Recklessly (23 page)

Wes glanced at her as he shoveled scrambled eggs around on his plate.
What the fuck am I thinking?
A real deal thing? Him and Lana? Was that crazy? Was it worth disturbing a situation that was so settled and beneficial for both, free of any real hassle? Weeks ago, his answer would’ve been clear.

Hell no. Keep fucking. No real feelings.

Now it was fucking with his real feelings.

No, now
he
was
fucking
with real feelings.

“You have to see all the clothes I got for the trip!” Charlotte said excitedly to Lana.
Probably all short skirts and crop tops,
Wes thought with unease, but she was actually contributing to groceries, so Wes had taken Lana’s advice and was being less parental.

“Everything’s turtlenecks and sweatpants, right?” Abel asked her. Goddamn twin thing.

              “Leave her alone. Yeah. I want to see. Maybe I can steal something for myself. Well, it was nice meeting all of you,” Lana said to the guys. To Wes, she said in a soft, sultry whisper, “See you in a few?”

“Oh, no, Lana, it was nice meeting
you
. Definitely,” Leko said, pressing the back of her hand to his mouth, which earned him a scolding scowl from Wes.

Nice work,
Leko mouthed to him. As she walked by, Lana drew her fingers across the back of Wes’ neck, and it was like embers relighting a flame, stirring up his lust so much he almost chased right after her.

“Kai…” Wes said when Lana and Charlotte’s footsteps and voices were no longer audible. “This was you...”

“Fine. I rallied the boys,” Kai said with a triumphant smile.

“Yeah, and Abe told us you’ve been shitting your pants over this girl since the Open,” Christian said, tossing a balled up napkin at him.

Wes raised his middle finger at them as he stood up from the table. “Sit and spin. Divide it amongst yourselves.” But as he departed the room, he smiled back and said, “Thanks, assholes.”

*

How the town of Teahupo’o got its name was a thing of legend, and the macabre and grisly kind. It was either named for the town’s prince who avenged his father’s death by eating the brain of the murderer, or the pre-colonial battle between tribal groups over the land that resulted in the skulls of the losers being built into a “reminder wall” to prevent future skirmishes. Thus, translated to English, it meant in the loosest of terms either “the place of skulls” or “sever the head.”

And as Wes stared at the crystalline ocean, he thought it was a name befitting the vicious seven and eight foot waves billowing off the shores of Tahiti, and he had thought about this every time he paddled out during the course of the two weeks of competition. But he found the danger of it alluring, the ability to manage such a grand force in nature awe-inspiring (even if it meant of himself), and he had been too focused to really be afraid. So maybe that was why he’d won the heats, quarters and semis to arrive at this final, which would happen after the winner of the upcoming match was determined. He knew both guys well, a Tahitian local and an Australian, and he’d beat either one easily. He thought. He hoped.

Today was a little different, though. He had
almost
blown it in this very situation last year, and the thought of a repeat brought on some uncertainty in his performance, but today was also different because Lana was coming. She had been over at his place nearly every night in the four weeks before Teahupo’o, engaging in their REFT ritual: reading, eating, fucking, talking. They had also been texting back and forth the entire length of his trip, and access to Skype helped him see the things he couldn’t touch—things she touched in his place—but made him even more eager to see her. While this event was only a trial for an even bigger competition, it still lured surfing fans from all over, including lots of lots of women. The house he was staying in with all his friends had been night after night of passionate but unpleasant noises soaking through the walls, and sleepy girls leaving by the light of dawn with their belongings in their arms. While Wes had every right to indulge in the temptation, he just didn’t want to. He was sure everyone thought it was to avoid distraction, but he simply missed being with Lana. Which was why he couldn’t wait for them to spend the weekend together once the stress of the contest was off his shoulders. It was worth the morning shower jerks.

“Here,” Abel said, shoving Wes’ cell phone at him after he jogged over to where Wes was on the beach.

She’s here!
“Where are you?” he asked excitedly, as he took the phone and pressed it to his ear.

“Charlotte and I are walking in your direction right now.”

“Where? I’ll meet you,” he said, smirking at Abel’s disgruntled look.

“Umm…we’re at a juice stand. What? Charlotte says there are tons. So…hold on a sec.” There was some muffled discussion on the other end before she came back on. “Can you see me now?”

Wes didn’t know what she meant but he spun around anyway until he saw her hovering over the crowd hoisted up on someone else’s shoulders. Of course some dude would’ve agreed to have her crotch against his neck. “Found you. I’m on my way!”

But Abel pulled him back before he could walk and smacked him on the back of the head. “Wesley, you need to handle your shit.”

“What are you talking about?” Wes frowned.

“Get your head back in the game, Deuce, and out from between Lana’s legs.”

Wes pushed him away. “It’s handled…”

“Oh, so the ocean is back there? That’s where the ocean is? Dude, you were whiny all last year after fucking things up in Bali. I will strangle you in your sleep before I listen to you bitch like that again.”

“Are you really mad because you’re not out there?”

“Just handle your shit.”

“Shut up. It’s handled. I’m gonna win. That simple. I don’t know what just crawled up
your ass
, though.”

“I’m more concerned about whose ass you’re trying to crawl up instead of focusing.”

Wes ignored him and strode down the beach. Because he was excited to see Lana, he was suddenly distracted enough to lose? Hardly. And coming from a guy whose dick had probably lost weight from all the work it had been doing the entire competition? But the truth was, Abel wasn’t in the competition, so that counterpoint was useless.

Lana wasn’t in the air anymore, but Wes remembered the general location; it was the walking there while being asked for autographs, pictures and hugs that slowed him down. When she spotted him, she pushed people aside, ran right up to him and jumped into a hug.

“Hi!” she said, kissing his neck right below the ear. “Hi! I’ve watched almost the entire thing. I’m so proud of you.” The reaction in him—his chest, groin, everywhere—was immediate, warm, electric. He’d had a great two weeks, but this…this had just ruined it.

For the better.

“I missed you,” he said.

“I missed you, too. A lot. I’m so glad you invited me. This place is beautiful.”

“Damn, and Abel thought I wasn’t focused before…” he teased as he scanned her attire when he set her down: a black bikini and Lava baseball cap.

“What do you think?” Her very tiny black bikini bottom had “Go Wes!” spelled out in little gemstones across the back. “Charlotte is literally the only person I know who owns the bedazzling gun you need to do this. But, hey, it works, right?”

“You look amazing, Lana…you’re welcome to have my name on your ass any time.”

“
Lana?
Who the hell is she?” someone said, and Wes remembered suddenly that they were standing in the middle of a nosey crowd.

“You wanna hang back at the house before the final?” he whispered to her. “We’ve got time.”

“You really need an answer?” she asked, laughing.

“I’ll meet you, okay?” He sent her off to redirect the attention of the crowd, and after another round of interacting with fans, he was back at the house. Wes and his friends had rented one of the few rentals in the actual village of Teahupo’o. It slept eight comfortably, but they were more interested in having fun, so they had more than doubled that number easily on a nightly basis.

“Someone’s using a hardcover of Dickens as a coaster, Wes?” Lana, indignant, asked as soon as he walked in. “What the hell kind of
awful
place
is
this?” She pointed at the book, which had a distinctive white residue circle on it without taking her eyes off the screen of a laptop. Ironically, she was watching the live stream of the contest that was just footsteps from the sliding glass door.

“Everything in this house is fair game for a coaster right now, baby girl,” Wes replied as he crashed down on the couch, behind her. Lana shut the laptop and lay supine beside him so they were nose to nose. As badly as he’d wanted her over the last two weeks, as much as he wanted her now, he didn’t even attempt to touch her right away because he had really just missed seeing her and talking to her in person.

“Hi, pretty girl,” Wes said, touching the side of her face, brushing his thumb over the shallow impression of her dimple right before she smiled.

“Hey, surfer boy,” she said. Wes pulled her on top of him, inhaled deeply, and closed his eyes, treating himself to her scent. Lana’s hand sank into his hair. “You scared me for a second there in the quarters.”

“No yelling at the screen?”

Lana shook her head, getting serious. “No, I was
scared
. I knew how crushed you would have been if you had lost, and I didn’t want you to be sad. I like it when you’re smiling, Wes Elliott.”

“Well, maybe that’s because I seem to do it a lot when I’m around you,” he said, kissing her softly on the nose. “Can’t say the same for Sterling Kent though. He is really good this year…like threatening good…”

“Are you nervous?”

“Not so much
nervous
…just not relaxed…I don’t want to have to deal with all that bad press like last year. I was really embarrassed. Definitely didn’t live up to the hype…”

“You
are
the hype, and don’t you forget it. But it sounds likes you need some of that pure, unadulterated cuddling,” Lana said, laughing as she enclosed him in her arms, pressing her head to his chest. “You’re going to rock out there, Wes. I can’t think of any other way this is supposed to go. You’ve been working so hard. I’m glad you’re taking it seriously, but you’re talented, too. Remember that.”

Wes kissed her on the top of her head. “Thanks, Lan. Appreciate it.” He’d needed those words, needed this peace, and they lay like that, engulfed by the silence of the house. Being in the water was unrivaled for him, but Lana
almost
made him regret having to go back out there. He had come to treasure their time spent together so much so that it was getting harder and harder being away from her.

Lana squeezed even tighter suddenly, rocking from side to side. “
Mmmm.
This is
good. Mmmm.
This is some
hardcore
cuddling, Wesley.
Hardcore.
Warm and tight and breathless. The triple X kind. Too hot for TV…cuddling!”

Wes chuckled. “I don’t know what you’re doing more of, making me laugh or making me hard.”

Lana lifted her head and wound her hips against his. “From the feel of things…both…equally. You have to head back out soon, right?”

“Yup…I’m sure I’ll have to share my thoughts on the final with the media beforehand, so I’ll need to go soon,” Wes said, sitting up with her still on his lap.

“How are your nerves?”

“Better,” he said, stretching as he stood up and walked for the door, but Lana gripped his wrist.

“How about we make them
more
than better?” she asked, one side of her mouth clicking up. Without waiting for the response he was surely going to give in her favor, Lana pushed him back against the door and pulled down his board shorts. So much lustful heat developed just from the sight of her getting down on her knees, he was forced to take hold of himself with a hard grip, jerking slowly as she wetted the smile on her lips. His eyes pinned to hers when she took control of his dick. She drew her mouth down midway on his shaft, and his body undulated like a loose live electrical wire until she pulled all the way back. He almost begged as she delayed the return of her mouth to him, and once she did bring her mouth back, Wes pounded his fists against the wood, letting out a hard groan when she clutched his balls, too.

She drew her teeth along the bottom edge, eyeing him like she dared him to move, before she finally closed her lips around him. Her mouth hugged his erection as her tongue slithered over the tip, and with a firm grip around the shaft, Lana worked it in and out of her mouth.

“Fuck….” Wes loved the way he filled her mouth, and he watched her until he felt his thoughts fade as the pleasure yanked him into the ether. Closing his eyes, he focused on the light slurping sound, the heat emitting from her throat. He rocked his hips forward slowly as they found a coordinating rhythm, grabbed a fistful of her hair, and combatted the tug of release mounting somewhere inside him. When he grunted, she moved her mouth and hands faster, and he nearly slipped off the edge of control. He almost begged her to stop. No. He never wanted her to stop.

“Lana…” Wes fought the trembles vibrating up from his toes. “Lana…” She pushed his hips into the door, her mouth sliding back and forth without the assistance of her hands. Wes braced his knees against the wood and groaned so loud he was sure it rattled the walls. There was a slight yanking in his loins then a fiery, insistent pleading for release that spread to his entire body. “Lana…I’m gonna… Oh shit… Lana…I’m gonna come…”

              Staying kneeled, she pulled her head back and lifted her gaze, her lips just short of a smile. “
Stop.
Talking
.” She finally smiled. “And just come in my mouth already.”
Yes, ma’am.
Her warm, wet mouth was on him again, enclosing his flesh, and Wes fell back against the door. Gripping her shoulder, he sank into the gathering wave at his core, letting it envelop him, before he came with a rumbling grunt tearing out of his chest.