He took his time soaping up her hair then rinsing it. She handed him the conditioner and he worked that into her hair, loving the way it slicked up the strands and made them slip through his fingers. Then he washed her body, using a big pink puff and lots of sudsy body wash that made her body gleam. He watched rivulets of water and bubbles trace their way over her chest, her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, down her stomach, collect in the small patch of dark hair. He turned her to face away from him and scrubbed her back, then down between her legs so gently. When he was done he gathered her up in his arms once more and pulled her back against him, pressing his face to her wet hair and breathing in the tropical scent that surrounded them.

His hands slid over wet skin, smooth and sleek, cupping her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, her throat. She gave a low moan and his d.i.c.k twitched. Christ. He was f.u.c.king insatiable around her.

She picked up the puff where he'd hung it and used it on him, dragging it over his shoulders and chest, down his abs to his crotch, and then she abandoned the puff and used soapy hands to wash his c.o.c.k and b.a.l.l.s, sliding her hands between his thighs, up into the crease of his a.s.s, and heat surged through his body.

"You're getting hard again already," she murmured, looking down where she held him and rubbed him.

"f.u.c.k yeah," he groaned. "What do you expect when you touch me like that?" He slapped one palm on the shower wall and held her hip with the other.

"I can't do it standing up again," she said, smiling. "My legs are still weak. You have to wait until we're in bed."

He grinned. "If I must."

They toweled off, watching each other with heated, admiring gazes, and tumbled naked into her bed. It wasn't the biggest bed, queen-sized he guessed, but the sheets were silky soft and smelled like Brooke, and stretching out in it with her pressed against him, skin to skin, from knee to chest, felt so d.a.m.n awesome it took his breath away.

He kissed her, holding her damp hair, and this time they took it slow, with lots of long, leisurely kisses, sliding tongues and nipping teeth. Their hands moved over each other, exploring, stroking, eliciting soft moans and sweet sighs. He loved touching her, tasting her, breathing in the scent of her. His c.o.c.k thickened and lengthened yet again, and his body pulsed with arousal, but he ignored it and focused on kissing and tasting her everywhere.

"Mmm. Hold on." He hated to interrupt but this time he had to make sure she was protected, so he rolled out of bed. Jesus, his pants were still lying in a heap in the hall. He dug through them to find his wallet and the one condom he had in there, then returned to the bedroom, depositing the condom on the bedside table close at hand. Because they were going to need it.

He moved over her, kissed her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, sucked on her nipples, loving how they tightened and lengthened against his tongue. He rubbed his face on her curves then dragged his tongue down the center of her abdomen. He nuzzled her stomach, brushed his fingers over the dark curls, then parted her thighs and moved between them. Her body quivered beneath his hands, and he pushed her legs up and back. She was beautiful there, so d.a.m.n pretty, glistening pouty folds, and he leaned in to kiss her there too. He pressed soft kisses to one side then the other and then licked a long, luscious line up one soft-as-a-cloud plump lip, and then down the other. He pressed a closed-mouth kiss over her c.l.i.t and she moaned, her hands coming to his head.

"So sweet," he murmured, slipping his hands beneath her a.s.s to lift her up to his hungry mouth. "G.o.d, I want to eat you up like candy." He licked again, letting his tongue go deeper, finding the arousal that melted out of her. Her fingers tangled in his hair and tugged. He opened his mouth and sucked soft flesh into a suckling kiss, feasting on her, tonguing her deeper and deeper.

"Dylan...please..." Her hips moved with need, and he knew what she wanted, where she wanted to be touched, licked, sucked, but he smiled against her soft skin as he tormented her longer by taking his time, filling himself with her taste and scent, pleasuring both of them with long licks and gentle nibbles. He used his teeth on her taut thighs, slid a finger inside her, letting her hungry body close around him and squeeze.

He licked her taste off his lips as he watched his finger slide in and out then added another finger, and another, pumping his hand in and out of her p.u.s.s.y while she groaned and twitched. He lifted her higher so he could see all of her, including the tiny star of her a.n.u.s. Heat flashed beneath his skin at the thought of doing her there. He wanted that, f.u.c.k yeah, but not this time. Still...they could play there...and he lubed up his thumb with her cream and rubbed over the opening.

She gasped, hips lifting even higher off the bed. "Dylan..."

"It's okay, baby." He teased her there a little more, her body tightening as she gave soft little whimpers. "Just playing here. It's okay."

He slicked up a little more of her feminine liquid and this time pressed in, not too far...just a little...

"G.o.d!"

Now. He bent his head again and kissed her pretty p.u.s.s.y, found her c.l.i.t with his mouth and kissed it again, licked around it and around it...and then over it. Her cry echoed in his ears, but he lost himself in the pleasure of pleasing her, licking her c.l.i.t over and over as her body trembled and constricted, clamping down on his fingers in her p.u.s.s.y and his thumb in her a.s.s. And when he felt she was getting close, he opened his mouth and sucked the tiny bud into his mouth. It hardened and swelled against his tongue and he sucked firmly as she came apart beneath him.

"Sweet Jesus," she gasped. "G.o.d, Dylan."

"Mmm. Good, baby?"

"So good...so good..." Her head tossed and turned on the pillow and satisfaction swelled inside him at giving that to her. He moved over her again, kissing his way back up her body all the way to her mouth while he extended a hand and groped around for the condom he'd set there.

"One sec, babe," he muttered, rising up onto his knees to roll the latex on, and then he came down over her again and pushed his throbbing c.o.c.k inside her. Her body closed around him, so f.u.c.king hot, so tight, still pulsing from her o.r.g.a.s.m. He grunted as sensation wrapped around his c.o.c.k and sparks slid up his spine. He wanted this to last, this time, he really did, but pressure built inside him, fast and dark. The condom helped, a little, made him miss the erotic sensation of being bare inside her, but even so, the feeling of f.u.c.king her was sublime, and he moved in her clinging body.

Her hands held onto his shoulders, gripping him then sliding across them to his biceps, back to his chest, moving all over him and making his skin p.r.i.c.kle everywhere. When she brushed over his nipples, he jolted at the flash of sensation, and when her hands slid into his hair and sc.r.a.ped across his scalp, pleasure poured over him in waves.

"f.u.c.k, I need you," he gasped. "Brooke...need you."

"I know," she whispered and he kissed her mouth again. "I know."

She moved beneath him, lifting her knees, hooking her ankles behind him as he drove into her, again and again, f.u.c.king her hard, and when she cried out and said, "Harder!" he loved that and hammered into her. His skin buzzed, his b.a.l.l.s drew up tight, grinding against her body, the base of his spine burning. He growled as his body tightened, his consciousness narrowing to her, just her, there beneath him, not only taking what he was giving her but giving it back with fierce pleasure. She lifted her hips against him, meeting every stroke, and G.o.ddammit she came again with a long, soft wail, her fingers digging into his shoulders, nails giving him stinging bites of pleasure. His body lost it, roared toward the peak, crazed for that ultimate satisfaction, and then he came too with a blinding surge of ecstasy, fire rushing down his spine and out his c.o.c.k.

His grunts and groans of pleasure were loud and unstoppable, and he was only vaguely aware of them above the pounding of his blood in his ears and the surge of pleasure that cascaded over his entire body.

Chapter Seventeen.

An incredible languor and satisfaction seeped through Dylan's body, right to his bones, lying there with Brooke in his arms, wrapped up in her limbs and the soft sheets of her bed. Jesus, she was amazing.

She'd been there for him tonight at the wedding, and it hadn't been so bad with her at his side, even when Matt had got up there and started spouting s.h.i.t about him being responsible for Matt and Corey being together, reminding him painfully of how that had happened. They were f.u.c.king grateful to him, for chrissakes, when what he'd done could have split them apart forever. Guilt had smacked him in the back of the head, remembering how back then, he'd almost wanted that to happen, guilt along with relief that he'd b.u.g.g.e.red off in time for them to work things out and end up in their happy ever after and the wedding they'd all celebrated today.

Brooke had been there for him all along, really, from the time she'd showed up in Tahiti and p.i.s.sed him off with her demands that he come back to San Amaro with him, then pushing him to do all this charity stuff that turned out to be not so bad too. Kinda fun. Kinda made him feel like he was doing something worthwhile. And listening to her praise him to others for what he was doing made him feel so d.a.m.n good, he just wanted to hug her and kiss her and smile like a fool.

Jesus. What kind of sappy s.h.i.t was he thinking here?

He stroked a hand over her shoulder and upper arm, slowly up and down. Her soft breathing told him she had dozed off, and so she should after going how many rounds with him? She'd come more times than he had, including at the wedding-his d.i.c.k twitched remembering how hot and wicked that had been-and if he was exhausted, she must be too.

She shifted against him and he felt her lips press to his chest in a kiss.

"You awake, baby?"

"Mmm." She let out a long, heartfelt sigh that made his d.i.c.k twitch yet again. She rubbed her face against his chest and her fingers tapped over his shoulder and curled around it.

"We should get some sleep," he said. "You have to work tomorrow, right?"

"Yeah." She sighed. "My alarm is set for seven-thirty. You probably have a lot to do too."

"You should know." He smiled.

She gave him a lethargic swat on the shoulder. "I don't have every minute of your week planned out."

He laughed. "Yeah. But this is it. Things really ramp up tomorrow."

"Your first heat is Wednesday, right?"

"Right. Wednesday at eleven-thirty." He hesitated. "Are you going to be there?"

"Of course! I'll be working, but yeah, I'll be there."

That made him happy. "I probably won't see you much before then," he said slowly. "Tomorrow and Tuesday I'll be working with Coach and the rest of the team to get ready."

"It's funny that you have a coach who's not a surfer."

"I kind of like it. He has a whole different perspective. And he knows what it's like to compete at this level, since he was a world champion s...o...b..arder. He even works with me on nutrition and what I should be eating, and how I should be working out. He's the one who encouraged me to try yoga. And another great thing is, he's tall, and he knows how to coach me to use my height to my advantage, project where I want to go a little earlier when I'm winding up into turns. And I need to do some fine tuning on my boards with Elroy."

"I don't think I realized how much of a team you have working with you."

"Yeah. I guess. But when it comes right down to it, it's just me out there, me and the waves."

"You're going to do great this week."

He smiled and kissed her head. "Yeah? What makes you say that?"

"I just know." Her voice grew drowsy. "You're talented and you've been working hard."

"Thanks." He cleared his throat a little. Coming from her, he found that really meant a lot. He stroked her arm and shoulder and then her breathing slowed. She'd fallen asleep.

He glanced at the digital alarm clock on the table beside the bed. It was after one in the morningshould he stay the night? Or head back to his hotel and sleep alone?

Yeah, like he really wanted to do that. He was starting to drift too, sleep rolling over him like gentle waves, and so he slid a little lower into the bed, settling Brooke's sleeping curves next to him and closing his own eyes.

Brooke rolled out of bed first after her alarm went off and shut herself in the bathroom to get ready for work. When she emerged, Dylan was sitting on the side of the bed, dressed in his dark suit pants and dress shirt, in the process of rolling the cuffs back on his arms.

"Are you hungry?" she asked as she put on earrings in front of her big mirror. The big mirror where they'd, uh...watched themselves the night before. Heat flashed low down inside her.

"Starving." He grinned and rose to his feet, all big and s.e.xy in his rumpled dress clothes, hair tousled, beard darkening his jaw.

"I can give you some toast or cereal. Or a bagel."

"Got any eggs?"

"Mmm. Yeah, I think I do."

"I can scramble some up for myself."

He made himself at home in her small kitchen. "Want some?" he asked as he cracked eggs into a bowl.

"Okay. If you're making them anyway." Half the time she didn't even eat breakfast, which she knew was bad. He whipped eggs together and poured them into a skillet while she made coffee and popped bread into the toaster, then they sat at her small counter to eat.

"I had fun at the wedding," she said.

"Did you? That's good. Thank you for coming with me. I liked having you there."

"Your friends are nice. Corey and Matt. They seem so happy together."

"Yeah."

"They care about you too."

"I guess."

She lifted her head. "Why do you say it like that?"

"Like what?"

"As if...as if they shouldn't care about you."

"Huh. Maybe they shouldn't. You know I'm not really worth caring about."

She blinked at him. "What are you talking about?"

"You weren't all that impressed with me when you showed up in Tahiti. I was messing up my career. You were pretty clear that I was in danger of losing my sponsorship and needed to clean up my act. I'm an a.s.shole."

She was silent for a moment, processing that. What he said was true, but... "No, you aren't."

He smiled at her. "Thanks, babe."

"Seriously, Dylan. I've gotten to know you better since we've been back and you're not really an a.s.shole. Corey and Matt clearly care a lot about you. Tell me...what was that about, when Matt said you were responsible for him and Corey being together? How did you get them together?"

He bent his head and looked at his eggs. "Uh...no idea."

"Oh come on." She smiled. "It must have been great, for him to mention it at the wedding like that. I want to hear."

He sighed. "Corey and Matt were friends for a long time. Then they started sleeping together, so they were friends with benefits. Last year when I came back for a visit, I was staying with Matt, and...well...we ended up all sleeping together."

She stiffened. Replayed those words in her head. What? Had he really just said that?

"I mean, not Matt and me," he hastened to add. "But you know..."

"You slept with Corey?"

He swallowed. "Yeah. But with Matt there. A threesome. You know."

"Um. Yeah." Yeah, she knew what a threesome meant, and she knew he'd done it. Many times apparently. She'd walked in on him in bed with two other girls in Tahiti. But with Matt and Corey? Holy floating jellyfish!

"They weren't 'together' then, as in, a couple. They were just friends. With benefits."

Her heart felt like a rock in her chest. "I see. But I, uh...still don't get it. How did that bring them together?"

He sighed and set down his fork. "I was leaving to go to France for the next part of the tour and I asked Corey to go with me. She turned me down." He shrugged. "Because she was in love with Matt. She just didn't realize it. He didn't either. I mean, he was in love with her too. So basically, it was because of me that they realized they weren't really just friends with benefits, and that was how they ended up together."

"You asked her to go with you to France?" Her lips felt stiff as she said the words.

"It was a stupid idea," he said. "Of course she couldn't do that. I wasn't thinking right at the time."

She cleared her throat, which was surprisingly painful.

"That was a long time ago," he added.

Did he still have feelings for Corey? Was that what this was all about? Having to come home and go to the wedding of the woman you loved to another man...yeah, that would be hard. "That's really why you wanted me to go to the wedding with you, isn't it?"

"Ah..."