 by Alexa Land.jpg)
Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 64847 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 324(@200wpm)___ 259(@250wpm)___ 216(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 64847 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 324(@200wpm)___ 259(@250wpm)___ 216(@300wpm)
But when a wealthy CEO makes me an offer, it’s too good to turn down. It's not just about the money, though. He’s never been with a man before, and I love the idea of being his first.
This arrangement comes with an expiration date, and we've agreed there are no strings attached. The only problem? I’m starting to fall for my client.
Is there any chance this could turn into something real? Or am I headed for heartbreak?
This spicy, lighthearted gay romance is set in the world of Alexa Land’s Firsts and Forever Series, and it can be read as a stand-alone.
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
1
Timothy
This could only end badly.
I knew that as soon as I saw the Godzilla-sized wave rolling in, but I made the terrible decision to go for it anyway. Quick glances to my left and right told me the other students in my beginning surfing class were hanging back. They probably cringed when I started paddling, because they all knew what was about to happen.
I was committed now though, so I paddled with everything I had to try to stay in front of the wave. This all came down to timing. When I felt the swell begin to lift my board, I leapt to my feet, and my arms shot out automatically for balance. Suddenly, it was happening—I was hurtling forward, riding the wave, and it was glorious!
As the wave crested overhead, I felt like such a bad-ass. I was shooting the curl, like a dude on the cover of a surfing magazine. Hell yeah! I, Timothy Pasternak, was a natural, a surfing legend in the making. The Hawaii 5-0 theme song started playing in my head.
Two seconds later, about a billion gallons of water came crashing down on me.
I drew a quick breath as the board shot out from under my feet and I hit the water. The wave spun me around like a sock in a washing machine. For a few seconds, I didn’t know which way was up or down. It felt surreal when I noticed a fish directly above (or below?) me, getting carried along by the same wave. He looked as startled as I felt, but to be fair, he probably always looked like that.
Then I bobbed to the surface, sputtering and wheezing with the tang of salt water in my mouth. The next wave pushed me toward the shore, and I started swimming in that direction.
Eventually, I dragged myself—and by default, the surfboard tethered to my ankle—onto the beach. As I sprawled out on the sand, I muttered, “Ow.”
A minute later, my friend Romy jogged up to me. His surfboard was tucked under his arm, and he looked a lot less bedraggled than I probably did. I asked him, “Did you see me? I actually caught that monster wave.”
“I did. Those two seconds were very impressive. Are you okay, though?”
“Not entirely.”
“What’s wrong?” As a former EMT, he was all set to launch into some sort of life-saving intervention.
“I tweaked my back, but it’s nothing serious.” It ached as I got to my feet, and I ran my palms over my borrowed wetsuit and said, “You know what my biggest mistake was?”
“Forgetting you’d only been surfing for two weeks?”
“No, lying in the sand. I coated myself like a catfish filet on the way to the deep fryer.”
I raised my sandy hands to show him, and Romy said, “I see your point. Come on, class is over, and we need to turn in our wetsuits.”
Predictably, our instructor was less than enthusiastic about my accomplishment. He lectured me about ‘knowing my limits’ while Romy and I peeled off the wetsuits, and I pretended to be contrite. But as we headed to the parking lot, I told my friend, “I regret nothing.”
“Even though you got banged up?”
“It was totally worth it. That ride might have been short, but it was epic while it lasted.” He looked skeptical, so I added, “The whole reason we’ve been taking these classes, both the pole dancing ones and now surfing, is to push our limits and find out what we’re capable of. That’s what I was doing when I decided to go for it.”
“Sure, but that doesn’t mean we should be reckless.”
That was the thing about Romy—he’d spent most of his life as an extremely cautious person. Recently though, he’d quit a job that made him miserable, and he’d gotten engaged to a gorgeous man who happened to be a former criminal. I had mad respect for him, because he was finally stepping out of his comfort zone. But at his core, he was still inherently cautious.
“It was a calculated risk,” I told him. “I may be new to surfing, but I’ve been snowboarding and skateboarding forever. It’s a similar skill set, so I thought maybe I could pull it off. Turns out no, but I owed it to myself to find out.”
When we reached the SUV he’d borrowed from his brother, we had to spend a couple of minutes trying to fit the surfboards in the back. Instead of using the loaner boards provided by the instructor, I’d impulsively purchased a pair of secondhand boards before the class started. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but I hadn’t factored in what a pain it would be to haul them around.
Once we were finally on our way across town, Romy asked, “So, what do you have planned for the rest of the day?”