Ben had come up behind her, and moved beside her. She followed where he pointed, then nodded as she spotted Alex, who had just popped up on his board to take the next wave.
Her breath caught as he slid down the curve of what she thought was a pretty big breaker. He dropped down, then disappeared under a crashing fall of water. She didn’t exhale until she saw him come out from underneath it.
“Jesus, that’s some scary shit.”
Ben laughed and slipped his arm around her waist. “It’s a thrill ride, that’s for sure.”
She was frozen to the spot, unable to move as she watched the other surfers do the same thing, certain at any moment one of them wouldn’t come out the other side of those monstrous waves. But they all did. Only Ben’s slight pressure on her hip convinced her to give up her spot.
“It’s like a train wreck,” she said as he led her down the beach walk to the street side. “It’s awful, yet I don’t want to look away.”
“It’s not awful. It’s great.”
“No, it’s awful. They’re taking their lives into their hands every time they slide into one of those gigantic waves.”
“Those aren’t even the biggest waves yet.”
She stopped and her eyes widened. “They get bigger?”
He grinned. “Yeah.”
“You all are insane.”
“Nah. They know what they’re doing.”
He stopped at a little restaurant called Café Haleiwa that was super crowded. They had to wait for a few minutes for a table, but Ben assured her the wait was worth it. The smell of coffee and food made her stomach rumble. They took a seat and a waitress came by to take their drink orders. First item on the agenda was coffee. She looked over the menu, and they ordered when the waitress came back with their coffee.
She took a sip, closed her eyes and sighed.
“You look like you’re having an orgasm.”
She opened her eyes and offered up a smirk. “Well, you would know since you’ve seen me have one.”
His lips curved. “True. But it was from a distance. And I wasn’t inside you at the time. Not at all the same thing.”
Heat coiled low in her belly, swirling around her like a living thing. It shocked her, this instantaneous chemistry she felt with Ben. She’d never been interested in two men at one time. It wasn’t in her nature to be multiflirtatious. Once she settled on a man, she was wholly focused on him and him alone until it was over. And she’d settled on Alex. He was going to be her vacation fling. So what was up with all this sexual friction between her and Ben?
“I guess you’ll just have to use your imagination then.”
The look he gave her melted her to the floor of the restaurant. “I have a pretty damn good imagination, Victoria.”
His voice had gone low and deep. A whisper, a dare. Or was it an offer? She didn’t know what to make of him. He was friendly, and nonthreatening, but also obviously attracted to her. And she’d be lying to herself if she said she wasn’t attracted to him. But she was also very much attracted to his roommate, which put her in a deep quandary.
“You know, I really like Alex.”
He leaned back, his coffee cupped between his hands. “So do I.”
“Then what are we doing here, Ben?”
The waitress brought their food. Ben looked at Tori. “We’re having breakfast, Victoria.”
Somehow she didn’t think it was that simple. But she was hungry and she didn’t want to dissect something that was probably nothing more than a simple flirtation. She flirted a lot as part of her job. Anything to get a contract signed for one of her players, and being a woman sometimes had its advantages.
Ben obviously liked women, and she certainly liked men. It wasn’t like they’d run off to have a quick fuck while Alex was busy in the water.
Ben was right. They were just having breakfast. And they had chemistry. Big deal. Nothing was going to come of it, so she should relax and enjoy his company.
The problem was this odd attraction she had to him. That was going to have to be tucked away and forgotten about.
Funny thing about attraction, though. It was there now, and she knew damn well it wasn’t going away because she willed it to.
Chapter Six
After a fantastic breakfast, Victoria and Ben made their way back to the beach. Alex was out of the water and talking to some of the other competitors. He wore his board shorts and a wet suit on top. And looked incredible.
He spied them and made his way over.
He pulled Tori into his arms and gave her a hard kiss that stole her breath and made her pulse race in all the right ways, reaffirming everything she’d thought about at breakfast.