by Penny Wylder
“I’m working. What are you doing here?” I say with the same accusation. I’m covered in dirt. Wiping the potting soil on hands onto my shorts doesn’t help.
She looks over at Tim who has stopped what he’s doing to watch the exchange. He lifts an eyebrow and gives a not-so-subtle thumbs-up. I roll my eyes and turn my attention back to the goddess standing before me.
“Oh,” she says, the frown still there, but I can tell she’s feels more awkward than angry. “I thought you were a surf instructor.”
“I am, part time. I do landscaping too.”
Her eyes scan my body, my dirty clothes, the sweat covering my shirt. Inside, I’m wishing I was showered and clean for this second encounter with her, but the look on her face isn’t reading like someone who’s disgusted by my appearance. Just the opposite, actually. Her eyes keep roaming over me, until finally landing on my crotch. She stares at it a moment too long, then shakes her head and looks away.
I bite my lip to keep from laughing. This girl is thirsty for some cock, that’s obvious, and I’m more than willing to give it to her. Just thinking about it makes me a little hard, which doesn’t go unnoticed when she looks at me again.
“You don’t have to stalk me, you know,” I say. Her eyes shoot up and she looks at me, surprised. “I’ll give you what you want.” I take a step closer to her.
She doesn’t move away. “You’re insane. I don’t want anything from you.”
“Are you sure? It didn’t seem like that last night.”
I take another step closer. She still doesn’t move. Her breathing comes faster, her lovely breasts rising and falling. Her eyes find mine and I’m struck by a feeling that is … confusing, and not entirely sexual. I’m not sure how to explain it. It makes me falter a bit, and I step back.
I swallow and say, “You might not remember this, but your hands were all over me.”
She lets out a shaky breath. “I have to go.”
“Are you sure?” I ask.
She starts to turn around. I panic, because part of me worries that if she leaves, I’ll never hear from her again. I don’t know why I even care. There are a hundred women on my roster waiting for their turn with the Bed Shaker. Cadie is no different.
“How were the pancakes, by the way?” I ask stupidly. It’s all I can think of on short notice.
She stops, looking back at me over her shoulder. “Delicious, actually.” She then looks at my truck in the parking lot. “You bring your board with you to work?” she says, obviously trying to change the subject. She said she has to go, but it feels like she just found an excuse to stay.
“I go straight from work to the beach.”
She hesitates. I can tell by the look of concentration on her face that she’s trying to think of something else to say. She looks at the ground, flushed. “I should go,” she says.
“Me too.”
I could stand here all day talking to her, or not talking to her, as long as I’m with her—
STOP, I chide myself. What the hell is wrong with me? Connections aren’t my thing. I have sex with women, no strings attached. I like it that way. No one gets hurt, nothing gets messy. The last girlfriend I had was all the way back in high school. Since then, it’s all been flings, and never once have I even met someone I considered settling down with. It’s not in my nature.
Cadie walks into the building. I watch her every step. It’s a lovely view, the fullness of her ass, the way her hips sway just so, the thick ponytail touching the middle of her back. Everything about her does it for me.
When she’s gone, I go back to my work. Tim comes up to me, a smile stretched from ear-to-ear. “A friend of yours?” he asks.
I look at the spot where Cadie had been standing. “Not yet, but I’m working on it.”
4
Cadie
After leaving the studio, I sit in the food court at the mall, drinking a blended coffee and looking at Ram’s pictures on Instagram. He has an incredible body, but the pictures I’m drawn to are the close-ups of his face. There’s one picture in particular I gravitate to more than the others. It’s of him on the beach. He’d just gotten out of the water, his wet hair a crown of golden curls around his face. His bright blue eyes sparkle like sea glass, and that smile … it leaves me breathless. It literally makes me weak in the knees looking at him.
It’s no wonder he has over fifty thousand—mostly women and gay men—following his page. The women leaving comments have no class. They are absolutely shameless in their approach and don’t hold anything back. There are marriage proposals, people asking him to get them pregnant, and basically just word-fucking him. Some of these comments are just … wow. Where do they come up with this stuff, prison? I keep scrolling; afraid I’ll get herpes just reading it.
I imagine it would be intimidating for a girl if he actually wanted to settle down and date someone. No woman wants to be with a guy who gets this much attention. But I guess a guy who gets that kind of attention probably doesn’t do a lot of serious dating.
I put down my phone and when I look up, my ex Evan and his new girlfriend are standing in front of the store directly across from the food court. I immediately jump out of my chair and duck behind a table full of teenage girls. I don’t think he saw me. The girls at the table look at me like I’m crazy. Some even look scared.
“That’s my ex with his new girlfriend. He cheated on me with her,” I tell them in a hushed voice even though he’s far enough away not to hear, and even if he weren’t, the chatter of the food court would drown out my voice.
They glance at Evan, then rally around me as a human shield. I let out a sigh of a relief.
“What a jerk,” one of the girls says.
“What’s he doing?” I ask.
These girls are all too happy to back me up. They thrive on the challenge. “Just standing there looking at baby stuff in the window.”
“Baby stuff?” I say.
“Yeah, the woman he’s with is like, a million years pregnant.”
“What?” I hiss.
Rage boils inside of me. Pregnant? I peek around the girls to get a look for myself, and there she is, his girlfriend and her round belly. Gina didn’t say anything about her being pregnant! Then again, she also said she didn’t get a good look at his new girlfriend either.
I get a glimpse of the new woman. She’s pretty and dresses more conservatively than I do. Her blonde hair is in a bob, and her makeup is done in nude, unassuming colors. She’s shorter than I am, more petite. Evan always did say my height and long limbs intimidated him, and that being with a taller woman made him feel less masculine. I brushed it off as a normal insecurity, but maybe that was important to him. His poor, fragile male ego. Fuck him.
She’s very put-together, probably a secretary, or office assistant. I bet her name is Susan, or Laura, something old fashioned that’s coming back in style. Shit, what if she saw the pictures I sent to Evan’s work phone while I was wasted? What if they had a good laugh at his pathetic ex? FUCK. I’m thinking way too much about this. I glance at her round belly. Not a million years pregnant, but at least five months. Evan is such a bastard. I wonder if she knew about me. It’s hard to believe she was dating a man for a year and didn’t know he was living with someone else. He probably told her we were just sharing a place until the lease was up, or something equally douchy. I hate them both.
They finally leave and I stand up, my legs weak and barely able to hold my weight. “Thanks, ladies,” I say and buy them all a round of blended mochas for their help.
My hands are still shaking as I leave. I call Gina and tell her what I saw. She tells me to call Ram Bed Shaker to get my mind off of it. The thought crossed my mind as well. I’m just so embarrassed by how I acted around him when I was drunk.
Once I’m off the phone with Gina, I decide to text Ram. Not for sex—I’m too wound up for that right now, and I don’t like the idea of sleeping with one man to forget about another—but for a distraction. I’ve always wan
ted to learn how to surf. It looks fun and relaxing, riding waves, being in the ocean, the weightlessness of it.
Eventually, after rolling the idea around in my head for a while, I text Ram and ask him for lessons. I chew my thumbnail as I wait for his response. He’s probably booked up for the summer. I imagine he’s in high demand. Then, like the neurotic person I am, I start to panic. What if he thinks I’m an idiot after I got drunk and texted him—scratch that, of course he does. How could he not? Maybe he won’t want anything to do with me now. He’ll probably see my text and roll his eyes, think to himself, Oh, God, not this lunatic again.
Though he was acting kind of flirty with me in front of the studio this morning, but that could just be his personality with all women. What if he doesn’t text back? I’m going to feel like such a desperate moron.
Just as I’m about to lose my mind, I get a text.
Ram: Can you meet me at Clover Beach in an hour?
My heart slams into my ribs, my nerves instantly on edge. Why am I so nervous? All I want is to take surf lessons, and I know my nerves have nothing to do with the actual surfing part—I’m very athletic and I’m an excellent swimmer. I spent my summers in high school as a lifeguard on Clover Beach.
Me: I’ll be there.
Since I’m already at the mall, I decide it’s time for a new bikini. While I’m not setting out to sleep with Ram, I do want to look good for him. He turns me on, I’m not going to lie, and the way he flirts with me makes me feel good about myself. I desperately need that right now. And I definitely want to make a different impression on him. I don’t want to only be thought of as the drunk girl he had to babysit. There’s nothing sexy about that.
After searching several different stores, I finally find the perfect bathing suit. It’s white and fits like a glove. There’s not much to it, but that’s the point. This will look amazing against my skin, and it’s cut so that it shows off all the right bumps and curves. I smile. This will do just fine.
5
Ram
When Cadie arrives on the beach wearing a tiny white bikini, it’s as if everyone else disappears and all I see is her. Her long hair hangs loose around her shoulders and stops just below her perfect breasts. The smooth mounds call to me, making my mouth water. She looks like she just stepped out of a photo shoot.
“What’s wrong?” she says, her full lips hinting at a smile. She tucks her hair behind her ears, exposing her long neck. “What are you staring at?”
She acts all innocent, like she doesn’t know exactly what’s going through my head, but no one wears a bikini like that without expecting a fair amount of attention. The fact that she’s wearing it for me makes me think maybe it’s not just the surf lessons she’s after today.
“Only the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen,” I say. Yeah, it’s a line, but it’s also true.
She scoffs at the compliment and rolls her eyes. I’m sure people tell her how beautiful she is all the time, but somehow I don’t think she realizes the extent of it, which makes me think that somewhere down the road, someone has betrayed her. A boyfriend or husband. Perhaps whoever was in a hurry to move out of her place, leaving the hangers in a pile in her closet. I can’t imagine any man wanting to leave this woman for any reason.
I pull off my shirt. Two can play at this game. Her eyes widen and her nervous breaths shiver out in feathered wisps. Now she’ll understand what I’m going through. At least for her, the evidence of her attraction doesn’t create a tent in the front of her shorts. I know she sees it when her entire body starts to flush. I pretend not to notice and let her have an eyeful. And damn, does she take her fill. She’s greedy for it. Eventually I clear my throat. She gives a start, noticing she’s been caught staring.
“Ready to surf?” I ask.
She swallows and nods.
As always with my students, I have them practice on the sand before they ever get in the water. She stands on the board, her pretty feet in the wrong position. At first I try to give her verbal instructions, but it doesn’t quite work out. I’m going to have to be hands-on with this one. Not that I’m complaining.
“Not like that,” I say, stepping up behind her. My hands cup her hips. Her entire body breaks out in goosebumps when our skin touches. Her muscles get stiff. “Relax.” I run my hand along the curve of her side and hip, then give her a little shake to try and loosen her body—really just an excuse to touch more of her velvet skin. She does relax a bit, but the goosebumps are still there. “Now turn your hips just so.” I move her body like she’s a posable doll. She follows my instructions.
“Now lean back and forth, that’s how you’re going to control where the board takes you. It’s like having your hands on a steering wheel, but with your feet,” I say.
She does it wrong again, only this time, I have a feeling she’s doing it on purpose.
I get on the board behind her and press up against her body so she can feel my movement. Her breathing shifts, becoming shallow. She’s trembling. I’m hard for her and I know she can feel it. I press it against her smooth round ass and she rubs up against me, making a sound that I’m fairly certain was a moan.
“There you go,” I say into her ear as she starts to move with my body, mimicking what I’m doing. Damn, if she keeps moving like that I’m going to come in my shorts.
“Am I doing it right?” she says, her voice almost a whisper.
I touch the flat of her stomach, pressing harder against her until my cock is nestled into the crook of her ass. Fuck it, if I come, I come. I can hide it by getting in the water. “Perfect.”
I clear my throat and step away from her. “You ready to get in the water?” I ask.
She hesitates. I think she wants to stay close, but eventually she says, “I think so.”
We grab our boards and get into the water. At first we just stand in the surf. I can tell she’s nervous. Maybe she doesn’t even want to surf. I know I don’t. All I want right now is to touch her again. Just then a wave hits us and she’s knocked back. I catch her before she falls, our bodies pressed against each other, front to front. Her breasts press against my chest and it feels amazing. Each one is soft and round. They are small and go perfectly with her athletic build. The perfect mouthfuls and I want nothing more than to taste her. She’s laughing and so am I as the force of the water pushes us around. I hold her tighter to keep her from drifting away from me. She has a laugh like a lullaby, warm and soothing. That’s a laugh I would never get sick of.
Suddenly, she gets this serious look on her face. I’m holding my breath, waiting for her to kiss me, but then she says, “Surf’s up,” and turns around with her board to catch the next wave. The breath leaves my mouth with a whoosh, and I laugh at myself for getting so excited about a kiss.
She’s actually really good for a novice and manages to get up on the board several times and ride small waves. Her balance is perfect and she has good control of her body. She must have played sports or been a cheerleader, something that would require good balance.
When we’re done, we’re both exhausted. The sun is going down. Only a few people remain on the beach. I lead her over to the showers to rinse the salt water off our bodies. That’s when I notice her bikini is transparent. I can’t believe I hadn’t noticed it before. Then again, we were up to our necks in waves. As she rinses her hair, I have a perfect view of her pert nipples and the pink areolas around them. Fuck, there goes my boner again. That guy is always at full salute when she’s around.
When she’s done, I drop my gaze. She wrings the water out of her hair. “Damn, I forgot my towel,” she says.
“I have an extra in my truck.”
We head for the parking lot. She walks ahead of me, giving me an excellent view of that pert round ass. Like a hungry shark, I just want to take a bite of it.
We get to my truck, I open the door and hand her the towel.
“I’m going to change here, if that’s okay. I don’t want the seats of my car to get wet from my suit,
” she says.
“Yeah, okay,” I tell her, and volunteer to be a shield so anyone walking by won’t see her.
With the towel wrapped around her, she tries to take off her bikini to put on a cover-up she brought with her, but she’s obviously struggling. She manages to get both top and bottoms off, but putting on the cover-up seems to be a more difficult task. She cusses when she drops the cover-up on the ground. When she bends to grab it, the top of her towel slips and I see a delicious nipple, hard as a ruby, the areola puckered from the cold. My cock starts to ache.
She pulls in a startled breath at the slip and hurries to cover herself. But when she looks at me, she knows that I didn’t miss it. I stick my hands in my pockets and smile.
She’s not doing too good a job at covering herself up. All but the nipple is still showing. What I can see is a peach-sized pale breast, full and round and utterly mouth-watering. Her tan lines are a shade or two lighter than the rest of her skin, and her skin is like smooth satin.
“Need some help?” I offer.
“Yeah, could you hold the towel up for me so I can slip this on?”
I raise an eyebrow. “Or you could not put it on and we can get to the real reason you’re here.”
She gives me a frown. A mixture of shock and annoyance. Her eyes darken and her breath is rushed when she says, “I’m actually here to learn how to surf, not for whatever it is you’re thinking.”
I nod slowly as if I actually believe her. “So you don’t want it?”
The word it hangs in the air between us, bright and full of life, like a firework shot into the sky.
She hesitates too long and that’s all I need. I take her by the waist. She desperately clings to the towel covering her, but doesn’t object. I reach up, taking her by the chin, and lift so that our eyes meet. I see a hurricane growing behind them. She wants this, but she’s hesitant.
