by Beth Michele
That was motivation enough. I sprang up off the bed and threw on a pair of khaki shorts and a white short-sleeved button down. Sandals were never my thing, so I slid my feet into a pair of flip-flops. They seemed tolerable. With one last glance in the mirror, I tried to ignore the rings around my brown eyes and instead combed a hand through my hair before heading out.
The outdoor restaurant was crowded, but there was no chance I was dining inside. Not with a view like this. Since I was alone, but hopefully only for the time being, the hostess found me a small table for two overlooking the water. The sweet scent of flowers wafted under my nose as I pointed my face toward the ocean. The sun was beginning to set, slashes of pinks and oranges streaked across the sky.
My mind wandered to Glenn as the waitress showed up to take my drink order. I made sure it was something stronger than beer. This time, Rum and Coke was my drink of choice.
As I waited for her to return, my gaze roamed the area, trying to determine who might also be dining alone. To my disappointment, most of the tables were filled with couples, honeymooners, families. I scrubbed a hand over my face and exhaled my frustration. Once the waitress arrived with my drink, I stuck my nose in my glass, resigned to the possibility of going solo for the night and possibly for the entire two weeks. Depressing as it was, I supposed it would give me time to do some soul-searching. I also knew my disaster with Glenn was great material for my next novel—if I chose to use it.
Commotion from the table in front of me forced my head up, and when it cleared, the view was downright comical. There, on his way over was the guy from the plane. And he looked really good. Maybe my current state of mind skewed my perspective. But as he walked closer, my mouth dried. Tight jeans were paired with a V-neck t-shirt that showed a hint of golden skin, bronzed from a day in the sun. Not exactly island attire, but I definitely wasn’t complaining. Adrenaline thumped through my veins with his every step, and I couldn’t suppress my grin when he threw a white napkin onto the table.
“Truce?” A first-time smile crossed his lips and he looked like a different person. His whole face opened up and he was… gorgeous. Like someone I’d want to— “Still thinking about it?” he probed, pulling me from my distorted thoughts.
I pushed the chair out with my foot. “Accepted. Have a seat. And as part of the truce, I’ll buy you dinner.”
“I hope you’ve got a wad of cash then, because I’m fucking starving.” He dragged his tongue across the seam of his lips and my dick twitched. The image it conjured in my brain had me shifting in my seat.
Without realizing it, my eyes dropped to his mouth. “You can have whatever you want,” I replied, but blinked out of my daze when he caught me staring.
He took a swig of the beer he brought along before placing it down. “How about we start with your name?” His chin lifted and for a split second I questioned whether there was innuendo in his tone. I’m sure it was wishful thinking on my part. It’s easy to be delusional when you’ve been jilted and you’re horny as fuck. My gaze climbed to his and I extended my hand across the table.
“Sam.”
“Drew,” he countered, giving my hand a brief shake then letting it go.
I leaned into the table, resting my elbows on the white cloth. “So Drew, what brings you to the island all alone? I mean, you’re young, gor…” My tongue snagged on the word gorgeous and I snapped my mouth shut.
His brows disappeared beneath the dark fringe on his forehead. “Gor…?”
“You’re young,” I shot back, hoping to steer the conversation far from my runaway mouth.
“I’m not that young.” He scoffed. “But aside from being with you at the present moment, I am otherwise alone.”
Curiosity burned and I couldn’t help my next question. “Do you mind me asking why you’re here alone?”
He glanced away and back with a sigh. “I got dumped.” I laughed, which was clearly the wrong response, evidenced by the daggers he threw at me from across the table. “Something funny about that?”
I sipped my drink then took a measured breath. “I can do you one better.”
He folded his arms, a challenge in his eyes. “You think so?”
“I got left at the altar.”
His gaze widened. “No shit?”
“I shit you not.”
He reclined in his seat, appraising me. “Oh, man. That fucking sucks.”
I chuckled. “Well put.”
With a lift of his bottle, he tipped the nose in my direction. “Well, here’s to being dumped and ending up in paradise.”
“Right.” I nodded. “There are certainly worse places.”
“And worse company,” he added, which was interesting considering we didn’t know each other and his first impression of me was less than stellar. Nonetheless, a smile tugged at my lips. “So did you finish the book yet?”
I huffed out a silent laugh and put my drink on the table. “What is it with you and that book?”
His fingers toyed with the label on the bottle. “I like talking books and the few friends I have at home don’t read all that much.”
“Where’s home?”
His shoulders grew rigid and he straightened in the chair. “New York.”
I sensed his reluctance but didn’t press. “And the coincidences just keep stacking up. I’m a Jersey boy.”
“No fucking way.”
I chuckled and he seemed to relax again. “You’ve got a filthy mouth.” I clucked my tongue. “For a twenty-six-year-old.”
“You have no idea.” His gaze darkened and I jerked back in my chair. I suspected he meant nothing by it, but my mind veered off on its own sexual tangent. I wanted to hear him say dirty things to me while pumping his cock in and out of my mouth. He smirked, and when he glanced down at the menu, I reached under the table to adjust myself.
By the time we ordered and the food arrived, I found out Drew was a gamer, a GoT fanatic, a book nerd, and an only child. The one fact he didn’t reveal was his choice of career.
“So what do you do for a living?”
“I’m a web developer for a department store.” He said it like it was no big deal, but it had to be a pretty important job. A visible one too.
“I’m impressed. I could definitely sense you had a certain,” I curled my fingers into air quotes, “style.”
He bowed his head and looked away. For a second, his confident exterior melted away and vulnerability took its place. I wondered how often he’d been given compliments, if at all. But then the curtain went back up.
“What about you?” he inquired, bringing me back into focus before taking a deep pull of his beer.
I lazily swirled pasta onto my fork. “I write.”
That gained his attention and he set the spoon down on his plate. “Oh yeah, what do you write?”
“Novels.”
His brows snapped together. “Wait, you’re an author?”
I grinned. “I am.”
“What kind of books do you write?”
“Dark suspense,” I answered, before swallowing the last bit of linguine.
Recognition sparked in his eyes but it was tainted with disbelief. “Wait a minute. Sam… as in Sam Stone?”
I skimmed the crowd to ensure no one overheard our conversation. “The one and only.”
Amusement played on his lips. “Well, I’ll be fucking damned… Sam Stone.” He rubbed at his chin and cocked his head to the side, assessing me. “I’ve wondered what you looked like. You don’t have any pictures on Facebook or Twitter, or anywhere else for that matter.”
“Yes, well, I try to keep a low profile so I can maintain some semblance of privacy. The internet can be a crazy place.”
He smirked. “I pictured you older.”
“Disappointed?” I tossed back. My tone bordered on flirtatious, making me realize I needed to rein it in.
His gaze lowered to my lips then back up. “Pleasantly surprised, actually.”
The water on the table called to
me and I snatched up my glass to douse the flames building in my throat. Was he flirting back? The answer was no. Some woman just dumped him and I was in hallucination mode.
“So you’ve read my books?” I managed to say after cooling down.
“Not all of them, but a few. They’re good.”
“Thanks.” Drew hadn’t moved but it felt like he was inching closer. Sweat broke out on my upper lip. This guy. There was something about him that made the hair at the back of my neck stand on end. Like maybe he could give me a run for my money. It had been a while since I’d been truly challenged. Everything in my life had been routine up until the moment Glenn decided not to show. And then it hit me. As much as I loved Glenn, we’d been good friends and had fallen into a pattern. He was familiar to me and I was comfortable with him, but he never pushed. Never tested my boundaries. Internally, I cringed, recalling our discussion. Maybe he was right.
“Do you want to?”
Still caught up in my disturbing revelation, I vaguely registered Drew speaking. “I’m sorry?”
“I asked if you wanted to walk on the beach for a bit.”
“Oh, yeah. Sure.” I chucked a few bills on the table and we made our way onto the beach. We both removed our shoes. The feel of the warm, smooth sand under my feet reminded me of my childhood at the Jersey shore and I chuckled.
“What’s funny?” Drew peered up at me as he rolled the cuffs of his jeans. It occurred to me then he could have modeled. He had classic good looks, but in no way did he seem aware of it. It made him even more appealing.
“Spent a lot of summers growing up at the Jersey shore,” I began, as we ambled down to the water. “Had some serious sandcastle competitions with my sister. She was always quite the competitive one.”
“Oh yeah? You guys close?”
My gaze was drawn to the sky, swirls of dusty pinks mixing with fiery oranges. “Very. She’s two years younger than me. But she always manages to keep me in check.” I nodded my head toward him. “She lives out your way, in Manhattan.”
“Cool.” He shot me a sideways glance. “Must be nice to have a sibling. Growing up an only child was pretty lonely. That’s probably why I got so heavy into reading and gaming.”
“What about your parents? Are you close?”
He didn’t answer right away, but his silence spoke volumes. As did the shift in the air. “No.” I wasn’t sure he would continue and didn’t feel comfortable asking so I kept quiet. After a moment, he blew out a weighted breath. “My father has never liked me very much. Let’s just leave it at that.”
“And your mom?”
More silence, followed by another heavy exhale. “My mom…” He laughed, but it was diluted with sadness. “She was my biggest supporter. She thought I could leap tall buildings in a single bound.” He stopped walking and turned to face the ocean, clearing his throat. “She died as a result of a car accident when I was fourteen.”
“Jesus, Drew. I’m sorry.” I reached out to place a hand on his shoulder and squeezed before letting go.
“Thanks. And I have no relationship with my father, but it is what it is.” I waited to see if he would elaborate, not surprised when he shifted topics. “So how did you get into writing?”
A group of teenagers ran by, prompting us to start moving again. The breeze picked up and I breathed it in, letting the mild, ocean air fill my lungs.
“I started writing when I was about ten or so. I used to make up fantasy characters and then I wrote short stories that morphed into longer ones. I have a pretty vivid imagination.”
“I bet.” A smile teased the corner of his lips as I glanced over. “I mean, it’s kind of a qualification for writing, isn’t it? Don’t all you writers live out the fantasies in your books that you can’t enact in real life?”
“All you writers.” I scoffed. “Some of us writers are happy with our lives and don’t need to live out fantasies.”
“Ah, yes,” he volleyed, “that’s why you’re here in Hawaii, alone.” There was a long pause and I sensed his regret before the words left his mouth. “I’m sorry. That was a shit thing to say. I guess it’s just with the things I’ve seen growing up and my mom’s passing, I’m a firm believer that everything happens for a reason. Sometimes it’s hard to see the reason or even know it exists. But… eventually, if you’re open to it, it’s right there.”
“It’s okay.” I brushed it off, firing back, “I’m not alone anyway. I’m with you.”
“Touché.” His footsteps halted and he looked at me, eyes glowing in the moonlight. “Well, if you’re with me, I’m going in the water. You game?”
Drew didn’t wait for an answer. Instead, he reached behind him and tugged on his shirt, inching it up and over his head. I swallowed hard at the sight of his broad shoulders and carved muscles. But my mouth fell open, breath catching when his finger popped the button on his jeans. Heat blanketed my skin and I froze.
“What are you waiting for?” He pushed the denim down his strong thighs, leaving him in a pair of black boxers. “Come on, live a little.”
I remained still, half expecting him to slide his boxers off. Or perhaps that was wishful thinking. Either way, speech had left me. “I… I…”
“Fuck, Sam. Stop thinking so much. I’m going in.”
It might have been his use of the word fuck while he stood there almost naked that prompted me to unbutton my shirt and remove my shorts. If ever there was incentive to live a little, he was right in front of me.
Any guilt I had over Glenn seemed to dissipate when I reminded myself he was the one who walked away. And seeing Drew wet didn’t hurt either. Nor did the smile he sent me over his shoulder when he saw me easing into the water.
“You look like a frightened little mouse. Get the hell in here. The water temp has to be at least eighty degrees. Pretend you’re Grias in Abduction and just dive in.”
I cast him a look of surprise. “You really have read my books?”
He chuckled. “Of course. I wouldn’t lie about it. I read around three books a week. I actually have your latest one on my TBR, but I’ve been hooked on paranormal lately.” One corner of his lip curled in a grin. “Now stop stalling.” When I didn’t move, he took a step closer. “What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done?”
My feet dug into the soft sand. “Does bowling count?”
Playful eyes narrowed and he planted a hand on his hip. “That’s a fucking joke, right?”
“Okay, jet skiing,” I countered, and he pretended to wipe sweat from his forehead.
“You are a fucking daredevil. I cannot believe with all the shit you write in your books that you really haven’t done any of it.” He edged closer and his proximity was beginning to fog my brain. In my moment of weakness, he latched onto my hand and pulled me into the water. When I sprang up for air, he was hysterical—and it was contagious. I couldn’t help but laugh—because he was right—and he was so Goddamn adorable being right.
For a minute, we stared at one another as our laughter gave way to something else. Whatever it was crackled thick in the air between us. I felt it over the heaving of my chest, the warmth of the water pooling around my waist. I wondered if he felt it too.
Drew broke our connection, glancing up into the night. “New York’s got nothing on this sky. It’s fucking beautiful.”
“It is,” I agreed, not taking my eyes off of him—certain we weren’t talking about the same thing. He lifted an arm to drag a hand through his wet hair and my gaze caught on the flex of his bicep. I attempted to clear the strangeness from my throat. “So, New York. Did you grow up there?”
His gaze found me again. “I grew up in the South Bronx, actually. In Hunts Point. Lived there until I went to Pace University. Then after I graduated, I moved to Manhattan. To the East Village.”
“Ah. I thought I heard a slight accent. So you kept it local. I did the same. Attended Columbia for writing.”
He bent forward, skimming his palm along the water. “Excellent scho
ol.”
“Yeah. It was a good experience. I met some great people.” I dipped down into the water until it reached my shoulders. “Most of the friends I made are all over the country now since you can write from anywhere. That’s one of the things I love about it.” A breathless laugh escaped my chest. “I certainly don’t want to be in Jersey forever.”
Drew turned, his body mirroring mine. “Where would you go?”
“We were supposed to…” My words trailed off. There was no longer a we, and I wondered what that meant for a friendship I’d had my whole life. I looked out over the horizon. “I don’t know. I wanted to go to Seattle. But now, I’m not sure.”
“Hey.” The smooth timbre of his voice lured my gaze. “I’m sorry about what happened to you. I’m sure it had to suck big time when your girl didn’t show.”
I wanted to correct him. I should’ve corrected him. But any hope I had for the two of us died with that statement. He assumed I was straight. Most people did. And I just didn’t feel like explaining myself or my sexuality. Instead, I diverted. Something I was an expert at. “Yeah, well. Like you said, things happen for a reason.”
“What did I say? You sound pissed or something.”
God, this guy was perceptive.
“No. Just tired.” My glance veered in the direction of the hotel. “I think I’m going to head back.”
His eyes roamed my body sending chills over my skin. “Maybe I should run over and grab us some towels? I don’t think they’ll appreciate us walking through the lobby in our boxers.” We waded back into shore. “Unless you want to do it?” he added, and I could hear his grin in the semi-darkness.
“No, that’s all right.” And I found myself smiling. “I’ve had enough excitement for one night.”
A LOUD KNOCK startled me from a fantastic sleep and an even better dream about Drew. What I typically liked most about mornings was being able to sleep in. Determined to do just that, I threw a pillow over my head and ignored the relentless pounding. But it wouldn’t stop. Groaning, I tossed the pillow before kicking off the sheet. The only thing easing my irritation was the rumpled hair and sweat-soaked t-shirt I encountered upon opening the door. Not to mention the enormous smile.
