Read Kelly's Jellyfish Romance (Romantic Short Stories) Online
Authors: Kristina Belle
Kelly finds him standing by the lobby fountain, dressed in a
white cotton safari type short sleeved shirt and white cargo pants. Kelly is
pleased. He is even more handsome than when he was wearing the bathing suit. As
she limps slowly over to him in her soft low cut summer dress, Alex meets her
halfway. "Your leg’s still sore, huh?" "Yes" Kelly admits
"and itchy". Alex nodded his head. "I’m not surprised. The rash
will be like that for a while. I’ll try to think of something to help take your
mind off of it." As he escorts her into the restaurant, Kelly begins
thinking of several immediate things she wants Alex to do to take her mind off
her injury.
As they sit down, she realizes he’d continued speaking while
she was daydreaming about some delightful bedroom things. "I'm sorry I was
in another world and completely missed what you were saying." Kelly admits
as she sips her water. Alex repeats his question "Are you seeing anyone,
anyone special?" After nearly spitting out her water, Kelly regains her
composure and confesses her last boyfriend ran off to Las Vegas and married
another woman. She admits she was completely blindsided and terribly hurt. She
had no clue that he was seeing another woman, someone she thought was a friend,
while staying in her apartment and sleeping with her.
Although he gives his condolences, Kelly notices Alex
doesn’t look at all sorry to hear she is single. Over a long leisurely dinner,
the two click and get to know each other better. While having desert Kelly
shares the story of Lola wrangling complimentary gifts out of hotel management.
Alex laughs out loud. "Is her brother really a litigation attorney?"
Kelly confirms that yes, he really is. That was how she and Lola met. Kelly
works as his paralegal and knows how good of an attorney Lola’s brother is.
Then she asks Alex what he does for a living, is he still in the coastguard?
"No, I work for the FBI now." He said simply, clearly not wanting to
say more about it. Although intrigued, Kelly wisely doesn’t pursue the subject.
Instead she invites him to share her couple's massage the
next morning. Jumping at a chance to spend more time with her, he says he would
be delighted. As they finish their meal, Alex asks if Kelly's leg feels good enough
to take a walk on the beach. Although her leg is still burning a little and is
sore, Kelly isn’t about to pass up a chance to sit under the stars with this
nice handsome man. Kelly wonders if he could be the one, the one she hungers to
meet. One far better than the man she wasted three years of her life with. The
pair sits together and watches the waves wash gently up onto the beach.
A full moon lights up the sky, its reflection shimmering on
the water. It’s a night begging for romance. When Kelly turns toward Alex to
speak he leans toward her and kisses her, at first tenderly, then with a rising
passion as she responds to him. When his stroking hand brushes against her sore
leg Kelly's cry of pain abruptly ends the moment. Apologizing profusely, Alex
walks Kelly back to her hotel room. Promising to see her in the morning for
breakfast, and then the massage, he wishes her a goodnight. Before leaving, he
gives Kelly a brief, but achingly sweet kiss. Feeling frustrated Kelly goes
right to bed, feeling lonely as she struggles to fall asleep. Finally falling
into restless sleep she dreams about Alex.
The next morning, Kelly wakes up to find Lola not in their
room. Checking her phone, Kelly discovers Lola left her a voicemail. Listening
to the message, Kelly finds her friend spent the night with Roberto, and hoped
Kelly was similarly occupied with "her savior". She would join Kelly
for lunch. After taking another hot bath to soothe her leg, Kelly dresses and
heads downstairs to have breakfast with Alex. They enjoy each other's company
along with their breakfast of fresh tropical fruits, croissants and fresh
coffee. When Alex asks what Lola was doing to stay out of trouble, Kelly
laughs. "Oh, she is definitely not staying out of trouble. She spent the
night with a new acquaintance. An Italian man named Roberto Quattrochi."
When Alex hears the name both his eyebrows shoot up. "Is there something
wrong?" Kelly asks. Alex reassures her it is nothing important and asks if
she would like more coffee. Kelly watches as Alex takes the cups to be
refilled, and then stares at the beautiful morning tableau on the beach. The
azure waters look inviting but Kelly thinks after yesterday she will be more
comfortable at the swimming pool.
Alex returns to the table carefully carrying two coffees. He
seems deep in thought, as if wondering where his new friendship would lead. As
he sits down and smiles at Kelly her cell phone rings. Lola is calling. While
the women quickly exchange stories, Alex keeps his eyes on Kelly, smiling all
the time. He loves the contrast between her long curly red hair and oval green
eyes. While covering the phone with her hand, she looks at him. "Lola says
Roberto invited the two of us for lunch. Somewhere called the…" Kelly
double checks the restaurant's name,
The Blue Doubloon
. Do you want to
go?" Alex heaves a sigh, and manages "Of course, tell her I'd be glad
to see them".
The couple makes their way to the hotel's spa for the
complimentary couples massage. While her masseuse carefully padded the table to
make Kelly’s injured leg comfortable, Kelly can’t help but watch Alex undress.
My God, she feels faint, he’s completely undressing .When he throws her a saucy
wink before lying down on his own massage table Kelly decides she could definitely
get used to frequently checking out that view. By the time the massage is
finished Kelly is feeling completely relaxed. Thanks to Lola and her
negotiating skill it was just the right touch. After the two masseuses left the
room, Alex gently draws Kelly into his embrace. Kissing her passionately, he
picks up where they left off the previous night. Before things become too
heated in a public spa, Alex stops, and brings Kelly back to the privacy of his
room. This time taking care to avoid her injury, the two make love. It just
seems right.
Dragging themselves from the bed, Kelly and Alex head to the
hotel exit ramp to catch a cab into town. When they get downstairs, Lola is
waiting in the lobby. She explains that Roberto will drive them to lunch in his
town car. Kelly is surprised Alex and Roberto seem to know each other. She is
even more surprised when the two men shake hands and begin speaking in Italian.
Kelly suspects there is more going on than a mere lunch date. But what could it
be? Seeing her concerned expression, Alex hastens to reassure Kelly.
"Everything is fine. Roberto and I have a quick errand to run while you
ladies have a drink before lunch. We’ll soon join you at the restaurant."
Speaking a little louder and with more emphasis he continues "Then I will
finish my vacation! Be sure to wait for me." The Italian man chuckles and
gets into the driver's seat.
It’s only a five minute drive to the restaurant. Kelly and
Lola get out of the car and head inside. Looking over her shoulder at Alex,
Kelly sees Roberto hand him a pistol and handcuffs, which he conceals inside
his suit coat. Seeing her eyes following him looking so worried Alex quickly
runs up the restaurant steps to give her a kiss. "Everything is fine, I
swear" he murmurs quietly into her ear. "It's just a quick arrest,
and then Roberto and his crew from Interpol will take over. They simply need a
FBI agent present. Now quit worrying and have a drink. Roberto and I will soon
join you.” Gently he ushers Kelly into the restaurant and rejoins Roberto
outside.
Kelly and Lola have a drink. After waiting 30 minutes they
decide to go ahead and eat. Although the food at the restaurant is incredible,
Kelly can’t help but worry. She is picking at her shrimp platter when the
distinct sound of gunfire erupts from behind the restaurant. There is loud
shouting and the crashing of broken dishes. Suddenly a tough looking Mexican
man comes running full speed through the restaurant. Alex, Roberto, and a few
other men are in hot pursuit. Thinking quickly, Kelly shoves her table's empty
chair right in front of the fleeing man as he comes barreling towards them. The
fleeing man trips and falls to the floor. Alex leaps onto the man, pinning him
down, finally subduing him. Roberto handcuffs the suspect and leads him away.
Mission accomplished Alex brushes himself off, shakes his head and smiles at
Kelly at the same time chiding her. “Kelly, you were incredibly brave but
please never again. If you’d been injured I’d feel terrible.”
Six months later Kelly is carrying a cardboard moving box up
the front steps of her new home. She is so happy. Kelly always liked warm
weather and moving from Boston to Alex’s home town of Corpus Christi, Texas is
like a dream come true. Their new home is only a 15 minute drive to the white
sand beaches and warm Gulf waters of Padre Island. She is sure her passion for
writing will be rekindled in her new home. The spare bedroom will set up as a
perfect work at home office. It’ll make a fine writer’s den. Alex’s FBI job
requires frequent traveling so she’ll try her hand at writing romantic book
after book while eagerly waiting for his return home. Since meeting Alex she
has a lot of new material to write about.
On her left hand, an engagement ring sparkles in the bright
afternoon sun. Walking into the home, she sits the box in her new living room,
and is promptly blinded as Alex puts his hands over her eyes. "Come on, I
have a surprise for you" he whispers in her ear. Carefully walking his
blindfolded fiancé through the home, he stops in their bedroom. When he
uncovers her eyes, Kelly sees a huge oil painting hanging on the wall. In the
picture a perfect couple that looks very much like Kelly and Alex stand
together in front of the ocean, watching the sunset. The water is aglow with
pinks, blues, and oranges. "A little memorial of how we met" Alex
tells her proudly. As Kelly kisses her beloved, she knows that even without the
amazing painting, she will never forget the vacation that brought them
together. She is really thankful she met up with that jellyfish.
I hope you enjoyed reading my little short story. I have
more outlined and plan to write many more. Please help me to improve my
writing. I welcome honest reviews as they will help me write the type of story
you want to read. If I’m on the right track or need to change course please let
me know.
Many Thanks,
Kristina Belle
My website is new so don’t expect too much yet but take a
look. I’ll be adding to it and open to suggestions. You can always reach me by
using the “contact me” form at the website.
By Kristina Belle
A Simple Task. Copyright 2013. All
rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced
or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including
photocopying, recording, or by any information retrieval or system without
express written permission from the publisher.
Table of Contents
Parking her car in front of an elegant Chicago home Ami
O’Reilly hesitates before getting out. For long months she has been struggling
under the weight of her father’s debt to the Roma family. Although Ami dearly loved
her father John, she hated his gambling addiction with a passion. Over the
years it caused him to lose so much- his self-respect, his job, his home, his
wife, and eventually even his life. Ami grew up struggling to take care of
herself and her little sister, Nicole, after their mother left them and their
father. Life had been a constant string of incredible highs when John won, and
terrible, terrifying lows when he lost. As soon as she was old enough, Ami took
her sister and moved away from him. Now that Ami and her sister are adults,
things began to look up. Ami works at a good job at an insurance office. Nicole
was smart and lucky enough to earn a full scholarship from a local university
and is entering her sophomore year. Ami thought the two of them finally free
from their father’s frequent and continuing misfortunes. Three months ago, she
found to her sorrow that is not at all the case.
Ami was jarred awake in the middle of the night by a
phone call from her younger sister. This time their father landed both girls in
big trouble. The day before, John was playing a high stakes card game in
Atlantic City. The game was far too high and too dangerous for his limited
resources. When he lost the game, he found he owed a spectacular amount
of money to a young man named Tony Roma, the youngest son of the Godfather of
an Italian crime family. Realizing he had no way to pay off the debt, John took
his own life. The Roma’s had not, however, considered the debt repaid upon his
death. They tracked Nicole down at her school, looking for the balance of her
father’s debt to be repaid. Ami knew of this family’s reputation and feared for
her sister’s life. She asked Nicole for Tony Roma’s phone number. Making
a phone call, Ami agreed to repay the debt for her tragically dead father.
Ami brokered a repayment plan with a member of the crime
family claiming to represent Tony Roma. The terms were very steep. Two weeks
ago, Ami finally had to admit defeat. There was simply no way to repay the debt
with her meager salary. If she is to have enough money at the end of the day to
pay her rent, bills and eat she has to find more income or reschedule the
payment plan. Although Nicole offers to drop out of school, get a job, and help
her repay the money, Ami refuses point blank. She’s proud of her sister. She’s
the first one in the family to get a college education. There’s no reason
they both have to suffer because of their late father’s gambling addiction.