Meet Me Halfway

by Xyla Turner

  This was my life.

  ***

  March can be purchased by clicking here for only $0.99.

  Peek —> Undertones

  Bianca

  "Listen, I don't know you and I don't really care who you are," I snapped back at him. "However, I was here first so you're going to need to wait."

  "You snooze, you lose," he replied in a matter-of-fact tone.

  The man did not budge one inch, which made Bianca more upset. Who was this much of a jerk that he would not even move for a woman?

  "Wow." I shook my head. "You are such an asshole. I mean, wow. That's just disappointing."

  I picked up my suitcases and moved to one of the love seats that were in the middle of the main lobby at the luxurious resort. My plan was to wait the jerk out because the trip was supposed to be a relaxing vacation and of all the things, fantasy fulfilling. Yet, I found myself arguing with an asinine jerk who called himself a man, wore a hoodie, scowled at everyone, and cut in front of women. An encounter like this was not on the fantasy fulfillment agenda.

  One, two, three, four…I started to count to one-hundred.

  When I finished, I looked around and he was gone.

  Thank goodness.

  I quietly rose from my chair, walked over to the smiling concierge and said, "My name is Bianca Norman, and I'd like to check-in."

  The man behind the counter was medium build, very tanned and handsome. The tag on his shirt indicated his name was Alonzo. His eyes seemed to sparkle but it could have been the magic of Indulgences. It was absolutely breathtaking and I hadn't even seen the cabanas or the island yet except from a bird’s eye view in the Indulgences airplane. We traveled to this main building directly from the landing strip in some sort of stretch Jeep while watching a video about Aragon Island.

  "Yes, Ms. Norman. It's so sweet of you to be here with us at Indulgences. ‘We’re here to serve and fulfill your fantasy. Has your meeting with Kenderly been set up yet? If not, I can do that right now," he offered.

  "Yes, I've spoken with Kenderly already. We are all set." I smiled. "Right now, I just need to get to my room, put these bags down and get me a nice, relaxing fruity drink."

  Alonzo laughed and said, "Okay, I have you staying for seven days and you'll leave Indulgences on the twenty-fifth. Is that correct?"

  "Yes, that is accurate," I confirmed.

  "Very well." He nodded his head and gave me a folder that had a map and a small envelope with two room keys peeking out of the top. "This is for you and you'll need to go through your itinerary to make sure you're on time for your sessions. Remember, each one may be different according to your particular fantasy. Kenderly can explain more in her consultation."

  I took the folder, glanced at the cabana number and said, "Okay, thank you so much."

  "Enjoy your stay, Ms. Norman. I know that you will." He nodded in my direction and continued typing on the computer in front of him.

  I eagerly walked toward the exit, then headed in the direction of my cabana using the map. Once I arrived to my temporary place of residence, I ran into the rude man with the stupid hood over his head from earlier. He was standing in the open doorway of the cabana next to mine.

  Crap.

  The groan that escaped my mouth was not intended to be audible but I couldn't help myself. Earlier, I had silently prayed his cabana would not be close to mine. However, watching him with his hand on the knob, I knew it was just my luck and nearly dropped my bags.

  "Is there a problem?" the arrogant, hooded villain asked.

  "Yes," I answered, because by then I had had enough of him. "You are the problem. You're near my cabana which is yet another issue. I guess you plan to knock my bags out my hand, too. Why don't you kick me while I'm down as well? That should make your day. Happy?"

  His head tilted back, which showed that his hair was longer than I was used to from the guys in my family or from work. Most of them had low cuts, short hair or even some sort of product that kept their hair back or spiked. Long hair usually meant unkempt or rugged in my limited experience. I was young, had only traveled to a few states for various reasons and didn't have a lot of life experience. This guy seemed to have too much which made him jaded, or so it seemed.

  "Lady, what the hell are you talking about?" he sneered. "I've done nothing to you. You weren't in line earlier and now you've made me miss the shuttle with your high and mighty speech."

  The man slammed the door to his cabana and walked away from me and towards the other residences. I, again, audibly groaned at his dismissal of me and opened the door to my place.

  "Calm down," I murmured to myself. "Calm down, Bianca."

  Once I successfully opened the door, after the third attempt, a gasp escaped my mouth upon entering the cabana. It was breathtakingly beautiful. The floors were a blend of brown, white and golden colored marble in the kitchen and bathroom areas and Macassar Ebony, plush white carpet in the common areas.

  I dropped my bags and flopped down on the large king-size bed.

  "Wow," I gasped.

  After closing my eyes for all of five seconds, I woke up two hours later with my stomach communicating that I hadn't had much to eat that day. I yelped, "Oh my God."

  Jumping to my feet, I swung around three-hundred and sixty degrees, trying to adjust to my surroundings. When I finally gathered my wits about me, I decided to go to the Indulgences Cuisine for All Restaurant. That night, it was a buffet styled, group-sized dinner. Luckily enough, there were a variety of foods available including surf and turf plus a dizzying array of vegetables. This feast would please even the pickiest eaters. An enormous table sat in the middle of the facility with a massive centerpiece that slowly rotated so everyone had access to all the food.

  It was the largest table I had ever seen in my life with guests of all colors, shapes and sizes. Some people were older, middle aged, or younger like me but we all came to this place seeking something, a fantasy that would be granted. On some level, the family-sized dinner made sense. There were a few open spots, so I chose the one closest to the door. I noticed a woman who was sitting on a man's lap and kissing each other profusely; they were clearly together. To the right of the couple was a guy with long hair who was eating and ignoring everyone. My type of guy, because I planned to do the same thing.

  Once I sat down, the couple that was just kissing like their fantasy was to be watched, the guy she was sitting on, looked at me, giving a half smile. The long-haired guy on the right just kept eating. Quickly, I put food on my plate and when the seafood made it around again, I grabbed another plate and piled that on top. After eating bits and pieces from all of it, when the coconut shrimp came back around, I went to grab some but my hand bumped into the guy on the right.

  "Excuse me," I said as I waited for the long-haired man to get some shrimp.

  He kept piling them on his plate. When the turning table briefly held the shrimp in front of me, the guy was still getting them and then there were no more.

  Any other day, I would have ignored the man's rude behavior. But, the hooded man from earlier had already set me off. Therefore, I did what my mom had taught me never to do; take food off of someone’s plate.

  "What do you think you're doing?" the man snapped at me.

  Goddammit.

  It was the guy from earlier.

  Again.

  "You!" I sneered. "I should have known your rude ass would be here. Fine, I'm taking the shrimp that I would have gotten off the tray from your plate."

  I grabbed six of his twelve shrimp and proceeded to take a bite from the top of each one, just in case he had thought to try and take them back.

  He openly stared at me, and then said with a growl, "You feel better?"

  I took another bite off the last shrimp and made a short humming noise. "Well." I looked at his plate and grabbed another one and said, "Yeah, now I do."

  Turning to face him, I saw that he no longer had a hood on but his long hair was still blocking most of his face. T
he man seemed to be older, maybe in his late thirties or early forties. I noted that he had a dangerous or daring vibe about him besides those dark eyes of his. His rudeness matched his demeanor. Before I could say something else snarky, the villain snatched the shrimp out of my hand and took his own bite. Then he had the nerve to laugh. It must have been the look on my face because he started laughing hard, which I thought would be the perfect opportunity to snatch the shrimp back from him. To my dismay, he moved his hand just as I lunged for it, causing me to launch on top of him to reach for it above his head. When I stopped moving, I realized my breasts were in his face, his arm was wrapped around my thighs and he was looking up at me in shock.

  It was then I noticed the scar that he had to the right of his eye. It looked like someone had taken a serrated knife and cut him from the hairline on his forehead straight down, over his eye to the middle part of his cheek. Oddly enough, his eye was intact but it was a nasty scar and he was hyper aware of it because he said, "Get a good look? Happy now?"

  "Not yet." I kept looking at his eyes as I snatched the shrimp from his hand and popped it in my mouth. "Now I am."

  A smirk almost graced his face but he kept holding me to him so that my C-cups were still in his face. I got the distinct feeling that he did not want to let me go, so I nabbed another shrimp off his plate and ate it.

  "This arrangement may work. I guess you just have to be rude and bogart your way to get things, so I can come along and take it from you." It was my turn to laugh. "I'm happy now."

  My mouth kept chewing the shrimp as he stared at me in amazement. For a guy, his lashes were long, but his lips were sharp like he was born to be an arrogant ass.

  I wiggled out of his grasp and slid back into my chair to continue eating my food. Then he asked, "Now, who's being rude?"

  My head swiveled around to look at everyone in the room, and then my eyes landed on him. "Still you."

  His hair had fallen back over the right side of his face again but his eyes were definitely on me the entire time.

  "Please tell me your fantasy is to be less arrogant and rude?" I kept eating my food. "That would be the gracious way to go or will that mess up your reputation?"

  "You've got a smart mouth," he replied. "Is your fantasy to be quieter and not yell at strangers?"

  At that, I laughed because I had yelled at him twice but he deserved the tongue lashing.

  "Nope, people like you deserve to be yelled at." I took a gulp of the drink that was in front of me.

  "What are you doing here?" he asked in a sincere tone. "You haven't even lived long enough to know what the real world is about. Why would you want to escape? What are you, twenty-one?"

  That comment stopped all laughter as my head turned to glare at the ignoramus.

  "I'm twenty-six, for your information. Yes, I've had some horrible things happen to me, also not your business. And since when does having a fantasy have an age-limit?" I turned my body away from him and took another long sip of my Long-Island ice tea.

  Several beats later, I heard his gruff voice behind me. "You're right. The name is Travis. You are?"

  "Why?" I asked without looking.

  "Honestly," he said. "I like sparring with you."

  "Oh God," I sighed. "You are one of those evil people that get off by making other people miserable."

  My back was still to him as I kept eating and making jabs at the ass.

  "I don't get off on other's misery. I get off on a woman's pleasure usually as she's squeezing me tightly or my hand, as of late," he commented.

  My head snapped around as my nipples grew hard at his harsh but pointed words. My eyes met his and there was a smirk on his face.

  "Really?" I found myself saying. "You thought that was appropriate to say to me?"

  "Well, I just wanted to clarify what got me off. You made an assumption about what that could be and I just wanted you to know; you were wrong." He shrugged. "The last part might have been TMI, though."

  "Ya think?" I turned back around.

  "Well, Miss twenty-six-year-old, I'm sure you'll find what you're looking for on this fantasy island. Good luck with that and since I'm out of coconut shrimp, I'll make my exit." His chair slid across the marble floor.

  "You sure you don't want to take food from a baby first?" I smirked as I went to take another bite of my lobster tail.

  However, the bastard was quicker than me, stole it from my fork, popped it in his mouth, and bent down to take another one of my shrimp. "I'd rather take yours."

  The smell of his cologne in my nostrils almost caused me to lick my lips. Even when he pulled back, the aroma lingered. He smelled damn good and I needed to focus on my food and not the rude jerk eating off my plate.

  "Bye, twenty-six," he called as he left.

  Ugh.

  Peek —> The Client

  Chapter 1

  “Listen, I know you guys are the only plumbers in town, but it makes no sense to have to call you every week because the same issue keeps happening with my pipes. You guys were supposed to fix this three weeks ago and now I’m here again with my house smelling like a sewer. I pay good money for your services, but every week for almost a month I’ve had to call you back with the same issue. You are the manager, so I want you to come here and give me an assessment because clearly your employees are incapable of resolving the problem. I am normally a patient person, but I am at the point where I will call the Better Business Bureau, Angie’s list and my lawyer to discredit your company. This is beyond ridiculous.”

  The woman sounded like those entitled chicks that had to have everything a certain way and if it weren't, she would have a tantrum until it was done. John never liked those types because they were too high maintenance for him. He wanted a hell of a lot out of a woman, but she couldn’t want a hell of a lot out of him. He had a business to run and that was the priority for him. The only thing that it took blood, sweat and tears for him to start. No job was too big or too small for Plumber’s Haven.

  “Ma’am, I do apologize for this situation and I will gladly come out to your place to do an assessment myself. When will you be home?” He worked hard to remain patient and stay calm.

  “Now. I’m available now. It smells like feces in here and I cannot take another night of this. I am starting to get sick.” She complained.

  “Give me twenty minutes, okay?”

  “Fine. Uh, thank you.”

  “Sure,” he replied, then disconnected the call.

  John did not have time for this sort of interruption. Christmas was around the corner and his employees were working overtime because a lot of pipes were freezing in the below zero weather in Freeport, New York. They were the only plumbing business in their small providence, but there were many others outside of Freeport, but most residents stuck with the locals. They were cheaper and more family friendly, except to Miss. Fox.

  “Rookie,” he called to Mike, the young worker, who just started a few weeks ago.

  “Yeah, boss.”

  “You’re with me.”

  John quickly looked at the log and saw that Hank was the contractor that was dispatched to her house every time there was an issue. Lately, he had received so many complaints about his work and the fact that he was late for most of his jobs. When he had addressed Hank about it before, he assured John, that he was alright. Just going through some things with his wife, Traci. At that moment, John knew he had to talk to him and depending on what he found, he may have to fire him. He would hate to do that during the holidays, but his business was his baby and anyone threatening that, was a liability.

  John and Mike drove the ten-minute trek to Miss. Fox place. It was an older A-frame house, painted yellow with a manicured front yard, small shrubs on the side and a brick walkway to her front door. It was cute in a single woman sort of way but did not seem to match the tone of the woman he just spoke with over the phone. He knocked on the door twice, not bothering with the bell. After a few moments, the door opened and in its plac
e, stood a woman with cropped brown hair, blond streaks, brown eyes, and a tank top with tight running shorts, white ankle socks and sneakers. She had dark sunglasses pulled over her the top of her head, a pointed, yet slightly turned up nose and bee-stung lips.

  The two of them stared at each other for what felt like an eternity, until she asked, “May I help you?”

  Blinking out his haze, John immediately recognized the voice and replied, “Yes, we are with Plumber’s Haven. My name is John and this is Mike. I’m the manager.”

  He reached out his hand to shake hers, but she hesitated, then shook it with a firm grip.

  “I’m Tiffany Fox, pleased to meet you. Come on in.” She moved out of the way so the two men could enter.

  Mike had most of the tools while John carried his plumber’s box. Once she closed the door, she said, “If you follow me, I can show you where the problem started and the progression to what’s happening now.”

  “Sounds good,” John replied.

  She led them towards the steps and began to climb them as John’s eyes were glued to her ass. He felt a tap on his shoulder, so he turned to see Mike pointing to where he was already looking. He narrowed his eyebrows, displaying his displeasure to the young kid making the observation, but any red-blooded man could not ignore her assets. The woman was built. John liked all races, but normally stayed within his own when it came to romance. He had preferences, but that was less on looks and more on personality. He jolted himself back to focusing since he knew this one was high maintenance. Something he had no interest in or time to manage.

  When she reached her bathroom, she bent down to open the doors that housed her pipes. When she looked back, John nodded at her so she would move out of the way. He knelt down on his knees to see what had been done and he nearly sneered at the sight. His jaw clenched, as he did not want to overreact or shock her any more than he was. He was actually appalled at the damage. It looked like patchwork had been horribly applied to various parts of the pipes. He peaked his head from under the sink and asked, “Nobody else worked on this?”