“What happened princess?” I asked her softly.
She padded away from me in her bare feet, still shaking her head. She went to the bathroom and came back with a handful of tissues. She sat down on the couch with her legs tucked under her and blew her nose. I sat by her, putting my arm around the back of the couch. She looked so sad and vulnerable; I wanted to take her into my arms again.
She took a deep breath, her eyes wide and puffy. “I talked to my Father tonight.”
My heart dropped. Was he making her go home? I wanted to ask, but I didn’t want to upset her further and make her withdraw from me. Instead I reached over and stroked her hair.
“He doesn’t seem to care about what happened with Patrick and wants me to go back to Chicago to marry that asshole,” she said quickly and wiped a tear from her cheek. “He doesn’t believe that I caught him cheating. Or he doesn’t care. Maybe he thinks that’s ok for his little girl – having a husband that can’t be faithful.”
I wasn’t sure what to say but I knew all about unsupportive fathers. When I got home from the Marines after being discharged, he was furious. He muttered how disappointed he was in me and I haven’t talked to him since. I knew how much it hurt.
“He said Patrick was waiting patiently for me to figure this out and come home but wouldn’t be waiting forever.” She gave a sarcastic laugh. “The fucker can wait forever for all I care.”
I couldn’t help but smile a little bit; I loved when she used vulgar talk. “What did you tell him?”
“Pretty much what I just told you – that he could wait forever because I wasn’t coming home, especially to marry him.” She threw her hands clutched with tissues up in the air. “I was supposed to go to the spa two hours ago, but I was so upset after that phone call I cried and went to bed.” She sniffled and blew her nose again.
I pulled her against me. “Well, you’re in luck because you have connections here. Get some clothes on and I’ll take you to the spa on my way back to the bar. Then we can have dinner at one of the restaurants before I have to go back to work. You choose; whatever you’re hungry for. You can come hang out with me at work and then I’m dragging you back here to have my way with you.”
I leaned in to her and kissed her neck. I lifted her chin with my finger so she was looking up into my eyes. “As long as you’re here with me, you don’t have to think about either of those pricks. I love to see a smile on that pretty face of yours and I’m going to do my damnedest to make sure it stays there.”
She threw her arms around my neck. “Thank you,” she whispered while I stroked her back.
“You’re welcome, princess.” She pulled back and stood up. “Now go get dressed so we can get your ass to the spa.”
She giggled and took off to the bedroom. I was tempted to go help her, but I would never make it back to the bar and the guys would kill me. I would drop her off at the spa and then go to work.
I wasn’t sure what was going on between us. I only knew that I cared about her and hated to see her hurt. I wanted to try to heal the wounds her jackass father and asshole fiancée created on her soul and make her happy. I got the feeling she hadn’t been truly happy for a long time.
I wasn’t going to worry about what would happen when she went back to the States. I was going to live in the moment until she was ready to leave. Isn’t that what life was about here on the island anyway?
She came back out of the bedroom in running shorts and a Green Bay Packer t-shirt, her hair back in a high ponytail. Her eyes were still red and swollen, but hopefully some time at the spa would take care of that.
I pointed at her t-shirt and raised an eyebrow. “The Packers? What is a girl from Illinois doing wearing a Packer t-shirt?”
She looked down and pulled at her shirt. “I love the Packers. My grandpa was actually from Milwaukee and I remember watching games with him as a little girl. I’ve been a fan since. I’ve even been up to Green Bay for a few games.” She crossed her arms over her chest and grinned. “Don’t tell me you’re a Bears fan?”
I got up off the couch and wrapped my arms around her waist, pulling her close. “Of course I’m a Bears fan because I’m from Illinois. Since you’re from Illinois, you should be too,” I teased her.
She shook her head. “I think I know more Packer fans in Illinois than I do Bear fans actually. I haven’t been to a game in forever and I’ve missed more games than I care to admit since Patrick hated football.” A dark cloud came over her face when she mentioned him and the smile disappeared from her face.
“Hey, no more talk of him. I forbid you to even mention his name.” I admonished her. I wanted to go to Chicago myself and beat the shit out of him for the number he did on Julia. There was no way I was going to let her go back to him.
She bit her lip and nodded. “Ok.”
“Good.” I removed my arms from around her waist and took her hand. “You know there’s a Packer/Bear game on next Monday night. I’m thinking we need to place a wager on it.” I led her to the door.
She grabbed her key from the table by the door and slipped it into her pocket before we headed out of her villa. “Oh really? I didn’t know that.”
“Some fan you are,” I teased and squeezed her hand. “You don’t even know when the game between the oldest rivals in the NFL is.”
She rolled her eyes at me. “Whatever. I’ve been a little busy.”
We walked in silence for a bit, enjoying the view and each other’s company. There were a lot of curious glances our way; people weren’t used to seeing me walking around the resort with a girl, especially holding her hand.
“So what do you want to wager?” She asked, breaking the silence.
“I’m not sure.” I shrugged my shoulders. “Let me think about it and we can discuss it more over dinner.” I looked down at her and grinned. “It’s going to be something good though.”
“I bet,” she giggled and leaned into me. “And probably dirty.”
“Of course it will be something dirty,” I said, letting go of her hand and putting my arm around her shoulders.
We arrived at the spa and I went up to the front desk. They didn’t usually take people without appointments, but I knew the woman working the front desk. She was an older lady I would tease and flirt with. She would tease back and say if she were twenty years younger and not married, she would have her way with me.
I managed to get Julia in for the full treatment – massage, facial – whatever she wanted. I also told them to get her into the salon to get her hair done and anything else it was women did at those things. I wanted them to treat her like the princess she was.
I kissed her goodbye and told her I would pick her up later after my shift.
I made it back to the bar and was only about fifteen minutes late. My fellow bartenders gave me a dirty look, but the bar was relatively quiet, so they must have been able to handle things. I was even able to sneak in a call to the Italian restaurant on the resort and make reservations for Julia and I tonight.
I couldn’t wait to get dressed up and show her off. I mentally went through my clothes. Did I even have anything dressy to wear? I might have to borrow something from Jason. He would have something for me to wear.
The rest of my shift seemed to drag on forever. I was washing some glasses when I heard a girl sitting at the bar. “Nice tattoo.”
I glanced down at my arm. “Thanks,” I muttered and quit what I was doing. I dried off my hands and walked to the other end of the bar.
That fucking tattoo.
It once stood for love and now it only stood for pain. Pain of a love lost.
I never thought another woman would touch me like Becca had.
But Julia did.
Letting her in scared the crap out of me, but we were two hurt souls that had found each other. Maybe she was sent to heal me as much as I wanted to heal her.
Chapter Nine ~ Julia
My afternoon at the spa was just what I needed. Aiden made sure I got the full tr
eatment and by the time I was done with my massage and facial, I had all but forgotten about my earlier conversation with my father. After my manicure and pedicure, I went into the salon to have my hair done. The young girl who was doing my hair was a chatty one and couldn’t stop talking about Aiden.
“So you’re the woman that has stolen Aiden’s attention lately?” she teased as she combed through my wet hair. I had just had my hair done about three weeks earlier for the wedding, so I had decided on a simple trim and style.
“I guess so,” I mumbled, not in the mood to talk about my romantic life with a stranger.
“He must really like you, at least for now,” she said as she moved my head forward to trim the back of my hair.
“What do you mean?” I asked, trying to keep my head down.
“Well,” she said as she leaned forward to reach for her scissors from the counter nearby. “He’s never been seen with the same woman twice. It’s not uncommon for him to take home a different woman every night after he closes up the bar. Rumor has it that there’s a few times he’s taken more than one even.” She put her hands on either side of my head and moved it up so I was looking at both of us in the mirror. “He’s a heart breaker for sure, so be careful. I would move on before he got bored with you.”
I didn’t say anything in response. My heart sank as I tried to swallow the feelings of jealousy bubbling up. None of this should even matter to me. I had no claim to Aiden and what he did before meeting me shouldn’t be any business of mine.
It shouldn’t matter either if he saw other girls. I had no claim to him. I had watched him in action behind the bar enough to see he was a flirt and I wasn’t surprised he slept with a lot of the girls that came to the resort. Why not? He was young and available with an endless supply of beautiful women in front of him. It was a guy’s dream come true. I couldn’t fault him for that.
The last couple of days Aiden had made me feel special again. The sex was off the charts amazing but the way he looked at me had me thinking that maybe I meant more to him than just another conquest. He seemed genuinely concerned when he came by earlier and saw me upset after talking to Father.
Over and over these last few days I told myself that I didn’t care for Aiden past a sexy friend I was having some fun with but I was kidding myself. I did like him. We had no future past my time here and I wasn’t a fool to think otherwise, but would he toss me aside when he was bored with me? I had enough heartbreak in my life lately and I wasn’t sure how much more I could handle.
She asked me a few more questions as she trimmed my hair but she eventually figured out by my short answers that I wasn’t interested in talking much. She worked in silence as she dried and styled my hair into a twisted knot on top of my head with some wisps she curled around my face.
When she was finished, she stood back. “Do you like it?” she asked tentatively.
I turned my head and from side to side, inspecting it. I nodded. “I do. It’s perfect for the humidity here. It keeps me cool but looks nice.”
She grinned from ear to ear. “I think Aiden will love it.”
I stood up from the chair and tipped her. When I got to the front desk to pay for my services, I was told it was on the house. Aiden had taken care of it. I left with a smile and feeling better about things. I seriously doubted the spa would do that for every floozy Aiden was with.
I stopped in the bathroom before heading back to my villa to get dressed. While I was in the stall, two girls came in and from the way they were giggling and slurring their words, I could tell they were drunk.
“That bartender is fucking hot,” one of them said.
“I know right? He told me he would see me later tonight. You’re going to have to find someone else to walk your drunk ass back to our room.”
They dissolved into a fit a giggles as my heart started to race. Surely they weren’t talking about my bartender. There were a lot of them that worked here.
“I love his tattoos. And that shaved head. Although I like a man with hair I can grab while he’s going down on me,” the one said to her friend. She was trying to talk quietly, but the alcohol had messed with her volume button.
I stayed hidden in my stall until they finally left. I kept telling myself the girl was reading too much into Aiden’s friendliness and that he had to be that way with the guests. Various men I had interacted with since I had been here flirted with me a little. They probably did it to get tips and provide good customer service.
I finished in the bathroom and decided to stop to see Aiden. That would reassure me that he wasn’t playing games with me.
When I arrived at the swim up bar, the scene in front of me did nothing to calm my fears. If anything, what I saw made them worse.
Aiden was leaning across the bar, talking to some young thing in a bikini that barely covered her ass. He was giving her that same panty-dropping smile that stole my heart. He seemed to be going above and beyond just being friendly.
I left before he could see me. I was just over sensitive after my conversation with Father earlier. Before the girl at the spa planted those seats of doubt in my head, I had no suspicions about Aiden’s intentions with me. We were keeping it casual and were two consenting adults having fun. That was it.
I got ready back at my villa, doing my make up and putting on a white sundress that came to mid-thigh and showed off the golden tan I’d managed to get since arriving here. It was tight enough to show off my curves without making me look like half the women that hung out around Aiden’s bar. I slipped into my white wedge sandals and checked my reflection in the mirror.
I was applying a thin coat of pink lip-gloss when there was a knock on my door. I smoothed my hands on my dress and went to answer it. I opened it with a smile but my jaw dropped when I saw what was on the other side.
“Hey you,” Aiden said softly. “You look great.”
“So do you,” I managed to reply. I had never seen him in anything other than shorts and a t-shirt or tank top. Tonight he had on some tan khakis and a white linen top with the sleeves rolled up. He smelled like he had recently gotten out of the shower and I took a deep breath, committing his clean scent of whatever soap he used and the beach. He was standing there with his hands in his pockets and that smile that made my stomach do flip-flops.
I was blown away once again with what a good-looking guy he was. He could have any woman at this resort and he chose to be with me. I had no idea what I did to be so lucky, but maybe the universe was paying me back for putting up with Patrick for so long.
“Can I come in?” he teased. “Or are you ready to go?”
“I’m ready,” I managed to reply.
“Good,” he turned and offered me his arm. I slipped mine though it and hugged it against me. He motioned to the golf cart parked in front of my villa. “Your chariot awaits, my lady.”
I laughed and he held my hand as I got on it. He came around the other side and jumped into the driver’s seat. He turned to me, looking me over again from head to toe with a look so scorching it made my core clench with desire.
“I can’t wait to show you off. I want everyone to see me with the most beautiful and sexiest woman at the resort – hell, probably on the whole island. Everyone is going to be so jealous.” He leaned in and kissed my lips softly. He pulled away, leaving me breathless from such a simple kiss. He glanced down at my heaving chest. “Or maybe we should go back inside so I can fuck you slowly.”
A soft gasp escaped my lips. I wanted to say ‘yes please’, but I was speechless. No man had ever spoken to me like that or looked at me like a lion about to attack its prey. I’d never really thought of myself as sexy, but Aiden made me feel that way every time he looked at me.
“But I’m hungry, so let’s go eat and then we can come back here for dessert.” He winked at me and started up the golf cart before I could say anything more.
We rode through the resort in silence. He kept one hand on the steering wheel and the other on my bare thigh, as if
to show everyone we encountered coming back from the beach or going to dinner that I belong to him. His touch was almost searing on my bare skin and I was almost painfully aware of how close his hand was to my bare pussy. If he moved his hand up a few inches, he would be able to feel how wet he made me with barely a touch.
We arrived at one of the restaurants on the resort and Aiden parked the golf cart near a few others that were already there. He jogged over to my side to take my hand and assist me off before I even stood up.
“I hope you like Italian,” he said as we walked to the door. “This place has the best Italian food – even better than back in Chicago, believe it or not.”
“Oh really?” I raised my eyebrow at him and he opened the door for me.
“Yep.” He gave me a firm shake of head. “Just you wait.”
Once inside the restaurant, it was like we were transformed from a tropical island right into a little bistro in Italy. It was dimly lit and the scent of garlic filled the air, making my stomach rumble, reminding me I hadn’t eaten much all day. The rich red booths and soft music in the background help set the mood.
Aiden took my hand and led me over to the hostess. She greeted him with a big smile and led us to our table. I couldn’t be sure, but I swore she shot me a dirty look before leaving us with our menus. Even the staff of the resort had the hots for him. Stealing a glance at him as he read his menu, I couldn’t blame them.
“What are you getting?” he asked without looking up. “Maybe we could each get something we both liked and then share.”
“That’s a great idea,” I replied as I glanced over the menu. Italian food was my weakness and everything sounded so good, I was going to have a hard time choosing one thing. I loved the idea of sharing our food. Patrick always frowned at me when I suggested that.
While we were still deciding what to order, Aiden ordered us a bottle of wine. The waiter arrived with it and poured us each a glass.
Sunny and 75 (Volume 1) Page 7