by J A Fielding
“What else don’t I know about you?” he asked.
She shook her head and shrugged.
“I don’t know,” she said in a low voice.
“Really? Because I feel like there is something more you are holding out on,” he said. She waved her arms around in the water and looked at him.
“I…I don’t know what to say,” she said as he moved even closer to her, as if he was not already close enough. She could almost feel the warmth of his body even in the cold water. He looked at her and Erica felt her cheeks get warm again. She was blushing again and this time, she was a bit too close to him. She turned around and swam away from him.
“So we are racing now?” she heard him asking before he followed her to one end of the pool.
“What is this Erica? Why can’t you get your act together around this guy?” she wondered as she swam back to their point of origin. When she surfaced, she saw him following closely.
“I’m sorry if I’m a little fast. Swimming is the only kind of exercise I have been getting for the last two years,” she said.
“I can tell,” Daniel said as she pulled herself out of the water. Daniel followed suit and sat next to her.
“I have to ask,” she started as she squeezed the water out of her hair. “Why is this place special to you?”
Daniel shrugged and took a long deep breath before he shook his head.
“You know, I’m not really sure. All I know is that I love being here. It’s nice. And quiet. And private,” he said in almost a whisper. She smiled and nodded. She totally understood. This was like his Hollywood sign.
“The first time I went to Hollywood, I found myself in the Hollywood sign,” she started.
Daniel turned and looked at her raising an eyebrow.
“In?” he asked. She smiled and nodded. “I thought that place is restricted.”
“It is but I was in the company of some crazy people and there was a lot of alcohol involved. Let’s just say I have no idea how everything happened. All I know is that it did and to date, I still take the hike even though the authorities say that it is a risk,” she said with a smile. “It is my special place,” she added as she looked at him.
Daniel looked into her big brown eyes and smiled at her. He felt drawn to her as she was to him. It was almost like there was some kind of chemistry between them. He shifted his weight getting himself closer to where she was.
“Somehow I feel like we are a kindred spirit,” he said in a low voice.
She nodded and forced a smile.
“Yeah, kindred spirits,” she echoed as he got even closer to her. She wanted to move away but there was some kind of magnet holding her in place. She couldn’t move. She could feel her heart beating hard as he brought his face closer to her, almost too close. She was almost in a panic as she felt his warm breath on her cheek. But even then, she didn’t move away. She closed her eyes when she felt his lips brushing against hers in a soft slow kiss. This would have been the first kind of male attention she had received in almost seven months and it was doing things to her body she never thought possible. When he finally pulled away, she was almost a mess. She was like butter in his hands. He would have done anything with her and she would have let him. It was almost a full minute when she finally got the courage to pull away from him. She had her eyes closed and her cheeks were flushed. “Um…I’m sorry…” she stammered. She was not very sure what she was sorry for but she knew that it was probably not a good idea for her to be there.
“No need to be. I should be the one apologizing,” Daniel said as he looked at her. Erica’s eyes were darting to and fro as she wondered what she was supposed to do next. She didn’t know the way back to the beach. She reached for her cover up and put it on making Daniel wonder whether he should have taken a few more minutes before he moved in for the kill. “I’m really sorry…” he started but she was already on her feet putting on her flip flops. Her wet body was already clinging to the cover up making her curse herself for jumping in the water in the first place.
“This was a bad idea,” she muttered under her breath as she looked around. “A really, really bad idea,” she was now trying to retrace her steps but it was like her mind was blank. She couldn’t make out what was happening. She just wanted to be away from that place. After all it was his place.
“Are you okay?” Daniel asked as he stood up. To him, she looked like a confused woman who had just woken up in some strange man’s bed.
“Yeah, I’m just trying to figure out how we came up here,” she nodded and looked around.
Daniel grabbed his shirt and put it on.
“I’ll show you,” he said.
“No!” Erica said a little too loudly surprising even herself. “I’m sorry…I just…” she started as Daniel pulled his pants on. She looked at him and put on her sunglasses.
“There is no way you can find your way back to the beach without my help, Erica,” Daniel said as he zipped up his pants. He felt strange putting on his clothes with his wet boxers. He knew that by the time they got to the beach, he would look like he peed himself but he didn’t care at this point. He had never seen anyone this agitated. If he knew this was going to happen, he would have never asked her up here let alone kiss her. Unlike the walk up to the pool, the walk back to the beach was surprisingly quiet. When they finally got to the beach Daniel looked at Erica and asked if he could call a cab.
“No…no. I’ll just go,” she said before walking off leaving him standing there, stunned.
“The cab station is this way,” Daniel called out as he looked at her. Erica stopped in her tracks and turned around. She walked up to where Daniel was and he was trying as hard as he possibly could not to laugh as he pointed her to the direction of the cabs. It went without saying that Erica wished she could just fly out of there.
Throughout the drive back to the hotel, Erica was cursing herself for being so vulnerable. She hated that she was so weak in Daniel’s presence. Or was it that all that time she had stayed celibate was actually catching up with her. She was breathing hard and deep as she walked into her room. She walked to the bathroom and grabbed a towel before she collapsed on the bed. She was cursing herself for more than a thousand reasons.
“What the hell were you thinking?” she wondered as she looked at the ceiling. “At this rate you could have very well let the mailman feel you up.” She shook her head and got up from the bed before she walked to the bathroom. She turned on the water and stripped off her swimwear before she stepped into the water. She closed her eyes and ran her fingers through her wet hair as the water ran down her body. She wanted to talk to someone, needed to talk to someone but knowing her sister, Emily would have probably loved the whole thing. After a shower that took almost an hour, she stepped out of the bathroom and toweled herself up before she sat in front of the mirror. She took a long deep breath as she dried her hair out, every minute wondering why she was feeling like such a mess. “Maybe I am just being too hard on myself,” she thought. But then she brushed the thought off. That was exactly what Emily would have said. Cassandra would have probably come down to Acapulco to slap the silly out of her because according to her, Erica was trying to live her life down rather than living it up.
She looked at her phone and shrugged. She was starving and she couldn’t bear to go downstairs in case she bumped into Daniel. She didn’t know why, but she couldn’t face him. Maybe it was the embarrassment she felt or the way she just felt downright dumb for allowing herself to be so defenseless with him. She walked over to the bed and called the front desk.
“Hi, I’d like to order in,” she said as she leaned against the bed rest. “Can I have some fries and a double cheese burger?” she asked. She could almost hear Daniel’s voice telling her how predictably American she was being with her food.
“Sure, Miss Hayes. Would you like a drink with that?” the guy at the reception asked. She took a minute and shrugged.
“No, I’ll just have something from the minibar,” she said. “Ac
tually cancel the burger. Get me some wings instead,” she added.
“Of course Miss Hayes,” the receptionist said before she thanked him and hung up. She looked around and walked over to the dressing table. She slowly oiled up as she replayed the events of that afternoon. She could still feel the warm tingle of his lips on hers. She looked at her reflection as she let the towel drop to the seat. As she oiled her torso, she couldn’t help but feel sad for herself. This was the only kind of contact she’d had in the last seven months that came anything close to intimacy. She found herself wondering why she had not heeded Cassandra’s advice and got a sex toy. Maybe she wouldn’t be feeling this silly and/or horny if only she had taken matters into her own hands. She walked to the closet and pulled out a pair of blue tights and a white t-shirt. She pulled on the t-shirt and then put on some black panties before she put on the tights. She was about to walk back to the bed and see what was on TV when she heard a knock on the door.
“They definitely work fast in this hotel,” she thought as she walked to the door. She had a smile on her face as she opened the door. “You most definitely deserve a generous tip for…” her voice trailed off when she saw Daniel outside her door. “Daniel…what are you doing here?” she asked in a low voice.
“Can I come in?” he asked smiling at her. She took a moment before taking a step to the side, allowing him in. “So, what exactly do I deserve a tip for?” he asked as she closed the door. She pushed a strand of hair out of the way and shrugged.
“I ordered room service a few minutes ago,” she said as she led him to her bed. She looked at him and shrugged.
“Why are you here?” she asked as she looked at him. As soon as the words left her lips, she knew that she was being a little rude. She closed her eyes and shook her head. “I’m sorry…I…” she started before he sat down.
“I’m here to apologize,” he said as he looked up at her.
She crossed her arms on her chest and shook her head.
“You don’t have to,” she said as she looked at him. “It is as much…” her voice trailed off. She wanted to say that it was as much her fault as it was his but somehow she couldn’t bring herself to saying that. She would be admitting to him that she wanted him to kiss her. “You don’t have to,” she said again.
“I guess I just don’t know why I suddenly feel so drawn to you, so…free with you,” he said. Erica looked at him and tried not to smile. “There is something you need to know,” he said without looking at her. “The girl I told you about, my girlfriend…ex-girlfriend. It happened almost three years ago and since then I have been taking these trips around the world trying to figure myself out but every time I get close to someone, I always feel like there should be something more. Like I’m never really completed.”
Erica wasn’t very sure where he was going with this. She looked at him and shook her head.
“Daniel…” she started as she looked at him. He shook his head and stood up.
“No…don’t. I’m trying to explain myself,” he said as he took a step towards her. She looked up at him and wondered what he was going to say next. She was trying as hard as she could not to get too close to him but even then, she couldn’t deny what was happening between them. She opened her mouth to talk but a knock on the door interrupted her. She turned around and walked to the door and opened it. It was her food…finally. She smiled as the hotel employee wheeled her food into the room. She walked to where she had tossed her purse and looked through for any kind of local currency. She shook her head when she noticed that she didn’t have anything local and then pulled out a twenty dollar bill from her wallet and handed it to the waiter before she closed the door. She didn’t know what happened next. All she knew was that one minute she was closing the door and the next minute she was pinned against the door by his body. She gasped into his mouth as he kissed her deeply, his lips crushing hers. He pulled away and looked at her as they both breathed heavily. He ran a hand down one side of her body gently brushing against her breast.
“This…this isn’t me,” she said in a low voice. “I barely know you and I…” she never got to finish her sentence. He brought his head down and kissed her deeply. His hand was on her waist and he was pulling her close to him. Her body yearned to be against his naked skin. She wanted to feel him against her, crushing her, feeling her up. By the time he finally pulled away, she was almost breathless. She did not know what came over her but the next thing she knew, she had her hands under his shirt and she was pulling it up. She gasped softly when she saw his perfect abs underneath. Her fingers were trembling as she slowly ran her hands down his chest. She closed her eyes when she felt his hands slowly coming to her front. She gasped again when she felt him slowly pull her t-shirt up over her head. A smile played on Daniel’s lips when he let the t-shirt drop to the floor exposing her naked torso to him. She was more beautiful than he had thought. She was curvy and her flawless dark skin was calling to him. She sighed when she felt her bare nipples brushing against his tan chest. She held her breath when she felt his hands slide down to her ass. “Daniel…” she started before he kissed her again, silencing her. She moaned softly when she felt him gently kneading her big soft ass.
He slowly pulled her towards the bed and kissed her neck as he slowly lowered her onto the bed. She could feel herself getting wet as he slowly caressed her breasts, letting her hard nipples press hard against his palm. She closed her eyes and threw her head back as she felt his lips slowly trailing down her body to her chest. She wanted him to just take her nipple into his mouth, caress her, spank her…anything really.
But Daniel had other plans in mind. He had pulled his hands away from her body and he was now softly kissing the tops of her breasts. She bit her lower lip when she felt him getting closer to her nipples but almost as soon as her fun had begun it ended when he skipped her breasts altogether and began kissing her navel. He then slipped two fingers in either side of her waist and pulled off her tights. Without even thinking, Erica spread her legs welcoming him but again he worked his way down to one thigh instead of just going straight for her core. She raised her head and looked at him, her eyes pleading with him to end her suffering. Daniel pulled away from her and climbed off the bed before he unbuttoned his pants and pulled down his zipper. When Erica saw him pulling down his boxer shorts, she felt herself get even hornier. She wanted to straddle him and work out her dry spell until he begged for mercy. Daniel climbed back on the bed and looked down at her as he aligned his body with hers. She looked into his hazel eyes and raised her head to kiss him. She brought her hands up and ran her fingers through his luxurious hair.
Erica gasped when she felt his cock at her opening. “Condom…get a condom…” she said in a whisper as he kissed her neck. Daniel took a deep breath and kissed her neck again. He didn’t have one. In fact he hadn’t even thought things would escalate to this when he first thought of coming down to her room. “What?” she asked.
“I don’t have one,” he said in a low voice. “”I’ll go down to the public bathroom downstairs. They have a dispenser there,” he said as he got off the bed.
“Don’t be too long,” she said as he quickly pulled his pants up. She wanted to laugh when she thought of him walking down the hotel hallways with a hard on. He put on his shirt and walked out of the room as he buttoned it, leaving a naked Erica sprawled on the bed.
When Daniel left, she ran her fingers through her hair and smiled to herself. This was it. She was about to get rid of her long dry spell in a few minutes, with a good looking man. She slowly brought her hand to her core and felt the wetness that was her pussy. She had never been this horny before. She was almost dripping. As she lay there, she wondered what life would have been like if she had met Daniel before meeting Eli. She would probably be a soccer mom or something…
“What the hell is wrong with you, Erica? You are already playing out domestic fantasies in your head with a man you barely know,” she thought. “A man you barely know.” The words we
re echoing in her head. “Barely know.”
Suddenly, Erica sat up. It was as if something had been switched on, snapping her back to reality. This was not her. This was not in her play book. Maybe Daniel not having the condoms with him was some kind of sign.
“Shit,” she thought as she climbed off the bed. She grabbed her clothes from the floor and quickly pulled them on just as Daniel walked back in.
“Okay, I’m back. Where were we…” he started as he closed the door behind him. His voice trailed off when he saw a fully dressed Erica. “What’s going on?” he asked as he walked towards her. Erica knew the kind of hold he had on her and she couldn’t let him get so close. She took a step back and crossed her arms over her chest.
“Daniel, I think this was a mistake,” she said in a low voice.
“Why? Three minutes ago, you wanted me as much as I wanted you. What changed?” he asked as he looked at her.
“Maybe not having the condoms with you was some kind of sign that…” Her voice trailed off. She couldn’t really finish that sentence. She knew how silly it sounded. She looked at him and shrugged. This was not a very good position she had allowed herself to be in. She could feel tears threatening to fall down her cheeks. Tears of shame, tears of embarrassment. She turned around and ran to the bathroom leaving a stunned Daniel standing there unsure of what he was supposed to do. She sat on the toilet cursing herself for what had transpired in her room for the last half hour.
“Are you okay? Do you need anything?” she heard Daniel ask. She shook her head as if he could see her.
“No…no. Just…I’m sorry. I just can’t,” she said. Daniel knew better than anyone what rushing someone into doing something they were not ready for could do. He sat on the edge of the bed and ran his fingers through his hair.
“Okay, I’ll just stay…” he started before Erica shook her head again.
“No!” she said interrupting him. “Just go.”
She hated herself for sounding so rude.
“Please Daniel, just go,” she said again. Daniel took another deep breath and stood up. He walked to the door and took a few minutes before he finally walked out of Erica’s room feeling like a complete idiot.