Free Riding the Wave by Lorelie Brown Page B

hadn’t touched him in any way.
    She rested within his arms, but not a part of him. Not yet. He’d fix that soon enough.
    It was becoming rapidly apparent that getting through the San Sebastian Pro without tasting Avalon was a ridiculous goal. “Yeah, Inez was one of them.” He hadn’t thought of that dark-haired beauty in years. It had been about six weeks after he’d graduated high school, when he’d gone to his first official ASP event.
    Something about Avalon drove every woman out of his head. Her energy, maybe. Her smile sent a liquid rush through him. “I peeked.”
    “Like hell.”
    “I was thirteen. You didn’t close the door all the way. Man, did she have a nice rack.”
    His jaw dropped open. “No, you didn’t.”
    “Did too. I didn’t stick around for long, but . . .” She lifted up on her toes, close enough to whisper in his ear. The sweet scent of her wrapped around him. “I always wondered what it’d be like to kiss you.”
    That was an invitation if he’d ever heard one. He kissed her.
    At first he’d meant to stay soft. A tease. Something to get his mind off the swelling voices downstairs. The party he wouldn’t be able to avoid forever. The weight of the stares might be easier to bear if he had Avalon’s mouth.
    But it got away from him.
She
got away from him.
    Probably when she licked her tongue over his bottom lip, then took it between her teeth. Tugged. The sharp bite went straight to his cock. He filled, hardened, and the flashover want had him walking her backward. His arms wrapped low around her ass, grabbing that curve.
    His fingertips found bare, silky skin at the hem of her skirt as he pushed her back into the wall.
    Sinewy arms wound over his shoulders. Her wrists latched behind his neck, pulling their torsos together as if one. Her soft breasts cushioned his chest.
    The way she kissed went straight to his head. She took and took, as if every motion was worship. Every taste a gift she gave him. He knew without saying a word that she’d ask for exactly what she needed from him. No guessing. No secrets.
    God, that sounded good.
    He hitched her higher against the wall, one arm between her and the cool wallpaper. They could fuck like this and it would be epic. Amazing. But it wasn’t time for that. Not yet.
    Maybe not until he’d put the San Sebastian Pro behind him. He had to keep his head about him. Once in a decade was too much to risk on a woman. But he’d have to make sure that she understood it’d be a temporary thing, nothing long-term.
    Drawing his mouth away from Avalon’s was evenmore difficult than he expected, though. She kissed him back with enthusiasm that went all the way to his cock. The soft protest that dwelled in her throat stroked his ego. He pressed kisses over the line of her jaw, easing her back. She leaned her head against the wall with a sigh and looked at him from under her thick lashes, but said nothing.
    He licked the last taste of her off his mouth. Something sweet, like oranges. “God, I needed that,” he breathed.
    Her wrists tugged at the back of his neck. She laughed quietly. “That. Not me. Way to make a girl feel special.”
    “You know what I meant.” Letting her down proved harder than he’d expected. He liked having a reason to grab her ass. It was a damn good one.
    That ass twitched as she walked across the room. “What I do know is that you’re the last person in the world I should be fooling around with.”
    “Funny, that felt like your tongue in my mouth, all right.” He wasn’t even sure why he was arguing his case. If anything, he ought to walk away and keep his energy for the next couple weeks of surfing.
    But he’d rucked up her shirt somewhere in that kiss. It twisted higher on one side of her waist, revealing a silk-soft stretch of skin that ended to the left of her belly button. He wanted to drop to his knees and lick that skin. See if it tasted half as sweet as her mouth, or if she’d be all ocean salt.
    “Oh,