Peachy Keen (8 page)

Harrison smiled and tapped the brochure in his palm twice. “I’ll meet you here tomorrow at ten. See ya,” he said as he turned on his heels, not waiting for my reply.

I blew out a breath and glanced at my to check the time and noticed a message from Danielle as the nickname I’d put her contact info under in my phone. Little mother hen that she was.

Mama D: Hope Linda isn’t driving you too insane. Miss you around here.

I laughed, my feet leading me through the courtyard as I typed a response. I’d almost forgotten my cover story that I was with my dad and stepmom.

Georgia: It’s all good here. I’m guessing you’re doing just fine without me. But remember, I’m coming back with a black light, so you and Evan stay out of my room…and the kitchen.

Mama D: Very funny. See you soon!

Soon.
My chest pulsed with nervous energy at the thought. I should’ve booked ten days. Screw the damage on my credit card; I was finally starting to have a good time. His face flashed in my mind and I tried to will it away. That smile. The goofy way he stifled a laugh at his own jokes. I didn’t know what was worse, the thought of going home and having to wait weeks before I saw Harrison again or trying to avoid him for the rest of my trip so I didn’t do anything stupid—again.

I put my phone in the drawstring bag slung over my shoulder and quickly twisted my hair up in a bun. With my arms over my head, fixing my hair as I walked, I yelped at the feeling of fingers smoothing over my waist. Firm hands spun me and very quickly pinned me to the stucco wall of the courtyard. My wide eyes were met by Nate’s. He wore a devilish smile.

A sigh of relief burst out of me at the sight of him. His hands didn’t move from my hips as he looked me up and down. “Where are you going dressed like that?” he asked.

My brow furrowed as I secured the elastic around my hair, and I looked down at my attire, having forgotten what I was wearing. I was clad in a tangerine-colored racerback sports bra and skintight black yoga pants, my bare midriff exposing the tan I’d already acquired. Just when I was about to tell Nate where I was off to, I thought of Harrison again. He hadn’t said anything about the way I was dressed. I didn’t even notice if he’d given me a onceover. A mixed wave of disappointment and something I couldn’t quite determine washed over me.

Nate was still pretty much eye-fucking me, his palms putting a little more pressure on my hips with every silent moment between us.

“Aerobics class. Trying to get a workout in,” I said.

“Hmm. Wouldn’t I love to see that,” he mused with a grin before lowering his eyes. “Listen, about the other night…”

“Don’t worry about it. Are you okay?” The last thing I wanted to rehash with Nate was how close I’d been to washing his vomit from my hair—or worse, my chest.

One hand finally left the spot where my pants met my flesh and he gripped the back of his neck timidly. “I’m so sorry. Me and the guys were drinking way before you showed up at the club. I haven’t done that in a long time. I would’ve come to you yesterday, but I was in bed all day. I’m so embarrassed. I feel like such an asshole.”

I put my hand on his shoulder and gave a weak smile. “It’s okay. I’m sorry I just left you there.” I breathed a laugh. “I wasn’t feeling too great either.” It was a lie. I would’ve labeled myself drunk that night, sure, but I was sober enough to find my way to Harrison’s room, almost knock on the door, and ultimately spend a good ten minutes agonizing over how to word a two-line note.

“Let me make it up to you?” he asked, giving me the major bedroom eyes all while wetting his full lips.

“I don’t know…” As my weak protest sounded, Nate stepped closer and my breath hitched slightly. While he wasn’t my number one choice, he was still hot enough to change the speed of my pulse.

“Come on. You and me, tonight, my room,” he said. His infectious smile intoxicated me. I chewed my lip as he moved in even closer, bringing his lips to my ear. “A little champagne and then...”

I pulled back, my hair pressing against the wall behind me, and looked down my nose at him with a little smile. “Only a little champagne,” I warned, jabbing a finger into his chest.

“Is that a yes?”

My eyes flicked over his shoulder once more and a breath halted in my lungs. Harrison was walking the path on the opposite side of the courtyard. God, was this resort really that small or was fate just laughing in my face some more? He took one quick glance at me, held in Nate’s grasp with a stupid grin on my face, and turned away as though he hadn’t seen me. I swallowed hard and took in Nate’s patient expression. There was no catch with Nate. He wasn’t a complication the way Harrison was. Nate didn’t know me or anyone else I knew. The thought crossed my mind that I’d never needed to convince myself to hook up with someone I was attracted to before. But I’d already had this internal conversation with myself, the one where I reiterated that Nate was sexy and nice and a stranger in a strange land. Just what I was looking for. Right?

Nate’s head lowered and he matched my pose, staring me down. I cleared my throat and remembered I had somewhere to be.

“What the hell. I’m sure I can find my way back to your door,” I said, placing my hands on his chest to move him backward.

“Me and the guys are having dinner in town, so how about nine o’clock?”

He almost puked on me and I don’t even get dinner before I get bent over?
Interesting.

“Yeah,” I said hastily. “I’ll be there.”

He’d barely budged when I pressed my palms against him and as soon as I aimed to shimmy away from him he moved in again. I’d already kissed him in the pool and at the club as we danced and threw back drinks. We’d even had a couple careless frenches in the elevator on the way to his room, but my stomach pitched as his lips came for mine in what felt like slow motion. It wasn’t memories of him losing his dinner near me. It wasn’t the heat beating down on me and the light breakfast I’d had. Something else was turning me off. To him. To the whole idea of what I’d just agreed to.

I turned just in time and his lips pressed against my cheekbone. I felt him breathe a laugh against my skin. He took my chin between his fingers and made me look at him.

“I have to go,” I huffed, though a smile painted my lips. “My class.”

Nate stepped back and released me from his grasp and the barricade his body created. “I guess I can wait until tonight,” he replied.

Forcing another smile, I called a breezy “Okay!”
and rushed for the gym, feeling queasy right down to my bones. I just wasn’t sure why.

***

A bead of sweat trickled down the curve of my spine as I tilted my head back to guzzle half of my bottled water. The room cleared out and my heartbeat was returning to normal. It had been a few months since I’d gone to the gym I’d fallen in love with in Philly. I’d gotten pretty addicted to it for a while, taking every class I could, from plain old eighties style aerobics to Zumba. Working up a sweat to good music had a way of putting an instant smile on my face. It reminded me of my days on the dance squad in high school when I didn’t have one damn care in the world. If dancing around to Britney Spears could make me this happy then there was no reason why I shouldn’t be doing it at least once a week
.

Wiping my lips, I sighed and pulled my hair down, letting it fall over my shoulders. I was still catching my breath when the class instructor, Jolene, walked up to me with a brilliant smile on her face.

“Hey, Blondie, you were fantastic! I take it this wasn’t your first time.”

My mouth curled up slowly. The striptease aerobics class had been the first thing to excite me on the Desire schedule I’d been handed upon arrival. And the class didn’t disappoint. Getting a workout all while letting my hands slide across my body like they were someone else’s—learning just how to move like the queen of the champagne room—brought out the rawest version of my inner sex kitten. I couldn’t believe how amazing it felt to surge my confidence with a few dance moves.

I offered Jolene my hand. “Georgia, but Blondie works, too.” I laughed. “Actually, this was my first. I’ve danced before—not, like, as a stripper—I just mean like dance classes and workouts.”

Jolene, whose name suited her perfectly, right down to the flaming hair which most definitely was a salon job, put one hand on her hip, accentuating the hourglass shape of her body barely covered in tight athletic gear. I kicked myself for fumbling over my words. She’d told us all at the beginning of the class that she was a former
exotic dancer
in California. She certainly had the look, almost distractingly beautiful. Her eyes sparkled when she gaped at me. “Well, Georgia, I hope you don’t mind me saying that you look like a natural. Will you be at the couples’ workshop tomorrow?”

I nearly laughed. During the class, we learned the sexy routine that surprisingly felt like a good mix of core strengthening and cardio. The moves had us body-rolling and mock-stripping to empty chairs that we straddled by the end. Jolene told us to imagine it was later that night and we were with our guy, ready to give him the night of his life.

The command caught me off guard. I wasn’t expecting my all-female exercise class to remind me how couple-centric Desire was after all. It took all of my strength to keep my invisible man rotating between my favorite male celebs, not including my now sometimes-roommate Evan Weston. He’d been removed from my lady action vault as soon as Danielle told me about meeting him. Knowing he struggled to remember to put the toilet seat down helped keep him from making random guest appearances in my dreams, but he wasn’t the person I was worried about popping up in my mind today.

I shook my head but kept a smile. “I’m here alone. And I’m doing some beach excursion all day tomorrow.”

“That’s cool. Well, you should really consider finding a class where you live. You were great,” Jolene said as she dragged a towel across her cleavage and over her taut abdomen.

A prodigy of the stripper workout. And single. At a fucking couples resort. That’s me. I told her I had fun and thanked her for the class and the compliment before heading back to my room with a little more sway to my hips than before.

***

I’d only meant to take a catnap then find dinner and get ready for my rendezvous with Nate, but I passed the fuck out on top of the covers still in my dance clothes. When I woke up it was nearing dark so I hopped in the shower and started the beautification process from top to bottom. I mechanically picked out my matching pink bra and panties. Slipping into a purple cotton dress and heels, I figured I’d have time for a quick drink at the bar to calm me before heading to Nate’s room.

Strolling through the courtyard, my thoughts began to race. Fear bubbled up inside me, my nerves rattled by the impending date. My feet slowed and I took a detour toward the pool, where a longue chair inexplicably called my name. I sank into the chair and looked up at the deep blue sky, speckled with bright white stars, and took a deep breath. When the air left my lungs, I felt lighter. 

I knew without a doubt I wasn’t going to Nate’s room. I was on vacation, for Christ’s sake. He wasn’t worth the stomachache I was working up over him. Though I surprised myself by choosing stargazing over sex, I tried not to think about it—any of it—and my body relaxed more with every sighing breath I took.

I named off the ones I recognized—Little Dipper, Big Dipper—before remembering a memorization trick from my high school astronomy class to one of the less obvious finds.
Arc to Arcturus!
Thanks, Mr. Phelps. I felt myself smile absently when I found Cassiopeia in the heavens. I suddenly felt connected to her perpetual instability—feeling a little turned upside down myself tonight. My eyes continued to scan the sky as I let my arms rest across my stomach. A familiar face popped into view. Fate pointed and cackled once again.

His lips split to reveal his boyish grin and my heart sank. The scorching fire his smile lit within me terrified me. My muscles loosened more at the sight of him. My breath came even easier and a smile shone from my eyes before it spread on my face. No stomachache with this one, only butterflies.

Harrison was upside down, his head cocked to one side. “You okay?” he asked.

Was I okay? No. Oh no, I was not okay. I was in big trouble. I saw the line I’d already unknowingly crossed and something misfired in my brain. The wires of my mind tangled and sparked and suddenly that forbidden line was covered in alluring checkered flags.

“Peachy,” I replied, my voice the reluctant starter pistol for the race.

9.

The Moneymaker

Harrison

Something struck me as funny about a girl named Georgia saying
peachy
. I’d been watching her for a few minutes. The way her hair blew in the breeze, the way her feet took each step delicately and determinedly enchanted me. This time three nights ago I was taking in the way her eyes smiled before her mouth did when she found something truly amusing. I’d wrestled with how to respond to her proposal for only one reason that night. Not because I hadn’t had sex in a few weeks and was worried about being rusty or off my game. Not because I’d come to the resort looking for solitude and relaxation only. It wasn’t even due to the picture Evan had always painted for me about the kind of women that came here alone. Danielle had broken that mold.

I wanted to know her name.

While the thought of anonymous sex for the very first time in all of my twenty-nine years was strangely exhilarating, I was afraid if I never learned her name she would disappear before the sun rose and I’d never get the chance to know her better. I wanted to know what to whisper in her ear along with “You’re beautiful” as she came. I was bad at one night stands. They didn’t suit me the way they’d suited Evan for so many years. I wasn’t built for saying goodbye to someone after I’d made love to them.

The note she slid under my door had made my head swell and my chest burn. And then getting the chance to spend time with her—even as a friend—reminded me how few dates I’d had in the last couple of years. I allowed Evan’s life to consume mine and I called it work. He was right when he said I didn’t do enough for myself. It was as if I’d forgotten that my years were passing by at the same rate his were. It was only once his path shifted and cleared, making room for Danielle to walk alongside him, that I saw how isolated I’d become.