Affair on the Beach

Chapter 4

The bonfire was set up at the beach. Rony and I followed a sign from the road pointing to where the festivities were being held. Not that anyone needed the sign to know where to go since the roaring flames were big enough to hail rescue ships and planes. A banner announcing a welcome to the Maverick Invitational Bonfire was suspended at the entrance to the beach. When I looked up at it, I thought someone took their events way too seriously. I suspected if I opened the Maverick Bay Daily or whatever they called a newspaper around here I’d see a full page spread about the bonfire.

“Isn’t this a little excessive?” I murmured to Rony when we joined the party.

“Just about right for a Solomon event, I would think,” she said, grabbing us two bottles of beer from one of the large buckets of drinks on the sand filled with ice and your-beverage-of-choice. Since there were children running around, more PG drinks were available too.

When the name Solomon finally registered, I gaped at the DJ mixing hip beats at one corner, the impromptu dance floor, the large pig roasting on a spit, several barbeque pits, several shaving dishes of food, and lots of improvised seating areas made of salvaged drift wood, rocks, and beach chairs brought in by the partygoers.

“The god had something to do with all this?” I asked.

Rony took a swig of her beer. “The god?”

Crap! “I said that aloud, didn’t I? I was supposed to be thinking it.” I laughed before nervously sipping my own beer, hoping the alcohol would help the bundle of nerves my stomach had become at realizing we were attending Xavier Solomon’s party.

“I thought you knew since you know so much about Xavier,” Rony said as we made our way to the buffet. She swished her sarong-covered hips to the music. The bikini top she wore to match looked far too small for her actual cup size.

I shook my head at her when she came back to my room after getting ready. I, on the other hand, settled for the red and black maxi dress I already had on and flip flops. Rony frowned at my get up, of course. She muttered something about a closet full of cool clothes, but I ignored her and said we should get going if she didn’t want to be late.

“Why do you call him the god, anyway?” Rony’s query pulled me back to the present.

I felt a blush tint my cheeks and took another drink. “Have you seen him? Guys like him belong in books, Rony. Or in the heavens watching over us mortals.”

She laughed. I was getting tired of her laughing at me.

“I don’t think you’ve ever laughed so much at my expense before,” I said, letting my annoyance show in my tone.

To her credit, she sobered. “What would you do if you were in my shoes, TW? You’d have to admit everything that’s happened to you today is downright comical.” When I glared at her, she rolled her eyes. “Come on, I think I spy pulled pork lettuce raps.” She grabbed my arm and hauled me forward.

“So, this party,” I began again, storing my annoyance at my best friend for later. “It’s Xavier Solomon’s idea?”

“Not really.” Rony shrugged as she scanned the food laid out for everyone. The whole of Maverick Bay must have been at the beach that night. She continued. “The bonfire marks the beginning of the Invitational. It’s tradition. I guess since Solomon Fisheries sponsors the event, they plan the party to go along with it. There’s another one on the night after the competition too.”

My eyebrows rose. “Well, color me impressed.”

“I call it a tax write-off.”

Shocked, I regarded the queen of parties with scepticism. “That’s a very cynical way of looking at it.”

Rony exhaled away her exasperation. “That’s not what I mean. The Invitational is a good thing. It raises awareness about the importance of sustainability not only in fishing responsibly but keeping the oceans clean and healthy. I just don’t think partying is the only way to raise awareness.”

“Huh,” I said, tongue in cheek. “Who are you and what happened to the girl who likes to party until the sun came up?”

“She’s still here.” She grinned, popping lettuce wrapped pork into her mouth and chewing merrily. “In fact, after a couple more beers, I have plans to rock that dance floor.”

“That’s my girl.” I bit into my own lettuce wrap and felt my knees weaken. They were freakin’ good. The cool crunch of the fresh lettuce was a refreshing counterpoint to the pork that practically melted in my mouth. By the end of the night, I would eat ten more of them.

I surveyed the crowd. I’d got to hand it to Xavier Solomon. He, or his company at least, knew how to throw a damn good party. Not an unhappy face in sight. Everyone had drinks in one hand and food in the other. Some were dancing. Others were content to sit and watch the flames reach for the sky. And the laughter of kids chasing each other brought lightness to my heart. For the first time since I agreed to come to Maverick Bay with Rony, I didn’t feel like I wanted to hide away to read a book. Granted, I just finished one, so I wouldn’t go through withdrawal any time soon, but still. I was out. I was enjoying the food and the company. In my limited experience, that was a vast improvement. Aunt Nora would approve. And from the looks of Rony, all relaxed despite her second of negativity, she felt the same way.

“Where’s Hudson?” I asked after finishing off my first beer and my second lettuce wrap. I was practically ignoring the rest of the spread. They were that good.

And as if saying his name made him appear, Hudson said, “Another drink, ladies?” He handed us glasses with yellow pink liquid in them.

Rony frowned at her glass. “What the hell is this?”

Hudson’s grin was half proud half mischievous. “I call it Maverick Punch.”

I took a tentative sip and grimaced then coughed. The drink was sticky sweet and burned its way down my throat. “God!” I said hoarsely then swallowed the tangy aftertaste. “It certainly has a kick to it.” My voice didn’t sound normal until I cleared my throat several more times.

Rony took her own sip and was reduced to the same coughing jag. “Jesus, Mary, and Joseph! What the hell is that?” She put her glass down on the buffet table and wiped her tongue with a napkin. “I’ll stick to beer tonight, thank you very much.”

Hudson frowned, rubbing the back of his head. “Is it really that bad?”

I patted him on the shoulder. “I don’t drink much, but I know my way around the bar, and that punch is lethal. Just make sure the kids don’t get at it.”

His shoulders slumped forward. Looking like a surly child, Hudson turned around and walked away, murmuring something about adding too much rum and pink champagne. I felt sorry for the poor guy. He seemed so proud of his signature drink too.

“You think Hudson will be okay?” I asked Rony, who was now downing egg rolls. Carbo-loading for a night of dancing, I suspected.

“Yeah,” she said between bites. “He’s always mixing drinks like he’s a pro. Sometimes, it works, sometimes, like tonight, he bombs big time. I mean, if I didn’t mind being fall-down drunk after a couple more sips, I’d think he did a good job with his latest creation. You should try these too. Awesome-sauce!”

“Maybe later. Want another beer?” I tilted my head toward the buckets.

She nodded, switching to the mini-sliders. I chuckled and moved to grab our beers. Rony was the only person I knew who could eat like a trucker and not gain an ounce. I envied her for that sometimes, but I also think it was all the dancing and clubbing she did. Grinding into someone was its own form of cardio after all.

I’d picked up a couple of bottles when a chill ran down my spine. In the novels, that feeling usually accompanied a description of someone watching the hero or heroine from a distance. I scanned the crowd again, searching for the culprit, but no one jumped out at me as suspiciously staring in my direction. I shrugged the feeling away and returned to Rony’s side. She was now chowing down on a hotdog with the works.

“Remind me why you’re a size two again?” I handed her one of the bottles I held.

Through the half-masticated processed food she said, “High metabolic rate.”

“Yeah, yeah. Are you sure you’re not doing drugs or something?” I picked up another lettuce wrap and groaned as I chewed slowly. If heaven had a taste, it would be pulled pork lettuce wraps. I had to find whoever made them and ask for the recipe. I need to recreate this or die trying.

Rony swallowed and glared at me. “I don’t do drugs!”

I raised my hands in surrender. “Sheesh! Retract the claws, will you? I was joking.”

The same chill down my spine I’d felt earlier returned with a vengeance. I shivered.

“What’s up?” Rony came to my side immediately.

“I feel like someone’s watching me,” I said, looking around. “Then again, I might be coming down with something.”

Rony joined the search then smiled like she’d just won the lottery. “I think I know who.” She tilted her head in the direction of the DJ.

I followed her gaze and froze. My breath caught mid-inhale. There, standing with several surfers, was the god in all his sun-kissed glory. Tonight, he opted for a black shirt that clung to the muscles of his chest and arms, black boardshorts with the outline of a red hibiscus on the left corner, and flip flops. The typical surfer uniform, but on him, it might as well be a tuxedo. Hot. Like burn me to ashes hot. I resisted the urge to fan myself.

He had his arms crossed over his chest, and despite being in conversation with those in the group he was in, his gaze remained on me. My first thought? How rude that he wasn’t looking at whomever he was talking to. My second thought? Why was he looking at me like I was the only person at the party? And thirdly? Even if the flames of the bonfire danced in his eyes, there was something cold about his gaze. Gone was the heat and hunger he treated me too a few hours ago. And yet, he had my heart beating like I’d just run on the treadmill for an hour.

“Why is he looking at me?” I blurted out.

“Maybe he’s into you?” Rony hazard a guess. She’d since returned her attention to the buffet.

I didn’t think I’d spoken the question until I understood Rony’s reply. Maybe it was the beer, the alcohol removing my brain-to-mouth filter. I couldn’t take my gaze away from him either. I was too focused on trying to figure out why he was looking at me.

“More like he’s thinking if he should call security to escort me from the party,” I said, bringing the bottle to my lips and taking a drink. The god’s eyes widened a fraction, but he didn’t remove his gaze from mine, even when the surfer beside him elbowed his arm, causing him to tilt to the side slightly. He righted himself and made a comment to whatever the guy who elbowed him said. How could such a cold stare look so sexy? It didn’t help that his ash blond hair fell over his shoulder in such a way that I wanted to reach up and brush it away.

Then he did something that made me squirm.

He raked his gaze over my body like he was touching me with his hands. He took in the maxi dress I wore. The colors of which incidentally matched with the colors he wore that night as if we’d talked about it. How could a look feel like an airport security pat down? He might as well have come over and touched me again for all his gaze did to the hormones buzzing through my system all at once.

When I learned to breathe again, I noticed I was so close to panting. I’d forgotten the lettuce wraps, now hungry for something more. Something I didn’t quite know what. It was a hunger that awakened a pulse between my legs. The kind of pulse that came from reading all those intimate scenes within countless romance novels. I squeezed my thighs together in a failing effort to ease some of the discomfort.

Fear, the kind that begged me to turn and run coursed through me again. But this time, an unseen force kept me in place. I swallowed, my throat having gone dry. Why wasn’t he looking away? What was it about me that kept him staring? And the worst part, no matter how hard I tried to break eye contact, I couldn’t. I was completely and utterly captured by his intense gaze. If he asked me to kneel before him now, I didn’t think anything could stop me from complying, not even my sense of self-preservation.

I didn’t realize the music had stopped until the microphone the DJ was holding squealed like a dying pig. Everyone all winced at once and turned to look at what was happening. If the DJ meant to get everyone’s attention, he succeeded, maybe inflicting eardrum damage too.

Blushing because of what happened, the DJ sputtered. “Uh…before…uh …” He cleared his throat and tried again. “Before we continue with the awesome partying—”

He was interrupted by the chorus of “Awesome” and “Yeah” by several of the already sauced partygoers.

The DJ raised both his hands to signal silence. When the cheering died down and someone was slapped upside the head and told to “shut up, man,” he continued. “As I was saying, before we continue with the awesome partying, let’s have a few words from the Invitational’s sponsor, Mr. Xavier Solomon.”

The crowd erupted into cheers and applause.

For the first time since we locked gazes, the god turned his attention away from me to saunter to the DJ’s booth and accept the offered microphone. I blinked several times. The spell was finally broken. I breathed freely again and took a long swig of my beer until I downed the contents of the bottle. I needed something stronger if I was to survive this night. My gaze gravitated to the glasses of Hudson’s Maverick Punch on the buffet table. I grabbed mine and took a gulp while Xavier Solomon addressed everyone.

Wincing, I put the glass down again. “Oh God no! That’s nasty. Beer. Beer’s better.” I wobbled to the bucket nearest the buffet table, feeling tipsy already.

By my fifth beer and seventh lettuce warp, I settled myself on one of the beach chairs facing the dance floor. The DJ was playing a song with a repetitive chorus, but nobody seemed to mind. Rony was done eating. Now she was burning off the calories she’d consumed by dominating the dance floor. As usual, she had at least three guys dancing with her. Some of the women on the floor with her were giving her leering stares. I couldn’t blame them. Rony was beautiful in a way that most people weren’t. I believed it was the effortless air around her. She was beautiful without trying hard at it.

I, on the other hand, was content sitting exactly where I was, nursing a slight buzz. Ever since the spell of Xavier Solomon’s stare was broken, I hadn’t seen him again, which was all well and good for me. He unravelled me, and I didn’t like it. The thoughts I’d been having about him alone were shocking. I wanted to try out every s****l scenario I’d ever read on him. How embarrassing was that? I. Didn’t. Even. Know. Him! I kept reminding myself.

I’d been around guys before, and I could certainly hold my own if I had to. Just because I preferred reading books didn’t mean I couldn’t handle myself. If there was one thing being friends with Rony had taught me, it was how to put a guy in his place. That was what she tutored me in during college while I tutored her with whatever subject she was flunking at the time. But with the god, I lost my self-control. Who thought of wanting to lick a complete stranger? That had to be crossing into stalker territory or something.

“I should be angry at you,” the deep caress-like voice said.

I shivered so hard I thought I would fall off my seat. Oh. My. God.

“Are you cold?” Xavier Solomon was suddenly squatting in front of my chair, resting his hands on the armrests, corralling me.

My mistake was inhaling. I realized then that it wasn’t salt he smelled of. It was something more innate to him—the scent of the sea. Cool, fresh. I was greedy for every breath of it. I was so close to leaning over and burying my nose into the hollow the meeting of his collarbones made. Holy heaven on earth, his presence was stronger than any drug known to humankind.

When he tilted his head to the side, I realized he’d said something. I scrambled inside my scattered thoughts for what he’d said not thirty seconds ago. I swallowed, the buzz from five beers forgotten.

“I…uh…” Suddenly, I felt like the DJ when everyone was looking at him expectantly. Only in my case, I had the most perfect specimen of a man gazing at me. I blinked several times and finally confessed. “I’m sorry, I forgot. What did you say?”

He chuckled. Oh, dear lord, that sound, it zinged all the way to my groin. I squirmed. If he touched me now I would be ash in seconds.

“I asked if you were cold,” he said again for my addle-brained benefit.

This had to stop! So, I bit the inside of my cheek until my eyes watered. Then I said, “Can you move away from me please.”

My words must have hurt him because his expression shifted from warm to cold in a split second. I shook my head vigorously. “No, no! That’s not what I meant,” I quickly said. I sighed heavily, not that it helped since I had to inhale more of his drugging scent to exhale. “I can’t think when you’re too close like that. Can you give me some space please?”

The fire in his eyes singed my insides. He smiled that cocky, oh so sexy half-smile of his. The smile that made me wonder what it would feel like to kiss those lips. I suppressed the urged to push him away by clutching the beer bottle I held between my hands on my lap.

“I apologize,” he said before he moved to the chair beside mine.

I doubted he meant his apology. He looked far too pleased with himself to appear apologetic in anyway. But him moving away, even if it was to sit beside me, allowed me to connect some coherent thoughts together.

“No, I’m not cold,” I finally said in response to his previous question.

“I’m slowly finding out that I can’t stay mad at you.”

His words caught me off guard. “Why would you be mad at me?”

He scratched an eyebrow with his thumb. “You ran away from me this afternoon. What was I supposed to make of that?”

I blushed. I didn’t know what to say. I wasn’t about to tell him what his touch did to me, no matter how much his presence loosened my tongue.

A tight silence stretched before us. How weird was it that I felt the heat radiating from him running up my bare arm closest to him? This, sitting beside him, was so surreal. I was never comfortable in silences where I didn’t have a book in my hands. I needed to fill the empty air despite the upbeat dance music blaring from massive speakers. But I found myself too nervous to say anything. My stomach felt as hard as steel and my lungs were stressing themselves out by trying to breathe too fast.

“Are you enjoying yourself?” the god beside me finally said.

I jumped in my seat as my heart entered my throat. “I …” I swallowed. “I like those lettuce wraps.” Crap! Food? That was the smartest thing I could say? I mentally shook my head at myself. “I hate disarming men!”

“I disarm you?”

I covered my mouth with both my hands and gasped. “Oh god, did I just say that out loud? Crap, crap, crap. I’m sorry.”

He shook his head, a shy almost boyish smile on his lips, his eyes hooded. “I like it. Better than not saying anything at all.”

“You…?” My hands dropped from my lips. “You like it?”

“Yes.” He pegged me with his gaze for the second time that night. “Where I come from, honestly is a rare commodity. I would rather hear the truth than have someone tell me what I want to hear.” He rubbed his cheek, looking bemused. “Although, in this case, what you said was what I wanted to hear.”

And just like a bomb exploding, I felt my blush spread everywhere on my body. He wanted me to say that he disarms me? I frowned hard enough to dissipate the tingle of unexplainable glee his words caused inside me.

“Why? I don’t even know you. You don’t even know me. We just met this morning.” The words flowed out of my mouth like I’d opened a tap. Once he said he liked my honestly, it was like he’d given me license to say anything and everything I wanted.

His expression turned serious. “Ever felt like you’ve known someone all your life when in reality you’ve only just met?”

I felt my brain become mush inside my head. What? I didn’t get it. Was he saying he felt like he’d known me for a long time? Huh? How was that even possible? From what I knew, what he said only happened in some books. This was getting crazier by the minute. I couldn’t take it anymore.

“I think I need another drink,” I said.

“I think you’ve had enough,” he said.

I finished off the last of the contents of the now tepid beer I held and pushed the bottle into the sand. “After what you’ve just said, I really do need another drink.”

“Tamara,” he whispered my name like a prayer.

There he goes again with his exotic pronunciation of my name. No! I was done letting him affect me the way he did. Plus, saying he felt like he knew me, what kind of bullshit crap was that? I may find him attractive, but I wasn’t falling for his words. And why was he saying those things anyway? To get into my pants? I looked down at my maxi dress. Granted I wasn’t wearing pants at the moment, but I got what I meant! Dammit! If I wanted another drink, I damn well would get myself another drink.

I stood up too fast and wobbled.

“Tamara,” Xavier Solomon exclaimed. He spread his arms just as I stumbled back, landing on his lap. He exhaled an “ooghf.”

We looked at each other. Me shocked. Him expectant.

After my second of shock wore off, and I didn’t know why, maybe it was the five beers already in my system, but I started giggling uncontrollably. And most surprising of all? Xavier Solomon started laughing a deep-throated laugh that I would pay anything for if a studio came out with a CD of it. It was the best, clearest sound in all the world. It wrapped me in warmth and comfort and s*x. Oh the thoughts that whirled around in my head right then were embarrassingly carnal, yet on and on I giggled.

My giggling reached a point where I was already leaning my head on his shoulder while one of my hands was splayed on his chest. By the end of it, we were both breathless. The tension building inside me all day disappeared. Oh what a good laugh could do to the system.

“Ah,” I said, gasping for breath. “I really need that drink.”

His response was to bend down and kiss me.