by Lily Hayden
Deon laughed and made a grab for her hands, but she slid back on the bow out of his reach as she expertly knotted the bikini and wrestled her breasts back into the cups.
“Lighten up, Tay!” He rolled his eyes when he saw she was serious. “We’re in the middle of the ocean. Nobody can see.”
“They can!” She hissed, nodding her head in the direction of his group of friends.
To make matters worse, her sister Corey, of all people, was here. Taylor could hear her annoying, nasal voice over the thump of the bassline. She was dressed in a white one-piece swimsuit with a dramatic V-neck that plunged down to her naval, barely covering her massive, cosmetically-enhanced chest. The cut of the suit was so high that Taylor could make out more of her sister’s waxed-smooth vagina than she ever cared to see. Corey drained her flute of champagne and looked around for somewhere to put the empty glass. Taylor watched, in horrified disbelief, as her sister carelessly dropped the goblet into the ocean.
Momentarily forgetting her annoyance with Deon, Taylor rose to her feet.
“Corey!” She yelled, striding across the bow and re-joining the gathering. “What the fuck? You can’t do that!”
Taylor could feel all eyes on her, but she didn’t care.
“Chill out, Tay.” Corey wobbled a little and Taylor could see her sister was more than a little intoxicated. She flicked her braided hair over one shoulder and planted a hand on her hip challengingly at her little sister.
“Chill out?” Anger flared inside her. “Do you know how much damage our fucking trash does to the ocean? Why would you even do that?”
“Calm the fuck down.” Corey sneered back, rolling her eyes. “It’s one fucking plastic cup. It’s not going to kill anyone.”
“Ugh!” Taylor threw her hands up in the air in frustration. “It’s that attitude that is literally killing our fucking planet.”
Taylor heard a few of the group snickering behind her.
These people were the worst.
“Corey.” The gentle, melodic voice of a svelte Scandinavian model who was part of the group interrupted before Taylor could go off on her bitch sister.
The stunning blonde, wearing just the G-string bottoms of a plain black bikini, took Corey’s arm lightly and steered her away from Taylor.
“Just say sorry to your sister.” Ana pleaded with Corey in her soothing voice. “She is passionate about the ocean, no? It means a lot to her.”
Deon was at Taylor’s side now and he placed a warning hand on her bare arm. Taylor fought the urge to shrug it off, instead staring challengingly at her selfish, airhead sister.
“I didn’t do anything to apologise for.” Corey turned away from Taylor, addressing Ana, her voice full of contempt.
“But it is your sister.” Ana sighed, her enchanting accent made even the most mundane sentence sound full of profound wisdom. “And we are here for two nights to have a good time. Let’s not let it spoil our time.”
“Two nights?!” Taylor burst out.
Corey’s disregard for the planet was forgotten as she spun to face Deon.
He could see the shocked outrage on her face and he stepped back, holding his palms splayed in front of him defensively.
“Woah! Calm it, baby!” He reached for her and she brushed his hand off angrily.
“Calm it?” She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Two fucking nights, Deon? You said one! You know I need to be in work Monday!”
“We’ll be back in Miami Monday morning!” He promised quickly. “It’s like a couple of hours drive. You’ll be back. Chill!”
Taylor was shaking with rage now. She and the other interns were heading out on a tagging programme Monday which she had been really looking forward to. The majority of their work had been collecting and analysing water and soil samples, which was important but not particularly interesting. The highlight of the whole placement, for her, was getting the chance to get up close and personal with the wildlife. This was so typical of Deon. He had shown up at her place last week unannounced, telling her he had come down to Miami with a couple of the up-and-coming artists he was working with. He’d dragged her to Miami for the weekend and they had predictably fallen into bed together. He’d insisted on coming back this weekend, picking her up Saturday morning. She had tried to persuade him to spend a low-key day on the beach, but he’d talked her into joining a group of friends on a yacht. As far as she was aware, it was for one night and she’d been willing to swallow that for the chance to spend time with Deon, despite having nothing in common with the image-obsessed group. She could tell from his face that he’d purposely misled her, and she was seething with anger.
There was nothing that she could do. There was no way any of them would be willing to turn back and cut their weekend short to drop her off. They were literally in the middle of nowhere. Taylor took herself off to the little bedroom she was sharing with Deon, only emerging to grab food or drink from the galley. Deon, wisely, gave her a wide berth, but instead of calming down she found herself growing more and more angry with him as time ticked on. She tossed and turned, alone, in the luxurious double bed, seething at his selfishness as she tried to drown out the sounds of music coming from the deck. When she woke Sunday morning, the party was only just winding down and as soon as Deon climbed into bed, Taylor took herself back off to the bow to sunbathe alone. The group surfaced in dribs and drabs throughout the day, coming alive again at sunset. Taylor prayed they would have a quiet night. She couldn’t bear the thought of turning up both late and sleep-deprived at work tomorrow, but as she lay her head on the pillow, the music started to rise, and she could hear bottles popping in the galley. Between her anxiety over being late for work and the frosty atmosphere with Deon and her sister, Taylor was feeling utterly miserable.
If Deon truly cared for her, she knew he would have respected her time and her job. She blamed herself for letting him back into her life. She’d been a strong, independent woman all through college, determined to not let any man push her off track, yet here she was, barely a month into the start of her career, letting some man fuck it up for her. Angry, self-pitying tears fell onto the Egyptian-cotton pillow and Taylor vowed to never let this happen again.
Deon had tried to apologise and reach out to her, but his ego could only take so much rejection, especially on a massive hangover, and she could tell he was equally done with her when they finally docked in Miami. He had come down here on business and needed to head straight to set. He had organised a car to drive her, but he was gone before it even showed up. Despite her resolve, she still felt dejected and hurt. His job was clearly more important to him, which made it hurt all the more that he didn’t respect hers.
She had managed to get hold of Dr Redding and had spun a story about her sister being sick. She felt awful for lying to the lovely woman, but she could hardly tell the truth. Dr Redding had advised her that she might miss the departure of the group, but to just show up to the centre and see what she could lend a hand with. Taylor felt her disappointment rise, threatening to bring back the tears of frustration, but, after a quick pit stop to change her clothes and drop her bags off, she arrived at the centre, determined to make the best of the situation.
The day sucked. The rest of the interns came back late that night, elated and full of tales of their day. Taylor reluctantly agreed to going out to dinner with the group, not wanting to appear churlish when they had all shown genuine concern for her and her fake-sick sister. She listened politely, trying to ignore the stabbing jealousy as they talked about the kind of once-in-a-lifetime things they had seen. She really liked her new friends, and she was happy for them, but it grew harder to hide her upset and disappointment as the night stretched on.
Noah had led the group today. Caitlyn and Hanna were singing his praises and he grinned bashfully, waving away the admiration. Taylor had seen Noah a few times, but always in company, since the gator rescue and the subsequent heavy make-out session. Noah had been nothing but good-natured towards h
er, laughing away her whispered apology, and he certainly hadn’t treated her any differently. As she sat at the table, sipping a beer, she could sense him glancing over as she worked hard to keep the interested smile on her face.
“How’s your sister?” Hanna asked, turning to Taylor with a genuine look of concern. “I’m so sorry you missed out on today. You would have loved it.”
“She’s doing ok, thank you.” Taylor’s stomach churned with guilt as the group turned to look at her. “I should probably give her a quick call. Excuse me.”
She got to her feet and made for the exit, desperately needing some privacy and fresh air. Outside, the air was still sticky with humidity, but apart from the nocturnal chirps of wildlife in the distance, she was grateful for the quiet. She sat there for a while, feeling like the crappiest person alive, when she heard footsteps crunching on the gravel path.
“Hey.” Noah’s low voice cut through the darkness.
He was smoking a cigarette and she looked at it surprised.
He followed her eyes and grinned. “Bad habit. Kicked it a few times but needed one today.”
Taylor smiled despite herself. “We’ve all got our vices.”
Noah leaned against the wall and took a long drag before exhaling a cloud of smoke into the night air.
“Yeah? What’s yours?”
Taylor laughed bitterly. “Assholes.”
The words were out of her mouth before she had time to stop them and she wished she could take them back, but Noah snorted with laughter.
“Present company excluded though?” He grinned. “You wanna talk about it?”
Taylor shook her head. “You’re far from an asshole, Noah. I didn’t get to apologise properly for the other day.”
He took another drag on the cigarette and she watched, hypnotised, at the glowing red of the embers, waiting for his response.
“You’ve got nothing to apologise for.” Noah said finally. “I had fun.”
Despite her misery, his words still sparked a flurry of excitement.
“Me too.” She said honestly.
He took one last puff on the cigarette before dropping it to the ground and crushing it beneath his foot.
“You wanna get out of here?” He asked.
Her pulse quickened, and she realised she wanted, more than anything, to leave with him. She couldn’t though. Even though she knew, in her heart, that she was done with Deon, she shouldn’t be doing this until she’d finished things properly with him.
Noah sensed her hesitation. “I’ve got an early start in the morning. I’ll drop you home if you want a ride? You don’t seem like your head is in it.”
She turned to look at him, surprised by his sensitivity and his intuition.
“I’ll just say my goodbyes. Meet you out front?”
She felt even more guilty telling yet another lie to her housemates, but once she was safely buckled into Noah’s van, she didn’t regret her decision. They drove back to hers, chatting all the way about work and the conservation project.
“Hey,” He remembered as they pulled up outside her place, his face suddenly lighting up. “I’m going out to pick up another nuisance tomorrow. You wanna come help ?”
“Oh my God, yes!” Her heavy mood lifted straight away with the news.
“I’m getting up early tomorrow before work.” Noah said. “It’ll be stupid early, sorry, but I’ll pick you up if you fancy it? You’ll be back in plenty of time.”
Taylor agreed and jumped out of the van. She had been enjoying his company and wanted to invite him in, but after the last time and knowing that the others could come back at any moment, she reluctantly went home alone. She needed to face up to the conversation with Deon anyway. There was no point in dragging this out.
She stood on the porch and watched as he drove away until his lights were just a tiny pinprick in the distance. She was glad she hadn’t ruined her friendship with him. After their false start, he seemed like a really great guy, one that she would definitely like to get to know a little better.
Tangled Web
Time was dragging in the office today, but this time it wasn’t because Shauna had nothing to do. Quite the opposite in fact, with the contract for Marin Hotels secured, it was a race against time getting the plans finalised and Shauna hadn’t stopped all day. There was a different reason that Shauna kept glancing up at the clock and that reason was currently striding across the office in jeans and a button-down shirt, looking irresistibly sexy.
Armand met Shauna’s eyes through the open door of Rebecca’s office and his mouth turned up into a smile. She couldn’t help but smile back, her cheeks flushing self-consciously as she remembered what that mouth had been doing just this morning.
Aaron and a suited older man stepped out from their office, blocking Armand from her view, and she watched disappointed as the three turned away and entered the boardroom where she could no longer ogle her man.
Her man. Her lips turned up into a smile at the thought. She felt like the luckiest woman alive. She had assumed that her night of passion with Armand would just be a one-off. What would a sexy, successful man like him possibly want with her? But he had shocked her, wanting to stay the night and then persisted in asking her out on a date the next day. It had been a couple of weeks now and they had been inseparable. She had stayed over his almost every night. She had tried to play it cool, not wanting to risk her delicate feelings being trampled on, but he genuinely seemed to want to spend time with her. Armand was so easy to be around that she found herself coming out of her shell. She still had moments where she felt a little shy and awkward around him, but he was so honest and affectionate that she honestly believed him when he wrapped her up in his strong arms and told her she was worming her way into his heart. She held back from telling him she felt the same. She knew that the role was temporary and soon she would be heading home. She didn’t want to ruin the magic of their time together by worrying about getting hurt, but she still kept her guard up a little. It would be easier that way.
She had been worried about people in work finding out. Armand seemed unbothered, happy to do whatever made Shauna feel most comfortable, so they kept a professional distance in work and Armand dropped her off around the corner from the office. He rolled his eyes every morning as she ordered him to pull up and let her out, but the way he did it was like everything he did, light-hearted and good-natured. He even drove a little further out of town when they went out for dinner, drinks or to catch a movie as he knew she felt a little anxious of bumping into anyone from work. Shauna drummed her fingers against the keys of her desk as she thought about this. The senior team had been invited to a corporate event for big businesses in the area. Armand was going, and Shauna had been planning a quiet night in, but that morning, Rebecca had come into work to an email from Marin International singing Shauna’s praises for helping them out when they’d called requesting a document after hours last night. Shauna had been hanging around the office, pretending to just be finishing something off when in actual fact she was waiting for Armand, who wanted to finish the draft he was working on while he was in the zone.
Rebecca had been delighted with Shauna’s initiative and was insisting that she join the senior team tonight as a way of thanking her. Usually Shauna would have loved to, but she felt a little anxious about being in the same room as Armand all night when nobody at MLB Designs knew about their relationship. She didn’t feel that she could decline though, and she had been hoping for an opportunity to speak to Armand about it before Rebecca whisked her off. Shauna hadn’t thought to bring any formal wear to New Orleans, but Rebecca, ever the problem-solver, had a sister who was about the same size as Shauna who had a wardrobe full of gorgeous dresses she could borrow. They would leave work at 4.30 and Rebecca had even got her salon to fit Shauna in for hair and make-up at the same time as Rebecca’s appointment.
“Have you seen Aaron? I need to tell him I’m leaving.”
Shauna looked up to see Sylvie stood at
the door.
Rebecca shook her head. “He’s in the boardroom with the big boss.”
Sylvie’s eyes widened. “Oh, Mal’s here already. Shit.”
Shauna looked back and forth between the women, surprised at Sylvie’s reaction.
“Everything ok?” Rebecca frowned.
Sylvie nodded distractedly. “Yeah, fine. If you see him, tell him I’ve nipped out to get my hair and nails done. I’ll be back in a bit.”
Shauna went back to her work, stealing glances over her shoulder in the direction of the boardroom, hoping to seize an opportunity to speak to Armand before she had to leave. She wandered past a few times on the pretence of using the bathroom, the printer and then making a coffee that she didn’t even want. The blinds were drawn, obscuring the three men from the rest of the office, but she could make out their silhouettes through a gap. Shauna could hear raised voices as she moved past the doors. Armand was sat calmly at the table, but Aaron and the older man were both pacing, looking agitated. Shauna felt slightly placated by Armand’s calm demeanour, although he was so laidback she couldn’t imagine anything riling him up easily.
As Shauna was forcing herself to finish the weak, vending machine coffee, Rebecca started to shut down her PC.
“Ready?”
Shauna nodded, gathering up her belongings. She would have to send Armand a text instead. She would have preferred to have the conversation face-to-face, but she needed to leave. Rebecca drove the short distance to the salon and Shauna took a seat in the waiting area, glancing discreetly at the price list, hoping she could afford the upmarket store. Rebecca was called through first and Shauna leafed through a glossy magazine as she waited. Her phone buzzed in her lap and she scooped it up, seeing Armand’s name flashing on screen.
Rebecca was seated at the other side of the room, deep in conversation with a stylist as they discussed up-dos and Shauna quickly answered the call. The salon was divided into different sections and Shauna followed the low, separating wall around to the nail bar, conscious of Rebecca overhearing her conversation.