Good Intentions (Welcome to Paradise) (Volume 2) (17 page)

“I think it’s a little soon to talk marriage, but I think even in my screwed up head, I’d like to be married one day and have a wife and family.” Taking one step up the back stairs to the house, she is now eye to eye with me. I lower my voice, feeling sentimental, and say, “I’d like you a part of that future.”

Wistfully she sighs. “You do?”

“Mmhm, I do.”

“Mr. Ashford, you say the sweetest things to me.”

I laugh at the formality. “So how attached are you to that name of yours, Miss Wray?”

“Oh, ummm… I’ve been called Mallory my whole life so I’m kind of attached,” she jokes, knowing what I mean, but I don’t bother correcting her. We may be crossing lines that neither of us is quite ready to cross yet.

We go inside silently and snuggle on the couch. I wrap my arm around her, and we lie in the dark looking out the expansive windows, both lost in our thoughts. Mine are wrapped up in the crazy concept that I will probably be someone’s husband, maybe even a dad, one day. Crazy because two months ago, I thought I wouldn’t even see my twenty-fifth birthday and here I am thinking of a future—a future with the lovely Miss Wray in my arms.

Sleep comes easily for us. It’s the mornings that are hard. We’re safe in our cocoon, our bubble, safe in each other’s arms, but we know we can’t stay like this forever. So each morning we wake up earlier than necessary to appreciate a few extra minutes of time together. Sometimes that’s spent holding each other or making love, but it renews our bond and strengthens our connection.

I drop Mallory off the next day and head into work. It’s the busy season for the hotel and my schedule is packed. I’m basically full time, which reminds me that I could be making a lot more money for the same amount of hours if I go to New York, and the novelty of this job wore off a long time ago. At one time I loved the constant attention I got. Now I dread it. It’s shallow, superficial stuff. I’ll admit that I used to perpetuate this playboy summer fling image, but now I’m actually trying to work. So the handsy housewives and the teenagers crushing on me have become a bit of an annoyance. The co-eds pick up on the no-go vibe I send and don’t even try.

With Mallory on my mind, I think of all the guys that frequent Big Kehones, but don’t allow myself to dwell because it will drive me mad. Kind of similar to the thoughts I have when I think of her back in Colorado with all those college guys. There are approximately fourteen thousand of them—I might have done some research in my spare time.

I pop up on the board to show the class how to do it one more time and then give each a giant foam board and send them out to the ocean.

Close to six o’clock, the gang shows up. They stop by to say hi before heading to the bar down the beach. Keeping my hands and lips to myself with Mallory when they stopped by was fucking torture and the distance puts me in a bad mood, but I don’t want to piss off the bosses and I really should be paying attention to my clients.
Fuck!
Since when did I start giving a shit about work?

I don’t get the shack closed up until seven-thirty. That’s almost two hours of missed drinking opportunities with my friends and time lost with Mallory. When I finally jog over to meet them, I find them under an umbrella shaded table. The guys are sharing a pitcher of beer and the girls all have tall fruity looking drinks in front of them.

When Mallory sees me coming, she runs to meet me. Jumping up, she grabs hold of my shoulders, and wraps her legs around my waist while attacking my mouth. I catch her and feel the heat of our connection that always exists between us. Her body relaxes in my arms and we both deepen the kiss. When she releases her mouth from mine, she says, “God, I missed you.”

I give her the smirk I know drives her crazy and she attacks my mouth again until we’re both hit in the head with flying chunks of cocktail fruit. Then Murphy yells, “Dudes, this is a public beach. Save the humping for later.”

Everyone cracks up, including us.

She slowly unlatches her legs from around me and I pick a piece of pineapple out of her hair, obviously from one of their frou-frou drinks. Our eyes shift from the fruit in my hand to meet each other’s mischievous gaze. Then we burst out laughing. “I might have to save this for later,” I say, winking at her.

“I’m gonna hold you to that, baby.” I love it when she calls me baby.

We continue drinking at the bar, getting more buzzed for another hour before Sunny asks, “So, what’s the deal, you two? School starts in less than a month. What’s the game plan, Stan?”

All four of them stop whatever they’re doing at the time and are suddenly very attentive as they stare between Mallory and me.

Mallory turns to me, so I respond, “Well, as you guys know, we’re together. I know we’ve kind of disappeared—”

Sunny chides playfully. “Kind of? That’s an understatement. It’s almost time for the girl to leave the island and this is the first time I’ve seen her in almost two weeks outside of work.”

“I’ve totally bogarted her time, but,” I pause, suddenly feeling the pressure of their eyes bearing down on me, “honestly, we haven’t figured a lot of it out yet, but we’re together.” Then I try to seamlessly add to the conversation. “I might move to Colorado.”

Mallory gasps, “What? What about the deadline?”

Zach leans his elbows on the table, staring at me in disbelief. “When did you decide that?”

I look at him, more wanting to deal with my girlfriend’s reaction, not his right now. But I do because I know this seems out of the blue. “I said I might. That’s all.”

Turning back to Mallory, confusion is written across her face, so I squeeze her hand in comfort. “I’ve just been thinking about it,” I whisper. “There would be a lot that goes into a move like that, especially since I would have to find a job and stuff.”

Sunny clears her throat and elbows Zach. “We should give them some privacy.”

Zach stands, and says, “We’re gonna go watch the last of the sunset, dude. Catch ya laters.” He takes Sunny’s hand as she jumps off her barstool and kisses him on the cheek.

Our eyes go to Kate and Murphy who are also standing, seeming ready to bolt. When I look at him, Murphy says, “I’d tell you what we’re gonna go do, but I know you don’t want to hear about it. So we’re just gonna go.”

“Yeah, probably not,” I quip, scrunching my nose up in disgust.

They turn and start walking toward the parking lot, but we see Kate rubbing his shoulder blades under the tank top he’s wearing and hear her say, “You’re getting fuzzy again, hot stuff.”

I instantly feel the bile rising. “What the fuck is wrong with her?”

Mallory laughs, but it’s a nervous laugh which brings me back to what we were talking about.

“Hey,” I say, resting my hands on her legs and turning in my chair to face her. “I said I’ve only been thinking about it. I’m not pressuring you into anything. I love you and being here at work all day has made me think about making some changes.”

“Where would you live?” She asks concerned.

I laugh, “I guess not with you.”

“You think we should live together? That’s crazy! I mean, we love each other yes, but living together? What about my roommate Sarah? She wouldn’t want a guy moving in with us and I can’t bail on her senior year.”

I throw my hands up to stop her from getting upset. “I’m not asking you to. I just made a joke, that’s all. Obviously, it’s not the time to talk about this.”

“But you wouldn’t have said it if you hadn’t thought about it. Talk to me, Evan. Let’s discuss this.” She takes my hand into both of hers and rubs her thumbs over my knuckles.

With my free hand, I run it across her cheek memorizing the gentle curve of her cheekbone and letting my thumb linger on her bottom lip. She relaxes against my hand, closing her eyes momentarily, and giving into the feeling. I watch her intently not even realizing I’m staring.

“What?” she asks, soft spoken, but surprised.

My gulp is heavy, giving away my emotions of the moment. “I…I just love you so much, Mallory.”

“I love you, too. What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know what came over me. It was like…” I laugh, embarrassed. “It’s silly. Never mind,” I say, shaking my head.

“No, please. Tell me.”

Weakness isn’t one of my strong suits. Being this open is hard for me. She deserves nothing less, but that doesn’t make it any easier. I can’t weigh a guilt trip on her because of the near future. She needs to go live her life, not worry about me and my sappy side. I stand up. “Come on, let’s go.”

The bartender’s voice is louder than the tropical music playing overhead. “Your brah’s left ya hangin’ and stiffed ya with the bill.”

“Shit,” I mumble under my breath and wave. “That’s cool. I’ll take care of it.”

I walk to the bar and he hands me the tab. “Really? I had two beers and get hit with a ninety-five dollar check?”

Mallory peeks over my shoulder, and offers, “You’re right, you shouldn’t have to pay that. I made decent tips today, I can pay it.”

“Keep your money. I know you worked hard for it. I can pay for it no problem. I was just griping about it is all.”

“No, I really want to help,” she says, reaching for the bill, but I grab her hand to stop her. “Let me get the tip then.”

Grabbing her hand before she tries to drop a twenty on the bar, I fold her hand around the bill and kiss it before clarifying, “Honey, I don’t want you to pay for any of it. I got it.”

I pay the bill and the tip and we walk back toward the surf shack. She’s quiet, concentrating on something. For as solid as I feel in our commitment to each other, I still worry if she’s happy. “Do you want to share your thoughts?”

“You’ve always been able to read me so well, Evan. Any guesses?”

After taking a long pull of the sea air in through my nose and exhaling loudly through my mouth, I venture a guess, “Colorado?”

She shakes her head, “No, but we should talk about that some more again. The logistics and all of that.” She looks down shyly at her bare feet in the sand, and wiggles her toes. “You called me ‘honey’ back there at the bar.”

“Yeah. I’m not following.”

“That’s so, so sweet of you.”

“Aw, come here, honey.” I wrap my arms around her and peck a light kiss on top of her head. “None of those other chumps ever called you by a nickname?”

“No, I’ve always just been Mallory.”

“Well, I call you ‘baby’ a lot.”

“I know, but when you call me baby it’s like sex rolling off your tongue. It’s all implications and promises. But when you called me ‘honey’ it was like you were speaking straight to my heart.”

“It’s little things like that that make you so special. Don’t ever let anyone tell you different.” I tilt her chin up and barely touch my lips to hers. “Honey.” I kiss her. “Baby.” Kiss. “Honey… mmmm.” I hum with my lips pressed against hers. I steal one more kiss interrupting the perfection that is her mouth. She moans into mine and I know I’ve done good.

Her lips intensify against mine and I taste coconut, alcohol, and… pineapple. Oh dear lord, please have mercy on me as I’m about to fuck my girlfriend right here in the sand in front of a bunch of tourists who are meandering all around this beach. She presses her hips against me and I lose all sense of self. I pick her up, tossing her over my shoulder, and make a run for the shack while fumbling in my pocket for the keys. They fly from my hand in a clumsy move and land in the sand.

I set Mallory down acting all calm, ‘acting’ being the operative part of this sentence, because at this point there is nothing calm about my throbbing cock. Squatting down, I forget all about the keys because I’m sidetracked by her bare legs and slide both my hands up the inside of her thighs slowly, methodically, and seductively. Up a little more and I slip one hand up the inside of her cut-off shorts, appreciating the feel of her silky skin. I move my hand just a bit further and… no panties. My girl came out to play tonight and play we shall.

Dragging my gaze from the hem of her cut-offs up to her eyes, I see the internal struggle she’s fighting to keep them open. I watch her face, lips parted for deeper breaths and standing still as I slide even further until I’m touching her most forbidden. She’s already so ready for me, which is such a fucking turn on.

Reaching back down, I grab the keys from the sand and stand up. After unlocking the door, I smile then pull her in quickly, shutting the door behind her. I reach under the counter and grab the emergency flashlight, turn it on, but away from facing us.