How much of that he could lay at Avalon’s feet was debatable. There were also his other, way more massive problems. Like winning the San Sebastian Pro. Or, hey, how about the way he’d decimated his family last night? That’d make for some emo hours if he were so inclined.

The buzz of his phone against the granite kitchen countertop was a relief from the suck-hole his head had become. Until he saw Sage’s face smiling at him from the caller ID.

Coffeepot in one hand, he about not answering. For way longer than a good brother would admit. The shit storm of the next few days was already coming for him. No reason to grab it up any faster than he needed to.

He snatched up the phone, thumbed the answer. “Hey, you.”

“I’d decided that you were already out surfing.”

Tanner had come to believe he knew Sage’s voice better than he knew her face. He might’ve spent the past decade away from his hometown, but there had been no way to give up his little sister. She hadn’t let him. At first the phone calls had come mostly from her, but he’d absolutely grown used to them. Now they talked at least twice a week, no matter what finagling they had to do in order to work around the time zones.

“Excuse me?” Water gurgled into the pot. Coffee was his one regular indulgence lately. He might have to eat pretty healthy to stay competitive with the younger groms on the circuit, but he couldn’t seem to give up his caffeine.

“Either you were out surfing, or you actually screened my calls. Mine. Your precious baby sister who you love more than anyone else in the world.” She was so obviously straining for her normal level of cheer and laid-back attitude. And failing. A thick quality told him she’d either been crying or was going to soon.

Tanner had done that to her. His hands kept working through the motions of making coffee, but his gaze turned to stare out the windows. This was what he’d worried about all along.

Goddamn their dad for putting him in this position.

“Screening is a sin against the universe,” he finally said. The coffee machine burbled away.

“So you hit the waves, then?” The music Sage always blasted in her shop crashed in the background before abruptly being cut off again. She’d probably swiped off the iPod. At this hour, she’d be alone in her dusty shop, probably hand-shaping her favorite pieces. “Because I’ve got this prime sub-six-footer with three fins that’d be sweet out there today.”

“No, didn’t surf. Not this morning.” The truth flew out of his mouth before he had a chance to think twice about it. He’d never lied to his little sister before, not even when she’d been seven. Her hair in wispy blond pigtails, she’d asked him if the Easter Bunny was real and he’d managed to duck that one.

But he’d never banged her best friend, either.

The gaze he darted up revealed only a white plaster ceiling. As if he’d gone all Clark Kent–ish and could see Avalon’s naked ass in his bed from here.

Heat slammed up the back of his neck.

Holy crap, this could count as a major fail on his part. He’d thought about Sage, but he hadn’t exactly run through every level of consequences. Not that sisters were something a man wanted to think about before they were about to get dirty.

Fuck. Up. Hard-core.

Made a guy almost want to discuss his shitbird father and the illegitimate son he’d left behind.

“Where were you, then?” Sage laughed. “No. Don’t answer that. Probably best if you don’t.”

She had no fucking idea. He scratched short nails over the back of his head, but couldn’t put a dent in the tension-locked muscles there. “Was there something you needed, sis?”

“Yeah. Mom. She needs you to come by today.”

“Really?”

“Well . . .” She hedged a little bit. He could almost picture the way she’d duck her head and thrust her jaw to the side. She’d done it as a teenager when conning fifty bucks off him. “More like I think she needs you to come by.”

“I don’t know.” His gut churned. The scalding sip of black coffee he took only added to the burn. “I was thinking I should probably give her some space today. Let it go for now.”

“Tanner Wright, you’ve given this family almost ten years of space.” She sounded absolutely exasperated. A person had to push pretty far to get levelheaded Sage to that point. But then, he’d always had a talent for fucking up family. “You get your butt over here by this afternoon, bare minimum. And expect to stick around for dinner. You’ll answer any questions either Mom or I have and you’ll do so as honestly as you did last night. And everything will be fine in the end.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he snapped. But it was a sort of relief. Direction. A way to handle it. Though he found himself doubtful everything would be that easy.

Sage was a ridiculously determined optimist. It was one of the reasons she’d founded her own surfboard-making company at twenty-three. Because she’d never imagined that it wouldn’t work.

They chatted a few minutes more, but Tanner could hear the strain under it, even if no one wanted to admit it.

He’d been right to keep the secret. It seemed that no one agreed with him, but he knew. The hurt was all there, in the way Sage wasn’t laughing by the time they hung up. She’d been happier when she didn’t know.

Tanner tucked his phone in the pocket of his pajama pants, then carried his coffee, the carafe and a second mug back upstairs. But Avalon was still completely racked out.

She looked stupidly gorgeous for being so knocked out. The apples of her cheeks had been sleep-pinked, and even her curves looked warm. She was lying facedown and he could see the bottoms of her feet and toes, which were surprisingly tender and delicate looking.

Better to let her sleep. He’d kept her up late enough, after all.

He smiled around a sip of coffee as he sauntered out toward the balcony. French doors gave way to a deck. Half the size of the ground-floor deck, there was still plenty of space, which was filled with cushioned wicker furniture. And all of it looked out on the best view in the world.

Beach. Pure beach, ended with only a beautiful white-frothed left break. Tanner knew without even pulling up the surf report on his phone that the waves had to be at least three feet on the backside. Plenty thick enough to get some tricks in.

But he plopped down on the deck chair and set his coffee on the mosaic-topped bistro table.

There’d be enough time for surfing later. For now, he meant to let Avalon sleep longer. She was always so wound up and riding some knife’s edge of energy. He got the feeling she didn’t rest enough.

But he didn’t have long to catch up on the surf reports and preliminary standings, much less hit his e-mail, before the door slid open behind him. He tucked the phone in his pocket, then twisted to smile at her.

She had her camera again. Raised in front of her almost like a shield.

Didn’t help her much. She still looked freshly fucked, her hair a tangled mess. She’d pulled on her shirt, but the only thing covering her ass was her red bikini bottoms. And her lips looked as reddened and swollen as when he’d first kissed the hell out of her last night.

He reached for his cup of coffee and took a sip. He needed his own armor, it seemed like.

This moment was not exactly wrapping up like he’d imagined. Maybe a kiss or two in the morning, a few nice words. Regrouping later with him in professional-sports-star and her in professional-photographer mode again.

He didn’t like the dense knot that lodged in his chest.

“Brought you coffee.” He kicked his feet up to the railing and leaned back. “Didn’t know how you wanted it, so it’s black.”

The waves were rolling in sets of six. Same as they always had at this break, his entire life.

Duh. The obvious didn’t make for very good avoidance methods.

She hesitated for a second. The camera wavered and he spotted her dark green eyes as it lowered. But then she snapped off half a dozen shots anyway.

Tanner tried not to feel the hair at the back of his neck standing to attention. He was going to have enough unwanted publicity, because of Mako’s article. He didn’t want the privacy of this moment broken as well.

“Thanks,” she said, finally lowering the camera. “Black’s fine. I’ve gotten used to it.”

She picked up the coffee and drank deeply, but she didn’t sit. Instead she moved to the side of the balcony—though that wasn’t far, only ten feet—and hitched her ass onto the waist-high railing. Sipping from her mug, she silently looked out to the water.

The message couldn’t have been any clearer if she’d written it in permanent marker across her forehead. Not interested, move along.

Tanner ought to take the message. They’d gotten what they wanted out of each other. Last night had been more about forgetting a messy evening than starting something new.

But fuck that.

Second place had never been to his taste.

He set his coffee mug down with a click that could barely be heard over the roar of the waves. Coming out of his chair, he moved toward Avalon.

She knew he was coming, watched him out of the corner of her eyes. Her fingers tensed around the coffee mug until her knuckles went white. But she didn’t flee. Didn’t run, or try to fill the space between them with chatter. He liked that about her.

He framed her pixie-shaped jawline in his grasp for a fast, swift kiss. They traded bitter coffee tastes when her tongue took his.

Pulling back, he brushed her long bangs to the side, the better to see her wide-open eyes. “Good morning, Avalon.”