Page 106 of Bean

Funny how that old-fashioned word had such a different meaning to me all of a sudden.

My beloved.

My silver bear.

My Jarek…

Rhymes with Derek.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

JAREK

I looked over at Heath, who was doing a damn handstand on his board, and then looked at mine. I was waist-deep in the gentle water of the bay, freezing my balls off in spite of being in a wet suit, exhausted from climbing on the board and falling.

And here was this fucker doing handstands?

“What am I doing wrong?”

Heath slowly dropped his legs and straddled the board, smiling at me. “Nothing, hon. You’re doing everything right.”

“So it’s totally normal that those guys”—I gestured to a couple of guys several hundred yards away who were on their boards, paddling around the water as steady as they would be on land—“are doing this like it’s nothing and I can’t even stand up?”

“It looks easier than it is. You have to develop your core balance. Gotta crawl before you can walk, babes.And gotta walk before you can run.”

I scowled at him, slid up on the board on my stomach, and managed to make it to my knees before I tumbled over again. When I came up, I could hear cackling from the shore. Ivy’s voice was louder than Bean’s, but they were distinct.

“I give up.”

“For the day,” Heath said. He was in a downward dog position, and I fought the urge to reach over and shake his board. But knowing him, he’d somehow managed to do some ballet move and roll with it. “Next week, okay?”

He was out of his mind if he thought I was subjecting myself to this public humiliation two weeks in a row. Removing the strap from my wrist, I waded to shore with the board trailing behind me, and I left it on the rocky sand. The suit clung to my body, and I quickly pulled down the zipper, exposing my chest.

Ivy wolf-whistled. “Hot stuff.”

Bean winked at me as I approached, and I leaned in to ensure I dripped cold water on him. “Hey! What did I ever do to you?” he demanded.

I grinned and kissed him upside down. “That’s for laughing at me.”

He dissolved into giggles. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” he gasped as I rubbed my cold, wet hair on his neck. “I don’t mean to laugh, but it was pretty funny. You were like a newborn baby seal.”

“At least I was cute,” I said with a sniff. It was impossible to be mad at him. Hell, it was impossible to be mad at the way he and Ivy were making fun of me. They were two of the most important people in my life, and they were getting along like a house on fire.

It would probably end in disaster for me, but I’d take that disaster over what my life had been like before Bean had come into it. We were going on our third month as official boyfriends and nearly five months of knowing each other. Almost half a year, and it was hard to imagine what life had been like before all of this.

Walking to the tent, I peeled away the wet suit and hung it on one of Heath’s portable hooks to dry. My towel had been hanging in the sun, so despite the cool afternoon breeze, it was warm across my shoulders. I scrubbed away the salt water andas much sand as possible, but I had a shower waiting for me right across the street.

In my home. Where all my things were. And where some of Bean’s were too. That thought made me smile as I shuffled over and dropped to the sand beside Bean’s chair. “I need to wash up before tonight.”

Bean looked momentarily panicked. “We have plans?”

I leaned in and kissed his knee. “We have plans. You have your things at my house. We’re going to go change in a little bit, and then I’m taking you out on a date.”

He settled. “Right.”

It was clear by his tone he didn’t remember, but he was less hard on himself for those moments now. He was starting to rely on the people he trusted to fill him in when his brain wouldn’t. He was also doing electrical stimulation therapy to help with his moods, and since starting it, he hadn’t had another incident of self-harm, and his mood swings had lessened.

The treatment wasn’t the best for memory loss, but Bean had sat me down when he was presented with the option, and he said that he’d rather be more forgetful than ever risk hurting the people he loved.