“I mean on the island, Idiot,” Flannery said slapping his arm. “Gah. There are people around.”
His shoulders shook in a silent chuckle. “What’d you have in mind?”
“You could hike to the volcano,” Miriam offered. “It’s five miles round trip and not super steep if you stay to the path. It’s amazing up there.” Her voice came out smooth and calming with a hint of an accent behind it. What kind, I had no idea.
When Miriam noticed the three of us watching her with curiosity, she blushed just the slightest.
“I’ve been here quite a few times for work,” Miriam told us.
“That sounds great.” Flannery started bouncing on her toes the way she does when she’s excited. “Will you come with us?”
“Oh, that’s all right.” Miriam tried giving her new BFF the brush off.
Interesting. They were getting along so great. I didn’t see why she’d try to bow out.
“Work?” Flan asked.
I wanted the answer to that question too. Then I silently chastised myself. I wasn’t going to see this girl again so knowing any details on her life seemed unneeded. Still…
“No. I shoot early in the morning. I just don’t want to intrude.”
“Please.” Flannery rolled her eyes.
Watching these two become friends was weird and interesting at the same time. Like a science experiment I waited for the results of.
“He’s going to be there.” Flannery jabbed her thumb my way. “I can’t promise it’ll be enjoyable, but you wouldn’t be intruding.”
“Thanks, Flannery.” I finished off my beer without looking directly at either of them.
“OK.” Miriam smiled.
Cain and Flannery made motion to leave, but Flan pulled back to give the new girl a hug. What’s up with girls doing that all the damn time? I stood to go, too, dropping some cash on the table until Cain glanced over his shoulder and turned the both of them back around then gave me a hard look.
“I know you’re not going to have a girl walk home alone at night. I’ll call your mother.”
That fucker would, too. I’d never hear the end of how she was someone’s sister, someone’s daughter, and how my mother raised me to be a gentleman.
If you only knew, Mom.
Since it wasn’t worth the headache, I sat back down.
We were there at the table in complete silence. Miriam couldn’t have looked more uncomfortable even if one of the drunk guys had drooled down her shirt. One of us had to say something.
“Do you want to stay?” I asked, bringing her dark eyes to focus right to my face.
“Not really.” She shrugged.
We both popped up like someone electrocuted our asses. I needed to get whatever was happening to me under control. Maybe I should sleep with her just to get my head on straight. Though I got the impression she wouldn’t be up for that.
“Could we walk along the water?” she asked quietly. So different from the girl who called me an asshole the first time we met and gave me the double bird along the way.
I nodded so we turned that way.
As we got to the wet part where the night tide rolled against the sand, Miriam slipped her sandals off and walked so the ocean would lap against her feet.
It was a beautiful night, the moon shone brightly off the small waves and hit Miriam just right.
Fuuuuck.
I shouldn’t have been thinking about how things made her look. Or how soft her skin would be. Or how those fucking full lips would feel sliding down my—
“I didn’t mean it the way it sounded,” I said instead, trying to shake away any sexy thoughts about her.
“Mean what?” She kept her eyes down on her feet taking small steps. We were moving at a snail’s pace.
“About the model thing. It’s not that you aren’t beautiful enough to be a model. You aren’t fake enough.”
“Explain, please.”
I tried to think of the last time I’d truly apologized for something, but came up blank.
“I live in California. All the models are tall, too skinny with fake hair, nails and tits.” I flinched. “Sorry.”
“I’m a big girl. And I think you just described three of my roommates.” She laughed under her breath.
“Anyway, that’s how I meant it.”
“Because I’m not tall, skinny and fake?” I caught the twitch in the corner of her mouth. Not exactly sure how I knew she was messing with me, but I did.
“Exactly.”
“So I’m short and fat but real?” She flicked the water with her foot. Tiny drops hit my face.
“That’s not what I said.”
“But that’s what you meant.”
“No.” I waited a second before I answered. “Well you are short.”
“I’m five foot four,” she said defensively.
“Yeah but I’m six feet. Our friend Kendra is only a little bit shorter than me. You have Flannery beat, but I’m pretty sure my nephew who hasn’t even been conceived yet is already taller than her. It’s not really something to brag about.”
That one got a full laugh out of her, and I found that I really liked the sound, even if it felt like a punch to the gut. It’s what caught my attention on the plane to Hawaii and it fucking fit her.
This was a girl I could hang out with. Like Flan and Kendra. Which meant no more thinking about how she looked or how she’d feel.
“Anyway,” I said as we arrived at the lobby of our hotel. “I’m sorry about that. You surprised me.”
No truer words had ever left my mouth. I couldn’t put my finger on it but something about this girl took me by surprise. I wasn’t in love with her. Wasn’t going to drop to my knee professing the love at first sight that clearly happened, but I’d call it interest at first sight. That’s a thing.
“You’re forgiven.” We stepped onto the elevator. She hit the three button while I hit five. “But for future reference, I feel like I should warn you that I’m excellent at Krav Maga.”
“And what the fuck is that?” I prayed it wasn’t a sex thing because I had no idea how I’d respond if it was.
“It’s an Israeli martial arts and self-defense system.” The elevator doors opened, and she stepped off, but I still had so many questions. “Night, Sam,” she called over her shoulder.
My mouth moved but nothing came out. I must’ve looked like a fish out of water.
This girl was different from any I’d met. I knew that already. As much as I knew I’d deny it to everyone else, there was no denying it to myself.
I wanted to know her.
Chapter Four
We were halfway through the first mile of our climb the next morning when Flannery insisted we stop for a drink. It wasn’t a particularly tough hike just as Miriam had said but we hadn’t started until late morning because we waited for her to be done with her photo shoot. Flannery worked her brown hair through one of those elastic things then offered one to Miriam.
“Thanks. I forgot to grab some,” Miriam said back, running her hands through her dark hair to smooth it into a ponytail. And fuck me, I wanted to know what that hair felt like. It looked like it’d be smooth, and I wanted to know for sure.
My traitorous fingers twitched at the thought.
She glanced over at me with a small smile on her face. One that was barely a smile at all. The corners of her mouth tipped toward the sky. I didn’t try to decipher what it meant, even if I really wanted to. Then I had to look away because the sweetness oozing from her hit me low.
Really low.
So unlike me. I almost faked a case of diarrhea just to be able to turn back and get out of the rest of this hike. And yet I didn’t because for the first time in a long ass time, I wanted to spend time with a girl that wasn’t Flannery or Kendra. There had to be something wrong with me.
Once we were back on our way, none of us seemed in much of a hurry. Instead we took in the scenery around us. Everything was so green, and the air smelled of the ocean
. Eventually someone needed to start doing some talking or it was going to get weird.
“What’s your last name, Miriam?” I asked as we walked.
Cain snorted just loud enough for me to hear him. He’d pay for that later.
“Mizrahi.” When no one else responded she took a huge gulp from her bottle of water. “My parents are Israeli. I was born here, but we moved there when I was little until I turned eight. Sometimes I still have a little bit of an accent. It’s really annoying.”
She says annoying, I say sexy.
“Is that why you learned that Krav Maga?”
“Yeah. My dad taught me. Which is how I know I could kick your ass.” She fucking giggled.
I never liked girls who giggled because they usually did it to try to sound like a little girl. Kendra wasn’t like that and neither was Flannery. And neither was Miriam, apparently.
Her giggle hit my ear differently than the other girls.
I asked myself time and again why I catalogued the things I liked about her. This wasn’t a pro-con list for fuck’s sake. I didn’t answer myself. Talking to yourself was fine. Answering is where it got creepy.
“Let me know when that’s going down,” Cain piped up from in front of us. I’d almost forgotten they were there. “I want front row seats.”
“Watch it,” I said back. “Wouldn’t want you to trip off the side of a volcano.”
“Hey,” Flannery snapped back at me, sounding like a protective mama bear. “I don’t think he’s added me to the life insurance yet.”
We all started laughing. For half a second, I thought she was about to rip me a new one. Wouldn’t have been the first time.
“Alright. Next question. How old are you?” Flan asked.
“Twenty-one. Does it matter?”
“Not to me.” Flannery smiled over her shoulder. “Just checking to see if you’d be jailbait to anyone on the island. If you decided to have a vacation hook-up.”
“I don’t do hook-ups.”
“Me either,” Flan countered, hooked her arm through Miriam’s and dragged her to the front where they walked together, leaving Cain and me behind.
“Uh, what’s up with your girl?” I asked him as he fell in step beside me.
“You know Flannery.”
“Yeah, I do. Which is why I’m asking.”
“She likes Miriam and wants her to hang around. Don’t worry, Flannery won’t agree to how many goats your family will have to pay Miriam’s without talking to you first.”
“Fuck you. I’m not into her.”
“Right,” he agreed before smirking my way. “That’s what I said.” Cain sped up. I followed until we were right behind the girls and at the top of the volcano.
Boy, Miriam wasn’t kidding around about the view up there. Kind of like the parasailing where it seemed like we could see completely to the other side of the island. The scenery was calm with tranquil blue skies as far as the eye could see until that met the darker blue of the ocean. It was peaceful and reminded me just how small I really was in the world.
Sure, I’d come to Hawaii to figure out if I was ready to quit my job to move home and work for my dad. It was the opportunity I’d hoped for since I’d been less than happy with how the move to California turned out. But did I really want to do it? Return home like an asshole who couldn’t hack it in the world?
That wasn’t really true. I could make California great. The problem was, I didn’t really want to and it’d been that way since the day I took the best job I was offered out of college. Cain could’ve left. He had as many offers as I had and his dad’s wasn’t even the best. But Flannery had to stay in Michigan so it’d never really been a choice.
I didn’t have that.
I didn’t have one thing keeping me somewhere. All I had now was my family and friends pulling me back home. I missed them more than I expected to.
Flannery snuggled into Cain’s side where he held tightly as if she might fly away if not anchored to the ground. She was small enough, so it could be possible.
Miriam rested an appropriate distance from them, allowing the couple a little privacy which left her closer to me. For the life of me I couldn’t figure out why my fingers itched to take hers but no fucking way I was going to allow it to happen. It’d been too damn long since the last time I’d done something so intimate. So personal.
After a while the four of us headed back down at the same leisurely rate we walked on the way up. The way Cain and Flannery were walking, arms wrapped around each other, whispering so only the other could hear, I knew we wouldn’t be seeing them again for the rest of the day.
“That was fun,” Miriam said as we got back to our hotel. We hadn’t really spoken much but her voice returned to the happy one I’d heard before she snapped at Flannery.
“Thanks for telling us about it.” Flannery said as Cain pulled her away from us.
Flannery pretended to fight him on it.
“Sam, get the girl’s number for me,” she said with a giggle. “I’ll call you.” She practically yelled before they got too far away.
Miriam and I stood there with smiles on our faces.
“Honeymooners,” she sighed. “It’s one of my favorite reasons to shoot here.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. I like seeing the normal happiness and all that. Sometimes I want to punch them in the throat. Only if they’re being nauseating.”
“I can understand that. You should’ve seen them on the plane here,” I said shaking my head.
“I know it’s none of my business but why’d you come on their honeymoon with them?”
“That’s a weird story.” I ran my hands through my hair. Did I want to spill it all out like this? Probably not. “Hey, what are you doing tonight?”
“I have a shoot at seven thirty. Have to be there at seven for a hand model’s equivalent of hair and makeup.”
“How long does that usually last?”
“He said to plan for an hour but sometimes it’s quicker. Depends on when he gets his shot. Why?”
“Would you like to get dinner after?”
Her eyebrows almost shot up as far as they could go. Yeah, it surprised me too and I knew it was already four in the afternoon. I asked her out for the same night knowing that would go against every girl dating rule out there, but I wasn’t sure how much longer she’d be in Hawaii.
“Or not. No pressure.”
“Shut your face. Dinner sounds good. You can meet me, and we can go right from the location.”
She pulled out her phone and asked for my number, which I gave. Then I dinged with a text that included the location where I should meet her. “Plus, now you have my number to pass along to Flannery. Just don’t name me Not-a-real-model or anything douchey.”
I snorted.
“I won’t.” Those words almost didn’t make it out of my mouth as I tried to control the laugh that threatened to bubble up.
Miriam told me she needed to head up to her room to shower, and I didn’t acknowledge where my mind went with that. I’m a guy so yeah, I wanted to see her naked but there were other thoughts in there I didn’t recognize.
I pictured myself in the shower with her, something I never did with anyone. It was weird as fuck, so I headed in to cool down in my own room. In all senses of the term, cool-down.
Cooling down took a long ass time. I had nothing but time to kill while I waited to meet Miriam. We hadn’t decided on a place to go for dinner, I figured I’d let her pick but that meant I had no idea what to wear. I decided on a pair of dark jeans and a dark T-shirt with a V-neck that Kendra insisted looked fantastic. Then I wondered when I started to care about that shit.
When I couldn’t be in my room for another minute, I left with the idea that I’d find something to do along the way. Instead I got to the location Miriam told me about twenty minutes early.
Apparently this one was a print ad, someone said near me, for what looked like engagement or wedding rings. Or both.
Miriam stood to the side of the little background they had set up, moved her hand this way and that at the direction of the photographer. A woman approached with a case so Miriam took the ring on her finger off only to replace it with another. The photographer said something that caused her to smile widely, and her laugh floated through the air. Then the guy, who looked like he was trying really hard to be a hipster, called it a wrap. The same assistant approached Miriam again with what looked like wet towels. Normal cotton but heavy like they’d been submerged. Miriam cleaned her hands then accepted a dollop of lotion.
I glanced at my phone and found that only five minutes had passed, so I was still early and she had no idea, so I sent her a text really quickly.
She pulled her phone out of the purse sitting on a chair not far away. Again the smile that crossed her face couldn’t be missed, but it was certainly different than the one the other guy got.
Miriam: Where are you?
Sam: Directly in front of you on the sidewalk.
Her head snapped up, and she caught me immediately. As she started for me, she called out a goodbye over her shoulder. When she was standing in front of me, she slipped her sandals back on.
I hadn’t noticed she wasn’t wearing them. I had noticed the sexy as fuck skirt she wore because it swayed against her legs with the breeze. And I noticed the tight tank top she had on. She looked beautiful. Like she belonged in Hawaii to the point that I couldn’t imagine her anywhere else.
“What made you come early?” She smiled up at me. For whatever reason I was just noticing how short she actually was.
“Had to get out of the hotel.”
“I’m glad you did. I was hoping we’d be done quickly.”
“So…dinner,” I said as we slowly moved along the sidewalk. “You seem more familiar with the area.”
“I know the perfect place.”
Our pace picked up until we arrived in front of a road-side taco stand.
“Really?” I asked glancing down at her.
“It’s the best.”
We placed our orders, took our drinks and settled at a table not far away. There were people around but none of them were paying us any attention. When the guy called our order number, I hopped up and grabbed it.
Up for Everything (Up for Grabs #3) Page 3
