“Forget it,” he says with resignation. “She doesn’t need me sharing her business with the world.”
He turns and walks away, and it’s weird, he didn’t give me what I want, but I’m glad about it – I respect him for having her best interests at heart, and not spilling her secrets.
“Joe, Steve and Mark,” I call out to him before I shut the door.
***
I get word later that morning that Joe, Steve and Mark got what was coming to them, and I’d be lying if I said it didn’t put a smile on my face.
Hopefully Zeke doesn’t get thrown off the tour for whatever he did to them; it wouldn’t even be a competition without him.
I’m planning to hit the road soon – I’m driving up the coast with a few of the boys then we’ll get on a plane and fly out to the town I grew up in.
I can’t wait to be home.
I leave my packed bag and my boards in their bags on my bed.
I probably won’t be back on this beach until next year, and I want to take one more stroll along the sand. I like to take a minute to appreciate the lifestyle I’m fortunate enough to be able to live.
I get to do something I love every single day and there are not a lot of people on the planet that can say that about their job.
I know it won’t last forever, but while it does, I plan to just ride that wave, literally and figuratively. I’ll figure the rest out when I’m old and washed up.
Maybe I’ll be one of those tanned old dudes that owns a surf shop down by the beach and teaches people how to surf or something.
I look up as I walk, and I can see a bunch of people in the distance.
I swallow deeply. I know what it is, or more to the point, who it is.
Eden models for the same surf brand that sponsor me.
Most of the ‘baby sisters’ club’ are just here to watch their brothers and catch some rays, but not Eden, she’s here to work too, and as I get closer, fucking working it she is.
Jesus, that girl is too hot for her own good.
She’s all long legs and killer rack.
Her wavy blonde hair is blowing in the wind, and damn, she’s so fucking sexy.
Someone yells something out to her, and she jogs over to a makeshift dressing room to change outfits.
I slow my walk so that I’ll get to watch her longer, because there’s nothing creepy about that.
Nope. Nothing at all.
I swallow deeply as she comes back into view. She’s laughing and adjusting her bikini top. I don’t know how on earth anyone could swim in that thing, let alone surf, because there’s nothing to it.
She lowers her hands from the top to tighten the strings on the sides of the bottoms and hell, I swear I get hard. One flick of my wrist and those would be on the floor beneath her.
I’d have her in my arms and on her back before she could even so much as say my name.
“Jake!” a voice calls from behind me, and I realise just how far my dirty thoughts have taken me.
I’m fucking her in my mind for god’s sake.
I turn around, my expression hopefully not as guilty as I feel, and my hard-on tucked safely away in my shorts with a bit of luck.
“What’s up, man?” I give Max a tip of my chin.
He looks past me to where Eden is back in front of the camera, posing and smiling.
“You’re going to get yourself in trouble with that girl. I swear to god, dude, and I’ll be there with a big fat fucking ‘I told you so’.”
I shrug nonchalantly. “She’s fucking hot.”
“That she is,” he agrees as he pulls his eyes from her, somewhat reluctantly. “But that won’t stop her brother kicking your ass.”
“For looking?” I raise my brow at him and smirk.
He chuckles. “Bro, we both know you’re not going to stop at looking.”
I don’t answer, not because he’s wrong or right, but because we’re within earshot of Eden now, and she’ll hate me even more than she already does if she catches me talking about getting into her pants.
She sees us passing by and gives me a small wave and a shy smile. I reply with much of the same, and Max chuckles loudly and smacks my arm.
“You are so fucked.”
I scowl at him. “What?”
“You just waved like a ten-year-old girl. You’re fucked, bro, just admit it.”
I shove him, causing him to stumble a few steps away, still laughing wildly at me.
“She’s just some chick that looks good in a bikini,” I tell him, and for a minute there, I almost believe it myself.
CHAPTER SIX
Eden
We’ve only been here two days, and if I thought I was sick of hearing the name Jake Carson before we arrived, I was greatly mistaken.
This is his hometown and the crowds love him here.
They’ve only surfed through one round of heats, but the amount of people that crowded around him when he got back to the beach was insane, you’d think they had just handed him the world title right there and then.
“I’m going to crush that bastard today,” Zeke growls from his spot in the sand next to me.
His heat is up next – he drew a good card. He’s up against a bunch of easy beats and Alexi – they should both make it through to the next round without too much trouble.
“If you don’t, I will,” Alexi replies.
I glance back up at Jake. He’s getting his photo taken with a bunch of bikini-clad teenage girls.
I try to resist the urge to roll my eyes but fail miserably. He’s such a playboy.
I guess that’s what happens when you’re hot beyond reason and have the skills to match – women flock to you.
“Why do you and Jake hate each other so much?” I surprise myself by asking Zeke.
I never knew what started this rivalry between the two of them – I assume it began during the years I stayed back home and finished high school, and I’ve been curious for a while.
I wait until Jake’s finished being fawned all over and has turned around to walk back up the beach before looking back to my brother.
“I don’t hate him.” He shrugs.
“Could have fooled me.”
“He’s my competition.” He shrugs.
“So is Alexi, and you don’t want to kill him the same way you want to kill Jake.”
“Alexi doesn’t want to fuck my baby sister,” he mutters under his breath.
“Excuse me?” I demand, popping my brow sky high.
“He wants in your pants. Everybody knows it. He’s looked at you like a fucking snack… ever since you came back on tour.”
“And grew the boobs,” Alexi chimes in helpfully.
Zeke shoots him a look that gives the distinct impression that he’ll knock his head off if he ever says anything like that again.
“What? It’s true,” Alexi mutters under his breath.
“They are nice boobs.” River sighs wistfully. “Wish I had a pair.”
“Like fucking hell,” Alexi grumbles.
“Can we just back up the truck for a second here,” I interrupt them, “you’re telling me that you and Jake Carson act like a couple of two-year-olds because you think he wants to have his way with me?”
“I don’t think, I know.”
“You’re unbelievable.” I shake my head in disbelief.
A guy like Jake would have his eye on one hundred different girls at any one time, even if he did like what he saw when he looked at me – which I doubt he does – that’s no reason to get into this ridiculous feud.
“It doesn’t hurt that he’s my biggest competition.” Zeke shrugs.
“What am I? Chopped liver?” Alexi scowls.
We both ignore him.
“How about from now on, you just worry a little more about the surfing and a little less about what’s going on in my pants, alright?” I say as I get to my feet.
“Not a problem, since there’s nothing happening in there anyway.”
I bru
sh the sand off my ass as I turn to face my big brother, my hands on my hips.
“I’m nearly twenty years old; it might be time you stopped treating me like a little girl.”
“Yeah,” River agrees, getting to her feet and taking the same stance in front of her own brother. “What she said.”
Alexi chuckles. “Yeah, except you’re only eighteen. Come back and try again in another two years.”
She scowls at him.
I feel bad for River sometimes, but it’s hard to have too much sympathy for her when her parents let her follow her brother around on the circuit, all expenses paid, with the only condition being that he looks after her and she does what he says.
She has a life most people her age couldn’t even dream of. She does her study with a private tutor in the off season and traipses around the globe chasing the sun for the rest of the year.
She could earn her own money like I do – she’s been approached so many times to model for various surf brands, but her parents don’t approve – in fact they’ve even gone as far as paying her not to pose in front of a camera.
Zeke just looks at me with a smirk. I honestly think he get some sick sense of pleasure from trying to run my life sometimes.
I turn on my heel, River right behind me, and go to find somewhere else to sit where I won’t be under a microscope.
It’s just the two of us girls now. Sierra and Jay have gone back home, so we’re significantly outnumbered, not that I mind. I’m usually better with boys than I am with girls – River and my couple of other close friends being the exception.
I find a spot on the beach where we’ll still get a killer view of the line up and sit down.
There’s another surf heat still going, and I watch with interest as two of the guys paddle for position on the wave.
“Do you ever miss it?”
“Huh?” I question River as my eyes stay on the surfer in the blue top – the one who won the race to the wave.
“Surfing… the water… do you ever miss it?”
I shake my head.
“Nope. Never,” I lie.
***
“Eden, incoming,” River hisses at me.
I twist around to see who she’s talking about.
I don’t know why, but I’m excited at the prospect of it being Jake, so when my eyes land on Lukah, I’m disappointed.
“Hey, girls,” he says as he sits himself down in the sand next to River.
I see her cheeks heat and I make a mental note to find out how long she’s been crushing on the baby of the tour.
“Hey, Lukah, bad luck with your heat.” I shoot him a smile.
He got knocked out earlier in the day after failing to score a high enough ride to progress to the next round.
He grins. “I got to surf with some of the best out there today. I’m not even disappointed.”
That’s one thing I like about Lukah. He’s not hungry for the win like so many of the guys are – he doesn’t care about rank – he just wants to surf and improve. He’s getting better on every stop.
“What are you girls doing tonight?” He asks the question as though it’s directed at both of us, yet his eyes keep finding their way back to River constantly.
“I dunno.” I nudge River’s knee. “What are we doing tonight?”
She blushes deeper as his gaze switches to her face. “A few of us were talking about going into town to play pool.”
“Can I come?” he asks quickly, and she nods eagerly in response.
I’m so close to squeaking in excitement that she’s finally speaking to a guy she clearly likes, when the air shifts around me.
The glaring sun is being blocked, and I’m engulfed in shade.
I turn and glare up at whoever is blocking my vitamin D.
I come face to face with a crotch. A whole different type of D.
My eyes travel further up, and I swallow deeply.
It’s Jake. Because of course it is.
“Eden.” He says my name and I feel it deep inside my body.
“What can I do for you, Jake?” I ask, my tone giving a clear message that I don’t really give a shit, regardless of what it is he wants.
“Walk with me,” he instructs as he holds out his hand for me to take.
“Mmmm… no.” I shake my head at him.
“We need to talk.”
“We really don’t. Now if you don’t mind, you’re costing me valuable tanning time.”
He mutters something incomprehensible.
“Sorry, you’ll have to speak up, I don’t speak Neanderthal.”
He crouches down in front of me, so our faces are only a few inches apart. “I’ll tell you what, precious, we’re going to talk, and we can do that here, in front of all these people, or we can do it somewhere more private. Your call, brat.”
I scrunch my nose up in frustration. He’s got me backed into a corner and he knows it.
I’m smart enough to know that a man like Jake means it when he makes a threat like that. He won’t hesitate to humiliate me.
“Fine.” I scowl.
He smirks at me, and I hate how sexy it is.
He pushes back up to his feet.
I hold my hand out for him to take.
That was my first mistake of this leg of the tour.
His hand is so big and warm – it engulfs mine entirely.
He pulls me up with ease, dragging me far closer to him than was in any way necessary.
My boobs brush against his hard chest and he chuckles when I gasp.
He still hasn’t let go of my hand.
“C’mon,” he commands as he drags me off up the beach.
I shoot River a ‘fucking help me’ look and the bitch just laughs at me, so I go ahead and make my next mistake – I go with him.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Jake
“I’ll have a hot dog and a coke,” I tell the chick in the food van. “What do you want?” I raise a brow at a sullen Eden.
She looks at me in surprise. “Nothing. I’m good.”
I look her up and down purposefully, even though it pains me to do it without getting a hard-on.
“You need to eat.”
She flips me the bird. “I’m just fine, thank you.”
“Make it two of each.” I turn back to the window and tell the chick serving me, “She doesn’t know what’s good for her.”
“You’re in the middle of a competition, don’t you think you should be eating a little better?” Eden snaps at me after I’ve paid and collected our food.
“What’s wrong with a hot dog?”
She sets her hands on her hips. “It’s processed shit.”
I take a bite from the top of one. “It’s delicious shit. I always eat like this on competition days. Call it a ritual.”
I don’t miss the way her eyes rake across my bare abdomen. “That’s not fair.” She pouts. “If I ate like that, I’d have an ass the size of a beach ball.”
She’s insane. She’s a rake. Except for that rack she’s sporting.
I shove the hot dog in her direction. “Just eat it, Eden.”
She takes it from me, grimacing as she does. “Don’t even bother giving me that can of tar – I’m not drinking it.”
I chuckle.
I spot a shady area under a tree and start to head for it.
I hold back a chuckle as I watch her nibble on the batter of the hot dog as though it’s totally foreign to her.
“Don’t tell me you’re one of those health freaks.”
“You mean one of those people who eat actual food, and not this garbage?” She raises her hand. “Guilty.”
I chuckle. She really is such a precious little princess.
“Sit,” I instruct as I drop to the grass under the shade of the tree.
“Do I look like a dog to you?” she demands as she stands there in front of me in another one of those fucking bikinis, looking the epitome of sexy.
“Sit, stand, I don’t care,” I say as I
crack open my can of coke.
She grumbles to herself before giving in and sitting next to me. “What did you drag me all the way up here for anyway? Better not have been for the terrible cuisine.”
I chuckle. She’s such a brat.
“Nope,” I say as I point to the hot dog in her hand. “Are you going to eat that?”
She shoves it at me. “Not even if I was starving.”
I take it and bite the top from it as she watches on in disgust.
“Are you going to give me an answer? I’ve got better things to do than sit here watching you fill your body with crap.”
“I want an explanation for the other night.”
I see her tense beside me. “I told you, I’d had too much to drink.”
“Bullshit,” I drawl as I take the last bite of hot dog.
She watches me chew.
“You never have too much to drink.”
Her cheeks flush pale pink. “How would you know what I do?”
“I’ve spent a long time pretending not to notice a single thing that you do.”
She blushes bright scarlet.
“Plus, you’re not some stupid beach ho, Eden, you’re smarter than that.”
She narrows her eyes at me.
“Plus, big bro wouldn’t let you live it down if you did.”
She rolls her eyes, and fuck it’s childish, but I have to agree with the gesture.
Zeke needs to lay the hell off.
“Why’s he always riding your ass?” I ask, trying a different approach.
“Riding my ass,” she repeats. “There’s a visual I didn’t need of my brother. Thanks for that.”
I chuckle. “You know what I meant.”
“He’s just… protective,” she says as she adjusts her bikini top, and I must have the self control of a Jedi master, because my eyes stay up, on her face – for the most part at least. “We had a rough few years a while back and he’s just taken over the role of my protector, I guess.”
I never see her parents around. My mum doesn’t make it out often either, but now that I think about it, I can’t recall ever seeing Zeke or Eden with anybody that isn’t each other.
Mr. May: A Forbidden Love Romance (Calendar Boys Book 5) Page 4