Kiss & Cry, Where Passion Awaits

by Lipson, Ramona

  Dhalia: I know, Mom. I just didn’t want you to worry about me.

  Mom: That’s what mothers do. I appreciate you texting me. If you need anything at all you call me. I was going to fly to Alberta but Ryan said it wasn’t necessary.

  Dhalia: Right.I wish my mom didn’t know.Thanks, Mom.

  Mom: I don’t know why you didn’t come and see me instead of going to Jamaica.

  Dhalia: Next time, for sure.

  Mom: I’m holding you to it.

  Dhalia: OK xoxoxooxox

  Mom: xoxoxoxoo

  Dhalia mustered all her courage. She wrote Bradley. She didn't know why. She honestly thought it was because she had time on her hands and he was a safe distance.

  Dhalia: Are you there?

  Bradley: Always.

  Dhalia: Let me be more specific. Can you see me?

  Bradley: What will happen if I say yes or no?

  Dhalia: I’m texting you just to tell you I'm safe.

  Bradley: Did you text Ryan, too?

  Dhalia: Stop.

  Bradley: Sorry.

  Dhalia: Going to tan now.

  Bradley: Can I do your back?

  Dhalia: You have to find me first.

  Bradley: That’s not hard.

  Dhalia: Really?

  Bradley: Really. Don’t talk to strangers, and keep your money out of sight. Jamaica isn’t the safest place to visit anymore.

  Dhalia: How did you know?

  Bradley: Didn’t. Tricked you. I looked at the departure list before I left the airport and didn’t think you would want to go to Istanbul. LOL

  Dhalia: Not humorous.

  Bradley: What do you see right now? How many stars is your resort?

  Dhalia: You’re not tricking me again.

  Bradley: Shame. If you get lonely, I’ll jump on the first flight there.

  Dhalia: Unlikely I’ll be calling you. I’m not in the mood to be hospitalized.

  Bradley: On that note, I’ll leave you to your trip.

  Dhalia mentioned hospitalization with the intention to bother Brad, and it worked. She turned off her phone and closed her eyes. She detected children and the water as background noise. The weather was perfect and the warm sun beamed down on Dhalia providing comfort. She listened to the sounds that surrounded her and asked herself: With whom do I want to spend the rest of my life?

  She could picture herself lying in the sun with her eyes closed and then seeing a shadow over her. Soft lips touching hers, knowing just by the feeling, who was kissing her. That would be her Mr. Right.

  This was the life. Alone, in a fantasy land, fantasizing. It was beautiful being there, yet lonely, for she was alone in a lovers' paradise. She replayed the time in Lake Louise with Ryan. She flashed back to when Bradley and her started dating before the first show. She replayed in her mind the unconditional love she felt with Ryan before she was assaulted by Bradley.She decided to get up and turn her phone back on.

  Her phone chirped instantly.

  Bradley: Where are you staying? Which resort?

  Dhalia: Not telling.

  Bradley: Please? I’m already on my way.

  Dhalia: No.

  She decided to go to her room and have a nap. She had nobody to answer to, and she was starting to like that aspect of being single.

  It hit Dhalia when she was lying in bed, she left her name at the front desk. All anyone had to do was call the resort and give them her name and they would get her room number. She dressed right away and hurried down to the reception desk to remedy this.

  There was nobody waiting, so she walked right up and said to the man working there. “Excuse me, but how would I go about keeping my name and room number confidential, in case anyone comes looking for me?”

  “You tell us!” he replied.

  “Okay, my name is Dhalia Kennedy. I don’t want anyone to get through, or even know I’m staying here.”

  He half rolled his eyes and his mouth opened in shock. “Is today Friday the thirteenth? Because a man was just asking about you. What a coincidence!”

  “You can’t be serious.”

  “Entirely. I offered to put him through to your room, but he said that it wasn’t necessary. He would contact you later.”

  “Do you remember what his voice sounded like?”

  “Like a man, I'd guess, Ms. Kennedy," he said with sarcasm. "I don’t know what you want me to say. I just know it was a man’s voice.”

  “Is there any way I can switch rooms?”

  “Nope, sorry, just booked my last room.”

  “Okay, thanks anyway. Please, in the future, keep my visit here confidential, in case anyone calls again.”

  “Sure thing.”

  Dhalia headed back to her room and ordered room service. She looked forward to dining on her balcony and watching the sunset. When the food came she had it placed on a cute wooden table near the sliding glass doors. She had the resort's famous jerk chicken on a bed of wild rice. The scent of the chicken filled the room. The spices used on it were mouthwatering. She savored every piece.

  When she finished eating, she lounged on the balcony with a plain white bed sheet covering her, and she watched the sun drop slowly from the sky. There was a slight breeze in the air and Bob Marley was playing live in the downstairs bar. This entire trip felt so therapeutic. She was relearning how to be good company to herself. She would have liked to have shared this trip with someone, but it was still a beautiful trip.

  Her phone chirped again.

  Bradley: Please, give me another chance.

  Dhalia: How can I after what you did to me?

  Bradley: Let me see you.

  Dhalia: When I get back.

  Bradley: Now.

  Dhalia: Where are you?

  Bradley: Here.

  Dhalia: You’re freaking kidding!

  Bradley: I’m trying to win you back.

  Dhalia: I can see that, but you can’t be serious. Why would you want me back? Pestering me by the way is only going to drive me further away.

  Bradley: I think Jamaica is far enough. I care about you, and I want to fix what we’ve done. I really am in Jamaica.

  Dhalia: Your probation!

  Bradley: Money talks, and I have loads. Half could be yours.

  Dhalia: I don’t want your money. Are you sure about that? Where are you, tell me?

  Bradley: Step back out on to your balcony.

  She did what he said. She scanned the other balconies when, in the corner of her eye caught a figure. He was next door.

  She turned her phone off. She was drawn to him.

  “Unlock your door,” he commanded.

  She knew it was weird but she liked the way he took charge, even when she was scared. It reminded her of her father and gave her the sense of security she craved. She thought deep down, Bradley was that figure she was missing in her life. If she could combine Bradley and Ryan into one man, that would be the perfect soul mate for her.

  She did as she was told.

  Bradley walked into her room and took a seat on the edge of her bed. “If you want me to leave or if I do something you don’t like, just tell me to leave, and I will.”

  “Okay.”

  “Come over here.” Timidly, she went to him. “Please, sit.”

  She sat next to him. The sliding door was open and the curtain was blowing in the breeze. The Reggae music was still playing. If it was under different circumstances, this might have been romantic. Unfortunately, Dhalia wasn’t feeling it, though.

  Bradley reached over and touched her cheek. “You’re beautiful,” he stated. “I know that you sitting in the same room with me like this is huge, and I’m not going to push my luck.” He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear before he continued. “Do you think you might ever get past what I’ve done?”

  Dhalia was beyond shocked! He almost sounded vulnerable.

  She didn’t answer or move. Bradley touched her arm as though she was a fragile china doll. Her mind flashed back to the images of hi
m hitting her in the face. She remembered him forcefully putting his member into her as she resisted. Her memories were stubborn and wouldn’t find their way into her past.

  She didn’t know why she let him in her room. Was she stupid or insanely lonely?

  Dhalia tried to remain calm, but panic was clawing its way in. “Bradley, I can’t do this. You have to go, quickly. I’m going to have an attack.”

  “You can’t do what?”

  “Be this close to you. When you’re not around, strangely enough, I miss you. When you are around I get nervous and anxiety ridden, my heart feels like it is going to beat out of my chest, I flash back to your punches and you shoving yourself into my mouth.

  “This is the best I can do for now. I don’t want to be mean to you or rude, not that I don't have that right, but especially after you flew all the way out here just to see me, but please go. Now. Please leave Montego Bay, or at least make sure I don’t see you around." Dhalia walked over to the door and saw him out. She locked it behind him.

  Followed to Montego

  Dhalia turned up the ceiling fan in her room and flopped on her bed. Hugging a pillow close to her chest, she was feeling fatigued and began to drift off. She felt tired a lot lately but figured it was because of everything that had happened.

  She flashed back to the reporter asking if she was pregnant. The next morning, she got dressed in some casual clothes and headed for town in search for a drugstore to buy a pregnancy test. She needed peace of mind with everything lately and if she could find some she would.

  Dhalia picked a test up and then she went back to her resort to have breakfast and relax by the pool. Despite her niggling curiosity, the test could wait. She lathered herself with suntan lotion and closed her eyes to the morning sun. In my prone position she sensed a shadow over her eyes and warm lips descended on hers feverishly. It startled her. Her eyes fluttered open, and to her surprise, they were met with Ryan’s.

  She put her arms around his neck and kissed him back just as passionately; she had a burning desire that was becoming unrestrained.

  “What are you doing here? How did you find me?”

  He didn’t answer, he simply kept kissing her. His fingers slipped beneath her bathing suit and were met with wet excitement for him.

  “Let’s go to your room,” he said. He took her hand in his and led her upstairs. He lifted her up onto the bed and he laid on top of her. “I’m going to make love to you now,” he told her.

  She wrapped her legs around him tightly and pulled his body closer to hers. She wasn’t scared. She was excited with desire, euphoric.

  A hand touched her shoulder and shook it gently. She opened her eyes to find a woman standing over her, asking if she could take the chair next to hers. Dhalia was so frustrated when she realized it was a dream. “Sure,” she said.

  She decided to go back to her room and do the test. She was scared, but she needed to know why she never had any energy. She had to rule out any possibility of being pregnant, and if she was wrong, then she would go back to the doctor and have him figure it out.

  Dhalia read the instructions and urinated on the stick. She waited, agonized, panicked. She bided her time reading the instructions. One line, negative. Two, welcome to the world of motherhood. Yikes! She left the stick on the bathroom counter. When the time came, she didn’t have the guts to check the results all by herself. She left it untouched.

  Feeling lonely, she went back to the pool and texted Ryan.

  Dhalia: Missing you, Ryan.

  She waited.

  Ryan: Turn around.

  Her heart was in her throat.

  He was ripped like a body builder with lotion highlighting his powerful, sleek physique. He stood only a few feet from her. She had to pinch herself to make sure it wasn’t a dream.

  “How did you find me?” She sat up and stared at him.

  “Your mother,” he said taking a chair on the available side of me.

  “Ryan, is it really you?” Dhalia blinked her eyes for lack of anything better to do to confirm that she was really seeing what she thought she was.

  “Yes, it's me. Do you need to touch me for proof?”

  “I missed you, Ryan.” She wrapped her arms around him and the scent of coconut overpowered her. “Are you okay? Do you forgive me?”

  “I want to know if you are okay.” Ryan redirected.

  “If I was, I wouldn’t be here right now,” she confessed.

  “Either would I, Dhalia. I came because I need you. I promised myself that I’m not going to stop fighting for you. Nothing is the same when you’re not around.”

  “Bradley followed me here. He’s in the next room. He tried to get back with me, but I told him to leave.” She couldn’t tell Ryan fast enough.

  “Your mother and I were both afraid of that. Show me his room, and give me your key.”

  She took Ryan to Bradley’s room. He held her hand and knocked on the door. Bradley answered immediately. Her prediction was a battle would ensue.

  Ryan confronted Bradley. “I’m going to claim her now,” he bragged. She looked at Ryan, surprised by his candor. “This time, you can listen.”

  Bradley's eyes, dark and hateful, glazed over and he sucker punched Ryan in the jaw with feral force. Ryan prepared to swing Bradley back, but Bradley blocked his efforts and countered with a jab to the stomach. Ryan wasn’t ready for it and buckled over, the wind knocked out of him. When he recovered, his fist made contact with Bradley’s chin, and this time, Bradley staggered backwards. Ryan grabbed Dhalia's hand and pulled her to her room.

  Ryan’s face was bleeding from Bradley's attack. Dhalia swiftly went into the bathroom to get a towel for Ryan’s wounds when she remembered the pregnancy test on the countertop. Ryan was trailing her to the bathroom, so she yelled, “Don’t come in! Get out!” She tried to push him out of the bathroom, but he instinctively forced his way by her, pulling her in with him.

  “What are you doing?” he said in response. He saw the stick on the counter and swiped at it before Dhalia had a chance to react. He looked at her in shock and said, “You're pregnant!”

  She panicked! She ran down to the lobby and out the front doors of the resort as fast as her legs would carry her. She didn’t look back. Ryan, also an athlete, chased her easily all the way down to the beach. She was tiring. She couldn’t catch her breath. Ryan caught up to her and grabbed her by the waist. She struggled and broke down. His arms wrapped around her tight like a vise. She was sobbing, gasping to catch her breath at the same time. When she was able to recover and calm down, Ryan released her.

  “We need to talk later, but first I need you desperately! Since I boarded in Calgary, I’ve been doing nothing else but fantasizing about having sex on the beach with you," he confessed.

  He held her hand tightly as they walked on the warm sand, probably afraid she was going to bolt. Her mind was spinning with what she just found out. When they were off the resort property, they picked a secluded spot with shade. She sat down and Ryan gently pushed her upper body back so she was lying flat, kissing her lips the entire time. They weren’t normal kisses. His face pained him too much from the blow he received from Bradley. Dhalia felt so much remorse for all of Ryan’s pain and suffering that she directly caused.

  “I want you naked,” he said. He took off her bathing suit and covered her body with his. His kisses were boldly arousing, intoxicating. His lips and tongue left hers to tantalize her neck. His fingers pinched her nipples and tugged at them, causing her to gasp.

  “Pull off my shorts,” he whispered in her ear. She pulled them off and freed his throbbing member. He was already for her. His upper body resembled that of a cobra, his muscles wide, then narrowing off at the waist. She touched the contours of his upper body and didn’t stop until she got to the part that aroused her most.

  He stroked her hair and said, “You don’t have to.”

  Dhalia eagerly took him into her mouth. She wanted to please him by making wild circular mo
tions with her tongue, licking the tip and bringing him deeply into her mouth repeatedly. She stroked him up and down with her tongue, spending the most of her time at the tip. She could feel him in the back of her throat. His husky groans encouraged her to suck harder, faster, deeper.

  “Your turn.” His fingers touched her sensitive skin that was already wet with arousal. He slid his fingers into her and then let them slide down her leg, proving to her just how juicy wet she had become and how much she wanted him. His tongue danced at her inner thigh and stopped at her soft pink folds. He delved his tongue deep within her, until she was pleading with him to take her.

  “Please,” she begged.

  He stopped everything and looked into her eyes. His body was dripping with sweat, fully aroused. “I can’t hold back on you this time. I’ve waited too long,” he warned. Ryan was throbbing with desire as he slowly punctured her entry. Her hips and pelvis shuddered with his rhythmic thrusts; she could tell he was trying to hold back so he wouldn’t hurt her. Each stroke slightly harder and faster than the last.

  The thrusting turned to a pounding sensation that, from his beastly body against hers, was making her crazy with lust. She felt like she was going to combust. She could hold out no longer. She looked into his eyes and cried with excitement alerting him that she was losing control. Her body shook from the aftermath as he allowed himself to release within her. They cried out over the intimacy they felt, as their lovemaking cleansed their souls.

  Ryan pulled back on his pants and then helped Dhalia with her bathing suit. They got up and went hand in hand to the water where they stood, neck deep, kissing, before they returned to the resort for lunch.

  “I’m the last man you’re going to make love to,” he avowed with confidence.

  She smiled back at him. “You’re the only man I want to make love to,” she assured.

  “Don’t worry about the baby, I’m sure it’s ours,” he said way too casually. “We'll raise it together.”

  She stopped dead in her tracks. “What are you talking about? When we were together, we tried having one and it didn’t happen. What if this baby is Bradley’s? Besides that, I am not even sure I want to keep the baby.” She shuddered at the thought, but it was true.Could she bring this baby up? She had no idea whether Bradley or Ryan was the father! She still couldn't get the idea into her head that she was pregnant!