The Remingtons_Leap, Laugh, Love

by Rachelle Ayala

  It was only after she ran upstairs that Finn realized both he and she were almost naked when they answered the door. It was obvious to the world that they had been sleeping together and roused from bed by the doorbell.

  Good. Let the whole world know she’s mine.

  # # #

  Kerry couldn’t stop shaking as she watched the grainy video. Finn’s awesome surf was recorded, but what happened next was scary as hell. As Kerry had paddled out for a wave and ridden it, Finn was bursting toward a clear image of a dorsal fin riding high in the water. The shark’s nose had at one point risen above the water, as if to see what approached.

  Finn hadn’t flinched and instead paddled harder, yelling and cursing at it. The shark’s nose disappeared along with the fin, diving down. It could have doubled back and attacked her while she was in the water.

  The video showed her searching for Finn before she spotted the board. Then the rascal submerged himself under his surfboard, lurking in wait to scare her.

  She slapped Finn on the arm. “You Army brat! You scared me to death.”

  “Hey, by then the shark was gone.”

  “How did you know? It could have been waiting for us. You’re nuts.”

  He grabbed her around the waist and tickled her. “But it was epic. Look at the video. You got to admit it was funny.”

  She shook her head and couldn’t help laughing as the video showed her rolling off the board and crossing her arms over her chest as if she were dead, and then the shock on her face when she saw he wasn’t Jesus.

  “I guess you’re right. It was epic, but now, you owe me big time.”

  “Anything you want.” Finn wiggled his eyebrows. “I’m your slave for the day.”

  “Oh, goodie.” She tapped his lips with a kiss. “You can start by cleaning the kitchen. We left a mess last night. Then there’s the bathroom and the tub. Siena’s coming, and we need to leave everything spic and span.”

  “Say you’re my girlfriend, and I’m on it.” He thumbed her lower lip and gazed into her eyes with that heavy-lidded seductive look that never failed to melt her knees.

  “If it’s so important to you, yes. I’m your girlfriend.” She hugged him tight. “And I’ll say I love you, too.”

  “Super, because I just so happen to love you, too.”

  Kerry’s heart expanded and then twinged as if a piece of barbed wire had caught on the edge. Could he really mean it? Did she?

  Chapter Seventeen

  Everywhere Finn and Kerry went, people came up to them to talk about the shark. They had not a minute of privacy after becoming celebrities. News agencies flew in from around the world to interview the pro surfer who headed back into the water after being bitten by a shark and her boyfriend who chased off a great white.

  “I wish we could get away from them,” Finn said, pulling Kerry behind the doors of a stable where they rented horses. This was the landlubber activity he’d planned before the descent of the paparazzi.

  “They’ll be gone.” Kerry waved her hand dismissively. “Every time I won a competition, I’d be mobbed for maybe a day, and then it would be back to normal. I’m more worried about Jared hanging around. I have to find a way to pay him back.”

  “You shouldn’t have to. That’s just plain unfair.” Finn tugged her into his arms. Every time he looked at her, it was as if she were his entire world.

  “You’re sweet—”

  “Oh, no. Never sweet.” He winked. “Sexy, studly, if you want a few ‘S’ words.”

  “Shark Finn.” She poked him in the gut.

  Shouts carried through the air as the stable owner tried to clear the crowd of reporters from his property. Many minutes passed before the sheriff arrived and dispersed the crowd. They were finally able to line up in front of the corral and get on their horses.

  Finn was given a large chestnut gelding and Kerry had a palomino with fine blond hair. They trotted off with their fellow horseback riders, who surrounded them, peppering them with questions as they rode on a trail to a private cliffside beach. Finn took most of the questions and cracked jokes for the answers. Kerry hadn’t known he could be such a clown.

  Fortunately, as the riders spread out, Finn and Kerry were left alone to enjoy their ride. The fine blond sand dunes were interspersed by banks of gray-green grass feathering in the light breeze. The air was briny, but not unpleasant. Squalling sea birds circled above, while waves winked peacefully in the glistening bay.

  “It’s beautiful out here,” Kerry said. “I wish we had your GoPro camera.”

  “Hey, sorry about losing it.” Finn rode by her side, looking contrite. “I guess I was too eager to get inside.”

  “For good reason.” She gave him a sidelong smile. “I didn’t know you were such a comedian. When I first met you, you were pretty gloomy.”

  A frown darkened his face, and he rubbed his scruffy jaw. He hadn’t shaved since she told him she liked a little hair on the face.

  “Well?” Kerry persisted. “Who are you really? A funny guy or a serious killer?”

  He kicked his horse and trotted off.

  What’s with that?

  Kerry urged her horse after him. Had she said something wrong? Well, duh, she shouldn’t keep mentioning the fact he killed people for a living.

  “Finn. Come back here. I didn’t mean anything. I just thought it strange. I’m happy you’re laughing and joking now.”

  He slowed his horse, and she caught him. Ahead of them, the guide waved for them to cross the shallow bay. It should be so romantic, riding their horses through the surf, except Finn seemed lost after she accused him of being a clown—or a killer.

  Kerry turned her attention to the horse and urged it forward. She splashed in the surf as the horse pranced over the small waves of the bay.

  “Eww,” Finn said from behind her. “Your horse is pooping and dirtying up the water.”

  “Catch up or eat shit.” She glanced back over her shoulder.

  He finally cracked a half-grin. “You’re not that funny, you know.”

  “I’m not trying to be.” She arched an eyebrow. “I’m sorry about ribbing you. Your job is serious, and I admire you putting your life on the line to protect people. Are we okay now?”

  “Yeah, we are.” He guided his horse close and reached out for her hand.

  She clasped it, feeling the love and connection. It was the guilt he carried at being happy when his buddy was dead and his parents were gone. She had that too, whenever she thought of the life her mother had in the nursing home, paralyzed from the neck down by a surfing accident. She really should visit her before the next competition and apply the winning purse to a fund for people hurt while surfing, whether by sharks or wave action.

  Kerry squeezed Finn’s hand before letting go. “I accept everything about you. I do, really, and I want to spend the rest of my life knowing you better.”

  “Do you really?” His face twisted with a mixture of hope and disbelief. “You barely know me.”

  “I know, but I like what I see so far.” She gave him a reassuring smile.

  “Same here. I generally like what I see of myself.” He joked and whipped the reins. “Giddy-up. Gallop.”

  His horse raced off along the shoreline, splashing water in its wake, inviting her to give chase.

  Kerry chuckled to herself. He was really a big boy, so endearing and utterly adorable. She really could love him, if only he weren’t going away so soon. She’d seen enough long distance relationships on the pro circuits, and all of them ended badly.

  And your relationship with Jared. Tell me that didn’t end badly even though he traveled with you.

  Kerry shook her head. Maybe her nomadic lifestyle meant she would never settle down and have a lifelong love. Maybe her score on this planet was zero. Fated for no one. Not even Finn.

  # # #

  Finn was so proud of Kerry. He whooped and clapped at her on stage when the mayor of Montauk offered her the keys to the city. They hung a plastic r
eplica of a shark’s jaw around her neck and pinned a red hibiscus flower in her hair.

  She was calm and gracious, not at all like the frightened woman he’d first met with the darting eyes, constantly scanning the horizon for a shark fin.

  They showed some of her surfing videos and segued into a news report of her shark bite in Australia. Afterwards, Kerry took the floor. She gave a lesson on surfing safety and fielded questions with the aplomb of a professional motivational speaker.

  The night finished with a luau and dancing. Some of the partiers wore shark suits, and every one of them asked Kerry to dance. Finn was happy to sit back with a drink and take congratulations from the townsfolk and fishermen and sign autographs.

  He itched to get her alone, but she was mobbed wherever she went. At this rate, they’d be better off in the anonymity of the City rather than this eccentric fishing town at the end of Long Island with its love and hate relationship with the great white shark.

  The party wound down way after midnight. Finn gathered Kerry in his arms and together, they strolled along the beach toward the cottage.

  “I’ve got writer’s cramp.” Kerry rolled her wrist and flexed her fingers. “How about you?”

  “Only too many people buying me drinks.” He held her close. “Don’t worry, I’m not falling asleep yet. We’ve got all night.”

  “I wish we could turn back the clock.” She leaned against him as they weaved along the edge of the sand.

  “Why?”

  “We missed two days this week while I was reconnecting with myself. I should have been connecting with you.”

  “You needed the time, and so did I.” He kissed the top of her head and turned her to face him. “Being apart made me know how hard it is to live without you.”

  “I feel the same way.” Her breath caught. “I missed you so much.”

  Her admission warmed the corners of his heart, and for once it didn’t ache as it expanded and flooded with love. He hugged her tight, picking her up and twirling her around. She giggled and laughed with joy. He was caught up in giddiness as he tumbled her into the sand.

  They rolled over each other, grasping and kissing with a surging need. He was finally alone in the cloak of darkness on a lonely beach with the woman destined to be his wife.

  Finn opened the doors of his heart wide open and gave over to all his desires, settling over her and making love to her at the water’s edge, as the sea bathed them in the waning moonlight.

  This place with Kerry would always be his hometown. Finn vowed, then and there, that he’d scatter Lonnie’s ashes into the sea at the spot he’d driven the shark away. His buddy would appreciate it, and Finn could picture them exchanging high fives and fist bumps.

  Chapter Eighteen

  “I can’t believe you’re an internet star,” Siena greeted Kerry as she crossed the threshold, hugging her warmly. “And in love too, by the looks of it.”

  Kerry snuck a look over her shoulder at Finn who wore a smug, shit-eating grin. She still couldn’t believe that she’d found love where she’d least expected.

  Of course, Siena would say she’d told her so.

  “You got here at exactly the right time,” Kerry said, leading Siena to the kitchen. “There’re fudge brownies in the oven and that fancy vanilla ice cream you like in the freezer.”

  “We’ll even whip cream for you,” Finn added.

  “I bet you had a lot of practice with that.” Siena wiggled her eyebrows.

  Kerry blushed and busied herself with scooping ice cream. How could she admit the extent to which she and Finn had used every surface available at the cottage?

  “So, where am I sleeping?” Siena cast her gaze at Finn and then at Kerry and back, a mischievous smirk on her face.

  “You can have the master bedroom,” Finn said, wiping down the kitchen table. “I’ll move my stuff out of there.”

  “Hmmm …” Siena wagged her finger. “I’m not sure I can take all the pheromones soaked throughout the room. I’ll actually take one of the daisy beds upstairs. I just wanted to know if Kerry’s staying with you or if we can have a girl’s slumber party in the loft.”

  “You can have Kerry, definitely,” Finn stammered, looking like he was about to lose his cookies.

  “Can you two stop talking about me like I’m an inanimate object?” Kerry folded her arms in front of them. “Don’t I get a say where I sleep?”

  “If you’re doing any sleeping,” Siena said out of the side of her mouth. She peeked into the refrigerator. “Oh, good, you saved me some vegan pizza.”

  Kerry hooked her arm over Siena’s shoulder. “Girl talk it is. So, what’s the plan for tomorrow?”

  “Beats me,” Siena said. “I just got here. Is the town seriously crawling with reporters?”

  “Sheriff’s keeping them away from the cottage, and it’s dying down,” Finn said. “The shark’s traveling north to Cape Cod, so the shark chasers are all headed that direction.”

  “Good for us, bad for my brother who has a cottage there.” She popped a slice of pizza into the toaster oven. “So, Finn, you have anything planned for tomorrow?”

  Kerry’s ears perked and one eyebrow rose. Did Siena know something she didn’t?

  “Yeah, Finn, what’s going on for tomorrow?” Kerry echoed, noticing the redness that colored the tips of Finn’s ears.

  He was up to something, and she only hoped it wasn’t something supremely embarrassing, like asking her to sing karaoke or hula dance at the marina to entertain the crowd at the shark fishing tournament.

  The timer chimed just in the nick of time before things got too awkward. Kerry donned hot mitts and removed the brownies from the oven.

  “Mmmm …” Siena moaned as she pressed a hot, melting wedge of fudge brownie into her scoop of ice cream.

  “At least it isn’t burnt this time,” Finn said, digging out another piece. “We kind of made a mess on the trial run.”

  “I’ll bet.” Siena’s sharp eyes glanced around the kitchen, lingering on every horizontal and vertical surface.

  “She was the spreader, and I was the licker.” Finn ran his hand seductively over the butcher block table, his gaze fixed on Kerry.

  “I’m so jealous.” Siena sucked on a chunk of brownie. “So, Kerry, how good of a licker is he, and how far did you spread?”

  Kerry shook her head and licked the ice cream scoop. It was going to be a long night with her girlfriend wanting details. Maybe she should opt to sleep in the boys’ cave tonight.

  As if reading her thoughts, Siena hustled up to her, hooked her arm around her shoulder and gave her a noogie. “Did you try holding onto the back of the sleigh bed? Trust me.”

  With that remark, she took her bowl of dessert and slice of pizza and headed up the stairs to the loft.

  Kerry’s face broiled as Finn licked his lips and jerked his hips. “Do you trust her? I do.”

  # # #

  The next day, Finn wondered if he really should have trusted Siena. All morning, Siena went around dropping innuendos, sexual and otherwise. She seemed obsessed with Kerry’s fingers and gave her a manicure, despite Kerry protesting that she only had nubs for nails.

  Siena played makeup doll with Kerry’s face, lining her eyes and smearing three shades of shadow over her eyelids. She then proceeded to vamp her up with bright lipstick and even plucked the stray hairs from beneath her eyebrows.

  Every so often, she’d take out her digital camera, an expensive looking SLR, and snap photos of him and Kerry when they least expected. Guess it was her way of saying “Boo.”

  Finn paced and paced, his hand in his pocket. He’d had no choice other than having Siena drop by Lonnie’s mother’s place to pick up an item he had stored there. This was the last chance he had with Kerry, because she’d already bought her tickets to fly to the surfing competition in Baja California.

  He couldn’t tag along without being invited, and so far, she hadn’t mentioned their leave taking, preferring not to talk about it.
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  Which kept him on pins and needles. This had to work. Had to. He’d booked a private tour of the Montauk Lighthouse, just the three of them. Given their celebrity status, the Montauk sheriff, who’d become his best friend and insisted on taking him fur trapping if he’d stop by in the winter, had agreed to cordon off the lighthouse park for half an hour.

  Finn checked his watch for the time as giggles came down the stairs. The girls were having way too much fun. If he could fast forward to the end of the day and know the answer, he would. This was worse than waiting on the helicopter about to drop him into enemy territory.

  He still had a few hours to kill, and they could be up there beautifying forever. Finn slipped into a pair of barefoot running shoes and headed out the door. A ten-mile run should do the trick.

  # # #

  Siena picked up a limp strand of Kerry’s hair. “Do you condition this at all? It’s damaged by all the sun and salt water.”

  “Why bother with conditioner when it just washes off in the water?” Kerry stared at herself in the mirror. “That woman does not look like me.”

  “Stop pouting.” Siena twirled Kerry’s hair around and held it up over her head. “Look how gorgeous you are. You have a long, elegant neck. As for the conditioner, you’re not in the water all the time. It keeps your hair from drying out and frizzing.”

  “I like it frizzy.” Kerry flung her hair and held it out. “Makes me look like a sea monster.”

  “Sea goddess.” Siena picked up her camera with the giant lens and shot a few pictures. “Hold that pose, surfer girl. There, turn your pretty face, now wink.”

  Kerry felt stupid, like she used to when her father played cameraman, posing her in front of the various surfboards he designed. “I’m not a model, just a surfer.”

  “Just a surfer, sure. Now that you’re a celebrity, you need to keep the buzz going. Who knows, maybe you can parlay this into a modeling gig, wetsuits and swimwear?” Siena snapped a few more shots of Kerry giving her the finger.

  “Right, Shark Fin suits, complete with rigid dorsal fin for a clear ride on the best waves.”