Free Pieces of Me by Rachel Ryan Page B

with their boards except for Levi who sits down beside Cameron and Nathan who gets up and moves over to sit beside me on the sand.
    I glance over at Jake who seems to be debating whether to follow Brady or not and when he looks over and sees Nathan sitting beside me he zips up his wetsuit grabs his board and runs toward the water.
    Nathan seems like a nice guy, over the next few minutes we chat about what we each do for a living, Nathan’s a fire fighter, and what we like to do for fun. He asks me how I know Jake and I briefly tell him about our high school years. Nathan then asks me if I’m single and I tell him about Daniel. After a few minutes, Nathan leans forward and looks over at Levi “Hey, did you ask the girls if they want to come along tonight?”
    Levi looks at Cameron “Nathan’s having a barbeque at his place tonight, do you two want to come?”
    Cameron immediately replies. “Sure.”
    Nathan glances at me “Bring Daniel along too.”
    Nathan seems like a genuinely nice guy. “Okay, sure. Thanks.”
    “Bring your swimming costume, too. I have a pool.”
    Nodding, I say “Speaking of swimming, I might head in for a dip.”
     
    Standing up I remove my pink cover up to reveal my bright yellow bikini. Nathan stands up beside me and removes his wetsuit, leaving on a pair of board shorts.
    “I’ll come with you, we’ll leave these love birds alone.” Glancing down at Cameron and Levi I see them sitting side by side facing each other and deep in conversation.
    We make our way down to the water and I dip my foot in to test the temperature. I shiver a little when I realise the water is quite cool. The spring temperature is warm but I’m not sure if I want to go all the way into the cool water.
    Nathan urges me “Come on Abbi, it’s beautiful and warm once you get in there.”
    I walk out until the water’s up to my knees and decide that’s far enough. Nathan dives in and swims out a fair distance before turning around and swimming back toward me. Just as I’m about to head back to my spot on the sand I see Jake walking toward me with his board.
    “Are you going in, Shorty?”
    Smiling I admit “I was going to until I realised how cold it is.”
    His eyes drop lower and I’m worried about what he will see so I fold my arms in front of my chest. He grins and looks back into my eyes.
    “Yeah, you do look a little cold. Come on let’s go get you warmed up.” His voice is enough to warm my body and I feel it start in my face and work its way down into the pit of my stomach, where the butterflies have returned.
     
    Over the next couple of hours we sit on the sand talking and laughing with all the guys until I can really feel the sun starting to belt out the heat. I ask Cameron if she’s ready to go yet and she agrees as she stands up and shakes out her towel. Looking over at Jake, I expect his eyes to be on her arse; however, the chocolate brown orbs are staring straight back at me. I hold his gaze for a minute, before the intensity makes me look away.
    Nathan smiles at me “We’ll see you lovely ladies tonight. Abbi, I’ll text you the address.” We had traded phone numbers earlier.
    “Sounds good. We’ll see you later. Bye Jake.” Jake waves at me as he watches us walk away.
    Levi walks with us to Cameron’s car. Geez, he really seems smitten with her. I just hope he’s a decent guy, because Cameron’s had her fair share of toads.
    When Cam unlocks the car I throw my things into the back seat and glance back at the group to see Jake still looking in our direction.
    Levi notices where I’m looking and says softly “He really likes you, you know. I’ve only known him for six weeks but he never stops talking about you.”
    Feeling the blush creeping up my cheeks I dismiss Levi’s comment. “I don’t believe that.”
    Levi grins “I’m serious. When he ran into Cameron that first night at the bar you were all we heard about for days, and then after he realised you work at the same