Love's Call (4 page)

Liana turned back to look at her friend.  Alyssa turned on the lamp that sat on a table between their beds.  Liana squinted as her eyes adjusted to the bright light. “What happened to your promise to not latch onto him so quickly?”

“I haven’t,” she said defensively, “I just really like him.  That’s all.  I’m still open to meeting other people.”

“Sure you are.”

“But anyway, enough of that.  What about you and Kyle?”

Liana frowned. “What about us?  There’s nothing to tell.”

“Nuh-uh.  I see the way he watches you. And you can’t tell me he didn’t get up there to sing just to impress you.”

“Well he didn’t impress me,” Liana lied. “Besides, I don’t think that was his intention. I think he got what he really wanted.  Because there were plenty of other women there that he
did
impress.”

“Nope,” Alyssa shook her head. “Not going to agree with you on that one.  He liked you.  He wasn’t staring at all of those
other
women when he sang.  Only you.”

Liana’s heart fluttered at her friend’s words, but she didn’t want to excite Alyssa anymore, and turned her back to her again. “Okay, ‘Lyssa.  Whatever you say. I’m going to sleep now.  Do you mind turning off the light?”

Alyssa flipped off the lamp switch and padded to the bathroom.  She turned on the light and closed the door.  

Liana, now alone in the dark with only her thoughts of Kyle dancing in her head to keep her company, cursed Alyssa under her breath. Alyssa’s comments had only made it worse, and her racing imagination wouldn’t keep still long enough to allow her to get a good night’s rest.

The pounding knocks on Kyle’s door stirred him out of his sleep. He walked over to look through the peephole and saw Duane and Lloyd on the other side of the door. He pulled it open. Both men walked past him, inviting themselves into the room. He closed the door and followed them back into the suite. “Well, come on in,” he said sarcastically.

Lloyd asked, “You’re still sleeping in here?”

“Uh, yea...I was...’till you two clowns came beating down my door.”

Duane looked around the room and went over to open the bathroom door.  He peeked inside and closed it back. Kyle asked him, “What are you doing?”

“Looking to see where you’ve hidden the ladies.  ‘Cause surely after last night, you should have a whole harem of women.”

“Look all you want, but you won’t find anything.”

Duane feigned shock. “What?  No panties on the floor, bras on the lamps?  What kinda madness is this?”

Lloyd asked, “So what happened to the fine little thing you left with last night?”

“Nothing.”

“Why not?” Lloyd prodded.

“Look, that’s none of your business.”

Duane shook his head, “See that’s a damned shame. I knew you’d let this room go to waste.  So you plan to do this the whole trip?”

“Hey, Duane, how about you get out of my business too,” Kyle said and took a seat on the unmade bed. “So what did y’all want? Why are y’all here so damn early?”

“It’s not that early. You’re just being a bum, sleeping in all morning,” Lloyd said. “We came to see if you wanted to work out before breakfast.”

“Yeah, I’ll come,” he answered. “Just give me a minute to get ready.”

“We’ll be over in Duane’s room.  Just come on over when you’re done.”

***

“Alyssa, come
on
,” Liana called from the bathroom as she dug through her toiletry bag, searching for her toothbrush.

“Errmm,” Alyssa mumbled from the bed.

“Hey, you said you would join me for my morning workout.  That was the deal.  I come with you on this thing, the least you can do is come with me for a little dance fitness workout, or bootcamp.”

“I’m sooo tired, Lia. I just want to sleep in today.”

Liana came out of the bathroom, as she ran the toothbrush over her teeth in circular movements. She saw Alyssa pull the covers over her head. She returned to the bathroom to finish and rinsed her mouth.

“No, ma’am,” Liana said, and moved to the bed to flip the sheets off of Alyssa.

“Lia!”

“I kept up my end of the bargain, now you can too. Let’s go.  You’ll feel better afterward, anyway.  I promise.”

“I doubt anything will feel as good as this bed does right now.”

“Just get up, Lys.”

Alyssa gave an over-dramatic sigh and sat up in the bed. She paused a moment, blinking, still attempting to arouse herself awake. After a few moments she climbed out of the bed and dragged herself over to her suitcase.  “I promise, this will be the
last
time I ask you to come along on a trip with me.”

Liana turned to her, her face lit up. “Good,” she exclaimed.  “Wow, was that all it took to get you to say that?  I’m going to have to bug you to work out more often.”

Alyssa shot Liana a dirty look, and proceeded to throw on her exercise clothes.

***

Liana struggled to keep up with the overly enthusiastic fitness instructor’s quick steps and complicated twists and turns. She’d participated in dance fitness classes for years, but had never attended one with an instructor as energetic as the incredibly toned woman who twirled effortlessly in front of the group of exercisers.

As Liana pivoted and turned, she looked to her side to see that even Alyssa was smiling and absorbed in the music and rhythm of the dance.

The group of at least a dozen women and a couple of men were outside on the main deck of the ship, next to the fitness center and weight room. They dancers welcomed the cool morning breeze that floated toward them from the water’s surface.

Sweat streamed down Liana’s face and seemed to cover every other part of her body. Sweat drenched her shirt and the crotch area of her spandex workout attire, but she didn’t care.  The more perspiration, she told herself, the better the workout.

 And since her intention when exercising was never to impress anyone, it really didn’t matter to her how sweaty she was. She smiled as, after several tries, she finally mastered a particularly complicated routine that the instructor had shown them, and was able to keep up with every step the teacher took.

***

Kyle, Lloyd and Duane entered the air conditioned fitness center and weight room and gravitated toward their preferred areas.

Kyle placed his bottled water on the floor next to the dumbbell racks, and began a light warm-up. His position gave him a nice view of the main deck and the blue waves of the ocean beyond the ship.

He scanned the deck, looking through the glass windows that surrounded the fitness room, and his eyes stopped on the group of exercisers center deck.  The instructor, donning a short, curly natural hairstyle and tons of attitude, seemed to float around in front of the group, while the others struggled to keep up.  

She then moved through the crowd, approaching the dancers, encouraging them to give more effort and stay with the music. Whenever the instructor approached an exerciser, the person would pick up his or her pace and do their best to keep up with the steps.  But it was all in good fun, because every one of them seemed to be enjoying themselves.

He then watched the instructor move over to two familiar figures at the far end of the group. When she turned her head to the side, facing the fitness room, he instantly recognized Liana and next to her, was her friend Alyssa.  The instructor stood in between them both, and shouted, “Come on, ladies.” She then commenced to do the routine with them there on either side of her.

Kyle had stopped his warm-up and stood there watching Liana, caught up in the way she moved.  She glided and turned, right on cue, in perfect step with the dance instructor. He admired the way she rotated her hips, and seemed to come alive with the rhythm of the music.

The broad smile on her face showed she must have been having a great time, right there on that deck. The woman he watched now was nothing like the person she had been showing him and every other man on the ship.  She seemed fun, carefree and exuberant.

And if she moves her hips in bed, even half as well as she is now…
He had to stop himself in the middle of his thoughts, because he could feel himself becoming a little too excited.

When the song ended, the instructor laughed, and gave a high five to Liana, who had kept up with her the entire time, even when she’d tried to pull out a complicated step or two.

Kyle watched them, as they panted after their workout, sweaty and exhausted, and realized he had never seen such a huge smile on Liana’s face before. She was stunning when she smiled.  Her face lit up, her eyes and straight white teeth seemed to sparkle, and the one dimple she possessed, creased her left cheek.

She and Alyssa grabbed their towels and wiped down their faces as the other exercisers dispersed.

His eyes never left her, as he studied her frame in the form fitting tights that hugged the curved, but toned hips and rounded bottom mercilessly. He felt himself straining at his gym shorts, and realized that he’d have to turn away from the sight, before he became any more turned on in that fitness room.

He turned his back on them, facing away from the windows, and grabbed a set of dumbbells to begin his own workout.

***

“Are you kidding?”  Alyssa exclaimed, giving Liana a face that clearly illustrated her frustration. “Look, I did the dance class with you. Why do you need to go to the fitness room too?”

“I just want to do a little more,” Liana said, as they stood, the last exercisers on the main deck after the morning dance workout session. “I need to lift some weights for a bit, and then I’m done.”

“Come on, I’ve had enough for today.” Alyssa turned to look at the fitness center behind her, and through the glass windows she could see several men, including Lloyd, there lifting weights and using weight machines. “Hmm....on second thought...maybe I will come with you.”

This woman is a mess,
Liana thought, all too aware of the reason Alyssa had changed her mind about going to the gym.
I swear, any opportunity to meet a man, and she’s there.

They walked to the fitness room and opened the glass doors. Lloyd noticed Alyssa as soon as she entered and his face lit up.  Alyssa waved and smiled at him.  She walked over to the weight machine next to Lloyd and pretended to fumble with the equipment. “Oh shoot, I hate these things.”

Lloyd hopped off the machine he was using and quickly moved to help her. “Here, I’ll get it for you.”

Liana cut her eyes at her Alyssa-- annoyed with her helpless, damsel in distress act-- and moved over to the leg press machine.  She adjusted the weights to her desired setting and sat down to begin her repetitions.

Kyle was only half focused on his own barbell squats.  His eyes had followed Liana’s every move since she’d entered the room.  He found it amusing that she was so disgusted with her friend’s behavior.  And he was even more attracted to the way that she seemed to know her way around the weight machines.  
But damn
, he thought,
why the hell did she have to choose the leg press?
 

She was completely capable and quite strong, he noticed, as he saw the way she pressed a surprisingly large amount of weight with very little effort.  He then saw her stop, reach down and then increase the weight amount to a more challenging level.  She continued her reps and he couldn’t stop himself from admiring her firm, shapely legs with each lift of the press. He enjoyed being treated to the slight glimpse of the curve of her behind and hips each time she brought the press back close to her body.

Liana looked around the room, checking out the other equipment, deciding which to use next.  Then, as she looked over at the other corner of the room, she noticed Kyle.

Their eyes met, and held for a few seconds before she looked away.  She did a few more reps and walked over to another machine. But she couldn’t resist stealing another look at Kyle, who was now preparing to leave the fitness room. She watched him grab his bottled water and file out of the room with Duane and Lloyd.  Though he wore loose clothing, it couldn’t hide his well-defined arms, and strong, muscular quadriceps muscles and calves.

As they rounded the corner, he looked back at her again.
Shit,
she thought, when she realized that he’d caught her staring. She quickly averted her eyes and adjusted the weights on the machine.