Cancun: Bad Boys on the Beach: A Standalone Romance Novel (12 page)

“Whose are these?” Tanya asks, looking around before she takes a sip. “Can we take them?”

Jorge waves his hand. “It’s fine. It’s fine. This is Mexico.”

“Cheers,” I say clinking the neck of Tanya’s bottle with mine. She’s looking a little buzzed. A good buzzed.

“Let’s go dance,” she says. “I’ve always wanted to dance on the beach.”

She grabs my wrist and yanks me towards the fire. The heat of that thing could melt metal. There’s a huge pile of old dressers and other broken furniture that people are throwing on to feed the flames. There’s even a full couch ready to go in next.

I don’t normally dance but I can’t pass up another opportunity to be close to her body. There are hot, young women dancing in bikinis all around me but my eyes are glued on Tanya. She’s so hot and sensual when she moves her hips.

She stumbles on the sand and laughs when I catch her, and it’s in that moment that I realize I really like her. There was just something about her when I first saw her on the plane but now it’s more than just a sense of intrigue. I’m starting to fall for her.

And I don’t fall for anyone.

A heaviness settles on my chest when I realize that we only have five more days together.
Oh well. I’ll take what I can get. Might as well enjoy it now.

We dance for hours until our calves are burning and the fire has dwindled down to the size of a car.

“Look,” Tanya says, pointing to Jorge. He’s sound asleep in the sand. “Let’s go back. The poor guy is exhausted.”

We wake him up and head back to the car. Jorge keeps rubbing his eyes and yawning as he drives down the dark road. He keeps looking back at us through the rear view mirror.

Tanya strokes the top of my hand with her finger and watches me. She looks like she wants to get kissed. I reach over the seat, past Jorge and tilt the rearview mirror to the side.

“You get
one
kiss,” she says, watching me.

I roll my neck from side to side and stretch out my arms and shoulders. “I better make it a good one,” I say, blowing my breath into my curled hand and smelling it.

“Smell okay?” she asks with a raised eyebrow.

“I’m regretting eating those onions at dinner but it’s not too bad.”

She smiles. “I’m sure the tequila washed the taste away.”

“You tell me,” I say leaning in.

Our mouths meet and her silky tongue sweeps over mine. “Mmm,” she moans as I kiss her deep and passionate, struggling to hold my hands to the PG-13 areas of her body.

Kissing her feels as natural as breathing and an ocean of warmth floods through me as our lips meld together. I kiss her for a long time but not nearly as long as I’d like to.

Every nerve ending in my body is tingling when I finally pull away. The warm, soothing feeling is replaced by a tinge of sadness when I realize that we only have a limited time together.

How can I not do that every day for the rest of my life?

It’s after three when we get back to the resort. It’s mostly empty, except for the tired staff who is stuck cleaning up after the partying tourists.

Jorge leaves with a million thank you’s out of his mouth after I give him a huge tip.

“Tired?” I ask Tanya. Her eyes are half closed as we stand in the lobby of the resort.

“Yeah but it’s okay,” she says. “Want to go sit on the beach?”

I take her hand and pull her towards the path outside. “Fuck yeah.”

We walk hand in hand through the dark resort. We pass a bar that’s closing and after a minute of convincing the bartender who is too tired to give a shit, he sneaks me a bottle of wine. We bring it to the beach, walking barefoot in the cool sand. The stars are out and the bright full moon is shining on the ocean, lighting it up in sparkling waves.

Tanya heads to a lawn chair under a palm tree and we both sit down, sharing it. I’m behind her and she’s sitting between my legs with her back to me so we can both look out at the dark ocean.

I twist open the bottle of wine and offer her the first sip. I wrap my arms around her as she takes a drink straight out of the bottle.

It’s pretty romantic. Just the two of us with the relaxing ocean waves, the glowing stars, the caressing breeze, the creepy looking security guard holding an M16. Hey, it can’t all be perfect.

He nods and smiles at us as he passes, giving us some privacy. She hands me the bottle as the apricot scent of her shampoo floods my nostrils, leaving my head swimming. We touch hands as I take the bottle from her and there is nothing I’d rather be doing at this moment. Well, maybe one thing but that will come soon.

I try to hand her back the bottle after a few minutes but she doesn’t take it. She’s sound asleep in my arms.

“Good night, my love,” I say as I kiss the top of her head gently. I take a sip of wine, sit back and enjoy the beautiful night and enjoy having this beautiful girl in my arms before I drift off to sleep as well.

We both wake up groaning from the stiffness in our sore limbs. The sun is rising over the ocean and the early bird tourists are already claiming the best beach chairs.

Tanya keeps yawning as we walk through the resort, past the restaurant staff setting up the breakfast buffet and the maintenance staff cleaning the pool. I wipe my heavy eyes with the back of my hand and sand goes in my eyes.
Damn it
.

I walk her all the way to her room and feel a tinge of panic when she pulls out her key card. “Stay with me,” I say. I don’t want her in the same room as Aaron. But mostly, I don’t want to be apart.

She looks to the side and takes a deep breath. “I’m not into the whole one night stand thing,” she says, fidgeting with the key card in her hands. “I can’t be with a guy that I’ll never see again after a few days.” She finally looks up at me but her face is grimacing. “I’m sorry Mr. Trampoline but I don’t work like that.”

She steps on her toes and kisses my cheek. “Thank you for the great night.”

She opens the door and I take a breath of relief when I see the empty room with the bed made up perfectly. Aaron is probably in my cousin’s room doing God knows what.

An emptiness hits my core when she closes the door. Her lips still tingle on my cheek and her words are still ringing in my ears. She needs more than just a one night stand.

That sounds nice.

Chapter Eight

Tanya

Day Three

“Go away!” I scream with my pillow over my head. The banging on the door is louder than the banging in my head. Aaron must have lost his key card. Well, fuck him. I roll back over but the knocking continues.

“Tanya!” Megan’s muffled voice comes through the door.

Oh shit. I totally forgot.

I force myself out of bed and shuffle over to the door. “Hey, snorkel buddy!” Megan says as I open it. She’s all ready to go wearing a tank top and shorts over her bikini.

My eyes are painfully heavy after the lack of sleep last night. “You are way too chipper today,” I say, yawning. “I preferred hungover Megan.”

“I slept thirteen hours and am ready to go!” she says, jumping up and down.

“Great,” I say, barely able to stand on my heavy legs.
I slept what, maybe two?

She checks her watch. “The bus leaves in twenty minutes.”

“What?” I ask, rolling my head back. “I haven’t had my-”

“Breakfast?” she asks, holding up a bag. She takes out a banana, a yogurt and an apple.

“Or a-”

“Coffee?” she asks, holding up a coffee to go. She knows me too well.

“Alright,” I say, letting her in. “You bought yourself out of being murdered. For now.”

“Perfect,” she says, barging past me into the room. “Now get your bikini and we’ll get our snorkel on.” She looks around the room. “Where’s Aaron? Is he at breakfast?”

“Yeah,” I say. He’s probably balls deep in some tart right now.

I still haven’t told Megan. For two reasons. I’m still a little hurt about Stephanie being the maid of honor and am not in the mood to confide in her but mostly I don’t want any drama to cast a shadow on her wedding week.

“This is the worst view ever,” Megan says, looking out the window as I get ready. “Did they not have any views of the garbage dump left?”

We head to the entrance of the resort when I’m all lathered in suntan lotion and wearing my bikini under my shorts and shirt. Stephanie sees us walking and runs over.
Oh God.

“Hey, bestie!” she says, kissing Megan on both cheeks. She turns and glares at me. “Hello, Tanya.”

Now I really wish I hadn’t gotten out of bed.

Stephanie turns back to Megan. “Where are we going?”

“
We’re
going snorkeling,” I answer. “I don’t know about you.”

“I love snorkeling!” Stephanie says, clapping her hands together. “I’ll tag along.”

“Great,” I mumble, rolling my eyes.

“Actually,” Megan says, scratching the back of her neck. “I was just going to go with Tanya.”

Stephanie waves her off. “The more the merrier,” she says. “I’ll go get my stuff and meet you in the front.”

“We leave in forty minutes,” I call out to the back of her blond head.

“I’ll be back in ten,” she answers.

“Sorry,” Megan says when she’s out of earshot.

I take a deep breath and walk to the benches in the front of the lobby without saying a word. I just don’t get it. Why is she friends with her?

Stephanie comes back after only five minutes. Any hopes of us leaving the resort before she returned vanish with her nauseating presence.

The minibus arrives and Stephanie bounces up off the bench. “Shotgun sitting next to Megan,” she says. We get on the bus and Stephanie pulls Megan down onto the seat next to her. I sit in front of them and the large, sweaty Italian man who was standing behind me in the Speedo on the first day sits down next to me. His big, sweaty thighs press up against mine no matter how close to the wall I squeeze.

Heat is radiating off his body and the tropical sun is beating down on me through the closed window. I fiddle with the air jet but nothing is coming out.

“Why is the air conditioning always broken in the buses out here?” I ask.

“And the windows don’t open,” Megan adds. “Great.”

“I think it’s a safety issue,” I say. “Apparently Mexicans are prone to falling out bus windows or something.”

Forty minutes and a few suicidal thoughts later we arrive at the dock. We get herded into a small cabin and after a short initiation video that nobody understands we head to the boat. It’s a medium-sized, old fishing boat that is bouncing up and down on the water.

Stephanie pulls off her beach dress and I can’t help but roll my eyes. She’s wearing a really, really, skimpy, bright pink bikini that is like a banner saying ‘please look at my tits.’

The snorkel instructors on the boat are loving it. Everyone is watching her as she bounces around excitedly on the sand. The guys are all watching with arousal and the women are all watching with annoyance.

A young, muscular guy on the boat turns up the music, which sounds tinny as if it’s coming through a conch shell or something. “Woo!” Stephanie cries out, dancing on the sand with her arms in the air and her tits bouncing up and down.

Megan steps beside me and leans in. “Look at me, look at me. Shaking my ass and my tits for free.”

I join in the song. “Look at me, look at me. I’m embarrassing myself, come and see!”

“Look at me, look at me. Everyone is hoping that I fall into the sea.”

“Look at me, look at me. I’m an attention whore to the tenth degree.”

“Alright, that’s enough.”

“Agreed.”

Stephanie waves to the guys on the boat who are grinning back at her.

“So much for our alone time,” I say.

“Maybe we’ll get lucky and she’ll get eaten by a shark,” Megan answers.

I shake my head. “Once they taste the silicone they’ll probably spit her back out.”

We both burst out laughing and Megan grabs my hand. “Let’s go,” she says, pulling me up the dock to the boat.

The boat is a little old and ragged and desperately in need of a paint job but it’s still really nice to be out on the water. The sun is out in full swing today and the water is an insane turquoise color that you normally only find on screen savers at the office. Megan sits between us on the wooden benches along the side of the boat. There’s a bench on the opposite side and all of the flippers, goggles, life jackets and snorkels are piled in the middle. There’s a small bar offering free drinks next to the tiny bathroom.