Kissing Eden

by T. A. Foster

  Once the spring breakers arrived, our time alone at the Palm Palace would be over. Tonight, I wanted to make the most of every second we had together.

  I grabbed the clutch Marin convinced me to buy and walked out of my room. Grey was standing in the corridor holding a bouquet of flowers.

  “Wow. I don’t even know how to tell you how pretty you look.” Grey looked awestruck.

  “Thanks. I think you just did.” I took the flowers. “I thought you weren’t the wine and roses guy.”

  “Technically, these aren’t roses, so I’m still good.” He laughed. “You look so hot in that dress, I’m having second thoughts about taking you anywhere.” He leaned down to kiss my neck.

  “You look pretty amazing too.” He was wearing dark jeans, and a white fitted button-up shirt. The sleeves were rolled to his elbows. I looked at the ground and noticed his boots.

  “Ah-ha! You are a cowboy! I knew it.”

  “Everybody in Texas has boots. True fact.”

  “Really or are you trying to cover up your cowboy side?” I teased.

  He slid his hand into mine and led me to his truck. I loved that he opened the door for me. I was raised to take care of myself, but the gesture was sweet and nothing about it made me feel helpless. Grey pushed the buttons on the radio until it landed on a song that he seemed to like.

  As he steered the truck over the bridge and toward the sunset, it felt strange I hadn’t left the island all week. Everything I needed and wanted was on that one little stretch of beach.

  Grey drove through flat dry stretches of land for almost an hour before we reached the Mexican border. I noticed the line of cars into the foreign country wasn’t nearly as long as the line of cars on the other side trying to gain entry into the United States. My palms were sweaty at the sight of so many armed guards and search dogs.

  “Is this safe?” I wanted to sound confident, but this was my first trip to a border town and I wasn’t prepared for the guns or angry-looking men eyeing the fence line.

  “I wouldn’t take you somewhere if I thought we wouldn’t be ok. I come here all the time with my buddies. The key is to stick with me. You’ll be fine, darlin’.”

  My chest still felt tight as one of the border patrol officers waved us through the gate and into Mexico. I hadn’t meant to grab Grey’s hand, but I needed some extra reassurance.

  “Eden, it’s going to be fine, but we don’t have to have dinner here. I can turn around and we can find another restaurant.” He eyed me across the truck.

  My comfort level was being tested, and I was considering admitting that I had wimped out and needed the security of American soil under my cute black heels.

  “But—if I turn around, you won’t get to see the surprise I have for you.” Grey smiled.

  “What’s the surprise?” I was beyond curious to see what the no-wine-and-roses guy had planned.

  “You are just going to have to trust me. I promise I’ll take care of you. Besides, with your right hook and drink-throwing skills you’re a one-woman combat machine.”

  I giggled. The self-defense classes my father had bought for me last year paid off over spring break three-fold. Although, I doubted I would ever tell my dad exactly how the protection skills had come into play on my vacation.

  I saw a group of girls my age linked arm in arm, laughing and walking in the same direction we were driving. Just ahead of them was a young couple strolling with an infant.

  “I want my surprise.” I settled into the seat.

  “You sure?”

  “Positive.” I knew I was safe with Grey.

  “All right, then. We’re already here.” Grey parked the truck behind a ruddy red brick building.

  The sun had dipped behind the buildings of the border town, but not before throwing an orange hue on everything around us. I waited while Grey jogged around the front of the truck to get my door. I had learned a trick to see if a guy was going to open my door or not. I would pretend to touch up my lip gloss, and if he hadn’t stepped toward the hood of the vehicle in a few seconds, he probably wasn’t on his way to open my door. I knew, with Grey, I didn’t need this trick; he was all gentleman tonight.

  I caught a hint of his cologne as he helped me step down from the truck. My stomach was instantly in butterfly knots when he smiled.

  “Ready?” He offered his arm.

  I nodded and tucked my hand through the crook of his arm.

  Grey led me to a towering wooden fence. He knocked several times before an older woman cracked the gate enough to see us standing there. I kicked myself for not taking Spanish in high school or college. She and Grey were having an extensive conversation, and other than the words table and water, I couldn’t pick up much of the exchange. Why did I insist on learning German?

  We walked into a courtyard. In the center was a bistro table, draped with a colorful floral tablecloth. Grey walked over and pulled out a chair.

  “Is this for us?” I looked around at the mini-courtyard flanked with green tropical plants.

  “It is.” He stood by the chair, waiting for me to sit.

  I looked up and saw sky blue lights strung across the table, forming an X overhead. The petite woman who had let us in returned to the table with a pitcher of a deep red liquid dotted with orange slices.

  “Are you going to sit?” Grey asked, and nodded at the chair.

  “Oh yeah, sorry.” I eased myself into the chair, and Grey walked to the other side of the table. “Everything is so beautiful. I feel like I’m in a movie.”

  He filled the empty glasses on the table from the pitcher and handed one to me. “This is the best Sangria you’ll ever have in Mexico.”

  I sipped the fruity wine. “Wow. It’s good.”

  Minutes later, our hostess walked in with a platter of nachos loaded with fresh avocados. I was used to mashed-up guacamole, but the slices were perfect. She nodded to Grey before exiting through the slatted swinging doors. I could tell by the sounds coming from the building’s entrance that beyond those doors there were other customers. It sounded like a restaurant.

  “Ok, how did you pull all of this off?” I twirled an orange around in my glass. “We have our own private patio?”

  “I wanted to do something special for you to say thank you. I never would have had the Palm ready for tomorrow if you didn’t offer to help.”

  “Thank you for the thank you, but you know I wanted to help. I didn’t expect anything in return.”

  “I know you didn’t, but I wanted to do this. Besides, seeing you in that dress is worth it.”

  I blushed. How could he do that to me so easily?

  “You’re all booked up through the end of spring break. I think the Palm is going to do great once the word gets out that it’s open again and it has running water.” I laughed. “Plus, throwing an awesome party isn’t going to hurt your reputation with the spring breakers. Everyone is going to love it.”

  “I think Pops would be proud I pulled this off.”

  “I wish I could have met your grandfather.”

  “He was a character, but he gave me everything he had. The man never met a stranger, or at least he didn’t let people be strangers.” Grey paused. “I miss him.”

  I reached across the table and squeezed his hand. “He would definitely be proud of what you’ve done with the Palm. Most people would have given up or sold it at the first offer that came along.”

  “I guess I’m stubborn.” He sipped the sangria.

  “Stubborn and loyal—those aren’t bad things. Do you know what you’re going to do next? Will you finish your engineering program?”

  “How do you know about that?” Grey withdrew his hand.

  I wasn’t sure if I had touched on a nerve that was better left alone, but I wanted to know what his plans were for life after spring break. “Lots of little birds on the island told me you were in grad school. I want to hear more about it. What were you studying to be when you grow up?”

  He laughed. “When
I grow up? I’m still trying to figure that out. If I go into all the engineering stuff, I think I’ll bore you to death.”

  “Try me. I’m a good listener.” I wanted to know the kinds of things that appealed to Grey. He was naturally gifted in fixing things, but I could tell he didn’t like it.

  He leaned across the table. “Ok, my concentration is in composite material development.”

  He might have well just started speaking in Spanish again. However, I prodded him to continue.

  “I was in a design class and one of the professors sort of took me under his wing and introduced me to composite material design. Basically, we try to find ways to use the best materials that create the most energy, cost the least, and work.”

  “Wow. That sounds complicated.” I was impressed.

  “It can be. But it’s kind of like a puzzle. I like trying new materials together to see what happens.”

  “Like what kind of things?” I asked, liking the way his eyes lit up when he talked about engineering.

  “I’ve been focusing on the composite of wind turbines. There are some grants in the works to start a wind power program for the island. I thought I could stay in South Padre and work for the company who lands the grant. It would be the perfect fit.”

  “It does sound perfect for you.” I tried to imagine Grey concentrating on blueprints and windmill specs instead of busted shower parts. “It had to be hard to put something on hold that you’re so interested in to take care of your grandfather. That couldn’t have been easy.”

  Grey exhaled. “No, but I wouldn’t change it. He needed me. I can finish school anytime.”

  I edged closer to the table. “But will you? Are you going to finish it?”

  “Don’t you have lots of questions, college girl? What about you? What are you going to do with all of those number skills? What happens after you graduate?”

  If he had asked me a week ago, my answer would have been the standard cookie cutter one I gave everybody about applying for jobs in business and waiting a year or two before entering the MBA program. Tonight, staring into Grey’s eyes under the string of blue lights made, all the realities of life back home fade into the farthest parts of my mind.

  “I—uh—I haven’t sorted it out yet.” I dodged his doubtful stare.

  “I guess that makes two of us.” He finished his sangria.

  The mariachi music from the restaurant filtered onto the patio. It was soft and slow. Grey stood from the table and walked toward me with his hand extended.

  “Dance with me?”

  “But you don’t dance.”

  “Your dress has convinced me to make an exception.” He winked, pulling me from my seat and spinning me into his arms.

  I gasped as my body collided with his, and he pressed his hand into the small of my back. He had been holding out on me—he could dance. I searched his face for an explanation, but he laughed and spun me again before aligning his frame against mine.

  We swayed to the distant music. With every second that passed, our dance form diminished until we were so tightly wrapped around each other that I could feel Grey’s heart beating against my cheek.

  “Grey?”

  “Mmm-hmm?” He held on a little tighter.

  “Can we stay here like this and forget everything else on the other side of the border?” I wasn’t being completely silly. Maybe I could live in a border town.

  “For now we can, darlin’. For now.”

  I closed my eyes and bit back the words that were on my tongue. I wanted tomorrow to be the farthest place from us. As long as Grey held me, maybe the rest of the world would stop turning.

  ***

  The ride home to the Palm Palace wasn’t long enough. I knew on the other side of this night I would have to share Grey with actual guests, I would be getting the luau orchestrated, and then the worst possible thing, I had to fly back to North Carolina on Sunday. Neither one of us had brought it up, but I knew we would have to talk about it at some point. Although, what did I know about heated spring break flings? Maybe I was supposed to get on the plane and never look back.

  “You ok over there? You’re awfully quiet and I’m usually the quiet one,” Grey prodded.

  I squeezed his hand. “Yeah. I’m good.” I had to find the will to push all the worries away and live in this moment.

  He ran his hand along the outer line of my thigh. “Good, because I have plans for you and that dress when we get home.” I think Grey had just helped me with all my living in the moment problems.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Somewhere on the floor, my phone was ringing. I rolled to the side, searching for Grey, but he was already out of bed. I swept my crumpled black dress to the side to reveal my phone.

  “Hello?”

  “Honey, you have not called me in three days or returned any of my voicemails. Your father and I were about to book tickets to come looking for you.” My mother’s voice on the other end of the phone was frantic.

  “Oh, hi, Mom. Sorry.” I had completely forgotten to adhere to my nightly parental check-in. Nights with Grey didn’t give me a lot of extra time.

  “Hi, Mom? That’s it? What is going on with you, Eden?” She sounded irritated. “You have always been my responsible child, not the one I worry about. That job is reserved for your brother.”

  “Mom, calm down.” I sat up and wrapped the sheet around my chest. “I’m fine. I just met some people here, and by the time I’m free, it’s too late to call you with the whole time zone thing. I’m sorry, really sorry.”

  I learned a long time ago that arguing and coming up with excuses didn’t work with my parents. I sucked up my pride and poured out the apologies.

  “Ok, well I feel much better now that you picked up your phone. Any chance there is a boy in this group of new people?”

  “Mom, I don’t want to get into it right now.”

  “So there is a boy—that explains the silent treatment. Does he go to your school?”

  It was too early in the morning for girl talk with my mother. “No, he doesn’t, but can we talk about it later? Please?”

  “You’re being careful, aren’t you? We haven’t really talked about that recently, but—”

  Oh my God, was she hinting at what I thought she hinting at? Girl talk was one thing, but condom talk was something entirely different.

  “Mom! I don’t want to talk about it.” I sighed. “But, yes I’m careful.” My forehead rested on my palm. This was humiliating. Next, she’d probably ask what brand Grey bought.

  “Ok. Ok. I can tell you’re uncomfortable talking about it. Will you promise to call me tonight?”

  “Yes. I will. I’m going to set a reminder on my phone right now.” I didn’t need another one of these calls, and I didn’t want her to worry. I was completely safe and happy here with Grey.

  “Be safe, Eden, and have fun. We’ll see you in a few days.”

  “Bye, Mom.” I tossed my phone on the bed and slid under the covers. My embarrassment level had reached an all-time high. I had just admitted to my mother that I was sleeping with someone I met on spring break.

  Where was Grey? It was 7 a.m. and we still had eight hours before the guests arrived. I was hoping he would sleep in with me at least one day. He was always up and out the door as soon as the sun broke over the ocean’s horizon. Knowing him, he was stressed and brooding over the influx of real customers. I was beginning to learn the ins and outs of his moods. Sometimes giving him a little space was all he needed to cool down.

  Last night he was anything but cool. I bit my lower lip, thinking of all the ways he had touched and kissed me. Was it possible I was becoming an addict? I couldn’t get enough of him, and from the way he looked at me, I knew he was feeling the same thing. I had never thought about one boy this much.

  I stepped into the shower and let the water run through my hair. The trial size bottles of shampoo I bought were close to empty—just one more sign my vacation was almost over. My heart sank.

>   “Eden?” Grey called through the bathroom door.

  “I’m in the shower.” I smiled, hoping he would take that as an invitation.

  He opened the door. “I’ve got to go buy some bags of ice. The ice machine went out last night and everything melted.”

  “Can you fix it?”

  “Not by the time everyone checks in, but the bags should hold them over until it’s running again. I’ll be back in a few.” He closed the door.

  Dammit, so much for morning shower sex.

  The door popped back open and Grey stuck his head in. “For the record, I would pin you up against that shower wall if I didn’t have to fix the ice machine.”

  I giggled. “Bye.”

  “Bye.” He winked before closing the door behind him.

  ***

  T-minus seven hours and counting. I sipped my coffee in the office and skimmed the checklist I had made for today. I performed a test run on the card reader I purchased for my phone. Grey couldn’t keep using carbon paper to run credit cards. The keys were secure in the box on their heavy palm tree key chains. Marin had printed extra flyers for the luau on the Island Sun’s copier when no one was looking. I wanted to make sure every guest had at least two copies so they could share with their friends. So much was hinging on the party tomorrow night.

  “Package for Grey Lachlan. Can you sign for it, miss?” A delivery driver stepped into the office.

  “Sure. Where do I sign?”

  He handed me the electronic keypad and pointed to the bottom square. I scribbled my name on the screen.

  “Have a nice day.” He handed me a legal-size packet.

  I flipped it over in my hands. The return label was from Texas State. Last night when I asked Grey what his future plans were he balked at the questions. I thought through all the reasons Texas State would send mail to him. Did he reenroll in his engineering program? My nosiness did have its limits. As much as I wanted to steam the seal open, I placed the package on the corner of the desk.