by M. Clarke
“I know, but I also like where I work now.” Leaning against the wall next to Stacey, I kicked my feet under the water as if I was swimming.
“Yes, I know. You’re good at taking wedding and birthday pictures, but you’ll get to work for a big fashion company. Are you nuts?” She laughed, her tone teasing.
In the back of my mind, a big part of me was saying yes, but I’d wanted to see how Stacey would feel. From what I was hearing, she would be happy for me. It would mean that she would have to find a new roommate, and we would be apart, but that was part of life. We could grow, change, and expand our horizons, but sometimes such decisions are hard to make. I’d lived in New York for the past five years. Although San Francisco was where I’d grown up, I really did love New York.
“I was thinking—” I started to say, but stopped when I saw Stacey’s mouth drop, her eyes dead locked on something. I followed her line of vision …holy goodness!
The guy was standing a slight distance away with his back toward us. When he took off his T-shirt, my stomach did a funny flip. I could tell he was the type that cared about his body. He was tanned, toned, and ripped in all of the right places. When he turned to head to the pool, I got a glimpse of his good-looking face. His beautiful chocolate eyes alone could make any woman crave him. Though his hair was slightly longer than I liked, he was sexy as hell, so I wouldn’t have minded if his hair was longer than mine. He was perfect. When he disappeared from my sight, I heard a splash.
“Did you see him?” Stacey whispered as she continued to stare where he had just been.
Not wanting to make it obvious, I dropped my eyes to the water. “Yes. Stop staring,” I whispered in reply. “If he comes back, he’ll think we’re desperate.”
“I’m desperate. And he can’t see us anymore. I haven’t seen a guy that looked like him in a long time. Let’s swim over there.” Stacey started moving in his direction.
“I’m staying here. Actually, I forgot to email a couple of my clients back. Let me take care of that.” Three was a crowd anyway. I stopped speaking after that. Stacey was already under the water, swimming to him. I shook my head and let out a small laugh. Stacey hadn’t been in a relationship for a while. Maybe it was time.
Chapter 2
Rachel
“So, he just ignored you?” I asked, feeling stunned. In my opinion, Stacey was gorgeous. She had full, pouty lips with beautiful green eyes, not to mention a great body. Hers boobs alone could turn heads. As for me, I had a nice set, but they weren’t like Stacey’s.
“No, he spoke to me. But he excused himself to do laps because he had to be somewhere soon. Then he ignored me to swim.”
“Forget him. If he’d rather swim than hang out with you, then he’s not worth your time.” I paused. “Maybe he’s gay.”
Stacey practically blew bubbles into her straw and pulled out to laugh. “Oh my God! Maybe…right? ‘Cause who could resist my red hair and these breasts?” She jiggled them slightly.
She was right, though. Wearing a low-cut sundress, you could see she sure knew how to flaunt them. Since we were waiting at the bar to be seated for dinner, we had decided to order drinks. There was a long waiting list at the Ocean Front restaurant-bar, and I could easily understand why. Topped with straw like roofing, it gave a casual feel to the atmosphere, not to mention the picture perfect view of the beach. Settled on the upper deck, it felt like we were drifting on the water since there were no walls, and soft Hawaiian instrumental music filled the air, making me relax with euphoria.
“Ladies, your table is almost ready.” The hostess smiled. One thing about Kauai, everyone seemed so relaxed.
“Thanks,” I replied.
She turned to wave at someone. “Hendrix, you taking the night shift?”
The name caught my attention. I whipped around to see a tall man, perhaps in his late twenties. He had dark, curly hair, and was wearing a T-shirt and shorts just like the other waiters. He looked tired, but he seemed happy and in good spirits.
“Yup. Dan got sick so I’m covering for him. That’s what happens when you own your own place. Work never ends.” He waved to the other customers, entered after opening the swinging door, and came straight for us. “Hello, beautiful ladies. What can I get for you?”
“We’re fine, thank you.” I was excited to sort of know someone on this island. “Hendrix, do you know Matthew Knight?”
Hendrix paused to examine me. “You must be the off limits future sister-in-law, Rachel Miller.” He offered his hand to shake, and after briefly gripping it, I let go.
Huh? Off limits? “I’m Rachel, but I’m not off limits. Did Matthew say something to you?” I narrowed my eyes at him in disapproval, even though it was directed at Matthew. Poor Hendrix. That’s what he got for being in the middle.
“I’m afraid so. It’s too bad.” He winked and picked up a towel to dry the glasses with. “He described you to a ‘T’ though. Pretty, brown hair just past shoulder-length, about five-foot-five, beautiful hazel eyes.”
I was pretty sure Matthew didn’t use the words pretty and beautiful. “Anyway. This is my friend, Stacey.” I needed to divert the attention away from my blushing face.
“Stacey.” His eyes grew hungry, taking in her beauty and her body. He shook her hand and kissed it slowly…tenderly, as if almost making love to it. I think I saw Stacey shudder and heard her exhale a soft whimper.
“Hi.” She lacked words, watching as he placed her hand down.
“You’re not off limits, are you?” Hendrix asked with a flirtatious tone, leaning closer with his arms crossed on the counter.
“No. Not at all.”
“Good.”
“So,” I broke in. It was getting awkward watching them stare at each other like they were secretly making out in their minds. “What else did Matthew say?”
“I have to make sure you don’t date guys like me. I can be very naughty, but with the right woman, I can be very…damn…wicked.” His tone was smooth and seductive, but those words were not for me. His eyes were still pierced on Stacey’s. Hearing Stacey release a lustful sigh, I knew he had her hooked, reeling her in with his good looks and charm.
“It’s raining,” Stacey said out loud all of a sudden.
Rain splashed on us, only it wasn’t rain.
“Did you see me, Hendrix?” A deep, manly voice asked, causing all sorts of tingles in me just from the sound of his voice.
“Ugh.” Hendrix wiped his face and gave each of us a towel. “Must you flip your hair and shake like a dog? No, I didn’t see you.” He sounded annoyed, then softened his tone when he turned to us. “I was too busy staring at these two beautiful ladies in front of me. One that is off limits and the other one that needs a lot of hands on.”
Stacey blushed and giggled like a schoolgirl. Since my back was to this stranger, my face didn’t get as wet as theirs, but when I peered up after I wiped myself off…holy shit! It was the guy from the swimming pool.
Our eyes locked for the first time, but neither of us looked away. In fact, his dark chocolate eyes grew, and small dimples appeared on both of his cheeks when his lips curled wider. His stare was so strong and intense that he might as well have fucked me with it. All sorts of butterflies fluttered in my stomach and spread to every nerve in my body, sending electrifying tingles everywhere. And seeing stubble along his strong jawline produced another shudder within me.
“Hi there.” His grin got wider and hotter. “Sorry about that.” He sounded sincere. When he leaned closer to my ear, my heart drummed faster, and I lost my breath. Heat infused through me, and I was trying really hard to compose myself. Before I could move away, he whispered slowly and sensually, “Did I make you wet? I can fix that for you.” His words came out hot and playful, intended only for me to hear, each word accentuated with warm puffs in my ear.
I wanted to say yes as my body gravitated toward him when he backed away. His words traveled down to my sex, where he had already made me wet from the first sight of h
im. I wanted more of this feeling, but quickly snapped out of the trance when a warm breeze took the place where he had stood.
What the hell just happened? He did not ask me that question. Cocky! Knowing there was a double entendre behind those words, I shot my eyes down without answering only to see him shirtless. That was a huge mistake. Droplets of water streamed down from his hair, falling to his tanned broad shoulders, to his ripped chest, down to his six-pack abs, and stopping at the low waistband of his black swim trunks. If his body looked like this, I wondered how hard and long he would be under the swim trunks. Continuous naughty thoughts filled my mind. Seeing such a sight was like peaking for an orgasm, but unable to reach it…mind boggling torture.
My insides twitched and my nipples hardened instantly. While my body gravitated toward him, my mind engaged in thoughts of how he could take me on the bar. My body wanted him, but I wasn’t going to be swooned by this arrogant stranger who was bold enough to ask me that question at our first meeting.
Holding a long surfboard with his left hand, the other extended for me to shake. That arm was tattooed with what appeared to be waves of the ocean. Thick black lines weaved up and down, coinciding with the second and third line. In fact, it was not the only tattoo. I was sure of that when I saw a glimpse of something near his waistband…the waistband my dirty mind imagined pulling down.
I had never dated a guy with a tattoo, but I had always been fascinated by guys that had them. When I had asked a few, there was always a special story to tell, so I wondered what his was.
“My name is Jackson, but some people call me Jax.”
I hated that even his name added another tremor to the depth of my core. “Rachel,” I murmured. However, I wasn’t sure he’d heard it. When I didn’t shake his hand, Stacey poked my thigh. What the hell? I finally offered him my hand.
Seizing it, his grip was strong and warm. It was a nice shake, but I snapped out of it when I realized he was holding it longer than a normal handshake. Darn it! I let him, and I enjoyed it.
His eyes shifted to my friend. “Stacey, right?”
“Yes. We ran into each other at the pool. Are you staying there?”
“I spent the night there, but no, I’m not.” He said it casually, as if it was no big deal…maybe it wasn’t. A one-night stand? I wouldn’t mind a one-night stand with him, but I didn’t know how I would feel afterward since I was not the one-night stand type of girl.
Hendrix came back after attending to a few customers. “Did you come here for something?” His question was directed toward Jax.
Jax didn’t look at Hendrix when he replied; instead, his eyes were bored on mine. “I didn’t, but I found something I like.”
“Then help your big bro out and work at the bar. We’re shorthanded today.”
They were brothers? Now that I knew, I could see the resemblance.
“Sure, why not? I think I’ll stick around.”
“I have a T-shirt in the back room. Put it on.”
“Yes, boss. But no T-shirt could get you more business…just saying.” Jax raised a brow.
“I don’t need more business. Hurry up and dry off.” Hendrix’s tone was stern but you could feel the love between the brothers.
“Jax, you’re working today?” The hostess smiled, the kind of smile where only a woman could tell she wanted to fuck him.
“Hey, Liz. Yes I am. I found a reason to stay.” Jax’s eyes flashed to mine when he said the last sentence. Instead of smiling and gushing from his compliment, I looked away. I didn’t want to be that kind of girl, all fake and incoherent in front of a hot guy.
Liz giggled, twirling her hair around her index finger, then snapped out of it when Hendrix cleared his throat.
“Maybe you shouldn’t work here. You cause too much distraction.” Hendrix smacked Jax on his back to get him going, then looked over his shoulder to Stacey. “I’ll be right back.”
“Oh.” Liz jerked, snapping out from a stupor. “Ladies, your table is ready.” She led the way.
After a couple of steps, I was forced to turn to see who had tugged my elbow. Jax’s body was way too close to mine. It didn’t help that his chest was inches away from my hand. It took every ounce of my willpower not to wipe away the water droplets that were still streaming down his chest, but I was doing it in my mind. When I peered up to ask him why he’d stopped me, I couldn’t because my eyes had stopped at his lickable lips. “Yes?” I managed to finally breathe the one word out of my mouth.
“Next time, don’t run away. You didn’t give me a chance to introduce myself at the pool.”
He noticed me then? How could he have? We never once even met eye-to-eye. He was making it up, I was sure of it, so I decided to test him. “I wasn’t running away. You didn’t even see me.”
“Yes I did. That black bikini suited you well. You were afraid of me so you left.”
I let out a big, fake laugh and blushed at the same time. I was certain my cheeks turned red. “You’re full of yourself, aren’t you? Mister…Mister ….” Had he said his last name? Why couldn’t I remember? What could I call him? Then I said the first thing that popped in my mind, recalling his board. “Mr. Surfer.”
“Mr. Surfer?” He laughed. Those cute dimples appeared again, taming my anger toward him just for a second. “Now, that’s a first.”
“Maybe there will be a lot of firsts with me,” I challenged. Oh crap! I wanted to take back what I’d said.
“Maybe, or maybe there will be a lot of firsts with me.”
I raised a brow. “I doubt that.”
“We can test that theory over dinner.”
“No, thanks.”
“Afraid again?”
I wanted to be nice to him since he was Hendrix’s younger brother, but it wasn’t working. I didn’t care who he was. “No, not afraid. I just don’t like what I see.” I made it obvious that I was checking him out, and I was pretty sure I burst his ego when he arched his brows in surprise. As his grip on me loosened, I slid my arm down and walked away.
When I heard a soft chuckle behind me, I knew he’d enjoyed my comment. That laugh told me not only did he find my words amusing, he might have seen it as a challenge. This was not over.
Chapter 3
Rachel
“Jax is looking at you,” Stacey stated, taking a sip of her drink.
I didn’t know why that made my cheeks burn and my insides hot, but it did. “No he’s not.” I shifted my focus back to the menu. “He’s probably looking at the women sitting at the table next to us. They all had eyes on him. He was probably flirting with them.”
“I don’t think so.”
“It doesn’t matter. I don’t care.”
“Yes you do.” Stacey gave me a light laugh. “You know how I can tell that you care? You’ve been staring at the same page for the past couple of minutes. I bet you don’t even know what you want to order.”
Stacey knew me so well. Not only was she very observant, she was good at reading people. Stacey had moved in when my roommate moved out. We had been roommates for the past several years. Ever since then, our friendship bloomed, and she had become more like a sister to me.
“That’s not true.” I skimmed quickly, trying not to make it obvious that I had no idea what I was talking about. “I was debating between a seafood salad or the burger.” Most restaurants served salad and hamburgers. I assumed I was safe to say those two.
“Uh hum. That’s funny, because I was craving the fish or the burger, but there’s no burger on the menu. Not for dinner, only for lunch.”
My lips curled into a guilty smile. “I can’t.”
“You can’t what?”
“I don’t want to like him. I just got out of a relationship.”
“Who said anything about a relationship? Don’t you remember what your sister told you to do? Well…there’s your hot surfer dude. We’re only staying for ten days. Have fun. I didn’t say anything about hooking up to have a steady relationship.”
&n
bsp; Our conversation broke when curiosity got the best of me from the loud, sexy whistle and sounds of laughter. I turned to see Jax, now wearing a T-shirt, throwing a bottle up in the air and catching it behind his back, then tossing it from side to side while he lifted a glass. With those two in his hands, he juggled them like a pro. Seeing his muscles flex and watching him bite his lower lip as he moved to his own rhythm was too appealing. Even with a T-shirt on, he looked amazing. Setting the glass on the table, he poured the liquid from the bottle into several shot glasses that were already lined up.
The ladies eagerly waiting licked the palm of his hand—perhaps salt—and downed the shots, then slammed their glasses on the bar to see who had done it first. I hardly knew Jax, but I was a little bit jealous of all the attention he was getting from the women that surrounded him. Perhaps it was the fact that just five minutes ago he was coming on to me, and now he had a whole parade of women he could pick from. This was not my idea of relaxing and clearing my head. This was more of a headache, and not a great start to a fabulous vacation. I didn’t like this feeling at all. It was not going to happen.
“He’s really good, and he looks damn hot doing it, too.”
I ignored Stacey’s comment and answered her last question. “I don’t want to hook up just for fun. You know I’m not like that.” Trying to distract myself from glancing over again, I focused my eyes on Stacey. But it was difficult; the women were cheering and chanting his name out loud.
“Sorry, Rachel. It seemed like you two couldn’t take your eyes off each other, kind of like Hendrix and me.” She beamed a smile.
“Even if he’s interested, it’s not going to happen. He’s a big flirt and a player.” I took a sip of my mojito and glided around the rim of the glass with my finger.
“How do you know? You just met him.”
Without thinking, I turned to find Jax taking an order from a couple. I guessed the show had ended. I was just about to turn back when his eyes locked on mine. After giving me a warm smile, he winked. That was too freakin’ sexy. My heart skipped a beat, and my breath hitched as I looked away. I didn’t want to return the smile. It would give him wrong vibes from me.
