could be a part of your thought process.”
“I do.” He frowns, and I immediately feel bad for laying into him like this, but there’s no use letting grievances like this fester.
“You try but—” I want to piece my words together nicely. Maybe I’m overreacting. We aren’t dating. However, we’ll be living together for the next three weeks, and I can’t just let him walk all over me. I would make no exception for any other man in my company. “You leave your breakfast dishes out every morning and expect me to pick them up. The other day you used my toothpaste and never gave it back. You take my things, finish my snacks, and pretend my things are ours.”
“My things are yours if you want them,” he says sheepishly.
“That’s not what I’m saying, Nico. Of course you can use my things.” I sigh, feeling incredibly petty for no real reason. “Look, my younger sister and Avery always do little things like this. It’s like you’ve always been
taken care of and don’t have to consider others too much. I know it may seem small, but if you can just try, it would make me feel better.”
Nico frowns, watching me for a moment. “You’re right, Lily. I didn’t even realize I was annoying you.”
“It’s fine, honestly.” I try to smile, but Nico looks positively crushed. I feel like crap. “I don’t want to work myself up into resenting you over some unspoken nonsense.”
“I’m sorry, Lil.” Nico kicks the sand off his feet. “I’ll make it up to you by introducing you to Diego later tonight.”
“Didn’t you already agree to do that?”
“Yes, but now I’ll be nice about it.” The grin returns, and Nico jogs off toward Ana’s cafe. While he’s away, I start thinking about what I’m going to do with my writing for the rest of the time I’m here.
“Have you always been such a deep thinker?” Nico hands over a bag of delectable coxinhas, and I take his peace offering that he spent a few minutes fetching for me.
“I usually have a lot on my mind.” I take a bite out of the long-awaited lunch.
A part of me aches to share that Coastal Fling had record sales this week. The novella is doing better than all of my other releases. There’s been an uptick in readership on my blog too.
I even got an email from a book podcast wanting to do an interview. Unfortunately, they refused to record me without video, and since I’m never planning to reveal my face, I had to pass.
It’s still kind of exciting. I’ve already made the same amount of money the Mademoiselle would pay me for a month of work, tips included. The sudden influx of cash is a reasonable enough excuse for procrastinating buying my ticket home.
The reminder of New York makes my food taste sour, so I turn to Nico and try to steer the conversation in a different direction. “I’ve been meaning to ask, don’t you have an app to build? I feel like I’m distracting you from working.”
“Maybe I like it when you distract me.”
Of course, he’s deflecting any and all questions about his job. I suppose I’m doing the same. We’re more alike than I care to admit, given our different philosophies on life.
“How’s it actually going?” I ask.
“This morning, I learned that the concept I wanted to create already exists. Now, I get to spend the next three weeks enjoying my surf lessons before figuring out my next destination or staying in Brazil a while longer.” Nico flops down next to me, his elbows on his knees. “An idea will present itself, eventually. I’m not worried about it.”
“At least you have all summer, right? It’s bound to work out.”
“Exactly. I think I’m in a small creative rut right now, but I’ll be thinking outside the box in no time.” The corner of Nico’s lips rises in a half smirk, and I’m not sure if his confidence is actually waning.
The only thing I know about Nico’s job is that after selling his first app to Viggle, he was brought on to work as a lead software engineer. Maybe he’s simply not motivated by a paycheck.
Although, I do remember Avery mentioning that Nico has more money than her husband—and Luca owns a three-bedroom condo on the Upper West Side, plus a ten-million-dollar house in Montauk.
Very well-off indeed.
I shudder at how quickly my imagination inflates. What do I know? It’s all talk anyway.
“I’m sure the next big thing will come.” I try to keep my eyes off another part of Nico that’s very big and well-off.
“Always does.” He winks. “Kind of my specialty.” “Nico?”
“Hmm, princesa?”
A smile appears on my face, and I don’t bother scolding him for using the nickname. On the beach, with my bag of coxinhas and one of the hottest guys I know beside me, I feel a little regal. And, truthfully, I’m feeling much better after airing out my grievances with Nico. “Can we take a picture for Ave before you head back out into the water? She asked for one this morning.”
Nico nods. I set down my lunch, and pull my cell phone out of my bag’s side pocket. His large hand thuds on the armrest of my chair. My body jerks when Nico drags the chair across the sand, bringing me right beside him. Our knees knock together, the plastic armrests almost touching.
“Um…” I blink at him. An inferno spreads through my bloodstream at the gesture. The brief streak of resentment from him eating my lunch is nowhere to be found. Our gazes share time for a beat, then another, and another.
Nico dips into the silence between us. “How about that photo?” Huh, right, my phone.
I scroll through my apps, all of them a blur of colors.
He only pulled my chair beside his. Nothing else. Why the fuck is my heart about to soar out of my vagina?
Focus.
Locate the camera.
Finally, I find what I’m looking for and stretch my hand out in front of me, centering us in the frame.
Nico adjusts the ringlets of chestnut curls on his head, and I watch him on the screen. Would his hair get as unruly if he were thrusting on top of me? The muscles along his jaw tense, and I almost lose it.
Off-limits. OFF. LIMITS.
There’s no fucking way I can fantasize about any part of Nico doing any thrusting, tensing, licking, tasting, biting…
No.
Friends don’t think about their friends doing any of those things. My platonic friend Nico.
I shake it off. Everything’s fine.
All I have to do is wait a few more hours before I can slip into Diego’s bed. Or maybe his roofless Jeep or in the palm trees by the fire. Then I can stop acting like a nymphomaniac.
“Ready?” I gulp.
Nico presses his shoulder against mine. “Smile big.”
After the brief photo shoot, Nico pulls the device from my hand. “Let me get one of you.”
My nose scrunches. “Right now?” “Why not now?”
“I’m all sweaty after being hangry for the past hour. Also, I think your class is waiting for you.” I point to the students behind him, but Nico ignores me.
His eyes narrow. “Both of those are terrible forms of evidence.”
“Detective,” I plead, enjoying this game between us all too much. A little harmless interrogation never hurt anyone. “Your unit is waiting for you on the scene.”
“I can’t leave the scene without a picture of my prime suspect.”
“Fine, but this picture will never hold up in a court of law.”
I grin wide, and Nico takes the photograph, his cheeks rising to mirror mine. Instead of returning my phone, he brings the screen to his face and feverishly taps his thumbs.
“Hey, give it back.” I reach for my device, but he sends his arm into the sky above me.
“One second.”
My teeth sink into my lip, straining my jaw. I try again, grabbing at him like a claw machine reaching for the best toy. Nico dodges me. The retrieval attempts fall short. I blame his glistening abs and the smug grin on his face.
I need help.
No.
I need Diego.
“Nico.” My eyes target him with a glare.
“I’m starting to like it when you scold me.” His thumb continues tapping away for a few more seconds. He finally returns my phone.
“What did you do?” I unlock the screen, navigate to my email, and ensure my Zoe Mona account isn’t on display. Nothing in the outbox. The strain in my chest releases.
“I texted myself the photo.” He rakes his fingers through his thick curls.
I open our text thread—a series of unanswered messages of me asking him for his whereabouts. The most recent text sits there, a picture of my smiling face staring back at me.
“This is too wholesome for your wank bank,” I say. “I don’t have a wank bank.”
“Sure.”
“But if I did, that would be the first photo in it.”
 |
AVERY
You look so hot!
Nico doesn’t look too bad either…
LILY
Don’t tell him that, his head is already big enough as it is
AVERY
Sooo
Did you guys hook up yet?
LILY
Of course not. There’s a party tonight & a hot surf instructor I’m planning on exploring 😉
AVERY
I’m sure you could explore lots of different instructors if you took the summer off
SHE DOESN’T QUIT. I look up at Nico’s group out on the waves, the lunch he replaced for me sitting sweetly in my belly as I lounge under the sun.
LILY
Not this again
Are you and Nico conspiring against me?
AVERY
You just hate it when other people are right. I’ve put together a list of reasons
LILY
Please don’t
The chat bubble appears before another text message comes in.
AVERY
1. You deserve it
LILY
Don’t know if I can agree
Can I deserve something when I haven’t completed any of my goals? I don’t have my bachelor’s degree.
I’m unemployed.
Nothing I’ve done recently warrants an actual reward.
Maybe I can try and convince myself to celebrate the success of Coastal Fling. But let’s be serious. A silly hobby isn’t worth halting my life for three months to do nothing.
Even if sitting at the beach is lovely, it’s still wasting time.
AVERY
Stop it and let me get through my list
LILY
Fine
AVERY
2. You’ve always wanted to travel around the world
Nico’s an expert at that, I’m sure he could take you anywhere you wanted to go.
Avery’s not wrong here. I’ve never had much time or money to travel on my own.
At eighteen, I’d planned a two-month backpacking trip, desperately excited to spend the summer touring Europe.
Vacations are for people who have no real goals to fill their time with.
The damn voice still flits around in my head like an annoying fruit fly, even after all these years.
I never got to go on the trip after the incident. Instead, I buried my brief spell of wanderlust between the pages of journals until I’d abandoned the desire altogether.
It wasn’t a regret I’d accounted for until now.
I wipe my damp palms on my thigh, trying to steady the tremors in my fingers from the brief flashback. I suppose having the opportunity to travel with someone as knowledgeable as Nico might be nice.
There’s no point in letting a ridiculous old voice haunt me still. Right?
AVERY
3. #Lico would officially make you my sister
The most ridiculous reason of them all. Nico and I are just friends.
We have a good time and get along, but none of it is enough to take away from the fact that we’re both players. Whatever game we’d get wrapped up in would result in damage. I can’t hurt my best friend’s family.
Besides, if the past week is any indicator of Nico’s capacity for a relationship, then it wouldn’t work. We’re complete opposites. I don’t need to take care of another man ever again.
LILY
Seriously?? A ship name?
What does the other half of #Luvery think?
AVERY
Luca’s still warming up to the idea
Yesterday he sighed when I brought it up. Huge improvement from the sighing fest last week!!!
LILY
Don’t hold your breath, not happening Now Diego on the other hand
I wonder how long he can hold his breath for… 😉
AVERY
Who?
LILY
The surf instructor who’s gonna be inside me in a few hours
AVERY
Ugh. I have to run to a meeting. Love you
LILY
<3
