by T. A. Foster
“Can I buy you a shot?” An overly muscled guy wrapped his hand around my waist and shouted into my ear. He had doused himself with at least half a bottle of cologne and was wearing a tight tank top.
I tried to push back a little from him. “No, thanks. I was just leaving.”
I could still make it to Pete’s and have a margarita. This evening didn’t have to be a total waste.
“You here alone?” His hand was attached to my waist, and I didn’t have much room to move.
“I’m meeting someone, so thanks for the offer.” I tried to smile and brush past him, but he was like a solid statue I couldn’t escape. I looked around his sculpted arms, pretending to search for my imaginary friend.
“I’d like to buy you a drink.”
The guy was really pissing me off. “I already said no thank you.” I dropped my sweet girl act.
This time I made no hesitation in my attempt to breakaway from him. I pressed my hand against his chest and shoved. It was like pushing against a rock.
“Hey, bitch. Watch it.”
He grabbed me by my wrist and twisted it. If he was trying to get me to cave to my knees, he knew what he was doing. I looked around to see if anyone noticed what was happening, but the energy was frenetic in the club and no one saw the goon who now had me in a mercy hold.
“Man, let her go.” From out of nowhere, Grey appeared.
He towered over the brawny guy. Before he had a chance to negotiate whatever peace treaty he was thinking, I raised my knee and brought it straight up with as much force as I could.
“Aww. Bitch!” My admirer let go of my wrist and crumpled to the floor.
I rubbed my wrist and stood triumphantly over the guy who was clearly writhing in pain.
“Wait, you didn’t even let me hit him.” Grey look astonished.
I stood over my victim. “I didn’t need you to hit him. I took care of it.” I placed my hands on my hips.
The guy rolled on his side into a fetal position.
“But I was going to hit him.” Grey watched as the boy shifted to his knees and started to crawl away.
“I had it under control.” I glanced at Grey.
“I can see that.” He rubbed the side of his jaw and shook his head. I think he was actually laughing at me.
I pursed my lips. “What are you doing here? I thought you said you hated this place.”
“Come on.”
Grey pressed his palm into the small of my back and ushered me away from the wall. We walked out on the sound terrace where the rapper’s music wasn’t so loud.
“I got this feeling something like that might happen. I didn’t want you to get in trouble.”
“You were worried about me?”
“Something like that.” He avoided eye contact.
“Do you usually check up on your guests?” I knew I was pushing him.
“What do you think?”
“Well, I can take care of myself. I’m not a damsel in distress type of girl.”
Grey laughed. “I guess I should have thought of that. I don’t think I’ve ever met a girl who has gone on spring break alone and managed all that you have in three days.”
“Thanks. I think.” We both stared at the sound and the lights that dotted the coastline of the mainland.
“If you don’t mind me asking, why in the hell are you here alone?” Grey turned to me.
It was the one question I really didn’t want to discuss with him or anyone. “The condensed version is that the person I planned the trip with had a last-minute change of plans. So I decided to do the whole spring break thing solo.”
“Brave girl.” He whistled.
I wondered what he would think if I told him the entire story. Why did it matter if Grey knew I had just been dumped? I didn’t lie, but I left out a few key points I didn’t want to think about, at least not when he was around.
“I’m really ready to walk back to the room. I was trying to leave when that jerk grabbed me. Walk me back?” The rapper had left the stage and a new hip-hop group had taken over.
“Sure. Yeah, of course, but I drove.” Grey turned toward the party that was raging in front of us. “I think we can leave through the side gate. No reason to go back in that mess.”
I followed him around the side of Bongos and through the wooden gate that was marked as an emergency exit. I waited for a siren to go off as he pushed on the handle, but it was silent.
“They just mark the gates like that so people don’t sneak their friends in. That’s how my buddies and I used to get in here.”
I looked at him. “You used to sneak into Bongos? Tell me it ain’t so.”
Grey laughed. “Yep. And I did a lot more than that.” He had a sexy smile that was making me melt. “Come on, let’s get you back.”
Grey walked over to a huge maroon truck parked in the club’s lot. He crossed in front of the vehicle and opened the passenger side for me. I had to hold the grab bar to hoist myself into the cab. This was definitely the highest truck I had ever ridden in, but that was supposed to be Texas. Big trucks, right?
Grey pulled into the empty parking lot at the Palm Palace and cut the engine. I could hear the waves hitting the beach through the open windows of his truck.
“Would you want to have a drink?” Grey pulled the keys from the ignition.
“Yes!” I said it a little too quickly and maybe a little too loudly, but I didn’t want to walk back to my room and spend the rest of the hours until bed alone. I would probably just sit in there and think about Grey.
“Ok, then. I’ll grab a few drinks from my room and meet you at the boardwalk.”
I climbed down from the cab and made my way to the wooden path that led to the beach. The breeze had picked up and I wished I had something to cover my arms.
After a few minutes, Grey emerged behind me holding two beers. “Sorry, I don’t have a huge selection. Beer ok?”
I wasn’t about to admit that I didn’t drink much beer. “It’s perfect.” I took the cold bottle and sipped. A shiver ran down my back.
“You cold? Here.” Grey handed me his beer and unbuttoned the plaid shirt he was wearing. He pulled one sleeve and then the other before wrapping it around my shoulders. Underneath, he had on a T-shirt. I studied every move he made, as if he was unwrapping a present.
“Thanks. I guess you did get to be a knight in shining armor after all.” I laughed and was glad to be warm. The shirt was heated was from his body.
“Follow me.” He tilted his head in the direction of the water.
“Where are we going?”
“My secret spot on the beach.”
“Sounds mysterious.” I trailed behind Grey as we walked down the boardwalk and north along the dunes, glad his playful side had emerged again.
“Here it is.” He stepped into an alcove nestled by sea oats and beach shrubs. “It’s a natural wind barrier. You won’t be as cold in here.”
I also noticed that we wouldn’t be spotted by a single soul on the beach. The cove was tucked away among higher sand dunes. Grey tossed one of the forbidden motel towels down on the sand.
“I heard you can’t use those except for showers. There’s a strict motel policy,” I taunted him.
“I’ve got connections.” If it hadn’t been so dark on the beach, I would have sworn he winked at me.
I hugged his shirt around me and sat on the towel next to Grey.
“Didn’t you say you had guests checking in later this week? When do they get here?” I sipped on the beer. I actually liked this one, it tasted like it was mixed with orange.
He leaned back, his palms pressed into the blanket. “Spring break lasts all month, so the Palm is booked up for the second half of the month. I didn’t think I would be able to get the rooms ready in time for the first round of spring breakers, so I held off on taking any early reservations. Other than you, the first reservation checks in on Friday.”
I tried to read more into his words. After last night, all I c
ould think about was that kiss, and here we were alone on the beach, talking about work. “And you have to do all of the work yourself? You can’t hire anyone?”
In the quiet sand dune alcove, I heard his exhale. “No, I can’t. And to be honest, I don’t even know if I’ll have all of the rooms ready by the weekend. Maybe they won’t notice the broken deck boards or the missing shower rods. What do you think? Too obvious?”
I don’t know why it took so long to surface, but the idea seemed to be staring me in the face. “Why don’t you let me help you?” Last night, I couldn’t think straight when I offered to help, but now clear thoughts were circling my mind.
I felt Grey stiffen next to me. “No way. I don’t need charity.”
“It’s not charity. I want to help. I could do something useful, I’m sure. I’m a business major. Maybe I could get the accounting and the reservations squared away for you, and you could focus on the fix-it stuff. That way you’re not trying to do everything.” I remembered how stressed he looked sorting through the receipts.
“Business major?”
“Mmm-hmm. I am. I know some numbers.” I mimicked his position on the blanket, smoothing the blanket over the sand as I leaned back.
“I can’t pay you. It wouldn’t be right.” Grey shook his head.
“You don’t have to pay me, and I can help straighten the rooms and deliver towels too. There’s no limit to my skills.” My need to do good deeds kept pouring out.
“You really want to help me out?” Grey sounded cautious.
“I do.” I wanted to help more than I could explain.
I shifted toward him. In the light cast by the half-moon, I could see his eyes were raking over my body. Then I felt it, the charging air between us. The force that stopped all my thinking and tempted my body to give in to the rush of feelings that surfaced when Grey looked at me that way. I wanted to ask him if he felt it too, but it was one of those things I couldn’t describe. Words might ruin it.
“Eden, I don’t know what to say. I’m doing this whole thing on my own. The Palm is my burden—my problem. It doesn’t feel right accepting free help.” He had nestled his beer in the sand and his hand traced my jawline.
This is exactly what he did last night, and I loved every intense and hot second of it. My breath quickened, anticipating and wanting his next touch.
I leaned into him. “Just say, ‘Yes you can help me.’”
I barely uttered the words before he closed the space between us, wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling me toward him. I tasted the beer on his lips and his tongue. Within seconds, the shirt I had been borrowing shimmied down my arms, and Grey’s lips grazed my shoulder and the line of my dress. I don’t know if it was spring break and I was doing all kinds of things I had never done before, but I wanted him to rip that dress off me. I wanted less between us. I tugged at the bottom of his T-shirt to pull it over his head. My mouth found his again in the dark, and I moaned as he kissed me deeper and harder.
“Grey—I …” My body was responding to every flick of his tongue and every time his lips moved against mine. He was the most incredible kisser. If he kept doing that thing with his tongue, he could convince me to do anything. I pulled myself into his lap, needing to be closer to him.
The roughness of his palm surprised me as it trailed over my leg, hiking the hem of my dress as he shoved the fabric out of his way. I moaned quietly as his thumb pressed deeply along my inner thigh. It was tender and possessive at the same time. The pressure in such a sensitive spot made my skin burn for more touching. I rocked my hips forward.
But just like that, he stopped. His hands went to his sides and his lips were gone. “I think we should head back.” His voice was breathy.
I froze, straddled across his hips and completely out of breath. “But— I thought—” Dammit. This boy was so hot and cold all the time. Although, I was completely turned on by the hot side of him. I crawled off his lap, not sure what had happened.
I stood to flatten my dress and took a few deep breaths.
“If you’re serious about helping, then we have an early morning.” He retrieved his T-shirt and pulled it over those abs I wasn’t done touching.
Annoyed he had abruptly stopped our second make out session, I wrapped myself back in his plaid shirt, picked up the beer, and trudged back to the boardwalk. Even if I wanted to have a spring break fling, I wasn’t so sure Grey was the guy to do it with.
He led me back to my room and deposited me on the doorstep. “Goodnight, Eden. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Goodnight.” I tried to take the poutiness out of my voice, hoping he would lean in for another kiss. He had to be as turned on as I was by what just happened. He, however, seemed to have more self-control than I was able to pull together.
I leaned against the room door and watched as he walked across the parking lot before disappearing into the room opposite of mine. My heart was still pounding from the kiss on the beach. How was I supposed to sleep after that?
CHAPTER FIVE
The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, and I was adding, subtracting, and multiplying. After my offer to help Grey with the business end of the Palm Palace, he had stuck me in the office with a box of receipts and a calculator. If only I could get extra credit in my finance class for this.
I wanted to ask Grey about the phone call I overhead yesterday, but I didn’t want to embarrass him. Even though he had opened up a sliver of the bookkeeping to me, he was keeping the Palm’s full financial situation guarded. I respected that. It couldn’t be easy to navigate this alone.
It didn’t take long for the tiny office to heat up. I walked over to the wall unit and cranked the air conditioner to the coldest setting. It was probably silly that I wanted to look cute for Grey this morning, but I had left my hair down. With the stickiness on my neck, I was regretting not pulling it up in a ponytail. Texas was hot. I searched the wooden desk for a rubber band. Victorious, I gathered a handful of hair and twisted the rubber band around it. There. I decided right then that Grey wouldn’t determine any more of my fashion choices. I had put that Eden behind me.
It was almost lunchtime, and other than when he first set me up with the documents, I hadn’t seen Grey all morning. It felt like he was avoiding me again after our late night roll in the sand. I bit down on my lip, remembering how his hands felt against my thighs, and how I wanted it to go farther before he triggered his self-control switch.
I turned back to the books. His grandfather hadn’t been much of a record-keeper. Now I knew why Grey always looked so frustrated and stressed. If I woke up to this financial confusion every morning, I wouldn’t be a happy person either. Even though the motel had been closed for a year, there were still bills that had to be paid and expenses that were due.
I was hungry. Grey had to be too. I decided to walk over to Pete’s and pick up some sandwiches. My eyes could use a break from the number crunching. I tucked my phone in my back pocket and jogged across the street.
“Look who’s here.” Mac smiled at me from the bar.
“Hi, Mac. How are you?” I pushed my bangs out of my eyes.
“Good. Can’t complain. What can I get you today?” He opened the screen on the bar’s computer.
“Two turkey clubs with fries, to go, please.” My hands started tapping to the beat of a drinking song blasting from the jukebox. I hadn’t noticed it on my first trip to Pete’s. The cowboy singer had played the entire night.
Mac looked at me. “Did you say two?”
“Yep. One for Grey and one for me.” I tried to sound matter of fact. It wasn’t my intention to garner questions, and I especially didn’t want to answer any.
The bartender chuckled as he typed the order into the computer. “You’re picking up lunch for Grey?”
“I thought I’d get him something since he’s working so hard to get the Palm ready for the weekend crowd.” Bartenders were good at reading people—that I knew. I hoped Mac couldn’t see that I
had a Grey crush written all over this lunch order.
“That’s mighty nice of you. He’s turned down everyone else’s offer to help him.” He punched in the last button and printed out a ticket.
“Really?”
Mac nodded. “Oh yeah, we’ve all tried to put in some hours to help him get that place ready. We know how much he wants to prove it can be done, but he’s a stubborn son of a bitch sometimes.”
I giggled. During the few days I had gotten to know Grey, that sounded exactly like him.
“So, is this lunch strictly platonic?”
Mac was probably used to getting all of the good stories on the island, but I didn’t think he would be nosey. “Mac! You can’t ask me that. I’m helping him out a little at the office. That’s it.” I had probably just turned three shades of red.
He seemed unfazed by my ardent protest. “Grey’s a good guy. A real good guy. And he’s been through a lot this year. He had to leave his grad school program when his grandfather got sick, and now he’s trying to turn that heap into something to be proud of. If anyone can do it, he can.”
“Did you say grad school?” My forehead scrunched into a confused expression.
“Oh yeah, Grey’s in an advanced engineering program at Texas State. Well, he used to be. I hope he gets to finish it one day, but as long as he’s working over there on the motel, he’s going to have to keep it on the back burner. Smart guy, that Grey.”
Grey hadn’t mentioned that part of the story when he told me he inherited the Palm Palace. It seemed like kind of an important detail. Honestly, I wasn’t sure he had gone to college. He made it sound like he had always been at the motel.
“Mac, do you think he’ll sell it?” I thought about the three different offers Grey had mentioned.