Out Of Line (3 page)

Her father would be proud.

With only ten minutes to spare, I hurriedly applied the last touches to my lip gloss, checked out my hair, and turned off the bathroom light. If I had primped right, I looked effortlessly, naturally beautiful. That’s what the website said I would look like, anyway. I had never really bothered to primp for a boy, so I’d had to rely on my best friend for help.

Google.

Was it pathetic that I had no one else to ask? Sure. But at least Google never let me down. It had also given me
the talk
, the same one my mother avoided until right before I left for school. And when I’d finally been given
the talk
, it had been with so many euphemisms even I had become confused while trying to figure out what drumsticks had to do with warm apple pie.

I smoothed my tank top over my stomach. I had paired it with some yoga pants, and I wore my red bikini underneath the simple outfit just in case Finn wanted to go out in the water afterward. Tiptoeing past a snoring Marie, I managed to make it out of the dorm without waking her up.

I probably worried for nothing. I doubted a stampede of elephants would have woken Marie up. The girl had been snoring loud enough to wake the dead. Her arms were flung out to her sides, and a huge puddle of drool gathered under her cheek. She’d probably have a hell of a hangover when she woke up, so I had set my bottle of Motrin next to her bed on my way out.

I glanced at my phone and walked faster. A quick call home would be a good idea. That way I wouldn’t have to deal with my parents while out with Finn. I quickly dialed home and leaned against the wall. They picked up on the first ring, as if they’d been hovering by the phone waiting for me to call all morning.

“Hello?” Mom said.

A line clicked as Dad picked up the phone in his office. “Carrie?”

I smiled. “Hi, guys.”

“How’s college going?” Mom asked, her voice trembling.

“Have you met anyone nice yet?” Dad asked.

“Yeah.” I pictured Finn and smiled. “A couple of people.”

“What are their names?” Dad asked. I could picture him sitting at his desk, pencil in hand, waiting to look into anyone who dared say hello to me. “I’ll do a background check.”

“Dad. No.”

“But—”

“
No
.”

Mom sighed. “Let her be, dear.”

“Fine.” I heard something slam down. “But if you get involved with someone, I’ll expect to get his name from you.”

“She’s not going to do that yet.” Mom paused. “Right? We had our little talk. Do we need to have another one?”

I flinched. “God, no.” I cleared my throat. “I mean, uh, no, thank you. I’m good. And I’m not seeing anyone yet. I’ve only been here two days.”

Dad laughed. “That’s my girl.”

I peeked at the time. I had less than one minute to get downstairs. “I’m about to go out with a friend of mine, though. Shopping.”

“Oh, how delightful.” Mom, of course, perked up at the word
shopping
. “Where are you going? What are you shopping for?”

“Do you need more money?” Dad threw in. “I can transfer more to your account.”

“No, I’m fine. And I’m shopping for…” I pictured the dead silence that would come if I said what I was really shopping for. It would be amusing for two-point-two seconds…until all hell broke loose. “I’m just shopping for fun. Hanging out and stuff.”

“But what for?” Mom asked.

Geez. Enough with the details already. “I think swimsuits and beach gear.”

“Oh, how fun.”

Dad yawned. “This is my cue to say goodbye. I’ve got meetings all day long.”

“Yeah, I have to go.” I gripped the phone tight. “I love you guys.”

“We love you, too,” Mom said.

Dad mumbled something that might have been
I love you
, but he never said it, so it was doubtful. “Bye.”

“Bye, dear.”

I hung up and headed outside. I needed to get down to the meeting point before Finn did, or he would see me come out of the correct building. He didn’t need to know where I lived. Didn’t need to know anything about me…yet. If he proved trustworthy, then I would tell him more. Little by little. But for now, I was just a girl who liked sitting on benches at night.

A girl who wanted to surf.

It was probably the one place private security couldn’t follow me. It’s not like a bunch of men in suits would blend in out there in the great big sea. As I crossed the lawn, I glanced around. No one lurked in the bushes. No one suspicious followed me. I didn’t believe my father gave in to my request to go to college minus a bodyguard, but I hadn’t
seen
any yet.

Was it possible he had trusted me enough to be on my own? Doubtful. When I had gone abroad last year, it had been with not one, not two, but
three
security guards. He was ridiculous when it came to my safety. He’d probably installed a GPS tracking system under my skin when I was a kid. I wouldn’t put it past him.

I rounded the corner and saw Finn standing there, facing the other way and looking as sexy as I remembered. I had thought he was gorgeous last night. Holy freaking bananas. In the morning light, his sun-kissed skin glinted and highlighted his hard muscles. Muscles covered in tats that begged to be stroked…by my hands. With his brown hair in as much disarray as it had been last night, he quite easily emanated the surfer look he wore so well.

Oh, so well.

As I approached, he smiled at me. “You’re two minutes late, but you look pretty enough that I’ll let it slide.”

My heart sped up at his backhanded compliment, but I refused to show it. I shrugged and said, “A girl’s gotta primp. Get used to it, Marine.”

“Especially girls like you?”

I stiffened. That sounded an awful lot like an insult. And even worse, it sounded as if he knew something about me that I didn’t want him to know. Did he know who I was? “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing.” He straightened, looking less like a laid-back surfer and more like a man. A man I didn’t know at all. Maybe this had been a bad idea. “You just look like the type of girl who likes to spend hours getting ready before she walks outside to get the mail. I mean, you’re gorgeous. Just look at you.”

“And you look like the type of guy who makes presumptuous assumptions about other people, while keeping your own nose firmly pointed in the air.” I marched past him. “Forget it. I’ll learn how to surf with someone else.”

He grasped my elbow as I passed, his touch burning me and yet somehow sending a shiver through my veins. “I’m sorry,” he said, his voice soft. “I shouldn’t make assumptions. You’re right.”

“Damn right I am.” I tossed my hair over my shoulder and glared at him. Turns out, this close, his eyes were even bluer. Really, really blue. “Now let me go.”

He dropped his hand immediately and dragged it through his curls. “Can we start over? I get cranky before my coffee and say stupid things to beautiful women I’m supposed to be flirting with.”

My lips twitched. Truth was, so did I. Well, the first part, anyway. I usually didn’t bother to hit on pretty girls since I didn’t swing that way. “Okay. Coffee, then shopping?”

“Deal.” He motioned me forward as he walked beside me.

“Where will we shop?” I asked.

“At a store? I hear that’s where most people do it.”

I laughed lightly and stopped at the coffee booth. “You’re weird.”

“Aren’t we all in our own way?”

“Yeah, I guess so.” I nudged him with my elbow. God, he was solid. “But you’re weirder than most.”

He let me order my mocha latte before he stepped forward to order a plain black coffee. As I reached into my pocket to grab some cash for my portion of the order, he handed the barista his card. “I got you.”

A warm flush spread through my body. No one ever paid for me. The few people I had hung out with in school had always been relying on me for purchases, but no one here knew how much money I had. No one knew my father was on the short list for presidential candidates. The anonymity was a refreshing change of pace. “Thank you. I’ll get the next one.”

He shrugged. “If I let you have a next time. You might kill me with boredom during the shopping trip.”

“Haha. So funny.” I grinned, then decided to get some payback for the trick he’d played on me last night. “Do you think I can find a Swarovski-encrusted surfboard? I’m willing to go in every single store in San Diego if needed.”

“Oh, hell no.” He shot me an incredulous look and turned a little bit green. “Please tell me you’re kidding.”

I blinked innocently and managed to keep a straight face. “Is that a no?”

He grabbed our coffees and handed me the bigger one. Once I took it, he shoved his sunglasses up his nose. “No. It’s fucking fabulous.” He shot a quick look at me. “Oops. Sorry.”

“For what? Cursing?” I laughed at the absurdity of it. Who the heck apologized for cursing? “Sometimes I say
fuck
too. I’m not a little kid, you know.”

He took a sip of his coffee. How did he do that? I would have burnt my tongue. “It feels like you are at times. Like you could be my little sister or something.”

Sister? Ouch. Guess I knew where I stood with him. “How old
are
you?”

“Twenty-three.” He looked at me. “What about you? Are you jailbait?”

“
No
.” I looked down at my cup. How much should I tell him about myself? I wanted to make friends. To be normal for once, but I couldn’t be stupid. “I’m nineteen. I took a year off and went abroad before starting college.”

He took another sip of coffee. “That’s a good idea. It’s how I would have done it, if I’d gone the college route.”

I hesitated. I didn’t want to overstep my boundaries and had no idea what a friend should or should not say to that. Or if we even were
friends
yet. “You still could if you wanted to. Do you want to?”

“Maybe someday, when I have time.” He laughed. “Right now? I’m good in my career field.”

“Well, you never know. You might decide to go officer someday.”

He shot me a weird look. “Maybe.”

“There’s that word again.”

“It’s a good word, especially when life is filled with maybes.” He stopped in front of a surf shop on the beach. “This would be a good place to start. I can’t promise Swarovski, but there might be something pink.”

“I don’t do pink. It doesn’t match my hair.”

“Heaven forbid,” he said, holding the door open for me. “We can’t have that.”

“Darn right we can’t.” I ducked into the store and took a cautious look around. Surfboards of every imaginable color lined the left wall, while wetsuits filled up the other half. In the back, a bunch of boogie boards hung on the wood wall. Maybe boogie boarding would be a safer choice. It wasn’t too late to change my mind…

No. Not happening.

A blonde girl wearing a bikini underneath a transparent top stood behind the counter texting. She looked up when the bell on the door chimed, quickly assessing me before moving on to Finn—and staying there. She straightened and smoothed her hair. “Hello. Welcome to Surf’s Up. What can I do for you?”

Finn smiled at her a little bit too widely, and his eyes dipped far too low to be staring at her face. Jerk. “My friend here needs a good beginner’s board.”

The girl looked at me again, but quickly turned back to Finn. “The blue one in the back is good for her. Perfect size.”

“You think?” Finn walked over to the board in question and cocked his head. I followed Finn, but practically got shoved aside by the worker. I struggled to right myself before I went legs over head in the rack of wetsuits, but Finn caught my elbow without even looking my way. “You should watch where you’re going, Ginger.”

“I told you.” I tried to pull free of his grip, but he didn’t budge. “Stop calling me that.”

Finn looked at me. “Why? It’s cute.”

“Says who?”

“Me.” He dropped his hold on me and turned back to the employee, who’d been watching him as if he was her next meal. “So this will work for her?”

The employee moved closer to Finn, brushing up against him. And Finn, the perv, didn’t move away. Of course not. He was a guy. The girl ran her fingers over the board, caressing it as if it was a person instead of an inanimate object. “Yes. The lines are smooth, and the finish flawless.”

“What do you think, Ginger?”

I rolled my eyes at the nickname, but didn’t bother to correct him again. No matter what I said, he would use it. “Sold. I’ll take it.”

Finn turned to me with wide eyes. “Really? That quick?”

“I don’t care what it looks like. If you say it’s good, it’s good.”

He tugged on his ear and looked at me as if I had sprouted two heads overnight or something. “All right. Next up? A suit.”

I turned to the employee, using the no-nonsense tone Dad used when he wanted shit to get done. “I’d like a blue and white one, to match the board.”

“Measurements?” The girl eyed me. “I’m guessing 32A?”

Total, petty lie. I was
not
a 32A, and it was obvious. “No, I’m—”

“34C,” Finn replied, grinning. “Am I right?”

I blinked at him, taken off guard by that statement. Was it normal for a guy to know that crap? “Dude. What the heck is wrong with you? And
why
do you know that?”

“I’m kind of an expert in the frontal area.” Finn grinned, and his eyes sparkled. “It’s my thing.”

“Obviously,” I drawled, smiling.

He shrugged. I gave the rest of my measurements to the worker, and within ten minutes we were finished shopping. I carried my wetsuit and coffee, and he carried my board for me. I headed toward the ocean, so eager to hit the water I could barely stand still, and then sat down on a bench. He eyed me, but didn’t sit. “That was a hell of a lot faster than I expected. I didn’t even bring my board with me.”

I took a sip of my coffee and watched the waves crashing on the sand. A surfer effortlessly rode one in, and a bunch more of them bobbed out in the water. They made it look so easy. So simple. I knew it was anything but. What the heck was I thinking? I couldn’t do this, could I? If my father knew…