The Perfect Wave

by A. J. Pryor

  My mother had been unsuccessfully trying to marry my sisters off for years—all except Savannah. Momma had a certain type of boy in mind for her daughters: wealthy, arrogant, and Southern. All the possible suitors she paraded in and out of the house fit that bill. A man like Roan, who spent most of his time on a surfboard, would be banned in my mother’s household. She would die if she knew the thoughts that I had in my mind about that boy.

  Watching him walk back to retrieve his items, I thought it was a good thing I would not have to worry about Roan and my mother. He would never think of me as more than a friend and I should probably be grateful for that. I was tough, but Mother was tougher; she would tear him to shreds.

  was getting ready to meet the gang in the Hollywood hills. A client of Mason’s—probably one of his fellow tech nerds—was having a party to congratulate him on his new company. As I zipped up my jacket, I wondered, When did Mason and I go from the two of us prowling the town for chicks to having a gang? Not that I was complaining. Usually meeting up with them meant meeting up with Jessica too.

  I could not get that girl out of my head. It had been a few weeks since our first surf lesson. I still remembered how her bare skin felt as I positioned her on the board, and the way her eyes locked onto mine—wanting so much more than what I was offering. In a perfect world, I would have given her everything she desired, kissed her and brought her home—straight to my bed—proving I wasn’t the boy she labeled me. But my world was anything but perfect.

  Unfortunately, due to my schedule, I hadn’t held true to my promise of another lesson, but I had worked on being her friend. We talked or texted almost daily and even met for dinner a few times; while I found it near impossible to keep my hands to myself, I only flirted. And hey, everyone knew I was a flirt, so what was the harm in that?

  As I was walking into the garage, my phone dinged. A text from Goldilocks.

  “Are you going to the tech party tonight?”

  I smiled to myself and texted her back. “How do you know it’s a tech party?”

  “It’s Mason’s client. You’d think they could have these events on a weeknight, not a Saturday.”

  “What would you rather be doing tonight?”

  “Dancing, of course! Wouldn’t everyone rather go dancing on a Saturday night?”

  “I didn’t know you danced, Locks. Will you show me your moves one night?”

  “Let’s ditch this crowd and go now!”

  “We can’t bail on our friends, but I’ll take you dancing another time.”

  “Deal.”

  What was I doing? If it took all of my self-discipline to keep my hands to myself in a crowded restaurant, what the hell was I going to do on a dance floor?

  Shoving that thought to the back of my mind, I entered my garage.

  I ran a hand over the hood of my 1976 Land Cruiser, my pride and joy, as I passed by it and headed over to the Audi RS 5, my other love. I had found the Land Cruiser in the classified section of the newspaper over three years ago. It was a hunk of junk at the time. I’d brought it to a vintage restoration auto shop; one year and a pretty penny later, I had a completely refurbished vintage car that held all my surfboards, carrying me over hills to remote surfing destinations, as well as ski slopes around California. It was army green, made out of metal, guzzled gas like no other, and I loved it. Since it wasn’t a realistic car for everyday use, I bought the Audi to take me to work and social functions such as tonight. I really couldn’t complain. The Audi was a pretty awesome vehicle in itself. It was a dark gray, two-door, sleek and a sexy as shit ride that chicks seemed to dig. My career had seen a recent boost from young kids who had recently made it into the competitive circuit and wanted to sign with me. Most of them had proven to be some of the top skaters or surfers in the world, and their success meant mine as well, allowing me to have the luxury of two amazing vehicles.

  As I drove to the party, my mind wondered back to Jessica and a dance floor. That was definitely something I was going to have to see sometime soon.

  The house was high in the hills, with a driveway that went on forever. Turning off Sublime’s “Santeria” blaring through my speakers, I drove right up to the front door, gave the valet my keys, and walked in. It was swanky for sure, with waiters passing finger foods and high-end liquor. I scanned the room for any familiar faces and spotted Jessica. This chick made my heart race faster than humanly possible. Merely looking at her made my palms sweat and my pants uncomfortable. If she were any other girl, I would have banged her already and gotten her out of my system. That wasn’t going to happen; Jessica was not a girl I could mess with. She was the perfect mixture of tough and sweet. I knew she thought she could handle whatever I threw her way, but I was sure she’d never messed with a guy like me before. Being a player through and through, with a reputation that followed me everywhere would taint her. I didn’t want to be responsible for whatever heartache she would endure because of me. However, at this point, I couldn’t stay away from her either. What I needed was a distraction, something to keep me in my place.

  Who the fuck is that?

  She was talking to some guy I had never seen before. He was taller than I was and had dark hair and blue eyes. I didn’t like the way he was looking at her. I was sure she was spouting her southern accent. It always made an appearance when she was nervous.

  I began to move in her direction, hoping to stake some sort of claim. My focus was solely on her, so I didn’t notice Mason until he was in my face, handing me a beer. His normally messy, dark-brown hair was styled, and his hazel eyes had an extra glow to them.

  “Casey do your hair tonight?” I asked, trying not to laugh.

  “It’s that obvious?”

  All I could do was nod. Casey had a special gift when it came to styling people up right, and she’d worked her magic on Mason.

  “Thanks for coming, brother. I know these parties aren’t top on your list.”

  My path to Jessica broken, I took the beer from him and smiled. “Couldn’t miss a party in your honor. Where’s Casey?”

  “Talking to some woman about a wardrobe makeover. She gets more clients at my events than the Hollywood parties she makes me go to.”

  “Good for her. You never liked the celebrity crowd anyway. Hey, I’m gonna go say hi to Jess. I’ll come talk to you later.”

  He narrowed his eyes at me.

  “Don’t worry, Mason. Jess and I are good now. We came to an understanding.”

  “Keep that understanding in your pants, Roan. I don’t want Casey upset before the wedding.”

  “I hear you,” I said as I walked away feeling irritated.

  I scanned Jessica’s body from behind as I approached her. She was stunning, with legs that went on forever and a natural beauty that stilled my breath.

  She was wearing a slinky off-the-shoulder dress that hugged her hips, causing my heart to beat faster. All I wanted to do was reach out and touch her.

  “Hey, Goldilocks, fancy seeing you here,” I whispered in her ear from behind. Wanting to kiss the back of her neck and lick my way from her earlobe to her collarbone, I quickly pulled my head away before my actions mimicked my thoughts. Instead, I picked her up and twirled her around.

  “Roan! Put me down!” she squealed. The blush that erupted on her face made my heart race even more. Jessica turned in my arms and hugged me tight, then looked behind me. “No girl tonight?”

  I instantly backed away and feigned a hurt look. “What? You think I can’t go out without a chick?”

  Her eyebrow rose at me. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you without a girl on your arm.” She put a finger to her chin, trying to look deep in thought. “Make that a different girl each time I’ve seen you. What do you do with all those women when you’re done with them, anyway? Tell them it was fun while it lasted?”

  “Oh, Goldilocks, you hurt me. I’m not that callous. They know exactly what they’re getting when they go out with me.” I took a sip of my beer. Was that seriously w
hat she thought of me? Guess I’d never really given her a reason to think any differently.

  “So, what are y’all talking about?” I said, trying to mimic her accent and get the conversation off me.

  Jessica smacked me on the arm. “You’ll never get it right, Surfer Boy, so stop tryin’ or I’ll start saying how ‘epic’ this party is.” She rolled her eyes dramatically, which had me smiling at her - a big, stupid, goofy smile – as Jess continued, “Oh, and look over there, ‘dude.’ See that hot chick with the ‘fine’ ass?”

  I looked; indeed, it was an attractive brunette with a nice ass talking to a group of other women.

  Jessica hit me on the arm. “I was kidding, Roan.”

  “What? You made me look.”

  She rolled her eyes and turned to the douche she’d been talking to when I showed up. “Roan, this is Jaxon Price. He works with Mason.”

  This guy had dimples, an asset women seemed to love. Lucky him. I shook his hand, trying to appear as disinterested as possible. “Nice to meet you. Any friend of Mason’s is a friend of mine.” Keep the enemy close—at least that was what I’d heard.

  “Jaxon designed Casey’s new website, and it’s amazing,” Jessica went on. “Casey tried for months to get a site that’s comparable to other top stylists’ and couldn’t get it right. Jaxon nailed it on the first shot!” She sounded a little too enthusiastic for my liking.

  “Cool,” I said, trying not to care.

  Casey walked up to us, relieving me from having to say another word to Jaxon.

  “Hey, Romeo; you just going to ignore me all night?” Her smile was huge, and her big, green eyes stared into mine.

  “I was saving the best for last, Case.” I bear-hugged her and kissed her cheek.

  She pulled back. “Nice line. Thanks for coming. It means a lot to Mason that his friends are here to support him.”

  Mason had a rough go getting this company off the ground. He had needed the government’s approval to move forward with his new software design—some kind of DNA-matching program to help find missing kids. It was a subject dear to his heart since the younger of his two sisters disappeared at the age of three, when Mason was only eight-years-old. I would never skip out on an event like this in honor of my best friend.

  Jessica was standing too close for me not to touch her. I reached out and gently wrapped my hand around her arm, feeling her soft skin beneath my fingers. I craved the electric jolt it gave me each time I touched her, and the warm flush that sprang up on her skin made my heart skip a beat. I was becoming addicted to the way she made me feel.

  “What’s going on, Locks? How is your cookbook coming along?”

  Her eyes looked directly into mine. She was never afraid to hold my stare—one of the many things that drew me to her. “I finished it! I’m going to try to publish it.”

  “That’s great!”

  “You wrote a cookbook?” Jaxon asked. She turned away from me and smiled in his direction. I heard her accent before she even spoke—which meant this guy charmed her.

  “I did. I have over fifty recipes and photos to go with each one.”

  Simply watching the excitement in her eyes when she talked about her cookbook made me want to go out and publish it myself.

  “My dad owns a small publishing company in San Francisco,” Jaxon went on. “I can have him take a look at it if you want.”

  Whoa, now this guy was really pissing me off—mostly because he was offering her something I never could. I wanted to pull her away, ask her out, or kiss her senseless to remind her that she was attracted to me, not him. Then my conscience got the better of me. She deserved to get her book published and not have some asshole like me ruin it for her.

  Her arm slipped away from my touch as she moved closer to Jaxon. “Really? That would be fantastic. Thank you . . . thank you so much. I’ll get a copy to you right away.” She leaned in and hugged him.

  I had to restrain myself from pulling her back and slapping the grin right off his face.

  “Anyone need another drink?” Mason. Thank God. His arrival broke up these two and their apparent instaconnection, which was really starting to get on my nerves.

  “I do, but I’ll get it myself,” Jess said.

  “I’ll go with you.” If she was leaving Jaxon’s side, then so was I.

  We walked up to the bar and found it empty.

  “Where’s the bartender?” I asked, looking around.

  “Maybe he went to the bathroom. No big deal. I can make my own drink.” She reached for the Ketel One and a bottle of soda water. “Do you see any limes around here, Roan?”

  After looking all over the bar and in the drawers, I spotted a bag of limes that had been pushed in a corner. I grabbed one and started cutting a wedge, watching Jess from the corner of my eye, her focus intent on her concoction.

  “Damn! I cut myself,” Blood instantly welled to the top of my finger. That’s what I get for being distracted. I grabbed a towel and wrapped it tightly around the wound.

  “Let me see.” I opened the towel to give Jessica a look. “It’s not too deep, but let’s go find a Band-Aid.” It was a slice, not a gash. The bleeding would have eventually stopped on its own, but my body lit up as she held my hand and inspected the cut, so if she wanted to take care of me, I was all for it.

  She wrapped the towel back around my finger and we took off in search of a medicine cabinet.

  We walked into the first bathroom we saw, but it was only a powder room.

  “Locks, we’re gonna have to go upstairs. No Band-Aids in here.” I closed the last of the drawers.

  “Are you sure? Isn’t that kind of rude to go prowling around without permission?”

  I raised an eyebrow at her. “Come on Goldilocks, I know you have a little rebel in you.”

  She smiled and followed behind me. The music and voices from the party were still surrounding us, but all I heard was my heart pounding. We were completely alone, and the electricity that always flowed between us was noticeable . . . at least to me. We went from bathroom to bathroom and searched the cabinets for something to wrap my finger, finally finding it in what was clearly a child’s bathroom.

  “Here you go, Surfer Boy. Hop onto the counter and let me take a look.”

  I did as I was told and unwrapped the towel.

  Jessica turned on the sink and placed my finger under the water. She gently washed it then dried it. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

  I hadn’t realized I was staring at her, not at her hands working on my finger, but at her face, and her eyes, so focused on what she was doing. I also hadn’t paid attention to the grin I was sporting as I watched her work. The second huge grin to cross my face tonight on account of her.

  “Because I think you’re really cool.” It was the first thing that entered my mind, and it was true. She was awesome; she was also beautiful. She smiled and squeezed my wrapped finger a little tighter.

  Without thinking, my other hand moved to her face and cupped her cheek. I ran a thumb under her eye and stared into her dark blue gaze. Tugging her closer towards me, and getting ready to crush her lips to mine. My breath needed to mingle with hers. I needed to know exactly what she tasted like. As I leaned in to find out, the door to the bathroom suddenly flew open.

  “Oh, excuse me. Can I help you?” The owner of the house, I figured, was standing there staring at us.

  Remembering why we were in the bathroom in the first place, I picked up the Band-Aid box and pulled one out. “I cut my finger and we came looking for these.”

  Jess never took her eyes off me. Without acknowledging the woman in the doorway, she grabbed the Band-Aid from my hand and wrapped it around my finger.

  “I actually was coming up for one of those as well.” The woman took a bandage from the box. “See you downstairs in a bit?”

  “Be down in just a sec.” I replied.

  “Guess we should go back,” Jess said with a frown.

  Taking a deep breath, I slid o
ff the counter and grabbed her hand. It was soft and petite and fit comfortably in mine. We walked downstairs and rejoined the festivities. I had to get out of there. My head and my heart were at war with each other, and I couldn’t concentrate with Jessica so close to me.

  Doing the only thing I knew how to do, I dropped Jess off with Mason and Casey and then made my way over to the brunette with the nice ass, started up a conversation, and asked if she wanted to get out of there. She never told me her name and I didn’t ask for it—not as if I was going to need it.

  As we turned to leave, I caught Jessica’s eye. Not wanting to part like this, but knowing what was best for both of us, I walked over and planted a kiss on the top of her head then whispered in her ear, “I’ll call you later, Goldilocks.”

  Without a good-bye to anyone else, the brunette and I walked out the front door. All eyes were on my back, but this was better. Better for her and better for me.

  eel like getting drunk?” Jaxon asked me with a mischievous grin.

  I looked up at him, confused.

  “You know, shit-stinking drunk.” He continued, as we both turned to watch Roan walk out the front door with the brunette. “May take your mind off of . . .” He jutted his chin in the direction of the door as it closed behind Roan and that girl.

  It had taken Roan roughly five minutes to convince a total stranger to go home with him. I had no idea when I pointed her (and her cute ass) out to Roan that I’d invited him to take her to bed.

  “That is not where my mind is at. I am not into Roan.”

  Jaxon’s blank stare told me he was not believin’ a word I’d just said.

  Okay, maybe I was crushing hard on the hot surfer who made my knees weak, but I had no interest in being Roan’s catch of the day. And his actions just confirmed that our relationship would never - ever - cross the platonic line . . . I could not let my mind go there. What a royal ass he was tonight. There was no doubt, he was going to kiss me up in the bathroom. And then what? He’d still leave with some bimbo? Because I would have kissed him back, there was no way I would have denied him.