They walked in silence toward his favorite Mexican hole in the wall. Ate, speaking little. Afterwards, he walked her to her hotel, wanting to see her safe.
“Will I…will I see you again?”
He smiled slightly and shook his head. “I don’t think that’s a good idea, Aphrodite.”
She caught her lip between her teeth studying him for an endless moment. “Okay, thanks, then. I leave tomorrow.”
“Me, too.” He kissed her cheek, opened the doorway to the foyer, and watched her sexy hips roll as she sauntered toward the counter. Damn. So fucking sexy.
As he wandered back toward the beach, wondering where he’d sleep tonight, figuring he could find a secluded place on the shoreline somewhere, a female voice called out to him.
“Any luck?”
He glanced around. The girl he’d met earlier, Monica, sat at a street-side café. “With?” he asked.
“Your girl. I saw you walking with her. Did you patch things up?”
“Yes and no,” he said, still caught in his blurred lines reality. “We got to a resolution.”
“Good,” said Monica. “If she hurt you, though, she’s still not worth it.”
“You’re right,” Zack said. “That’s why I’m letting her go.” Another stab of pain lanced through him, thinking of the baby—his baby—that would not be, but the pain seemed different…not as fierce as before.
He lifted his hand in a farewell gesture, in search of a bar, before he sought a place to sleep. As he walked, he unzipped his duffle, and rummaged around for his wallet. He still had a few dollars left. Enough to get good and drunk. His hand closed around something he didn’t recognize. He pulled it out and cursed. “Goddamn it, its Aphrodite’s cell phone. It must have dropped in my bag. Shit,” he muttered. He didn’t want to see her again. He didn’t want to make this a thing, or give her hope, or make her think he’d deliberately taken her phone. I’ll drop it off at the hotel desk, no big deal. His manhood, however, already rising to the occasion, had different ideas. The best plan was to reason with himself as to why he could never see Aphrodite again. Right. Like I ever listen to reason.
Aphrodite and Adonis
Book Three
“No, Justin,” Tara Lynne said on the room phone to her soon to be ex-boyfriend, perched on the stupid, cruddy mattress in the even stupider hotel room he’d booked. He wasn’t my soon to be ex when I arrived here this afternoon. But then he stood me up. And then, on the bus on the way here, I met…she licked her lips. Adonis.
She nervously twirled a strand of her hair around and around her finger, staring at her tawdry surroundings. Maybe I should give Justin another chance. She bit her lip, thinking of her and Justin’s lengthy relationship. Together since freshmen in high school. Born and raised in the same small town in Kentucky, a tiny city named Beehive, population six hundred ninety-five.
She kept Justin out of trouble. He kept her from growing bored as she spent her life, well…keeping him out of trouble. But now even, that was boring. She weighed her stupid relation with the way Adonis had made her feel today. She fanned her face, growing hotter by the second as she thought of the handsome hunk of male. Justin never came close to giving her that kind of pleasure.
The sounds of traffic zipping along the streets, occasionally honking, blasted through the open window. She’d cracked it the moment she’d dragged herself in the hotel room. Even though night had descended over the seaside town of San Diego, the air conditioner made gasping, wheezing, rattling noises, barely cooling the stifling room. It needed the help from the open window.
A sad picture of even sadder flowers that looked straight out of a Walmart warehouse hung over her head. An old, funky TV sat on the stand across from the bed. How am I going to tell him? Should I tell him from here or wait until I get home? She bit her lip, considering. Let’s wait. She turned to punch her cheap, synthetic pillow into some kind of submission and settled back against it.
She lifted her heavy mane of dark hair, twirled it into a messy bun on top of her head, and stuck a hotel pen through it to keep it aloft. “I don’t want you to come down here tomorrow. Think about it. That would only give us a few hours before we have to turn around and head back.” And it would destroy any chance of seeing Adonis, the, oh, so sexy Navy man again. Not that she would.
He’d made it clear he wanted no more contact after their sexy trysts, one in the late afternoon in the public bathroom on the So Cal beach and the other in the red phone booth at that funky, decrepit boardwalk carnival place. He’d head out tomorrow, she’d head out tomorrow. Done deal. And heck, he didn’t even know her name. He called her Aphrodite. She called him Adonis. It had been one big blurred lines fantasy. Still…
“Well, I guess you should have thought of that when you decided to bail on the weekend and take off with your crew to spin around a dirt track with other idiots spinning around a dirt track on your motorcycles. We’ve gone over this a thousand times.”
She let out a disgusted sound. “Look, I’m tired and I want to go to sleep. I’ll see you tomorrow when I get home.” She listened, then pursed her lips. “It was a mistake. How do I know what happened to my mobile phone? If I knew, I’d have it with me, wouldn’t I? No, you don’t have to buy me a new one. I’ll deal.”
She hadn’t seen it for a while and she’d only recently discovered it gone when she got to her hotel room. It could be anywhere—on the beach, in the public restroom, at the bar, in the phone booth? She shivered, thinking of what she’d done in those places…what she’d done with him.
Sexy as sin, he’d shown her things in the past few hours Justin couldn’t even conceive. So Adonis seemed to have a loose screw or two…he seemed to confuse her with his ex-girlfriend…he was without a doubt, the sexiest man she’d ever been with or could ever hope to be with.
A tall, blond seaman, bearing a touch of mystery in his refusal to answer simple questions—like how he got the scar on his face or the limp to his step—with a chiseled body and a huge…I never know what to call those things. She blushed, remembering putting her hand around it. She couldn’t get her fingers to touch. It was ginormous and beautiful.
“What? Yes, I’m still here. Tell my mother I lost my phone so she doesn’t have a coronary, will you? She’s probably frantic. But I’m hanging up now. Anyway, you’re paying for this call, remember? I put it on your debit card.” She chuckled, hearing him splutter and hung up. A cheapo on his best days, miserly on his worst, he managed to cough up money when it came to buying motorcycle parts or going out for beer with his friends.
“Now what?” she said to the empty room. The loneliness she’d experienced upon her arrival, drifted around her like a ghost. “Stop it,” she said. “If I keep this up, I’ll cry. Once I break up with Justin, I’ll really be alone.” All my friends are home in Kentucky.
Her skin felt gross but if she were to shower, there would go all traces of Adonis. He’d be nothing but a figment of her imagination. Without washing, she still smelled him. He’d come down her front, he’d come down her back, and even though he’d done his best to clean it up, she liked the lingering, strong scent of him.
She couldn’t imagine having him inside her. The dude was huge. Would it tear me apart? Make me bleed? Justin, her only lover to date, had a tiny penis, at least compared to Adonis. Still, I’d like to try. Her body buzzed with pleasure at the thought. Oh, my, God, would I like to try. She closed her eyes in a swoon. Her head rolled to the side giving her a whiff of her armpit. Wrinkling her nose at the stink, she reluctantly decided to clean up.
When she emerged from the shower, she heard the room phone ringing. Wrapping a towel around her, she dashed to answer it, sure it would be Justin again. “Hello?” she said. “What? Who left it? Did he leave a name? Is he still there? He just left? Okay, I’m coming down to get it.”
She hung up the phone, snagged a summer dress and lacey panties from her oversized bag, whipped them on, grabbed the room key and raced down the hall toward the
stairs. When she got to the lobby, she sprinted toward the double glass doors leading outside, landing on the rough, still warm sidewalk with no shoes on her feet.
The night air hung heavy, as if recovering from the sweltering summer day, laced with smells of fried food, tobacco, and garbage. Her head whipped right and left, looking up the street and down, for Adonis. Where’d you go? Damn. She stamped her foot in frustration. He’s like the wind.
Cars, headlights glowing bright, zipped along the street. A haggard, dirty homeless man sat next to a liquor store a block away, his begging cup by his feet. A lone dog, skinny and bedraggled, trotted up to her purposely, sniffed for food, and finding nothing, continued briskly on his way. Tara let out a huge breath, full of disappointment, and reached for the metal door handle, swinging it open. He made it clear. No more contact.
A tall man with a buzz cut emerged from the liquor store on the dimly lit street, catching her eye. Adonis. She’d know him anywhere. Still clutching the door handle, she watched him unwrap a pack of cigarettes, take one out and hand the rest of the pack to the homeless man. Then, appearing to reconsider, he took the carton back, retrieved another cigarette, stuck it in his shirt pocket, and handed the rest back to the grungy man.
Illuminated by the store interior lights, he struck a match, lit both his and the other guy’s smoke and stood for a moment, chatting with the unfortunate male sitting on the concrete, only a few coins to his name. The same duffle bag he’d had earlier hung from his muscled shoulder.
“Close the door, please,” the hotel receptionist called. “It stays cooler when we let the air conditioner do its job.”
“Excuse me?” Her head whipped to the side. What’s she talking about? Maybe the air conditioner only works in the lobby.
The receptionist gave Tara a frosty smile. “The door. Keep it closed. Aren’t you the one I just called about your iPhone?”
“Yes, that’s me.”
“It’s right here.” She picked it up and waved it back and forth.
“I’ll get it in a second.” Tara let the door close, stepping onto the sidewalk. As she turned to look at him, the weight of Adonis’s gaze landed squarely on top of her, as if he laid his large hands on her shoulders.
The tip of his cigarette glowed as he took a long, deep drag. Still wearing his board shorts and the same light brown, short sleeved shirt he’d had on the Greyhound bus this morning, his eyes seemed to burn into hers.
Without thought, she lifted her hand to her mouth and stroked her lips with her fingertips, recalling the sensation of his manhood in her mouth and his fingers on her clit.
Adonis stood stock still, smoking, studying her intently. He cocked his head to the side as if considering his next move. Then, he slowly shook his head, pivoted, and strode away.
“Adonis! Wait! Wait for me.” She called out, not knowing if he could hear her over the traffic.
He seemed to jerk, as if her words struck him in the back of the head, and increased his tempo.
Tara took off, sand and gravel stabbing her feet as she hustled to catch up.
The guy’s long legs carried him at a swift clip, making it difficult to reach him.
Her stride changed into a painful trot as the debris covered city sidewalk made itself evident to her bare feet. Finally, as he paused before crossing the street, she lunged at his biceps and wrapped her small hand around it as best she could.
He turned his head to look at her, the cigarette dangling from his lips. “I told you, Aphrodite, no more. I’m not worth it. I don’t want you to think this is a thing.” He removed the cigarette and blew a plume of smoke over his head, away from her. He seemed cold, remote.
“Why’d you drop off my phone, then? What did you tell the receptionist? You found Aphrodite’s phone?” She gave him a sarcastic glare.
“No, I described you.”
“What did you say?”
He narrowed his eyes. “Fishing for compliments?”
“No. I wondered how you described me that made her know to call my room.” Tara waved her hand in front of her nose, wishing he didn’t smoke.
“I doubt if there are many gorgeous, five foot, silky haired brunettes who checked in about an hour ago when I dropped you off.” He took one last draw off the half-finished smoke, and flicked it into the gutter, staring at it, perhaps wondering if he should have pitched it before finishing it.
She smiled and bit her lip. “I’m a gorgeous brunette?” When he didn’t respond, she said, “Smoking’s bad for you.”
“So is hanging out with me.” Smoke streamed from his mouth.
“I don’t think so,” Tara said.
“You don’t know me.”
“You don’t know me either. But we’ve managed to have a good time together.”
Without another word, he turned on his heel and strode across the street.
She raced after him, hopping and cursing when gravel stabbed her feet.
He stepped onto the curb on the other side of the street, turned, and placed his hands on her shoulders, looking into her eyes. He didn’t look one bit happy to see her. In fact, his blue eyes icy cold, he looked quite frosty, and sort of mean, not like the uber confident, fun, handsome man she’d been with earlier. “Look, you’re a nice girl, a lot of fun, but I can’t afford to hang out with you anymore. I’m going through a brutal breakup with my former fiancée. It’s not fair to either of us.”
“Ouch,” Tara said.
“Yeah, ouch. All I wanted to do after leaving you was get drunk, find a place to get some rest and savor my memories with you. Instead, I got told to fuck off, go fuck myself, and get fucked, in that order.”
He wanted to savor his memories of me? She wanted to laugh.
“Did you hear me? I got told off every which way to Sunday and now I’m going to pursue my drunken spree.”
“You told me you had things to do.”
“I lied. That’s what assholes like me do, apparently.”
She studied him, puzzled. Okay, I really know nothing about him, but he seemed to be kind and considerate with me…sort of. His girlfriend must have raked him over the coals.
“What are you looking at?” He gave her a steely glare, his clear blue eyes, fringed with pale lashes, looking anything but kind.
“I’m looking at you. You know how earlier you said you don’t like my boyfriend based on the little bit you know?”
“Yeah, so?”
“I don’t like your ex. She seems to have hurt you, badly.”
He smirked, but his face softened somewhat. “Thanks. But it always takes two.”
“Why’d you call her?”
“I didn’t. She called me. I guess she needed to vent.” He took a few steps toward a park, engulfed in shadow. “More like chew me a new one in case I didn’t hear her the last time she laid into me. Fuck.”
“Sounds like she still feels connected. That’s what our kind does.” She smiled, trotting by his side.
“Your kind?” He settled his bulk on a park bench and patted the seat next to him.
“You know, women. Maybe there’s hope.”
“Not after the betrayal. I can’t forgive her.”
Betrayal? “Maybe she wants you to forgive her so you can continue on, stronger from whatever happened.”
“Don’t get all biblical on me. She’s just stringing me along. Toying with me. I hate to be messed with.” His face turned into a sour frown. “She already hooked up with someone else. A civilian.” He shook his head, staring into the dark tree overhead. “I’ve been looking forward to my leave for months. I thought she’d want to do some stupid wedding plans or something. Maybe look at houses for when I get out. But no. She told me about her new guy and let it spill that the child we created was history.”
Tara winced. “Abortion?” She perched next to him, not touching.
“Apparently.” He patted his pocket, pulled out his remaining cigarette and stuck it between his fingers. “Don’t worry, I won’t light it. I’m s
aving it for the morning.”
“Why’d you give your whole pack to that homeless guy?”
“I quit a year ago.”
“Why’d you start again?”
“I didn’t. I needed to take the edge off the pain. That’s all. That’s why I gave most of them away.” He chuckled, draping his arm along the back of the bench, behind her shoulder blades. “You sure ask a lot of questions.” Heat rolled off his arm.
“That’s because you don’t provide a lot of information.”
“I’m in the Navy, girl. I’m trained to keep secrets from civilians.”
“I see.” She nodded. “So, you don’t have a place to stay tonight?”
“Nope. I’m supposed to be with my former girlfriend.”
“You can stay with this girl. The one sitting right next to you.”
He turned to give her an indulgent smile. “You’re sweet.”
“Why not? It’s all paid for. I’ll share.”
“Thanks, but no. If I stay with you tonight, you’ll turn it into a thing. You’ll think of it as an intimate gesture.”
“That’s such an asshole statement, Adonis. I’m alone and lonely when I’m not hanging out with you. You’re my only friend in this town, remember? My boyfriend bailed on me.”
An amused smile crossed his face. “Friend, huh. With some fantastic benefits.” He let out a deep rumbling laugh.
She tsked, blushing madly. “All I’m doing is offering you a place to rest your head tonight. That’s it. You can sleep on the floor if it makes you happy. I’m being nice.” She pursed her lips, ready to get up and leave. “You don’t even know my name.”
“Want to bet?” A look of amusement appeared on his face.
“What is it, then?”
“Tara Lynne.”
“What, did you search through my phone?”
“Had to make sure it was yours. There’s no password required to open it. You might reconsider that. Found your Facebook page. Pictures of you and Justin. He’s a total tool. Looks like a royal pain in the ass. And you’re twenty-two. A baby in my book.”
Field Stripped: 15 Steamy Military Romances Page 135
