by Lauren Wood
“Just call him and tell him my name and that I am down here. I need to get up to my room. This is ridiculous and I couldn’t be any more embarrassed then I am right now.”
The front desk clerk eyed me suspiciously, but I just gave her a glare back. I wasn’t going to let them tell me that I didn’t belong here. It was a reminder that I was in a whole other league of people, but I was still here to do a job.
All I could do was wait patiently by the front for Chris to come down and the embarrassment that came with that.
Chapter 7
Chris
“I am sorry, what?”
“We apologize for the interruption Sir, but there is a woman downstairs that is claiming to know you.”
I smiled to myself, still not all the way up. It had been a quiet night, so no one woman came to mind, though I had been to the island many times. It could have been a number of women that I had stayed the night with before.
“You are going to have to be more specific than that Tony. Who is it?”
“Says her name is Stacy I believe. She is rather upset and hard to understand Sir.”
“And she is downstairs?”
“Yes Sir. Do you know this woman? She claims that she is staying in the suite upstairs registered to another guest. She doesn’t look like a normal guest, so we stopped her at the door. This is why I am calling you. If this is all in error, I will make sure that she is out of here in no time.
My mind was fuzzy, but it wasn’t that fuzzy. “She is staying in Keenan’s suite for God’s sakes Tony. How long has she been down there?” I already knew that she was going to be pissed off for this. It wasn’t my fault of course, but I knew that it would feel that way. This day was not going the way it was supposed to be going.
“Let her up Tony. Damn she is going to be pissed. Why wouldn’t you let her up in the first place?” It hadn’t occurred to me yet that she was just getting in around six o’ clock in the morning. I was still too stumped to wonder what she had been doing and where she had been.
“Sir she is disheveled and a real sight. I thought she was one of the homeless that come up from the beach. She is covered in sand…”
“Okay, she is fine and who she says she is Tony. Thank you for taking the extra step, but I fear you have cost me a headache.”
He apologized, but I just hung up. Where had she been all night? I had tried to go see her last night, with a bottle of wine as an excuse, but she hadn’t answered. I just thought she was ignoring me. I never would have guessed that she was out all night in a strange place.
I waited for a few minutes and then moved to the hallway. I wanted to see her, but not let her see me. I had to know what Tony was talking about. How bad could she look?
When she finally came out of the elevator, I could barely even recognize her. She did have a messy knot on top of her head with sand in it. It looked like she had slept on the beach or maybe something more sinister had happened. Whatever it was, I knew that it was surely not expected. I wanted to go out and make sure she was okay, ask her what happened, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it.
Instead I watched her go into her suite and I saw the state of her clothes. They were rumpled and covered in sand as well. I could see why Tony had denied her entry. If I wouldn’t have known that it was Stacy, I would have done the same thing.
Going back to my room, I got ready to go to the final conference and tried to pull my mind from Stacy. When I was ready and it wasn’t possible to pretend anymore, I went down the long hallway to her suite and knocked on the door. It was slightly ajar and after a few minutes, I just pushed the door open, calling her name out.
I still heard no answer and I started to get genuinely worried about her. The state she was in when I saw her last was not a good one. Maybe she had a medical problem that I didn’t know about, though why would I know? Why would I care?
Hearing the shower running, I relaxed a little. The room was still neat and tidy and the bed was unslept in. I really didn’t like that last bit of information, but I was trying not to let it get to me. It was not that I wanted to think about where she was last night it was the fact that I couldn’t stop thinking about it. It was bothering me and I had to know what happened to her last night. The warning I had given her was ripe in my ear and I hoped that I had been wrong.
I ordered some room service breakfast for both of us and poured some orange juice from the pitcher. I waited for Stacy to come out, but I had expected her to be a little more dressed than she was. I thought like most she would cover up with a towel if she left the bathroom, but Stacy was apparently going to let herself drip dry. She had a towel on her head, wrapped up in her black hair, but there was nothing else covering the rest of her.
Since she didn’t immediately look my way and I was too frozen by the view to ignore what was in front of me. Stacy was turned to the side and I could see her round, heart-shaped ass just feet from me. There was water running over her, little droplets on her milky-white skin that I wanted to stop with my finger. Every inch of her was curved and delicate, dying to be kissed and touched.
What struck me the most was the rather large and whimsical tattoo that she had on her back. It wasn’t big and dense, but flowery and light. I would have never guessed that she had a tattoo of any sort, certainly not that. My eyes scanned for more bits of ink, finding something on her inner ankle that I hadn’t seen before. Did she cover it up when she was at work? How many more mysteries would she have that I would never understand?
“Oh! Chris! What are you doing here?!”
She was yelling and when I met her gaze, I know I had a stupid look on my face, how could I not? She was bare and beautiful, right in front of me. Her eyes moved down to the hard length that was not well hidden in my slacks. I turned towards the table and told her rather clumsily that I had gotten her some breakfast. I even offered her some juice while she just stared at me. Her hands covered all the necessary parts, but it didn’t matter. I had seen it all and there was no way I was going to forget every inch of her.
“Why are you still staring at me?”
I didn’t even realize I was, but how could I not?
“Sorry, you are just still naked. Do you not have any towels in here?”
My voice was surprisingly calm, but I was not feeling that way inside. I trembled, something I would never admit to. Stacy had a way about her that made me feel different.
“You are blaming me for this?” While she complained that it was my fault, she went back into the bathroom and got a towel. I could breathe better when she was out of sight from me. I could still see her if I wanted to, but it was easier to pull the images out of my head this way without the constant reminder.
“Not blaming you. Sorry Stacy. I got a call from the doorman this morning and I was worried about you. I came in because the door was still open and not even latched. You were in there, so I ordered some breakfast and tried to help make your day a little better. I really was just trying to help, even though I seemed to have failed miserably with it.”
It didn’t matter what the scene of her had done to me. My first instinct was to look, I couldn’t help it. “You are beautiful Stacy. I can’t not look.”
The sound of my voice grated on my own nerves and I tried to snap out of it. Turning away, I opened some of the metal covers and asked what she would like for breakfast.
“Let me get dressed first. I can’t have breakfast like this, not with you here.”
It may have been a jab for me to leave, a not so hard to read sign, but I ignored it. This was our last day together and I wanted it to go smoothly. At first I thought she would be mine by now, whimpering my name out. I would get my fill and move on. But that hadn’t happened, so I was more obsessed than ever before. I needed to know what was going on and how I was going to change any of it with her. I couldn’t do that if I just went away.
“Thank you for breakfast Chris. It was very thoughtful of you. I have had a horrible morning and I appreciate the gesture.”
&n
bsp; She made a small plate with a little of everything and opened the patio door. “How long do we have until the last meeting?”
I looked at my clock. We were already late, but I was more interested to be here with her, then to hear about how to make more money. I think it was a first if I was honest with myself.
“We have time. Don’t worry about that.”
“Thanks. I am sorry about this. If you could not tell Keenan, I would appreciate it.”
I waved her off and told her that her secret was safe with me. “We all have one of those bender nights here. It is sort of a tradition. Where were you?” I didn’t want to sound too eager, but it was still something pecking at the back of my head that I just needed to know.
“It wasn’t like that. It was just so peaceful after a swim that I must have fallen asleep. I looked a wreck this morning because of the sand everywhere and they thought I was homeless.” She stopped and looked away, embarrassed.
“What about your date with Ali?”
Her lips tightened and something bothered her. What had her out swimming in the middle of the night alone? Was she alone? I was still assuming she was, but with my question, other ones arose that had to do with the smiling man from before.
“I canceled. I just didn’t feel like going out to dinner, so I stayed around town and shopped, had dinner and went swimming.”
“By yourself?”
“Well of course by myself. Who else would I go with?”
“I would have taken you.”
“Being around you is complicated Chris. Besides, I figure you didn’t want to be burden having to watch me, but I do thank you for the rescue this morning. I have never been so embarrassed in all of my life.”
“Don’t be embarrassed. It’s fine.” I was more than a little relieved that it wasn’t what I thought. My fears included her going to stay the night with Ali and that being the reason she was gone all night. It was a horrible feeling to have and now my mind could rest knowing that it wasn’t the case. After that, nothing really mattered and if I would have stopped to really think about it, that thought would have bothered me more than it did to be so interested in her and her whereabouts. I had never cared before.
“Well the meeting is almost over and we have a couple of hours before we have to leave. Is there anything that you want to do?”
“With you?”
“Yes with me, don’t sound so damn enthused.”
“I just want to get into the water. Do you know how to swim?”
“Of course. I can rent us a boat if you like, sail around and find the perfect spot.”
She shook her head like that wouldn’t do. “No, I was thinking just right out back. The beach is beautiful down there.”
I couldn’t argue. I didn’t want to if it meant a little time with Stacy. What the hell was this woman doing to me?
Chapter 8
Stacy
What a day! I just wanted it to end at first, but the middle was pretty good. Chris let me ditch the boring conference that I didn’t want to go to. He sent someone in his stead and went with me to the beach instead.
It was quite obviously quickly that he was not in his comfort zone. He just kind of looked at the sand at the end of the walk way and then back at me like I was crazy or something. Taking off my shoes, I waited for him to do the same. “How long has it been since you went to the beach?”
He shrugged and I could tell that it was a long time ago. “Well the water is perfect here.”
I walked towards the water and waited for Chris. His dark skin contrasted with mine as I finally had to grab his hand to pull him closer to the water. “You aren’t going to be able to get in from all the way over there.”
“I don’t have any trunks on.”
“Boxers or briefs?”
“Huh?”
“What are you wearing?”
“Um, boxers.”
“Well that will do. I was kind of hoping that you would be wearing tidy-whiteys.”
He looked like he was embarrassed and I knew the feeling all too well. Chris didn’t have anything cocky to say as a comeback and I was just going to take this moment as a small win for me.
“It will be fine, come on.”
“You have a bathing suit on?”
I shook my head and told him I didn’t. I was more worried about getting in the water, then how I was going to look. I mean, it wasn’t like he hadn’t seen me completely naked just a few hours ago. It gave me this feeling of so what if he saw me in a pair of panty and a bra?
I started to take my clothes off and I ignored the looks that he was giving me. I couldn’t focus on that. I needed to focus on something else and I finally just pulled my pants down and kicked them off. Walking into the water, I finally looked back to see if he was coming or not.
His dark eyes were taking in every bit of me like before and I quickly got into the water to use it as cover. No one else was around, but Chris kept looking around like photographers was going to chase him and take pictures. I started to wonder if he was just too shy to bare it all.
“Are you coming in or not?”
“Yeah, just…”
I giggled and started to swim deeper. I was there to get a little workout in if I could. Swimming was the best workout for me, hands down and I knew soon I would be back in the city and it would be a while until I was able to do this at a real beach and not a gym.
Chris came in splashing behind me. He was a lot louder than he was the first night I met him. But then I was reminded of his stealth when the next thing I knew, Chris was wading next to me.
I could see the tanned expanse of his chest and the tight black curls that covered it. He was hard and muscular, not at all what I expected from a spoiled business man.
“So what is that tattoo for?”
I forgot about that and groaned. I didn’t like many people knowing I had it. It was a moment of rebellion when I was seventeen. There wasn’t much thought behind it besides that I just thought it was pretty and I wanted a tattoo. It was really that simple.
“It’s the tree of life. Do you like it?”
“I do, I just wouldn’t have taken you for a girl that had a tattoo.”
A lot of rich people thought they were low class, but I still liked it no matter what. It was a reminder that I should take a second thought before I let myself get wrapped up into an idea. I can be spontaneous at times, but now I tried to learn more control. It was just harder to do around people like Chris that provoked me.
“I put it where it could be hidden easily because I know that there is bias about tattoos and the people that get them. I take it that you don’t have one?”
“Me, no. I never did really care for needles and I change my mind too often. I can’t think of anything that I would want to get. I get bored easily.”
I laughed a little and agreed. “I got it on my back so that I don’t have to see it all of the time. I forget that it is back there a lot. I wouldn’t get it now, just a few years later, but its part of me now.”
“You surprise me Stacy.”
“Why?”
“I have never met anyone like you before.”
“Like me? I am no one special.”
“You are to me.”
He was moving closer and he just had a look in his eyes that I didn’t fully trust. I swam back a little bit and he stopped. Chris wanted to kiss me, it was clear in his face, but I don’t think either one of us was really ready for that again.
“You won’t even remember my name on Monday morning Chris. We are from two different worlds. It was a wonderful time and I will thank you for your help, but I doubt we will ever see each other again after I get off of that plane.”
“It better not be the way it turns out.”
“How could it be anything else? You want a one night stand and I don’t. I like you as well, even though you are infuriating. But me and you were never meant to be.”
His mouth opened and then closed. I had said enough because I c
ould see the withdraw in him. What I said was true and he knew it. I wasn’t willing to give up anything for him, not for a night of pleasure. My body was worth more to me than that and being close to him made me feel like I was losing control of that. I didn’t want my control to slip.
“I don’t think much past today Stacy.”
I smiled at him and could see his expression had changed, almost contemplative. “I know Chris. It’s okay. Some people never change the rambling.”
“Am I a rambling man?”
“I don’t know, seems like it.”
We looked at each other for a time and I finally started back towards the beach. There was a few seconds that I had played out a future for us, but the problem was in every scenario I came up with in my head, there was no future for us. Not past today and I needed more. I wanted more than just one night. I wanted a life time and I knew I wasn’t going to get it with that.
***
The plane ride was less eventful than I thought it would be. I rode quietly to Jamaica with Keenan and I rode in silence on the way back with Chris. I didn’t try to break up the lack of sound, just embraced it. I didn’t want to talk about anything else. I only knew him for a weekend and he was taking up way too much of my thoughts and having too much control over my emotions, which had come in various waves over the last couple of days.
I thanked him for the ride home and he handed me a tape of every conference talk. It was far better than the notes that I had taken.
“I hope that you are wrong about never seeing each other again Stacy. That would never be my choice.”
He didn’t wait for an answer. Chris stalked off to a waiting car and I went to my own car that was parked where I had left it. It looked much smaller that it had before. I don’t know why it looked like it wasn’t enough. I had lived the good life for too long and coming back to my reality was hard.
Looking behind me, I hoped to catch a glimpse of Chris. I don’t know why I had to see him one last time, but I knew that I was saddened because he was already gone. I was never going to see him again.