Page 97 of Ride the Wave

‘Levant waves are generated after southerly strong winds create heavy Mediterranean swells,’ Adriano tells me the next morning as we stand side by side on the vast, long stretch of sandy beach, sipping coffee from the flask that he very thoughtfully brought along for me. ‘They gain power as they head towards our coast. The water is warm; it’s a lot of fun. You have to make the most of it when it happens.’

I lower my cup, smiling as we watch Leo riding a wave, the water spraying out in a fan over his head whenever his board glides up towards the lip of the wave and cuts back down, manoeuvring with ease, generating speed as he goes.

‘He certainly looks like he’s doing that,’ I remark, as Leo twists and turns through the wave, adding in a rotation, whooping as he lands the spin, jumping off his board.

Adriano laughs, gesturing out to him. ‘Yes, look, he’s playful, like the water.’

‘Playful,’ I repeat, nodding. ‘That’s the perfect description.’ I turn to grin at him. ‘You’re missing out; you should go join him. I’m fine here on the beach.’

‘The waves are good; we could be out there for a while.’

‘That’s okay,’ I assure him, turning to look at Leo as he readies his board to paddle back out. He catches my eye and grins at me. ‘I don’t mind.’

‘All right,’ Adriano says in an amused voice, and when I tear my eyes from Leo to look at him, he’s giving me a knowing smile.

Blushing furiously knowing I’ve been caught in a dreamy daze, I quickly frown, looking down at my feet and kicking some sand off my toes. With a soft chuckle, Adriano takes his board towards the water, leaving me to shake off my embarrassment alone.

If he’s caught on to anything between me and Leo, at least he doesn’t look annoyed about it. In fact, if anything, he looked pleased.

One thing he didn’t look was surprised.

*

When we make our way back to the truck, Leo is glowing from the joy of the morning, his eyes gleaming, his cheeks flushed from the exercise, his smile unflappable. I laugh at his and Adriano’s excitement as his dad throws an arm around his shoulders to share in Leo’s rambled gushing about how good it was out there. I’ve definitely got at least another couple of paragraphs for the piece from this morning: this wonderful father-and-son scene is going to be a killer.

As Leo gets out of his wetsuit, Adriano does the same, throwing on a t-shirt and coming over to give both of us a hug before declaring he’ll see us back in Burgau – he has to get back to the shop. Leo waits for his dad’s car to disappear before he grabs me at the waist, that adorably dopey smile still plastered on his face as I place my hands flat against his chest, tipping my head back to look up at him.

‘Thank you for coming today,’ he says, his arms wrapping tighter around me. ‘What did you think?’

‘I think,’ I say slowly, finding it impossible not to smile myself in the face of such elation, ‘that you were born to do this, Leo Silva.’

He exhales a wistful sigh before leaning down to kiss me, my hands moving up over his strong shoulders to clasp together at the back of his neck, his lips softly brushing against mine, capturing my breath. It’s a long, drawn-out kiss, the kind that makes the world around you fade into a hazy blur of background noise, the kind where you don’t care what is happening or who else is there. It’s just me and him. The kiss grows deeper, his hands roam lower and I can feel him hard against me. A shiver rolls down my spine as something unleashes inside of me. When he breaks the kiss, I nip seductively at his bottom lip and watch his eyes flare with a rewardingly fierce need.

‘Leo, I’m not sure I’m a big fan of how long we’re waiting in between our… dates,’ I say, our foreheads pressed together, his breathing fast and shallow. ‘And I know the other night, you were on about chivalry, which is really sweet but—’

‘Fuck that, let’s get you home,’ he says abruptly, reaching round me to open the door to the passenger side of his truck, ushering me inside.

I burst out laughing as he makes his way round to the driver’s side. But if he thinks I have the patience to wait for him for the car journey home, he’s deluded. I’ve waited long enough. I’m not wasting any more time. I need him now. I move fast, hitching up my dress and lifting my arse to wriggle my thong down, dropping it next to my bag on the seat. When he slides in and shuts the door behind him, I swivel towards him and before he can start the engine, I grab his arm and balance on it as I lift myself up to straddle him.

‘Iris,’ he breathes in surprise. ‘What are you—?’

Taking his face in my hands, I stop his question with my lips, covering his mouth with mine, his hands sliding up my legs over the bunched-up skirt of my dress to my hips. I can feel how turned on he is and as I grind against him in response, he groans into my mouth and his tongue becomes as demanding as mine, gliding and caressing, igniting sparks that crackle through my body. He pulls back from the kiss, his eyes darting to look out the windows at the deserted row of spaces either side of us.

‘You sure about this?’ he says in a raspy, disbelieving voice.

To answer his question, I reach for his right hand and move it to my thigh before guiding it up beneath my dress. His eyes widen and he gulps.

‘You’re… not wearing any underwear,’ he mutters, tipping his head back as I kiss his throat along his neck, tasting the salt on my tongue.

‘No, I’m not,’ I say smugly, threading a hand through his wet hair as I nip at the warm skin just below his ear. ‘Yes, I’m sure about this.’

The confirmation seems to give him the permission he’s seeking to be sent into overdrive, surrendering to the reckless abandon of his urges. He’s suddenly kissing me again, hungry, ravenous, his fingers clawing at the fabric of my summer dress. Before I know it, he’s hoisting it up, lifting it over my head and tossing it onto the seat next to him, his lips smashing against mine again, jolts of electricity ricocheting through my stomach at his fevered kisses. I can feel how hard he is for me and he’s so fucking hot, I’m already panting and he’s not inside me yet. But I know it’s only a matter of time and my core is clenching in anticipation, the air in this truck growing thick and crackling with desire.

‘Fuck, I’ve missed you,’ he whispers, one hand tugging the cup of my bra down to grasp my breast, the other digging into the skin at my hip. ‘Why did we wait so long to do this again?’

‘It’s all your fault,’ I say, breath hitching as he leans forward to skim his lips along my collarbone. ‘You were trying to be good, remember?’

He draws his head back to look at me, his damp hair more dishevelled by my hands than by the water, his lips swollen, his dark gaze searing into mine.

---