Excerpt of Riding the Waves by Tawny Weber

Reveling in the feel of the tiny grains shifting around her feet, Drucilla headed straight for the water. It wasn't until she was halfway there that she saw him.

Her heart, and her feet, stopped.

Her mouth went as dry as the sand clinging to her ankles. She didn't blink when the soft breeze sent tendrils of her hair into her eyes, just batted it away so it didn't interfere with her view.

Oh. My. God.

He was incredible. Like some water god, he flew over the waves. The water glistened on his golden muscles like jewels in the fading light. Arms outstretched, biceps glinting as he balanced on the deep purple surfboard. Was he real? A figment of her lusty imagination? The manifestation of her every sexual fantasy? Dru's breath came in long, labored bursts. Her eyes watered because she was afraid to blink, fearing he'd disappear.

Her hands itched to touch that bare chest, to run her fingers down the dusting of dark hair that perfectly highlighted his well-muscled chest. She stared as he got closer to shore, watching him shift his knees to a low crouch as he rode the wave all the way to the beach.

There was something so amazing about surfers. She'd always imagined them to be fearless. Able to embrace anything life handed them and ride it to success.

And talk about muscle control. That was the kind of guy who rock against-a-wall sex and not drop the woman as she melted in orgasmic glory all over him.

Was he real? Or had her sex-deprived imagination conjured up the perfect man to fulfill her every kinky fantasy?

About thirty feet away, she watched him walk across the sand. This close, she could see how young he was. Mid-twenties at the most. His dripping hair fell in inky black curls around his head, his beautiful face adding to the image of a Greek God come to life.

He stopped at the brightly decorated surf shop bungalow, and she watched him key in a code, then open the door and store his board. His familiarity made it obvious he wasn't a guest. Did he work at the hotel?

Whatever he did, he was obviously out of her league. Not that it mattered. It wasn't like a sweet young thing like him would have any interest in an almost thirty-year-old scientist with social anxieties and repressed sexual needs.

Needs she'd been perfectly fine ignoring until Nikki had gotten her all riled up over her crazy ideas. Insane ideas. Dru had no idea how to flirt, how to attract a man's attention. Especially not a man like that. No matter what Nikki had suggested, Dru wasn't here for a fling.

Except here he was. The most incredible man she'd ever seen. A man who would definitely not stop mid-thrust, but know how to bring a woman to a screaming orgasm, then make her writhe and beg for more.

And then he turned. Their eyes met. Dru's breath lodged somewhere between her aching nipples and her suddenly dry mouth. His gaze holding her captive from twenty feet away, one corner of his mouth quirked in a charmingly adorable little boy grin.

And he walked toward her. Frozen in the sand, Drucilla didn't know if she should pull back her shoulders, stick out her chest and smile beguilingly. Or turn on her bare heel and run like hell.