BarefootParadise

by J L Taft

  Steve collapsed heavily on top of her and she realized that her legs were numb and tingling from her hips down.

  She shifted in discomfort and he pulled out and rolled off her, both of them breathing heavily. Gwen lay in a puddle of satisfied female flesh, unable to will her limbs to move.

  But it took only fifteen minutes for her to want to do it again.

  Chapter Four

  Once Steve had caught his breath he realized what he had done. He had licked her foot in that last moment.

  It terrified him that he might turn to look at her and see nothing but disgust. He had seen it more than once before and from a woman who had stood before friends and family, vowing to love him forever. But she had lied.

  He couldn’t do it again. It was exactly why he didn’t get involved with women. He was tired of being judged.

  Gwen and her sexy body had clouded his brain and now that he had fucked her he could see straight again. He shouldn’t be here.

  His only hope was that she would fall asleep and he could slip off and not have to face her.

  He sat up and then stood, picking up his shorts and going to the bathroom. Disposing of the condom, he pulled his shorts on. He took a deep breath and went back to face Gwen.

  Her eyes were closed but he could tell that she wasn’t sleeping. She was stretched on her stomach, her dark hair a tangled mess around her head and down her back.

  He couldn’t help but run his gaze down over her sweet ass and long legs. But when she lifted her calves and he got to her pink-painted toenails his cock twitched. He jerked his gaze back to her face and she was watching him out of heavy-lidded eyes, her full lips turned up at the corners in a smile.

  But he was still wary.

  He watched her roll to her back and stretch and he immediately thought that he hadn’t paid nearly enough attention to her perfect tits. Her nipples were still hard and standing at attention and he wished he could nibble on them.

  “Want to go for that swim now?” she asked as she stood and gathered her bikini.

  “Yeah, sure,” he replied.

  She stood on her toes and kissed him but he was too surprised to respond and she pulled back to look at him intently.

  He didn’t say anything or reach for her like he wanted to and she turned away to go in the bathroom.

  When she came out she was dressed for swimming again. “Ready?” she asked as he slid into his sandals and grabbed his t-shirt.

  “Yep,” he said as he followed her out.

  Gwen let the cool water of the pool relax her strained muscles. She found an underwater seat along the edge of the pool and away from most of the other swimmers. Steve took a seat next to her and she wondered what had gotten into him.

  As soon as they had finished banging he had gone all quiet and weird.

  She thought it had been amazing but maybe she had disappointed him somehow. The monster of insecurities suddenly reared its head. The same insecurities she thought she had left back home.

  She searched for something to break the silence between them and jumped at the first thing that popped into her head.

  “What made you become a history professor, Steve?”

  He was quiet for a second and then he replied quietly. “Do you really care, Gwen?” His gaze was hidden by his sunglasses and she couldn’t read his expression.

  She stood and waded out into the pool so that she could face him.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “There isn’t a hidden agenda behind the question. I mean what I say.”

  Gwen stared at him for a brief second before she got mad. She was just trying to make small talk. If he didn’t want to talk to her then that was fine. She didn’t need him. Her euphoric look on the world evaporated as quickly as the water drops on the hot concrete beside the pool.

  “I’ve heard this story before. You don’t have to spell it out to me,” she said as she let her anger fuel her to speak the words she had always wanted to say but never had.

  “I already got what I wanted from you. Enjoy the rest of your vacation.” She said it exactly the way that she meant it. As if she hoped he dropped dead.

  She took a deep breath and sank below the clear blue water. Then she swam for all she was worth to the steps leading out. Her eyes were open wide and she passed the misshapen legs of other people.

  She surfaced at the few steps just when she thought her lungs would burst and she stood suddenly, gasping for breath.

  She tossed her hair back out of her way, irritated with it and its wet, clinging mass. She didn’t turn around to see if he was watching. She didn’t care.

  Grabbing her bag and towel from a chair, she went back to her room.

  Steve wasn’t sure what had just happened. He had been so worried that she was going to bring it up he had said something that came out the wrong way. He was on the defensive and she hadn’t given him a reason to be.

  He had watched in shock and then in awe as she swam along the bottom of the pool with seamless grace. When she reached the steps and flipped her wet hair over her shoulder, sending sparkling droplets flying, his heart tripped, stumbled and fell.

  He hadn’t been able to remove his gaze from her until she was out of sight.

  Steve looked at the empty space next to him. One minute he had a beautifully relaxed woman sitting there and now he was alone.

  He was an idiot. It had been a long time since a woman had looked so…pleased was the only word that came to mind, after he had made love to her.

  But it hadn’t really been making love. It had been more of a release. For both of them. Ending in a tormenting tease that he already felt. It was another empty victory.

  What was the point if he couldn’t be who he was? Steve leaned his head back against the side of the pool and stared at the perfectly puffy white clouds.

  She had never given him the impression that she would judge him. She had taken what he had doled out in stride and had never blinked.

  All he had really wanted to do was give her an opening to bring it up. She hadn’t taken the bait and all he had managed to do was to piss her off.

  It was something about her that had left him wanting more. And he had blown it. Blown it as well as any treasure seeker who finally found his gold, only to have it stolen away before he got his glory.

  As he stared at the clouds on the beautiful, breezeless day above him he saw shapes. Like he had when he was a kid.

  But he didn’t see just any shape, he saw Gwen’s shoe from last night. He closed his eyes and knew he had a problem.

  For the first time ever it wasn’t just a shoe but the woman who was wearing it.

  Gwen spent the day lying low. She tried to talk herself back up to the confidence that she had when she had left home but it was shattered.

  She had come to the Bahamas because she wanted to leave life and all of its issues at home for just a little while, for a quick break. But no matter where she went she was the same.

  She was the same woman who had let her determination for her career get in the way of a relationship that might have been the one. But she never gave it a chance.

  She never thought that it would amount to something until the end when he had told her he had visions of her in a house with a white picket fence with a couple kids and a puppy running about the yard.

  But by then it had been too late and she thought it was cruel of him to even bring it up as he was dumping her. It had been a very long three years ago.

  She remembered the breakup vividly. His bland expression and the list of things that he had thought were cute in the beginning but by then only saw as flaws had taken its toll on her.

  What really bothered her was that she couldn’t figure out what she had done to put Steve off. It had all happened so fast she couldn’t pinpoint anything.

  Except for the raging orgasms. She remembered those, perfectly. Steve had taken her quick and high, an experience that she hadn’t had before.

  Throwing her body
down on the bed, she contemplated what she was doing next. She was, after all, in a gorgeous tropical resort and could find something to keep her busy.

  But she didn’t want to deal with a big bunch of people. Her mind was too crowded as it was.

  The view was amazing, pale-gold sandy beaches and clear blue-green waters. The waves broke in uneven lines and it was hypnotic the way they never moved the same way twice.

  Gwen yawned and stretched out on her belly, staring out at the waves. He might have turned out to be a jerk but he had tired her out.

  Gwen spent the next couple days hanging close to her room. She just wasn’t in the mood to deal with the crowds and she had a beautiful stretch of beach right in front of her that she took full advantage of.

  But she had dreams of a sexy, sandy-haired man who gave her the best orgasms of her life. Never had she been able to let go the way she had with him and it irritated her that he had turned out to be such an ass.

  She caught up on some reading and sipped fruity drinks with little umbrellas in them.

  But as Wednesday night came she decided to go to the restaurant for dinner. The rays of the sun had just been fading and it had turned waves into golden sparkles.

  Spending an hour primping, she left her room determined to enjoy her vacation and she had dressed to kill.

  She had brought the little blue dress along, never intending to wear it. But here she was, dressed in an outfit that if her friends at home saw her in they would die of shock. It was tight and low-cut in the front and the back, showing more skin than she ever had before. But she had no one to please but herself and the little dress made her feel sexy.

  The matching blue shoes had cost her a ton but they had been worth it with their ankle straps and little studded blue sparkles.

  The door to her room closed ominously in the empty quiet of the hallway. Gwen hesitated, thinking that maybe she should just stay in and order room service again tonight.

  But she wasn’t going to waste a vacation that she had worked long and hard for. Turning on her heel, she headed for the dining room.

  She got a table in the corner, where she could see the ocean and not be bothered. Suddenly she didn’t want company anymore and she no longer felt the raging need for sex.

  The need was still there but the sharp edge of it was missing and she just wanted to enjoy her dinner and maybe go for a walk in the sand.

  The food was delicious and she savored every morsel. She also tried not to look for Steve in the crowd of people but that didn’t work so well. She glanced around for his face every few minutes and never saw him.

  When she had finished her food she headed to the shore, taking her sky-high heels off to walk barefoot in the pale sand.

  The resort had a long stretch of beach for its guests and she took advantage, walking until the crashing waves drowned out the sounds of the other people.

  She could almost believe that she was alone out here and she liked feeling that she had the beach all to herself. She found a spot in the sand and, without a thought for her dress, she sat.

  The stars were beautiful and numerous overhead. The ocean was gentle tonight and she could happily sit here for hours.

  “Hey,” a low voice said from behind her and she whipped her head around to see who was invading her solitude.

  Steve was standing behind her with his hands stuffed in his pockets and his pant legs rolled up. His white shirt was unbuttoned halfway and she turned away from him quickly.

  “What do you want, Steve?”

  “I wanted to apologize.”

  “Fine. Apology accepted. Now go away,” she told him.

  “Could we talk for a few minutes? I wanted to try and explain.” His voice had a pleading note to it but she turned a deaf ear.

  “I think we have said all we needed to say. You got what you wanted and so did I.”

  “Gwen, just give me a chance,” he said as he sat next to her on the sand.

  She gave him a look to let him know that she wasn’t happy about him sitting next to her. “I guess I don’t have a choice.”

  He didn’t say anything for a few minutes and neither did she. Finally he seemed to gather his thoughts.

  “I really am sorry about the other morning. I was feeling defensive and what I said came out the wrong way.”

  “Defensive? What did you have to be defensive about?” she asked him, confused.

  “That’s what I wanted to explain. I, umm…” He stared at her intently as she waited for him to go on. “This is harder to do than I thought,” he said and ran his fingers through his hair.

  Gwen didn’t give him an inch and sat waiting for him to spit out whatever it was that he was beating around.

  “Damn. I guess I’ll just come out and say it. I have a little bit of a foot fetish and I was worried that you had noticed.”

  She turned and stared at him in shock. “A little bit of a foot fetish? Seriously?”

  “Well, it may be more than a ‘little fetish’ but I wanted you to understand why I acted like that and that I didn’t mean to push you away,” he said as he stared out at the crashing waves.

  She thought about it for a second and was still confused about the whole situation.

  “So you got defensive because you have a fetish and thought I would freak out?”

  He heaved a sigh and said, “I have been judged before, not for the better, and now I am careful who I reveal it to. Something happened that morning that hasn’t happened to me before. I was so caught up in you that I forgot and licked your foot. You remember that?”

  She nodded and he went on. “I was so worried that you would ‘freak out’, as you put it, that I never stopped to contemplate what to do if you didn’t.”

  “Let me get this straight. You were so worried about me judging you that you judged me?”

  He smiled at that. “Touché,” he said. “I don’t expect you to give me another chance, Gwen. But I wanted you to know that you gave me something special this morning and I didn’t want it to end like it did in the pool.”

  He stood to go and she immediately grabbed his hand. “Don’t tell me that you tracked me down, walked a half a mile down the beach, told me your darkest secret and now you are just going to walk away?”

  “I thought that’s what you wanted.”

  Gwen turned to face him on her knees. “Let’s stop with the assuming. I never said that I would judge you and you should stop thinking you know how every woman will react just because you had a couple who weren’t right for you. I like you, Steve, and it takes a lot of…balls to come clean. Sit back down with me and let’s talk.”

  He smiled and she felt her tummy flip-flop at the flash of his even white teeth.

  Chapter Five

  Steve sat back down and reached for her hand. She let him tangle their fingers together and she felt a soft spot for him and his problem. She knew what it was like to be judged for something you couldn’t change and it certainly explained his behavior.

  Her boyfriend in college had dumped her when she had gained twenty pounds suddenly. Some people were so superficial, never looking past the outside glitter to the person beneath.

  “Since we are telling dark secrets, I think I owe you an apology as well,” she told him.

  “You don’t owe me anything.”

  She smiled at his remark. She liked that he didn’t expect anything from her but she felt that she should explain as if he did. After all, he had jumped first.

  “I just think maybe I overreacted this morning. We all have insecurities and I let mine take charge and I said things that didn’t really have anything to do with you. People are harsh and I might have used you to get some things off my chest and for that I’m sorry.”

  “What happened?” he asked quietly.

  “I fell in love with a guy who asked me to tutor him in college. To my surprise he liked me too and we dated for a few months. My weight has always been an inconsistent thing.” She sighed heavily and suddenly wondered why
she had brought it up.

  “Go on,” he encouraged and squeezed her hand.

  “I gained twenty pounds and he dumped me. A public breakup in the middle of the commons. I was mortified as you can imagine. It changed me.”

  His arm came around her shoulders and he pulled her into his chest. “Sometimes we change to protect ourselves from being hurt again.”

  She nodded, knowing what he said was true. His arm felt so good around her and she had now spilled her own dark secret—fear of rejection for something that she couldn’t change. So she wasn’t a size zero, she wasn’t supermodel beautiful either. But she was happy in her own skin.

  She glanced up at Steve. Maybe now she had found a man who liked her for her.

  “I was married once,” he said suddenly. “To a woman who I thought loved me. But when I asked her to experiment with me in the bedroom she changed into someone I didn’t know. She called me a pervert and said other things that cut me deep. Then she left one day while I was at work, I came home to an empty house and all I can remember feeling was relief. Does that make me sound terrible?” he asked.

  “Of course not. Sometimes it’s just not meant to be.” His arm was warm around her as the night air cooled and she wondered how long she had been sitting there.

  “I do have one question though.”

  “Ask away,” he replied with a smile.

  “What were the things you wanted to try with your wife?” Curiosity got the better of her.

  He was quiet for a second and she hoped that she hadn’t pushed too far. “It’s okay, forget I asked,” she hurriedly added.

  “No. It’s all right. It just seems weird to be talking about it. But I want to tell you.”

  “I’m dying to know,” she said with a smile.

  “I wanted to try something called a foot job and I don’t know… I guess I just wanted her to try a little. To make me feel like she cared.”