Inferno Anthology (26 page)

I smiled. Such an easy one. “I like to do things to you.”

We both laughed and eventually he dragged me out of bed and into the shower.

“I better call Sienna so she doesn’t worry.” I was dressed in only a towel after our shower.

“She isn’t worried; she is expecting us in half an hour.” He handed me a Heston Hotels t-shirt and shorts. I looked at him, confused, but he didn’t seem to notice. “The hotel shops aren’t open yet and it was all I could get the concierge to find this morning.”

“Thank you.” I slipped the t-shirt on over my head and let the towel drop to the floor. “Why is Sienna expecting us?”

“I made plans with Tyler. We are taking you ladies to the other side of the island for surfing lessons.”

I squealed with excitement and jumped up and down. His mouth twitched and he laughed.

The bathroom in the suite was heavily stocked with some of the essentials I was missing, moisturizer, a toothbrush and a blow dryer. I did my morning routine as best as I could and blow dried my long hair. When I came out fifteen minutes later, Jack had a full breakfast delivered. “Hungry?”

I smiled. “Question number five. Starving.”

“That does not count as a personal question, babe. A personal question is how many partners have you had or how old were you when you lost your virginity.”

“Okay then. Question number five. One, actually two now. And sixteen.”

“That shouldn’t count either, I wasn’t asking the question … wait, what, did you say one?” His head snapped to look at me as I sipped my juice.

“Yep, you are number two.” I could tell by his face that he was shocked at my answer. His reaction made me curious enough to cash in a question. “And how many partners have you had, Jack?”

“Is that question number eight?”

I nodded.

“More than two?” His response was a question, as if to ask if that was going to be an acceptable answer.

“I’m going to need a little more specific of an answer.” I smiled and waited, letting him squirm for a while. Even though I had only been with one man, it didn’t mean I was naïve. I knew that a man that looked the way he did would have ample opportunity.

“I don’t have an exact count,” he said after considering his response.

I found it adorable that he was afraid to give me an answer. “Ballpark, babe.”

His eyes looked away from me. “Somewhere between 500 and 1,000?”

I spit my juice all over the place. Holy. Shit. I knew he was handsome and it sounded like he was wealthy, but 500 to 1000, really? That wasn’t normal, was it? I made a mental note to ask Sienna about it. “That’s crazy, how do you have time for anything else?” I teased.

He looked embarrassed and it made me feel badly for playing with him.

“I’m teasing. I guess I’m a lucky woman then to have my rebound fling have such experience. I’ll be expecting to learn a lot of new tricks this week, playboy.”

I saw him flinch, so I jumped up into his arms, wrapping my legs around him. He wrapped his arms around my bottom to hold me in place. “You have no underwear on. If you don’t want me to fuck you on the serving cart and be late to meet your friend, you’d better jump down and eat quickly.”

I kissed him on the cheek and smiled, letting him know that I wasn’t really upset. Then I jumped down and ate my breakfast because I was sure that Jack would make good on his word if I tempted him.

T
he ride to the other end of the island was amazing. Jack rented an open air jeep and Sienna and I sang loudly along with most of the songs on the radio. The scenery was beautiful and we all laughed and enjoyed the ride. I found myself again thinking about how long it had been since I’d felt so carefree and happy.

We arrived at the beach and went toward the beach hut to check in for our surf lessons. The guy working looked like he had just stepped out of a surfer magazine. He had long, sun-bleached hair, a dark tan and was wearing sunglasses secured with a lanyard around his head loosely. As we approached he came around the counter, smiling.

“Jack, dude, long time no see.” He clasped Jack’s hand and pulled him into a one-armed guy hug.

“Bones, how are you man? It’s been a while,” Jack responded.

“All good, all good. Still taking it one wave at a time. I got the message you were coming down today to get some friends lessons so I had to stop down and check things out. You gonna catch some waves with me for old times’ sake while your friends get their school on?”

“Sounds good, as long as you let me ride the Bone Maker.”

Bones laughed and walked around the corner. “You got it, man. You know I don’t let just anyone ride the Bone Maker.”

“I’m touched.” Jack held his hand over his heart in feigned sincerity.

“So who we got here? These two beautiful women have names, playboy?” Bones motioned in our direction.

“This is Sydney and Sienna. And the big ugly guy is Tyler.” Tyler shook his head and laughed. The two men focused their attention on insulting each other, but underneath there was warmth that told their true friendship. “Where’s Val? She’s going to give Syd a lesson today.” Jack looked around as he spoke.

“Sorry, dude, they tried to call you back, but you had already left. Val couldn’t get here … she’s stuck on Maui doing a photoshoot for some suntan lotion shit. She was supposed to be back this morning but, Val being Val and all, she missed her flight. But don’t worry man, we hooked you up. Guy Stokes is in town for a qualifying round for the nationals and we got him to fill in for Val.” Bones motioned toward the water where a surfer was walking our way carrying his board.

Holy. Shit. I thought I’d died and gone to surfer god heaven. The man coming toward us was breathtaking. Tall, lean, and perfectly tanned with a chiseled face and long bleached hair pulled back in a loose pony tail. Definitely not the kind of man I would normally be attracted to, but that kind of man doesn’t walk by all too often.

“I hope that is my instructor, hot damn,” Sienna crowed, without a care in the world that the man she was currently sleeping with was standing right next to her. I looked to Tyler and he didn’t seem the least bit bothered by her comment.

Bones laughed. “Sorry there, Sienna, Stokes is all for your friend today. He doesn’t usually give lessons, but we had to find some big guns to fill in for Val.”

“Bitch,” Sienna hissed at me.

Bones and I both laughed at Sienna’s response as the surfing god approached.

“Which one of you beautiful ladies is mine for the day?” Stokes flirted, giving his full attention to Sienna and I, completely ignoring Jack and Tyler.

“I raised my hand shyly. That would be me.”

“Damn, I’m one lucky man.” Stokes shook my hand, holding it longer than a normal handshake.

“I hope you go easy on me, it’s my first time.” I hadn’t meant it to come out so flirty, but it did nonetheless.

“I always go easy on first timers. We’ll take our time and go nice and slow.” Sexuality poured out of his every word.

I’m pretty sure I blushed. Jack’s deep voice snapped me out of my momentary bubble with the surfer god.

“Change of plans. You are with Sienna today.” Jack moved closer and put his hand on the small of my back.

I turned and saw Jack’s stone face. His expression and stance clearly left no room for debate. Jack was staking his claim on me and, oddly enough, it turned me on.

Bones shook his head and laughed. “Never thought I’d see the day, dude.” He gave us all boards and Jack carried both of ours down to the water, where we all parked our stuff on two lounge chairs. I slipped out of my shorts and tank and found Jack watching me.

“You like what you see?” I whispered to him as we all changed.

Jack ran his fingers through his hair and leaned in to whisper back to me. “I want to rip that little bikini off and run my tongue from that sexy freckle on the inside of your thigh up into that sweet hole and taste your sweet cream.”

Holy. Shit. Did he just really say that? I looked around to see if anyone was listening but everyone else seemed to be engrossed in conversation and oblivious to us. I felt my clit swell and my nipples harden and I was sure that everyone on the beach knew I was damp between my legs. When my eyes made their way back to Jack’s, he gave me a sexy smile and arched one eyebrow, as if he were waiting for my response. He expected me to respond and I could barely breathe I was so turned on. Instead, I did the only thing that came into my mind. I reached up onto my tippy toes and pressed my body into his and kissed him hard.

It took a minute after I broke the kiss to realize that everyone who had been oblivious to us a minute ago had become silent and was watching us intently. Stokes took a deep breath and slowly looked me up and down, not hiding his seductive gaze in the slightest. “Damn, you sure you don’t want me to give Syd a lesson, dude?”

Sienna jokingly punched him and Tyler laughed. Jack, apparently, did not find anything funny. He grabbed my hand and our boards and pulled me to the water with a murderous look on his face.

We spent the day in the water riding the waves and either Jack was a great teacher or I was a quick learner because I was able to stand after only a few tries. Without having to waste any of my remaining questions, I learned that Jack had patience and was a good teacher. We played in the water together and eventually wound up wrapped in each other’s arms, floating in the waves. On the way back to the resort, I found my mind wandering again. When was the last time I’d felt so happy and carefree before this week? I couldn’t remember. Surely, I must have felt the same type of happiness with Michael in the beginning. I just couldn’t remember when things had changed. Michael and I didn’t do outdoor sports together and I had forgotten how much I enjoyed the simple things like bodysurfing at the beach. For a long time I felt like that part of my life was over. Almost as if that type of fun was for kids. But I was beginning to realize that it didn’t have to be that way.

T
he minute we entered our room, Sienna began her inquisition. She must have been about ready to burst with all the questions she had stored up for me. “Holy shit, Syd, that man wouldn’t let another man touch you with a ten foot pole! Normally I would think possessive was annoying, but on that man it is sexy as all hell. He’s so into you. And speaking of into you, spill on the sex.”

The honest truth was that I wanted to share with Sienna; I just didn’t know how to do it. I had spent so much time with Michael that I never learned to dish because I didn’t have flings to dish about. Sienna, on the other hand, made dishing a science. She could give a blow by blow of her night that would rival the best erotica novelist. “It was awesome.” God I sucked at dishing.

“Well, I could have told you that just looking at the man!” She wasn’t going to accept my three word summary of my escapades.

“I guess I just don’t have much to compare it to, but if I am comparing it to sex with Michael, it’s like comparing the Rolling Stones to our eighth grade band, Punk White girls.” I might not be good at giving an account of my sexual promiscuity, but I could always get my point across to Sienna with a music analogy. “He’s a bit dominating, but it’s mixed with a hint of a sexy sweetness somewhere down deep, so it isn’t overwhelming. And, it helps that he is well endowed.”

After all of the years we had been friends, Sienna was a master at reading my mind through what I didn’t say rather than the words I spoke. “I knew it, I knew that asshole Michael had a little prick!” We both cracked up on the bed like we were in ninth grade again.

“Just be careful, Syd. This is supposed to be your rebound fling. I don’t want to see you getting hurt.” It wasn’t a lecture, I knew she meant well: I didn’t have much experience with men, especially men like Jack, and I was just out of a bad breakup.

“I will, Sienna. He’s just made me realize that I was dead for a lot of years, just going through the motions and not controlling my own life.” I sighed. “I didn’t know how much I needed this week.”