Endless Summer
July 2009
ENDLESS SUMMER
“Surf’s Up”Anthology
“Making Waves” by Julie Kenner
“Wet and Wild” by Jill Monroe
Harlequin Blaze
Synopsis & Excerpt
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Synopsis:
Summer has never been sexier!
Making Waves by Julie Kenner
Laci Montgomery is determined to be pro surfing’s Golden Girl. Does she need help from her ex–hottie sports promoter Taylor Dutton? No way! Well, not unless she’s on top…
Surf’s Up by Karen Anders
After a crash meeting in the waves, surfer J. C. Wilcox and entrepreneur Zack Fanning practice daring moves that would make fish blush. But is it just sexy fun in the sun–or are they ready to risk their hearts?
Wet and Wild by Jill Monroe
Daredevil Rookie of the Year Andrea “Drea” Powell needs a sponsor. Superstar pro Kirk Murray needs a flashy new surfer to back. The explosive results heat up the competition…and the bedroom!
READ AN EXCERPT
The sun cleared the horizon, painting the Hawaiian sky with brilliant hues of red and yellow. The colors of the sky over the aquamarine water almost took her breath away. It was, according to J.C. Wilcox, the best time of day.
The sand glowed with the first rays of sunlight, and the sun blazed a trail toward J.C. as it cast its reflection upon the water. The palm trees gently swayed with the morning breeze, and J.C. could hear the birds singing a gentle song.
Unfortunately, she wasn’t here to commune with nature. She was here for serious business: Competing against two main competitors in the “Women Go Banzai” surf competition in Oahu, Hawaii. Laci Montgomery and Andrea “Drea” Powell were formidable opponents and just happened to be her good friends as well as roommates. Laci was the wild card newbie with something to prove and Drea was Rookie of the Year. Both women had just finished a phenomenal year and were being played up in the media as the ones to watch.
She attached her board to her ankle by its leash and splashed into the surf, watching the cresting waves farther out to sea as she paddled towards them, her focus on the wall of water creating what surfers call, “riding the pipe”, a curling wave that just begs to be ridden. The pipe now curling to shore was how this stretch of the ocean had gotten its Banzai Pipeline moniker.
J.C. chose her wave. Hitting it, she turned her board into the cresting water as it rose. She popped up on her board doing a bottom turn, a sweeping move that allowed her to establish speed and direction. A crucial move if she wanted to set her rhythm for the ride as she settled into synch with the wave. Planting her feet in her sweet spot, the position a surfer places her feet for maximum balance, stability and maneuverability, she felt the adrenaline rush through her as she slid under the breaking curl of the wave.
The wave rushed over J.C.’s head, a perfect tube of water weighing tons, but J.C. didn’t think about that as she saw her two friends Laci and Drea on the beach. For a second she was in perfect harmony, and then she saw her friends drop their surfboards and frantically wave. Before J.C. could figure out what they were alarmed about, something slammed into her like a breaking wave. J.C. flew off her board and went into the water momentarily dazed. She felt the surfboard leash break as she was dragged towards the ocean floor. Then arms were around her easily pulling her to the surface where she sucked in a breath of air.
“Hang on,” a deep, husky male voice said in her ear.
With her head ringing like a bell, J.C. went limp in the water to make it easier for her unknown rescuer to bring her to the beach. When they hit the sandy bottom, he lifted her out of the surf.
“What the hell do you think you were doing?” Laci snapped. “She had that wave first.”
At this point, J.C. felt the gritty sand at her back as he laid her down. She slowly opened her eyes and got caught. Eyes that were a pure ocean green and as vast, as deep, and as ever changing as the sea pulled her from her daze.
He leaned back slightly, his skin satiny and bronzed, his jaw tense. J.C. got a load of his hair. Surfer dude blonde, a hundred subtle shades of blonde.
“Are you okay?” He was breathing hard, his chest heaving, his hands going over her arms and legs, his smooth palms drawing goose bumps as he freely roamed her flesh. His brow creased in worry on a face J.C. had seen only in magazines, gracing surf posters, and smiling out from a television screen. Even all that exposure didn’t prepare her for meeting him up close and personal. All her fantasies aside, the real thing literally stole her breath way.
He looked so worried, so upset that J.C. felt her heart constrict. “Zack Fanning. You’re Zack Fanning.”
“Looks like she’s okay,” Drea said wryly.
The concerned look didn’t fade, nor did he acknowledge that he was a legend in his own time. Totally freaking awesome legend until an injury took him out of competition.
“Are you okay?” he asked again, those expressive eyes boring into hers, searching them.
“I’m okay.”
He sat back on his haunches with his head down. Softly he said, “I didn’t see you. I swear I would never have snaked your wave.”
J.C. sat up unable to take her eyes off him. She wanted to touch him, slide her hand in his thick wet hair and wrap him up in her arms. Even though he’d been the one to knock her off her board, she knew Zack Fanning would never snake a wave.
Integrity lined his strong jaw, covered him like a second skin. She watched him compete. Saw what kind of surfer he was and that gave her a lot of insight to what kind of man.
It only made the infatuation with him more intense because he looked so good bending over her, his jaw covered in stubble that glinted gold in the light, his mouth soft and sweet looking, and his eyes filled with her. She shivered at the look in them. As if he’d been dreaming and finally woke up to find reality much more exciting.
Laci bent down and dabbed at her forehead. J.C. needed the distraction.
“Oh damn, you’re bleeding. Let me get my emergency kit.” He said his voice an octave lower with more roughness. He got up off the sand, disappearing into the parking lot.
“Zack Fanning. Wow.” Drea said softly, “He was a six time world champion and he’s extremely hot by the way.”
“We noticed,” Laci said with a sarcastic tilt to her lips.
J.C. watched as Zack jogged back to the beach with a small first aid kit in his hand. As soon as he reached them, he opened the kit and pulled out hydrogen peroxide and a gauze pad. Soaking it, he pressed it to her forehead. Those deep, fathomless eyes met hers again and he smiled. It was like falling off a wave, just falling and falling into the deep blue sea.
“How you holding up?” he asked, the pressure of his fingers gentle on her forehead.
“I’m okay.”
“So you’ve said.”
“I saw you in the Rip Curl World Championship Trials in Mexico the year you won. I went with my dad. It was so awesome. We drove down the coast to Oaxaca. I was there and saw you ride a 50-yard smoker of a tube. That was so sick. You’re the most awesome surfer I’ve ever seen,” Drea said, her eyes bright with the memory.
Zack looked up at her, gave her a small smile and nodded. “I was feeling really loose and I had good boards.”
“You’re being modest, Zack,” Drea said, matter of fact. “You were riding eight foot waves like they were two foot and ripping the biggest turns ever. Could I get your autograph?”
“Drea,” Laci said.
Zack chuckled and removed the gauze from J.C.’s forehead. His eyes met hers again and in them was something that she’d been feeling a lot lately—regret.
Her career at this point in her life was in the toilet unless she could pull a win out of the dangerous and awe-inspiring Banzai Pipeline. Her sponsor hadn’t come out and said it, yet, but she was on shaky ground with Roxy. Zack had already faced his worse nightmare, getting injured and having to pull out of competition forever.
Zack had been forced out of competition; J.C. didn’t have that excuse. She so did not want to go out a loser, she thought as Zack looked down to unwrap a small band-aid to put over her cut.
J.C.’s athletic talents were apparent at a young age.
Now her star was about to go supernova and die out unless she focused all her energy into this make it or break it competition.
That’s why any tingle she was getting from gorgeous Zack wasn’t something that she intended to pursue. He pressed the bandage to her head and rose to his feet.
“Thanks.”
He nodded. “Least I could do after ruining your ride and getting you tossed into the surf. He turned his head to look out to sea. The look on his face made her look, too.
Her stomach dropped. Pieces of her new, very expensive hot pink and coral surfboard floated in the surf like some forgotten psychedelic flotsam and jetsam. It had been her best board and now it was toast. What was she going to do?
“Oh, damn,” J.C. said as she rose from the sand and made her way to the pounding surf. Bending down she picked up one of the pieces and stood there in dismay.
“This is my fault. I can’t apologize enough. All I can do is to offer to handcraft you a surfboard and replace the one I broke.”
For some crazy reason she felt on the verge of tears. A broken surfboard wasn’t the end of the world, but holding that piece in her hand she felt it was only part of her broken and battered dreams.
A warm hand settled on her shoulder. “Please J.C. Let me make this up to you. I’ve been crafting surfboards since I was 12. I’ll make you one that sings.”
She felt his touch all the way to her toes and when she met those hot and devilish blue eyes, she fell all over again. Not a fan of getting a board off the rack made her nod. “I would very much appreciate that.”
“In the meantime,” he walked over and picked up his board. “Take mine to practice on. It’s beautifully balanced and wicked in the waves.”
“I couldn’t. . .”
“Yes, you can. Walk with me to my car and I’ll give you a card so that you can come into the shop and we can get started on your board. Deal?”
“It’s a deal,” Laci said, coming up behind J.C. “After all, it’s only fair to make her a new board.”
J.C. nodded and smiled at Laci. “A hand-crafted board it is. Thanks for the offer.”
“Thanks for being a good sport,” Zack said as he walked with her up the beach. After reaching his car, he leaned inside and J.C. got a full view of his well-defined back, the thick ropey muscles contracting as he searched inside his glove compartment.
“Finally.”
Zack pulled his head out of the car and handed her a card. It had his name on it with custom surfboards underneath.
“Come by anytime you like. Just call to make sure I’m there.”
J.C. went to take the card, but Zack didn’t let it go. J.C. looked up, drowning in those eyes once again. He smiled. J.C. smiled back and said, “And not out on the waves, knocking someone off their surfboard?”
His smile widened, a devastating smile that tingled through J.C., stirring her blood and making her stomach drop.
“If they’re as beautiful as you, it’ll be worth the humiliation,” he said softly. “Take care of that cut.” He left then, getting into his car and driving away.
Could you add this teaser information somewhere around the books and could you jazz it up a bit?? For Up Close: Wrong Bed. . .Wrong Sister. . .Oh-So-Right Man. Danger comes in a drop-dead gorgeous package. This time around love could be Allie’s most risky mission yet. And for Dangerous Curves: Concealed weapons take on a whole new meaning. Max Carpenter doesn’t stand a chance of surviving Rio’s special brand of expertly concealed weapons. And for Endless Summer: The world class competition just got a little hotter…and a lot wetter. Local former golden boy, Zack Fanning destroys J.C.’s surfboard and to make amends offers to handcraft her a new one. J.C.’s about to find out how hands-on Zack can be.
