Keeping Mr. Right Now: A Kisses in the Sand Novel (Entangled Bliss) (3 page)

“It helps if you keep your mouth closed,” Zane said in a tone she wasn’t sure was teasing or not.

So she coughed and sputtered with her head tilted down, hoping not to draw too much attention to her newness. When they reached the strip of white water Zane had talked about, he spun the board around so that she faced the shoreline.

The sand looked miles away. The gentle sway of the inky black sea made her hyperaware of her surroundings, and fear landed in her stomach like a meteor. She grabbed Zane’s arm, ready to come clean and add that she’d changed her mind.

But then he whispered, “You can do this. Remember what I taught you.”

And she remembered what her boss had told her.
Live a little.

Those words had sparked a promise to herself.
Try new things. Don’t be a wimp.

“Now, ready…set…go.” Zane gave her a push.

She paddled like mad to catch the wave. Way too fast, the tide rolled next to her and she forgot everything Zane had said. The board bounced; she squeezed her eyes shut and thought about throwing up.

You are not a quitter.
She forced her eyes open, pushed up, and…toppled sideways.

The current tossed her head over feet and pulled her under. She immediately swallowed more salty water, and her eyes stung. She struggled, her arms flailing like mad, her legs kicking but getting her nowhere. Her lungs screamed for air. Then she heard Zane’s voice in her head, telling her not to fight it, to go with the current if she got pulled under. She stopped battling, let her legs and arms turn to spaghetti, and prayed it didn’t take long to break the surface.

Ten, nine, eight
… In a few more seconds she wouldn’t be able to hold her breath any longer. Swim. She needed to swim. Diagonal to the shore, only she had no idea where the shore was. Then, by some miracle, warm sunshine bathed her face and she gulped for air.

She’d made it. Only she’d exhausted every muscle in her body, and after catching her breath and letting out a very weak “Help,” she slipped back under.

Strong arms scooped her up. She drew in a deep breath and inwardly rejoiced when fresh air entered her lungs. But it was dark. Her mind couldn’t focus. Voices echoed around her, incoherent. Where was the light?

A cool, hard surface met her back. The warmth that had engulfed her faded away. “Sophie? Can you hear me?”

“Ye-yes,” she whispered.

“Sophie, open your eyes.” His voice carried a powerful tenderness, and she wanted to do as he asked.

It took a moment, but she finally pried open her lids. She blinked over and over again. A blurry crowd had gathered around her on the beach. Her palms pressed into the sand and she tried to sit up. Why was everyone out of focus?

Because she’d lost her contacts in the ocean.

“Hey,” he—Zane—said as he brushed some hair away from her face.

“Hi,” Sophie answered. “Sorry about that.” Good thing she couldn’t exactly make him out or she would have been
really
embarrassed.

“You bet your sweet cheeks you’re sorry.”
Honor
. “You scared the crap out of me.” Her arms went around Sophie in a tight hug. “You’re okay now, right?”

“She’s fine,” Zane said, an edge to his voice Sophie hadn’t heard before.

A lifeguard pressed between two bystanders. “Everything all right here?”

“Umm…I think so.” A few pain relievers would banish the sledgehammer in her head and the soreness in her muscles.

Sophie heard a few murmurs of how Zane had saved her. How he was a hero. Since she couldn’t see him clearly, she wondered if pride or modesty shone in his gorgeous blue eyes.

“How about giving her some space,” Zane suggested. Seconds later, sunshine instead of shadows filled the airspace above her.

“Jesus, Zane,” a guy said. “What were you doing out there?”

“Drop it,” Zane said.

“She could have drowned, dude. Not what we—”

“I said drop it.”

Sophie used her hand to shield her eyes from the bright sun and looked up. “I’m okay.” She hated the sound of their upset voices and that she’d been the cause of it.

“Sophie, I’m Danny Ellis,” the guy said. He extended his hand and helped her up. “We talked on the phone. I’m Zane’s manager. And I handle his PR.”

“Hello.” Her legs trembled, but she willed the agitation away and wiped the sand off her backside. She
was
okay.

“We could try again,” Zane said.

“No, thanks.” One humiliation a day was enough. “I’m ready to go back to the hotel. You mind heading back with me, Honor?”

“Of course not.”

“Hang on,” Danny said. “We feel bad about how this went.” He elbowed Zane. “I know I speak for Zane, too.”

“Yes. I should have stuck closer to you out there.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Sophie said, starting to turn. She felt shameful enough for both of them.

“Let us make it up to you. Be Zane’s guest for the opening of the film festival tomorrow night,” Danny said.

Sophie froze. Her synapses were definitely firing now. Sizzling, even. Cells sped through her blood faster than she thought possible. Her? The sexiest surfer alive’s date? Honor gripped her arm like she felt the same way. But Sophie couldn’t.

“That’s really nice of you to ask, but I’ll be working.”

“No problem. We’ll make it a working date,” Danny said.

“She’d love to!” Honor piped in. Then she bent and whispered in Sophie’s ear, “Let him be your Mr. Right Now.”

Sophie shivered at the thought. They came from two totally different worlds. Couldn’t be more opposite. Zane wasn’t looking at her with even the tiniest bit of interest. He didn’t associate with ordinary plain Janes. He was hot and worldly and popular and she was…not.

“I don’t—” she started to say.

“We won’t take no for an answer,” Danny said.

The depths of Zane’s blue eyes were inscrutable, but Sophie didn’t want to argue. After all, she needed to stay on good terms with all the festival participants. Her reputation depended on it.

“Okay,” she relented. “It’s a date.”

Chapter Two

The Happy Harpoon buzzed with reggae music pouring out of speakers and conversations loud enough to interfere with the Rastafarian lyrics. Zane strode through the thatched-roof restaurant, waving and smiling to everyone who wanted his attention. When he reached the outdoor seating area in the sand, a young woman at the table in front of him jumped to her feet.

“Zane! Could I get an autograph?” She offered him a pen and pulled on the V-neck of her shirt until he glimpsed the edge of her bikini top. “Here, please.”

He obliged her request, probably the thousandth chest he’d signed over the last ten years.

“Thank you. I’m never going to wash it off.” She gave him an easy smile and then tucked a piece of paper into his hand before sitting back down. He didn’t have to look to know she’d given him her phone number.

He stepped through the sand and wove around tables until he found Bryce and Danny. Tiki torches lit up the dining area as the sun got comfortable on the horizon. A couple hundred feet away, high tide rolled onto shore. Zane breathed in the scent of brine and wetness and thought about asking the guys if they were up for a night dive later.

“We have a problem,” Danny said instead of hello.

“We do?” Zane sat across from his friends at the weathered square wood table.

“It’s about your surf lesson turning into a rescue. The locals are claiming you’re a hero, but everyone else is saying you’re reckless. They think you almost let her drown because of her looks.”

“
What?
That’s bullshit.” Anger coursed through Zane’s blood like an out-of-control wildfire. Sophie might not be the type of woman he usually glanced at twice, but he’d never disrespect her or put her life in jeopardy.

This was all on him, though, and he hated himself for how things had gone down earlier. How he’d let Danny do the majority of the talking instead of owning up. It was the hurt in Sophie’s green eyes that had kept him quiet.

He ran a hand across his jaw. His bonehead maneuver of letting her catch her first wave on her own had bothered him the rest of the day. He should have been right there by her side, not preoccupied with thoughts of his sister.
It’s cancer,
her text had said while he’d been standing on the beach waiting for Sophie.
I’ll call you tomorrow. Can’t talk about it at the moment.

Hell, he shouldn’t have even been in the water. He should have rescheduled. But the water was his safe place—the place where he could think without any noise. Most cases of thyroid cancer were cured with treatment, and he refused to believe otherwise, but that didn’t take away the bone-deep concern. His younger sister had a fiancé, a wedding planned for January. He hated the idea that her life could be put on hold.

“
We
know that,” Danny said. “But dammit, Zane. You’re under the microscope, and you cannot make any more errors in judgment. It’s a damn good thing you saved her.”

Yeah, Sophie’s plea for help had gotten his ass into gear. Thank God. “She say anything more about it when you had your meeting?”

“I called to check on her and asked that she join us here instead.”

“Zane,” their waitress, Midge, said in greeting as she dropped off three tall glasses of beer. Sharp and still spry given her sixty-plus years, her apron said
Kiss Me, I’m Happy
. “Happy” being her nickname since she was a kid. When her husband wanted to open a restaurant, he looked no farther than his wife to help name it. “Can I get you boys anything else?” she asked.

“Thanks, Midge. We’re waiting on one more,” Bryce said.

“I’ll be back, then.” She batted her eyelashes at Zane because she loved to give him a hard time about all the attention he got, and strode off.

Zane took a long drag on the pale ale before he studied his two best friends. “What’s going on? Why is Sophie Birch joining us?”

Bryce rubbed his temple, and Danny spun his watch around his wrist, sure signs that his agent and manager were up to something. “Because we need to make sure things are cool between you two. She didn’t seem particularly eager about tomorrow night,” Danny said.

“She’s running the festival, and it’s in our best interest to make sure her impression of you isn’t anything less than stellar,” Bryce added.

The flames of the tiki torches wavered in the warm breeze. Zane took another drink of his beer and inhaled the smell of something hot and sizzling on the passing waiter’s tray.

“You want me to apologize.” He hadn’t done that, had he? God, he was a shmuck and wanted to kick his own ass.

“That would be nice.” Danny leaned back in his wood-slatted chair.

Zane put his elbows on the table and clasped his hands, his attention on both men. “I should have done it on the beach, but I wasn’t thinking straight.”

His friends nodded in support. His sister, Julia, was family to them, too, having grown up tagging along after the three of them, and they were worried about her as much as he was.

“We’re thinking it also wouldn’t hurt to pay some extra attention to her. Make sure people know you’re not as shallow as they’re making you out to be,” Bryce said.

Zane narrowed his eyes. “No.” He may have a certain reputation with women, but taking advantage of someone wasn’t one of them.

“She’s perfect, Zane. The perfect girl to improve your image while we’re here.”

“I’m not going to use her to help my image. Besides, what makes you think she’d even want my attention? She doesn’t strike me as the type to like beach bums.”

While he’d been instructing her on the sand earlier, she’d picked up on the mechanics of surfing faster than anyone he’d given a first lesson to. Intelligence shimmered in her eyes, and he’d gotten the feeling Sophie was nothing like anyone he’d met before.

“You’re not a beach bum, for one. And two, we’re only suggesting that if you see her, you strike up a conversation.” Danny took a sip of his beer. “Jon Waldron will be here later in the week for the screening of your film, and we think it would be a good idea to have Sophie there with you.”

Jon Waldron. Co-founder and executive director of SHE. The man with the “yea” or “nay” power.

“She barely agreed to tomorrow night.” Zane smiled at a group of women a few tables away who kept glancing at him.

“That’s because she was nervous,” Danny said. “Dude, do we need to remind you again that nothing can go on this week?”

Zane fixed his attention back on his friend and shook his head. “No. I got it.” He wanted the ambassadorship something fierce, and honestly? He’d grown numb to the offers from hot women eager to slip between the sheets. Habits were hard to break, though.

“And trust me when I say Sophie finds you attractive.” Danny tipped his glass at Zane. “She’s just more subtle than the girls you’re used to. Today was a fluke. Once she spends a little more time with you, she’ll find you charming as hell, too.”

A fluke. His thoughts spiraled back to Julia. How he wished his sister’s text had been an accident. He’d texted back a few times to let her know he was thinking about her and that when she was ready to talk, he’d be ready to listen.

“Excuse me? Mr. Hollander?”

Zane turned and found a kid eye-level with him. The boy had bleach-blond hair and a sunburned nose. “Hey, bud.”

“I’m sorry to bother you, but could I get your autograph?” He handed Zane a pen and piece of paper, and then glanced behind him. Zane let his gaze hop over the kid’s head. A woman sitting at a table—the boy’s mom, he assumed—had her thumbs up and a reassuring smile on her face.

“Absolutely.” Zane met his young fan’s eyes. “Who should I make it out to?”

“Zane.”

Zane cleared his throat. Danny and Bryce choked. “Your name is Zane?”

The boy nodded.

A terrible thought ran through Zane’s head. He looked at the woman again. Late twenties. Pretty. But he didn’t recognize her. Not in the slightest. Sure, he’d been with a lot of women, but he didn’t forget a face. This boy standing beside him was just a kid who happened to share his name. Not his DNA.

“That’s partly why I’m a fan of yours. It’s cool we have the same name.”

“That
is
cool. I don’t think I’ve met another Zane before.” He handed the boy the paper and pen. “What’s the other part?”

“I like to surf. My dad taught me.”

The muscles in the back of Zane’s neck relaxed. “You’re lucky. My dad didn’t like to do things with me.”

“Thanks, Mr. Hollander.”

“Call me Zane.”

“Really?” The kid’s eyes widened.

“Really.” Zane mussed the mop of hair on the boy’s head.

“Okay. See ya.” He turned and ran back to his mom. It looked like he was giving her a rundown on their conversation, since she kept nodding and smiling.

“Jesus,” Bryce said. “Tell me you guys weren’t worried there for a second.”

Danny ran a hand back and forth across his chest. “I think I just had a mild heart attack.”

Zane downed the rest of his beer and waved the empty glass to Midge for another. The fact that they’d even thought he could have a kid out there running around confirmed he needed to reevaluate his behavior. He’d always, always been careful, but shit. Talk about an eye-opener.

It was definitely time to share more of what he had on the inside with the public and shed his image as nothing but a playboy. He just had to ignore his father’s voice inside his head telling him to keep his imbecile thoughts to himself.

“Looks like your fans come in all sorts of shapes and sizes.” The sweet voice over his shoulder had him jumping to his feet. Sophie Birch had a very distinct sound when she spoke. He pulled out her chair.

“Thank you.” She sat and extended her hand across the table. “Hi, I’m Sophie Birch.”

Bryce introduced himself, and Danny thanked her for coming.

It gave Zane a moment to look at her. She’d definitely arrived in business mode. She wore a sensible short-sleeved dark blue dress with a black belt, black pumps, and black-rimmed eyeglasses. In her lap was a small messenger bag.

Her light red hair was pulled back into a knot at the nape of her neck. The ends stuck out this way and that, though, and an unexpected jolt of awareness shot through him. The hint that she had a little playfulness in her made him smile.

“Can we get you a drink?” Bryce asked.

She noted the empty beer glasses on the table. “Uh. Sure.”

Midge arrived with Zane’s beer. Bryce put up two fingers. “A couple more, please. And whatever the lady wants.”

“A virgin pi
ñ
a colada, please.”

“Virgin?” Zane raised his eyebrows.

“I don’t drink on the job. And this is a business meeting, is it not?” She turned her attention to Danny. “I thought we were going to discuss a prescreening event for Zane’s film?”

“Yes. We definitely want to talk about that. Thanks for considering it on such short notice. Time got away from me, and I dropped the ball.”

She nodded and pulled some papers out of her bag to thumb through, licking her finger with each pass of paper. She stopped at what looked like the schedule for the festival. “His film is showing Friday night at nine o’clock at the cove.” She looked up. “I suggest we do something right on the beach then. How about a bonfire?”

“I like that,” Zane said.

“Great. Give me a day or two to make some arrangements, and I’ll get back to you.” She relaxed in her chair. “That was easy. Is there anything else?”

“Actually, there is.” Danny leaned forward, elbows on the table, hands clasped under his chin. “But first, how are you? No lingering side effects from this afternoon?”

Her cheeks reddened and she looked at her lap. “I’m fine. Thank you for asking.”

“It seems you’re the talk of the town,” Bryce said.

“Really? I hadn’t noticed.” She adjusted her eyeglasses on the bridge of her small, slightly upturned nose and, under long black lashes, slid her gaze from Bryce to him. Zane got caught in those green eyes of hers until Bryce cleared his throat.

“I’m really sorry about what happened today,” Zane said.

“Don’t give it a second thought.” She sat taller. “I haven’t.”

“The guys tell me you’ve agreed to be Zane’s date tomorrow night,” Bryce said.

“Here you go, sweetie.” Midge put Sophie’s drink in front of her. “And if these boys give you any more of a hard time, you just wave me over and I’ll take care of them.” She gave Zane a little smack on the side of the head. “Virgin.”

“Thank you,” Sophie said, and the smile she gave Midge creased her eyes with genuine warmth. It vanished when she turned to Bryce. “I did agree, but I’m not sure how much free time I’ll have.” She looked around the table. “Oh, that’s the something else, isn’t it? You’ve found a better option. That’s perfectly okay. I get it.” She waved a hand in the air. “No worries about me.”

“That’s not it at all,” Danny said.

“Oh,” she whispered, and Zane had no idea if she was relieved, disappointed, or curious. He liked the sound of her voice but had trouble deciphering her tone.

“If possible, we’d like you to be Zane’s guest at his screening as well.” Bryce gave her one of his persuasive smiles, lips only slightly parted, his attention zeroed in on her like saying no to what he had to say would be ridiculous.

She scrunched up her nose and slid her drink closer to her chest. Zane hadn’t noticed before, but the dress clung to her small breasts rather nicely. “I’m sure Zane has his pick of dates. If this is because of the surf lesson, please stop worrying about that.”