Aruba (Bad Boys on the Beach Book 3)

by Kimberly Fox

  I take two steps away before turning back to them. “A long thick D,” I say with a wink before turning and walking away.

  “Lucky bitch,” I hear Megan mutter again as I leave. I giggle to myself as I leave the restaurant. I am a lucky bitch.

  I fluff up my hair, put my limited-edition Valentino sunglasses on, and fix my Michael Kors bikini top as I walk over. Tucker straightens up as he sees me approaching, watching me with a grin on his face.

  I’m not about to make this easy on him, so I sit on the opposite end of the empty bar, pretending like I don’t know him.

  The bartender hands him a beer and then hurries over to me with a wide smile on his face. “Mamacita,” he says. “What are you drinking?”

  “Vodka with an energy drink,” I say as I slide my sunglasses on top of my head. “I was up all night.”

  “Oooooh yeah,” he says, shaking his hips as he bites his bottom lip. “Doing what?”

  “My taxes,” I say. “It was a nightmare.”

  I hear Tucker chuckle from the other side of the bar as the bartender’s face drops. He turns with a frown and grabs a glass and a bottle of Vodka.

  I try to keep my eyes straight as Tucker makes his way over, but it’s pure torture. Especially when he doesn’t have a shirt on.

  “Hello,” he says, sticking his hand out. “Tucker Carson.”

  “Not interested,” I say, trying to hold back a laugh. I don’t even turn to look at him.

  He sits down next to me anyway and sips on his beer. I don’t look at him, but that doesn’t mean I don’t sneak a quick peek at his thick tattooed forearm.

  “Lots of girls say they’re not interested in me,” he says, “but in reality, they’re madly in love and just don’t know it. There’s one girl in particular that I can think of.”

  “Thanks,” I say to the bartender as he slides the Vodka and energy drink in front of me.

  “I kept at this girl for years until she finally broke and admitted her feelings,” he continues.

  “Sounds like you’re a stalker,” I say, taking a sip of my cold drink. “Why are you harassing poor innocent girls?”

  “This girl wasn’t so innocent,” he says, grinning as he sips on his beer. “She put out on the first date.”

  “She must have been drunk,” I say, feeling my heart start to pound. I pretend it’s from the energy drink and not from him, although it’s probably the energy drink. This shit is poison.

  “Maybe,” he says, widening his grin. “But she put out in the morning too.”

  I turn to him with narrowed eyes. Fuck he’s hot. “I wouldn’t go around bragging about this poor innocent girl, who sounds absolutely stunning by the way, if you ever want her to put out again.”

  “Thanks for the advice,” he says, looking down at me with sparkling eyes. “I’m trying to get her to put out again. Maybe after these drinks?”

  I can feel my cheeks turning red as I look down at my drink that now looks way too full. “I think she might be interested in that.”

  I laugh as he chugs the rest of his beer like he’s at a frat party. I’m not chugging vodka and energy drink, I’ll be way too wired and will be hyper enough to run a marathon.

  On second thought, locked in a room with Tucker with unlimited energy sounds like a great way to spend an afternoon, so I chug the rest of my drink.

  Just as we’re about to leave, Chase comes walking over. “Shit,” I hear him curse under his breath when he sees Tucker at the bar. This is not good. These two have to learn how to get along. And if Tucker and I can learn how to get along, then any two people can.

  “Hey, Chase,” I say, sitting back down on the bar stool. “Two more days until the wedding. Are you excited?”

  His face breaks out into the widest smile I’ve ever seen on him. “I’m counting every second.”

  “How many left?”

  “About 183,000,” he says with a laugh. “And each one is torture.”

  Tucker looks uncomfortable as he stands beside the bar. His body is stiff, and he’s breathing heavier than he was a few of those 183,000 seconds ago.

  “We’re going dancing tonight,” Chase says after ordering a beer. “You two coming?”

  “As long as you make Megan promise not to force me to do any embarrassing synchronized dances,” I say with a shake of my head.

  “You know I can’t promise you that,” Chase says with a laugh. “Even a platoon of Navy SEALs can’t stop that girl when the music starts.”

  “Well, I’ll be there anyway,” I promise. “Tucker too.”

  He lets out a huff of breath beside me.

  Chase looks at his soon-to-be brother-in-law, and I can see his face tighten up. “Great,” he mutters under his breath. “I’ll see you later, Julia.”

  “Would it kill you to try and be nice to the guy?” I ask Tucker when he’s gone. The annoyance is thick in my voice. “He’s an American hero, he’s a great friend, and your sister is in love with him completely. What exactly is your problem?”

  “Cynthia and I have been down this road before,” he says, looking agitated as he watches Chase walk back to the beach with a slight limp. “I know how this is going to play out.”

  “You don’t know anything, Tucker,” I say, starting to raise my voice. This guy is great at getting me frustrated. “You don’t even know him.”

  “I know guys like him. They’re all the same.”

  “No, they’re not. He’s not your father.”

  His back straightens as he turns away from me like I just slapped him.

  “I’m sorry,” I say, feeling like I stepped over a line that I shouldn’t have. “Tucker, I…”

  “I’m going for a walk.” He leaves without giving me so much as another glance.

  I sigh as I watch him walk under the palm trees toward the beach. This guy can go from charming to jerk in the blink of an eye.

  “Who am I kidding?” I mutter to myself as I watch him go. Maybe he is just the same old Mother Tucker.

  14

  Julia

  Day Four

  I stay with my girls throughout dinner, avoiding Tucker as best that I can. I’m still annoyed and insulted that he walked away from me after we had made plans for the afternoon. Especially since it was plans for an afternoon delight.

  And all because I was trying to help him get along with Chase. He’s going to be his brother-in-law whether he likes it or not, so he might as well try and make the best of it.

  “Ugh,” Megan whines. “This DJ sucks.”

  She’s been giving the poor guy the stink eye from across the bar all night.

  “We’re in Aruba,” Tanya says, defending the guy. “He’s playing his country’s music.”’

  “Well, his country’s music sucks donkey balls,” she says, crossing her arms over her chest as she pouts. “It sounds like a raccoon is being tortured in the same room as someone learning how to play drums.”

  “And the Spice Girls is any better?” I ask with a laugh.

  Megan looks at me with pure betrayal on her face. “Who are you?” she asks, the disgust clear in her voice.

  “I’m the person who’s glad that she doesn’t have to dance,” I say with a laugh.

  “Me too,” Tanya says, raising her hand.

  “I’m with you,” Cynthia says, sliding her heavy arm over Megan’s shoulders. My best friend had a little too much wine at dinner and is feeling a little too good. “I want to fucking dance my tits off.” We all laugh as she breaks out in giggles.

  “You heard her, Mrs. Maid of Honor,” Megan says, staring me down. “The bride wants to dance. It’s your responsibility to make it happen.”

  “Fine,” I say with a shrug of my shoulders. “I’ll see if the DJ has any twenty-five-year-old music that nobody wants to listen to.”

  “Thank you,” Megan says with a nod of her head.

  I wind through the moving crowd of tourists on the dance floor to the DJ booth, keeping my head low, but he finds me anyways. He p
ops up in front of me like a muscular wall.

  “Are you going to avoid me all night?” Tucker asks, looking hotter than ever in a tight white shirt. His face is tanned a sexy brown, and his eyes are brighter than the flashing lights over our heads.

  “All week is more like it,” I answer, trying to walk around him. It’s not an easy task with all the bumping and grinding bodies clogging up the dance floor.

  He leans down until our eyes are level. “I’m sorry. I was a jerk. Again.”

  “I’m used to it.” I try to push around him, but a drunken dancer crashes into me, sending me flying into Tucker’s big arms.

  He holds me tight. I want to struggle out of his arms, but I melt into his embrace instead. “I’m worried about my sister. That’s all. I saw what happened to my mother for picking the wrong guy, and I don’t want the same thing to happen to her.”

  “He’s a good guy,” I say. Why can’t he see that?

  “I hope you’re right,” he says, holding me tight. “I want to make it up to you. What can I do?”

  My lips curl up into an evil grin. “You can get the DJ to play Wannabe by Spice Girls.”

  “Done.”

  That was easy. I should ask for more.

  “And, you can take my place in the dance routine.”

  I expect him to say no, but he agrees.

  “Done.”

  “Really?” I ask, tilting my head. “But you don’t know the moves.”

  “I know the moves,” he says with a fierce determination in his eyes. “I watched every one of your rehearsals when we were younger. If I hid in the laundry room, I could watch you through the slats in the door.”

  “You watched us?”

  “I watched you,” he corrects. “I told you. I’ve always been in love with you.”

  He smiles down at me and my heart starts to flutter. “Go tell Megan to lace up her running shoes. It’s go time.”

  My head is spinning as I walk back to my friends. I wasn’t really sure if he was telling the truth. He was in love with me back then? He watched our practices for me?

  I’ll find out in a few minutes if he’s telling the truth or not.

  I keep my eyes locked on him as he talks with the DJ. The DJ shakes his head until Tucker pulls out his wallet. I laugh, wondering how much this is going to cost him.

  I can’t help but think that watching him dance around to the Spice Girls will be worth every penny.

  After the horrible local song ends and the tortured raccoon finally dies, Scary Spice rings through the speakers telling us what she really, really wants.

  “Oh, shit!” Megan shouts, slamming her drink on the bar and sprinting out to the dance floor, pulling a drunken Cynthia along for the ride.

  Tanya looks exhausted as she sighs and starts walking over, holding her big pregnant belly. She turns and looks at me with a shocked look. “Coming?” she asks.

  I shake my head and point to the dance floor behind her. “You have a new Posh Spice.”

  Tanya’s shoulders shake with laughter when she sees Tucker line up beside Megan and Cynthia.

  I stare in amazement as he hits every move perfectly. He stares right at me as he mouths the next two lines that play through the speakers: “If you are my future. Forget my past.”

  I laugh at that one. Megan breaks a sweat as she jumps across the dance floor with more enthusiasm than when we first performed the routine over a decade ago. Cynthia tries to keep up, but she’s too drunk and crashes forehead first into her brother’s stomach.

  My stomach is fluttering as I watch him swing his hips to the beat. He really was hiding in that laundry room watching me. He really did have a crush on me for all those years.

  I should still be upset that he was always such a prick, but it’s actually kind of sweet now that I’m seeing his behavior from a different light. He was just a young kid who was in love and didn’t know how to show it.

  The song fades out at the end, and you can barely hear the crowd’s sigh of relief over the hooting and hollering of Chase’s navy SEAL friends by the bar.

  “Girl Power!” Megan shouts as she throws a fist in the air, looking like a sweaty Freddie Mercury.

  Tucker’s eyes are locked on mine as he walks over. “Forgiven?” he asks.

  “Forgiven,” I say, grinning at him. “But unfortunately, I’ve lost what little attraction I had for you after seeing that.”

  He flashes his white teeth as he gives me a sexy smile. “At least I’m forgiven. Can I get you a drink?”

  “I thought you’d never ask.”

  We head to the bar when Tucker’s mother comes rushing over holding her iPad. “I got the whole thing on video!” she says proudly.

  Tucker narrows his gorgeous eyes on her. “Delete it now or I’m going to acquaint it with the bottom of the ocean.”

  “Why?” she asks, flipping through her videos. “It’s cute.”

  She hits play and shows us. You can hear her high-pitched laugh throughout the video.

  “Can you send me a copy of that please?” I ask, giggling as I look over her shoulder.

  Tucker shakes his head. “No. She can’t.”

  “Definitely,” his mother says.

  “Three seconds to delete it,” Tucker warns, “or the next thing to be watching it will be a starfish.”

  Amy clutches her iPad to her chest and runs away, disappearing into the crowd.

  “Mothers shouldn’t be allowed to have technology,” he says, shaking his head as he watches her leave. “All they do is embarrass their kids with it.”

  “That video is not embarrassing,” I say with a chuckle. “It’s the best thing I’ve ever seen.”

  “It would have been better if you were in it.”

  “So, you really did watch me,” I say, unable to contain my grin. “How many times?”

  “Every time,” he says. His face looks so serious. “I could watch you for hours. I still can.”

  I bite my bottom lip as I turn to the bar to order a drink. “You can watch me anytime you want,” I say, looking over my shoulder at him. “Creeper.”

  The bartender makes eye contact with me and raises his eyebrows.

  “Two bee-”

  “Esteban,” a voice beside me says, interrupting me. Ugh. It’s Stephanie.

  The bartender turns away from me and focuses on her. “Yes, Miss Stephanie. What can I get for you?”

  She shoots me a triumphant sneer before ordering two martinis.

  “I was about to order,” I say through gritted teeth. “I was here first.”

  She looks back at Tucker standing behind me and grins. “I was there first, but you don’t hear me being a little bitch about it.”

  Heat flushes through my body as I fantasize about grabbing her blonde hair and slamming her face into the sticky bar.

  “Oh, please,” Tucker says, rolling his eyes. “I dumped you the second you showed a flash of your true self.”

  “You couldn’t handle my true self,” Stephanie says, thrusting her chin in the air.

  “Hitler couldn’t handle your true self,” I spit back at her.

  “Enjoy my sloppy seconds,” she says as the bartender places two martinis in front of her. He turns to take my order next, but Stephanie shakes her head. “Don’t serve her.”

  The bartender looks at me with an apologetic look on his face and then moves on to the other waiting customers.

  “What the hell?” I shout to him, but he doesn’t turn back.

  “And you four bitches are all banned from the dance floor until further notice,” she says, loving every minute of this. “You’re scaring my customers away with your humiliating dancing.”

  “Your customers?” I repeat with a scoff. “You own the place now?”

  I can feel the evil radiating off her as she grins at me. “I own the owner. I’ve got him wrapped around my finger. Literally.”

  My stomach drops as she lifts her hand and shows me a diamond engagement ring on her ring finger. Shit.
We’re screwed.

  “Enjoy your stay at my resort,” she says, picking up the martinis off the bar. “While you still can.”

  I’m worried I’m going to puke all over my Gianvito Rossi pumps as she struts away with the two drinks. She shoots me one last victorious smirk before sitting on Lars’ lap. She hands him a martini and then shoves her tongue down his throat.

  Cynthia comes stumbling over, looking even drunker than before. “Hey, sexy!” she shouts in my face, showering me with her alcohol-soaked spit. “Are you having fun?”

  “You’re having fun,” I say back to her, trying to force out a smile. I can’t tell her now. Either it will ruin her night, or she’ll be too drunk to understand me anyway.

  She squeezes my arms, digging her fingertips into my biceps. “I’m marrying a Navy SEAL,” she shouts, looking ecstatic. “On the beach! I can’t fucking wait!”

  My chest tightens. Let’s hope that she gets married on the beach. I glance over at Stephanie, who is glaring at us while Lars cops a feel over her dress.

  Because Cynthia will be getting married in the parking lot if that evil cunt gets her way.

  “It’s going to be fine,” Tucker says, trying to make me feel better. “We won’t let her ruin the wedding.”

  “You don’t know this girl,” I say as we walk through the dark resort. The party died down after Chase brought Cynthia home when she got too drunk to stand, and everybody just kind of went their separate ways.

  “I did date her, remember?” he says, shaking his head.

  “I’m trying to forget that,” I say, feeling sick to my stomach like I always do when I picture them together.

  “Nothing happened,” he says, quick to remind me. “I don’t put out on first dates.”

  I raise an eyebrow as I look up at him. “Do I have to remind you of last night? That was a first date.”

  “You don’t count,” he says, smiling at me. “It doesn’t count when it’s the girl you’re going to marry.”

  “Easy boy,” I say with a laugh. “Let’s get one wedding done at a time.”

  The resort looks gorgeous at night with the lit-up pool snaking along the walking path. It winds through the resort, lighting it up in a turquoise glow. It’s quiet at night with only the sound of the soothing waves in the distance mixed with the beat of the club somewhere far behind us. I glance up at the bright stars, wondering how this is all going to play out.