Lorelie Brown - Riding the Wave

Heady stuff. Powerful. More of him going straight to her head and wiping out the rest of the mess strewn through the night.

Stripping out of her T-shirt and skirt became almost automatic. She moved fast, whipping her hair around her head as she yanked the shirt off. Standing there in her matching panties and bra was as hard as she’d expected. At least they were some of her cute ones: heather gray, but with bright blue lace trimming at the edges.

Tanner’s response was everything she could have hoped for. His breath hissed on an inward pull, his chest lifting. The parting of his lips made her think of where else they could go.

When she unhooked her bra, he stood up straight. She couldn’t help a teasing, mean cup of her breasts. Even her thumbs passing over her nipples sent a soft wash of pleasure through her center.

The panties she drew down her thighs were already damp. She had to swallow down her fear again. It was like getting inspected, in a way. Slightly cold, but in a way she couldn’t explain. Not a coldness of excitement, because the moment was incredibly hotter than any other experience she’d ever had. But being so bold took her out of her own head, so she hardly knew her own thoughts.

God, she’d been locked inside her own head for so long.

She might have been smirking a little as she tugged her bikini from the bag at her feet. And her ass wiggled a little, definitely.

How could she be blamed for it, when Tanner gave her such lovely feedback? The groan he let go went straight to her pussy. A new flood of dampness soaked her tiny red bikini bottom as she pulled it snugly over herself. She took her sweet time with the top. For the first time, she wished the slightly sport-bra-like top were smaller. She’d take the wish back the next time she was surfing, but for now, she wanted less material. Something a little sexier, so that when she cupped her breasts into position, more would show.

But Tanner didn’t seem to mind. His gaze darted back up to her face. “Now, that was mean.”

She smiled as she smoothed the bottoms over her ass. “You got what you asked for.”

“Fuck yeah, I did.” He grinned. Tucking his board under his arm, he led the way out the door and down the beach. The sand almost seemed to glow, shining white under the moonlight. It flicked up behind them in soft clouds.

There was something peaceful about the very act of walking across a beach. Soothing, like dropping down into a certain layer of her mind. One she liked a lot better than her normal frenetic pace.

They stood at the edge of the water, miniature white froth licking at their toes. Cold, despite the cloying warmth still in the air. Even the hard-packed sand held the chill of the water. The rhythmic roar of the surf was the only sound.

“The waves suck.” She let the fins of her board droop toward the sand. “One to two feet at most.”

“We’re not here to surf. Not this time.” He strode out into the water as if it wasn’t going to freeze his bits off. “C’mon. Don’t chicken out now.”

She’d never been out in the surf at night. There was a different cast to the waves. They were barely a surge topped with white froth, despite their relative lack of height. The light sparkled off the water in a straight line from where the moon hovered to their point on the beach. It felt different and yet similar at the same time.

Her heart gave a small tumble that wasn’t just in fear, but in anticipation as she watched Tanner’s back. The tiny muscles and ligaments there did shaky stuff to her insides.

She followed.

The water was damn cold. Once she was up to her waist, she flopped on her board and paddled the rest of the way. Tanner kept going, diving in past the small swells of waves and letting them crash over his body. But he didn’t stop in the normal lineup spots for surfing, so neither did Avalon.

Eventually, he stopped. He sat up on his board, straddling it and planting his hands flat between his outstretched thighs. The water swelled and dipped, but it felt mostly flat. Because of the dark, the horizon was practically invisible. They were both alone together and adrift in a vast wideness.

The disconcerting feeling made her look down at her board. White, bright. Cleanly focused. She looked up again and that was quickly lost. But she breathed through the agitation, letting herself go free. And suddenly felt as relaxed as she’d ever been in her life.

Her feet dangled in the cold water, but she hardly noticed. She felt little. Small and overwhelmed by the world, but in the best possible way.

“This is nice.” The words felt pretty damn insufficient, but she’d never been very expressive. Not without a camera, at least. She’d need a very wide-angle lens to capture this moment. Or maybe she’d do the opposite and focus very closely on the dark, glassy water to demonstrate the blissful emptiness of that sort of darkness.

“It is.” Tanner looked up toward the sky, his neck a thick column that made her think about biting and licking. His arms stood out in stark relief, heavy curves.

“Do you ever surf in the dark?”

“Once or twice.” His gaze fixed on her. “Mostly I come out here when I want to be alone. Have some quiet.”

“But you brought me out here.”

“I’ve got dirty plans for you afterward, remember,” he said. The words were light, but she heard something else underneath them. A depth and caress.

Or she wanted to, at any rate. She had a stupid habit of that, though. Her mom had counted on it to break her heart more times than she could count. Being a twelve-year-old left alone for two weeks while Mom went on vacation with her boyfriend meant she was extra susceptible to hearing sincerity in voices that didn’t actually carry it. But with the Wrights, she’d learned to actually trust.

And now the Wrights couldn’t even trust one another. The way Eileen had withdrawn upstairs . . . Avalon had never seen her quite that hurt before. Nor had she ever blamed Tanner like that for anything.

Avalon couldn’t let the family collapse. They’d always had problems, but she wasn’t going to let it go too far. Not this time.

She spread her fingers on the board, across the tacky surf wax and roughed-up grip. She didn’t want to ask, not really. But she had to. The words burbled up of their own will. “How long have you known?”

Tanner’s sigh was one of the saddest things she’d ever heard. “I’m guessing there’s no chance of convincing you to let it go.”

“You’ve lost your mind if you think so.”

“You keep saying that to me.”

She flicked water from her fingertips in his general direction. “I’m not convinced yet that I shouldn’t be researching the best lockup facilities.”

“You can be pretty damn mean sometimes.” But he didn’t actually seem to mind. He’d planted his hands flat on his board, bowing his shoulders into the move even as he looked up at the stars. “I’d think you’d be nicer to anyone with the last name Wright. Earn your place.”

A surprising flash of pain went through her at that, even though he was obviously teasing. He was probably trying to distract her from asking about tonight’s revelations.

But that didn’t keep it from ringing true on some level.

The cold water swirling around her calves loosed a chill through her. She pushed a smile up to her mouth, though not a big one. Just that tiny bend that said she didn’t care. “How long? Spit it out.”

“What if I said flat-out that I didn’t want to talk about it?”

“Then you wouldn’t have brought me out here.” She kicked gently until her toes touched the back of his calf, behind his knee. The ocean made his skin slick, but she could still feel the light hairs. “You’d have taken me up to your room and we’d have stayed there until neither of us could see straight. But you wanted to talk first.”

“You’re sure of that.”

Of course she was. It was what she did for all the Wrights. She listened, let them vent. Took their problems on herself. It was part of being a family, as near as she could tell. She paddled her board, twisting until she was right next to Tanner.

He carried a particular warmth that emanated from his skin, despite the dark and the cold water and the licking breeze. Something solidly comforting. She wanted to tuck along his side and bury her face against his ribs.

Instead she touched his knee, cupped her fingers over him. “Tell me, Tanner. You’ll feel better for it.”

Tanner was not at all convinced of that. Catharsis was not exactly his deal. His mom had always been on about that, talking about closure and all sorts of other crunchy granola stuff. But he’d had his eyes on the prize, on taking the championship.

And sure as shit, telling her had not been any big letting go. Watching her face crumple had been everything he feared.

Goddamn that Mako. The asshole didn’t have any right to come tromping through and fuck it all to hell and gone. San Sebastian was Tanner’s mother’s world.

Avalon’s fingers tightened on his knee. “You’re kind of wound up, aren’t you? You’re practically twitching.”

“Whoever said I wasn’t?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. Your mom’s so laid-back, it’s amazing. I try to be like her.”

He couldn’t help a little snort. “You’ll never be like my mom.” Half of Avalon’s appeal was her vibrant energy. Making her like Eileen would dampen her spark.

“And you won’t dodge the question forever, no matter how hard you try.” Slim fingers tapped the top of his knee in insistent rhythm. Two inches up and they could be under the hem of his board shorts.