Adrian

I had to admit, the prospect of swimming with Reese had me excited beyond reason. I couldn’t wait to get her in the water. When I left her last night I’d gone home, retrieved my truck and picked up her board. I knew the shop wouldn’t be open early enough. I arrived at her cottage at 5:30 the next morning, as I promised.

The sun was just beginning to peak over the mountain tops, glimmering against the blue water. The beast was having a field day inside me, begging to show his ugly face. Hopefully, he didn’t try to take over once I got in the water. I probably should have gone in first and done my morning shift before picking Reese up.

When we parked by the beach, I opened the door of the truck on her side and helped her out. It was a long step down and I didn’t want to leave her to jump. I grabbed her board out of the back, propping it up against the side of the truck, then grabbed my own.

“I haven’t been surfing for a while. I hope I haven’t forgotten how.” Reese shrugged out of the sundress she was wearing and put it inside the cab on the seat. Then she came back to meet me at the back of the truck. I almost swallowed my tongue. Wow! She made that lime green bikini look as edible as a key lime pie. The dragon twitched as we headed to the water, boards under our arms.

“Kauai has some great surfing beaches, particularly North Beach, but I think those swells might be a bit overwhelming this time of year. Especially since you said you haven’t been on a board for a few years. The waves here at Anahola Beach are a favorite of the locals and have a nice mix of waves that are suitable for just about every level.” It was mid-week, so at 5:45 in the morning there were a few locals already here, but not half as many as there would be come the weekend.

“From the looks of them, I’m sure I’ll have some good rides.” She pulled her hair back into a ponytail, twisting it around itself and securing it with an elastic band.

Now that her neck was free from her hair, I wanted to run my tongue over it and under her ear. Maybe later. I grinned at the thought as I yanked my T-shirt over my head. Her gaze immediately traveled to my tattoo of the dragon.

“Nice ink,” she said.

I had to admit, it was rather detailed. I wish I could take credit for its design. I stood still, waiting for her to comment further, but then her gaze skimmed down the length of me. A frisson of excitement coursed through me as she gave me an approving smile. I was wearing my baggies that hung rather low at my waist and came down to my knees. These particular ones were light blue and were my favorite pair. The worn, soft material was comfy against my skin. I had many, but I always grabbed these first. Her cheeks flushed when she realized I was staring at her while she was busy ogling my body and she quickly turned and grabbed her board.

“Come on, let’s go.”

We paddled out past the peaks. The minute my skin touched the water, my dragon twitched and twisted inside me, wanting to get out. I had to concentrate on not changing into the dolphin and swimming out to sea where the beast could be released. There’s no way Reese was ready for my dolphin, let alone the ugly face of a ferocious dragon.

Just as I got on my board and sat to wait for a wave, I turned to see Reese already catching her first ride. I watched as she cut back into the wave and marveled at the way she dipped nice and low, using her right hand as a pivot point. She wasn’t a good surfer. She was a fantastic surfer.

We each rode a few waves, and when I came to the ending of my last one, I picked up my board and looked up to see Reese standing in the shallow foam watching me. Seeing her standing there, dripping wet in that bikini, I wanted to wrap my arms around her, maybe run my tongue over her gorgeous neck and ...

“How about we try one together?” I suggested, shoving those delectable thoughts aside, and gave her my best encouraging smile.

“You mean on the same board?”

“Yeah.” I nodded with my eyes wide and my eyebrows high.

She shrugged. “I’ve never done that before, but sure. Why not?”

Why not, indeed. “Let’s use my board since it’s larger.”

She took her board up the beach a bit and stuck it nose down so it would stand up in the sand and came to join me. She got on my board, on her tummy, and I hopped on behind her. My face was close to her rear end. Definitely liked the view. We paddled together and came to another swell and headed nose down into it before it broke.

We sat waiting for the next great wave.

“The water is so nice this morning. This is like a dream come true for me,” she said while running her fingers through the water. “It’s so warm too. Nothing like the water where I’m from.”

I turned to see a nice swell starting to develop. “Ready?”

“Yes.”

She got down on her stomach and I followed suit and we paddled. “Okay, stand,” I said and placed my hands on her waist, giving her an extra boost as we both stood. Not that I needed to, I just couldn’t resist touching her, which had been my ulterior motive for riding a wave together on one board. We rode the wave for some distance, and I howled as I grabbed onto her waist again and pulled her with me into the water.

“That was so much fun!” she said when we both surfaced.

“It was.” Her face was dripping, her hair hung wet but stayed in the messy bun. She was gorgeous. We dangled together in the water, our arms hanging onto the board. Our faces were only inches apart. My gaze traveled to her wet lips. But just as I moved a centimeter closer, she said, “Will you show me how you do that fancy turn around you do?”

I sucked in my lips. I didn’t want to surf solo, but I nodded. “Sure.”

She ran to get her board, and we surfed for another hour while she perfected her cuts and turns, and I was just about to say we should probably head out and get ready for work when she took off again to ride another. But what she didn’t see was the larger freak wave that snuck up behind her too soon from the one she was on. I yelled for her to watch out as it was breaking on top of the other one, on top of her. She turned toward me and straightened too early. The larger wave crashed down on her and she was swallowed up by the turmoil.

I immediately began paddling and caught the next wave, riding on the board to where I saw her go down and bailed when I reached the spot. Her body was being twisted and tossed in the water like she was a rag doll. The board’s stretchy leash that was connected to her ankle had come undone, and I dove under and caught her around the waist, pulling her up and out of the water and laid her on my board. She gasped for air and coughed.

“Are you all right?”

She coughed some more. “I think so.”

“Let’s go in. I think we’ve had enough for today.” I hopped on the board behind her like I did when we shared my board. Another wave hit us as we headed toward the beach. We caught a small wave and she stayed on her stomach while I slowly rode us back to shore where her board sat at the water’s edge with foamy waves lapping over it.

Reese sat on the wet sand with her knees up and arms wrapped around them. She’d taken a beating out there on that fall. I pulled her board up and set it next to mine in the sand then I joined her at the water’s edge. Wet sand stuck to her calves and thighs and her hair was a tangled and sandy mess.

“You sure you’re okay?” I took a liberty and brushed some sand from her cheek.

She coughed and nodded, then swiped her hand over her mouth and stared at the breaking waves. “I guess I shouldn’t have been so reckless.”

“Nah. It was a freak wave. There wasn’t much you could do about it once you took off. I’m just glad I was there to help.”

“Me too.” She rubbed her shoulder.

“Did you re-injure yourself?”

“No. It’s okay. Just a little sore still. I don’t think all the paddling and then the jostling around in the wave helped it much, but I’m sure I’ll be fine.” She glanced at me, her green eyes reddened by the salt water. She’d no doubt opened them to see where she was under water when she was being tossed around.

I pushed a wet strand of hair away from her mouth and secured it behind her ear. My gaze traveled to her lips. They were plump and inviting and I’ve been dreaming about them since yesterday. When our gazes met, I couldn’t stop the urge as I closed the gap between us, and pressed my lips against hers and cupped her face in my hands. The wetness on our faces heightened the sensation like a jolt of electricity zapping from her lips to mine.

I wrapped my arm around her waist, her bare skin scorching me with sensual heat and my hand pressed to the small of her back to hold her steady while I leaned forward, laying her back against the wet sand. My tongue skimmed over her lips and her mouth opened for me as she moaned into the kiss. There would never be a better moment than that one right there, I was certain of it. But a short few seconds later, her hands were on my shoulders, shoving me back. I reluctantly ended the kiss and stared at her.

“Something wrong?”  

“I’m sorry, but I don’t think this is a good idea.” She pushed a bit harder at me, so I sat up, pulling her with me.

I didn’t like where this was heading, or ending. “Oh. I was quite enjoying myself. Weren’t you?”

She crisscrossed her legs and wrung her hands together as though she was nervous. “Adrian. I like you. I think you’re a really great guy and probably a terrific boss. So far, though, I haven’t really had the chance to find out about the last part. But because of that last part, I’ve always had a strict ‘no fraternizing with people I work with’ policy.”

I laughed, despite being taken aback. “If I remember correctly from your resume, this is your first job. So exactly when did you adopt this rule?”

She sighed. “It doesn’t matter. I think it would be best if we just kept this a professional, working relationship for now.”

I had hoped she’d feel differently, but maybe this was her way of saying she wasn’t interested in me. I really hadn’t planned on kissing her. And maybe I shouldn’t have brought her to the beach to surf, because as much as I’ve been telling myself it was all business last night, I knew that if the opportunity arose, I would kiss her. But maybe she had been into Victor last night. From the way she’d looked at him, maybe that’s who she had eyes for. That thought made something burn inside me, something toxic and vicious, causing the dragon to fidget brusquely.

“I don’t normally do stuff like this, Reese. I mean, I don’t hit on every woman who works for me. In fact, I’ve never done it before. And I don’t want you to think that’s what I was doing. I wasn’t just hitting on you. I mean, I was, but not just to hit on you. Not that way. I like you and I thought you liked me. I thought we had something in common, but if you want to keep it professional, then okay. I can do that.”

I’d try at least. But now that I’ve tasted those lips, I knew I’d never be able to stop thinking about her. I’d back off for now and keep it professional for as long as I could, providing I could control the ugly green shit boiling up inside me.