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Chapter 2
The breeze chilledmy skin, and my eyes fluttered open. I stretched and noticed the wings and Bob Marley on the small round wooden table next to me. I sipped on the colorful melting frozen drink. The sweetness overruled the alcohol, which is how I loved my cocktails. Never liked the taste of alcohol, only the relaxing effects. I then took a bite of the wing, recognizing that it would taste better if warm. I looked around for my wallet and cell. Shit. This cannot be happening. Did someone take it while I slept? The only one who would’ve approached me while I was asleep was Drake, and I didn’t want to believe that the staff would steal. I searched frantically around my chair in the dimly lit area, praying I would find it. Panic rose in my chest when the only bag I saw was my leather Coach workbag. I surveyed the almost empty beach. The nearest people were at least a few minutes' walk away. It would be like me to lose anyway to identify myself and my money on the first day of my trip. I berated myself for bringing everything with me when I should’ve left it all in my suite. It was an all-inclusive resort, for God’s sake. I didn’t need money except for tipping. I squeezed the bridge of my nose to stop the tears of frustration.
Then I thought about the shower stall where I’d rinsed off my feet after wading into the ocean. I’d brought my wallet and cell with me because I wanted to take a selfie with the beach in the background. It had to be there. I hurried to the wooden stall near the concrete pathway and flung open the door, surprising the couple inside. The woman’s hands continued to roam his muscled chest, and my gaze dragged reluctantly from his chest to the face. It was the handsome face of the stranger from earlier today. We locked eyes as the woman continued to feel him up and kiss his neck, and he seemed just as entranced as me. His full lips curved slightly in greeting.
“Can you shut the door?” the woman hissed when she realized I stood there staring like a pervert.
Her irritation snapped me back to reality. “Um...yeah...so sorry.” Utterly embarrassed, I stumbled back out of the stall and hurried toward my suite. Maybe my brother was right. I needed sex like yesterday. What other explanation would there be for me to stand there and stare at the couple like a freaking peeping tom? I passed a group of friends laughing and joking when I realized I’d left my bag next to my lounge chair,andI’d forgotten to quickly check the shower stall to see if my wallet and cell were there. I would have to return and wait for the “happy” couple to leave the booth. “Shit! Shit!”
The group stopped talking and gaped at my outburst like I’d grown two heads.
I held my palms up. “Sorry...sorry. I left my bag on the beach and can’t find my cell.”
One of the young women whose hair had been dyed a vibrant blue replied, “I would yell too. I hope you find it.” The rest of the group murmured their agreement and proceeded on their merry way while I ran back to the beach, praying I wouldn’t bump into that couple.
Once I made it to my chair undetected, I breathed a sigh of relief. My coach leather bag that contained my tablet and pens was still there. I sank into the lounge chair and hugged the bag against my chest. “I couldn’t take losing this too.” My ex, Nico, had given me the designer bag for my birthday right before everything changed. Before everything changed and my life stopped.
“Not now. This trip was supposed to be a fun work trip and not a pity party.” I fruitlessly wiped my eyes. The humiliation of the moment of feeling like a pervert and that my wallet and cell might have been stolen poked a hole in my armor. And the emotional dam I’d built when I was first diagnosed with ovarian cancer fourteen years after my mother’s diagnosis finally burst wide open. Tears fell loose and fast. I slunk down in my chair, covering my face with my hands, still trying to hold back unsuccessfully.
“Were you looking for this?” A familiar deep voice from above asked, interrupting my sobbing.
I ducked my head, trying to hide my wet face even in the darkness, and peered up at the same handsome stranger holding my wallet and cell in his hand. “Yes.”
He smiled. “Should I follow you around to make sure you don’t lose anything else?”
I quickly wiped my eyes and reached for my belongings. “It appears I can’t seem to hold on to what’s important.”
His forehead furrowed as he moved my belongings just out of my grasp. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” Feeling the tears swell behind my lids at the genuine concern in his voice, I averted my gaze back to the ocean and nodded. “Thank you. You can go back to your lady. Sorry to have interrupted you.”
I heard him sigh, and then he surprised me by sitting on the sand beside me.
“You don’t have to stay. I’m fine,” I insisted, my cheeks unable to soak up the wetness.
The stranger commented, “I know I don’t have to stay. Just want to be here. Sometimes you need to let it all out to feel better.” He then stunned me when he hooked his pinky finger with mine and nodded. “Go ahead. No judgment.”
And for the first time in two years, I cried openly and without shame for all I lost and the new lease on life I’d been given. After a long moment, I tugged my finger from his, immediately missing this stranger’s comfort. I wiped my cheeks with the back of my hands. “Thank you. You were right. I needed to do that.”
He only shrugged.
Looking up at the dark sky and clear white moon, a peace came over me as I confessed, “I survived ovarian cancer. I’ve been in remission for thirteen months. I never told a living soul. Only my mother, who’s up there among the ancestors, knows. She didn’t beat it when I was sixteen, and I don’t think I ever recovered from such a great loss. I have a close-knit family, and I didn’t even tell them. I didn’t want them to relive the trauma of cancer.”
“Not even now? Now that you’ve survived?”
I shook my head and glanced at him. I could barely see him, the beach only lit by the buildings and pathways behind us. Maybe the anonymity of darkness made it so easy to open up to him. “Guess I don’t want to hear their disappointment that I didn’t give them a chance to be there for me. It’s just my father and brother now. They would be so hurt to know I was all alone dealing with chemo and radiation. I live in a different city from them, so I could hide my bald head and my weight loss. I made excuses for not visiting, and they couldn’t visit me because I would claim I was always too busy.”
“Sounds like me. Not the cancer part but the family. I’m always hiding from my family. Say I’m too caught up with work. We’re a small close family too...well, at least my brother is close to them. I know they worry about and love me. Never really felt like I fit in.” His voice held a tinge of sadness, and I wondered why he hid from his family. I studied what I could see in his profile. Definitely one of the most gorgeous men I’d ever met. His milk chocolate skin and perfect white teeth reeked of orthodontic attention and glowed in the moonlight.
I sniffed. “Seriously, I appreciate you staying with me. I’ll be fine. I’m sure you had more to do than to sit with a crying woman.” I looked past his shoulder. “I’m also sure your woman is probably wondering what’s taking you so long to return.”
He slowly rose and held his hand for me to take. “You’re right. It’s getting late. Let me walk you to your suite. I wouldn’t feel right leaving you out here by yourself.”
Unexplainable disappointment that my moment with him was about to end assailed me. I wanted to talk more and get to know him. Instead of asking him to stay longer, I grasped his firm, warm hand. He pulled me up, bringing me within an inch of his kissable lips. Even in the darkness, I could see his gaze drift to my mouth before it settled on my eyes. Almost of its own volition, my body leaned toward him. I had to resist the crazy insistent pull to connect intimately with him. I gestured behind me to break the increasing fire building in between my legs. “My building is right there. You don’t have to walk me to my door. Thank you again.”
The handsome man chuckled softly, his hand slightly swinging mine. “Are you trying to get rid of me?”
Trying not to get caught up in his hypnotic, intense gaze, I patted the hand that still held mine. “Not at all...I just don’t want you to feel obligated to walk me back. You seem the chivalrous type.”
