“I think I’ll go grab some breakfast. I rolled out of bed this morning for a run and haven’t even had a cup of coffee yet.”
“Me, either. Come have breakfast with me, and then I’ll get you a prime seat for the morning practice runs.”
She shook her head. “Thank you, but I need a shower first, and it’s going to be hot as hell today. My hat is in my room. I’ll need to gear up if I’m going to spend the day in the heat.”
“You can sit in the tent area with me, out of the sun. Go take your shower. I’ll still buy you breakfast. Stop at the registration desk. I’ll leave you a pass for all the competition events and private areas.”
She wanted to decline. No, that wasn’t true. She should say no. She wanted to say yes. She liked spending time with Ben.
She also liked spending time with Alex, whose touch made her tingle in unexpected, delightful ways.
But Ben was Alex’s friend, and he’d offered breakfast, not sex.
“Okay. Thank you. I’ll be back in about forty-five minutes.”
“Great. I’ll be at the far end of the tented areas, the one with the Surf Hot logo.”
He pointed, and she nodded. “I’ll see you then.”
* * *
Ben watched Victoria jog off, his lips curving as he admired her long legs and great ass.
It was really too bad Alex had met her first. She was beautiful and intelligent and the kind of woman he’d love to spend time with.
Plus, he couldn’t help but focus on her mouth. He had a thing about a woman’s mouth, and Victoria had a full bottom lip that begged to be tugged on.
His cock tightened. He finally tore his gaze away from her retreating form, searching the ocean for Alex.
He found him sitting beyond the waves and talking with a few of the other competitors. Even from a distance, Ben read the ease that Alex had with the board and the waves. The one thing Ben had always liked about Alex was his instincts. He knew when the right wave would come along, and when the wrong time was to drop in on one.
Ben would give anything to be out there, ready to catch one of the tubes. Dangerous to be riding the Pipeline, but he could still remember the adrenaline rush of dropping down into a wave of overpowering size and mastering it.
It might have been a lot of years since he’d ridden competitively, but the urge had never died. He clenched his fingers into his palm, sucked in a deep breath, then released it.
Give it up. It’s over. It’s been over and you’re never going to ride the big waves again.
The dull, constant pain in his back reminded him why.
He pivoted and headed toward the promoter’s tent.
* * *
Victoria showered and changed into her swimsuit, then tossed a pair of cotton capris and a T-shirt over it, slipped into her sandals and grabbed her bag. She made the walk back to the competition area and went to the registration area first to pick up the badge Ben had said he’d leave for her. She flashed her badge to get in, and found Ben in the tent. He was talking to a few other people, so she turned to watch the surfers, some already in motion on the waves.
She searched for Alex, but couldn’t find him in the sea of bodies undulating in the water.
“He’s in the center, just to the right of the dude with the bright orange board.”
Ben had come up behind her, and moved beside her. She followed where he pointed, then nodded as she spotted Alex, who had just popped up on his board to take the next wave.
Her breath caught as he slid down the curve of what she thought was a pretty big breaker. He dropped down, then disappeared under a crashing fall of water. She didn’t exhale until she saw him come out from underneath it.
“Jesus, that’s some scary shit.”
Ben laughed and slipped his arm around her waist. “It’s a thrill ride, that’s for sure.”
She was frozen to the spot, unable to move as she watched the other surfers do the same thing, certain at any moment one of them wouldn’t come out the other side of those monstrous waves. But they all did. Only Ben’s slight pressure on her hip convinced her to give up her spot.
“It’s like a train wreck,” she said as he led her down the beach walk to the street side. “It’s awful, yet I don’t want to look away.”
“It’s not awful. It’s great.”
“No, it’s awful. They’re taking their lives into their hands every time they slide into one of those gigantic waves.”
“Those aren’t even the biggest waves yet.”
She stopped and her eyes widened. “They get bigger?”
He grinned. “Yeah.”
“You all are insane.”
“Nah. They know what they’re doing.”
He stopped at a little restaurant called Café Haleiwa that was super crowded. They had to wait for a few minutes for a table, but Ben assured her the wait was worth it. The smell of coffee and food made her stomach rumble. They took a seat and a waitress came by to take their drink orders. First item on the agenda was coffee. She looked over the menu, and they ordered when the waitress came back with their coffee.
She took a sip, closed her eyes and sighed.
“You look like you’re having an orgasm.”
She opened her eyes and offered up a smirk. “Well, you would know since you’ve seen me have one.”
His lips curved. “True. But it was from a distance. And I wasn’t inside you at the time. Not at all the same thing.”