Jude's POV
"You're not very chatty today," I whisper to Sunny as we watch the rain in silence.
"I'm not a very interesting person, you know."
"Shut it. You totally are."
"Fine. You tell me three things I should know about you and then I'll do the same."
"Deal. One: I used to play rugby. Two: I'm a big reader. Classics are my drug, I swear. And three: I know how to surf."
"A surfer, huh? You'll have to teach me."
"I literally will right now, no joke."
"It's raining!" she chuckles loudly. I like her laugh—it's low and cracks when she really, truly laughs hard.
"So what?"
"That can't be safe."
"But it's fun."
She looks over at me for a moment before breaking out into an infectious smile. Her eyes crinkle at the corners, and God she's pretty when she laughs.
"I don't see why not," she whispers as I stand and grab her hands to pull her up with me. She quickly runs back to her house and puts a bathing suit on before I give her one of my surfing t-shirts.
What? It's gonna be cold down the beach and her sweatshirts are still in boxes! I was just being neighborly, duh.
Part of me hope she accidentally keeps the shirt, though.
"So, for Lesson One you're gonna practice getting on and off the board."
"Oh, so this is multiple lesson kind of thing?"
"It's hard, so yeah."
"I guess we'll just have to come back here often," she smiles as she paddles into the water with me. The sand is cool on our toes and it's only drizzling now, so it's safe to swim.
I grab onto Sunny's hips and help her hoist herself onto the board. She's scrambling to get on and it's quite sloppy watching her attempt it, but I find it endearing. She smiles the whole time and just laughs at herself when she fails.
"Help me down?" she asks as she faces me, and I wrap my hands around her torso. Slowly, she slips down the front of me and never breaks eye contact with me.
"We'll work on it," I whisper.
"I've got a lot to learn."
I clear my throat. "Um, you never told me your three things."
"Oh," she says, snapping out of the trance we were both just in. "Well, like I said I'm boring."
"Lies. Now tell me."
"Alright, well let's see. Okay, so I love this beach town, for starters."
"I thought you weren't too keen on moving here."
"It's growing on me," she whispers. "The people are, too."
That makes me smiles as she continues talking.
"I'm also a big reader like you. But I go more for the romance novels."
"That doesn't shock me. You seem like the hopeless romantic type."
"That I am," she sighs. "Gotta read what you can't have, right? I mean, I've had two boyfriends and a few flings, but I wasn't in love. I'm not even sure if I was in like, to be honest. I don't know why I'm telling you this, but—"
"You know why you're telling me this," I smirk, and she rolls her eyes.
"Get over yourself."
"But I've never been in love either. One girlfriend, though I didn't really like her either. It was more just for the... physical attraction aspect."
"You can say it was for the sex, Jude. I'm not offended."
"Yeah, it was for the sex," I admit. "But I'm not really like that anymore."
"Yes, you are," she says. "You don't have to pretend to not be a player because of me. I've done the same thing; I'm not exactly the most innocent girl you'll ever meet."
Her revelation shocks me, to be honest. I don't know, she just doesn't seem like the casual relationship/fling type. But I guess I was wrong.
"Wanna know my third thing?" she asks.
"Duh."
She swims closer to me until we're just a breath apart. "I know how to surf." She pretends to go in for a kiss before swimming back to shore.
Wow. She's playing with me!
And I kinda like it.
YOU ARE READING
Jude and His Ray of Sunshine
Romance• Book 2 of the On Island Time Series • jude birks has always been an adrenaline junkie, and will do just about anything to make his best friends and family happy. he's a total loner and has never ~seriously~ been in a relationship. sunny ray is th...
