by Lauren Wood
“Is that Mack?”
I told her that it was and that was only said with a nod of my head. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Mack’s plane had exploded not long after takeoff over the ocean. He was on his way to Spain from the looks of it and never made it.
“Weren’t you supposed to be on there too?”
It wasn’t a thought I’d had yet. I was still processing the fact that the last time I saw him was really and truly going to be the last time. That kiss was our last one. I was never going to see him again. The last thing that I was thinking about was the fact that I should have been on there with him and I would have blown up too. Maybe it would have been better.
Tears were streaming down my face and I watched the screen, not really seeing it for several minutes. The numbness was pushed further and now I felt like I was in oblivion. There was nothing that I could do about this. He was gone. But it was impossible to really and truly believe he was gone. We’d been apart for so long, but I always knew that he was out there somewhere. It had been a reassurance and now…
Mariss stopped trying to ask questions and sat beside me and put an arm around me. I didn’t even feel it. I should be able to feel it, right?
I had to go to the funeral that was held in our hometown, if not to just say goodbye to him properly. There were lots of people from the reunion and I walked around in a daze, weaving in and out of conversations and stories about Mack. He truly was loved and admired by many.
I spotted Mack’s mother and since I’d known her well a long time ago, I wanted to give her my condolences and say I was sorry. I didn’t know what to say in these sorts of things, but she was taking it better than I would have guessed. Mack was her only son and she didn’t seem all that bothered. That was strange, but I reminded myself that not everyone grieved in the same way. I’d stared at a wall for almost a full day. That can’t be healthy on any scale.
“I’m so sorry Madeline. I don’t know what to say, but he is loved and missed by so many.”
She smiled at me and agreed. “I really thought the two of you would work it out one day.”
“We did a little in the end. We just didn’t have enough time to see it through.”
I heard my voice cracking and I was going over how it could have been different.
“It is a shame Danny, but you know that he is in paradise now, having the time of his life.”
I looked at her a little strangely and she had this knowing look on her face. Did I hear her right? What the hell did his mom mean? Did she just wink at me?
Madeline was confusing me to no end and I felt like she knew something that she wasn’t coming out with. I wanted to ask her more, but someone was coming towards us with the same thing in mind as me originally.
“You should never give up hope Danny. Everything happens for a reason and sometimes you just have to make a leap.”
The older man was upon us and I repeated my condolences before I went to sit down. I felt now like I had been hit with a ton of bricks. Was she playing games? How could I keep hope alive when the one man I loved was dead?
Mack
The Kuri Island was as close to paradise as I was going to find, but it wasn’t what I wanted. I was supposed to be here with Danny, but she hadn’t wanted to come. If she wouldn’t have agreed to go with me, she certainly wouldn’t have agreed to the rest of the plan. It was the plan that was going to take me off of everyone’s radar for good.
Now I was here, with nothing to do in one of the most beautiful places that I’d ever seen. I’d read about this place years ago and wanted to come. Now I was here and it didn’t have the magic that I was hoping for. In two weeks, that feeling had changed and I was already looking into somewhere else to hang my hat. It felt like the least that I could do now that I had all of this time on my hands.
The island consisted of a couple of hundred inhabitants and I was close enough to Hawaii that I could take a plane there in less than an hour. I went to my small villa and made some arrangements to go there later in the day. It was going to be another beautiful day in paradise and I didn’t want to spend it alone.
My hair flipped in the breeze and the shirt I was wearing was opened all the way down. If nothing else, I surely didn’t miss having to wear a suit. I was never the stiff type and I was much happier dressed like a beach bum. A very well dressed one, but a bum none the less. There was no one to impress and even though it was known I came with money because of what I secured when I got here, no one there knew who I was. I had a new identity now. Bud Sparks. I just felt like it was time to be a Bud.
The plane was out when I got to the small airstrip. It was a small cry from what I was used to back home, but life had changed. I knew it would. It had to and now I was a man that had to wait for a plane that was far smaller than my own to get a ride to one of the big islands. Being here had been a series of adaptations that I was still getting used to.
Charlie came out and assured me that it wasn’t going to be long.
“I didn’t think you got much business here?”
I was already thinking that I was going to have to secure a plane full time if I was going to stay here very long. I still wasn’t sure on the matter, but waiting like I was doing now was convincing me that it had to be done.
“Well this one was an odd ball request from the main islands. Some woman wanted a ride here and Dante went to go pick her up. I don’t know how she convinced him, but Dante did always have a soft heart. I hear that he isn’t even going to charge her.”
I wasn’t really hearing him. It just meant that I was waiting for a soft heart. I’d learned my lesson when it came to matters of the heart. It was better not to have them as far as I was concerned. It didn’t end well for me and I was content to go the rest of my life fighting the urge to ever really care again. It was a mistake that I wouldn’t make again. It was much how I had been the first time she’d picked something else over us.
“Should I come back later?” It was already getting hot.
“No, he just radioed in. They will be here soon. You got somewhere better to be Mack?”
It was a fair question and I guess the answer was a sad no. I didn’t have anywhere better to be. I had no work to do, no art to sell. All I had now was a paradise background that didn’t hold up with no one here with me. Danny had ruined paradise for me and I swore if I ever saw her again, I was going to tell her that.
The small plane I was waiting for was another ten minutes until it arrived. I was already half an hour late from when I was supposed to be able to go. I knew that I didn’t have a meeting to take or a deal to broker, but I still liked to go by the watch on my wrist. Out here, time didn’t matter. It still did to me though. I wasn’t ready to stop measuring my days just yet.
I spotted blonde hair coming out of the plane. It was a mass of tendrils that covered her face, but I didn’t need to see it to know who it was. I’d traveled the world and seen so many people, but never a blonde with that color hair.
“Danny.” I said her name under my breath.
“Danielle, that’s the name I heard.”
I wasn’t listening to Charlie’s prattling again. Danny was getting out of the plane and she was dragging a suitcase behind her. Dante grabbed it for her and I could tell that he was checking her out. Danny was oblivious to it all. She always had been and I started to walk towards her.
For a minute I’d thought that I was seeing things. I wanted her to be here so badly that I wasn’t above the idea that I had made her up. This could all be in my imagination. Was I sure I wasn’t sleeping?
“Mack, I wanted to surprise you.”
She pouted and then smiled.
“You did surprise me. What are you doing here?”
I still wasn’t ready to hope again that she was here to be together. The woman was wishy-washy.
“Your mom said something at the funeral. Your funeral. I can’t believe I was right. I thought you were dead.”
I was leaning in for a kis
s and she slapped me hard across the face. It was hard enough that she got the other two men’s attention in the middle of a conversation. Soon it would be the talk of the island.
“You made me believe you were dead.”
“Well technically I was trying to get you to come with me so that we could both be dead together.”
She wasn’t ready to not be mad at me. I had to believe that she wasn’t here to slap me and see if I was alive or not, though I wouldn’t honestly put it past her.
“That’s not funny.”
”It’s a little funny.”
“It’s not. I hated to think that you were gone. It made me realize that if you were still alive, I wanted to be with you. None of the other stuff matters. It’s just a job. It doesn’t make me happy like you do. There is nothing back home that was enough to stay away from you.”
“So are you staying then?”
“Well it’s not paradise without me, right?”
She didn’t know how right she was and I finally pulled her in for a kiss. Danny yielded against me for a moment and a small sound of pleasure came out before she pushed me back.
“I’m still mad at you though.”
I grinned and tugged her back. “Mad enough to tell me no?”
“I didn’t say all that…”
* * *
THE END
One Last Touch
Blurb
* * *
One wild night in college, was the best lover I’d ever had.
Cal made me scream till I was hoarse and begging for more at the same time.
Then it was over, and I never saw him again.
He was always the man in the back of my mind.
Cal was the measuring stick to the next one.
* * *
He’s standing in front of me now, as sexy and devilish as ever.
It took me a minute to place him.
It’s been so long, and he wasn’t supposed to be here.
I was here for a wedding, not Cal.
* * *
I try to deny the attraction.
I try to refuse the draw.
But it’s impossible to say no to Cal.
I just don’t want to.
There is no stopping the change my body made when I see him.
It had always been this way.
* * *
This is the control he has over me.
And he doesn’t even have to do a thing.
I naturally want back in his arms.
And back in his bed, where anything was possible.
* * *
***
Prologue
Cal
* * *
“So, who is Jessica’s friend over there?”
Dennis looked to where I was pointing and smiled.
“That’s Mariss. She just moved here a couple of weeks ago and starts classes soon. She is hot as fuck, isn’t she?”
It was an understatement and I took in the short, raven-haired beauty in front of me. She was the type of girl that every woman wanted to be, and every man wanted to be with. Mariss was sexy as hell and I had to go talk to her. This wasn’t the thing that I usually did at a party. It had just started, I was still sober, and I didn’t like to tie myself down for the night. But a woman like Mariss was enough to make me have a good night. I wasn’t going to find better, no matter how many girls I saw or how drunk I got.
“Is she single?”
I was asking the question as I started walking towards her. It didn’t matter the answer to that question. Not really. I was still going to pursue her, but I just wanted to know what angle to go with.
“No, I don’t think so.”
That was good enough for me. I was close enough to get her attention and I smiled her way. That was usually enough for most women.
“Hi.”
I stopped in front of her and the two other girls that she was talking to. She smiled at me and said hello back.
“Do I know you?”
“No, but that is something that we’re going to have to change.”
“Is it?”
She had a smile on her face and there was a dimple on the left side as she smiled. Her eyes were a light yellowish brown. They looked almost the color of amber and as I got closer, they looked like there was a flame inside of them that was dancing there.
“Yes, we are. Dance?”
Mariss looked to her friends and they made a nod. I didn’t know what that meant, but she agreed, so I was going to take it as they were approving. If they knew my intention they wouldn’t have been so easy to agree.
“So, you are?”
I had her in my arms, moving her around the small area that people were dancing in, mainly guys like me trying to get a feel. I hadn’t even told her who I was, my name, nothing because none of that mattered. What mattered was that she was in my arms and I was able to feel her soft curves under my hands.
Mariss was slim, but when I got my hands on her, I could feel her womanly curves and they went on for days. She was far fuller in some areas than I had first thought. This girl was hot as hell and I was ready to take her upstairs and find a place where we could be alone.
“I’m Cal. You might have heard of me.”
“No, I don’t think so. Why would I hear of you?”
My ego was taking a beating already. “I’m the football captain for UA.”
“Oh, well I don’t really follow sports, so I wouldn’t know that. I just moved here and even when I do start going here, I doubt I will ever go to a game.”
I put my hand to my heart like she was breaking it and I have to say that it was refreshing. I got sick of woman trying to pretend that they liked football because I played it. It was flattering, but kind of aggravating all at the same time because I would take them to a game or something like that and they would totally flake out on me. It was good to know that Mariss didn’t care one way or another. At least now I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to impress her with my standing in the team. That was a shame because that was usually a good way into most girl’s panties on campus. My goal was very clear and that was the results that I wanted.
“I’m sure you have enough admirers. There are three girls looking at you right now. You’d have better luck with one of them. They seem to already be in your awe.”
“My awe?”
She giggled. “Yeah, you know the whole, football captain thing you got going on with the jacket and all of that. I don’t really dig jocks.”
“So, what do you dig?”
“Real men with hair on their chest. I bet you don’t have any.”
“Do you want to see?”
She smiled and told me that she was fine. It wasn’t though. She was toying with me, but I didn’t like it. I took her hand and before she could protest I put it underneath my shirt and let her touch the hairs and the hardness underneath. If she wasn’t impressed with my skill on the field, then maybe I could get her attention by the hardness of my pecs. I was open to new ideas.
Mariss surprised me because she didn’t pull her hand back embarrassed like I thought she would. She started to play with one of my nipples and I was the one that jumped.
“I see you have a little hair. That doesn’t mean you’re a man.”
She was really messing with me now. I was getting all worked up and I grabbed her hand and pulled her up the stairs. Mariss was laughing.
“Where are you taking me?”
“I’m taking you upstairs to show you how much of a man I am.”
She tugged her arm back. “I’m not having sex with you. I barely know you.”
I had a reputation on campus and I was sure that she was going to hear it sooner or later, but I wanted the former and I moved her hand to the hard place between my legs. I was hard as a rock from her teasing and playing around. She was having way too much fun dangling what I wanted above me, just out of reach.
Mariss gasped and again I moved my hand quickly away and hers stayed without me having to do anyth
ing. She was grabbing a handful of my cock and she made a soft whimpering sound that set me on edge. It was one of the sexiest sounds that I’d ever heard.
“I see.”
“So, do you want to see what other good qualities that I have?”
Now I had her attention and her hand was still on my dick. She was making it so hard that it hurt it was throbbing so much.
“Like?”
“I’m a show and tell kind of guy. Do you want me to show you what sort of talents I have Mariss?”
Mariss bit her bottom lip and then looked back at the party going on downstairs. “You’re going to give me a reputation before I even get started here.”
“I hope so.”
She didn’t take much to get her to agree to go with me and I was thankful for that. Her light touch and sound had me going a little crazy. I don’t know what it was about this girl, but she had me harder and hornier than I ever remember being before. We got to one of the bedrooms that wasn’t occupied, and I pulled her in, closing and locking the door behind us. I didn’t want anyone to come in and ruin what I was sure was going to be a good night.
When I turned back around, Mariss was lying back on the bed and she had a come hither look on her face. She curled her finger towards me and I was lost for anything else to do but come as she suggested. I moved towards her, not believing my luck.
Cal
“Where is your mind at today?”
“Hell, I don’t know Jesse. I was just thinking about this girl from a long time ago. I saw a woman that looked like her earlier, same black hair and slim build, but it wasn’t her. It got me thinking about her though.”
