Free Playing to Win (Summer Beach Vets 2) - sweet contemporary romance by H.Y. Hanna Page B

slightly different meaning here than it does in the States. It’s basically another way to say the F-word. So if you’re rooting for something…”
    “Oh.” Ellie felt her cheeks burning. “But what do you say if you’re supporting your sports team then?”
    “We say ‘barrack for’. You barrack for your team,” explained Dan.
    “Okay, I’ll remember that,” said Ellie with a sheepish smile. “I wondered why I got funny looks in the office the last time I was talking about supporting my sports team!”
    Dan was still chuckling when they finally left the café. They paused by the entrance to the beach and looked out at the view. The sun was blazing down now and the sea was a glittering band of azure in the distance, broken only by the white crests of waves.
    “The sea looks so beautiful,” Ellie commented. “It’s hard to believe that it can be so deadly. It’s such a shame. I was thinking I might like to learn to surf, but now I don’t dare go in the water.”
    “Hey, it’s not that bad. You just have to take care, know the things to avoid—like the places where rip currents are likely to occur,” said Dan. “Listen… if you’re not doing anything tomorrow, would you like me to teach you how to surf?”
    Ellie turned towards him. He was standing close—so close that she had to tilt her head up to look at him. His grey eyes were smiling and she felt herself caught again in this man’s magnetic pull.
    “Can you promise I won’t get eaten by sharks?” she asked, only half teasing.
    He put a hand out and gently pushed back a strand of her hair. “I wouldn’t let anything happen to you, Ellie.”
    Ellie held her breath, her heart kicking into a gallop in her chest. She felt Dan’s fingers trail down the side of her face, along her jawline, and then take hold of her chin and gently tip it upwards. She stared up at him. Was he going to kiss her?
    Yes.
    Kiss me. Kiss me.
    His eyes had darkened to charcoal and Ellie trembled as she saw the intensity in them. He lowered his head and his lips hovered over hers. Ellie could feel her heart hammering in her chest. Time seemed to stop, everything faded away as she waited for the moment his lips would descend on hers.
    And then he was kissing her and it was warm and sweet and impossibly thrilling. She felt his strong arms come around her, pulling her close, moulding her to him. His lips were bold and demanding, and she responded with a passion that surprised her. She could feel his heart—a pounding rhythm that echoed her own—where her chest was pressed against his, and she felt her senses whirling as everything filled with the taste, smell, and feel of him.
    A part of her knew that she was standing in the street, kissing in full view of everybody. What was she doing? This wasn’t like her! Ellie Monroe didn’t make a public spectacle of herself like that! And yet somehow she didn’t care. When Dan finally raised his head, she felt languorous with contentment.
    Dan smiled at her. “I take it that’s a ‘yes’.”

CHAPTER 11
     
     
     
    Ellie glanced at the Laughing Kookaburra Café as she walked past its outdoor terrace, which loomed above the sand on this section of the beach. It was hard to believe that a week had gone by since she had been there having brunch with Dan. In a way, it felt like a lifetime had passed since then.
    On the Sunday after their brunch date, Dan had met her at the beach and shown her the first steps of learning how to surf—from how to stand on the board to the best technique for paddling out through the waves. Ellie had to admit that she wasn’t the best student. Well, it had been hard to keep her mind on the lesson when her eyes kept straying to Dan’s bronzed chest and hard, flat stomach, and her senses kept flaring into awareness every time he came near her. When he stood behind her with his breath warm against her ear and his hands gently on her waist, as he showed her the proper stance on the board, she wanted