They all piled into Raven's small compact car. Russ followed Joslyn into the back seat. His large frame took up most of the space; their bodies touched from knee to hip. He smiled over at her as he propped his chin on his palms and leaned his forehead against the window. He settled his other hand on his knee. After the car began moving, he slowly slid his hand closer and closer to Joslyn’s leg. He stroked the bare flesh of her thigh with the tip of his fingers. Joslyn quickly pushed his hand away, but he quickly moved it back. She slapped his hand this time but instantly regretted it when the conversation from the front seats stopped. She glanced up to meet Raven’s eyes in the rearview mirror. She could feel her face redden. As soon as Raven looked away from the rearview Russ’s hand landed even farther up her thigh.

“S-T-O-P!!” She hissed in his direction as she pushed his hand away once again.

He sent a sly grin her way as he took the hand that had just pushed his away. He entwined his fingers through hers. When she tried to pull away, he shook his head and whispered, “One or the other, pick.” When Joslyn quit struggling against his hand, he relaxed his grip and went back to watching the scenery.

Once the car stopped, Joslyn didn’t even wait for the engine to be turned off before she pushed open the back, passenger door and leaped from the car. An over excited Shelly was close on her heels as they began making their way to the beach access. It didn’t take any time at all for Russ and Raven to catch up, though. Joslyn could feel Russ’s closeness to her as he came up behind her.

{At this rate, it’s going to be a long night!} Joslyn thought as the booth for the party came into view.

***

There was still an hour before the party’s actual start time, but the beach was already crowded with party-goers, and the band had already begun to play. It wasn’t Xavier’s normal weekend scene, but he and his business partner were presently promoting their newest venture. And what better way to promote a surf shop than a beach party, all it had taken was one call to some friends in a band and a few flyers. Most of the party-goers had followed the BYOB rule of most beach parties, leaving no worries as to whether the five kegs would be enough to last through to the end of the party. Xavier set up the surf shop booth between the kegs, placing plastic cups on the table to make stopping at the table mandatory. He was just about to undo a third pack of wrist bands when a trio of the most beautiful females he’d ever seen, followed by a very inebriated male, approached.

Xavier allowed his sunglass hidden eyes to roam over the small group, the leader was a tall willowy woman appearing to be in her early 20’s but with fae you could never really guess. She had long legs leading up to a scantily clad body. His eyes continued upward over the curve of her flat torso and smaller than average breasts to a sharp-edged pixy face and short, spiky lavender hair. Moving quickly to the next two girls he briefly noted the shorter of the two with long golden hair, no doubt this girl was a werewolf. By the time his gaze slid to the third and most attractive of the three, they had already reached the booth.

“Four please.” The tall spiky-haired girl said, casually fingering through one of the brochures.

Xavier withdrew four wrist bands, never taking his eyes off the third girl. She had gently curling, glistening silver-white hair with faint turquoise streaks reaching nearly to the waistband of her white shorts. She wore a hot pink top that revealed just enough of her sun-bronzed breasts to cause vivid images to flash through his mind. He felt himself begin to harden as he wondered whether her whole breast was the same tanned bronze or if the breast itself was still creamy pale. Shaking those thoughts away Xavier watched with intrigue as the spiky hair girl pulled her ID and cash from the black imitation leather bikini top she wore. {The places women kept things… too bad her maker hadn’t been as generous with her as the other two in the bikini top area.} His eyes quickly returned to the brunette as she retrieved the items from the back pocket of her shorts. If it had been her in the skimpy bikini top, he would know the answer to the tan line question. Xavier gave himself a mental shake once again as his body began to react to the images moving around his mind.

He quickly checked the ID’s of the group lingering on the silver-haired girl longer in search of her name, Joslyn. It suited her. Handing back the ID’s and collecting the cash, he began to fasten the wrist bands around each wrist. The boy and blond were given bands indicating them to be underage. It was the girl named Joslyn’s turn.

“Joslyn, is it?” Xavier asked, “Welcome, I hope you enjoy the entertainment for tonight. Do you surf?”

Joslyn glanced up at the man guiltily. She had been staring at his well-defined chest only slightly hidden by the tight surf shirt the man wore. [Damn… That body would definitely make a good distraction.] “I…. Uh… I’m sorry, surf?” Joslyn fumbled over her words. {Maybe it’s just frustration or something… If I just get laid, then I won’t be so tempted and can finally put this crazy thing with Russ behind me… If I don’t do something soon… I may just give in to him.} Joslyn’s mind went back to the night Russ was naked in her room. {I have to do something fast!}

Xavier met her eyes, now finished with the wrist band, slightly stunned by the mesmerizing aqua-blue pools. “Let me introduce myself. I’m Xavier DeMarco, part-owner of Biting Waves surf shop. We’re here to promote our new store tonight.” A wicked smile curved his lips as he added, “We provide private lessons to those who want to learn.” He let the hand, still clasped gently around her wrist, slide down over her hand. “I would love to have you.”

His words shocked her. {Is he openly hitting on me. This may go easier than I thought. It’s been so long since I actively tried to attract a guy…} Mischief colored her words as Joslyn replied, “You’d love to have me, huh?” Joslyn flashed him a flirty grin as she turned away from the table, pulling her hand back as she moved, “It’s a definite maybe...” She widened her grin, took a cup, and turned toward the nearest keg. “…If you can find me after you’re done here.” With her cup filled, she glanced back at him over her shoulder and winked, “Until then…” she walked toward the lone male of the group still waiting for her a short distance away.

Joslyn frowned as she walked toward Russ who was waiting for her at the edge of the growing crowd. He had a beer in hand as he stood unsteadily in the loose sand of the beach. “Where did you get that from?” She asked glancing at the beer.

“Some hot chicks… hic… said to come find them when this is empty.” Russ then turned up the beer and chugged the rest of the can but lost balance and fell into Joslyn.

With her hands pressed to his chest to stop him from completely toppling on top of her, she pleaded, “Please don’t do anything too reckless tonight.” She could see the hurt in his eyes that she had put there, and she knew good and well she would only be putting more pain and hurt into those beautiful eyes. “Please…”

“There’s a simple solution if you don’t want me getting into trouble…” Russ placed his hands over hers as he leaned in wobbly, “stay by my side tonight.”

Reflexively Joslyn glanced back at the dark-haired man running the booth. He was busy going over pamphlets with a new bunch of party guests. She didn’t notice until Russ’s lips were already to her ear that he had even moved. “I know what you’re thinking… Be with me instead.” His words were a light whisper that sent chills down her spine.

“Russ…” His name slipped out unintentionally. No sooner had his name left her lips, he placed a light kiss on her neck. The energy jolting from the area of the kiss snapped her back to reality. She quickly pushed him away and started moving to the main area where the rest of their small group was already dancing. Russ stumbled behind her, mumbling profanities under his breath.

The night had grown dark. The cloudless sky canopied in a blanket of bright stars and a beautiful nearly full moon, filling in the areas left unreached by the various bonfires and stage lights illuminating the beach. The band had already taken one short break and was now back to playing at full rock star capacity.

“We’ve done all we can here, time to go lift some skirt, bro.” Xavier glanced over at his partner and younger brother, not surprised by the comment. “You can finally search the flock for that piece you were so taken by earlier.”

Xavier rolled his eyes. His partner (most of the time he hated to even admit to himself the guy was his brother) was somewhat of an asshole and often let his age show when he was drunk. “Dante you are such an unbelievable douche bag. One: she’s not a ‘piece’, though I have to admit she is attractive. Two: I don’t think anyone uses the word ‘taken’ anymore.”

It was now Dante’s turn to roll his eyes. He placed one arm around his brother’s shoulder and said, “X, my man, look around. It’s a party, we’re surrounded by hot blooded, horny drunks. Just look out over the crowd. By now there are more clothes on the ground than on the backs of people.” Dante turned his attention away from the crowd and back to his brother, “You don’t want your ripe little peach plucked by someone else, do you?” He arched a brow as he added. “You know, the guy she was with seemed incredibly interested in her, I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s not out there making a move right now.”

Xavier glanced out over the crowd searching for any sign of silver hair. He had seen her return for refills several times throughout the night and had managed a word here and there between new comers and potential customers, but he hadn’t been the only person trying to catch her attention and the harsh glairs from the werewolf man with her hadn’t missed his attention. With a nod of his head, Xavier patted Dante’s back and headed out toward the crowd. He glanced back one last time at Dante, “Please stay out of trouble, and if you need me, I have my smart watch on. Just send a message and I’ll get it.”

The first girl from Joslyn’s group Xavier passed was the blonde werewolf standing at one edge of the stage, all starry eyed as she kept full focus on the drummer of the band. Then the spiky haired girl, she was gyrating her back side against an even taller man’s groin. Further through the crowd he found the male beyond drunk and practically humping the leg of some poor female. {Freaking werewolves} Xavier thought, shaking his head as he walked past. It was starting to look bleak for him as he passed another couple making out hot and heavy by one of the many bonfires. As he continued to head farther away from the main crowd and towards the water, checking every female face as he went, he let images of what he wanted to do once he found Joslyn play through his head.

Finally reaching the water line, he curled his toes in the soft cool sand letting the warm waves swash softly over his bare ankles. A small splash brought his attention up from his feet to scan over the shimmering water. Another splash sounded revealing the outline of a female diving into the waves.