Thank God he hadn’t seen us yet, but I sure as hell wasn’t moving once he started taking off his shirt. I nestled back in my chair. He may be an ass, but he was a sexy ass. He and his cronies were pointing at the surf, and I had a hunch we were in for a show.
“Oh dear God!” Juls moaned watching him.
“Dibs!” I quickly said beneath my breath. “Never mind. I shouldn’t call dibs. He’s too young.”
“Dibs!” Kat spat out.
I slapped her arm. “You’re married, you ‘ho!”
She cackled with laughter, and my eyes instantly shot to Juls. Even though she knew I was struggling with the dates from hell, she knew how unhappy I’d been. My menacing glare clearly prevented her from calling Dibs. Juls was buff as shit, so I knew she wasn’t that scared.
“Yesterday, you wanted to punch him in the throat!” Juls announced.
“I still do. But maybe it could be very angry, aggressive sex.”
Kat giggled. “Here he goes.”
Our three sets of eyes focused at the top of the surf ramp as he stepped out into the water holding onto a rope. I swear to God on everything freaking holy…they didn’t make shit like that when we were younger. As he stepped on the board, every God forsaken muscle on his entire body clenched as he skillfully balanced himself.
Watching him maneuver the fake waves was like Cinemax porn…not the real thing but close enough to make me wet and sorry I didn’t bring my damn vibrator on the trip.
“You’re panting,” Juls announced, and I smacked her leg.
Sex was like a foreign far off land. You could see going there in the future, but it just wasn’t in the cards right now. When my nipples pebbled up beneath my tankini top, I abruptly stood, embarrassed. Trying to step over the bottom of my chair, I tripped, both elbows landing on the chair next to me, sending my drink glass crashing to the ground. From all fours, I glanced up at the gorgeous surfing machine. Even though he had sunglasses on, I could tell his eyes had found me. Suddenly, the surfboard zoomed from side to side and BAM! He was toast…sprawled out and swept away in the wave of rushing water. Quickly… I got to my feet before he could get up.
“Where you going?” Kat hollered.
“I’ll be back,” I said and headed to…anywhere!
***
Seven hours later, I sat nervously at the dinner table hoping that the man was not in our dining room. The girls said after his wipeout, he had come over to talk to them. What. The. Hell.
In the cabin, I’d asked no less than ten times how the conversation played out. It was the same thing, each time. No deviation.
Thor: Where’d Iron Mike go?
Kat: She had to go to the restroom.
Thor: Perfect. I’ll wait.
Juls: She has an upset stomach. I think it will be a while.
Thor: Alright, I’ll see you two around then.
An upset stomach? Totally code for diarrhea. Or sitting on the toilet shitting! What did he want anyway? Why in the hell would he want to talk to me after how we’d spoken to each other? He had been no more cordial in the beginning than I was…but how else would one respond to being cornered by a badger. I was never proud of my mouth after the fact, but for the love of God, I couldn’t stop myself in the moment.
Juls gave a quick, “ahem,” clearing her throat. My eyes followed her line of vision.
Thor stood in the doorway surveying the room.
My pleading eyes jerked back and forth between my two best friends. “Seriously, you two, please don’t…”
Kat’s arm shot up like she was yawning…waving… and when he spotted her, I glanced away as if I didn’t notice. Yet through my peripheral vision, I saw the stick thin, blond girl scurry over to him.
“Heeeey!”
So, that was how one would drag out the word hey.
Coyly, I glanced toward the annoying sound. After a quick pat on her back, he skillfully pulled his arm free of her grasp. She was evidently more interested in him than he appeared in her. Break up with her then?
“Ladies,” he greeted at our table as my heart pounded in my throat. Casually, I massaged the soft flesh around my neck hoping my trachea wasn’t swelling. Like for real. I offered him a tight-lipped smile as I coolly sipped my wine.
“Well, good news. You clearly can still walk after falling all over yourself staring at me and… your tummy appears better.” He spoke directly to me.
“Yay for me. And so can you after your embarrassing wipeout.” I tipped my wine glass in his direction…the damn blue in his eyes resembled the water we were miraculously floating on.
“Those lovely shoulders however, look perfectly sun kissed.” He winked. I think. It was quick. Maybe I blinked. No, it was a wink because that side smile accompanied it. And it was sexy as hell, causing what little oxygen I inhaled to hitch.
He tipped his glass in return, the amber liquid mingling with the ice. Ah…a whiskey man…cue the limp dick.
“Jack!” the Barbie doll screeched from six tables away, and the hot ass little shit standing at our table winked at her too. Screw that.
“Please step away from our table, you’re killing our vibe,” I said with all seriousness. But I really only wanted him gone because his presence was doing something to my anxiety. Though I’m not sure if he was making it worse or making it go away.
“Your vibe?” he asked saying the word with emphasis.
“Yes,” I spat out, turning to face him head on as my damn heart found a disjointed rhythm in betrayal. “I’m sure people like…you…don’t really have to worry much about their vibe. People who look like you get laid pretty easily…some of us, however, have to work at it. So if you could please step away from the table because you’re killing…”
“Your vibe. I got it.” He scratched through the two-day scruff on his chin—you know, the kind of goatee that looks like it requires no work but it is absolutely perfect. The side of his mouth pulled into that sexy grin.
Juls and Kat couldn’t have looked more…pathetic? Both of them with elbows on the table, chin resting on palms and mouths agape. Seriously?
The illegally gorgeous Thor plucked a chair from our table of four and sat down in the aisle. I swallowed…hard as I watched his thighs tighten beneath his dress slacks when he sat.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“I’m not at your table. So I shouldn’t be affecting your vibe. Just ignore me.”
My guess was, he knew that would be utterly impossible to do. Ignore this man? Every single girl in this place was eyeballing the corner of the room where we sat. He’d never been ignored his entire hot life.
But…I gave it freaking effort, trying to engage my two unresponsive best friends—kicking them under the table, finally forcing them to look away from him.
“I’m not really in the mood to watch this show,” I lied. I heard the clink of the ice in the bottom of his glass. Suddenly ice touching my body was now in the forefront of my mind. But not just any ice. His ice. His fingers. His tongue. His anything.
“Rose…or is it Carol Brady?” the voice asked as an arm slid around my shoulders.
The cute little son of Mr. Salt and Pepper was back…his blonde hair even more blonde with the touch of sun. Perfect timing…
“Leo…or is it Greg?” I grinned at the youngster. He was younger than Thor. “Where are the parental units?”
“I think they are getting it on in the cabin.” He winked. Another winker!
“Aren’t you just full of confidence.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me?” the deep voice next to me broke into our conversation sending a shudder up my spine. My eyes flashed toward Thor…his one brow cocked high on his head.
“Excuse me?” I asked.
“I, am killing your vibe but Dennis the Menace here isn’t?”
“Hey. That’s pretty fuckin funny. Maybe you can do a comedy show here or something,” Leo or Greg or, hell I don’t even know his real name, mouthed off to Thor.
; It was clear Thor wasn’t the least bit concerned with his younger non-competitor. His hypnotic stare zeroed in solely on me where a sea of depth swam inside them. The look made my toes curl.
Swallowing, I raised my shoulders high. “Who are you? Why are you doing this? What do you want?” The question was nothing more than a breathy whisper.
“Your time,” he said without hesitation. “I want your time. What do you have to lose?” The shit-eatin’ side grin pulled his mouth up one cheek.
I swear this man before me couldn’t have answered the question with more honesty or with more heart. I wanted to cry…until I thought about the pretty blond only tables away watching this unfold in front of her. Plus I thought about the four dates I’d been on and simply couldn’t endure another let down…especially from a youngster.
When I uncomfortably turned back to the table, both Juls and Kat were staring at me. They knew me well enough to know my fight or flight threshold, and I certainly wasn’t going to fight this guy.
Laying my napkin on the table, I stood.
“I’m not hungry,” I said to the girls, and then turned to Thor. “My time right now is not up for grabs.” Disengaging my eyes with his was harder than I thought, but it was mainly because his brows furrowed.
When I swished around, I ran smack into Leo. “I’m sorry. Goodnight.”
“Rose. Wait.”
I kept walking as an unfamiliar pain radiated through my chest. Getting out of the room was more important to me than having a heart attack in front of him…but I swear my left arm was aching. From behind me I heard Thor’s voice.
“Did you hear her,” he asked. “She said goodnight. Leave her alone.”
“What the hell are you doing?” Juls had my bicep in her arm squeezing it like I was a four year old. “That guy is stunningly gorgeous. And don’t act like this is about Bryan or Jake. The divorce has been final for almost two years! Come on, Sam. Loosen up and have fun. Enjoy this guy.”
Slowly withdrawing my now bruised arm from her death grip, I neared the railing on the deck…the moon reflected beautifully off the water. “This isn’t about Bryan. It’s about the beautiful blond that he is with. Have you seen her? Stick thin. Tan. Big boobs. Loud. Young. Everything we hate.”
“I’m not with her,” his voiced echoed behind us, and I spun so quickly my head swam with a wave of the dizzies. I called bullshit on that. It was totally obvious she was with him.
Doing the complete opposite of what I wanted to do, I strolled toward him.
“You’re a whiskey drinker,” I whispered.”
“I am.”
I flashed my well-paid pearly whites before I winked. “You know what they say about whiskey dick.” I held up my pinky… limp and arched, and then walked right past him. Jul’s glare didn’t go unnoticed as I disappeared around the corner.
“I’ll show you whiskey dick, sweetheart,” I heard him say when I rested my back against the wall, out of sight. I couldn’t help but close my eyes and hold on…my legs wobbled and it had nothing to do with the sea.
***
When I woke in the middle of the night, I heard the ocean lap against the side of the boat as it navigated through the Atlantic. The peaceful sound calmed the familiar nightmare. With my two fingers, I felt for a pulse just below my jawbone, releasing a deep breath when it slowed on its own. Crawling out from beneath the covers, I walked to the open door. The wind was chillier than expected out on the balcony, yet the peacefulness from the million stars in the dark sky out on the open water was…soothing.
Funny how thoughts can spiral from one to another so quickly…my initial thought kicking off the corkscrew effect was of Thor in all his glory, and from there, they spun out of control. Whiskey dick. Him touching me. Greg Brady and what happened to him this evening. Juls and Kat. Becca. Bryan. Jake. Bryan had made it clear that if I chose another man…he’d try to take Jake. Four dates, that’s all I’d been on…that was enough for me to know what was out there, plus enough to piss Bryan off.
The girls were right. I needed to move on…I knew that. Away from him. Away from the fear. But the fear of losing the only real thing I had left kept me paralyzed with walls of anger trapping me. I needed out.
***
“What is it about me you don’t like?”
Thor’s voice sent a wave of goose bumps fluttering over my skin.
“What makes you think I don’t like you?” I asked, spooning strawberries and pineapple from the breakfast bar onto my plate and refusing to meet his stare. This giant cruise ship seemed more like a life raft for as often as I ran into this guy.
“Well, for starters you never look at me.” He grabbed a plate and joined me in the food gathering. And I…didn’t look at him.
“Trust me, I’ve looked at you.” I placed a spoonful of raisins on my plate—I freaking HATE raisins.
“Oh yeah? Well then what’s the problem?” he chuckled.
Narcissistic ass!
“Nothing’s wrong. I think you have a great face for radio.”
Chuckling continued. “Radio huh? Not good enough for television?”
This guy was so damn sexy, television wouldn’t do him justice.
“Mmmm,” was all I said as I walked straight to the bar. “Spicy bloody Mary, please, extra olives.”
“Make that two,” he said, still on my tail. “Just help me understand what it is.”
When I sat at the table with one chair, I knew he’d pull up another, and he did.
“What’s the problem, big guy? You not used to a woman turning you down?”
“Frankly no. But I genuinely would like to know what it is that made you not like me. Short of me saving your life, I can’t recall anything.”
A breeze came across the deck and his scent percolated up through my nose. I closed my eyes as I bit down on a sliver of pineapple, hoping the fruit juices would wash him away.
“Tell me, Jack, what college are you attending right now?”
Instantly his brow furrowed with thought. “College? I graduated from the University of Kansas years ago. What…ahhh. This is an age thing?”
The little shit had dimples.
“So. You think I am too young?”
“I think you are so young that you probably get crayons and a coloring book when you eat out.”
His chuckle bellowed out over the outdoor eating area, and my lips curled up. His sideburns were trimmed perfectly.
“In fact, I’d put money on it, that if you got up right now and walked away from me…your Velcro shoes would light up on the soles.”
Stupidly, I chanced looking up at him with that clichéd million-dollar smile. In what state did they grow these things…because in forty years of life…I’d never seen one like this. Maybe it was my libido that was diving in first. It was like The Flinstones car…I was desperately trying to stop it with my feet, but the car kept moving forward. That’s what was happening now…my vagina actively wanted him, but my head was saying “easy kitty.”
He popped a strawberry into his mouth, and I glanced toward the sun feeling the heat warm my face. A gust of wind whipped over the deck, and though soothing to my sweaty pits, my hair was now a mess. The bloody Mary was so damn spicy I coughed from the Tabasco and pepper.
“Come on. I didn’t figure you to be one that would judge someone without knowing them. Give me a shot.” He handed me his glass of water.
“A shot? Is this where you get all disgusting and act your age and say something along the lines of…how about a shot of me…I have the perfect syringe…something like that?”
Brutally slow, he slid the plate of remaining strawberries to the center of the table and stood.
“Wow, Rose. Some guy must have done a real number on you,” he said.
Rose? His words ricocheted off the shield around my heart. His shadow cast over me, blocking the sun, and he bent down resting his hands on the arms of my chair.
Instinctively, I glanced up. There it was again—every ocean an
d sea reflected in his eyes—a hypnotizing mix of every possible blue. It was a mistake looking up.
“Your eyes,” I whispered, but that’s all I could get out before I lowered my eyes to my plate, no longer hungry.
There was no part of me that was prepared for him to lift my chin with his index finger. I’d not been touched so gently by a man in so long.
“Rose. Your eyes are full of desire and longing, I see it.”
I shook my head, trying to negate his spot-on, accurate words. “No, Jack, it’s like floaters and sadly probably future glaucoma.”
His dimples broke into full-blown mode with the killer watt smile as he backed away shaking his head.
“My name’s not Rose,” I said.
“Noted. Nor is mine Jack.” He slid his aviators over the most magical eyes I’d ever seen and swaggered away, leaving me wanting him even more.
***
Four spicy Bloody Mary’s later, I ran smack into the girls in the hallway while I was making my way back to the cabin. Their swimsuits were on, towels in tow and they reeked of sunscreen.
“RULE 44. When a drunk friend is in need, you can’t say no! In one of our rooms, now.”
“You’re drunk?”
“You drank that much? Oh My God! What’s wrong?” Kat whispered with concern.
“It’s ten in the morning!” Juls squawked. “It was him!” She said him with excitement oozing from her tone.
I snatched the key from Juls, who held it out with eyes so wide she looked stupid. “I need bottled water. Acute liver failure.”
Kat snickered behind me. “Trust me, alcohol is not foreign to your liver…It’s fine.”
Once in the cabin, I fell face first on Juls’ bed as my head spun.
“His name’s not Jack.”
“OK. Who said it was Jack?”
“The skinny little young blond bitch that yelled, Jaaaack, last night.”
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