He tapped his temple. “Like I told you. It’s burned into my head.” He pulled her phone across the table and noted the time. “I’ve got forty-five minutes. But yeah, I hate to eat and run.”
She pushed her chair back. “Don’t be ridiculous. You have a job to do. That has to be your primary focus.”
She walked him to the door and he pulled her against him, burying his face in her vanilla-scented hair. “You make this way too easy on me.”
“You don’t need some woman holding you down. Concentrate on the waves.”
He inhaled, sighed, then tipped her chin back to take a taste of her. Sweet, sensual, he could get lost in her. He could lose the whole day in her. But she was right. It was time to get in the water. “I had fun.”
She smiled. “Me, too. I’ll be on the beach cheering for you.”
“Thanks.”
After she shut the door, he made his way to the elevator, more relaxed than he’d been when he first hit the waves this morning.
Tori was exactly what he needed throughout this competition. A woman who knew what she wanted, who enjoyed sex, and who put no strings on him.
Damn, he was a lucky guy.
He hit the beach, watching the waves as he made the walk to the competition area. Adrenaline started flowing as he spotted the boards in the water. He stopped just as Matt rolled onto a wave and dropped down under it.
Whether it was him or someone else, watching someone shoot a tube never failed to spark him up and make him crave being out there. At thirty-five, he was a veteran rider. He wondered how many more years of competition he’d have before he’d have to yield to some of the younger boarders. He was already starting to feel the effects of years of surfing. You didn’t do what he did without suffering some injuries, and the body started to notice after a while.
He was wavering between thinking about what the next step in his career would be to still feeling that longing to be out in the water every day. It still surged in his blood and gave him a reason to get up in the morning. He couldn’t think of anything he loved more—or what the hell he was going to do when he didn’t have surfing in his life anymore.
But he knew that time was winding down, and he had to be realistic about it. A smart surfer didn’t push his limits forever.
And he’d always been smart about his career.
He saw Ben at the ropes to the competition tents, so he went over.
“Where’ve you been?” Ben asked.
“I had some free time between heats, so I took advantage of it.”
Ben nodded. The one thing he liked about his friend, manager and promoter was that he never asked questions.
“Okay. Time to get set, though. Your gear is stowed in my tent.”
“Great. I’ll get ready.”
Ben clapped a hand on his shoulder. “You prepared for this? You feel good?”
Alex grinned at him. “It’s in the bag. We’re going to win.”
“That’s what I like to hear. I feel good about this one. These are your kind of waves.”
Alex looked out over the water, the surge of excitement so strong he could barely contain the desire to dive headfirst into the water right now. “You’re right. They are.”
Chapter Seven
Victoria hung out on the beach with Ben and the rest of his team all afternoon to watch Alex and the others during the practice rounds. She was learning a lot about surfing competitions. It was fascinating. She’d always thought of surfing as rather laid-back, except of course when she did it. Then it was hard. The learning curve for her had been difficult, but she had chalked it up to being a skill that had not come naturally to her. After all, she was a city girl, not born and bred to the ocean.
She was realizing it was hard for everyone, and it took an awesome amount of skill, strength and practice to perfect. The waves she surfed were miniscule compared to the monsters these professionals rode.
After spending hours watching every one of the competitors, it was obvious how good Alex was. No wonder he was a champion. He caught the top of many of the waves, dropped down underneath them, which made her breath catch, and rode it out until the wave disappeared. There was only one occasion when the wave seemed to swallow him up, and her heart lodged in her throat when that happened. She’d seen that with several of the surfers, and feared for their safety each time, though they all swam out from under it, seemingly good-natured and ready to catch the next wave that came their way.
Ben told her none of the rides they took today counted anyway, and semifinals were tomorrow, which was when official scoring would begin.