She bit her lower lip again, possibly to hide a smile now. But he wasn’t sure; it could be to hide her urge to murder him. “No,” she finally said.

“Are you uncomfortable having a good time?”

She turned to him, utterly serious. “I’m not sure I’d recognize a good time.”

He smiled and cupped her face as he leaned in and gave her a soft kiss. “Then trust me to show you one. One hour, Piper. Yeah?”

She stared at his mouth for a beat, like maybe she wanted it back on hers—which made two of them—and then nodded. “Yeah.”

Chapter 10

“That was possibly the most thrilling ride of my life.”

Piper had no idea what she thought she was doing. She didn’t treat herself to fun very often. Or ever. But it was on her list of things to do, so that made her feel better, because tonight she’d be able to check off a box. She loved checking off boxes.

“That looks good on you,” Cam said.

“What?”

“The smile.”

She nearly tripped over her own feet. She was starting to realize that he saw her as someone far more adventurous and fascinating than she really was. Maybe . . . for this little while at least, she could be the woman he saw.

The guy standing at the shack waiting for them looked like every cliché of a surfer dude Piper had ever seen, sun-bleached hair to his shoulders, sunglasses, no shirt, board shorts, and no shoes. He grinned at Cam and gave a smart-ass salute. “Got your text. Your adventure awaits.”

“Piper, meet Brodie,” Cam said. “We were in initial training together, eons ago.”

Brodie smiled at Piper. “Did he tell you that I beat him in every training exercise?”

“No,” Cam said. “Because that’s a lie. And anyway, who tapped out after his four years?”

“Guilty,” Brodie said easily. “Wasn’t cut out for the life. Or for walking about battle rattle when just trying to grab grub.”

“Battle rattle?” Piper asked.

“Yeah. When you, like, have fifteen minutes to get food, so you run into a takeout place with so many weapons and tools that you rattle. Get it? Battle rattle.” He smiled at the look on her face. “Yeah, you’re in the presence of two serious badasses.”

She looked at Cam, who shook his head, like he was nothing but a sweet teddy bear.

Uh-huh.

“Your chariot awaits,” Brodie said, gesturing to the two . . . vehicles . . . off to the side on the sand. They were three-wheeled buggies that looked like they went really fast. She swallowed hard. “Um.”

“They’re trikes,” Cam said. “Don’t worry, they stay on the sand.”

“Well, unless you take a jump and get some air,” Brodie said. “Which I highly recommend.”