by J L Taft
Barefoot Paradise
J L Taft
Gwen is looking for a fling in the Bahamas. She’s tired of the bars at home and just wants to relax and get laid. A tropical vacation seems like the perfect place to live in the moment. But when she meets a hunky history professor at the pool she has no idea what she’s in for.
Steve is stuck chaperoning a group of college girls on a trip to the Bahamas. When he meets Gwen, with her charm and sexy feet, he forgets his vow to steer clear of women. She makes him hot in all the right places and comes alive at his touch. But he fears his secret foot fetish will push her away like all the others. Little does he know she’s had more than enough of “normal” and is ready to explore.
A Romantica® contemporary erotic romance from Ellora’s Cave
Barefoot Paradise
J L Taft
Chapter One
Gwen was horny. It wasn’t like a small itch that she could sweep under the rug either. It was bad. Sex was all she could think about. Some nameless, faceless man, sinking his sweet cock inside her and making her cream all over him.
But that was the problem. All she ever did was work. Never got out to meet anyone and she was too tired for the party scene. Endless bars with the same people.
That was why she was taking this vacation. Five nights and six days of blissful beach lying. All she had to do now was make it through this god-awful plane stint. A baby screamed and a woman was busy bitching at her husband about if he had turned the coffeepot off. A two-year-old behind her was bouncing in his seat and kicking the back of hers.
A group of young women who were obviously part of some team were wild and rowdy and she prayed they weren’t going to the same place she was. One prissy blonde two seats over from her who kept flipping her perfect, young hair was especially getting on her nerves.
If she made it to her destination without an assault charge it would be a miracle.
Putting her earbuds in and sliding her frozen face mask that was no longer frozen over her eyes, she tried to endure and prayed that the plane would either crash and put her out of her misery or land early.
For once she got some luck and the weather cooperated and they landed on time at least.
The heat as she stepped off the terminal hit her like a ton of bricks while she hailed a cab to her hotel.
The hotel was relatively quiet and she was thrilled that she had made the right choice to come in the off-season to the Bahamas.
Her room was open and airy and had a great view of the crystal-clear water beyond the beach. It was home for the next six days.
Gwen unpacked slowly with help from the minibar. The day was still young by the time she finished and she put her teeny bright-purple bikini on and headed for the pool.
She was tired from traveling and getting caught up with work over the last couple weeks so she could take the time off, but she refused to spend her hard-earned vacation sleeping.
What she was after was a man. But not a permanent one. All she wanted was a fling. A good one. A fling to put all other flings to shame, even if she had only had two in her entire life.
She was pretty, in an average sort of way. She had no delusions about her looks. Her hair had grown out over the last year and it hung down, pin straight, to the middle of her back. The color was boring, a dark-brunette. She had messed with it a couple times. Adding streaks and things like that. But the color treatments made her hair frizzy and she had given up on them.
Her eyes were by far her best feature. They were a blue that could look purple if she wore that color.
But her breasts were small and her ass was on the big side. It was the way she was made and dieting and suffering through the gym left little or no results.
So she had come to terms with the way she looked. Some things could be changed and some things couldn’t.
The pool was packed. Of course. By some miracle she found an empty lawn chair and laid her towel on it. But it was as hot as Hades and she waited on the steps of the pool until there was a part in the people and she could get in.
The water was cool and aqua-colored as she waded over to the opposite side. The pool was huge and to her left there was a volleyball net set up and a bunch of girls playing. Gwen swore that they were the same girls from the plane.
It was all laid out to look like a lagoon with plants around the back side and a little waterfall to the right. It was gorgeous.
She wasn’t a great swimmer so she was content to sit on the handy seat that was built into the side.
There were a lot of people about, a few families with small children and several women in bikinis who looked like swimsuit models.
But there were only a few men who were obviously unattached. One who was watching the young girls playing volleyball caught her eye.
He had sandy-colored hair and a great body. What she could see looked good anyway. He had wide shoulders and a narrow waist, a light dusting of hair across his pecs and a well-defined stomach.
He was yummy and she watched him as he tossed the ball back to the girls. He must have felt her gaze because he turned and zeroed in on her. Her stomach flip-flopped and she wished that he didn’t have sunglasses on.
She held his gaze for a few intense seconds before he looked away. Gwen continued to watch him and thought about swimming his way. But she didn’t want to be too obvious and he was too far way for her to clock his ring finger.
She might be hard up but not hard up enough to mess with a married man. Some lines weren’t meant to be crossed.
Every few minutes she watched him out of the corner of her eye, talking and playing with the girls.
Which now struck her as odd. He couldn’t be related to all of them. Maybe he was one of those men who only liked those types of girls.
Suddenly she felt stupid. There was no way he was going to be interested in her next to all those young, perfect bodies. Pushing him from her mind, she glanced around her.
Figuring she would enjoy the pool for five more minutes before she went back to her chair, she leaned her head back and closed her eyes. She soaked up the feeling of the sun and the cool water. It was blissful.
“Hey.”
Gwen’s eyes popped open to see the man she had been watching standing two feet in front of her, the water splashing up around his hips. He smiled with even, white teeth.
“Hello,” she said and smiled back.
“Do you mind if I sit next to you for a few minutes?” he asked.
“Not at all.”
He stuck his hand out and said, “I’m Steve.”
“Gwen,” she said as she took his hand and shook it. He had a firm grip and the heat of his skin tingled up her arm.
He waded closer and she wanted to lick the water droplets off his chest. She wanted a man who wasn’t afraid of some wild, no-strings-attached sex and maybe he was just the right one. Maybe. Time would tell.
He sank in the water and sat next to her, close enough that she could smell his cologne. Or maybe it was sunscreen, but whatever it was she liked it.
Steve smiled again and gave her face, neck, shoulders and the tops of her breasts a good once-over. His smile widened and she assumed that he like what he saw.
“What brings you to the Bahamas?” he asked.
“Just taking a break. How about you?”
“I got stuck chaperoning,” he said with a grin and nodded toward the girls.
“Chaperoning?” she inquired.
“Yeah, I’m an assistant volleyball coach at our local college and the girls did a lot of car washes to save up for this trip. When the head coach was going to have to postpone for a few days I offered to take her place. She will be here tomorrow to relieve me from my duties. I never thought that babysitting a bunch of almost-adults wo
uld be so tiring,” he said with a yawn and Gwen let out a chuckle.
She was glad that he had a valid reason for hanging with the girls and she was happy to see there wasn’t a ring on his finger.
“Where are you from?” she asked him.
“Pennsylvania. You?”
“Pennsylvania,” she replied with another chuckle. “It’s rather ironic. I came all this way because it’s hard to meet people at home and the first person I meet is from the same state as me.”
“You came all this way to meet someone?” he asked as he pushed his sunglasses up on his forehead and she got the first good look at his eyes.
They were dark and intelligent. But something about them made her think he had a lot of secrets.
“I did. But it wasn’t my only reason for coming,” she told him.
“I can’t imagine a beautiful woman like you having trouble finding a man.”
He had read between the lines and she wondered if she was really that obvious.
“It’s finding the right kind of man that’s the trouble.”
To her surprise he laughed and she loved the sound of it. It was deep and wholehearted.
She started to say something to him when a volleyball came sailing her way. She ducked her head at the last second and the ball hit the edge of the pool behind her.
“What the fuck?” she shouted as she got out of the way.
Steve grabbed the ball and they both looked back toward the net. The young blonde who had flipped her hair incessantly on the plane was smiling her way. Little bitch.
Gwen knew the look she shot her way. Back off.
Steve went to toss the ball back but a couple little boys got in the way. The young girl swam over and stopped a foot from Steve.
“Sorry about that, Professor,” she said with a snotty smile.
“Your aim seems to be much worse than it was last week, Marissa.” He handed her back the ball.
“Maybe you should come over and help me practice,” Marissa said to Steve. It was an obvious come-on line if Gwen had ever heard one.
She looked back and forth between the two, wondering what Steve would do.
“Go back to your game, Marissa, I’m fine here.”
Marissa pouted and swam in a little closer, giving Gwen a dirty look that turned her pretty face into an ugly mask.
“Are you sure about that, Professor?”
Steve surprised the young girl and Gwen by splashing her in the face. “Cool off, Marissa, and go back to your game.”
The shock on her face was priceless and Gwen had to smother a chuckle. With one more dirty look sent Gwen’s way, Marissa swam back to the other girls.
Steve heaved a sigh and turned his attention back to Gwen.
“I think you have a serious crush on your hands, Steve.”
“That girl tries my patience,” he told her.
She had to ask. “So, you’re not interested in her?”
His dark gaze held hers and she got caught up in it. He reached his arm out and ran his fingers lightly up her thigh under the water. It was a bold move and it made her shiver.
“I prefer a real woman to a spoiled little girl.”
“Do you now?”
“I do. But like you said, it’s not finding a woman that’s the problem. It’s finding the right woman.”
They shared a smile and several of the girls hollered to him from the pool steps.
He sighed and said, “I’m being paged. No rest for the wicked.”
He stood to go and she watched the water run down his chest.
He took her hand and raised it to his lips, kissing her palm instead of the back of her hand like she expected. “It was very nice to meet you, Gwen.”
“Nice to meet you too, Steve.”
She watched him wade away and follow behind a dozen ponytailed girls. When he was almost out of sight he stopped and turned her way. He blew her a kiss and she smiled and waved to him.
Yep. He might be just what she needed.
Chapter Two
Gwen went back to her room, giving herself plenty of time to take a nap and slip into something sexy to go to dinner. She had found a great little dress that was a dark purple and had an open back. The front showed just the right amount of cleavage and the hem stopped just above her knees.
But it was her shoes that made her feel sexy. Black, shiny stiletto heels. They had straps that came around her ankles and more lines that followed down her foot. There were a dozen kinky little straps and she loved the shoes even if they were a bitch to walk in.
She spent extra time on her hair, blow-drying it and curling it into soft waves. She might be having dinner alone but that didn’t mean she couldn’t look her best. Her eyes were looking very purple today and, blowing herself a kiss in the mirror, she left her room.
A cute young waiter seated her at a table with a view of the ocean. She planned to have a great dinner with lots of drinks and watch the sun go down and maybe she would get lucky and run into Steve.
Steve was irritated beyond his degree of control. Marissa had accosted him in the hallway outside his room and had tried to kiss him. She was immature and annoying.
His only consolation was that the head coach Judy would be here tomorrow and take over the wild bunch of girls. They were all confined to their rooms at the moment and he needed a drink. He just hoped they stayed there long enough for him to find one.
He made his way to the bar-restaurant attached to the hotel. It was busy but he found a place at the bar with little trouble. He ordered a scotch and drank it in two swallows.
Nope. Didn’t help his temper much, so he ordered another and sipped it while he turned to look around.
He always watched the floor. Especially in a place like this where there were plenty of women running around in all kinds of sexy shoes. It was practically a rainbow with all the colors and the varying heights.
He had thought off and on all day about the woman who he had met at the pool. His nasty divorce had turned him off from the whole lot of them but something about Gwen had raised his interest.
Some people moved out of the way and he saw her, sitting at a table alone. She was sipping a glass of red wine and before he could think it over he headed in her direction.
She shifted as he walked closer and crossed her legs. One dainty foot stuck out from under the table, encased in a strappy, shiny black heel, and he felt his cock twitch and grow.
The shoes were the cherry on the sundae sitting at the table.
“Gwen?” he said when he got close enough and when she turned his way he gave her his best smile.
She blinked up at him and he realized she didn’t remember him. “I’m Steve. We met earlier today at the pool?”
“Steve! Of course. Sit down.” She glanced behind him and he knew that she was looking to see if he had a dozen girls in tow.
“No babysitting tonight?” she asked as he took the seat across from her.
He chuckled and told her, “Not at the moment. The girls decided to stay in tonight. Thank god for small favors. They are all holed up in one room and when I checked on them they had green goop on their faces and they were putting a serious dent in the hotel’s food supply.”
“Lucky you,” she said and smiled at him.
Her smile lit up her face and changed her from an ordinary woman to a stunning one who made his breath catch. Her eyes were incredibly violet and he wondered how he hadn’t noticed it before.
“I’m sorry I didn’t recognize you but you look so different,” she said as she ran her gaze over him.
He wasn’t surprised. He was wearing slacks and a dress jacket and he had his wire-rimmed glasses on. He certainly looked the part of the history professor.
“It’s all right. You’re not the first one.”
She nodded and took another sip of wine. “So, Steve, I wanted to ask you earlier. Why do the girls call you Professor?”
“I’m a college history professor and most of them have taken my class
at one point or another.”
“A history professor? Really?”
“Yes, is it that hard to believe?” He was almost offended until he realized that she had seen him in nothing but his swim trunks. Then he was flattered. He must look decent in them.
“No, no of course not. I’m just surprised is all.”
He smiled to ease her distress. “Being a history type of guy, I have to ask. Is your full name Guinevere?”
She laughed lightly. “It is. My mother was into history as well, but just as a hobby.”
“Did you know it means ‘fair one’? And it was the name of King Arthur’s Queen?” he asked.
“I knew about King Arthur but not the ‘fair one’ part. It doesn’t seem very fitting to me.”
“I think it fits you just perfectly. You are very beautiful.” He didn’t hand out compliments lightly.
“Thank you.”
“What do you do for a living?” he asked.
He imagined that she did something exciting and would be way out of league for a boring history teacher.
“I’m an accountant,” she said with a dazzling smile.
“You’re kidding?”
“I’m not. I own a small office with my name on the window. It took me years but I finally did it.”
“So a history teacher and an accountant meet in the Bahamas. Sounds like a romance novel,” he quipped.
She laughed and it was a sweet sound that made him smile. He suddenly wondered what kind of noises she would make as she came. Was she one of those women who held her breath and didn’t make a sound? Or one of the ones who screamed loud enough to wake the dead? He didn’t know but he wanted to find out.
“It is rather funny. You’re not attached then?” she asked him as she finished off her wine. He immediately signaled for a server. He wasn’t ready for her to go yet.
“Not at all. You?” he asked. She shook her head and he breathed a small sigh of relief.
“So tell me, Gwen the accountant, what would be the right kind of man?”
He could tell by the look on her face that his question had surprised her.