by Nic Saint
“How could I ever forget? You only told us about a hundred gazillion times already.”
She stuck out her tongue, knowing full well she was behaving like a twelve-year-old and not caring not bit. Julie always had this effect on her.
“Girls, girls,” muttered Mom absentmindedly. She’d finally opted to go with the blue plaid skirt, and was now smoothing it while studying her reflection in the mirror. “What do you think?”
Julie rolled her eyes. “You look fine, Mom.”
“Yes. You look really pretty.”
“Prettier than Auntie Dixie?” she ventured, chewing her lower lip and suddenly looking mischievous.
Both girls had to laugh at this. It wasn’t hard to look prettier than Auntie Dixie, who had somehow inherited all the masculine genes in the family when finally venturing outside the womb. Erin often thought she was actually a man merely pretending to be a woman.
When finally she had the house to herself, she trudged upstairs and took in the devastation that was her room. She’d displayed all possible items of clothing she wanted to bring along to India on her bed, her pristinely empty trunk placed against the headboard. Now the big trick was to fit it all in.
Somehow, the task seemed to defy the laws of nature. Still, she had to try. Even though Soph had told her not to bring too much—they could buy anything they wanted right there, and much cheaper than in the West at that—she still couldn’t part with her best T-shirts, her three flower print dresses, her five jeans and that cashmere sweater that brought out the color of her eyes so well.
After all, even though she hadn’t told Sophie, her one purpose for this trip was to find a mate for life, and how was she ever going to do that except than by looking her absolute gorgeous best?
And since she wasn’t really pretty by nature—with her slim build, her ratty red hair, all those horrible freckles and her plain face—the only way she could entice a man to give her a second look—one of the prerequisites of landing him in her bed—was by drawing the attention away from her unimpressive features and wow him with her outfit.
So for the next two hours, she set to work fitting the contents of two suitcases into one. And she’d almost succeeded too, when her phone rang, and she had to abandon her efforts to close the suitcase by sitting on top of it and willing the lock to close.
The moment she heaved her butt, the lid swung open again, and half of her stuff tumbled out.
Blowing a straying strand of hair from her brow, she heaved a curse, and picked up her phone.
“Yes, Soph. Almost ready, Soph,” she answered dutifully when inquired if she was done packing already.
A loud squee had her put the phone away from her ear for a spell.
“Can you believe we’re actually going?” her friend squeaked, the sound almost too high for the human ear. “We’re actually going to India, Erin! To India!”
“I know!” she responded with what she hoped was sufficient enthusiasm.
Sophie wasn’t fooled, however. She could swear Sophie had a supernatural gift for sensing her moods. “You don’t sound happy,” she said in an accusing tone. “Why aren’t you happy?”
“I am happy,” she assured her. “Why shouldn’t I be? India, here we come. Squee!”
“What’s wrong? Is it Bart? Did he call you again? Erin, you have to start blocking his calls. I told you a million times he’s the harbinger of bad news.”
“It’s not Bart,” she said truthfully. In all honesty, Bart had probably forgotten all about her the minute she broke up with him.
“What is it, then? I know you, Erin. You’ve been fretting.”
She was right. She had been fretting. She sighed and decided she’d probably spend more energy trying to deflect Sophie’s well-meant efforts at cheering her up than telling her what was really bothering her.
“What if I don’t find my soulmate, Soph? What if in the whole of India, I can’t find a single guy worth pursuing? Or, worse, what if there’s plenty of guys but none of them are interested in me. Or worse still! What if the one guy whom I’m meant to be with is out there, and we never even meet? India is so big, what are the odds of us ever finding each other?”
The question had been driving her nuts. The more she contemplated the odds of she and Mister Right meeting in a country the size of a continent the more dispirited she became.
“You worry too much, hon,” was Sophie’s considered opinion. “Think less and do more is my advice. Just enjoy the ride and the universe will take care of the rest.”
“You think so? But what about the odds?”
“Screw the odds!” came her friend’s somewhat heated response. “You’re finding your soulmate and that’s the end of it. Now tell me you finished packing.”
She eyed her suitcase critically. It looked as if a minor explosion had claimed it for its own. “I, erm, finished packing.”
“Good. Now the next time you start whining about your soulmate, I’m gonna start hitting you where it hurts, you hear me?”
She automatically rubbed her shoulder. Ever since they met in third grade, Sophie had employed this rather harsh technique of teaching her about the facts of life by hitting her each time she did something she didn’t approve of, and rewarding her when she did. The rewards usually consisted of candy, the punishment of a punch to the shoulder.
She don’t know if it really helped. She still had the tendency to overthink things, and no matter how many times Sophie tried to ‘encourage’ her to ‘think less and do more’, it didn’t seem to work.
“You know what?” suddenly suggested Soph. “Why don’t you simply forget all about boys and soulmates and all that crap and focus on having a great time with your best friend? As a rule, the best things in life only seem to come along when you least expect them, right?”
“Erm…”
“Trust me. They do. So the less you think about your perfect guy, the higher your chances of meeting him.”
It was one way of looking at things, of course, though she kinda doubted the philosophy behind it. But since she’d already spent so much time feeling miserable about guys in general and potential boyfriends in particular, she decided that perhaps Sophie had a point.
“You know what? Maybe I’ll do just that. I’ll forget all about boys and focus on having a great time.”
“That’s the spirit. And trust me, we are going to have a great time. In fact, never in the history of the world have two chicks had a better time than the time we’re going to be having!”
She kinda lost her there, but she liked the general idea, and when finally she’d managed to get her trunk to close—all her favorite clothes inside—she felt as if she were going on the adventure of a lifetime. And this time, no silly thoughts of boys or men were going to spoil it for her.
Chapter 4
The plane landed with a deafening roar. Raminar stood gazing out at the gracefully gliding colossus as it touched down on the tarmac, Sam straining at the leash.
“It’s all right,” Raminar murmured to the nervous dog. “Just a big bird making a lot of noise.”
His sunglasses firmly in place, he stood in the sweltering heat, wondering if he shouldn’t return indoors and cool off. If Burke hadn’t specified the hangar as their meeting place, he wouldn’t have braved the midday heat for all the gold coin in the world. At the beach, he could take the sun and like it, too, for there was always the sea to dip into to cool his melting brow. But here in the airport, with all its concrete, glass and asphalt, the sun was relentless and barely tolerable.
Instead of grumbling about Burke’s precautions, he decided to practice his thousand-yard stare instead. Burke was a friend, after all, and didn’t deserve to be stood up. Not if he could help it, that was.
He’d been waiting for perhaps fifteen minutes, when a small group of passengers approached. Searching the faces for a sign of his friend, he was surprised to find him not amongst those present.
He quickly checked his watch. He was pretty sure this
was the flight from Mumbai, and hadn’t Burke sent him a message he’d be on it?
Cursing inwardly, he gave the tourist bunch a nasty look. Most of them were dressed in loud shirts and oversized Bermudas, their hairy white stalks for legs an obvious giveaway of their Goa virginity.
As they streaked past him on their way to the terminal building, a young woman bumped into him. He started grumbling an apology when he caught sight of her flaming red hair. In spite of the heat and the long plane ride, it whisked around her head in the gentle breeze. Its copper strands were tousled, but she didn’t seem to care, her lively conversation with her friend demanding her complete attention.
That’s why she had bumped into him. She’d probably never even seen him standing there, like a rock splitting the sea of tourists.
On impact, she almost tripped and fell but he reached and clasped her arm in an iron grip before her knee hit the pavement.
She looked up at him, noticing him for the first time. Her eyes were even more remarkable than her hair. The deep emerald hue dotted with flecks of gold… He thought a person cold probably drown in eyes like that. Her cherry lips pursed as she started to mutter a few words of gratitude for preventing a nasty scrape, and for a split second, he fought the urge to claim those lips right then and there, to cover them with his own, just to see how she would respond.
But then the moment passed, and she moved past him, her friend, a rather chubby young woman wearing her hair like a helmet, giving him curious looks.
He stared after the girl as she disappeared inside the terminal building. She was lithe, petite, yet pretty, her summer dress revealing pert breasts pushed up by a pink silky bra. She’d soon loose both bra and dress, he knew, and spend the rest of the holiday prancing around in bikini, probably chased around by all the guys in the hotel where she was staying.
Then he shook the image of her from his mind. He was way beyond women at this point in his life. And she was probably too young for him anyway. She looked like a college student, that innocent gleam in her eyes unmistakable.
He focused his attention back where it mattered: on the runway where his asshole friend Burke now clearly was standing him up.
He checked his phone again to see if he hadn’t messaged him? Nope, not a word.
And he was just resigned to return inside and head back to his cabin, when a gruff voice sounded a couple yards off.
“You look like an idiot in that outfit, Bradley.”
His lips curled into a smile at the sound of that voice, unmistakably belonging to his one and only friend.
“Burke. I should have known it was you, sneaking up on me like that.”
The big guy held out a hand the size of a coal shovel, and enveloped Raminar’s equally oversized mitt with it, then pulled him in for a hearty hug.
“You’re late,” grumbled Raminar.
“I know,” agreed the other man. “Had to let the tourists off first.”
“Still the gentleman, huh?”
Jake Burke stood grinning at him, and he marveled how little the big guy had changed since they’d last met. Still larger than life, all gleaming black muscle barely contained within a tank top that did little to hide his bulging chest and brawny arms.
“It’s good to see you, Raminar. I missed you.”
Raminar lifted a single brow. “What? Going all soft on me all of a sudden, are you? Long flight?”
Instead of answering, Burke stared down at the dog Raminar was holding. “What the hell is that?”
“Sam, this is Burke. Burke, meet Sam.”
Burke emitted a short bark of laughter. “This must surely be the ugliest mutt I’ve ever seen. Where did you pick him up? In a landfill?”
“Don’t confuse things, Burke. Sam picked me up, not the other way around. And he’s a shy, by the way.”
Burke shook his head, an amused expression on his face. “I knew you were weird, Bradley, but if I’d known you were this weird, I would have stayed home.”
Raminar clasped an arm around his buddy’s shoulder, and steered him into the terminal building. “I’m glad you decided to come. I need your help.”
Burke guffawed. “I know you need my help, partner. Don’t worry. I really do.”
Sam, always one to put in the last word, gave a short bark. This elicited another burst of laughter from the hulking Burke. “See? Even the dog agrees with me.”
“Yeah yeah. If you’re done making fun of me, perhaps we can finally get down to business? Did you bring the stuff?”
Burke grinned widely, displaying an impressive set of even white teeth. “What did you think I came all the way down here for? Of course I brought the stuff.”
Chapter 5
Sophie watched as the two guys walked past her, wondering what the hell they were up to. The blond one she’d seen when he’d helped up her friend just now, but the other? He was on her flight, seated right behind her in fact. Each time she’d gone to the bathroom—and she’d gone a lot—long flights always had that effect on her bladder—he’d been watching her intently, his chocolate eyes practically undressing her each time.
Not that she minded. She liked the look of him. He was big and strong, yes, but also seemed kind. For a brief moment she’d wondered whether to apply for the mile high club, but then had decided against it. After all, she really didn’t know the guy, and for all she knew he could be married, or worse, gay, or worse still, an absolute prick.
But something told her he was neither married, gay or a prick. In fact, the more she watched him watching her, the more she thought he might be just what the doctor ordered.
After all, it wasn’t just Erin who’d come to India seeking a soulmate. With the disastrous state her love life was in, she could really use a break. And this guy might be looking for just such a break as well. Or else he wouldn’t be staring at her as if ready to devour her whole.
And then there was the fact he was black. She wondered if there was some truth to what they said about black guys and their…
She swallowed at the thought of it. If this guy put his hands on her, he’d probably handle her just like a big girl needed handling, and if his cock turned out to be of humongous proportions as well… She swallowed away a growing lump in her throat, and thought she felt something stir between her legs.
The two men ambled past, but just when she thought the big guy had forgotten all about her, he directed a look at her so smoldering, she all but melted on the spot. The next moment, her cheeky side had taken control, and she blew a kiss at the guy. For a moment, his eyebrows shot up, then a slow smile spread on his lips, and he started walking over to her.
Her throat constricted. Oh, God. What had she done now? He was coming!
Approaching her with steady step, he bent down and fixed her with one of those sultry stares she’d grown accustomed to on the plane.
“Young lady,” he offered. “I hope the flight was to your satisfaction?”
“Why? Are you the captain?” she heard herself ask. God, she was just making things worse!
He smiled at this. “Not exactly, but from the way you kept running off to the toilet, I couldn’t help but wonder if everything was all right with your…” He cast a suggestive look between her thighs, then captured her eyes again with those molten orbs of his. “… equipment.”
“My equipment is fine, thank you very much,” she bit back. She didn’t know where she got the nerve, but she then directed a similar look at the guy’s package, which even through his khaki slacks appeared as impressive as the rest of him. “How about you?”
He brought his face closer to hers, his powerful arms framing her face as he gripped the back of the bench. “No complaints yet.” Then he grinned. “Any time you want to…” He pursed his lips. “… sample the goods, be my guest, Miss…”
“Racklin. Sophie Racklin.” Her cheeks were burning hot, and she couldn’t believe he’d just said what he said.
He took her hand in his, dwarfing it in the process. My-god-his-hands-
are-big-you-know-what-they-say-about-hands-and-cocks! He pressed his lips on her hands, his eyes never leaving hers. “Burke. Jake Burke. At your service. Sophie.”
She merely giggled nervously. Then he gave her a brief nod, and retreated to join his friend again.
“See you around, Jake,” Sophie belted out.
He turned back and gave her a small salute, then stalked off.
“Sophie! What was that all about!” intoned her friend.
“I… have no idea,” confessed Sophie. “He just came over and… Did you see the size of his… hands? My God! The guy’s huge!”
“He is,” agreed Erin. “And not just his hands. Seems to me the rest of him is just as big.”
Sophie slapped a hand across her brow. “Dammit! I should have asked where he was staying! Aaargh!”
“Don’t worry. Like you said, if he truly is your soulmate, the universe will find a way to bring you back together again.”
Sophie eyed her friend blankly. “Who fed you that nonsense?”
Erin frowned. “You did?”
“Oh. Right. I guess I did.” She shrugged. “Well, you’re probably right. If I’m meant to be with that guy—” She broke into a wide grin. “Can you believe he said that thing about sampling his goods!” She cackled loudly. “I don’t mind if I do, good sir!”
Erin merely smiled. She was thinking about the well-hung gentleman’s friend. The one who had saved her from a nasty fall before.
While Sophie was having her interesting, erm, conversation with Jake Burke, the man had been giving her the eye.
Though at first she hadn’t noticed, he’d definitely been checking her out. She’d been too busy reading Lonely Planet India, but then had happened to look up straight into his eyes. The moment she noticed him, he looked away, pretending to be busy with his dog, but not before giving her a tiny hint of a smile.
She’d nodded in recognition, and had frowned at the unwanted attention.
He looked… interesting. Long blond hair reaching to his collar and clear blue eyes indicated he might be some surfer dude, but the khaki shirt and slacks belied that impression. For some reason, he struck her as military. She thought it was probably the steady, thoughtful way he gazed upon the world. When those blue eyes had rested on her for a moment, she’d noticed a depth in them she’d never seen in a man. And he unmistakably was exactly that: a man. All the guys she’d ever hung out with had been boys, but this man had long ago outgrown that stage in his development.