by Beth Michele
He stood and brushed a few stray crumbs from his shorts. “It’s perfectly fine.” To prove his point, he bent at the knees and did a few squats. “See. I’m all good.” He rose back up to his full height. “By the way, you mentioned your mom is a doctor. What kind?”
I tried to keep a straight face, but my lips twisted of their own volition. “A psychologist.”
Drew snorted. “And you thought you were qualified to check out my leg, how?” He shook his head, dark fringe swaying along his brow. “But now the overanalyzing certainly makes sense.”
“That was our consequence whenever she didn’t approve of something we did. She talked to us until we submitted. These long monologues. It was grueling.” I hiked a thumb over my shoulder. “So you ready to head back down?”
“The adventure isn’t over yet.” A mischievous smile dented his cheeks and brightened his eyes. “Besides, we’re not going that way.”
“What do you mean?”
He pointed a finger in front of us. “We’re going that way.”
From any angle looking down, all I saw was water. “Sorry?”
“We’re jumping. That’s why we came up here.” With a brisk nod, he signaled toward a group of people to our far left. “See? It’s cliff jumping.”
“Uh. Yeah… no. The only type of jumping I do is onto my bed.” My lips twitched. “But you enjoy that.”
“Resistance is futile, Sam. We’re doing this.” Drew ignored my apprehension and began stripping off his clothes, starting with his t-shirt.
What was it with him?
His shirt fell to the ground and I casually let my gaze slide over his chest. Inches away, and in broad daylight this time, I examined the bend of his shoulders, those solid indents of muscle, and the fine trail of dark hair disappearing beneath his shorts. And that tattoo. Thick lines of solid black that carried from his shoulder to his bicep, blending into a flower in full bloom. At first glance, it was an odd combination. But the more I stared at it, the more beautiful it became. Of course, that was until Drew’s fingers reached his waistband, and I had to force my eyes away to anything that could tone down the hard-on making my attraction to him more than obvious.
“Earth to Sam,” he called out, dragging my attention back.
I fixed my gaze on his face, the only safe bet for me at this point. “Yeah?”
He gestured to my body with a flip of his hand. “You planning on swimming in your clothes?”
“Oh yeah, right.” Shifting to my left, and hoping my erection wasn’t visible, I kicked off my shoes then shed my shirt and shorts. To buy myself some time, I craned my neck from side to side and stretched my arms behind my back. “Okay, I’m ready.”
Drew chuckled, walking up to me. “Your enthusiasm bowls me over.” Little did he know, his proximity was bowling me over. The scent of coconut sunscreen wafted under my nostrils, his sun-kissed skin so close my fingers itched to touch him—to knead his firm shoulders—drag my knuckles along the bumps of his spine. His voice burst into my daydream and I blinked up at him. “You don’t have to do this. If you don’t want to, it’s cool. I get it.”
I hoped my smile conveyed more confidence than I actually felt. “No, I want to.” And even though my fingers sought out my wristband, I did. It was high time for me to take more risks. Be like the characters in my books instead of living vicariously through them.
Drew tilted his head, motioning toward the ledge of the cliff. “Come on then.” In a few short steps we were towering over the gorgeous green water. It looked inviting, I just wished we were a little closer to it. “So on three?” he suggested as he stood beside me.
All I could do was nod. My eyes were clenched tight as I took a deep breath in through my nose and let it out through my mouth.
“Sam.” The softness in his tone whispered across my skin and I opened my eyes, glancing over at him. “I’ve got you.” He held out his hand and I stared at it for a beat before folding my large palm into his smaller one. He threaded our fingers together and electricity shot up my arm. His hand was warm, the tips of his fingers slightly calloused. It was the smallest point of contact but my pulse was racing. That subtle gesture—it made me feel like I could do this. Maybe I could really fly.
He sent me an encouraging smile. “Three. Two. One.” And then we were separated and airborne for what seemed like a millisecond. Our bodies were floating, legs kicking, before being engulfed by the warmth of the sea. I shot up from beneath the water, blinking it from my lashes as I scanned for Drew in the narrow circle around me. When there was no sign of him, I called out his name. After two more tries, panic gripped my chest and wouldn’t let go. My breaths came and went in short bursts. I felt something yank on my leg then and Drew popped up from underneath the water.
“Jesus, Drew. Don’t fucking do that!”
The playfulness on his face dissolved into a frown. “Oh, shit. You thought something happened to me?”
“What do you think?” I bit out, exhaling a hard breath and shaking my head.
His voice lowered. “You were… worried about me?” My stomach twisted with knots at the disbelief in his tone. It reinforced the nagging thought that nobody looked out for him. Wasn’t there anyone who thought about him? “I’m sorry.” His apology was sincere and his expression even more so. A regretful smile tilted his lips. “Sometimes I play around too much. I didn’t mean to scare you, honestly.”
“It’s okay. I’m sorry I snapped. And you don’t play around too much. I don’t play around enough,” I admitted. “You scared me is all. I was worried you drowned.”
“Drowned?” He tsked. “Me, never. I swam at the YMCA almost every day for six years. I’m practically one with the fish.”
And just like that, I was smiling again. Of course I was. Because Drew Mariano was irresistible. And I was having a harder time resisting him by the minute.
“Zen with the fish, huh?” I teased, and he nodded. “I did a bit of swimming myself. We had a pool growing up although I much preferred being at the beach. And now that I think about it, we played around more than we swam.”
Water swirled in calming circles around his body. “So what did you think of the jump? Did you like it?”
“I did.”
His face lit up, eyes sparkling a bright blue in the sunlight. “You want to do it again?”
“I do.”
A single brow lifted. “No bullshit?”
I shook my head, grinning. “Nope.”
“But…” He hesitated, appraising me a second time. “That means we have to climb back up… twice. Once to jump again and then another to grab our stuff. You up for that?”
I lifted a finger in the air and motioned toward the sky. “Lead the way.”
He slapped his palm against the surface of the water, making a splash. “Hell, yes. Let’s do it.”
“I’M REALLY PROUD of you,” Drew said as we strolled through Whalers Village, a beachside mall filled with various boutiques, restaurants, and a museum.
“Thanks.” I held my chin high. “I feel pretty good.”
He tossed me a sideways glance laced with mischief. “You’re a daredevil now. I think it’s time to move on to something even bigger.”
“Or, we could tone it down a bit,” I countered, “you know, hanging on the beach, doing absolutely nothing. That’s what a vacation is, isn’t it?”
His gaze heated the side of my face. I didn’t have to look over to know he was smirking. “I suppose.” He stopped walking abruptly and laid a hand on my arm. “Oh wow, look at those.” My eyes followed the path of his finger to a window display, but I was much more interested in the feel of his hand against my bare skin. The goose bumps that traveled along the inside of my forearm. It didn’t last, though, and a second later he withdrew it to focus on the jewelry behind the case. He pressed his face up against the window. “I love sea glass. Love the way it looks in the light. Oh, that’s cool.” He tapped on the glass, pointing to a necklace. “I’ve never seen black be
fore.”
“My sister used to dig for sea glass on the beach.”
“My mom, too. We didn’t get to go to the beach very often,” he admitted, “but my mom saved the little she did find in a jar.”
The jingle of the door caught my attention. “Do you want to go in?”
“Nah. I just like looking.”
I like looking, too.
My gaze fixated on his profile. I wanted to see his eyes but they were hidden by those darn Aviators. His head dipped and I wondered if he knew I was staring. Or if he knew how much I wanted him to reach for my hand again. My mind trying to conjure up ways to make it happen.
Drew turned his head then, and while his eyes were concealed, he couldn’t disguise the way his lips teetered at the edges. He opened his mouth like he might have something to add, but the air remained quiet. Words were on the brink of falling from my lips too, but I couldn’t make myself say them. Instead, I walked away and Drew fell in step with me a moment later.
We crossed to the other side of the outdoor mall, mostly browsing storefronts and noting how crazy expensive everything was here. A little boy darted past us in a blur of red hair and freckles.
“Glenn,” a woman shouted chasing after him, “get back here with that ice cream, cutie pie.”
I froze. My feet molded to the ground as if they were sinking into the cement. The strange thing? It wasn’t hearing Glenn’s name that bothered me. It was the fact it didn’t. There was no guilt, no nothing. My chest was void of emotion and I realized how little I’d thought about him this last week.
“Hey, I was talking to you and you weren’t even there.” I blinked to find Drew walking toward me, Aviators in hand as he surveyed my face. “What’s wrong?”
Inside, I was light. Airy. A smile crept across my lips. “Nothing, as a matter of fact.”
“Okaaaay. That’s why you stopped in the middle of the mall.”
“Pretty much.” I grinned, and he chuckled.
“You’re an interesting one, Sam Stone.”
I winked. “Glad you think so, Drew Mariano.”
Annnnd… I was flirting. I’d officially lost my mind.
Drew ran the backs of his fingers over the stubble along his chin, as if trying to figure me out. He laughed softly, before seeming to shake off whatever was on his mind.
If only it was the same thing that was on mine.
BY THE TIME we made it back to the hotel, my body was too warm and my head was pounding. I chalked it up to too much time in the sun. But as we walked through the lobby, my stomach rolled with nausea and that was all it took to push me over the edge. I winced, my arm darting out to the nearest available chair. Suddenly, I didn’t have the strength to lift my head and knew I was going to be sick.
“Sam? Shit. You’re really pale.” Drew slung my arm over his shoulder and my whole body sagged against him. “Do you think you can make it upstairs? Shit, shit, shit.”
The next few minutes ticked by in a blur. I vaguely recall another voice entering the picture before everything clouded over in a dense fog. Soon after, I woke in my bed with a cold cloth pressed to my forehead.
“Hey there.” The voice was soothing. “How ya feeling?”
Drew.
“Like ass,” I moaned, my mouth tasting like cotton. “What happened?”
“You passed out briefly. You also lucked out. There happened to be a guy in the lobby who was a paramedic. He checked you out and then we got you upstairs. I was ready to call an ambulance but he thought you’d be fine. He said it was most likely due to the heat and the exertion.” Drew repositioned the cloth on my head. “You got really pale and then you collapsed… after you vomited.”
I groaned. “In the lobby?”
He propped an elbow on the headboard, shifting his body to face me. “Yeah.” A small smile. “It happens to the best of us.”
“Shoot me now.” My hand lifted weakly in the air. “Actually, no need. My head feels like someone took a sledgehammer to it.”
Drew chuckled, pulling the covers higher over my chest. “I know what this was, it was payback for my stunt in the water.” His laughter faded, expression more serious now. “You had me worried there for a minute.” A beat of thick silence filled the air. “I don’t, uh, do well, when people get sick. Ever since my Gran and then my grandfather were ill and passed away, it always makes me associate illness with death.” He averted his gaze, adding, “I’ve come to, uh, care about you, and,” he shrugged, “I wouldn’t want anything to happen to you.”
“Drew—”
Removing the cloth from my forehead, he slid off the bed. “I’m going to just refresh this for you.”
My heart, stuck on his comment, was running a marathon in my chest. Even the fact that I felt like garbage couldn’t slow it down. But my heart was being deceived by my brain, the rational one in this equation. And everything about this was absurd. I heard what I wanted to hear. Twisted Drew’s words until they worked in my favor. Not to mention that I’d been dumped over a week ago. Though this didn’t feel like a rebound to me. On the contrary, it felt real. Being with Drew gave me a high I’m not sure I’d ever felt. I only knew I never wanted to come back down.
Two minutes turned into five before Drew emerged from the bathroom. I didn’t question him on it, just savored the nearness of his smile and the warmth of his body as he leaned over me. He dabbed the cloth against my skin. “Any better?”
“A little.” A shiver ran through me. “I’m just really—”
“Cold.” He tugged the blankets higher and tucked them under my chin. “I know.” With a tip of his head, he motioned toward the side table. “When you’re able to sit up I got you some Ginger Ale from downstairs. It’ll help to settle your stomach.”
I mustered a weak smile. “Thank you for taking care of me.”
Again, he shrugged. “I’m not good at it, really.”
“Why do you do that?”
He blinked his confusion. “Do what?”
My attempt to prop myself up failed and I slid back down. “Sell yourself short.”
“I don’t know.” His laugh was empty, playful Drew nowhere to be found. “Maybe because someone sold me a bill of goods, and I bought them.”
My stomach gurgled and I coughed into my fist. “Well, maybe it’s time to trade them in…” With a jumbled brain my words tapered off, though I had much more to say. Like how funny and kind he was, and then there was sensitive and brave. It made me wonder who had messed with his head. Although I had a pretty good idea.
He sighed before pushing off the bed. “I should go and let you get some rest.”
“Drew.”
Fingers curled around the doorknob, he turned to meet my gaze. He looked so lost, and I didn’t want him to leave like that—I didn’t want him to leave—period.
“Stay.”
I don’t know if it was hope I saw in his eyes, but something flickered. It was brief and fleeting, but it was there. And it tugged at my heart.
“Yeah?”
I nodded on a reassuring smile. “Yeah.” To be more convincing, I added, “We can watch movies and order room service. I mean, you can order room service.”
Relief seemed to rush out of him on a whoosh of air. “Okay.”
“Good. Now that we got that settled, would you mind getting me the trash can by the table? Because I think I’m going to be sick again.”
“DREW, I’M STARVING.” My mouth watered watching him finish the scampi over linguine, topping his meal off with a fudge brownie. “Just a little bite?” I pleaded.
He gave me an emphatic shake of his head. “Nope. Not on my watch. Less than three hours ago you were upchucking. You want to eat something? Here,” he pushed another package of saltines at me, “have these.”
“Blech.” I groaned, throwing my hands up. “I’ve already had one full package.”
“You know, I must say,” he grinned, “you’re not a very cooperative patient.” He grabbed the room service menu from the b
edside table and scrolled down the items with his finger. “Okay, you want something? How about Jell-O? Or toast?”
“Forget it.” I tore open the saltines and shoved one in my mouth, narrowing my eyes into fine slits. “But I’ll remember this.”
“You do that,” he snickered, polishing off the brownie before licking the remaining chocolate off his fingers. Good thing I wasn’t feeling well. The sight of his long fingers sliding in and out of his mouth was enough to make me come undone.
I flipped him another evil glare. “Are you done torturing me?”
His eyes glittered as his tongue poked out one final time and he licked the pad of his thumb. “Now I am.”
And now, sick or not, I was hard—and Drew was in my bed. Just not the way I’d originally envisioned.
He clapped his hands, snapping me from my thoughts. “Okay, we already watched a movie of your choice. Now it’s my turn.”
“God help me,” I teased, and he wrinkled his nose. As he did, his face got closer to mine, enabling me to examine every detail—the small freckles dotting his cheekbone, and those eyes, so clear they reminded me of blue glass. And don’t get me started on that inviting curve of his upper lip. I pictured licking along the edge and sucking it into my mouth. My eyes slammed shut as I tried to rid the image from my mind.
“Sam, you okay?” I forgot Drew was right there as I took liberties with my eyes and his body parts. “Do you feel like you’re going to be sick again?”
Damn it. He was so nice. Why did he have to be so nice?
My eyes opened to his concerned smile. “No, I’m good. Just bracing myself for your movie choice.”
“Now I know you’re feeling better.” Drew nabbed the remote from the bed, flicking through various channels with little success. “Okay, here are the choices. So… we can watch… Die Hard, Batman vs. Superman, Rocky III, or The Princess Bride.”
Feeling more like myself again, I flattened my palms on the bed and scooted up to a slouched position. Drew reached over me then, and it was hard to ignore the scent of sunshine and ocean still sticking to his skin. He grabbed another pillow and placed it behind my head so I could be more comfortable.
