by Megan McCoy
“Same, surprise me. I’m sure anything you come up with will be perfect,” Tracy said smiling and taking the menu Julius was holding out to him. His irritation from before completely gone, one perfectly sculpted eyebrow arched in Julius’ direction.
“Okay, I’ll be back with drinks shortly, if you have any questions about the menu, let me know,” Julius said smiling at them both; his gaze lingered on Tracy a little longer before he turned and left.
“Damn! How did we get so lucky? That man is fucking gorgeous,” Tracy whispered as soon as Julius was out of earshot. He turned over his menu and began to read it curiously. “What looks good to you? I haven’t eaten since breakfast.”
Monica shrugged and looked at her menu again. “I haven’t really had a chance to look at the menu much, but I’m thinking seafood and more seafood since we are so damn close to the water. And to answer your first question we aren’t that lucky. It’s not just him; damn near every man that works here is fine as hell! Handsome and muscles must be part of the job description, I have pinched myself about a dozen times to make sure I’m not dreaming or something. This place literally is scattered with good looking men,” Monica whispered back, taking a drink from her water glass.
They were right on the edge of the dining room before the outdoor seating began. Monica sighed contently as she heard the waves hitting the beach a few yards away, this was going to be a great two weeks. She looked up at the silver-bell-decorated chandeliers, idly wondering how long it took to get the strings of silver bells perfectly set between the beads of crystals that hung from the arms of the fixtures.
“Well then, excellent choice on the resort, Monica. Two weeks of eye candy everywhere I turn? I’m down. You look fierce as fuck by the way. I told you that shade of yellow would make your skin pop!” Tracy winked at Monica when she looked at him again, before returning her attention back to the menu.
She had been so distracted admiring all of the Christmas decorations that she still had no idea what she was going to eat. “As much as I hate to admit it, you were right as always, Tray. I really love this dress. To be honest, I wouldn’t have thought this style would look good on me but I have to say I like it,” Monica admitted, before a peanut-butter-hued arm came out of nowhere and placed a drink in front of her, causing her to jump. She gazed up from the arm and she came face to face with what had to be the finest man she had ever seen on the planet.
He was tall, at least 6’1”, his eyes were brown and sparkled because of the inviting, friendly smile on his face, as he looked down at her. His light and thin mustache rested over his full top lip perfectly, he had a bit of hair on his chin, but not what she would call a full beard or goatee. His chiseled cheekbones were pronounced and high on his oval-shaped face and his hair, Monica couldn’t get past the long, curly, dark hair he had pulled back into a neat ponytail.
“Hummingbird,” he said to her softly, still smiling. His accent added even more to his attractiveness.
“Um no, you might have the wrong table. My name is Monica, not Hummingbird.” Monica answered regrettably, almost trancelike, still staring up at him.
He chuckled, before smiling even brighter, reaching over and setting a drink in front of Tracy too. “Good to meet you, Monica, but I was referring to the name of the drink. It’s called a Hummingbird,” he explained, standing upright and still smiling at Monica. For some reason, the way he seemed to drop the ‘H’ in Hummingbird, so it sounded like ‘Ummingbird,’ gave her chills.
“Oh. I’m so sorry, it’s just, um,” she trailed off, her eyes taking in his handsome features again. She noticed his dark slacks, apron and button-down white shirt before staring up into his face again. The man looked sexier in a waiter’s uniform than most men did in a three-piece suit. Good Lord, he was nice to look at!
“It’s just that she had too much sun earlier and she’s a little thirsty, that’s what she was trying to say,” Tracy quickly explained, smiling up at the waiter, as he kicked Monica under the table. He frowned at her and mouthed the words, ‘What the hell?’
“Ouch! Yeah, what he said.” Monica snapped out of her trance. “I guess I had too much sun today. It’s my first day here, I think I overdid it. Thank you for the drink,” Monica said quickly, picking up the drink and taking a sip as she glared at Tracy for kicking her. “Mmm, this is really good!” She nodded, smiling up at the waiter and feeling like a complete idiot, first for thinking he thought her name was ‘Hummingbird’ and second for staring at him like he was an exhibit at a museum.
“So, what is this one called?” Tracy asked taking a sip of his own drink, shaking his head at Monica as he tasted it. “Drink up, Monica, you look really thirsty,” he quipped with a smirk in her direction.
“Yours is called a ‘Dirty Banana.’ Julius thought you would enjoy it; he got tied up at another table and asked me to deliver your drinks,” the waiter explained to Tracy, before his gaze drifted back to Monica. It seemed that even though he had successfully delivered their drinks, the waiter was in no hurry to leave.
“I see, I’ll have to thank him when comes to take our order. And thank you, um, what did you say your name was?” Tracy asked the waiter after winking over at Monica who was still glaring at him, even more so after his ‘thirsty’ comment.
“I didn’t say, but my name is Dominic,” he said, holding the round tray he’d carried the drinks over on, in front of him. “And you are?” he asked Tracy.
“I’m Tracy. So, is it safe to assume if we need a refill, we just call out ‘Dominic’ and you’ll come rushing over with another one of these wonderful concoctions?” Tracy asked reaching over and taking Monica’s glass to taste her drink too.
Dominic smiled, nodding at Tracy before looking over at Monica again and smiling even bigger. “You can call me anytime and I’ll come running, I will keep coming all night if need be. Anyway, enjoy your evening, welcome to Barbados and it was nice to meet you, Tracy and Hummingbird, I mean Monica.” He turned to leave, just as Julius stepped back up to take their order. Dominic looked over his shoulder one more time, smiling at Monica.
Tracy took another taste of her drink before giving it back to her, after Julius took their orders and left again. “I take back what I said a few minutes ago, Julius is a good-looking man, a damn good-looking man, but as God is my witness, Dominic the bartender is freaking gorgeous!” he said, fanning himself with his hand. “And he seems to only have eyes for you, Mon, and you heard him, he can keep coming all night if need be.”
Dominic. Dom. Just the bartender’s name, alone, sent her mind into all sorts of kinky scenarios. Yes, she decided right then and there, she want to know if Dominic had more to offer than just a promising name.
Chapter 4
The bright Barbados sun peeked through Monica’s window way too early and too brightly the next morning. It felt like a laser piercing directly into her skull. “Ugh, how can something with such an innocent sounding name make me feel like this?” Monica winced, pulling one of her pillows over her head to block out the sunlight.
She had no idea how many Hummingbirds and Dirty Bananas she and Tracy had consumed the night before, but her pounding head told her whatever the number, it was one too many. The last thing she remembered was singing Christmas carols with her bestie at the bar during karaoke after the dining room closed.
True to his word, every time she or Tracy called, Dominic came running with another drink. If she wasn’t mistaken, he’d even stayed long enough to sing along with them once, well not them, he sang along with her to ‘Baby, It’s Cold Outside.’
Monica lay there trying to figure out if any of the three pairs of sunglasses she’d brought with her were going to be dark enough to begin her day, when she heard a soft snore. Slowly, she pulled the pillow from her face and looked over at the other side of her bed. For a second, she thought Tracy was too drunk to find his room and had crashed with her last night. But no, Tracy wore a bald fade with colored highlights. This person had long, curly hair that
was fanned over their face; one peanut-buttered-hued bare shoulder peeked out from beneath the crisp white sheets.
Monica sat up slowly, clutching the sheet to her as she moved off the bed. The unbuttoned white shirt she was wearing dropped past her knees when she stood up; needless to say, it wasn’t hers. She breathed a sigh of relief when she noticed she was still wearing her yellow thong from the night before, but did that really mean anything? It was a scrap of lace that could have been pushed to the side in haste, her common sense argued annoyingly.
The man in her bed moved, no, the DOMINIC in her bed moved. He pushed his hair out of his face and slept on.
“Shit! Shit! Shit!” Monica swore softly and snatched her phone off the bedside table and tiptoed her way to the bathroom. Swiftly locking the door behind her, she dialed Tracy’s number.
“Sis, it’s too early, the beach will be there in a few hours, go back to bed,” he moaned into the phone when he answered, she could tell he was suffering too.
“Tracy, I can’t go back to bed!” Monica whispered, turning on the water in the sink to drown out the sound her voice. “There is a man in it! There is a man in my bed!” she whispered fiercely, gripping the phone tighter.
“Now, what now?” Tracy asked, suddenly sounding completely awake. She could hear him moving around in his bed. “What the hell did you just say, Monica?” he demanded.
“Tracy, I said there is a man in my bed, and not just some random man either. Dominic the bartender is asleep in my bed!” Monica whispered fiercely again before pushing her braids out of her face and looking in the mirror. She had what looked like a hickey right below her collarbone and that was saying something, considering how dark she was. Oh damn! What did she do last night or this morning or whatever?
“Come again, say what? I know good and damn well you didn’t just say Dominic, fine ass, Dominic the bartender, is in your fucking bed, Mon!” Tracy exclaimed sounding like he was going to burst with excitement in the middle of her dilemma.
“Tracy, that is exactly what I’m telling you!” Monica snapped, before she went back to whispering, while pacing back and forth in the bathroom and biting her thumbnail. “I’m in my freaking thong and the man’s shirt, Tracy! What the fuck happened last night?” she asked, hoping like hell Tracy remembered more than she did.
Tracy let out snort. “Shit I have no idea, I don’t even remember how I got back to my room,” he admitted as he yawned.
Monica threw her hands up in frustration. “Tracy, this is an entire ass mess! I have a hickey, a fucking hickey on my collarbone!” she said, getting loud again. “And did you not hear me when I said I was in Dominic’s shirt and my thong? That’s it, Tracy, after all of this time of fighting it, I have hoe tendencies! I don’t even know where my fucking bra is at this point!”
“Yasss, Queen Yass! You have arrived!” Tracy screamed into the phone, making her head pound and her stomach churn.
She reached over, grabbed a white washcloth, wet it and pressed it to her forehead. “Oh, my gospel, Tray. Not so loud, and this is nothing to celebrate! I have a man in my damn bed that I haven’t even known twenty-four hours and I have no idea what happened with him!” Monica whispered, even a little louder, gripping the phone even tighter.
“Well, Sis, then I strongly suggest you wake his fine ass up and make him either tell you what happened, or my personal choice, show you what happened,” Tracy cackled in her ear.
“You know, Tracy, sometimes I have no idea why I deal with your sick and twisted ass! I just told you I have a strange man, no matter how fine he is, in my bed and you are over there cracking jokes! I have never done anything like this before in my life! I came to Barbados and became a hoe overnight!” Monica whined and sat down on the edge of the tub, pressing the towel to her face.
“Oh, Monica, please. It’s not that serious, Sis. You are a grown ass woman who was attracted to a grown ass man and acted on it, plain and simple. It’s about damn time you let your hair down and enjoyed your damn life! And furthermore, you know your body better than anyone. Does it even feel like you had sex?” Tracy asked her. She was sure, knowing Tracy, he was smirking at her over the phone.
Monica lifted her head and thought for a minute, even moved from side to side for good measure, no soreness and she hadn’t been intimate with Joseph since January. “See, Tracy, this is why I love you, you are always my voice a reason. Let me stop hiding in this bathroom, go wake this man up and figure out what the hell happened.” Monica changed her mind about wanting to find a new best friend, and standing back up, turned off the water running in the sink.
“Monica, did your crazy, dramatic ass just say you are hiding in the bathroom? Knowing good and damn well you are in an entire suite, complete with an entire ass living room? Girl! I simply cannot with you. Please get your simple ass outta the water closet, and go talk to that man, damn!”
Monica quickly took Dominic’s shirt off and pulled on the short cotton robe that was hanging on the hook behind the bathroom door. “Damn, Tracy why I gotta be simple? Anyway, I’ll call you back in a few,” she said, reaching out to open the door.
“No heffa, I will call you back when I wake up. You can spill your tea later, I need at least another two hours of beauty sleep before I’ll be ready for you and your foolishness. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do, Sis. Love you and kiss, kiss!” Tracy told her and ended the call.
Monica took a deep breath, opened the door and tiptoed back into the bedroom.
Dominic was sitting up in her bed with a smile on his face and his muscular chest on display. He looked even better with his hair down and wild.
Her knees went weak and she stumbled over her own feet staring at him. Father God give her strength, this man has had her off center since she met him!
“Good morning, Hummingbird. How are you feeling?” Dominic asked her with a teasing smile. “By the way, I think you should know you really suck at whispering. Besides that, the bathrooms here have one hell of an echo,” Dominic told her, smiling even brighter as she blushed from the tips of her hair to her manicured toenails.
Chapter 5
“Um, Good morning, Dominic. So, what did you hear?” Monica said, still blushing as she walked over and laid his shirt on the edge of the bed in front of him before closing her shutters to block out the beaming sun; she was hurting bad.
She hoped he would take the hint to put it on because damn! The man looked like perfection personified and it was too damn early in the morning and she was obviously too damn hung over and too attracted to him to functionally stay in her right mind around him.
“Everything, Monica. But rest easy, beautiful, nothing happened between us last night. Well, things happened, just not what you’re thinking,” he told her, throwing back the covers and revealing he was still in his slacks and black socks.
His accent was like a soft kiss on the back of her neck and she fought the urge to moan as she felt her middle begin to twitch at the feelings just his voice gave her, even as relief washed over her to see that he was still fully dressed from the waist down.
“Oh, thank God! I woke up next to you and in your shirt and I thought, never mind what I thought. My head, God, my head hurts,” she babbled and sat down in the chair in the corner of the room holding her head. “What the hell did I drink last night?” she asked, pointlessly massaging her temples.
“You only had Hummingbirds, so rum, creme de cacao white, bananas and grenadine,” Dominic explained as he walked out of the room briefly and came back with a bottle of water and a packet of ibuprofen. “Here, this should help with that; this, and sleep. Three hours is not enough rest after all you drank. I know you’re on vacation but you still need to take care of yourself. Knowing what I know now, I will never serve you or allow you to be served that many drinks again. You getting that drunk again is not safe,” he informed her walking over and pulling on his shirt and shoes.
“You won’t allow me to get that drunk again, huh? Interesting. Thank you for
the medicine and water, but I left my daddy in Colorado, Dominic. And I will sleep, but before that I have to know, you said things happened between us, what things?” she asked with a bit of attitude, taking the medicine and drinking the entire bottle of water.
Dominic stood at the edge of the bed, still smiling as he buttoned his shirt; looking like a freaking dream come to life. “That’s right, I won’t allow you to be that careless again and we’ll talk about that and the ‘things’ that happened between us later, Hummingbird. I promise you, nothing went too far, I wouldn’t have allowed it to in your state of mind last night, or this morning, whichever you want to call it. I know you don’t know me that well yet, but trust me when I say you will always be safe with me.” Walking back over to where she was sitting, he leaned down and kissed her softly on the forehead. “Now get some rest, you will feel better once you do.” He winked at her before standing upright and walked out of the bedroom whistling, ‘Baby, It’s Cold Outside’ as he went; a few seconds later she heard the door to her suite open and close.
Monica got up from the chair, crawled back into bed and pulled the sheet up to her chin, the duvet was neatly folded down at the foot of the bed. When she turned her head on her pillow, the scent of Dominic’s cologne or oil or shampoo or whatever the hell the inviting scent was that he was wearing enveloped her as she closed her eyes. “What the fuck, Monica? What in the actual fuck?” she kept asking herself over and over again until she fell asleep.
“So, if he said nothing happened, then nothing happened, Mon. Stop overthinking it and let’s go. Our snorkeling lesson is in twenty minutes,” Tracy said standing in her suite a few hours later, looking refreshed and well rested.
