Last Heartbeat

by T. R. Lykins

  “Looks like everything is still in here and ready to go. Do you want me to grab some bottles of water and snacks to take with us?”

  “Yeah, that would be great. Can I put my book in the bag?”

  “Sure. We have plenty of room. Here is suntan lotion. You might want to put it on now before you get sand on your body.” He hands me the lotion.

  “Thanks. That is a great idea. I will need help with my shoulders and back. Will you help me? I will do yours too.”

  “Of course I will help you. Any time I get to touch you, I look forward to it. I will grab the snacks and then rub you down.”

  I lotion up while he finishes up putting things in the bag. As I finish with my second leg and start to put it down, he grabs it. “You missed a spot here.” He begins rubbing my calf. I know I didn’t miss that spot, but telling him to stop is out of the question. It felt so good. I might have moaned a little and I blush.

  He grins that sexy grin at me. “Does that feel good that I am putting lotion on your leg?”

  “It does when you do it. I’ve never had anyone rub my leg with lotion before and I believe you covered it.” He keeps rubbing and smiling. “I think my shoulders need lotion on them.”

  He lets go and puts lotion in hands, goes straight to my shoulders, and starts rubbing them. I lean closer to him, and I can’t help myself for enjoying the moment. He keeps on rubbing, and I lean even closer to him so that my butt is right against him. Then I feel how much he likes it too. I move away quickly and he laughs at me.

  He pulls me back to him so I am touching his body and whispers in my ear. “You do this to me every time I am around you. Don’t doubt how you make me feel. I want you really bad. I am being a gentleman and will wait on you to be ready. Remember you do this to me. Let’s get out of here before I lose control.” He lets go and moves away from me. I feel at lost and miss him already. What is happening to me? I never have felt this way before around any guy.

  I walk over and kiss him on his check. “Come on big boy and show me how you ride those waves.” I walk toward the door and hear him growl. I smile to myself and I don’t turn around because I might not get out the door. I want him as much as he wants me and I better get outside now. I’m still smiling when I get to the elevator. Phillip catches up to me as the doors open.

  He pulls me up next to his body and whispers in my ear, “I will show you how I ride the waves. You can see how smooth I can be.” He lets go of me and I giggle. The doors open up on the ride down and Phillip’s neighbor gets on the elevator. Phillip smiles at him. “Good morning, Jack. How are you on this fine day?”

  Jack smiles, “Oh I’m doing good. Looks like your doing better than me.” The doors open and out Jack goes, smiling and shaking his head.

  I look at Phillip as we get off and he has the biggest grin on his face, “He is right, I am doing better than him.” He grabs me and kisses me in the lobby. Then he takes my hand and out the door to the beach we go.

  I put my sunglasses on as soon as the bright sun hits my face. Today at the beach is going to the best ever and I can’t wait, until I see Phillip out over the water riding the waves. I doubt that I will even get to read my book. We stop at the same cabana we used last night when we walked on the beach. “This is our cabana and we can leave our stuff here and go do whatever we want. No one will bother our stuff here.” He lays out our towels on the chair and pulls his shirt off. Holy Wow! The sun shining on him and that makes Phillip look like a God. His body is ripped and tanned all over. How in the world am I going to keep my hands off him? What has gotten into me all of the sudden? All I can think of is this sexy guy and his body on mine. Glad I put my sunglasses on or he would know I am staring at him. I am even enjoying the view.

  “Well if you don’t want to hit the waves with me, how about I take a chair next to the water so you can be closer to me?”

  “Yes that would be great. I would like that.” I walk behind him and fan myself so he doesn’t see how worked up I am.

  Phillip puts a chair close to the water and I go claim it. He has his board in his other hand and hits the water as soon as I’m settled. He paddles out and soon he is up riding that board like a pro. He must have been doing this for years because he is really good at surfing. He surfs for a while then comes in, flops his board beside me, and sits on it.

  “Wow! The waves are awesome today. Alexia, you should try it just once. I will go out and help hold the board so you can get up on it. How about it, my girl?”

  “I don’t think I could do that even if you held the board for me. The only thing I probably could do is lie on my tummy on the board and hope I wouldn’t turn over.” I laugh.

  “How about I go out and hold it and you ride on your stomach? That would be fun too. Look at all these other people out riding that way. You should try it once.” He smiles at me, and that makes me feel brave.

  “Okay. I will try it once. Don’t laugh if I fall off.”

  “I would never laugh at you. You’re going to have a great time. Let’s go. The water is really warm today and that makes it perfect.”

  He pulls me up from the chair and puts my chair back where the tide won’t carry it out into the ocean. Phillip lifts the board up and we head out into the water. The water does feel good on my skin, and I like being in the water with Phillip. I hope I don’t make a fool of myself or drown us both.

  “Okay this should be far enough for you to ride out a little ways.” He holds the board still as he can and I can get on it.

  First, I sit on it, to get the feel of the waves, and they are awesome. I get brave enough to lie down on my stomach, and as soon as I do this, Phillip lets go. I am riding my first wave ever and it feels great. I am almost back on to the shore when another wave hits me and I fly off the board. Phillip must have been right behind me the whole time, because he catches me before I go under the water.

  He looks at me with concern on his face. “Are you okay Alexia?” He pulls me close to him.

  I start laughing. “Phillip, that was awesome and I loved it! Thanks for catching me before I went under. I think I will give it up though. You look like I scared you to death.”

  “You did scare me. I almost didn’t get to you in time. Girl, you’re going to be the death of me. You really want to stop now after your first time and liking it so much?”

  “Yes. Once is good for me. Now I can say I rode the waves. I think my spot is on the beach. That wore me out.” I smile and go to my chair. “You go ahead and ride the waves as long as you want, Phillip. I will be here watching.” That really did make me more tired than I put on. Maybe my body isn’t up for such hard physical exercise yet.

  “I think I will ride a few more times. Then we will make a sand castle. You up for making a sandcastle with me?”

  “Yes, that would be great. Take your time and I will wait here until you get back.”

  He comes over and kisses me on my lip. “I will be back soon.”

  Then he is back to surfing. How does he do that so long? Once wore me out and I didn’t even stand up. I guess the waves are too rough for my fragile body. I need to work on that so I can keep up with Phillip. He makes it look so easy.

  Before long, Phillip comes back in and sits beside me, “Let’s make a sandcastle and make it the way you want too.”

  “I told you that I’m not too good at it. We can make one if you want to.”

  “I saw some buckets by the cabana. I will go grab them and be right back.” He kisses my cheek and takes his board with him. He is back in a minute and looks like he is excited to get started. “Look what else I found! Some shovels too.”

  “You are going to spoil me with this shovel. I would use my hands when I was little. This will make it much easer. Time to get this castle built.”

  We start building the sandcastle and before we know it, it has grown into a huge castle. Watching Phillip work and the way he moves his body makes my heart skip a beat. The sun and sand on his body are stunning to look at and
his muscles move like a mass of perfection. I think my mind may have gone to the gutter because all I can think of is how wonderful those muscles would work with my body. I think this princess has found her real life Prince Charming. I start collecting some shells to put on the castle to finish it off. Once we’ve covered the castle with the shells, we step back to admire our work.

  “Alexia those shells make it perfect. We made a castle for a princess to live in. You, Alexia, are the princess of this castle. I hope you can find your Prince Charming.” He grins at me.

  I look up at him and smile. “I might have already found him, Phillip.” I take his hand in mine and we step closer to the castle. “You are my Prince Charming. Would like to share this castle with me?”

  “Yes, I will be your Prince Charming. You will have to share my other castle with me too. Move in with me, my beautiful princess.” He stares into my eyes and I can see love in his.

  “You make it hard to say no, my prince. I am not going to say no, but yes, I will.”

  He pulls me close to his body and kisses me beside our sandcastle. He doesn’t stop kissing me until we hear someone coming up behind us.

  “Get a room Phillip.” We look up a see Megan standing right behind us with her arms crossed, smirking at us. “You know Phillip, I could give you a lot more than she can. Looks like your going to mess up and miss your chance with me. I will give you one last chance. If you say no, I won’t give you another.”

  Wow. Did she ask Phillip that in front of me right now? This girl has some major problems.

  Phillip looks at me and then back to Megan. “I’m sorry Megan. I already have my princess. I don’t need you and I won’t ever ask you to ever be with me. Alexia is my girlfriend and we are going to be together for a long time. Please leave us alone so we can spend the rest of our day together.”

  “I see you really don’t know what you’re missing out on. Before you make your mind finally up, I can give you a taste first.” She stands there looking at Phillip and she even licks her lips at him. I really want to punch her face in and right when I make my mind up to do it, Phillip hugs me closer. He must have read my mind and knew what I was going to do.

  “Megan, leave now. I don’t want a taste of anything you have. Nor do I want anything else from you. I have already told you no and I would advise you to leave now.” Phillip looks at her like he is getting angry.

  “Fine! I will leave and you will regret this.” Megan storms of back toward her house and I am glad.

  “I’m sorry for that princess. She messed up our date. I wanted today to be perfect. You know I have never wanted anything from her and I never would.” He kisses me tenderly on my lips and smiles, showing off his cute dimples.

  “She hasn’t messed up our date. She can be a bit dramatic. I have heard you each time turning her down and I’m glad you have chosen me over her.”

  “Baby there is no comparison between you and her. You are the best thing ever for me and I never want to be without you. Thanks for being mine and saying yes to moving in with me, my princess is going to be in our home every night.” He pulls me close with a gentle but loving hug. “I don’t know about you, but I’m beginning to be starved. Hitting the waves and building our castle has made me hungry. Let’s go in and get food for our tummies.” He smacks his stomach.

  “I am getting hungry too. All this hard work has made me famished.”

  We get all of our things and head back up to the condo like a normal couple, but I know I’m not a normal girl. This girl has been broken and pieced back together. I have to tell Phillip soon. Maybe I should tell him before I move in with him. I have had such a wonderful day and I would hate to do it today and mess it up. I will wait a little longer and then I hope he will forgive me for not telling him sooner. I will call my mom soon to talk to her about how I feel about Phillip and let her know my plans about moving in with him. This decision makes me scared and happy at the same time. I hope waiting on telling him doesn’t come back to haunt me later on.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Phillip

  As soon as I woke up, I could feel that something was off. I haven’t slept that well in a really long time. The car accident did a number on my sleeping habits. Sometimes I would wake up as soon as I would go to sleep or other times I would wake up in a cold sweat. Today is different and I have to figure out why. It comes to me with a whiff that smells just like bacon and my tummy starts to growl. I look over to the pillow and remember that Alexia had slept next to me. That is the reason I had slept well, and I picked up her pillow and smell it. Yeah, I know that sounds creepy. I wish it could smell her instead. That would have made this morning perfect. I get another whiff of food cooking and my tummy growls again. I get up and go to the bathroom. I hurry to brush my morning breath away so I can see what my woman has cooked me. My woman is already making me grin this morning. I am lucky to have her in my life.

  I enter the kitchen and see the bright sun shining through the huge windows. Normally that would make me happy. What I see standing in my kitchen is heaven-sent. The most beautiful girl, my woman, is making me breakfast and I never knew having her here would make my heart grow bigger, because I keep filling it with more love for her. I suddenly know how the Grinch who stole Christmas felt when he realized what love was and his heart grew. Right now at this moment, I can feel my heart growing.

  I smile at her and kiss her on her cheek. She tells me that it is almost ready, and to go have a seat on the balcony and she will bring the food out. I steal a piece of bacon and she smacks my arm telling my I will spoil my appetite. She will soon find out how much I can eat and I let her know it won’t be spoiled. Alexia asks how I like my drinks in the morning and I tell her. I kiss her and head outside.

  I sit there for a few minutes and think that this is something I would like having every morning - waking up with her. Not the cooking, but that is a nice perk. I like waking up and having her around. I like that she is learning what I want to drink, and I want her to learn everything about me, as I want to learn everything about her.

  When she brings out the first of the food, I smile at her. Not because of the food, but I because know I want her here with me every morning. I wonder if I asked her this soon to move in with me if she would. Maybe I should wait. I don’t want to pressure her because this morning is perfect.

  She finally sits down beside me, and I know she is my home and I need her with me. I start piling up the pancakes, and Alexia tells me that I should taste them first. No way will I do that. I’m going to eat these pancakes even if they are horrible because she wanted to surprise me with them. I take a bite and I am so glad that they are delicious. I tell her to eat and see how good they are and she does. I see this surprised look on her face. She should have known they would be good.

  Alexia keeps asking little things like how I slept, and I let her know that I slept like a baby. I love that she wants to know stuff like this. I even ask her if she slept well, and she did. That puts a smile on my face, and I know I have to ask her to move in. I tell her that I slept the best I had in a long time and even threw a joke in saying that she knows what that means.

  She looks at me and says that she doesn’t know. I squeeze her hand to give myself some courage to ask her. When I get done asking she tells me that I would get tired of her, but no way would that happen, and I let her know it wouldn’t. She asks about her dorm cost and Kristen. I tell her that she would probably get her money back, because the semester just started and I would go with her to ask. I let her know that Kristen can come over and they can have girl time whenever they want. I know the guys will be around, so why can’t she have friends over? I decide to tell her to take her time and think about it. I hope she says yes.

  Alexia wants to go to the beach and tells me that we slept late. That is another surprise. I usually get up early everyday. She bets me that she can get dressed faster than I can and I let her know she can’t. The bet is on. I get up and grab the dishes to take back in an
d hurry to put them in the dishwasher. I am dying to see this girl in her bikini. I hope I can keep my hands off her or we may get into trouble.

  We head to the bedroom, and I grab my trunks and t-shirt then head to the other bathroom. It doesn’t take long to throw them on, and as soon as I get into the bedroom, out comes Alexia. She doesn’t have a bikini on, but her bathing suit is gorgeous on her. The way it hugs her body is amazing and takes my breath away.

  I’m not disappointed that she has a one-piece bathing suit on. I might be a little, but I tell her that she is beautiful in her bathing suit, which she is. Maybe it, will keep my mind out of the gutter this way. Who am I kidding? With her moving around the bedroom and they way her body moves, I feel my trunks growing tight. I have to think about something else, but what? I wonder why she doesn’t like bikinis. She makes a point to say that she never wears them. Is it because she is afraid to show her scar? I have a scar and I don’t care about mine. Maybe she thinks it is ugly, but its not. Soon I will have to ask her how she got it. I hope she will tell me before I have to ask.

  I tell her that I am going to grab the beach bag, which is always ready. I hand her the sunblock so she doesn’t burn. I don’t usually put much on myself usually. She looks like she will burn with her beautiful fair skin. I even start rubbing some on mine so she will. While I watch her apply the lotion, she makes it hard for my mind not to go back to the gutter. She rubs it so delicately all over her exposed skin. She has one leg up rubbing lotion on it. I grab it and rub her leg like she didn’t apply enough lotion to it. A guy has to touch his girl any chance he gets. Then she asks me to get her shoulders and neck. I step closer to her and grab the lotion for her shoulders. How can I refuse that kind of request? I start applying the lotion to her shoulders and get a bit carried away. I am so turned on that I pull her next to me and let her know that is what she does to me. What does she do? Well she just wiggles that butt and that makes me crazy. She is lucky I don’t throw her over my shoulder and take her to the bedroom. She tries to wiggle and get away. I pull her close and whisper in her ear that this is what she is doing to me and that we better get outside.