by Debra Dunbar
But when there’s a friendship at risk, I tend to do reckless things. Walking to a mass of Spanish moss that draped six feet from a tree limb to brush the surface of the pool, I reached down and touched a strand.
Spanish moss isn’t really moss, but a member of the bromeliad family. So instead of spores, it reproduces through flowers and seeds. At my touch, at the stream of energy I lovingly poured into it, the gray strands sprouted light green nubs which expanded into tiny flowers. Sweet fragrance filled the air, and I stepped back, admiring my handiwork.
“There. That’s the best I can do without some hot oil and a flat iron. I don’t know how Pele feels about green, but now her hair doesn’t look like a bunch of dried up sticks.” I turned to Kai. “If you still have doubts, you can pick any plant you want, even walk down the beach and choose one. I’ll cause it to grow or multiply, flower or fruit. Anything but harm it.”
“No,” Kai said, her eyes fixed on the Spanish moss. “You’ve convinced me. I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”
She stood. “Oh, and please wear the white bikini with the orange hibiscus flowers you had on by the pool yesterday.”
“Because it shows off my tan?”
“No.” She shot me a quick grin. “Because your boobs look amazing in it.”
I struggled to breath, the aforementioned body parts becoming alert as I thought about her nudging the fabric aside with her thumb to touch.... I opened my mouth to call Kai back, but she was already skipping down the steps to the beach, her braid swaying, the black tip brushing the top of her ass. Talk about sex on a stick. Wow. Just wow.
Chapter 9
Irix wasn’t in our room, so I left him a note that I was going out for a recharge. Halfway to the pool bar, I hesitated. From Kai’s reaction yesterday, it might not be a good idea to troll for sexual partners right in my own backyard. I should probably take my pheromones elsewhere, otherwise I could end up with a lynch mob of Irix’s resort admirers, ready to take out that cheating ‘ho’.
Walking past a few more resorts, I finally found a beach hotel that seemed a suitable distance away. There were several spots by the pool, but I headed toward the beach and a huge grass-topped pavilion with ukulele music coming from tiny speakers. Perfect. Plopping onto a barstool with a view of the beach as well as the patrons, I ordered a drink and settled in for the hunt.
There were a number of potentials enjoying their noon happy hour at the tiki bar. Three middle-aged guys sipped their pints, more interested in the basketball game on the bar’s TV than the bikini-clad women on the beach, let alone me. Two young women were on their third dark-and-stormy and flirting with the bartender. The bartender was a definite maybe, but he’d already informed me he didn’t get off work for another few hours. I didn’t want to jeopardize his job by seducing him on the clock, so that left umbrella-rental guy or the attractive tourist chatting on his cell phone.
Umbrella-rental guy was an easy mark, already checking me out from his seat just outside the bar. No wedding ring that I could see, no socks with sandals, and he was grinning like a fool as he got up and strutted my way.
Hmmm. Easy. I could get this done and be back to work on my thesis by the pool in less than twenty minutes, but Irix’s recriminations rang in my head. This was exactly the sort of guy I’d been banging my entire senior year, and I probably did need to be a bit more selective. Fast-food hamburgers weren’t the only offering at this buffet. There were other choices. I just needed to get off my ass and work, for once.
Turning my back on the umbrella-rental guy, I faced the man arguing on his cell phone and let loose the pheromones. He flickered a quick glance in my direction then froze, taking a longer look. I sent him a slow, seductive smile, lowered my eyes and took a sip from my drink. To seal the deal, I licked my lips and stretched, arching my back to let my cleavage do the talking.
“Rudy? I gotta go. Get the shipment out the door by two, and send me the tracking info. No, I gotta go.” He punched the phone’s screen, tapped a button on the side, and shoved it in a pocket.
I smiled. “A gorgeous day in paradise, and you still can’t escape the office?”
He grimaced. “It’s not really paradise when you’re here for a sales-kickoff.”
I murmured in sympathy. “Are you off the clock now? Because I’d like to buy you a drink.”
His gaze roved over me, a smile curling his lips. “As of right now, my workday is over, and happy hour has commenced.”
Umbrella guy would have been a two-word pick-up line, a quick screw behind the beach house, and a see-ya never again. This guy would take some finesse to reel in. Still, I could feel his interest, the strength of the energy he held. Irix was right. Easy-sleazy was good for a quick snack, but sometimes a girl needed a decent meal to really feel satiated.
I drained the rest of my ginger margarita and waved at the bartender for two more. He eyed my new companion with a jealous scowl but promptly set about mixing.
“So... you here on an extravagant spring break?”
I bit back a smile, realizing the guy was trying in a roundabout way to make sure I was above the age of consent. The bartenders here didn’t seem to care, but I appreciated that my potential sexual partner had enough restraint to put the breaks on anything illegal before it got rolling out of control.
“My senior year in college. I wanted to cut loose one last time before I became a slave to the corporate world.”
The phone rang from his pocket, and he winced. “Yeah. Live it up now before any pleasure is constantly interrupted by business.”
“I thought you were done for the day?” Worried I was in danger of losing my prey to another work-related call, I turned up the pheromones a notch.
“I am.”
He took the phone out and silenced it, making a show of turning it off before stuffing it back into his pocket. “Now, where were we?”
I gave him a coy look. “You were going to forget about the weight of your responsibilities while I told you all the wild things I wanted to accomplish on my big fling here in Maui.”
The bartender chose that moment to shove our drinks in front of us, grumbling the whole time about how he could ditch work early if I really wanted him to. I glanced at the pineapple-shaped clock for the time, thinking if I rushed things along with this guy, I could return, bang the bartender, and be back to the resort in time to meet Irix for a late lunch. He’d be so proud of me — two quality sexual partners in one afternoon.
My businessman-victim remained ignorant of my plans as well as the bartender’s jealousy and concentrated on the rise and fall of my breasts. “I’m hoping I won’t just be enjoying these tales vicariously. Perhaps I can help you make some of these wild flings come true?”
“I’m sure you can.” I smiled appreciatively, putting as much suggestion as I could in my words without appearing too slutty. “Are you staying nearby?”
I pursed my lips as I sipped my drink, the man’s fantasies flooding into my mind. He wanted me on the beach at sunset, incoming tide lapping at our hips Thorn Birds style. Crap. I didn’t have the time to wait around until sunset, and I completely hated all that sand in my nether parts. Hopefully I could get him to change his mind, otherwise that bartender was looking better and better.
He gave me a sheepish look over the rim of his pint glass. “Yeah, but... who wants to be inside on a day like this? There’s a beautiful little cove down the beach with a tidal basin and some shady trees. How about we take our drinks and enjoy Maui in all its glory?”
Fuck. The dude really was fixated on the sex-on-the-beach idea. My ass clenched at the thought of grit and saltwater rubbing me raw. If only I were one-hundred-percent demon, I’d be able to easily heal any rash. And provide additional lubricant. I’d so much rather have sex with him in a proper bed. Or on a lounge chair, or soft moss, or bent over the railing of his hotel-room balcony.
But it wasn’t what I wanted — it was what he wanted. Again the sucky reality of my succubus-self intruded, wipin
g away my more human sensibilities.
I let the demon take over, releasing pheromones that had everyone at the tiki bar breathing heavy. “You’re absolutely right. It’s far too beautiful to be inside today. The sun warming the sand, dancing off the crests of waves in a sparkle of light — let’s walk to that little private cove and enjoy paradise together.”
Business Man downed his drink and stood, practically vibrating with excitement. I slid to my feet and felt a presence reveal itself, similar to Irix’s rich warmth, but with differences that made me wary.
Another sex demon? I hadn’t encountered a lot of demons in my life, but whoever this was, they were clearly not human. I turned, trying to look casual as I scanned the area, and saw her. She was tall and willowy, with golden skin, jet-black hair, and dark eyes that glared into mine. The sexual energy washed over me, hot and far more aggressive than Irix’s. She looked like a Hollywood version of Cleopatra standing there, and I was the nasty peon who’d dared to insult her with my presence. What the fuck was her problem? There were plenty of men, and women, here. Scarcity of willing sex partners didn’t seem to be a problem on Maui, and I doubted she cared whether hers were willing. Screw it. If she was going to be all pissy about my hunting here, then the best thing would be to take Business Man and get the heck out of the area.
“Come on, hon.” I entwined my arm in his, rubbing the side of my breast against his bicep.
The beach was empty for lunch, aside from a few diehard sunbathers and a handful of surfers. We strolled along the edge of the surf toward a rocky outcropping as I spun a fantasy of beach seduction – his fantasy of beach seduction, repeated back to him in my most sultry voice. Behind the red sea-marked rocks of the hidden cove was a tiny bamboo and palm shelter. He shed his sky-blue T-shirt, completely under my spell as I waded to the edge of the water, skimming my toes along the wet sand.
Warm hands caressed my back and loosened the ties of my swimsuit. I let the top drop into the water, carried to the shore in the gentle tide of our sheltered cove. The hands at my waist shook, working their way to the front of my body and upward to cup the underside of my breasts. Closing my eyes, I leaned against him, feeling his skin along mine, the abrasive scrape of his waistband, the press of his erection into my lower back.
“That’s mine. Get lost, bitch.”
Total mood killer, at least for me. My partner didn’t seem to notice the interruption, probably due to the huge volume of conflicting pheromones flowing from both me and the other woman. His fingers played around the edge of one of my nipples, and he bent his head to trail kisses along my shoulder.
“He’s not yours. Last time I checked, it was a free country. Get lost yourself.”
I turned it up to eleven and tried to tune out my competition. My partner clearly wanted the foreplay further in the water then back onto the sand so we would wind up having sex next to the rocks and palms. Hopefully I’d be too sexed up and high on his energy to be distracted by gritty, sandpaper-like penetration and sharp volcanic stones digging into my skin.
The warmth left my back and fingers pinched painfully as Business Man was abruptly ripped from me.
“Hey!” I spun about to see the gorgeous woman from the tiki bar liplocked with my partner. My partner. Damn it all. I’d picked him out, taken the time to carefully work my mojo. How dare she track me down and snatch my prey away from right under my nose.
The woman ignored me, shoving her tongue down my victim’s throat and aggressively grabbing his crotch. His fantasy shifted and changed from blond-on-the-beach to brunette. Oh no, not on my watch.
Striding out of the water, I grabbed a fistful of her black hair and yanked. “Bitch. Take your skinny ass elsewhere, before I knock your teeth out.”
My elf half was appalled at my aggressive tone, but that part of me didn’t exactly approve of my need to have love-em-and-leave-em sex with random strangers, either. The other half of me was furious. Rude, prey-stealing demon aside, I didn’t want this woman anywhere near me. Something about her made my skin crawl in a way none of the other demons I’d met ever had. I didn’t want her on my beach; I didn’t want her on my island.
Wait, my island? I was just as bad as she was if I’d started claiming the whole island as my territory. This was too much for me to handle. I was only half succubus and not about to get into a catfight with a full demon over some dude here for a sales kick-off meeting, let alone brawl over the right to hunt on the island. Better to swallow my pride and back down than have this all escalate into something that might wind up with me dead or with injuries I couldn’t heal.
That thought was slapped right out of my head. Literally slapped. Cleopatra had pushed the man aside and slammed her open palm against my cheek. My eyes watered, skin stinging.
Fuck this. I yanked hard on her hair, driving my fist into her chin with my best uppercut. Bitch wanted a brawl; she’d get a brawl. It didn’t help that Business Man was shaking off the pheromones, staring at the two of us with a mixture of lust and anxiety. Two gorgeous, partially naked women fighting over him was probably every man’s fantasy, but our attention was more on the catfight than on turning him on with erotic sand wrestling.
“Umm, I really need to get back and meet the guys from the southeast region for golf. Tee time, you know. Maybe later.”
“Stay,” we both shouted in unison. The guy froze as if he were glued to the sand, lust edging out anxiety. His sexual energy sparked, and we both tried to claim it.
“This one is mine,” I snarled. “Go fuck the bartender, or the umbrella guy. This one is mine.”
We spun on the soft sand, each gripping the other’s long hair and trying to land a decent blow. I tried to get us closer to the tree line, where I could use some of my skills to wrap her in vines or drop a tree limb on her head, but she dug her feet into the sand and held firm.
“Like fuck he’s yours. Bitch. You’re weak, and that elf-girl thing you’ve got going on isn’t fooling anyone, especially me.”
She thought I was faking? Oh, how funny. My demon side might be weaker than hers, but let me get within touching distance of one of those plants and we’ll see who comes out on top. Actually, my demon side was the one who wanted to strangle her with a hylocereus undatas, but my elf side wanted to negotiate. For once, the elf side won.
“Pick one — either this guy or the bartender. I’ll take the other one, and we’ll decide who gets to hunt on which section of the island.”
“You can both have me.” And now the guy’s fantasy of naked sand wrestling included a threesome happy ending.
Cleopatra’s eyes narrowed. I expected the “this island ain’t big enough for the two of us speech”, and I wasn’t disappointed.
“Go home to your dildo, little girl. Leave the actual sex to those of us who are out of diapers.”
We were spinning closer to the water, with our prospective sexual partner on the beach awaiting us, his swim trunks tented outward with an eager display of arousal.
“Not happening. How about we both do him? He’s willing, and I’m not averse to sharing.” Blech. I was actually very averse to sharing, especially with this nasty woman, but I’d be willing to soldier through the experience if it would end this stupid fight.
A blow hit my cheek and I fell backwards into the water, a sharp rock cutting into my back. I scrambled to regain my footing, expecting another blow at any moment, but none came. Shoving the hair out of my eyes, I saw Cleo standing in the sand, eyeing the water cautiously. Jerk. I was a soaked, sand-covered, tangled mess, while she stood on the shore with her dry clothing and cute little sandals. Pissed off, I stood and flung a handful of water at her, amused to see her retreat.
“Get out of here, or I’ll drag you in here and drown you like a rat.” It was a hollow threat. She was a lot stronger than I was, but I was hoping her girly-girl reluctance to get wet would give me the advantage.
She raised her eyebrows then spun about on her cute sandals to make her way to Business Man. “Co
me on, sweetheart. You’re all mine now.”
I struggled with the urge to jump her and try to gain the upper hand. This was humiliating. She was leaving with the guy I’d worked so hard to score — leaving me soaking wet, topless, with my scalp and face aching from our fight. Swallowing my pride, I closed my eyes and counted slowly to ten. When I opened them, the pair were gone. Backing down from a fight stung worse than my bruised cheek, but there were plenty of other guys on the island.
I scooped my wet, sand-coated bikini top off the beach and shook it before putting it back on. Then I walked back to the tiki bar and ordered another drink, smiling at the bartender.
“So... you still getting off work in a couple of hours? Maybe you can find someone to cover for you and sneak out early.”
Chapter 10
I heard the hotel room door open and shut from my spot on the lanai. Irix. I could sense him when he was still in the hallway, the attraction I felt for him soothing my frazzled nerves. Pivoting on my chair, I eyed the incubus as he poured himself a drink.
“Want one?”
“Yes please.” Rum and ginger would be nice. Hopefully the sirloin I had pressed against my eye wouldn’t drip blood into my glass.
“I had sex,” I announced with some pride. “A beach-umbrella rental guy.”
After the afternoon I’d just had, any success should be celebrated. Bartender guy had turned me down. Me. The combination of my bruised face, snarled hair and the fact that I’d just snubbed him for Business Man didn’t work in my favor. I could have overcome his resistance with an overdose of pheromones but knew the dangers in that approach. And I had my pride.
Well, not too much pride. Umbrella Rental Guy. Yep, it was back to greasy fast-food burgers for me.
And I now suspected that once the shiner around my left eye became colorful, I’d be less attractive to any future prey. Hopefully this steak thing wasn’t just some old wives’ tale.
