Riding the Waves. Tawny Weber

her bare shoulder blades. Her refusal to play confused him. He’d learned his lesson young and well. Everyone, men and women, played. Hers must be a new game. One he hadn’t been dealt yet. He’d figure out the rules fast enough, he was sure. “Wipeout?”

      Alex quit his contemplation of Drucilla’s hips as she turned the corner back to her bungalow to glance at his friend. Juan was dressed in waiter’s whites, obviously filling in to help out his parents, who owned the hotel.

      “I’m still paddling,” Alex quipped with a shrug. He pushed away from the table and helped Juan gather the plates and debris. “You up for hitting some waves this afternoon?”

      Juan smirked at the change of subject, but he knew Alex well enough to know his friend didn’t brag about women. Not while pursuing them, not while doing them, not after kissing them goodbye when it was over. Alex’s momma had a saying—wherever he put his privates was meant to stay private.

      And Alex always listened to his momma.

      “We’re short staffed,” Juan said with a morose sigh as he glanced at the surfers already riding the waves.

      Alex made a sympathetic sound. There was a perfect example of why he played his life so carefully. Nothing shackled a guy faster than commitments. Not that Alex blew off his responsibilities or shirked favors. He’d been raised knowing his obligations. Three generations of excellence preceded him, and he knew better than to disappoint his family.

      Which was fine. He loved what he did. That was why his career was the only thing he allowed himself to commit to. And he’d arranged his life so that commitment still let him live exactly the way he wanted.

      “You up for teaching some surfer wannabes this afternoon?” Juan asked as he wiped the table clean, then moved his tray to the next one. “You’re covering for Manuel, right?”

      “From siesta to eight,” Alex confirmed. Juan’s cousin Manuel ran the Surf Shack and had gone to Cozumel for the week to celebrate his abuela’s hundredth birthday. He had a couple kids to take care of the shack, but nobody to give lessons while he was away. Since teaching was right up Alex’s alley, he’d offered to help out. On a limited basis.

      “And will you be offering private lessons to the pretty blonde?” Juan teased, as always trying to break through Alex’s typical reticence when it came to women.

      “Maybe,” Alex murmured. He caught a glimpse of electric blue and saw Drucilla making her way down the beach. A large beach bag partially concealed her vivid dress, and a huge, floppy hat covered her glorious hair.

      “I chatted with her when I was taking her order,” Juan continued, not noticing Alex’s attention shift. “She’s a smart lady. You’ll be able to talk to her about anything. Unlike that surf Betty you were with last time you were here. I think her IQ was smaller than her bra size.”

      Juan had a bias. He called any woman who competed with him on the waves a surf Betty. Alex frowned, trying to remember his last visit, eight months ago. Then it hit him. Pretty brunette, good surfer, total beach bunny.

      He grimaced. Yeah, she hadn’t been the brightest. But she’d been amazing on a surfboard. On and off the waves, he remembered with an amused smile. But still, a guy liked to be able to actually converse with the woman he was with once in a while.

      Few people on Los Cabos knew what Alex did in the ten months out of the year that he wasn’t here surfing. Not that he was ashamed of his career. He was a damn good scientist. He’d excelled early and often, graduating college at the age most people started. A prodigy, he’d learned young to set a goal, work his ass off and make every move count. Hell, he’d earned every accolade right on down the list, all the way to his Wolf Award. As had been expected.

      But that was work. And this wasn’t.

      “I’m on vacation,” Alex excused. Besides, he never talked about his other life when he was here. He came to Los Cabos to rejuvenate. To maintain balance and stay connected to what mattered.

      “She asked about you. Wanted to know what you did around here,” Juan said slyly.

      Alex’s gaze flew to his friend’s face. He took in the grin, white against dark skin, and the humor dancing in Juan’s brown eyes.

      “What’d you tell her?”

      “That she should talk to you personally.”

      Alex grinned.

      “She said she’d rather not.”

      His smile fell away. Then he snickered at his own ego. Hey, a woman like Dru, one who took a little extra effort to catch, was always worth the time and energy.

      “Do me a favor,” he said. “If she asks again, continue keeping it on the down low.”

      “So you’re gonna lie to her?”

      Truly shocked at the suggestion, Alex glared at his friend. “Of course not. I’m simply doing what I always do. Living in the moment. And in this moment, I’m teaching surfing and she’s on vacation.”

      Juan smirked as he lifted his tray to his shoulder. Then he nodded toward the path Dru had taken. “You always say you’re living in the moment, amigo. Someday you’re going to meet a woman who makes you dream of tomorrow.”

      Alex just chuckled and slapped Juan on the shoulder as he passed by. No point in disillusioning the guy, after all. For all Alex’s Zen approach to life, he was a realist. While he loved the concept of romance as much as the next guy and adored women in all their glory, he knew better than to think that forever and commitment were part of his vocabulary.

      But a few days, the surf and the sunset?

      He watched Drucilla spread her towel on the oversize beach chair cushion, then straighten. Her back was to him, but he could tell she’d crossed her arms over her belly. With a quick tug she pulled the electric-blue dress off, shaking her head to free her hair again. He watched the silvery-blond braid slide along her back and imagined his fingers combing through that silken length. His mouth pressing warm, soft kisses to those toned shoulders.

      His gaze traced her back, bare now except for the strap of her purple bikini. Mouth dry, he took in the slender curve of her waist, the gentle swell of her hips. And those legs. His heart raced as if he was cresting a wave. What would those legs feel like wrapped around his hips? Those long legs anchoring him tightly as he drove into the wonder of her body?

      Alex’s breath whooshed out in a jagged sigh.

      Yeah. A few days, the surf and the sunset. He’d be sharing all of them with Drucilla and loving every second of it. Better yet, he’d make damn sure she loved it, too.

      3

      SIX HOURS LATER, Dru bit her lip, a giddy sort of terror fluttering down her back like a teasing breeze. She was crazy to be doing this. A million rational arguments competed for center stage in her mind, all telling her that she should turn heel in the sand and head right back up the dune to her bungalow.

      The practical scientist in her gave a patient sigh. It wasn’t as if this was going to be dangerous. It was a controlled environment with a set time limit. She was entering into the experiment with a solid, well-thought-out hypothesis.

      The horny woman in her gave a disdainful eye roll. Enough with the bullshit excuses already. She was solidly in lust with Alex, and he was exactly what Nikki had suggested. A fling. The answer to all her sexual frustrations. The kind of guy who could go all night, making her gasp and writhe and scream.

      She really, really wanted to gasp and writhe and scream.

      After all, this was vacation. Wild sexual romps were practically required, right? It didn’t matter that she didn’t know much about him. Or that they wouldn’t have anything to talk about. Nerdy her and a hunky surfer? No common ground at all. She was pretty sure she had other uses for his mouth, though. And she’d be back at work, with plenty of people to talk to soon enough.

      She