lingered heavily as a few more riders raced up and down the hill. The gritty taste was already invading his mouth.
Before him it was becoming a game of one-upmanship as more individuals began to show off their talents or stupidity. Most riders at Glamis rode quads or drove Rhinos—a sand car, or rails, which were more acclimated to moving freely about the hills and mountains of sand.
The daredevil on the Honda went airborne again. This time he performed a Nac Nac, legs positioned and extended out on the same side of the bike, drawing himself back upon his ride before it landed. Drew had to hand it to him. It took a lot of moxie to ride a dirt bike in the sand. Not to mention strength. The guy’s arms must feel like jelly about now.
Josh yelled, “Hell, yeah,” as a woman following on a quad caught air. She rode it for a while before settling the four-wheeler down like it was nothing. The flow of hair trailing behind her helmet brought Drew’s mind back to Zoë. He had hurt her before he left for Iraq. He couldn’t blame her for never returning any of his letters.
His shoulders fell as he released a breath. God, he had missed her.
The years hadn’t erased his memories. He remembered the smell of Zoë’s skin, a soft, powdery musk, and the feel of her silky skin beneath his hands. She had been so innocent, but eager to please him. It hadn’t even entered her mind to stop him as he peeled her clothes off one article at a time.
His groin tightened with the thought of their first time together. Under a blanket of stars, he had removed her T-shirt that summer night. She gazed at him so trustingly with those big blue eyes. Her smile was timid and shy, moonlight bathing her in light and dark shadows. With a single tug, her bikini top came loose, baring her full breasts for his touch—his taste.
Beneath the heavens he had taken her down upon the sandy beach.
Drew tried to be gentle, make her first time a memory she’d never forget. But Zoë had been so willing, his feelings so raw, that just touching her had made his control waver. Like a nervous schoolboy, his hands shook, his breathing hard and labored. The moment he slid between her thighs, buried his cock deep, he was lost in the depth of his emotions. Her sharp inhale, the tender cry of his name on her lips as she shuddered in ecstasy, had scared the shit out of him.
Drew threw a nervous glance at Josh. Why hadn’t his friend mentioned his sister? Guilt and regret had been Drew’s friends for the past three years. Instead of the beating he’d expected when he showed up on Josh’s doorstep, he’d been invited for a weekend of fun in the sun, probably the last trip of the season if the heat bearing down upon his shoulders was any indication.
With the back of his hand he swiped at the beads of perspiration dampening his forehead. Nights were cool, sometimes downright chilly, while the days were drastically different. The Dunes could get hotter than a branding iron after March. In fact, the small restaurant and bar located in no-man’s land closed after Easter, which was only a couple of weeks away.
Midmorning and it was already warming up. More people were shedding layers of clothing by the minute.
Well, except for the blonde, who was now struggling to pull her jersey over her head as two rangers on ATVs headed in her direction. She quickly took a seat as the rail’s driver gave it gas. In a flash, they disappeared among the crowd that protectively folded around her.
A lighthearted chuckle pushed from Drew’s lips. Riders were a strange bunch, but they protected their own.
Glamis, California, known as The Sand Toy Capital of the World, attracted people like the fun-loving woman and the excellent rider who pulled a wheelie and was now riding his back tire in their direction.
Drew huffed, “Showoff,” as he settled back upon his quad and reached for the key to start the engine. It was time to ride. His butt and legs were going numb from staying idle for so long.
As if the rider heard Drew’s derogatory comment, his head turned, pinning his goggled sight right on Drew. The shaded lens lent eeriness to the stare. A whisper of unease Drew couldn’t explain made the hair rise on his arms. No one had hearing