“Sorry.” She shifted away, but her hand came to rest on my thigh, and all my nerve endings snapped to attention. I noticed her cheeks were slightly pink as she drew back, and felt the heat radiating from my own skin. Embarrassment or…something else? I hadn’t been around many civilians, certainly not many females my own age. There were women in the Order, but they occupied the jobs outside of combat—gathering intelligence, handling paperwork, saving a soldier’s life when he got himself incinerated by a dragon. They were crucial to the Order, but there were no female soldiers in St. George. Tristan had no problems talking to girls, especially when he’d had a few, but when faced with a member of the opposite sex I usually found myself with nothing to say, so I avoided them when I could.

The mission, I reminded myself. Focus on the mission. I could not be distracted by this girl. I couldn’t let myself think of her as anything but an objective. And I certainly couldn’t let myself think of touching her again, of feeling her skin against mine, her warm fingers on my leg.

I stared out the window, deliberately forcing my thoughts elsewhere. Anything to keep myself distracted and my mind off the girl beside me.

The Volkswagen finally came to a bouncing, shuddering halt in the shadow of a grove of palm trees. Through the space between two giant thorn bushes, an empty strip of sand and the ocean beckoned, white-capped waves breaking in the distance. I exited the car and felt the heat of the sun beating on my bare shoulders. Ember climbed out behind me and yawned, covering her mouth with one hand.

“Pull another all nighter, Em?” Lexi teased as she helped Calvin unstrap the boards from the roof. “You know, if you went to bed before dawn, we could actually go surfing before noon sometimes. Just a thought.”

“Oh, like you’re ever up before noon,” Ember scoffed. She didn’t give any outward signs of alarm, but I caught the discrepancy with what she’d told me this morning. Ember didn’t get up early; even her friends knew this, though they probably thought she was sleeping.

No one ever saw her, or her brother, until afternoon.

So why was she out this morning, alone? Where was she coming from?

“Here,” she went on, tugging a blue board from the roof and handing it to me. I took it with a puzzled look, and she smiled. “That’s yours for today. Be nice to it. It’s been through a lot.”

I nodded and tucked the surfboard under my arm as I’d seen Ember do. It was surprisingly light and had more than a few dents and scratches on the surface. Calvin swung a pristine white board under his arm and headed down toward the water, moving with lazy confidence. The rest of us trailed behind, Ember and Lexi walking to either side of me, explaining the basics of surfing.

I tried to listen, but both were talking at the same time and one tended to finish the sentence the other girl began, so it was difficult to follow along. Nothing really stuck until we reached the edge of the beach, and Ember turned to me.

“Okay!” she announced, and dropped her board into the sand with a soft thump. “This is where we start.”

“Here?” I glanced at the ocean, where Calvin was striding into the surf, not looking back. “I was under the impression that surfing was done in the water.”

Lexi giggled, and Ember frowned at her. “It is, of course. But there’s a whole lot of things to learn before you can ride a wave. Paddling, balance, timing, things like that. It’s easier to start on solid ground first.”

“Or you can be like Ember and keep falling off the board into the water,” Lexi added. “Because you’re too impatient to start on the beach.”

The other girl huffed at her.”You shush. I only agreed to let you

come because you promised you’d let me do this.” She glowered fiercely, and Lexi giggled again. I found myself wishing she was gone, that it was just me and Ember in this empty little cove. I’d be able to better concentrate and learn more if I had just one teacher and Lexi wasn’t peering over our shoulders.

That’s what I told myself, anyway.

Ember sighed. Turning back to me, she pointed to my board. “Here.

Put your surfboard next to mine. I’ll show you how to paddle out, catch a wave, and stand up when you do. After that, you’re on your own. The balance part comes with time and practice.”

I followed her lead. Under Ember’s tutelage, I learned to lie on my stomach and paddle my arms when trying to catch a wave, then quickly spring into a crouch to ride it down. I learned the best way to stand when surfing, keeping my knees bent and my weight balanced, and how to steer the board when I did catch a wave. Ember was a very patient teacher, gently correcting my stance when I needed it, answering any questions I had. Once, her hand came to rest on my arm as she demonstrated a technique, and the prickle from her fingers lingered on my skin a long time afterwards. Lexi would comment occasionally, either to confirm what Ember was saying or tease her teaching methods, but by the end of the lesson, I’d nearly forgotten about her.

“All right,” Ember announced, giving me an appraising stare. I caught a flash of admiration in those green eyes as she smiled at me.

“I think you’ve got it. In fact, I’m pretty sure you’re either a natural, or you’ve been pulling my leg this whole time about not ever having done this before. I’m going to feel awfully stupid if you’re some surfing champion from Waimea or something.”

I met her gaze. “You don’t have to wonder. I’ve never done this before.” She gave me a dubious look, and I held up my hands. “I promise.”