“My life is a vacation nowadays. I can do this.” She snuggled back into his arms, and looked up at him, gratefully.
“I know you can, but I don’t want you to.”
“What other choice do we have?” She rolled her eyes at him and turned to the others. “Okay then, I can keep your bellies full. You’ll have to be the judges as to whether or not you’d rather they weren’t.”
oOo
When Paul invited Rhees to be his date at Testosterfest, he filled her in on what to expect and apologized ahead of time. It embarrassed him to even consider bringing her, but he loved his friends and couldn’t imagine not coming, missing out on seeing them again. He also couldn’t imagine not bringing Rhees. He knew his friends too well. He needed her to keep him on track. He feared he could, too easily, fall back into his old habits without her to remind him of his new life changes.
Paul failed—purposely—to give Rhees one bit of information about one past Testosterfest tradition. The guys had always made a game of trying to seduce each other’s dates. The ongoing challenge stood to see who could score with the most girls over the event. All four of the men were above average in looks, but Taylor usually went away the winner because he cared more about winning than Paul. Bryce and David had stopped trying to compete with the two of them by high school. This year would be different—Paul had promised his friends.
He’d made his decree clear—no more sharing. They’d all been duly informed—touch Rhees and die. David jumped on board without hesitation, as he and Ashley had been together for over two months. His friends had already started ridiculing him about biting the dust. Taylor and Bryce didn’t like the new rule, but they went along—they were stuck with the girls they’d brought for the week.
“Macaroni and cheese,” Rhees answered, when Bryce asked what smelled so good. Paul insisted she make it for dinner the first night, leading her to believe he wanted to let his friends know how good it could be, but it turned out to be a passive-aggressive attempt to get back at Ashley for insulting Rhees.
A tense moment passed between David and Bryce as they feared Ashley’s reaction. It had already become clear Paul and Ashley would never be great friends.
They all sat at the spacious dining table and enjoyed Rhees’ meaty version of the all-American pasta dish, salad, garlic toast, and lemon bars for dessert, except Ashley. She picked at her food and pretended not to like it with a scowl on her face, but she ate plenty. After dinner, Rhees started cleaning up—alone.
“You know, the maids will come in the morning. We could leave this for them.” Paul knew he fought a hopeless battle, but he needed to try.
“Do you know how many germs there will be by morning if we leave these food encrusted dishes all night? I’m not making breakfast in a bacteria-infested kitchen.”
After all the time he’d spent with her, Paul had learned enough about clean up that he could pitch in, and he did. Once the kitchen sparkled, clean and disinfected, he took Rhees in his arms and thanked her for saving the vacation.
“But you look tired,” he said. “Jet lag?”
She smiled and nodded. “Maybe, or it might be that we’ve been up since early this morning to catch our flight.”
“Go get ready for bed. I’ll be up soon.”
“Take your time, be with your friends. I noticed while cooking dinner, there is most definitely a water heater somewhere in this great house, so . . . I want to shower first, before bed.”
“The sacrifices you make for me.” He only half joked. She did put his needs first, too often. “I’m going to kiss you now, okay?”
She made sure he knew she didn’t object by reaching up on tiptoes to kiss him first, twisting her fingers into his long hair. He’d stopped getting haircuts after their Utah trip, and stopped shaving three weeks before, in preparation for Testosterfest. For some reason, the guys felt the need to look like cavemen, but she liked his beard. Her tongue also introduced itself before his had the chance to do so. The kiss drew out, longer than normal.
“Mmm,” he moaned, and reluctantly pulled away. “I’m going to stop kissing you now, okay,” he said teasingly, and they both smiled about the progress she’d made concerning physical touch.
“I should be done in twenty minutes,” she said.
“Enjoy your shower.”
As soon as Rhees climbed the stairs and shut their bedroom door behind her, he marched over to the conversation area where everyone else lounged lazily, drinking wine.
“Consider tonight our turn for clean-up duty. There’re four days here at the beach house, four couples. Don’t think that Rhees is going to cook and clean every night. You’re all taking a turn.”
“I knew it!” Ashley whined. “This is supposed to be my vacation. It’s bad enough to have to eat homemade food, but I am not doing dishes!”
“Ashley’s right. We were promised a nice vacation.” Jeannie pressed Ashley’s position. “I don’t cook or do dishes at home.”
Paul leaned against his hands on the back of the couch, pursed his lips, and tried to keep his temper in check, but his protective instincts had already slipped into overdrive. His friends could see it, and they knew better, but the girls didn’t know Paul well enough to understand what was happening.
“I have never washed a dish in my life. We have people to do that for us,” Ashley added snidely. “Rhees volunteered, remember? She’s obviously more cut out for this sort of thing than the rest of us.”
Ashley threw her nose in the air and glanced at the others with a smug grin on her face, as if they all would understand she’d just included them in her, I grew up rich and spoiled club, maliciously at Rhees’ expense.
No one responded with the acceptance she was looking for. Paul’s friends all sat with their mouths hanging open, ready to spring into action. Even Jeannie, who’d backed her up only seconds before, looked horrified at what Ashley had just said. Ashley just shrugged and seemed to use that information to categorize them all at a level beneath her and began studying her nails.
Paul’s eyes narrowed. His mouth pinched shut, making the muscle in his jaw twitch as he leaned into the conversation area, but mostly toward Ashley.
“Rhees is not the hired help,” he hissed. “This is her vacation too. Everyone. Takes. A night.” He glared at Ashley.
“We’ll all pitch in,” David rushed to answer, and the men all agreed, watching to see if it was enough to pacify Paul. David patted Ashley on the thigh to conciliate her. “I’ll do it our night, Honey. You don’t have to help.”
“And just what am I supposed to do while you’re stuck in the kitchen all night?” Ashley whined like a spoiled brat, and David moaned, knowing Paul’s patience had reached its end. His friends all read the signs.
“How about a game of pool?” Bryce jumped up and slapped Paul on the back, trying to distract him.
Paul glared at Ashley, and she glared back. Taylor and David both leaped off the couches and took Paul by the arm.
“What do you say the boys have a real drink out by the pool? We have some catching up to do.”
Taylor and Bryce’s dates started to get up, intending to follow them outside, but Ashley stopped them. “Believe me girls. We don’t want to be around them when they start drinking and reminiscing.”
Paul shook his head as Bryce and David prodded him toward the door. Taylor grabbed two bottles of Irish whiskey and four glasses from the bar before he followed them.
“Where’d you find this bitch, Davey? She can’t sit on her lazy ass by herself and watch you do dishes, but she doesn’t want to be near you while you sit by the pool and look out at the ocean on a beautiful tropical night?” Paul asked. After some coaxing, he finally gave in to his friends’ rather forceful invitation to take the party outside.
oOo
Rhees stepped out of th
e shower and poked her head out the door of the bathroom, expecting to see Paul. She’d forgotten to bring one of his T-shirts into the bathroom with her and had only a towel wrapped around her.
“Paul? Could you hand me a T-shirt?” No response. She heard men’s voices outside the open French doors and she stepped out onto the balcony to see. Paul and his friends sat in the whirlpool, twenty feet below, talking boisterously and having a good time.
Paul laughed and talked animatedly, the way he had at Fratelli’s when Taylor visited the island. She didn’t get to see him so carefree very often and she couldn’t help but smile. She leaned against the doorjamb to enjoy the opportunity to watch him without his knowledge. Paul and his friends could be such little boys, even though they’d each had their thirty-first birthday that year, she loved seeing this side of him.
Paul noticed movement and looked up at the second story balcony to see what it was. It caught him off guard and his breath hitched slightly at the sight of her. The soft flickering light radiating from the pool and patio made her just-showered skin glisten, her bare shoulders and legs. She looked beautiful, standing in the glow with nothing but a towel wrapped around her body.
He noticed he’d made her feel self-conscious when their eyes met, but she didn’t attempt to run inside. They gazed at each other, lost in their own world.
“Now that’s an eye fuck if I’ve ever seen one.” Taylor broke the spell. He slapped Paul on the arm with the back of his hand and licked his lips to see if he could rile Paul. “That’s the first glimpse I’ve caught of that girl that might help me understand what you see in her.”
David and Bryce looked up to see what they were looking at, but Rhees had slipped inside as soon as Taylor so crudely ruined the moment.
oOo
One and a half bottles of whiskey later, the men were still in the whirlpool and the decibel level of their conversation had risen considerably.
The girls had all given up on their dates and gone to bed, including Rhees.
“I’m glad to see Rhees didn’t hold out on you forever. I honestly didn’t think she’d ever let you have her cherry.”
Once again, Taylor’s bluntness and crudity knew no bounds, and Paul couldn’t really say anything in her defense. He chose to nod slightly and pretend it was no big deal.
“Virgins must really be as tight as they say. It’s all I can come up with—why you’re still with her. You have all those cute, worldly girls on the island, a fresh supply showing up every few weeks—”
“What’s going on with you and Ash-witch?” Paul gave Taylor a dirty look, drawing the attention away from his relationship with Rhees by putting it on David.
“Her dad’s a Senator.”
“Oh! I get it,” Taylor piped in, as though a light bulb had just lit up inside his head. “You’re using Ashley to make her dad jealous.”
“No, you.” David wiped away a fake tear. “You know you are my first and only true love. I want you back. Why aren’t you jealous?”
The guys all laughed.
“Dickwad!” David slugged Taylor’s arm. “Her dad likes me, and that can’t hurt my career, but you’ve seen her. She’s the most beautiful woman I’ve ever been with.”
Taylor and Bryce nodded in agreement, but Paul seemed confused. He hadn’t given Ashley or the other girls a second notice, and it surprised him to realize it.
“You’re a damned good attorney . . . slash, future politician—if that’s still the course you’re foolish enough to want to be on, but my point is—” Paul held up his finger to drive home said point. “—There are more important attributes to look for in a woman than her appearance,” Paul said casually and took a drink.
Paul’s friends all silently stared at him in disbelief before they all broke out into wild laughter.
“I think hell is going to freeze over while we sleep, and we’ll wake up to see pigs flying in the morning. Did you guys think you’d ever hear those words come out of Paul’s mouth?” Taylor threw his head back and laughed some more.
“The only thing that would surprise me more is if I heard Taylor say that.” Bryce kept them on a roll. Paul laughed too, but not as loudly. The change in his attitude about women had sneaked up on him, and left him a little dazed as he only now realized how much.
“I mean it though,” Paul finally said when they calmed down. “If Ash-witch doesn’t stop being so offensive to Rhees, I’ll have to bitch-slap you, Davey.” Paul glared at David.
“Paul, seriously? You’d choose Rhees over David?”
Paul jerked around to look at Taylor for asking the question. “Not Davey. But I sure as hell would choose Rhees over his current fuck.”
“Guys, we need to do an intervention for Paul. We have to save our buddy. He’s fallen in love,” Taylor mocked, feigning grave concern.
“Love?” Paul almost choked at the idea. “Rhees is just—” He suddenly felt agitated—he didn’t know how to finish the sentence. He’d never allowed himself to think too much about it. It made him too uncomfortable.
“What’s she got that I don’t?” Taylor cried, throwing his arms around Paul and burying his face into his shoulder like a discarded girlfriend, stirring the others up into another round of laughter. Paul knew it was best to just let it play out. If he tried to stop Taylor during one of his drama queen rants, it would only make it worse. “Don’t leave me for her. I’m better for you than she is.”
At two thirty in the morning, Paul convinced the guys they should all sleep on the pool chairs so they wouldn’t wake the girls. Taylor, the only one who didn’t care, went upstairs to Liz anyway while the others passed out around the pool. Paul was too drunk to trust himself . . . but drunk or not, he was confused as to whether he even wanted to be near Rhees. The guys’ ridiculing had really bothered him. He lay awake another hour, thinking about what Taylor had said, and it put him in a bad mood.
oOo
The next morning, Rhees not only prepared breakfast, but made sack lunches for the guys to take with them on their testosterone-filled activity for the day. Paul stocked the cooler as she generously piled meat and cheese on the leftover bread she’d baked the night before.
The dates, in return for a free vacation, were expected not to complain as the men ran off every day on their adventures. The men had made it unquestionably clear. No girls were allowed during the day activities.
This first day, the plan entailed making their way to Pavone for a day of surfing. The logistics of getting there made it an all day trip and they were happy for Rhees’ thoughtful sack lunches and her idea to take a cooler filled with drinks. She’d meant bottled water and soda, but the guys insisted the cooler be stocked with nothing but beer.
Rhees had to snag Paul to give him a hug as he and his friends tried to get out the door. He glanced around, nervously checking to see if the other guys noticed. He couldn’t get Taylor’s comment about being in love off his mind.
“I didn’t sleep well last night,” she confessed quietly. “You didn’t come to bed.”
“I didn’t want to wake you, and honestly, I was too drunk to be a good citizen.”
“I’m sorry.” She sighed. “I wish it didn’t matter. I wish I could just, you know . . . it would make things so much easier.”
He did a double take. She must have understood the look on his face.
“Yes, I mean that. I’m tired of being so uptight about it. I wish I could—”
“Don’t say that. It doesn’t help. I should go.”
She rose up on her toes to kiss him, but he only offered his cheek.
“My, you’re grumpy this morning. Hungover?”
He nodded at the good excuse she’d given him. The headache didn’t help, but it wasn’t last night’s alcohol that had him uptight and uncomfortable.
“Tonight, don’
t get drunk. I miss my snuggle buddy,” Rhees said.
“I’ll try, but it’s hard.” He hemmed and hawed, feeling uneasy about their relationship all of a sudden.
“Hey, Pussy-Whipped! Come on, we’re going to miss the chopper,” Taylor yelled on his way to the van.
Paul looked Taylor’s direction, embarrassed. He lost his place. “Um . . . it’s hard with the guys around. We’ll see.”
“I know.” She gave him a warm, understanding smile. “Don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine. Enjoy your time with your friends.”
“Why do you have to be so perfect?” His brows knit together. He felt bad for the doubts running through his mind.
“Mangina!” All three of his friends joined in the heckling.
Paul looked at them and hesitated before giving Rhees a quick kiss and running to the van.
Chapter 16
The girls sat around the pool, working on their tans, and getting to know each other. Rhees made a big salad after breakfast and left it in the crisper of the commercial fridge so they could piece on it as they got hungry.
Angel’s daughters arrived and cleaned up the breakfast mess before they started on the rest of the house, but Rhees almost wished they hadn’t. She knew how to clean and didn’t mind doing it, and hanging out with the other women, all day, the next few days, caused her some anxiety.
“What’s Paul’s problem?” Ashley asked that afternoon. “He acts like a big spoiled brat. How do you stand to put up with him?”
“Paul?” Rhees’ voice went high with disbelief.
“Yes, Paul. He’s a bully.”
“Come on,” Liz said. “You only have to take one look at him to know why she puts up with him.”
“David is good looking too, but I’d never put up with that kind of shit.”
“Paul is not a bully.” Rhees slipped in to defensive mode. “Paul might come across like that once in a while, but it’s only because he takes things a little too seriously sometimes. When he cares about someone, he gets protective. He’s really quite generous and thoughtful.”
Wet: Part 2 Page 19