I laugh at her mini story. Katie and I enjoy people watching. We come up with elaborate stories for our subjects, trying to top the other with our creativity. It’s silly and makes us laugh.
“What about them?” I ask my eyes following a woman wearing a cute black and white suit with a sarong tied around her waist and designer sunglasses perched upon her nose. She’s got a beach bag on her arm and her man is trailing behind her, following as she selects chairs for the two of them. She waits for her companion to arrange the towel on her chair for her, and then makes a few adjustments herself before sitting down. Removing her sarong from her waist, she folds it before putting it in her bag, doing the same with the t-shirt of the man she’s with. She takes out sunblock and after spraying it all over her body she leans back, rather stiffly, and appears to close her eyes.
“Not in a million years,” she tells me.
“I’d have to agree. They probably schedule sex in their calendar. Twice a week, like Tuesdays and Thursdays. She takes her birth control like clockwork and probably has a list of places that are okay to kiss and places that aren’t. Sex is probably considered messy and while he doesn’t agree, he likely gives her a lot of ‘yes dears’.”
We giggle at my made up story based on nothing other than appearances and then I laugh harder, “I’m probably totally wrong and they are animals in the bedroom and just reserved in public.”
“You’re probably right,” she agrees with a laugh.
Looking around the pool once more, my gaze settles on a group of men that just arrived. They each grab a towel from the cart of fresh, clean, towels for guests and they are all holding beers in their hands and are laughing. Every single one of them are shirtless and it’s like a freaking abs parade. “Holy hell,” I breathe out a little breathlessly and Katie murmurs her agreement. They are all ridiculously attractive. One man breaks away from the rest after he removes himself from a headlock another guy had him in. They are laughing and he puts his fists up jokingly telling his friend to ‘bring it’.
He finally turns and moves to a seat not far from us and throws his towel into the lounger claiming it as his. The top of his body is concealed by an umbrella. He begins wobbling the heavy base back and forth in an effort to move it out of the way. His muscles move and flex under his skin and I treat myself to a long look. Starting at his sandal clad feet, moving up his muscular calves that flex with his movements, and head right on up and stop for a moment at what I can see of his muscular thighs. I find myself immediately wondering what the hair on his legs would feel like rubbing up against mine. I imagine our legs tangled together, one of his strong hands stroking my body, while the other is tangled in my hair. The thought makes the hair on my body stand on end.
Moving my eyes up further, I stop and almost blush at the large bulge he’s showing off at the front of his shorts. My nipples tighten at the sight, and when he turns around and I get a view of his tight bottom, I can’t stifle a soft groan. As he moves his shorts tighten against him leaving no imagination to the roundness underneath.
“Oh, yeah.” Katie says drawing out the word as her eyes likely take in the same view as mine.
“Any story I would come up for him would include myself in it,” I tell Katie and she grunts her agreement.
My eyes continue their journey as he turns around once more having finished his task and his stomach and chest make my breaths come faster. I’ve never had such a visceral reaction to someone before and I bite my lip to try and calm myself down. This man was made for sex. Forget a six pack, he’s sporting an eight pack and they look like they are chiseled from stone. His hard pecs frame the flat discs of his nipples and I imagine running my tongue over them. Under his navel is a small trail of dark hair and I almost groan again thinking about where it leads, but lick my lips at the thought instead. His biceps are large and his shoulders broad and when my eyes finally move to his face, I suck in a breath when I find his eyes on mine.
His eyes are crystal blue, and rival the beauty of the ocean at his back. His longer dark hair blows in the wind, a strand escaping from the rest and brushing against his high cheekbone. I find myself jealous of a strand of hair. His full lips curl up into a seductive smile and I can’t help but think how unfair it is that a man that looks like that is unleashed upon the women in this world. I don’t know that I’ve ever found a man beautiful before, but he certainly is. With a smirk, he pulls his sunglasses from the top of his head and puts them on. He turns his head to one of his friends and says something, making them both turn back and look at me.
“Wow,” I say to Katie not able to tear my eyes away.
“Oh my god, Ella. Do you know who that is?”
“Who? You know him?”
“That’s the actor Asher Charming.”
“What? No way.” I tell her finally breaking eye contact to look at Katie. She’s nodding her head, eyes big and wide. Looking at him again, watching him laugh with his friends while at the same time looking at the menu of food selections, I think of the many action movies I’ve seen Asher in and try to find the resemblance. It’s there, a little, I think. Maybe it’s the alcohol making my memory fuzzy.
“That’s totally him,” Katie says emphatically.
“What are the chances that Asher Charming would be staying at the same resort that we are?”
“I don’t know, but let’s thank the sex gods because with any luck we’ll get to look at that during our entire stay.”
I let out a sigh of pleasure, “No kidding.” Letting my eyes fall on him once again, I find that I need to cross my legs when I take in his wide smile. “I don’t know, Katie. I gotta tell you, I would totally consider butt sex for him.”
“Oh my god,” she says and laughs and I join her laughing loudly. I about die when he turns toward me brows raised with a smile getting larger by the second. My neck and throat flush with heat and I look away quickly, my stomach burning with embarrassment. “Please tell me there is no way he heard that.”
“Uhh. Okay. Sure. There is no way he heard that,” she says to appease me. “You weren’t louder than you think you were at all.”
“Oh god,” I mutter, a nervous giggle escaping me.
“Come on,” Katie says and stands.
“What are you doing? You’re ready to leave?”
“No, we’re going to go take a selfie with Asher. I’m posting this shit on Facebook.”
“No way. I’m not going over there!”
“If you don’t come with me, I’ll call him over here.”
“You wouldn’t.”
She just stares at me and I make a sound of annoyance. “Fine. But you so owe me for this.”
She smiles and I stand and we make our way over to Asher and his group of friends. They’re laughing again, but it dies down a little when they see us standing there. I turn my head and look at the pool feeling embarrassed and stupid. Katie on the other hand, smiles widely and totally cocks her hip out in her signature flirting move. “You’re totally Asher Charming aren’t you?”
I can’t help but look back toward Asher, if that is indeed who he is, and feel myself flush deeper when I find he’s lost the sunglasses and is looking at me again. As our eyes connect, I forget where I am for a moment. I’m lost in blue and don’t ever want to be found. I feel tingles all over my body, and massive butterflies in my tummy. Unfortunately, someone clears their throat loudly and it startles me from his gaze. When I look toward Katie she’s smiling as she looks between the two of us.
He nods and smiles, “Yeah, I’m Asher,” he says, his voice raspy and as sexy as he is.
“I knew it!” Katie says making people laugh with her enthusiasm. “Can I please have a photo with you?”
He hesitates, “Well, I would, but I don’t really want anyone to know I’m here if I can help it.”
“Oh, I won’t share it until I get home. I don’t have international service anyway, and sorry, you’re hot, but I’m not about to spend fifty bucks just to post a photo of you
on my social media accounts.”
Asher laughs, “Fair enough.”
Katie goes and stands next to him and I stand awkwardly, still not having said a word. A friend of Asher’s takes Katie’s phone and when I look back at Katie and Asher they are both looking at me and I realize Asher said something. To me. “I’m sorry, what?” I ask, feeling like the biggest fool in the world. But he only smiles, “Get in here for this,” he demands with a smile and I wordlessly walk to him. He wraps his arm around my waist and everywhere his skin touches mine feels magnified. I swear I hear him suck in a breath and I look at his face, seeing him looking down at my breasts. I try hard not to push them out so he can get a better look – I’m not ashamed to admit I’ve got some good tits. He pulls me until my hip is touching his and we all smile for the camera. After his friend takes a photo, Katie happily thanks him, and I know it’s not my imagination that his touch lingers on my skin before he lets go.
Asher smiles and nods and makes Katie promise again that she won’t post it. “Are you guys here vacationing for a while?” He’s looking at me, but for whatever reason I can’t find myself able to respond. Clearly I need some more alcohol for bravery or something. I absently look around for Juan our server, as I nod my head and Katie answers for us. “Yes, we are here for a week, Ella is here for two.”
He looks at me again, and smiles. “Well, I’ll see you,” his gaze lingers on me, “both of you around.”
“Yes you will!” Katie says excitedly and once again I nod my head like I’m mute, but at least I manage a smile, thank god.
With a little wave, we walk back to our seats. Fortunately, Juan returns to us at that moment with fresh margaritas and the fish tacos we ordered – the perfect distraction. We continue to enjoy our time at the pool, making up more stories for our people watching game and indulging in celebrity gossip. All the while my gaze keeps returning to the sexy man down the way from us the rest of the afternoon.
“Uh, sorry,” I flush all the way to the top of my head, “I guess I momentarily forgot I was talking to you and not Katie. I’m pretty sure you didn’t need the details of umm… well... you know.” I look down in my embarrassment, unable to meet her eyes.
Faye throws her head back and laughs, bless her. She has a great laugh too. The kind that makes you happy and you can’t help but laugh along with her. So I do, albeit hesitantly at first.
“I think I’d very much like to spend time with you and Katie,” Faye tells me with merriment twinkling in her eyes.
“I don’t know. You’d probably be horrified,” I tell her with an honest smile finally returning my gaze to her face.
“Oh honey, I doubt that. I may be quite older than you two, but that certainly doesn’t mean I’m ignorant to some things.” And just like that, I flush again. “So, it seems like the vacation was just the thing you needed. Katie was right. It sounds like the two of you had some fun.”
“Somehow we always manage to laugh and have fun. No matter where we are or the circumstances surrounding us.”
“I can tell,” she smiles again. “Now, tell me. Did you ever see that young man again?”
“Young man?” I ask, even though I know exactly whom she’s talking about. It’s just I didn’t expect her reference to make my heart stutter in my chest.
“Yes, I believe you said his name is Asher Charming.”
“That’s right.”
“So, it was the actor?”
“Yes, it was.”
“Well tell me, did you see him again? Talk to him? It sounds like he took your breath away at first sight.”
“You have no idea,” I tell her shaking my head a little at the memory.
“Well don’t stop now. Tell me what happened next!”
“Oh my god, I don’t believe it!” Katie yells while staring at her phone.
“What?” The two of us decided to go outside the resort for lunch and walked in and out of various souvenir shops along the road to our destination. In front of a storefront Katie stopped to take selfie’s in a huge sombrero that had grabbed her attention and then pictures of us in various poses.
“That picture we took with Asher?” she asks as if I could forget. She teased me forever over the way I acted in front of him. I told her I hated her, but then she bought me another margarita so all was forgiven.
“What about it?”
“This.” She turns her phone toward me and I see that all of our heads have been chopped off. My mouth falls open, I look at Katie’s face and see how annoyed she looks and so I double over at the waist and start laughing. “It’s not funny! Who the hell doesn’t know how to take a picture?!”
“Apparently they didn’t believe you when you said you wouldn’t post it.”
“I’m totally going to hunt them down and demand another one.”
“I’m sure you will, I’d expect nothing less,” I tell her with a laugh. “What about this? Does this say, ‘you were supposed to get married and didn’t’,” I ask Katie while holding up a little trinket using it to distract her.
She rolls her eyes, “No. It screams, ‘I went to Mexico and instead of having fun shopping with my best friend, I had a pity party’.”
“Hey!” I react immediately in self-defense at her comment, but then sigh. “Actually you’re right. I don’t know why I said that.”
“Because you’re still angry, that’s why. I’m not saying you shouldn’t be, I’m sorry if I sounded inconsiderate of your feelings. I just hate you wasting any more time on that piece of shit.”
“Yeah, he really is a piece of shit, huh?”
“Totally. Which is why I actually sent him a flaming pile of poo in the mail.”
My words stutter on a laugh, “What?”
“Yep. Before we left, I ordered a pile of shit to be sent to his front door.”
“You’re kidding.”
“No, I’m not. There’s actually an online company that provides it. You get to choose the amount and even get to pick the kind of animal it’s ejected from too. And the inside packaging kind of disintegrates when it is removed from the outside container. I swear you can order anything on the internet.”
“Get. Out.” My mouth is hanging open and I’m staring at her in both awe and surprise.
“I’m serious,” she shrugs as if sending someone literal shit in the mail isn’t the tiniest big deal.
Rushing to her, I throw my arms around her while laughing. “I have the best friend in the whole world.”
“Hell yes you do,” Katie agrees squeezing me back in return. “The only thing better would be if they offered to somehow take his picture while he opens the extra large package, but unfortunately, we’ll just have to imagine that ourselves.”
I’m bent over at the waist laughing so hard tears are falling from my eyes. I can only imagine Jeremy’s horror. Here’s hoping he drops it and gets it all over himself, making a huge mess and carrying the smell for days. So gross yet so awesome.
“This is cute,” Katie says while pulling a very beautiful dress in gorgeous shades of blue from a rack. A woman hurries over and offers to take it off the hanger for her, so she can try it on. She shows her all the ways it can be worn. “How much?” Katie asks. She and the woman bargain for the best deal and then Katie says, “Sold,” when it reaches a price she’s willing to pay. Everything is a negotiation here. Several times we’ve picked up items to ask the price and put it down because we don’t want it that much, to be told a different, and lower, price. Katie gets a serious look on her face and will barter back and forth like nobody’s business. I’m a bit shyer about it, feeling like I’m taking advantage of the hard work they’ve put into making their wares. I’m afraid to offend them by suggesting too little.
With her purchase in tow, we head to the next store and browse. I have my eye on a blanket. I’d love to bring one home, but haven’t found the perfect one just yet. Although several places have been willing to offer me the ‘best deal’.
“How do I not feel like a
complete loser?” I blurt out, finally giving voice to the thing that’s been bothering me.
Katie looks at me, her face showing her confusion, “What are you talking about?”
“Jeremy cheated on me, Katie. Hell, I told you myself that our relationship left a lot to be desired, but he cheated on me. I wasn’t enough for him. He had to go and get off with my step sister because he wasn’t getting what he wanted from me. How is that not humiliating?”
“I understand that it’s upsetting.”
“It’s more than upsetting,” I mutter.
She continues as if I hadn’t spoken, “But you knew that something wasn’t right in your relationship, so much so that you were ready to walk out even before you heard that little gem of news. Did you really think that he didn’t feel that there was a problem too?”
“Actually, no. I thought that he was getting everything he wanted out of our relationship. I didn’t see this coming at all.”
“Don’t beat yourself up over it, Ella. It doesn’t mean that something is wrong with you or that you aren’t good enough. It only means that you both weren’t right for each other. He’s a speed bump in the road to your greater destination. That’s all.”
“Yes, I suppose you’re right. It’s just bugging me.”
“I get it. You were blind-sided, but you know very well that your whole heart hasn’t been in this relationship for a while if it ever truly was and so it makes sense that something like this would get by you. On some level maybe you didn’t care enough to know.”
“I think I’m afraid this will happen to me again. God, can you imagine? I don’t want to be made a fool.”
“You have to let go of that, and you need to let go of him. He’s not worthy of your time, thought, fear, consideration, nothing. He deserves none of it. He wasn’t right for you. You know I love you, but I’ve seen that for a while. You know there’s a reason why he and I never totally hit it off. I just couldn’t see how he was right for you.”
Charming: A Modern Day Sexy Cinderella Story Page 5