by Anna Durand
My cheeks flamed.
"Sorry," Damian said to me. "I didn't mean to embarrass you. That was just guy talk. We can be real asses, you know?"
"Hey!" Ollie said. "Speak for yourself. I'm sensitive and charming. You're the douche who bangs women and never calls them back."
Damian strode up to me and claimed my free hand, raising it to his lips. He kissed my hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mara. I'm Damian Petrescu, a Ludar prince."
"A what?"
Ollie sighed and planted a hand on Damian's chest, pushing him away from me. "Damian's family emigrated from Romania a way long time ago, when the Ludar people fled. They still like to call themselves Rom, but most people call them gypsies."
"Don't be so culturally insensitive," Damian said. "Do I call you a nerd?"
"No, but we nerds own the title. That means it's no longer an insult. It's sexy."
I giggled. Seriously, I did. I must've sounded like an idiot, but I didn't care.
"Ollie is definitely one sexy nerd," I said. "And so unbelievably hot in bed."
Damian's brows shot up. He slung an arm around my shoulders and tugged me away from Ollie, leaning in to speak in a pseudo-whisper. "Now, Mara, you'll need to tell me all about that. Tell me everything he does to you."
Ollie seized my arm and hauled me away from Damian. "Leave my girl alone. Haven't you got a dozen of them waiting for you to go home? Maybe you should do that."
I might've thought they were arguing, if not for their smirks and the humor in their voices. These two had a strange friend dynamic, but I could go with the flow. A week ago, I would've freaked. Today, I could take it.
And give it.
Hugging Ollie, I said, "Maybe we should tape ourselves having sex. Then Damian can see for himself how wicked hot you are."
"Oh no," Ollie said, "Damian does not get to see you naked."
"What if I become a naturist like you?"
"You can't do that until after Damian goes home." Ollie shook his head. "No sex tapes. Haven't you heard how that turned out for Val?"
"Oh yeah, Eve told me. It got leaked on the internet."
"Fantastic!" Damian said. "I'll wait for yours to come up on Cinemax."
"Let's go outside," Ollie said, towing me toward the door. "Lots of girls for you to sexually harass out there, Damian. Maybe you'll get arrested, and I won't have to look at your ugly face anymore."
I let him take me outside, with Damian following.
Today might turn out to be even more exciting than yesterday.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Ollie
Damian Petrescu was an awesome friend. I would never have called it a bromance, because that term was so lame, but we were absolutely best friends. So I was glad to have him here, especially since he'd never visited the resort before. Now he got to see where I worked and why I'd quit being a computer systems engineer---well, after I got laid off I decided to quit that line of work---and took a job at a naturist resort. He seemed cool with the idea.
And of course, he loved watching the Kitten Brigade play volleyball. All but Heidi wore sports bras. Damian paid the most attention to her, tracking her every movement with his gaze.
Fine by me. If he slept with Heidi, maybe she'd stop pestering me to take her back.
Heidi was a nice girl, but I didn't want her anymore. She chucked me overboard. Why would I want to crawl back onto that boat?
Mara and I sat on a chaise together, with her on my lap. Nude guests weren't allowed to do this, since it was a violation of the resort rules, but Mara and I were both wearing clothes. We could totally paste ourselves to each other in public.
Damian reclined on the chaise next to us. He'd ditched his clothes.
Mara's jaw had dropped when he did that.
I did not get jealous. She still hadn't gotten completely comfortable with naked people, and Damian worked out a lot, so I expected her to be surprised by her first look at his physique. But she only stared at him for a few seconds, then she went back to adoring me, her lips curled up in a sweet smile.
Yeah, that worked for me.
Mara tickled my lips with her fingertips. "You don't have to keep your clothes on for my sake. I know you'd rather be nude, and I don't mind."
"You sure? I'm cool with staying covered up. You've had a lot of surprises lately, and I don't want to add more stress."
She grinned. "Seeing you naked is the antithesis of stressful. I love ogling you."
"Good. But getting naked would mean I have to move you off my lap, and I'm not ready to do that yet."
Eve and Val had ordered me to take the day off to spend time with my girl and my best friend. How could I say no to that? I hadn't seen Damian in almost a year, and I wanted lots more time with Mara. Catching up with Damian and hanging with Mara seemed like the best day ever.
Except Nico decided to butt his nose into things.
The volleyball game had just ended when the jerk approached us. Mara was still on my lap, her arms around my neck. Damian was still distracted by watching Heidi.
"Could we talk?" Nico asked Mara, completely ignoring me and the fact she was sprawled over my lap.
"No," Mara said, without even looking at him.
She didn't sound annoyed, or even vaguely interested. With her focus on me, she just seemed happy and not the least curious about why Nico wanted to talk.
"Please, Mara," the jerk said. "It's important."
With a sigh, Mara turned to look at him. "Maybe it's important to you, but it's not even a teeny bit important to me. I don't care what you want. I've moved on, and you should do the same."
She focused on me again.
Yeah, I liked this. Mara on my lap, Mara smiling at me, Mara giving her dick of an ex the big brush-off.
Nico hunched his shoulders, shoving his hands into his pants pockets. "Mara, please. You have every reason to tell me to buzz off, but I just want to talk. That's all. I swear."
He sounded contrite and maybe a little sad.
Aw, hell. Being a total sap, I felt bad for the guy. He had gotten scared shitless by a raccoon, and though I hadn't told anyone about that, I still felt for the guy. Maybe he'd realized, after his humiliating tree-hugging incident, that he needed to change his ways.
Mara sighed and asked me, "Would you mind?"
"If you talk to Nico? It's none of my business."
She chewed on her lip. "But we're together now."
"We met this week. You don't owe me any explanations, and you sure don't need my permission." I patted her leg. "Go on, it's okay."
Mara slid off my lap. "All right, Nico, let's talk."
I watched them wander off toward the little house. Once they'd gone inside, I got up and stretched, trying to think of what I should do while Mara was gone.
Damian raised his brows at me. "You're one brave guy, Ollie. Don't think I would've let my new girlfriend run off with her ex."
"They didn't run off. They went into the house for privacy."
"How much history do they have? Did they date for a long time?"
I hesitated, not sure why, before I answered. "They were married for two years. Knew each other since college, though."
Damian's brows hiked up even more. "Damn, that's... Are you sure you're okay? I like Mara, but if she still wants to hear what her ex has to say, I'm thinking it's not as over as you might want to believe."
"You met Mara a couple hours ago. I know her better."
"Uh-huh." He sat up, straddling the chaise. "Look, man, I'm your best friend. It's my job to make sure you're not jumping headfirst into an empty pool."
"Mara is the most amazing girl I've ever met."
"Yeah, but is she really over her ex?" He held up his hands when I started to protest. "Hey, just doing my best friend job here."
"I know you mean well, but stay out of it. Okay?"
"Sure. Whatever you want. Keep your eyes open, that's all I'm saying. My Ludar
lidar is pinging like crazy."
"Your Ludar lidar thought Trina was the perfect woman for me. But she dumped me for another girl."
"It's not a foolproof system."
Yeah, Damian loved to talk about Ludar lidar. He was a Ludar by heritage, but they didn't have lidar back when his ancestors fled Romania. That was a modern technology, like radar but with lasers instead of microwaves. Whenever Damian thought I was making a mistake, or stepping into iffy territory, he would tell me his Ludar lidar was pinging.
"You said your piece," I told him. "Let's drop the subject, okay? Help me figure out what to do to distract myself while Mara's having a heart-to-heart with her ex-husband."
Damian glanced at the Kittens, who were gathered at the other end of the lawn, laughing and making big hand gestures. "I wonder what those luscious ladies are up to."
"No frigging idea."
He got up, smiled, and slapped my arm. "Let's go find out."
Sure, I wanted to go hang out with my ex while Mara had a private meeting with her ex. Which meant I didn't want to do it at all. This day had started out so good, with my girl and my best friend. Now it seemed primed for getting flushed down the toilet, with all my good luck swirling and swirling until it dropped into the septic tank of life.
Yeah, that was my luck. A rotten shithole buried under my feet.
I could tell from Damian's expression that he really wanted to meet the Kitten Brigade.
"Sure," I said, "let's go see what they're up to."
Chapter Twenty-Three
Mara
Why was I inside Eve and Val's house talking to Nico when I'd rather be outside with Ollie? I felt sorry for Nico, I guessed. Which was ridiculous. He filed for divorce. He made me feel unworthy, like a total screw-up who didn't deserve to be with him. Sure, he never said those exact words. But I heard them between the lines.
Our marriage had started out good. I couldn't deny that.
But he trashed it, not me.
Nico sat on a stool at the kitchen island, while I stood on the opposite side of it. I wanted distance between us, to let him know I was not ready and willing to leap into his arms at the first chance.
He fidgeted, scratching his neck. "Look, I know I messed up big time. I had a great girl. I had you, and I threw it all away. It was the worst mistake of my life."
"You wanted a divorce, Nico. I gave it to you."
"Thought that's what I wanted, but I realize now I was just scared."
"Of what?"
He glanced down at his lap, then back up at me. "I love you so much, and I didn't think I deserved a woman as special and incredible as you. Kept thinking you'd leave me. So I, uh, decided leaving you first was the best way to keep from getting hurt later on."
"You said I was stifling you. That my neurotic behavior drove you crazy, and you couldn't stand being with such a screw-up."
"I know. I said that." He rested his arms on the island, keeping his head bowed. "That was my fear talking. Took me a long time to realize it, but I made a huge mistake that I need to fix."
What on earth did he expect me to say to that? Everything he'd said and done during the last six months of our marriage had shown me how little he cared about me. When he'd moved out, I had cried---but I'd been angry too. When he filed for divorce, I cried and languished in a blue mood for a week, but then I'd tried to get on with my life. Now he'd changed his mind. He wanted me back?
Oh come on.
I crossed my arms over my chest. "Why should I believe you?"
He knifed his fingers through his hair, letting out a long breath. Then he walked around the island to me, laying a hand on my shoulder. "I missed you so much, Mara. Not having you in my life for six months---eight including the separation---it made me realize how much I love you. I got scared, acted like a jerk, and fucked up everything."
"What do you expect me to say? You wanted a divorce."
"Because I was terrified you'd leave me for somebody better."
I tried to be angry. I should've been angry. But the look on his face, the tone of his voice, those things stopped me. He seemed so...sincere. Part of me wanted to believe him. The end of my marriage had been my worst screw-up ever, something my mom never let me forget. How could I let a catch like Nico get away, she'd asked over and over and over. I knew she'd been trying, in her own bizarre way, to help me with those comments. She honestly believed I would've been better off with Nico.
He had been a catch. An attractive, charming, successful man who owned his own restaurant. He'd been featured in the biggest restaurant-industry magazines as an up-and-coming entrepreneur and five-star-worthy chef. Of course my mom thought Nico Marshall was the perfect man for me.
"We used to be so good together," he said, rubbing my shoulder. "Don't we owe it to each other to give it another try? Come home with me. Please."
Yeah, Nico could be charming. But he was also the man who'd jabbed tiny pins into me with every sneaky little comment he made about my body, my enthusiasm for sex, the way I ate, and anything else that didn't conform to his standards for appropriate behavior.
"I've changed," he said. "Please, Mara, give me another chance."
My husband wanted my forgiveness. My ex-husband. I had loved him once upon a time, but I'd believed I'd gotten over that. Had I really? Did I still love him, even a little bit? God, I didn't know anymore. The week had been confusing and wonderful, almost like a dream.
This morning, everything had seemed crystal clear. Now I was trying to see through a fog of confusion.
Nico acted sincere.
What about Ollie? I adored him, but we'd met this week. I didn't know him that well, to be honest. I wanted to know him better, but now Nico had to throw this at me. Should I give in to his contrition and give him another chance? Should I tell him to buzz off and run back out there to find Ollie? All my old fears and anxieties came flooding back while I studied Nico's face. Maybe he would be different this time. Maybe Ollie would get sick of my neuroses and my hang-ups, and he'd leave me too. Maybe Nico was the best I deserved.
Dammit, that was Nico talking, getting inside my head.
And still...those doubts kept niggling at me.
"I don't know," I told Nico. "Give me some time to think."
"Sure. Take all the time you need."
Nico's smile seemed a little sad, but also a little hopeful. He wandered out of the house.
I waited a few minutes, standing there in the kitchen thinking about my life, the mistakes I'd made, the two men who wanted me. Was I a fling for Ollie? His ex-girlfriend wanted him back. They had history, while I was just the crazy girl who'd fainted in his arms.
Was fate trying to tell me something? If so, I had no idea what.
Finally, I went outside and looked for Ollie. I spotted him at the far end of the lawn with Damian---and the Kitten Brigade. They all seemed to be playing charades, so I walked over there.
The girl who had been making gestures to depict who-knew-what finished up right as I got to the group.
"How was that the Eiffel Tower?" Damian asked. "You looked like an uptight whooping crane."
Ollie snorted. "Like you've ever seen a whooping crane."
"I did see one. In a PBS documentary."
"Yeah, right." Ollie rolled his eyes. "The day you watch PBS is the day I join a monastery."
Ollie noticed me, smiled, and waved for me to come over to where he and Damian sat on the grass. I settled onto the ground beside him, my knees tucked under me.
He leaned in to whisper, "How'd it go?"
I shrugged.
"It's Heidi's turn!" one of the girls shouted.
Heidi trotted up to the spot the other girl had just vacated, positioned directly in front of the crowd. Another girl handed her a folded slip of paper. Heidi opened it and read whatever was written on the paper. Her brows crinkled, her nose too.
Must've been a hard one.
She crumpled the paper
and tossed it into a large paper cup that seemed to be acting as a trash can. I could see other crumpled papers inside it.
Heidi began to pantomime. She waved her arms and tipped sideways, raising one foot off the ground.
Ollie watched her with a rapt expression.
A beautiful, naked woman showing off her body in front of her ex-boyfriend, the man I was currently sleeping with? No, that didn't bother me at all.
In the kitchen with Nico, I'd wondered if I should take him back. Now, I was jealous of Ollie ogling Heidi. I finally understood the concept of being torn between two men. Or maybe I was just crazy, like most people thought.
Heidi waved her arms with more enthusiasm, tipping left and right, making her breasts bounce.
Damian made a catcall.
The other girls clapped and shouted out silly things like, "You're a drunk astronaut!"
Ollie kept staring at Heidi, his lips parted and curved into a relaxed smile.
"Don Quixote," I called out.
Everyone froze and fell silent. All eyes turned to me.
Heidi's face blanked. "Wow, that's right. How did you know?"
"You were making like a windmill and tilting. Don Quixote tilted at windmills."
Heidi blinked several times, still seeming shocked. "You're really smart, Mara."
"Um, thanks."
Ollie looked at me, grinning.
And naturally, Nico appeared right then. He ambled over to the group and sat down beside me, sandwiching me between him and Ollie.
Nico patted my knee in a too-intimate way. "Hey, Mara. Thanks for listening, and I hope you'll think about what I said. It's not too late for us."
I scooted closer to Ollie.
And Ollie squinted at Nico, his lips flattened.
Nico smiled at me in a way an ex-husband should not be smiling at his ex-wife when she was with someone else. I wanted to deck him. Then push him into a colony of velvety tree ants. While he was naked. So yeah, I didn't want Nico anymore. His pleas in the kitchen might've made me doubt that for a while, but I was over it.
